COVID-19 cloud-based emergency response

What was the challenge?

In spring 2020, the City of San Diego was considering pandemic response options by using the data they had available. Their Performance and Analytics Department began assessing worst-case scenarios and contingency planning to help ensure that that local authorities could continue to provide essential public services in case the city’s resources were strained or exhausted by the impact of COVID-19.

How did we come together?

To support efforts to respond to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, Deloitte developed a suite of cloud-based emergency response solutions as part of the GovConnect platform. These solutions enable federal, state, and local governments to tap into the power of Salesforce to help them rapidly stand up the necessary capabilities to aid San Diego in the pandemic response.

The Performance and Analytics Department of the City of San Diego had already been working with Deloitte on strategic and technology-focused solutions, including the city’s Salesforce-based platform, “Get it Done,” an online and mobile app that residents use to communicate in real time with the city about issues in their communities, including reporting potholes, graffiti, parking enforcement, and trash collection. Anticipating the challenges local officials may be facing with COVID-19, Deloitte approached the City of San Diego to learn about their identified areas of greatest need. Shortly after, Deloitte was able to develop a solution that leveraged the San Diego Get it Done app to manage increased demand for public service resources related to the pandemic.

Deloitte’s knowledge of San Diego’s operations helped to quickly determine that there was a large pool of untapped community resources. Those resources ranged from furloughed school bus drivers and hospitality workers to inventory in nonessential stores, all of which could complement and support the city’s strained resources. The team then set out to connect those untapped resources to the people and organizations who might need them most.

The team quickly devised an Emergency Needs Portal that would make it possible for organizations to post their most critical resource needs in order to crowdsource the necessary aid from San Diego businesses and residents. They leveraged the San Diego’s Get it Done app to build this donation portal. Given the Deloitte team’s familiarity with Get it Done San Diego and extensive Salesforce capabilities, they were able to have the portal ready for deployment within days.

What is the impact?

San Diego’s Emergency Donation Portal launched in early April 2020. Within 24 hours of its launch, members of the San Diego community responded to the city’s needs by donating their unused resources. Six weeks later, donations stood at a market value of more than $458,569 and included more than 340,000 critical items.

Months later, daily donations continue to come in to support groups such as police officers and firefighters, as well as the emergency homeless shelter at the San Diego Convention Center. Deloitte’s work with the City of San Diego demonstrates how local government agencies and private-sector organizations can come together to help support communities during demanding and difficult times.