Our Partners

The Capitol Region Council of Governments (CRCOG) is a voluntary COG with 38 member municipalities in the Hartford, CT area. Partnered together since 2014, Novus and CRCOG have collaborated to establish the IT Services Cooperative which provides any CT municipality, school district or public library with vetted, negotiated-rate access to technology services and regionally coordinated technology initiatives. Services include tech assessments, ongoing IT support, application development, private cloud hosting, and a suite of cybersecurity services.

Working closely together, CRCOG and Novus have:

• Helped municipal members launch or improve e-government initiatives, creating efficiencies and saving tax dollars through shared technology services
• Promoted increased use of the statewide fiber network (CT Education Network) and successfully lobbied to have it become the de-facto choice for municipal data connectivity
• Developed, deployed, and currently manage many municipal technology programs that are self-sustaining and more affordable than individually procured programs

Visit CRCOG’s website: crcog.org

CTData is a public-private partnership focused on empowering an ecosystem of data users and producers by increasing data literacy and expanding data capacity. Their overriding goal is to help organizations and communities make good decisions with data. They are also the administrative backbone for the Hartford Data Collaborative, an initiative to build an integrated data system (IDS) for use in the Hartford community.

Novus aligns closely with CTData on projects where their expertise in strengthening data literacy is needed for us to effectively deploy Novus-developed software, particularly our own IDS, Altrulink. If organizations are overly challenged with data collection, interpretation, reporting and general use, they won’t benefit from software intended to improve the way they work. Some level of data literacy has to come first, and CTData excels in helping with this step.

Visit CT Data’s website: ctdata.org

IPG is an established, reputable independent insurance agency headquartered in CT. One of their specialty areas is cyberliability insurance. Novus has worked closely with IPG for years whenever one of our clients is interested in a second opinion on their existing cyber policy or obtaining a policy for the first time. We also team with IPG to educate clients on the relevance of risk transfer as part of an overall technology risk management strategy.

Technology and security practices developed to protect against cyber threats are constantly evolving, making it difficult for insurers to quantify the effectiveness of these protective measures. One outcome of this is carefully crafted policy language, to the point that buyers struggle to understand not only what a policy covers, but what it does not cover. Novus can assist our clients with combatting threats and reducing vulnerabilities, but we are not insurance experts. For this, we depend on IPG’s knowledge and experience to advise clients.

Visit IPG’s website: insuranceprovidergroup.com

A private foundation headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida that supports hundreds of organizations around the nation with capacity building grants. The Fund selected Novus in 2015 as a partner to conduct technology, data, and cybersecurity assessments for all Fund grantees. We also provide remediation assistance and ongoing IT support for many of these same organizations.

In tandem, the Jessie Ball duPont Fund and Novus have:

• Standardized a process for assessing the organizational capacity and technology needs of eligible grantees
• Developed an approach to sustainable capacity building through technology-led organizational transformation
• Established various approaches to help ensure technology is used by nonprofits for strategic advantage and financial viability

Visit JBD’s website: dupontfund.org

We have considerable experience working with nonprofit centers. This includes long-time partnerships with the Nonprofit Center of Northeast Florida and the CT Community Nonprofit Alliance. Our efforts with these and other centers include:

• Providing technology guidance and ongoing IT support for many of the nonprofits residing in the centers’ facilities
• Designing and implementing shared network infrastructures for use by nonprofits in a center
• Project managing tenant network buildouts and move-in coordination
• Designing and implementing shared conference room AV systems, as well as custom developing room & resource reservation applications for tenant use

Visit the NCNF website: nonprofitctr.org
Visit the CT Nonprofit Alliance website: ctnonprofitalliance.org

Novus was selected in 2018 by the Philadelphia Bar Foundation to design, build, and support the IT infrastructure for the Equal Justice Center (EJC), a 12-story, 180,000 square-foot building set to open in 2022 that will co-locate 13 Philadelphia nonprofit organizations who provide free or low-cost legal and social services. A groundbreaking project that will transform the delivery of civil legal aid, this purpose-built, shared nonprofit center will be the first of its kind in the United States. The Center will create operational efficiencies by leveraging technology, provide opportunities for collaborative programming to overcome current legal-aid challenges, and improve responses to emergent civil legal needs of the community.

