Introduction
The COVID-19 pandemic has forever changed how the California government operates and delivers services to constituents.
In the spring of 2020, the government found itself with a remote workforce, closed field offices, mounting backlogs, outdated manual processes, and increasingly strained legacy IT solutions. The impact of the pandemic revealed a divide between legacy and cutting-edge technology solutions, amplifying a critical need to accelerate digital transformation in government.
Responding rapidly, the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) supercharged its digital transformation journey by partnering with UiPath and SimpliGov to automate multiple applications and services across a variety of use cases and workflows such as vehicle registration renewals, driver license renewals, and motor carrier permit registration.
Combining SimpliGov’s government workflow automation with UiPath’s robotic process automation technology, DMV has been able to process over sixty thousand online service requests per day. Prior to automating, these requests would have required telephone calls, mail, or field office visits, causing significant delays and frustration for both constituents and DMV workers.
The California DMV is no stranger to innovation. As an agency leading the charge to reinvent itself digitally in a post-COVID world, the California DMV has already been recognized with an award for its creation of a truly digital experience through the rapid launch of its “Virtual Field Office” (VFO) – just one of the DMV’s many uses of automation and innovative digital strategies.
Launched in April 2020, the VFO allows constituents to conduct the majority of critical transactions online, such as renewing registration and interacting with DMV staff digitally. Leveraging the capabilities of the SimpliGov automation platform, the DMV launched the VFO within weeks of conception in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak.