Leading Social Enterprise Management Software Provider Enables Citizen-Driven Government

 

Herndon, Va. – August 31, 2009 – Cúram Software, the leading provider of Social Enterprise Management (SEM) software solutions, today announced the recent success of Cúram for Citizen Self-Service, a solution that provides citizens with secure, online access to services across an agency’s social enterprise, empowering them to easily find the information they need, screen or determine eligibility and apply for benefits and services. This solution provides more timely, comprehensive and targeted services to citizens and allows them to proactively manage their health and human services benefits, leading to improved outcomes for individuals and families.

 

Social enterprises including health & human services, social security and workforce services agencies strive to provide care and protection for citizens in their time of need. Despite their best efforts, citizens face long lines at multiple offices with limited office hours, complicated manual application processes, and a lack of knowledge about available benefits and services. In order to address these issues, agencies are utilizing Cúram for Citizen Self-Service, a Web-based solution that allows citizens to screen for eligibility of a wide range of federal, state and community programs online.

 

Cúram for Citizen Self-Service gives agencies the tools they need to consolidate information from multiple agency and community programs and provides a single point of access for citizens in need. The Cúram solution combines a user friendly, browser-based application for citizens with pre-packaged, configurable screening and eligibility rules for more than 25 different income support programs. As a result, citizens reap the benefit of anytime, anywhere access to programs and services through online screening and application tools while agencies can effectively reduce the amount of time caseworkers spend on processing applications and determining eligibility and spend more time helping citizens realize their social and economic potential through return-to-work programs, job retraining and other services.

 

Cúram for Citizen Self-Service has already been deployed in several agencies across the United States and is seeing results. Louisiana’s Department of Social Services (DSS) turned to Cúram for Citizen Self-Service to deliver on the commitment to completely revamp the application process and delivery of Disaster Food Stamp benefits to their citizens. This new online pre-registration system, which went live prior to the start of 2009’s hurricane season, will reduce fraud and expedite benefit delivery. "Collecting the required income information for the Disaster Food Stamp application is easier to do before a hurricane strikes rather than after an evacuation,” said DSS Secretary Kristy Nichols. “I hope all residents who may be eligible will make pre-application for Disaster Food Stamps part of their hurricane preparation plan."

 

In New York City, ACCESS NYC allows city residents to easily create an account, check their eligibility for 35 city, state and federal human service benefit programs, and manage their cases online at their own convenience. ACCESS NYC uses a “no wrong door” approach that screens applicants for all health & human services programs for which they may qualify, regardless of why they arrived at the site. Citizens don’t need to know about a specific program in order to apply for it. “In many cases, clients don’t know which programs even exist and the details of them — and they shouldn’t have to,” said Kamal Bherwani, CIO for Health and Human Services and executive director of HHS-Connect in New York’s Office of the Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services. “Now they can get online, and the system will say ‘These are the seven programs you might be eligible for.’ It’s a very client-centric program…it’s really transforming the culture of how we interact with clients.”

 

In May 2009 at the IBM Innovation Centre (IIC) in Hursley, England, Cúram Software conducted performance and scalability tests designed to replicate the high volume of citizen self-service screening, application and online intake typically seen by social service agencies responsible for administering income assistance programs. These tests demonstrated positive results with the Cúram for Citizen Self-Service solution efficiently handling the representative workload of 3,700 concurrent self-service users -- completing 8,178 screens per hour, which resulted in 2,453 online applications – all while consistently producing sub-second response time for users.  

 

 “With Cúram for Citizen Self-Service, citizen-driven government has finally become a reality, as we deliver on the promise of improved outcomes by creating effective communications between governments and the citizens they serve,” said Ronan Rooney, founder and chief technology officer, Cúram Software.  “Cúram for Citizen Self-Service provides a dynamic and configurable platform that fundamentally changes the speed at which citizen-facing capabilities can be created and deployed.”

 

SEM is a category of enterprise software that is citizen-centric and leverages COTS products to transform as well as modernize health, human services, workforce services, and social security agencies. SEM provides comprehensive enterprise eligibility IT solutions – crossing agency boundaries, simplifying policies, and integrating with existing technology. SEM fosters holistic, convenient services for citizens as well as provides screening for needs and referrals to state- and community-based resources.

Cúram Software is the leading provider of Social Enterprise Management (SEM) software solutions, delivering best-in-class applications for social enterprises globally including, health and human services, workforce services, and social security organizations. Using the Cúram Business Application Suite™ agencies can immediately reap the benefits of client-centric business processes and an outcomes-driven integrated service delivery model. The Cúram Business Application Suite, underpinned by the Cúram Enterprise Framework™, combines the advantages of commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) software, an enterprise platform and service-oriented architecture with the business and technical flexibility required to allow agencies to implement solutions to meet their strategic objectives. Cúram Software is headquartered in Dublin, Ireland with offices throughout North America, Europe, Australia, and India. For more information, visit www.curamsoftware.com.