The Social Services Online Client Portal
By Even Brande
The online client portal shifts the data-entry burden to the client, allowing employees to spend their time providing services rather than entering data.
Piggly Wiggly Grocery Store opening day crowd, Laramie, Wyoming, 1927 (Image courtesy of the Ludwig-Svenson Collection, Laramie, WY)
A RiteTrack online client portal allows the client to upload their own documents.
There is no doubt that self-service online portals are coming to all types of government services. That too includes those many service areas that we are involved with at Handel including Juvenile Justice, Child Welfare, and Financial Assistance, just to name a few. There are many services that can be provided electronically whereas some are still best done in person.
Are there any disadvantages to online portals? I do believe to some extent, there is a bit of a loss of community. We reduce the chance for random encounters and connecting with fellow humans when we eliminate the need to make an in-person appearance. Overall though, I believe the benefits of having an online portal far exceeds the disadvantages. As we add in videoconferencing in our online offering, we can also add back a human element for clients who have a need to discuss an issue face-to-face. People are generally social by nature and will find opportunities for social activities. Updating financial information or submitting documents does not necessarily have to be an arena for social interaction.
We believe there will be tremendous adoption of online portals in our market place (government social services) over the next decade. As government offices continues to struggle to find employees, as technology improves and as people get more used to using portals in their everyday life, so will this become a natural progression. Handel is proud of the role we are playing in this field. As we add portal functionality to RiteTrack, we would love to talk to you about how we can help your organization streamline the data entry process, increase accuracy and transparency, and ultimately, provide better service to your stakeholders.