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OpenGov, San Francisco, California, United States: OpenGov Support Transitions to PODs

Company: OpenGov, San Francisco, CA
Company Description: Modern Cloud Software Made Exclusively For Government OpenGov is an industry-leading government software company, providing the following local government cloud services: Budgeting & Planning Permitting & Licensing Cartegraph Asset Management Procurement Financials Reporting & Transparency
Nomination Category: Customer Service & Call Center Awards Achievement Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Achievement in Customer Experience
2023 Stevie Winner Nomination Title: OpenGov Support Transitions to PODs
  1. Reference any attachments of supporting materials throughout this nomination and how they provide evidence of the claims you have made in this nomination (up to 250 words):

    Total 42 words used.

    The supporting documentation includes the following:

    1. OpenGov Mission & Core Values

    2. Support Organization Advancement 

    3. Selling the Value of Support

    4. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

    5. Support Technology Improvements 

    6. Customer Testimonials

    OpenGov Stevie Awards Nomination - Application Document

    OpenGov Stevie Awards Nomination - Support Presentation

  2. Briefly describe the nominated organization: its history and past performance (up to 200 words):

    Total 200 words used.

    With a mission to power more effective and accountable government, OpenGov serves over 1800 agencies across the U.S. with five software suites built exclusively for the unique budgeting with reporting and transparency, permitting & licensing, procurement, financials and asset management needs of the public sector.

    What differentiates OpenGov from other govtech companies is its investment in Support. To effectively serve users across suites, OpenGov built a support team that offers users access to subject matter experts via live phone, live chat, email and the OpenGov Help Center. The team is made up of technical specialists, technical analysts, and technical engineers who can quickly address simple inquiries across suites and experts who can help solve technical, engineering challenges.

    OpenGov’s Support team has evolved tremendously since July 2021. The Support team went from serving the needs of just over 1000 customer accounts across four suites, to now serving over 1800 customer accounts across five suites. The new POD support model has transformed our support operations, improved employee growth & development, and improved customer satisfaction. Support is a true differentiator for OpenGov and why we have double digit new customer growth, why we retain customers, and why existing customers buy more suites.

  3. Which will you submit for your nomination in this category, a video of up to five (5) minutes, explaining the nominated achievement since July 1, 2021, OR written answers to the questions? (Choose one):
    Written answers to the questions
  4. Outline the nominated achievement since July 1 2021 that you wish to bring to the judges' attention (up to 250 words):

    Total 244 words used.

    OpenGov’s Support team has evolved tremendously since July 2021. The Support team went from a single team with no tiers, to tier 1 & 2, then to adding tier 3.  The business continued to grow organically and via acquisition and it was important to continue to increase our knowledge as our products became more complex with a much larger customer base.  Thus, we pivoted to advancing our support organization via PODs with Subject Matter Experts (SME’s) per suite, adopted an effortless experience for our customers, and invested in improving our technology experience and self-service.

    2022 Support Achievements & Accomplishments 

    • 60% increase in customers and 22% increase in case volume with no increase in staffing and exceed all goals.  

    • 31% reduction in average time to resolve cases at 13.67 hours

    • 97.56% customer survey satisfaction rating.

    • 865 knowledge articles created, increasing the total to over 3,000 articles to empower customers with self-service.

    2023 Support Achievements & Accomplishments

    • 20% increase in customers and 24% increase in case volume with 13% less staff.  

    • Exceeded the average time to resolve cases goal of 20 hours by achieving 19.29 hours.

    • 97.56% customer survey satisfaction rating.

    • Reduce customer churn and increased customer retention to a best-in-class of 95.0%, up from 94.0% in 2022.

    • Implemented new AI Chat-bot for Procurement yielded customer self-service and a 70% deflection rate.

    • $175,000 in annual operating costs savings by migrating from Zendesk & Intercom to Salesforce Service Cloud.

  5. If you are submitting a video of up to five (5) minutes in length, provide the URL of the video here, OR attach it to your entry via the "Add Attachments, Videos, or Links to This Entry" link above, through which you may also upload a copy of your video. If you are submitting written answers to the questions for this category, provide them in the spaces below.

    OpenGov Stevie Awards Nomination - Application Document

    OpenGov Stevie Awards Nomination - Support Presentation

  6. Explain why the achievement you have highlighted is unique or significant. If possible compare the achievement to the performance of other players in your industry and/or to the organization's past performance (up to 250 words):

    Total 250 words used.

    “Good enough for government” used to mean that only the best services and suppliers would be acceptable to government organizations, which routinely attracted the best talent and invested in resources to empower their staff. 

    Due to decades of under-investment at local government levels, public sector leaders and their staff struggle to work efficiently and effectively. OpenGov is working to change that and Support is a part of the strategy. 

    Whereas, many of our competitors either offer paid upgrade and support packages, offering only 8 hours of support in one time zone, or simply do not answer the phone, OpenGov has consistently improved on the metrics that matter most, while serving over 1800 customer accounts for five mission critical software suites. 

    Just as one of our investors and board members (John Chambers, previous CEO of Cisco) stated, "If you become complacent and just keep doing what you are doing, your competition will catch up and pass you by."  OpenGov is committed to Support being a key differentiator in the govtech market, ensuring our customers have an effortless experience with every interaction, and that we are an aligned partner committed to successful business outcomes.

    OpenGov was thrilled to be recognized by The Stevie Awards in 2022 & 2023 as Best in Class for Support. The honor of this designation reflects not only the work of OpenGov to serve public sector agencies, but also government leaders who work tirelessly to improve their agencies and better serve their schools, cities, counties, and states.

Attachments/Videos/Links:
OpenGov Support Transitions to PODs
URL OpenGov Stevie Awards Nomination - Support Presentation
URL OpenGov Stevie Awards Nomination - Application Document