Press Release

Oakland County Mobile Services Wins National Awards

Pontiac, Michigan, September 18, 2007 – Oakland County Mobile Services was recently honored with a 2007 Achievement Award from the National Association of Counties (NACo) and a 2007 Digital Government Achievement Award from the national Center for Digital Government. 

Mobile Services provides access to the most commonly requested information from Oakland County's 19,000+ public web site pages to users of small-screen web browsers such as wireless Internet enabled phones, handheld computers and personal digital assistants.  Users of this technology who visit Oakland County's web site at www.oakgov.com will be automatically directed to the Mobile Services menu. 

Mobile Services currently offers a variety of options for on-the-go citizens, including County government telephone numbers, access to recent County news, and the locations of County golf courses.  Citizens will also be able to use Mobile Services to get emergency alert information when necessary.  Oakland County podcasts are available via Mobile Services to users of compatible mobile wireless devices, such as smartphones and certain handheld computers. 

Mobile Services was launched in November 2006 to extend Oakland County’s already robust eGovernment initiative.  The service was developed based on citizen responses to a public survey conducted on the County’s web site.  Since its launch, Mobile Services has had consistently steady usage, indicating that citizens are adopting this new way of doing business with Oakland County government. 

"We designed Mobile Services to serve the growing number of citizens who rely on their cell phones and PDAs to access the Internet, and it’s an honor to receive this national recognition from NACO and the Center for Digital Government for our continuing efforts to meet the changing needs of our community," said Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson.

“These awards emphasize the importance of newer mobile technologies for local government.  Our citizens expect only the best from Oakland County eGovernment, and we’re proud to offer Mobile Services as our latest option for doing business with the County,” said Phil Bertolini, Oakland County CIO and Deputy County Executive.

Mobile Services was the result of a successful educational partnership between Oakland County and students from Michigan State University’s Eli Broad College of Business, School of Information Technology Management.  Students worked with County eGovernment staff to create the service while gaining valuable job skills and experience.

More information about Mobile Services is online for traditional browsers at http://www.oakgov.com/mobile.

Given annually since 1970, NACo Achievement Awards recognize unique, innovative county government programs.  The Mobile Services award is one of twelve Achievement Awards received by Oakland County this year. 

The Center for Digital Government is a national research and advisory institute focusing on information technology and best practices in local government.  The prestigious Digital Government Achievement Award in the Government-to-Citizen category was given to only six County government programs throughout the nation this year.

Find out more about Oakland County online resources at http://www.oakgov.com. For media inquiries only, please contact Bob Dustman, Oakland County Media and Communications Officer, at 248-858-1048.
###