AvePoint, the Microsoft Cloud expert and 2016 Microsoft Partner of the Year winner for Technology for Good, today announced the preview of AvePoint Citizen Services. Built on the latest Microsoft Cloud technologies - including Azure Machine Learning, Cortana Intelligence Suite, Dynamics CRM, Power BI, and Windows 10 - AvePoint Citizen Services is a Software as a Services (SaaS) platform created to help cities provide the highest level of service and information to citizens across multiple access channels.

The solution is featured product on Microsoft AppSource, Microsoft's new destination for business users to find and try out line-of-business SaaS apps from Microsoft and its partners. At launch, AppSource features more than 200 business SaaS apps, add-ins, and content packs - all built on Microsoft Cloud services such as Azure and Dynamics 365, are created to encourage innovation, increase collaboration and ultimately achieve more with the power of intelligent business apps.

With Citizen Services, government agencies or citizen-support non-government organizations (NGOs) now have the ability to automate case management and incident reporting. Field officers, operational centers, and the citizens they support can input and manage requests from any device, anywhere, at any time. Citizen Services offers a centralized portal to submit and respond to requests, streamlined case routing, and monitoring of service level agreements and establishment of long-term planning. Benefits to each individual include:

Citizens: Residents can self-register, submit requests, view the status of open cases, read announcements, follow social media feeds, and search a knowledge base repository for information used to resolve issues quickly - all through a centralized portal without the need for agent assistance. To further simplify submissions, photo attachments and location services provide precise locations can be included via integrated mobile device services to help validate requests and drive service improvement.

Response Management Team: Response teams are provided a direct channel with a streamlined user experience for appropriate routing and handling of inbound requests from a single interface. They can also ensure all incoming calls are logged and tracked with automated phone activity logging, as well as built-in scripts or questionnaires. The Citizen Services interface helps the team resource requests and track progress by viewing key metrics - including request status, type, and location.

Field Response Team: Field teams can view assigned tasks based on location, request type, or urgency, and then respond to these requests by utilizing integrated location services and mapping via mobile devices. Individuals can then log response activity into mobile devices to close out and annotate cases - with photos, video, and audio - in real time.

Agency Management Team: Management can review key metrics and data trends over time - including incoming request types, request locations, and average response times - to enhance planning, resourcing, and improve citizen satisfaction ratings. Government agencies become proactive by integrating with modern technologies like the Internet of Things (IoT) and predictive analytics to spot issues before citizens even encounter them.

"The rapid evolution of technology in recent years has changed both business operations and personal lives, and citizens are expecting governments to keep up with these trends," said Dr. Tianyi (TJ) Jiang, AvePoint Co-CEO and Co-Founder. "AvePoint Citizen Services is built on the most innovative Microsoft Cloud technology to not only provide governments with effective response processes, but to anticipate the needs of citizens before they ever notice an issue - reducing any unplanned downtime for common government services."

AvePoint Citizen Services is created on the new Data Broker Platform, built to harness connectivity services for SaaS applications. This allows organizations to integrate the Azure Internet of Things (IoT) Suite and Cortana Intelligence Suite alongside Office 365, Dynamics 365, and Power BI, to connect industrial data with business processes and analytics.

AvePoint Citizen Services is available to try now through AppSource. For more information on the platform and product features, please visit our website.