Accela, the trusted provider at the heart of government operations, announced the expansion of its cloud-based solution to help communities respond to and prepare for the growing threat of natural disasters. The updated Rapid Damage Assessment (RDA) can now be used in the event of hurricanes, fires, floods, tornados and more. With new geospatial and mobile capabilities, the pre-configured solution is instantly available to hundreds of existing government customers and quickly available to new customers as part of Accela’s Civic Platform.
Communities are facing historic flooding from record West Coast snowmelt, worsening fire seasons, and natural disasters exacerbated by climate change, putting residents’ lives, livelihoods, businesses and infrastructure at risk. Many disaster response and inspection efforts rely on manual processes, delaying relief and funding. As agencies work to increase their communities’ resiliency, they need quick, affordable and easy-to-implement technology to expedite relief and help them prepare.
CIO INFLUENCE: HP Chooses RISE with SAP to Help Drive Digital Transformation, Optimization and Efficiency
“Our communities are facing historic storms and impacts from snow melts and hurricanes. Accela’s new, easy-to-use tools help agencies prepare and respond to get communities back on their feet,” said Accela Vice President of Product Management Amber D’Ottavio. “With bulk inspection records, offline mobile options, relief permitting compliance and more, this enhanced solution leverages our years of best practices to help communities prepare, respond and rebuild more quickly and cost-effectively.”
Accela expanded its disaster preparedness and response solution in response to customers’ demand for more accessible, digital tools. The solution now helps communities prepare by ensuring safety codes are being enforced across structures, hazardous materials, fire safety and more. The solution also bolsters communities’ recovery by empowering residents to report damage, streamlining the permit application and review process, automating inspection and clean-up assignments, and centralizing data and reporting. With new online and offline mobile options, photos, videos and other assessment data can easily be captured without being impacted by any service disruptions.
CIO INFLUENCE: Organizations are Advancing their Digital Strategies with AI
“When Hurricane Ian struck last fall, digital damage assessment tools had a huge impact in helping us recover,” said Ben Bailey, Community Development Director of Charlotte County, Florida. “We were able to quickly see where the worst impacts were and direct relief to those most in need. As a community that will continue to face the threat of hurricanes, Accela allows us to prepare and support our recovery efforts, making it possible for residents to return to their homes and businesses faster.”
Now integrated with Esri’s ArcGIS Survey123, the expanded solution streamlines inspections required by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and Reasonable Expected Market Area (REMA). The two-way integration sends survey results and geospatial data to Accela Civic Platform for location-based planning and automated inspections, allowing communities to prioritize the areas most in need and to track overall progress of recovery efforts within the GIS dashboard.
CIO INFLUENCE: Datadog Releases Data Streams Monitoring to Assess Streaming Data Pipeline Performance
[To share your insights with us, please write to sghosh@martechseries.com]
