San Luis Obispo, often hailed as "The Happiest City in America," is a vibrant and historic community located in the heart of California's Central Coast. With a rich history dating back to its founding in 1772 by the Spanish Empire, this city is now a bustling residential and business hub with a population of approximately 47,500. Known for its picturesque landscapes, extensive network of parks, and a dynamic cultural scene, San Luis Obispo takes pride in its inclusive community spirit and commitment to maintaining a high quality of life. The city’s famous Thursday night farmers market and its status as the largest city in San Luis Obispo County further highlight its role as a key regional center. In this customer spotlight, we explore how San Luis Obispo has leveraged GOGov's innovative solutions to enhance resident engagement and streamline municipal operations.

What was the challenge that led San Luis Obispo to GOGov?

Before adopting GOGov, San Luis Obispo had citizens reaching out to city staff via email or phone call. With the staff inputting in requests or questions manually, the process was insufficient. There was no centralized system to track responses and check inquiry statuses, and no standard response templates. The staff did not have a way to track data metrics and reporting capabilities were basically non-existent.

In 2021, San Luis Obispo selected GOGov after a very competitive RFP process, during which time a staff panel representing a cross-section of different departments within the city vetted many qualified proposals. They viewed product demos from several companies and ultimately selected GOGov for a few different reasons. SLO was looking for a seamless integration with their existing systems, which included GIS, EnerGov, City Works, and ADFS single sign-on.

The city also liked that GOGov’s Citizen Requests/311 module module was a very simple and easy communication platform and allowed staff to customize the platform as well. Having the mobile app “Ask SLO” is a great addition to the city, and very user-friendly end-users, which is important to San Luis Obispo staff. The municipality branded mobile app allows citizens to report their issues or concerns on their smartphones that include photos, details, descriptions, and maps of where the issue takes place.

How is San Luis Obispo using GOGov today?

Currently San Luis Obispo uses Citizen Requests/311 throughout all departments in the city for questions or different request topics. The CRM is predominantly used by SLO’s Community Services departments, which include Public Works, Code Enforcement, Parks & Recreations, and Utilities. The city is always looking to expand the usage among the departments with customization of the product. San Luis Obispo is also in the process of implementing GOGov’s Code Enforcement module, which allows code enforcement officers to generate letters & printouts, report issues, monitor inspection notes and actions, and more!

One of the ways Citizen Requests/311 has played a huge part in SLO’s community is managing abandoned shopping carts throughout the city. The city works with business owners to encourage a more effective containment of shopping carts, but the issue of abandoned shopping cards has persisted. GOGov was able to work with SLO’s staff to build “Abandoned Shopping Carts” as a topic on the platform and worked with the team to add outside notifications to these shopping cart requests that were tied to a custom drop down with the business’ name. This not only alerts business owners, but also their cart retrieval services when a ticket is submitted with the business’ name. It has been a very effective response to an issue that has been going on for years.

“My advice would be to consider the simplicity for both internal and external users. The integration capabilities and the reporting tools of GOGov’s solutions are unmatched in my eyes and what you see is what you get. As I mentioned previously, there are ways of customizing just about anything and GOGov is always willing to help you do so.”
-Brendan Pringle, Senior Business Analyst at San Luis Obispo City.

Future Plans for San Luis Obispo

San Luis Obispo is hoping to go live soon with their recent implementation of GOEnforce, which will provide a more streamlined integrated code enforcement platform, and they are also exploring Citizen Notifications as a potential future project. They plan to continue to use Citizen Requests/311 solution to communicate with residents and use the platform as a voice for residents.

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“The customer support at GOGov is incredible. We typically hear back on questions and requests within 24 business hours which in my opinion, speaks volumes about GOGov’s commitment to their customers and to high quality service, Joe Palladino and his team there are great to work with. And on top of that, the marketing and PR resources that you have provided are at no cost have been very helpful upon promoting Ask SLO.”
-Brendan Pringle, Senior Business Analyst at San Luis Obispo City.

Your Municipality Powered by GOGov

GOGov is committed to helping municipalities and local governments enhance community engagement, streamline operations, and foster transparent communication. Our partnership with San Luis Obispo demonstrates the potential of our solutions to make a meaningful impact on cities of all sizes, and our continued efforts to improve and innovate further.  

GOGov specializes in providing CRM, Code Enforcement, Citizen Notifications, Online Permitting and mobile software to local governments of all sizes. We built our software from the ground up working with the departments and staff that now use our products every single day.

Interested in learning more? Sign up for a demo with the GOGov team today.

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