A GOVERNMENT TECHNOLOGY INDUSTRY PROFILE: NIC

Delivering on the e-Government

PROMISE
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INTRODUCTION

A VISION FOR OUR TIME

he Internet economy has created a new set of citizen expectations and government has found itself faced with a service challenge and a historic opportunity. Today, citizens and businesses are connected through a web of information and knowledge that has truly transformed relationships. For the first time, citizens expect that same personalized service in Internet time from their government. Nine years ago, a small group of dedicated individuals in Topeka, Kansas came together to create a self-funding model for electronic government services with the Information Network of Kansas (INK). INK was the first e-government public/private partnership. Through e-government, Kansas has met the higher expectations of the Internet generation resulting in higher citizen and business satisfaction. E-government was born not among the dot-com frenzy of Silicon Valley, but in the heart of America. Today, NIC is the worlds largest e-government solutions provider with local, state, federal and global government partners. NIC has enterprise-wide portal partnerships in 11 states, applications in 22 states and over 80 cities and counties. We reach roughly 50 percent of the U.S. population representing more than 140 million people. But our growth and the rapid adoption of e-government solutions have not changed our vision. NIC was and will always be dedicated and organized first to ensure the preservation of the public trust. While we embrace e-business technology, we understand that government is different. That is our heritage. E-government is not just about transactions. E-government is about trust and preserving the integrity of the relationships between government and its constituents. We know that lesson well and it remains at the foundation of Jim Dodd all we do. We are witnessing the birth of a new market and a new force in the Internet economy, bringing together citizens, businesses and government in a network of information, knowledge and commerce. Thank you for sharing our vision and for your commitment to the promise of e-government. Jim Dodd President and CEO NIC

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DELIVERING ON THE E-GOVERNMENT PROMISE

he promise of e-government is quickly becoming a reality. The Internet revolution has dramatically changed how citizens and businesses relate to their government, creating an enormous set of expectations along the way. Most constituents are no longer satisfied to wait in line during normal business hours to get what they need from the public sector. Nor are they willing to accept the delays and errors associated with a paper-based system.

SOLUTION

For government, the question now is not whether they are going to provide electronic services, but how. States and municipalities are wrestling with ways to overcome fundamental barriers that have slowed the progress of offering comprehensive online services to the public. Chief among these roadblocks are questions about what services to provide, how to securely deliver them and how to fund enterprise-wide e-government portals. Many forward-thinking governments have turned to NIC for answers. NIC has the resources, experience and vision to help the public sector deliver on all the benefits of e-government. NIC has worked closely with the public sector to provide taxpayers with a myriad of online services, from drivers license renewal capability to fishing permits to corporate record searches. Since 1991, NIC has partnered with government to provide thousands of applications serving millions of people worldwide. NIC is successful because they have developed a working model that combines the best of what the public and private sector have to offer. Together, NIC and its partners work toward a common goal that assures all public sector e-government objectives are met. Simply put, NIC teams with government to provide citizens with a multitude of electronic services accessed through a single user portal. NIC acts as the netADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT

work manager, provides the start up capital and assumes the financial risk of the program. The state maintains ownership and control of the portal and acts in concert with NIC to develop the applications that meet the critical needs of citizens and businesses according to the direction of each portals governing board. The result is that NIC provides the technical know-how in the implementation of the many applications that the state offers on their online portal, eliminating the need to hire hard to find and costly network personnel. By depending on the expertise delivered by NIC, the public sector can provide an e-government solution that is comprehensive, cost-effective and secure.

Working Side-by-Side
Close collaboration is the key to making this public/private model work. NIC works side-by-side with government in the overall design of the portal, the implementation of each application and the recommendation of future online services. This ensures the public sector offers the services that are best suited to their individual environment. Said Harry Herington, executive vice president of NIC State, "Our success depends on the success of our government partners. We are the only e-government solutions provider that has built flexible business models that aim to preserve and protect the public trust. It's a win-win relationship." Al Sherwood, chairman of the Utah Electronic Commerce Council, a NIC customer, agrees. One of the most important things that NIC has brought to the table is their collaborative approach to the partnership. They really have developed a customer-centric way of doing business that has worked very well for us. They look at where we are and where we

SOLUTION

One of the most important things that NIC has brought to the table have developed a customer-centric way of doing business that has
Scott Moore, Nebraskas Secretary of State also believes in this exceptional public/private partnership. The program has been very successful from state governments perspective, he said. But more importantly, for the consumer of state information its a great way to move forward quickly, especially compared to trying to do it in-house. We find the [NIC] approach very refreshing.

