How to Make the Move to e-Government

Government agencies and organizations are facing pressure to go digital as citizens clamor for the same experiences they get everywhere else. But government is a much slower-moving machine than other industries—and with different obstacles to going digital. Lengthy decision-making and approval processes, security concerns and budgets can all stagnate agencies from embracing e-government.

Making the move to digital processes is essential for government organizations—not just because citizens are demanding digital interactions, but because digital transformation is the way to better governance for all. The United Nations’ 2022 E-Government Survey notes that “leaving no one behind” is a “central axis” of sustainable development, and closing disconnects within the digital government ecosystem is a vital way to ensure e-government doesn’t just benefit higher-income, advantaged segments of society.

If you’re not sure where to start with e-government, consider digital document solutions. They are one of the most crucial components of a digital transformation strategy, and specific document tools like PDF and eSign solutions are a big stepping stone toward success.

Try Nitro PDF free for 14 days!

First, you’ll see great strides in efficiency. Using digital document solutions allows you to automate many of the manual processes that tend to bog down paper-heavy organizations like government agencies. Automation enables you to integrate self-service workflows so constituents can process digital paperwork themselves.

Making the move to an e-governing approach also gives you a degree of agility and the ability to support a digital workforce. The right digital transformation partner will give your organization access to documents through one platform that employees can leverage on multiple devices. You can accommodate modern work environments and will be more nimble to change.

Security and compliance for your data, documents and sensitive information are also benefits you’ll see with digital documentation solutions like PDF and eSign. You’ll enforce policies that keep you in line with compliance regulations while eSign solutions generate legally binding signatures. The right solution will help you meet multiple industry requirements with security measures you can count on for a successful digital government.

The cybersecurity landscape is upended every day a new, damaging breach occurs. But the right solution provider will make it clear what security features and compliance adherence they can provide.

A digital transformation partner like Nitro keeps all confidential data secure through strict security practices, and it maintains document integrity and audit trails for ensured compliance. You’ll simplify audits with digital documentation as your employees won’t have to waste massive time filtering through physical files or scattered electronic folders. Version tracking means there is a clear way to demonstrate your adherence to regulations. And highly secure eSigning and identify verification processes let you rest easy with a proactive approach to data protection.

Ask yourself these question before finding a document provider and solution to help you make the move to e-government.

• Does the vendor offer integrations with your existing solutions so you don’t have to rip and replace?
• Is it clear and demonstrable what ROI you will get out of the solution?
• Are their security practices sophisticated?
• Will licenses or training incur surprise fees?
• Are they willing to work within your budget?
• Do they provide free change management and customer support?
• Are you able to try before you buy?

Asking these questions will get you closer to narrowing down the right partner for a smart, strategic digital transformation in government.

As a government entity, you’ve likely got several systems woven into your operations. The right digital documentation solution won’t make you uproot them. Instead, the solution should integrate with them through powerful APIs so you can streamline data across systems and consolidate work into fewer platforms.

Questions about how integrations work in your government organization? We’re here to help.

Here are a few real-life use cases for how government entities use the following solutions to drive improvements.

• PDFs allow you to leverage a single, secure platform with an intuitive user interface to create, edit, convert, combine and sign PDF documents.
  
• Electronic signatures enable people in document workflows to securely sign digital documents with legally binding signatures in compliant ways. Learn more about high-trust eSigning in our Ultimate Guide to Electronic Signatures.
  
• Analytics give you visibility and insight into your workflows so you can understand usage and make improvements to get the most ROI out of your solution.

With electronic signatures, you can automate much of the back-and-forth that is typically associated with paper workflows. You can assign roles such as approvers, accepters, recipients and more on a vast array of documents, including permits, licenses, contracts, legal documents and more. Documents can be routed to the right people in the right order.

Social service agencies often have paper-heavy caseloads, and they can require many parties—doctors, investigators, case managers—to review and sign off of case documents. eSignatures make the collaboration, approval and revision process for case files a more seamless experience for all parties, and they allow for those involved to review and sign documents from anywhere. Digitizing your casework can speed up the often lifesaving work of social services.

Manual document processes can unnecessarily delay the receiving of grants if staff need to be physically present in order to move application documentation along or approve files. PDF and eSign solutions facilitate these important workflows so agencies can receive funds faster.

Nitro knows the struggle of government agencies when it comes to outdated technology, older methods of working and obstacles to adopting new solutions. That’s why our PDF and eSign tools are designed to seamlessly integrate and introduce e-Government into your organization in a cost-effective way.

Nitro doesn’t hand you a digital document solution and leave you to it. We offer change management help in several ways. We provide expert onboarding and support to every user, and we identify potential roadblocks—and their solutions—early on. Planning milestones, action items and training sessions ensures employee buy-in.

When you’re making a commitment to a software that will be integral to your digital transformation success, you need to try it before you buy it. Many “free trials” from digital document solution providers are short and do not provide the access to their features you’d get as a real user.

When you want an immersive trial experience, Nitro’s pilot program gives you the best, most extensive way to learn if Nitro is right for your government organization. You get access to the Nitro Productivity Platform with a no-risk trial, and the pilot runs for several weeks. During that time, your users can conduct in-depth testing and technical evaluation of our all-in-one PDF, eSign and analytics solution. Should you decide to go with Nitro, your onboarding will be rapid—helping you see ROI quickly.

Nitro’s analytics product enables you to clearly show how you’re maximizing your investment in your digital documentation tools in addition to helping you improve organization-wide usage. By capturing relevant data, you can track usage across Nitro’s products, remove bottlenecks and automatically calculate savings. You'll prove ROI with measurable productivity.

At Nitro, we believe dedicated customer support should not be a big ticket add-on. Our team is committed to your long-term success with our solution, so we remain available 24x7 to help you with any support services you may need. We have historied experience helping government agencies over the hurdles of digital solution adoption, and our experts are dedicated to resolving any issues for you as quickly as possible.

With Nitro, you can streamline workflows for the following document types:

• Financial & tax documents
• Grants and lending
• Permits and licensing
• Procurement
• Social services
• Case management
• Reports
• Contracts & agreements
• Legal documents
• Employment documents
  

To learn more about how to choose a digital transformation partner for your government organization, download our free eBook.

We’d love to learn about your agency’s goals and needs. Get in touch with Nitro today to see a demo of our solutions and learn how we can help.