The Nevada DMV provides services to its nearly 3.08 million population, including driver testing and licensing, vehicle registration, and license plates for commercial and non-commercial drivers and vehicles; occupational business licensing and associated services; fee collection and distribution.
When servicing the public, it is critical to have operational and process optimization to help meet the needs of the public while maintaining workforce satisfaction. Many factors can occur that can cause an agency to struggle. In the case of the Nevada DMV, the pandemic increased
the challenges.
The Nevada DMV was struggling to service its residents’ needs because of staffing shortages and aging technologies and processes.
Nevada DMV partnered with MCP to provide analysis, planning, guidance and support with vendors, funding, and assets/technologies—engaging in a multi-tiered approach—as the DMV moves to a transformative online delivery model.
An online storefront, combine with their brick-and-mortar space that better serves residents, addresses staffing shortages, increases workforce satisfaction, and identifies how to best use existing assets while procuring funding for growth.
Under normal circumstances, the State of Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) employs about 1,300 people. But the current environment in which the DMV operates is anything but normal. The COVID-19 pandemic has wreaked havoc on the department’s staffing. Many staff members have left the department to contend with health issues, either their own or family members’. Compounding the challenge is that applicants declined nearly 32 percent from 2020 to 2021, and nearly 45 percent from 2019 to 2021.
Adding to the staffing challenge is that the department is leveraging technology that is “ancient by IT standards,” according to Butler. For example, its data system operates using a COBOL mainframe application and is more than 18 years old. “It’s showing its age,” Butler says. “To support the business effectively going forward and — more importantly —to meet the needs and demands of the public that we serve, the DMV must become more technology savvy and move into the digital age.”
The DMV’s Transformational Journey
Just prior to the pandemic, the DMV launched several initiatives to address its challenges and, more importantly, to provide better service to Nevada’s residents. Butler calls this the DMV’s “transformation journey,” during which the department will reinvent itself. “One of the things that the pandemic showed us is that we can’t continue business as usual,” Butler says.
Multi-Touch Approach to Analysis, Planning, Funding and More
Mission Critical Partners led the planning and now is supporting the department throughout this transformation.
Innovative Online Storefront
Meanwhile, the DMV is moving away from the traditional brick-and-mortar service delivery model to an online storefront. The idea behind the online storefront is to enable residents to get almost everything they need from the DMV without ever stepping into a brick-and-mortar facility.
Better Use of Resources Leads to More Efficient Services
“Sixty percent of our staff members did not have the ability to work from home over the last two years,” Butler says. “That contributed to their stress and in some cases led to burnout. Now we’re looking at cloud-based solutions that will address that.”