EzGov solidifies e-gov alliances

Less than a month after touting a strategic partnership with one industry giant, EzGov Inc. was at it again last week, announcing an alliance with PricewaterhouseCoopers to offer business and technology solutions to help governments serve citizens.

Together, the two organizations will provide portal technology, trans-actional applications and consulting services to federal, state and local governments.

On April 20, EzGov announced a similar deal with Electronic Data Systems Corp., and last June, the company joined with IBM Corp. to help EzGov gain ground in the federal marketplace. Although the federal space has not historically been EzGov's biggest market, the partnerships help move the com-pany in that direction, said Randy Street, executive vice president of sales, marketing and government affairs at the Atlanta-based company.

"We're pretty excited about both relationships," Street said. "We are a software company and as such, working with the big integrators is a very important part of our strategy."

Street said EzGov has been working with both EDS and Pricewaterhouse-Coopers for about 10 months, but held off on formally announcing the relationships until there were some government wins to share. "There will be a flurry of [contract] announce-ments in the coming months," Street said.

Rick Webb, managing director of the state and local government practice at PricewaterhouseCoopers, said citizens are demanding the same customer service from government agencies that they get from private businesses. The alliance enables governments to "better their interaction with citizens and businesses while reducing costs," he said.

As part of the joint development and marketing agreement, EzGov will offer its FlexFoundation and StateSuite products. PricewaterhouseCoopers will provide process improvement, customer relationship management, and strategic change and technology services.

FlexFoundation is a scalable e-government software platform that enables governments to build and manage their online presence from an integrated foundation. StateSuite helps federal, state and large local government agencies provide online transactions to citizens and businesses, including:

Driver's license renewal. Vehicle registration. Payment of taxes, tickets and bills. Registration for permits and business filings. Street said EzGov is always open to more partnerships; the company is working on a partnership with another firm that has yet to be announced and is in discussions with others. "As a software company, it's a critical piece of our strategy."