want to go instead of trying to introduce a product to us that doesnt fit. And thats a really refreshing change and something that I think is a real strength of the company. Another state customer that appreciates the close working relationship that NIC provides is Georgia. A six-member team of NIC technicians works in tandem with the states technical staff to deliver software implementation, Web design and marketing services. We were fortunate enough to be ranked first in the nation for the deployment of e-commerce services by the Center for Digital Government in a recent survey they conducted, said Kelly Kimball, President of NIC Global; Tom Bostick, execDon Smeltzer, President of NIC Technologies utive director of GeorgiaNet. A big part of our success in that area can be traced to the close collaboration between our NIC people and in-house staff. The state of Indiana is also very pleased with this unique public/private arrangement. Im very high on our relationship with NIC, said Laura Larimer, CIO of the state. I consider this to be a model partnership. NIC has worked with the state of Indiana as a true partner and vice versa. The NIC public/private partnership model creates a win-win relationship dynamic that has made us successful in our Web-based environment. In fact, its gone so well we just renewed [NICs] contract for another three years.

Flexible E-Government Models

A major obstacle in the delivery of egovernment is cost. Both state and local governments have come under enormous financial scrutiny in recent years, seeing operating budgets slashed dramatically. State governments are being forced to deal with more requests with the same number of (sometimes even fewer) employees. The self-funding model was developed with these political realties in mind. The self-funding model that NIC advocates is as simple as it is effective. Instead of having to provide up front costs for the development and maintenance of the government portal, the system is funded from transaction fees paid by private businesses who choose to use the online service. Thanks to the value that the portal brings to commercial enterprises, its estimated that five percent of all fee-based services pay for the 95 percent of those provided for free. The great question we had was how do we fund [the e-government portal], said Mike Thomas, Virginias director of the Department of Information Technology. So, we looked at the model that NIC helped pioneer and it became the foundation of our approach. The concept is that there are certain commercially viable state databases that fund the majority of the network and the preponderance of infor-

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is their collaborative approach to the partnership. They really worked very well for us. Al Sherwood, Chairman of the Utah Electronic Commerce Council
mation and services is available free of charge to our citizens. There are no general fund appropriations for this, it is completely self-funding and then some. The self-funding model has proven so effective that every jurisdiction that has implemented it has been able to fund their e-government program from the proceeds of transactions collected from businesses. Whats more, the model allows the public sector to realize additional cost savings as NIC provides the networking infrastructure for the portal. These savings allow government to move forward with a comprehensive e-government program without having to seek general obligation funding. Utah, for example, has saved hundreds of thousands of dollars of taxpayer money by teaming with NIC versus rolling out an egovernment network in-house. We estimate that [NIC] has invested about $384,000 in personnel resources and over $400,000 in hardware and software to build our network, said Sherwood. Thats money that would not be available to us if it hadnt been for this partnership. Dan Gwadosky, the Secretary of State for Maine, said the self-funding model provides other financial benefits. One of the biggest advantages of [the NIC selffunding model] is that given the lifecycle of networking equipment is somewhere in the vicinity of 18 months, when you have a private partner they can take some of the risk and responsibility for maintaining cutting-edge technology. It takes some of the pressure off individual agencies to constantly do that upgrade on their own. There is no question that the state receives cost savings for [implementing the NIC e-government model], Gwadosky continued. Not only in terms of dollars and cents but also in the context of freeing up your employees who can now spend more time on consumer-related issues instead of pushing paper and filing. The NIC vision extends beyond providing applications that are fee-based. By delivering a host of online services that citizens can access free of charge, NIC has helped its government partners provide a truly enterprise-wide solution. NIC also supports other flexible models to meet the unique needs of government partners, including subscription-based models and application-specific models if the enterprise-wide solution is not specific to a state or local governments need. Our goal is to provide the solution that creates higher citizen and business satisfaction, delivers services faster, and preserves the public trust, said Joe Nemelka, NICs executive vice president for market development. To that end, we provide several flexible funding models that can be tailored to meet the unique needs of each agency, city, county or state.

SOLUTION

Citizen Interface
By providing the interface to its citizens, government can guarantee the public trust, which is vital for the delivery of good government. By insourcing instead of outsourcing e-government services, the public sector ensures constituents receive information they demand from a partner they know. Although its generally conceded that outsourcing is viable in the short term, in the long term you have done something you shouldnt have youve outsourced the public trust, said Kelly Kimball, president of NIC Global, NICs international division. The key is how do you outsource the technology and all thats good about private enterprise without outsourcing that trust? One way is by imple-

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SOLUTION

We were fortunate enough to be ranked first in the nation for the that area can be traced to the close collaboration of our NIC people
seriously we have to. Our customer is the government and they, even more than corporate America, are very concerned with privacy.

