The motives to why Karlstad has received this award are several different successful projects. One of these projects is called a common e-society in Värmland, where Abou, a subsidiary of Addnode Group, is the supplier. The project resulted in further development and introduction of Abou's e-service platform "Automaten" in Värmland. The platform was delivered in February 2013 to the municipalities in Värmland and provides the opportunity for all municipalities in the county to work with e-services while saving money.
The journey began in 2010 when Karlstad chose to scrap their IT-strategy and instead decided to develop a policy for business development with IT support. The vision is "it should be easy to live in Karlstad".
– Being named Sweden's IT municipality of the year is a proof that the municipality of Karlstad has Sweden's best IT-support. We have for several years worked hard to create an IT business in the forefront and this award is proof that we have succeeded with our mission, says Inge Hansson, Head of IT at Karlstad municipality.
"Karlstadsappen", the presence of the different departments on Facebook and access to the municipality through Karlstad Contact Center are other projects that have been implemented to simplify the life for the residents in the municipality.
Karlstad is Abou's second client who receives the award. In 2011, Abou's client the municipality of Upplands Väsby was appointed Sweden's IT municipality of the year for their efforts to use information technology and digitization opportunities.
The Swedish IT municipality award is handed out by Local Authorities and Regions (Sveriges kommuner och Landsting), Quality Fair (Kvalitetsmässan), the Digitizing Commission (Digitaliseringskommissionen), Microsoft, VINNOVA, IT & Telecom Industries (IT&Telekomföretagen) and Dagens Samhälle.