Introducing Govstack® by GHD Digital

70 percent of citizens in North America prefer online digital services from their local governments - Govstack delivers on this with a citizen-centric platform.

WATERLOO, ONTARIO, CANADA, March 7, 2023 -- GHD Digital today announces the launch of its new flagship product: Govstack, a digital platform built to make it easier for governments to serve and engage with their stakeholders online and accelerate digital transformation within their organizations.

The COVID pandemic shifted citizens’ expectations, with many demanding more digital services. According to a recent survey conducted on behalf of GHD Digital, over 70 percent of Canadian and U.S. citizens prefer to access government services through a website or mobile devices, while only 14 percent prefer in-person services clearly highlighting the expectations of citizens and stakeholders.

This shift, coupled with budget constraints and labor shortages, created significant challenges for public sector organizations struggling to keep up with the demands of their residents. Government organizations’ recognize the need to rapidly innovate and evolve, which in turn requires more robust and flexible solutions, and greater internal control over their ability to provide on-demand services and timely updates to their communities.

These factors motivated the development of the new Govstack digital platform, which provides easy, non-technical content management and website control to public sector organizations – all in a modular, scalable platform that evolves with their needs.

“Govstack is the result of over two decades of experience working closely with public sector organizations to gain a unique understanding of citizens’ needs and the challenges they face in meeting these needs,” said Ali Carden, Global Practice Director of GHD Digital’s Products and Platforms. “We have tailored Govstack to help the public sector digitally transform their businesses, unlock innovation and enhance the lives of their residents”.

Govstack helps municipalities cut costs and optimize their services through four key solutions

• Robust content management system: puts municipalities in charge of their websites
• Interactive forms: enhances service delivery to citizens
• Intuitive events: engages residents and eases registrations for events
• Personalized citizen portal: provides quick access to government information and services of interest to each unique resident.

The Govstack platform leverages insights from our experience in working with government organizations and their communities and integrates the best practices and advanced technologies to solve the complex challenges faced by the public sector. Govstack provides industry guided solutions for municipalities, tourism and economic development. Future releases will include solutions specifically supporting the digital transformation needs of school boards and libraries.

“Our latest research shows that public sector organizations have a clear mandate from their citizens to better serve their communities through the use of digital products and services,” said Kumar Parakala, President, GHD Digital. “The digital acceleration of the last few years will continue to increase the adoption of new technologies, and we will see a greater convergence of physical and digital worlds. Government agencies should use this as an opportunity to adopt a digital mindset throughout their organizations so they can transform not only the way they serve their citizens, but also how they can ensure leadership and operational excellence in the years to come”.

About GHD

GHD is a leading professional services company operating in the global markets of water, energy and resources, environment, property and buildings, and transportation. Committed to a vision to make water, energy, and communities sustainable for generations to come, GHD delivers advisory, digital, engineering, architecture, environmental and construction solutions to public and private sector clients. Established in 1928 and privately owned by its people, GHD’s network of 12,000+ professionals is connected across 160 offices located on five continents.