Wednesday, September 30, 2020

FirstNet Will Become NeoGov on January 1, 2021

A guest blog by Loss Control Consultant Troy Walsh

FirstNet Learning — the web-based safety training provided by the League of Minnesota Cities Insurance Trust (LMCIT) — will become NeoGov on Jan. 1, 2021. 

These changes apply to existing FirstNet users and individuals currently accessing training courses through the FirstNet Learning system, who are not part of a Regional Safety Group (RSG). Is your city already part of an RSG? This may be something to look into, because as a city police, ambulance, or fire department, you already have free access to this training for your staff. 

Current RSG members: you have already been migrated over to the new NeoGov learning platform, but please read on since there are some significant changes to be aware of with the programs we are offering.

What’s behind the change?

NeoGov purchased FirstNet back in 2017 and, with the combination of these companies, we are able to have some of the best features from both.

The League of Minnesota Cities Insurance Trust is currently at the end of the three-year contract we had established with FirstNet and have renewed the contract with NeoGov for another three years. For RSG users, you have undoubtedly seen several of the new and improved features the new platform can provide if you choose to explore them. 

For those individuals who are new users or will be converting over to NeoGov on January 1, there will be a series of webinars we strongly encourage you to attend that will help speed you through your implementation process. More to come on this as we proceed closer to the transition date. 

What do these changes mean for you?

The most noticeable change will be an increase in per-user cost. Under the terms of our expiring contract, the current cost per user/seat was a standard $20 with no minimum fee for non-RSG members. With that, we were able to offer limited functionality and 61 online training courses. The majority of these were focused on OSHA and general safety courses. 

Under the terms of the new contract, the per user/seat fee will be increasing to $29 for non-RSG members but will still be free to any RSG member. There is also a new minimum fee of $261 per non-RSG city, and the fee for more than 10 employees will become $29 per user. 

So what are you getting with this price increase? Besides a much more robust training and tracking platform than was previously offered, we have included an additional 150+ online training courses (instead of the 61 courses presently offered). Several new fleet training programs will be available to everyone, as well as a large offering of additional safety and health programs. 

What we are really excited about is a new series of what is commonly referred to as “human capitol courses.” These courses cover a wide range of supervisory training — including providing effective feedback and managing change, and courses intended for a wider audience such as focusing on the customer and listening skills. This is in response to general inquires in the past asking for such programs.

Consider your leadership team: could these human capitol courses help with developing their leadership skills? Training like this is important in developing staff to help the administrative team! 

There will be additional announcements coming throughout the rest of the year and updated information on our website regarding these changes — including both upcoming training webinars and the complete course catalog listing. Please stay tuned for more information!

We do understand that an increase like this always needs to be part of any budget planning process. For that reason, we felt the need to give all existing FirstNet users a heads-up of what changes are coming your way!

Up next: Mental health resources

Stay safe,
Troy


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