arvato introduces services for public administration in Germany

Wuerzburg, 27. April 2007 – The starting signal has been given for a cooperation between Arvato and the public authorities in Germany: The city of Wuerzburg has picked the internationally networked service provider as its partner in the “Würzburg integriert!” (Integrated Wuerzburg!) project. At the heart of the agreement is the integrated processing of all administrative services, and the linking of previously isolated procedures in a central e-government platform. The goals: to improve the service quality, simplify workflows, and accelerate administrative processes.

"This project allows us to provide services on a case-by-case basis rather than by function,” explained Wuerzburg’s Mayor Dr. Pia Beckmann. For instance, when people move, they will no longer have to contact several administrative offices, but only one person who will handle all the processes. “Our administration will become faster, better and closer to the citizens,” emphasizes Dr. Beckmann. "At the same time, we will be able to lower our administration costs.”

The e-government platform gives citizens, businesses and administrative staff access to the city of Wuerzburg’s administrative services via a standard user interface. Thanks to integrated specialized procedures, even complex services can be rendered with minimal effort. “Our partner Arvato AG and its range of solutions bring us a good bit closer to our goal of up-to-date administration,” explained the Mayor.

“For Arvato, this project means an entry into the market for public-administration services in Germany as well,” says Rolf Buch, member of the Arvato AG executive board. “The citizens of Wuerzburg will receive easy, fast and reliable access to administration, and the city of Wuerzburg will enhance its appeal –for businesses, too– thanks to fast information and transparent, short-notice processing of requests.” Employees will benefit from the project in that it will give them a more diversified workday with greater decision-making freedom. “The city of Wuerzburg’s approach is unprecedented at the municipal level in Germany.”

arvato services already has some experience in public administration. Since October 2005, the company has handled municipal administration tasks for the East Riding of Yorkshire Council in England. They include collecting local taxes, distributing local benefits and aid, wage and payroll accounting, managing the 14 citizens’ bureaux and providing the requisite IT infrastructure. The East Riding of Yorkshire Council has 145,000 households with 325,000 citizens in all.

In May 2006, the Arvato Government Services unit was set up in Germany under the management of Christoph Baron. Arvato Government Services transfers the experiences from private-sector outsourcing and transformation projects and the East Riding project to public administration in Germany. “We will work with the city of Wuerzburg to improve the spectrum of services, to enable the best possible response to the individual needs of the local administration, citizens and businesses,” explains Baron. Bernd Schmitt, the project manager for the city of Wuerzburg, adds: “The city of Wuerzburg’s tried and tested IT structures will remain in place, but the integration platform and the Internet access to these services for citizens and businesses will make for much more efficient workflows.”

First the necessary technology will be set up and put into operation. The key processes at the new citizens bureau are to be up and running using the new technology by the time the office opens in 2008 – after which all suitable processes will be reflected in the system, allowing for effective, cost-efficient and yet very citizen-friendly administrative services.