My Smart City is redefining how citizens and municipalities get things done

For years, the unofficial MVP of South African service delivery has been the trusty WhatsApp group - where your neighbour knows a guy who knows a guy in the municipality. But what if you didn’t need Karen’s endless voice notes, or John’s grainy photo evidence of the third water leak this week? Enter My Smart City, the app that’s turning chaos into co-ordination and actually getting things done.

As a free-to-use platform, My Smart City streamlines communications between citizens and their local municipality or council, enhancing citizen engagement and connecting you like never before. Bringing users everything they need in one place, this platform promotes accountability, transparency, and drives smart city initiatives by leveraging data analytics and IoT integration.

But what exactly is a smart city? A smart city is an urban area that leverages advanced technologies, like IoT, AI, and modern communication networks, to collect and analyse data. This data is then used to optimise city operations, enhance the quality of life for citizens, and promote sustainability. In essence, a smart city combines innovation and connectivity to solve urban challenges and create opportunities.

My Smart City developed as a natural progression from Forcelink, our Mobile ERP Solution, which has been enhancing operations and customer centricity for utilities for almost 20 years. Seeing that there was a need for citizens to engage with their cities and service providers, without frustrations, Acumen developed My Smart City, an extension of Forcelink.

The platform strives to improve accountability in service delivery, whilst keep citizens informed and engaged at every level.

My Smart City gives citizens an easy way to log issues within their city. Beyond issue logging, the platform enables users to book trusted service providers, purchase everyday essentials like airtime and data - all in one place.

As My Smart City continues to grow and improve, users can now experience even smarter issue logging with the new AI logging feature, powered by Acumen Software’s SPOTTER AI model. Our AI functionality continues to expand its abilities to identify an even wider range of issues. While citizens currently serve as our eyes on the ground, the system is becoming increasingly autonomous.

We’re also introducing the brand-new My Smart City Transport feature! Currently available only in Cape Town through our partnership with MyCiTi, it allows commuters to find and plan their bus routes seamlessly. The feature connects users more closely to their cities, encouraging affordable movement and exploration. As the platform grows, we’ll continue expanding this feature to include more cities, transport routes and the ability to purchase bus tickets directly in the app.

In the last five years, the world has shifted toward an on-demand pace, people expect services, information, and solutions to reach them faster than ever before. This growing demand for remote service delivery is reshaping how cities operate. By giving citizens access to a broader range of service providers and real-time information, remote delivery not only increases convenience and efficiency but also facilitates smarter decision-making. The more connected and responsive our cities become, the smoother they run - improving sustainability, service delivery, and ultimately raising citizens’ quality of life.

Becoming a smart city doesn’t have to be a complicated, billion-dollar transformation that looks like something out of The Jetsons (although that would be cool). It starts with something much simpler: accurate information, transparent communication, and better collaboration between citizens, city officials and organisations.

Together, we’re building the cities of tomorrow, more responsive, more efficient, and more connected than ever before.

My Smart City and My Smart City Pro are active in over 20 cities across South Africa and Namibia, with municipalities like George leading the way in demonstrating the full capabilities of My Smart City Pro. As the initiative expands into the UK and Europe, My Smart City continues to prove that building smarter, more sustainable cities isn’t about futuristic skylines, it’s about connecting people, data, and services to make everyday life better for everyone.

Download My Smart City today; on Android, iOS, Huawei and on the web.