Beep! Beep! The American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators (AAMVA) held their Region I Conference this week in Portland, Maine. Thought leaders and industry professionals seized the opportunity to network with each other, learn best practices from affiliate agencies, and share insights on what’s to come in the continually evolving world of motor vehicle administration and public safety. Portland, Maine provided a beautiful backdrop to the week, especially as conference attendees set sail on a sunset ferry cruise to Peak’s Island for a lobster dinner!
Family is the first word that comes to mind when thinking about the conference attendees. Many leaders who I had the opportunity to meet and learn from have been in this industry for a long time. The community is very tight-knit, but were more than happy to accommodate and welcome a first-time attendee.
My goal was to listen, ask questions, and learn about the current state of the industry, the initiatives for growth on the national and jurisdictional level, and how future challenges are being addressed and tackled.
Collaborative Effort: Information Sharing to Combat Fraud
There is a pervasive push in government for sharing information both publically and inter-agencies. AAMVA programs like State to State (S2S), Verification of Lawful Status (VLS), US Passport Verification Service (USPVS), Records and Information from DMVs for E-Verify (RIDE) are helping agencies prevent fraud and work across jurisdictions.
In a facial recognition session, panelists Terri Egan Executive Deputy Commissioner, NY DMV, Owen McShane Director, Field Investigations, NY DMV, Chrissy Nizer Administrator, Maryland MVA, and Tricia Velez Director of IT, Maryland MVA shared how their agencies have begun to share information, case studies from their investigations and the lengths to which criminals are willing to go to avoid fines and steal identities.
Fraudsters are very calculated in their efforts. They do not hesitate to cross jurisdictional boundaries to commit crimes, have an intimate knowledge of how Motor Vehicle Agencies work, and can take quick action. It’s imperative for agencies to utilize every tool available to them and leverage their network to expand their fight nationally.
The Future is Digital: Business and IT
Public Sector agencies do a tremendous job at utilization of resources. They consistently provide citizens with excellent service, despite often being understaffed, with legacy technology. Technology and security are driving change in the DMV space.
Today’s new drivers have had the internet and mobile phones for a majority of their lives. As a result they expect to have information at their fingertips and satisfaction in real-time. DMV operations rely heavily upon correspondence with customers. DMVs are responsible for issuing licenses, communicating renewals, and keeping accurate up-to-date information on their customers.
In order to support this demand for immediate information, motor vehicle agencies are expanding online capabilities, enhancing technology in call centers and branch offices, and modernizing legacy systems.
A major challenge in modernization is realizing a better future state, not simply replicating what exists today. In the Good Morning Modernization session, Linda Dunstall, Director Ontario Ministry of Transportation, shared that it’s important to “transform your business first.” Successful projects require a significant investment of time and resources, both business and information technology (IT). Many states have a shared service or centralized IT model. In speaking to this partnership, Colleen Ogilvie, Deputy Registrar of MA RMV, shared that, “change management is a bridge you build” to ensure everyone is aligned and working towards the same vision. Coupled with effective communication, agencies ensure that they are working collaboratively to improve their systems and processes.
Top 4 data quality values and questions for DMVs
Throughout the week, data quality challenges were highlighted by jurisdictional leaders. Some agencies have committed to making data quality a priority. Below are a few areas in which agencies partner with Experian Data Quality to increase efficiencies and make data-driven business decisions.
1. Ensuring data quality at point of capture
No matter where you collect data, you want to make sure that it is accurate before it enters your systems. So wherever you are collecting customer address, email, and phone information—via online services, branch offices, or call centers—you want to validate it. How much is working with bad data costing your agency in terms of time, resources, and money? Validating your data at point of capture helps you avoid unnecessary costs.
2. Enhancing customer service and public perception
Some of the questions that many in the DMV space are asking are, "how do we enable our employees to be more efficient during interactions?" and "how do we reduce wait time at branch offices and call times in the call center?" And the answer is through data quality. When you have accurate data that is centralized and easily accessible, you can reduce the wait time and increase the rate of first call resolution. Data quality tools can also help decrease the keystrokes necessary to enter or pull up a record, and ensure that the information you have is reliable, eliminating accidental inaccuracies and reducing return visits. All of this results in happier customers and more positive public perception.
3. 360 degree: Single customer view
As mentioned above, having accurate and centralized data is essential to providing the most efficient service to your customers. Having all of your data in one place is very important, but it's also important that you have a single, accurate record for each customer. To achieve a full understanding of your customers, you will want to de-duplicate your database and also discover complex relationships between data records across disparate systems. With the 360-degree view, you can make better decisions on how best to serve your customers, including communicating with them in their preferred methods.
4. Data quality in modernization
Enable business users to conduct profiling analysis and relationship discovery with an incredible speed! Complex data processing tasks that used to take hours or even days to complete can be done in seconds with Experian Aperture Data Studio. By proactively profiling full volumes of data using more than 200 data quality metrics, our powerful tool gives you unprecedented insight into all of your business’s information. Experian Aperture Data Studio even accepts data from a variety of sources, whether you’re dealing with spreadsheets, delimited files, or relational databases, making it the go-to solution for data migration projects. If you are undergoing a modernization project, Experian Aperture Data Studio can be the key to success.
Does your DMV face data quality challenges? We would be happy to discuss your pain points and help you figure out a strategy to overcome them.
Contact us
