The technology bypasses the relationship between citizens and authorities. After collecting 38,000 users and 12,000 alerts in the first 4 months using a beta app, Civic Alert is preparing for the release of the "official" number 1.0 at the end of March. Relying on Microsoft Azure cloud services, the application developed by TotalSoft - one of the most important partners of Microsoft CRM - is ready for the exponential growth of the number of users as it can be stipulated by the figures in the first months of operation.

Civic Alert is the largest self-service for citizens of Romania, through which they can easily and quickly report civic problems to responsible authorities.

The often too complicated process through which a problem is brought to the attention of civic authorities - local or regional - is picked up by a dedicated call center aimed at resolving the complaint registered through the application. Together with the almost universal spread of smartphones, a simple gesture can record an image problem, its location (using GPS coordinates) and send notification to the monitoring center Civic Alert. Here the complaints are collected and structured by an automated CRM (Customer Relationship Management) that is configured as a complaints management center, running on Microsoft Azure. The fact that the system is running in Azure cloud archiving ensures automatic and immediate availability of data and dramatically eases the effort to track the path of a message from complaint to resolution.

Based on the reports and information provided by the CRM system, call-center operators contact relevant authorities to resolve these complaints.

Thus, authorities receive free, real-time information about issues resolved in the city. Many public institutions in various localities have already expressed enthusiasm for this communication tool given that it facilitates a better connection with citizens and greater efficiency in solving the problems they face in the public space. Over 370 cases were confirmed as resolved by the authorities so far.

In the period from December to March, the app has registered more than 12,000 alerts sent by users. Their distribution by categories brings a pretty accurate picture of the daily urban problems of Romania. Abusive or illegal parking lots are the most numerous, followed by pits and abandoned waste.

The Collecting Alert System runs in cloud - Civic Alert benefited from a solution developed by Total Soft based on the cloud service from Microsoft.

Regarding the collaboration with Civic Alert, Daniel Balaceanu, Product Manager, Charisma Business Applications at TotalSoft said that "developing solutions that have a net positive effect in the community or society as a whole seems one of the most offering uses of top notch technology. The cloud and the paradigm changes it brings to the use and development of technology is the spearhead of current digital progress - it seems fitted that it supported change for the better, wherever it occurs. "

Civic Alert is a software solution that consists of a mobile application, accessible on smartphone, a public website to track the status of complaints and a back office system based on Microsoft Dynamics CRM technology.

Adrian Stanescu, Civic Alert’s founder: "I started Civic Alert following a personal failure: for two months every day I vowed that I would refer to the town hall about the lack of traffic lights next to the park where I walked the kids. After two months, I decided I need to find a solution and because we already had experience in digital, we created an application to send my complaint to the authorities. Soon we realized that an application by itself does not solve the problem. We needed a scalable, flexible and mobile solution so we can process and track everything that happens transparently forward with complaints. We added the call center and we decided to move all the activity in the cloud. This allowed us to respect our users' promise: we will use technology and the power of crowdsourcing to improve civic space."

Although version 1.0 will be launched at the end of March, Civic Alert already has plans to extend the system starting from the same intention of transforming society and urban life through technology - the virtual office of lost objects, a project for the measurement of the quality of the air through mobile sensors or a solution for traffic complaints  through video cameras attached to vehicles.