Google Hangout Reduces Need to Travel to Meetings, Lowering the Cost of Government
Update: September 10, 2014
The partnership between the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) and the Governor's Office of Information Technology (OIT) to save money by utilizing Google Hangout video teleconference is cited in the "Digital States Survey 2014", as part of the Survey's findings that “Colorado’s transportation information technology initiatives were forward-thinking, innovative, and effective".
February 20, 2014
What was improved, briefly
Implementation of “Google Hangout”, a video teleconferencing application, allows the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) employees to have virtual face-to-face meetings, which reduces the need to travel to other locations for some types of in-person meetings. Reducing the need to travel helps to reduce the cost of government at CDOT.
Background and details of the improvement
Leveraging the features provided by Google Apps for Government, CDOT partnered with the Governor’s Office of Information Technology (OIT) to test and implement “Google Hangout”. This implementation allows all of CDOT’s 3,000-plus people to use this video conference capability, which improves the ability to communicate more effectively with other people across the state.
Google Hangout provides the ability to conduct video conference calls easily and cost-effectively. Google Hangouts allows up to 15 participates at different CDOT locations to engage in an online video and voice chat, even from handheld devices and smartphones. Implementation of this capability has saved time and money by allowing CDOT employees to ‘skip the trip’ to headquarters or other locations. This improves communication and collaboration among CDOT’s 200-plus staffed locations throughout the state.
CDOT’s implementation of Google Hangout also paves the way for other state Departments and Office to use this capability, which will allow them to reduce the need for travel, also.