menting the NIC portal model, which brings the best of what private commerce offers while keeping government firmly in control. This model allows government to respond directly to consumer demands without having to invest valuable time managing the network. NIC works in the background to assure these demands are carried out swiftly and cost effectively. We dont take credit for delivering e-government services, said Nemelka. You can visit the portals that NIC manages and you wont see our name anywhere. In fact, not many people outside of government know us, but if you have heard of Access Indiana Dan Gwadosky, Secretary of State for Maine or the Virginia Information Providers Network, then you have heard of us. Security is another concern for government as it launches its public portal. NIC works with its public-sector partners, as well as the leading security specialists in the industry, to ensure the privacy of information delivered over the Internet. By supporting national standards, NIC offers safe, stable and reliable e-government networking systems. Our security capabilities for e-commerce and e-procurement are best-of-class, said Bob Sturm, vice president of NIC Commerce, NICs e-procurement and B2G e-commerce division. We take it very

Bridging the Gap

As the leader in the delivery of e-government solutions, NIC has experience working with both state and local government. As a result, NIC has developed systems that meet the needs of each. Local jurisdictions in particular are as different as the citizens they serve and their e-government solutions need to be tailored to address those differences. One way that NIC helps local government bridge the gap between what they want to offer on their portals and what they can afford to offer is with the implementation of Application Service Provider (ASP) technology. NICs ASP solution provides local government with a Web presence thats far-reaching and cost effective. Because NIC hosts the site from a central location, local jurisdictions can offer services to their constituents at a fraction of the costs associated with an in-house solution. The ASP model was really designed for cities and counties that want to present a meaningful Web presence without having to hire their own staff to manage it, said Don Smeltzer, president, NIC Technologies. It makes so much sense for NIC to host the portal centrally and allow local jurisdictions to subscribe to each service as they choose. Whether its providing leading-edge applications for state or local government, no one can match the experience that NIC brings to e-government. Because NIC has developed thousands of applications in virtually every government environment, they have the expertise to deploy service offer-

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deployment of e-commerce services...a big part of our success in Tom Bostick, executive director of GeorgiaNet and in-house staff.
ings in the shortest time possible. In fact, its not unusual for common applications to be up and running in a week or less. One of our biggest advantages is our experience, said Nemelka. Since we have developed so many applications over the years, I would say there isnt one area of e-government that we havent touched in some way. The suite of products in our arsenal is very compelling, and they can be rolled out in a very short time frame. In case after case, customers cite that experience as a major factor when turning to NIC to help them manage their e-government portal. Public sector expertise was a prime consideration for selecting NIC [to manage our portal], said Virginias Thomas. They hadnt just worked with counties or single agencies, they had broad experience throughout state and local government. The history of the company is based not just on technology but on sound business practices. The company has developed into what it is today by providing practical solutions to real world problems. Experience in the public-sector marketplace is something that separates NIC from other companies that attempt to make commercial solutions fit into the government space. Because NIC works only with government, they are uniquely positioned to respond to its needs. To NIC, e-business is not e-government. Each government entity has its own set of business-specific rules of engagement, said Sturm. Too many vendors get it wrong because they think government should change the way it does business to accommodate the commercial model. NIC is the only service provider that offers an end-to-end solution to support the way government operates. The NIC model was developed to provide the best in customer service. After all, NIC has a stake in the success of its government partners, big or small. NIC was hired because we were looking for a way to provide a high level of service to our customers, as well as looking to take some of the redundancy out of our work processes, said Gwadosky. [NIC] seemed to us to be a company that was customer driven and entrepreneurally focused. Their track record in developing innovative solutions driven by customer demand is appropriate for what we are trying to accomplish. With NIC e-government systems in place, the public sector has seen dramatic growth in the response to its online portals. Citizens and commercial businesses are increasingly utilizing the speed, convenience and dependability of electronic government to get the information they need. The popularity of online services allows the public sector to concentrate on mission critical tasks that streamline the delivery of good government.

SOLUTION

Providing the Tools

To fulfill the promise of e-government it is essential the public sector have a well thought out strategy. For many jurisdictions, a big part of that strategy is partnering with NIC. NIC provides all the tools that government needs in order to offer a comprehensive electronic gateway as one of the many services citizens have come to expect from the public sector. The people at NIC are exceptionally skilled, said Gwadosky. They have high energy, they know their work and they are ingenious about developing applications. They realize applications have to be tailored to meet consumer demand and know how to package information and integrate work functions. They have been extraordinary to work with were just grateful we have a partner like NIC available to us.

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This Government Technology Industry Profile was sponsored by NIC. Copyright 2000 Government Technology. All rights reserved. Printed in USA.