A Holistic Approach Benefits Citizens and Employees Meanwhile, application processing timelines are tight. Counties are expected to process benefits applications within 30 days, but much of that time isn’t spent making eligibility decisions. Instead, staff spend weeks assembling incomplete applications submitted through online portals or paper forms. “If we received a fully complete application, we could process it in an hour,” Laluces says. “But we spend most of the 30 days building the application.” Rather than simply hiring more staff — an increasingly unrealistic option given budget constraints — Union County took a step back to rethink its approach. The goal: Shift from a transactional model of service delivery to a more holistic, resident-centered experience. “Accessing benefits is just the first step,” Laluces says. “The real goal is helping someone get to a place where they no longer need services.” That shift is driving both process changes and technology adoption. At the center of the effort is a customer relationship management (CRM)-based platform designed to unify how residents interact with the county and how agencies manage cases behind the scenes. READ MORE: Here are 7 best practices for public sector call centers. Department Seeks a Common Application for One-Stop Service One of the most significant changes is the development of a single, dynamic application for multiple services. Instead of applying separately for programs such as SNAP and Medicaid — often repeating the same information and submitting duplicate documents — residents will enter their information once. From there, the system determines eligibility across programs and dynamically generates a tailored application experience. “We qualify you for everything you’re eligible for in one place,” Laluces says. The platform uses a prescreening process to identify relevant services and adjust application questions accordingly. That reduces redundancy and simplifies the experience for residents, many of whom