Incapsulate: The 311 Specialist

“To say ‘no’ to many more things than we say ‘yes’ to is something that Steve Jobs believed in, and everything that drives us,” begins Ajay Batish, CEO of Incapsulate. The contemporary world which can be rightly labeled as ‘innovation-centric,’ new technologies and advanced methodologies bring in a wave of ‘amazing distractions.’ “But Incapsulate remains focused and pragmatic in its approach, hand-picking technologies it wants to innovate on and only concentrating its resources on specifics.” One such ‘specific’ Incapsulate focuses on is helping cities and public administrations embrace digital transformation to enable better publics services. With its expertise in delivering Salesforce-based 311 solutions across many American cities, the firm is pushing the possibilities of the concept of 311 into the Asia Pacific region. Cities across the region are fast embracing newer technologies such as cloud and IoT; and there is a great deal of potential in services like 311 which administrations can utilize to enhance citizen engagement and service delivery.

Started as a means to avail governmental non-emergency services, 311 has evolved beyond its initial origin. It is no longer a one-way traffic that moves only toward government departments. Today, city administrators can turn to it to digitally connecting city staff, field workers, and citizens. It has become a way for citizens to collaborate and establish digital communities where they can share information and contribute.

Being the two-way traffic 311 service has become, it has turned into a rich stream of data which administrators can analyze to identify opportunities for improvement.

One way of viewing the citizen-administration relationship is to compare it to a customer-provider relationship. And, here it makes an excellent proposition to combine the capabilities of a leading CRM platform like Salesforce with the possibilities of 311. Capsule—a product developed by Incapsulate—serves as the bridge connecting Salesforce to 311, and has been implemented or is being implemented by cities such as Washington DC and Boston. An extension of the Salesforce platform, the product allows users to configure 311-specific functionality increasing flexibility and speed-to-market. The firm’s Salesforce-based 311 solutions provide features that any user may need to make the most of digital technologies. The 311 solutions include dashboards and analytical tools which leverage machine learning and artificial intelligence to tap into the available data to “provide a bird’s-eye view of performance and the ability to explore issues at a granular level.”

Incapsulate also possesses expertise in native mobile app development for major platforms as well as using Salesforce1 to extend its Salesforce-based solutions. This means, for instance, citizens can take a photo of a pothole to indicate size, severity, and precise location rather than fill out a text-based form. The firm’s capabilities extend into private domains as well and has assisted companies in the Fortune 500 improve Salesforce implementations. Batish informs that later this year his firm’s 311 Capsule will be made available in Salesforce AppExchange which will strengthen Incapsulate's partnership with the platform.

With its workforce approaching 100, Incapsulate is not a big firm; but increasingly the future belongs to the agilest—a parameter not governed by size. Batish boldly sums up what Incapsulate stands for, “We don’t specialize in everything, but where we do, we are leaders and pacesetters. We are not a big firm, but we are nimble and can go head-to-head against anybody.”