Summary
Through Open Cities, Granicus was able to expand on our ability to provide resident-centered digital experiences in local governments around the world. Our platform is the public sector's leading digital customer journey platform that has helped thousands of local governments transform their websites, digital forms, and service delivery experiences. Join Irina Tikhonova and Kari Dietrich in this session focused on the importance of starting small when elevating user experiences. We discuss how to focus on user journeys, involve the right stakeholders, and push for data-driven and human-centered policy changes.
Key Insights
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Starting small with targeted pilot projects reduces stakeholder resistance and enables measurable impact in digital government services.
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Grand Rapids reduced 311 center walk-ins by 79%, saving $200,000 within six weeks by focusing on high-volume pain points.
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The Granicus platform is modular, like Lego blocks, allowing governments to build customized digital experiences.
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Human-centered design supported by extensive public and staff surveys is crucial to understanding real user needs in government services.
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Iterative microsites focusing on key services can serve as alpha pilots without replacing entire legacy systems.
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A hybrid content management model with trained decentralized content authors and centralized review improves consistency and tone gradually.
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Inclusion of marginalized and historically disenfranchised users in usability testing ensures equitable and representative digital outcomes.
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Leadership persistence, exemplified by Becky Joglover, is essential to overcoming staff resistance and driving digital transformation.
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In Wyandotte County, journey mapping revealed systemic inequities in municipal court services, especially for users without lawyers.
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Using real users rather than only personas during implementation uncovers deeper, actionable insights for service improvements.
Notable Quotes
"Big projects tend to get a little bit out of hand and also scare stakeholders, so figuring out how to start small and then grow impact from there."
"Granicus can be anything you want and you can basically create anything that you want as a Lego."
"Websites and digital spaces should be government, not just provide information about government."
"Most staff didn’t actually think very highly of the website, and there was internal agreement with public sentiment."
"It didn’t happen overnight. There was some resistance within CEDU leadership and staff about actually having these changes."
"Becky Joglover was a champion for this effort. She had a vision and kept pushing one conversation at a time, one service at a time."
"Once you fix the problems for marginalized communities, you’re really fixing a problem for everyone."
"People who don’t have lawyers or can’t afford one really aren’t being treated fairly or equally."
"If you start interacting with real users who have a real need at that moment, you get a much deeper sense of how the experience goes for them."
"Policy first approaches often overlook how different users actually experience services, so understanding those is crucial."
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