State of CO uses state-wide virtual reference

FOR RELEASE: CONTACT: Dan Hopkins 303-866-6324 Mark Salley 303-866-6323 Rich Olsen 720-323-0052

OWENS ANNOUNCES AVAILBILITY OF REAL-TIME CUSTOMER SERVICE AT “COLORADO.GOV”

“Live Help” available 24/7 at state website

(DENVER) - Real-time online service is now a part of the state of Colorado website, Gov. Bill Owens announced today.

“Live Help provides instant customer assistance when you visit the state website searching for government services or resources,” Owens said. “This sort of help is available on just a handful of state websites around the country. Colorado has taken a lead in providing live on-line assistance”

Live Help is available on the state website, www.colorado.gov, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, except on major holidays.

From the state homepage, visitors may click on the Live Help icon to reach a member of the Colorado.gov customer service staff or a librarian located in Colorado.

Representatives help citizens find the information or services they are seeking, often by recommending online government services. The representatives also can lead a citizen to the government Web page they need by automatically directing the user’s Web browser to that page. The user has the option to receive a transcript of the online help session sent to their e-mail address.

“Live help is a tool that librarians have used with great success for several years,” said Eugene Hainer, Director of the Colorado State Library, Department of Education, “We are pleased to partner with Colorado.gov to make this tool available to everyone that visits the official state Web site.”

The Live Help service is delivered through a unique collaboration between Colorado.gov, Ask Colorado, and the Statewide Internet Portal Authority, which was formed in 2004 to oversee the success of Colorado.gov. Ask Colorado is a collaborative effort of 61 libraries from around the state.

About Colorado.gov

Colorado.gov is the official Web site of the state of Colorado (www.Colorado.gov) and a collaborative effort between the Statewide Internet Portal Authority (SIPA) and Colorado Interactive to help Colorado government entities Web-enable their information services. SIPA is responsible for Colorado.gov. Colorado Interactive, a Denver based subsidiary of eGovernment firm NIC (EGOV) markets, operates and maintains Colorado.gov.

About SIPA

The Statewide Internet Portal Authority was created in 2004 by the Colorado legislature and is a state Authority governed by an 11-member Board of Directors consisting of business persons and state and county representatives. The mission of SIPA is to make Colorado government at all levels more accessible to its citizens and businesses and more productive through the use of eBusiness technologies.

About NIC

NIC manages more eGovernment services than any provider in the world. The company helps government communicate more effectively with citizens and businesses by putting essential services online. NIC provides eGovernment solutions for 2,000 state and local agencies that serve more than 60 million people in the United States. Additional information is available at www.nicusa.com.

SIPA Don Ravenscroft, 303.542.1803 portalauthority@state.co.us

Colorado Interactive Rich Olsen, 720-323-0052 rich@coloradointeractive.org