State of Vermont Places in Top 5 of Government Experience Awards

The Center for Digital Government awarded the State of Vermont fourth place in the 2020 Government Experience awards for the overall state government experience category.

Vermont, which partners with digital government solutions firm NIC Vermont, located in Montpelier, was honored for the user experience strategies across the Vermont Web Portal and Vermont.gov.

"This award is a culmination of the hard work and research we've put into making sure our state web properties serve the people of Vermont in the best way possible," said Secretary John Quinn, Chief Information Officer for the State of Vermont. "One of our goals for this initiative was to make sure users can quickly perform functions and find information, and this award solidifies we are on the right track. We will continue to focus on creating citizen-centric digital government experiences."

The State of Vermont provides a consistent user experience across all digital government services, and the website designs are created intuitively for both desktop and mobile devices. The newest iteration of Vermont.gov, launched in 2019, introduced a new, centrally located search bar which also moves with the user upon scrolling. Vermont.gov serves as the gateway resource for conducting digital government business. In 2020, the same principles and practices that were used to improve Vermont.gov were applied to other Vermont agency websites for across-the-board consistency and easier navigation. The redesigned websites boast a customer satisfaction rating of 4 out of 5 stars.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the new Vermont web properties were updated to support agency response and emergency efforts. For example, the Vermont Department of Labor was quickly able to implement an online service to expedite requests for unemployment insurance and to alleviate the sudden surge to call centers. The Department of Labor was able to implement the new form to begin receiving and processing applications within the span of two days.

"This award for the state of Vermont is so well-deserved," said Kim Cuciti, General Manager of NIC Vermont. "When we launched the new Vermont.gov in 2019, we knew it was just the beginning of the enhanced user experience for the state. We are proud of our state partners for making these enhancements possible."

The Government Experience Awards recognize the achievements and best practices of states, cities and counties that excel at creating useful online government services and applications. The Center for Digital Government is a national research and advisory institute on information technology policies and sets the standard for measuring best practices in state and local government.

NIC Vermont

NIC Vermont is the official digital government partner for the State of Vermont. Managed through a unique public-private partnership, the Montpelier company builds and manages interactive government services on behalf of the state and is a wholly owned subsidiary of digital government firm NIC (NASDAQ:EGOV).

About NIC Inc.

NIC (Nasdaq: EGOV) is a leading digital government solutions and payments company, serving more than 7,000 federal, state and local government agencies across the nation. With headquarters in Olathe, Kan., NIC partners with the majority of U.S. states to deliver user-friendly digital services that make it easier and more efficient to interact with government ? providing valuable conveniences like applying for unemployment insurance, submitting business filings, renewing licenses, accessing information and making secure payments without visiting a government office. In the COVID-19 era and beyond, NIC helps government agencies rapidly deliver digital solutions to provide essential services to citizens and businesses alike. Having served the public sector for nearly 30 years, NIC continues to evolve with its federal, state and local government partners to deliver innovative and cost-effective digital government to constituents. Learn more at www.egov.com.