-To improve productivity and the customer experience, Columbia County, Georgia, has selected Clariti’s Community Development Platform to replace its legacy permitting software. Implementation will begin in January, led by Unisys, a trusted Clariti partner.

Columbia County is one of the fastest growing counties in Georgia and has experienced many years of residential and commercial growth. With just 70 staff in the departments responsible for permitting and business licensing, each year, the county issues over 15,000 permits and 6,000 business licenses, and answers roughly 22,000 calls and 52,000 emails. Its population has grown 30% since 2010.

Currently, the county relies on a 16-year-old legacy permitting system that hasn’t evolved to meet its modern-day needs. Largely unchanged from when it was implemented, the system’s functionality is lacking, and for most permits, customers still have to apply in person. Staff also still rely on Excel spreadsheets and ancillary programs for permitting-related tasks, and it’s difficult to work with from a reporting perspective.

“There’s a lot of in-person contact, and not [a lot] that occurs online,” explains Michael Blanchard, the county’s Director of Technology Services. “That’s one of the things we want to change - we want to push a lot of that [online] so people can do self-serve.”

In addition to a user-friendly portal to provide customers easy access to permitting and business licensing services online, with Clariti, the county’s biggest goal is to increase staff efficiency and productivity, especially because they operate lean.

Right now, staff spend a lot of time struggling with less-than-optimal workflows and insufficient reporting capabilities that don’t meet their needs. “We evaluated several systems, [and] Clariti appeared to [offer] the best workflow capabilities, reporting, and end-user/customer interface,” says Michael.

“We’re thrilled to support Columbia County’s productivity and customer experience goals with our easy-to-use, highly-configurable community development platform,” says Clariti Co-CEO, Cyrus Symoom.

Once live, multiple departments will use the new system, including plan review, planning, stormwater compliance, building standards, licensing, and water utility.