As part of our growth and development initiatives to improve our services, GovSense had the pleasure of attending the 110th annual Government Finance Officers Association Conference as an exhibitor. The conference, held May 22-25 in Toronto, Ontario had “Sharing Solutions and Strategies” as a theme.

This relevant topic for governments across the United States and Canada was carried out through a series of sessions featuring public-sector practitioners who discussed best practices, lessons learned and innovative approaches that will help maximize efficiency to better serve communities.

Even though the conference provided attendees with a large amount of vital information to overcome challenges that jurisdictions face regularly, below are some of the main takeaways and ways in which GovSense can help your organization follow them.

1. Realize your full potential
   
   For our communities to become truly financially resilient, we need all the help we can get. By elevating the role of financial departments and taking advantage of the employee’s full potential, those who help our organizations with key activities like accounting and budgeting will become more engaged and therefore, more productive.
   
   Realizing this potential can be achieved through our true cloud solution, which helps increase productivity by at least 10 percent and reduces IT costs by eliminating the need for hardware maintenance and personnel.

2. Finance is the backbone of your organization
   
   Residents rely on jurisdictions, which is why we are all responsible for providing the best possible services for our communities. Without the money, however, the work cannot get done and the accountability demanded by the public doesn’t exist.
   
   In order to help your jurisdiction satisfy the community’s needs and make the best possible use of your budget, GovSense offers a variety of budgeting and forecasting solutions, which enable users to plan and analyze financials accurately and effectively.

3. Prepare your communities for the future
   
   Because the challenges we face in our organizations are more complicated than ever before, it is essential that we use our expertise to help communities prepare for the future. We need to learn how to prioritize our needs and find innovative ways to provide services to our residents.
   
   Through GovSense, you can achieve this not only thanks to our true cloud solution, but also through our integrations with tools such as DocuSign, Esri, Box and popular email and calendar management tools such as Microsoft Outlook.

4. Government must take a leadership role
   
   Becoming more engaged with colleagues in other departments is a great start. We must find innovative solutions that will benefit the community by integrating departments and developing a collaborative environment.
   
   GovSense can help your organization collaborate more effectively with truly intuitive process tracking that help you share information across departments within one platform.

The 111th Annual Conference will take place May 21-24, 2017 at the Colorado Convention Center in Denver, Colorado. We will continue to work with GFOA and participate in upcoming conferences that bring government agencies together!

About GFOA

The Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA), founded in 1906, represents public finance officials throughout the United States and Canada. The association’’s more than 18,000 members are federal, state/provincial, and local finance officials deeply involved in planning, financing, and implementing thousands of governmental operations in each of their jurisdictions.