Accela, a provider of cloud-based solutions for state and local government, announced a fiscal year of business momentum fueled by powering governments’ transition to SaaS in a landscape that has shifted permanently to a digital-first approach.
The fiscal year ended with record growth in annual recurring revenue and professional services revenue performance. To bolster this momentum and in anticipation of continued market expansion, critical new staff were added across the company.
This past quarter, Accela migrated governments to the cloud, rolled out new customer implementations, secured new partnerships and announced its Spring 2021 Product Release, which included extensive mobile, administrative, and resident engagement enhancements to help agencies meet the growing demand for online services.
“Governments are emerging from this unprecedented period with a deeper focus on delivering a seamless and accessible digital experience for constituents,” said Gary Kovacs, CEO of Accela. “Accela is the trusted partner making that experience a reality, and enabling agencies to focus on stimulating their economies while reopening and protecting their communities. With customers moving to the cloud and our new partnerships and implementations, we’re helping governments to raise the industry standard for what’s possible in delivering impactful and efficient services, and dynamic resident engagement.”
Accela’s focus on helping on-premises customers upgrade to its SaaS platform continues to fuel its success. Nearly 65 percent of Accela Civic Platform customers are on SaaS to accelerate their digital transformation.
Spring 2021 Product Release Unveiled
In May, Accela unveiled its Spring 2021 Product Release with enhanced insights and analytics capabilities. This release, which relied on customer feedback and partner input, brings more resiliency, usability, and agility to help agencies with digital service delivery. The Spring Release gives customers extensive enhancements to their mobile, administrative and citizen experience applications. Updates included the Civic Platform V21.1, improvements to Accela’s pre-configured Civic Applications and Accela Mobile, and new features for reporting and analytics.
New Solar Software Solution Helps Jurisdictions Achieve Permitting Goals
In April, Accela partnered with the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory to launch SolarAPP+ (Solar Automated Permit Processing Plus), an instant online solar permitting platform for residential solar energy and battery projects. The SaaS solution was rolled out to 1,500 agencies at launch and made available at no cost to Accela’s current state and local customers. With SolarAPP+, permitting timelines can shrink from an average of two weeks to almost instantaneous.
New Partnerships Drive Revenue Growth for Agencies
The Accela partner ecosystem helped to extend more critical services to customers and the residents they serve. This quarter, these included:
- A technology (ISV) partnership with Short Term Rental (STR) compliance platform Harmari, which helps agencies to identify and monitor short term rentals, ensure compliance with local laws and generate increased revenues for agencies
- The City of Yuba City, California, and City of DeLand, Florida, implemented a digital permitting system integration with Forte Payment Systems, a CSG company, powered by Accela technology. As a result, these jurisdictions can utilize a best-in-breed, integrated solution for online and in-office transactions, resulting in increased transparency, improved user experience for citizens and staff, and more efficient use of resources.
- Several customer go-lives in partnership with Gray Quarter, including Seattle and Louisville, and new feature and function implementations for Montana. Working together, Accela and Gray Quarter helped customers see new results, including an improvement of at least 50 percent in housing permit processing times in DeLand, and eliminating 90 percent of data entry work for Sonoma County’s Water Well Monitoring Inspection System this quarter.
Accela Announces New Senior Government Affairs Leader and Accelarate 2021
To further its collaborations with some of the most sophisticated government agencies in North America, Accela appointed Dennis W. Alpert as its head of government affairs. A well-respected government and political strategist, Alpert boasts experience at the highest levels for major global companies such as Walmart and Pfizer, and as a senior advisor in the White House.
For more information, go to accela.com.
