Welcome back to part two of our data storytelling series! If you missed the first post, you can read it here.
I had no idea what to expect. As one of the newest members on the mySidewalk team, I had just barely gotten my head wrapped around what we did. So when I was asked to interview the city leaders of Williamsburg, Virginia, to learn about how they were leveraging our Performance Dashboards, I thought it would be like most of the case study interviews I’d done. I thought I’d have to coax them to tell us why they liked our product.
But I couldn’t have been more wrong.
I knew as soon as I got on the phone with Mark Barham, the Information Technology Director at the City of Williamsburg, that he’d write my story for me. And he did – Mark spent the next 40 minutes telling me about how much he loved mySidewalk.
Before they found us, Mark’s team, like most city leaders, had struggled to effectively analyze and communicate the value of their work to their city council and community. They wanted to be able to tie critical efforts to specific KPIs, so they could tell the story of how they were improving their city. Their current city performance data tool gave them lots of data, but it didn’t help them make sense of the information.
mySidewalk gave them the clarity and transparency they needed. Get the full story here, or check out the sneak peek below.
You can read all the case studies in the world, but there’s nothing quite like hearing it straight from the horse’s mouth. I agree. So, I decided to share a couple of audio bites from my chat with Mark, so you can hear precisely what he said, in his own words.
Below is his response to my question about when his team knew that mySidewalk would help them achieve their goals.
The epiphany came when they saw the dashboards firsthand. Lesson learned, whatever software solution you may be looking for, schedule demos, so you can see for yourself what’s going to work for your city.
My favorite part of my conversation with Mark was when I asked him if partnering with us had achieved what he hoped it would. His response absolutely made our week. Listen below.
Everyone knows a tool is only as good as the customers say it is, which is why Williamsburg’s feedback means the world to us.
We are truly honored to help cities like Williamsburg make their community better. Thank you for your tireless work and public service. Thank you for being committed to innovation and building a smarter city.
Read Williamsburg’s story, or check out their City Performance dashboard for yourself. Or learn more about mySidewalk’s City Performance.
Anna Duin is a Digital and Content Marketing Strategist. She uses extensive research to build powerful campaigns designed to attract new customers. Anna’s specialty is scaling website traffic and driving lead generation by developing high converting content based on prospects' critical needs.
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