Thus far, Novus has completed individual technology assessments of the future EJC tenants and provided recommendations to the Foundation and building architect based on the findings.

It is our privilege to play a key contributing role in this important nonprofit project.

Visit the Philadelphia Bar Foundation website: philabarfoundation.org

The Pioneer Valley Planning Commission selected Novus in 2018 as technology partner for their new Pioneer Valley Municipal IT Collaborative, a program intended to serve as an entry point and backbone for various municipal IT services and initiatives in the region of 43 cities and towns. The partnership is largely modeled on the successful efforts of CRCOG and Novus in Connecticut.

Together, PVPC and Novus:

• Assume the role of neutral advisor to municipalities or school districts regarding technology use, taking a vendor and technology-agnostic approach to help eliminate bias and conflict of interest
• Successfully launched an initial pilot to upgrade IT infrastructure and help advance technology maturity in 7 underserved northwestern Massachusetts towns
• Provide recommendations that satisfy municipal and school district technology needs and privacy/security requirements, with an eye towards shared solutions

Visit PVPC’s website: pvpc.org

The South Central Connecticut Council of Governments, a consortium of 15 municipalities, is aligned with Novus to help municipal IT staff with specific technology and cybersecurity challenges. Remote working guidance and troubleshooting during the COVID-19 pandemic is the first joint initiative, along with cybersecurity policy development and cybersecurity awareness training for employees.

SCRCOG is a recent addition to the list of technology partnerships Novus has formed with councils of government to develop solutions that can be shared regionally, as well as educate municipalities on the most impactful and sustainable ways to invest in technology.

Visit SCRCOG’s website: scrcog.org

Black Rock is a reseller of hardware, software, and networking equipment into the public sector space. Working in this space for years, Black Rock has a deep understanding of the needs of education, government, and nonprofit organizations. Novus works closely with Black Rock to provide the most value and flexible customer services to our mutual clients.

Visit Black Rock’s website: brtg.com

D’Agostino is a construction technology firm that designs and specifies building automation, security, access, and power systems. They have a deep understanding of underlying network infrastructures and the impact of systems on these networks, particularly with respect to network security, stability, and performance.

D’Agostino and Novus collaborate primarily during the design and build stages of a project on:

• Feasibility studies
• Bid management
• Construction administration
• Furniture, fixtures & equipment technology packages
• Peer review services

Visit D’Agostino & Associate’s website: da-technology.com

Established in 2009, Genie Innovations (IP Genie) is a Connecticut company that designs, produces and distributes next-generation communications products and services. These allow organizations like non-profits and municipalities to leverage technology such as SIP and VoIP for their telephony needs, thereby reducing dependency on the Public Switched Telephone Network.

Even though Novus is vendor-agnostic, we promote Genie’s solutions because they have proven valuable for many of our clients. Genie has also been selected by CRCOG as a telephony partner, and their services are tightly integrated with the CEN state-wide fiber network.

Visit IP Genie’s website: ip-genie.com

Quality Data Service is a software development firm that has been providing CAMA and other software solutions to municipalities since 1981. Their specialization is building and managing software that helps local government run better, which they have done es for over 200 installations in CT and throughout the northeast. Like Novus Insight, QDS is focused on municipalities and maintains a near-100% customer retention rate.

QDS offerings include:

• CAMA software and revaluations
• Assessor admin and revenue collection software
• On-line property tax payment
• Property appraisal and tax collection software

Visit QDS’s website: qds.biz

Founded in 1995, Webauthor develops cloud-based business applications designed to streamline and automate essential business functions and enable clients to better manage their data. Webauthor technology is used for case management, client relationship management, HR processes, learning/event management, grants/fund management, performance monitoring, and much more.

Visit Webauthor’s website: www.webauthor.com