Montgomery County’s Department of Technology and Enterprise Business Solutions Wins Three NACo Awards, Including ‘Best in Category’ for Senior Planet—Home Edition

For Immediate Release: Friday, July 9, 2021

Montgomery County’s Department of Technology and Enterprise Business Solutions (TEBS) has won three awards from the National Association of Counties (NACo), including the “Best in Category” award for adapting its Senior Planet Montgomery program designed for learners 50 and older to an online edition during the COVID-19 health crisis.

NACo selected 18 Best in Category awardees from 2021 entries submitted by counties and state associations in 28 states. In addition to the recognition of Senior Planet Montgomery in the Information Technology category, TEBS earned “Achievement Awards” for its "311 Customer Service Improvements" project and the "Bridging the Rural-Urban Divide" program. All were entered in the Information Technology category.  

Senior Planet Montgomery and its partner OATS (now powered by AARP) offers free digital inclusion and lifestyle enhancement programs that help people 50-and-older to use the Internet for daily living. The program taught classes in person before COVID-19. It was quickly adapted to produce courses online after the virus impacted much of the nation in spring 2020.

Within one week of COVID shutdowns, OATS and TEBS transformed their existing program to create “Senior Planet Montgomery—Home Edition.” Staff members called past participants, put flyers in meal boxes delivered to seniors, and gave English and Spanish local morning TV news shows interviews to promote awareness to seniors. OATS rewrote training for delivery via Zoom, created tech guides and “How to Zoom” videos. County summer youth workers provided one‐on‐one tech support for seniors and signup help for low‐cost home Internet programs. During the past year, the program expanded from its classes in English and Spanish to also offer courses in Mandarin.

Before COVID, Senior Planet served 846 participants in the first three quarters of 2020. In its first quarter online, it served 4,776 people. Over its first three quarters during the health crisis, participation increased to 8,804 online users.

“I firmly believe that recognition by NACo for Senior Planet Montgomery Home Edition as the best IT program in the country is a reflection that NACo agrees with our vision that when we make investments to help residents use technology, there are benefits for County government as well as for residents,” said TEBS Director Gail Roper. “Expanding the ability of residents to use technology for daily living also expands the County’s ability to cost-effectively deliver County services digitally to all of our residents.  From electronic payments to online community meetings attended by hundreds instead of handfuls to chatbots that answer questions in 12 languages, smart technologies transform the way the County delivers services. Senior Planet Montgomery is ensuring all residents, especially older adults and those accessing services in languages other than English, will benefit from the digital revolution. Our additional NACo achievement awards for expanding access to technology for all residents by working with Comcast to bring broadband to the rural Sugarland area, and for leveraging technology to improve service for residents by using chatbots to dramatically improve MC311 wait times, confirms our strategic vision for Montgomery County.”

During the COVID-19 health crisis, the demand for COVID-related information and the need for income, food and rental support in Montgomery County climbed sharply. As a result, its MC311 call center experienced a 15 percent increase in call volume. However, callers often experienced long hold times just to connect with a live agent—a first step in obtaining County services.

TEBS led efforts with the MC311 team to analyze its current state and enact a short-term strategic path forward. TEBS comprehensively analyzed internal staffing needs, cross-departmental processes and technology enhancements, including an artificial intelligence-driven website chatbot, to immediately improve the customer experience.  As a result of these efforts, abandonment rates decreased from 26 percent to 6 percent and wait times are down from 5:14 minutes to 1:07 minutes.

The Sugarland Broadband Project (“Bridging the Rural-Urban Digital Divide”) was a project of TEBS’ Office of Broadband Programs in cooperation with the County’s Office of Agriculture and Comcast. Together, they worked to develop a pilot project with business owners, farmers and residents in the Sugarland area of the County’s Agricultural Reserve. The area did not have enough potential users for a franchise cable/internet provider to extend service to the rural area.  

In the Agricultural Reserve, 37 percent of residents do not have access to the internet for school, work, social interaction, and daily living to enable full participation in the digital economy. A TEBS project team and Comcast worked with businesses and residents for several years in the Sugarland area on a project that evolved to provide more than 20 miles of fiber construction. Eventually, the project evolved to make broadband and cable access available to more than 80 percent of the people in the project area.

“Comcast is always working to keep people connected to reliable, high-speed internet,” said Joshua Bokee, the director for Government and Regulatory Affairs in Comcast’s Beltway Region. “We know how important it is for rural communities to be connected—especially as more daily tasks are done online—and we are proud of the work we have done with Montgomery County to provide high-speed internet and cable TV to Sugarland residents, making their lives more connected than ever.”

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Release ID: 21-545
Media Contact: Neil H. Greenberger 240-205-1915