Case Study: The New Jersey Department of Community Affairs accelerates government benefits processing with IBM

The New Jersey Department of Community Affairs and IBM Consulting speed access to government benefits with seamless adjudication

The New Jersey Department of Community Affairs faced a manual, paper-based, and fragmented benefits process across separate systems, making it difficult to evaluate requests quickly and giving residents limited guidance and access. Working with IBM Consulting, the agency sought a unified way to modernize application, adjudication, and administration for programs such as utility assistance and energy support.

IBM implemented the Utility Assistance Program portal using Microsoft technologies to bring together resident self-service, case management, document automation, reporting, and a single source of data. The result was a 60% reduction in the average time to complete a USFHEA application, an 88% cut in adjudication timelines, and 4x higher adoption of the portal, helping IBM speed assistance to New Jersey families more efficiently.

The New Jersey Department of Community Affairs

John Harrison

Division Director Department of Community Affairs