On Wednesday 17 February, Microsoft presented Centric with the 'Most innovative Microsoft partner for government bodies’ award during the Microsoft Partner Day for local and regional authorities. The award went to Centric for its continued innovations in the product portfolio for local councils, water boards and provincial authorities.
“This award is proof of our good relationship with Microsoft and, most of all, confirmation that we are on the right track with Centric Melodies, our new future-proof product line for local councils," said Strategic Product Manager, Lidwien Meijers, who accepted the prize on behalf of Centric.
One of Centric’s key innovations last year was the development of a number of off-the-shelf solutions for Microsoft Surface Computing, enabling government bodies to provide better services to citizens and businesses, cooperate more easily and get more out of their meetings. These solutions include Surface Taxatie for quickly processing appeals against assessments under the Dutch Valuation of Immovable Property Act (WOZ), Surface Sociale Kaart for improving self-service at Social Support Act (WMO) desks, Surface Control Room for managing disasters and emergencies and Surface Zicht op Zaken for easy access to a council-wide document management system.
The release of a large number of entirely new process systems within Centric Melodies was another of last year’s key innovations. This included solutions for basic details, taxes, workflow, people, enforcement, permits, work and debt counselling. These specialised solutions reduce operational costs for government bodies, make work significantly easier and support staff in their tasks. Centric has developed these new solutions using the Microsoft .Net platform as a foundation. The ‘Centric Practices Framework’ was used during the development - a new method enabling rapid development of high-quality, service-oriented solutions.
A third key innovation saw the bundling of public services and document management solutions into a council-wide business system, a system that can be purchased entirely as an online service. Naturally, this includes the necessary links to the organisation’s own Centric process systems, third-party solutions and national facilities for eBilling, Mijn Overheid and the Omgevingsloket online, to name but a few. Last year, M&I Argitek e-business architects proclaimed the new Centric business system one of the four best business systems available in the Netherlands.
Centric will continue to invest in the latest technologies and products in the future in order to provide new and existing customers with off-the-shelf solutions. “This award is not just a fine reward for our achievements, but also a brilliant source of encouragement, particularly in light of the upcoming trade fair for Government & ICT, where visitors will be able to test our innovative applications themselves at our stand," concluded Meijers.
Microsoft LRG Partner Day – Accessible Government
Microsoft’s annual LRG Partner Day is all about Accessible Government and involves discussing current topics, presenting new Microsoft developments and taking a look at how Microsoft and its partners can anticipate requirements, trends, developments, rules, legislation and regulations even better, in order to be able to contribute towards improving e-services and increasing the accessibility of government bodies for citizens and businesses. The day traditionally ends with the presentation of the Partner Awards.