Transitioning from web content to digital service

This Strategic Story is just one example of how the 2023-2026 Strategic Plan and community feedback helped inform the 2024-2026 staff tabled budget.

Innovation and Future-Ready:

Digital service improves customer service and prioritizes accessibility for all residents in the community.

What we heard

When residents shared their vision for the future of Waterloo, comment themes included:

My vision for Waterloo includes full ability to easily access any city data or info needed and applications coming through online.

Digitize processes, services and objects wherever possible and move things to the cloud so it’s accessible online.

It can be challenging to initially register and get used to the online system they use.

Why it's important

Technology continues to change the way we live, work, and interact. Residents rely on the waterloo.ca website as the main source of information about our programs and services, but our website is also transitioning from an information source to a customer service tool. People should be able to book, sign up, pay for, and check the status of all kinds of things online, in addition to requesting information or telling us something. We need to make sure that the customer experience on our website is user-focused, inclusive, accessible and welcoming, just like our in-person customer service.

What we're doing

With budget adoption, you will see the expansion of digital services available on the waterloo.ca website. We’ll make sure the way you access information and services makes sense, and will involve residents in testing to make sure these services meet your needs. We will also improve the legacy services that are already online, making them as user-friendly and accessible as possible. We’ll continue to share information online, and continue moving that information out of pdf documents that need to be downloaded and into more accessible formats (that can also be translated).

Read more Strategic Stories.