ServiceOntario Kiosks - Awards

Awards

• 1998 - Part of a gold award from the Commonwealth Association of Public Administration and Management for success in improving service to the public
• British government cited Ontario kiosks as an example of a good partnership between government and the private sector
• Institute of Public Administration of Canada annual innovative management award

MTO Receives Prestigious National Award

ONTARIO (November 1997) - A Ministry of Transportation project that has earned a 95 per cent approval rating from customers has won a prestigious national award.

The ministry took the second place silver honour in the 1997 Institute of Public Administration of Canada annual innovative management awards for its ServiceOntario self-service kiosk initiative. The competition recognizes outstanding public sector organizational achievement and the theme this year was Breakthroughs: Connecting Citizens and Government.

The ministry has a network of kiosks in shopping malls and busy government offices across the province. The machines were pioneered in 1996 by the ministry's Safety and Regulation Division's Business and Technology Integration Group. "It's an enhanced, cost-effective, customer service system that offers extended hours of service seven days a week at convenient locations," said David Mee, then the director of the ministry's Business and Technology Integration Group that led to the development of the kiosks. In 1992, the ministry tested a pilot of eight kiosks to determine citizens response to the machines. The answer from the public was an overwhelming yes.

The ServiceOntario innovation has received world-wide attention and the lessons the ministry has learned from the project are being used to improve telephone, Internet and front-counter customer services.