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Strategic Alliance Between VC3 and Municipal Association of SC

Submitted by: John Warner on Aug 24, 2001 at 5:00 am Tagged with: General Archives Source:

Swamp Fox

Contact: David Dunn
VC3, Inc
803.978.2680
jeffp@vc3.com

South Carolina Cities to Benefit from a Strategic Alliance Between VC3, Inc.
and the Municipal Association of South Carolina

COLUMBIA, SC - August 24, 2001- The Municipal Association of South Carolina
(MASC) and Columbia, SC-based e-Government provider, VC3, Inc., announced
today a strategic alliance between the two organizations designed to provide
affordable e-Government solutions to South Carolina cities. VC3's GovHost
software modules enable cities to provide interactive services to their
citizens over the Internet. Citizens in a VC3 GovHost enabled city can go
to their city's website to request city services, pay utility bills and
property taxes, and apply for permits and licenses. "The Internet is
available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and people can access it from
their homes," said Miriam Hair, deputy executive director of the Municipal
Association of South Carolina. "This means the people who used to call city
hall for information are beginning to go to the Web for information. South
Carolina cities need to take advantage of this trend, and MASC has been
looking for a strategic partner that can help. After researching the
products of many companies, VC3 is MASC's recommendation for providing
e-government services to cities in South Carolina."

South Carolina cities will be the ultimate winners resulting from the
strategic relationship between VC3 and MASC. As additional South Carolina
cities sign on for VC3's GovHost software, all South Carolina city customers
will take advantage of the quantity price discounts that MASC negotiated.
"The relationship with MASC significantly reduces our costs to market VC3's
products and services to South Carolina cities. As a result, we can provide
attractive pricing that continues to get more attractive as additional
cities sign on," said David Dunn, president and CEO of VC3, Inc.

Due to their size, many South Carolina governments do not have the IT staff
or the financial resources to create or maintain their own e-Government
presence. "Through their Application Service Provider model, VC3 allows
small and medium sized cities access to the same high quality solutions
larger cities and counties use, but at a significantly lower price," said
Hair. "The strategic alliance we have formed with VC3 will allow our smaller
governments access to cutting edge technology, putting South Carolina on the
forefront in this industry."

The agreement between VC3 and MASC currently covers VC3's hosting services,
citizen request module, utility payment module, property tax payment module,
and online permit application module as well as VC3's IT support, systems
integration and networking services. New modules and services will be added
as they are released for use by South Carolina cities. All modules allow
citizens access to their local government 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
"As citizens' lives have become more hectic it has become apparent that
there is a need to conduct business with city hall at times other than the
standard Monday through Friday, 9:00 am - 5:00 pm hours," said Dunn. "Our
products give citizens more options and at the same time help create a well
managed workflow for government officials. It is a winning situation for
everyone involved."

About MASC
MASC is a nonpartisan, not-for-profit association of incorporated cities and
towns. MASC is dedicated to raising the standards of municipal government
through a broad range of services. The Association provides elected and
appointed officials with educational opportunities, technical and legal
assistance, a concentrated lobbying effort in the General Assembly,
insurance programs and information available through a wide variety of
publications. (http://masc.state.sc.us)

About VC3 and GovHost.com
VC3, Inc. is a total solutions provider headquartered in Columbia, SC. VC3
has an e-Government product line, GovHost.com, which offers a complete suite
of hosted virtual government and line-of-business solutions to small and
medium-sized local governments via an application service provider (ASP)
business model. Obtain more information via the web at
http://www.govhost.com or by calling 1-800-787-1160.