Exclusive: Granicus' Alex Gelbak on 'making the invisible visible'

It all started in Melbourne with a simple idea. The idea to make it easier for people to deal with their local council. For Alex Gelbak, General Manager of Platform at Granicus, that idea has evolved into a global mission to help local governments better understand and serve their communities. Gelbak says his work comes down to one thing: "making the invisible visible."

At the heart of that mission is Granicus' Service Cloud, which enables councils to modernise service delivery, engage residents continuously, and turn insights into action.

The 2019 acquisition brought together two Australian startups, OpenCities and Engagement HQ, with Granicus, a global GovTech firm supporting more than 7,000 governments worldwide. Today, Granicus works with councils across Australia and New Zealand, applying insights to improve digital services throughout Aotearoa, with OpenCities supporting the effort by ensuring council websites are simple, human-centred, and intuitive.

Born in Australia, built for government

OpenCities, founded in Melbourne in 2008, long before 'GovTech' became a buzzword, continues to support Granicus by making local government websites as simple and human as private-sector digital experiences.

"From the start, our focus was on helping councils modernise how they communicate and deliver services," Gelbak said.

"Australia's local governments are incredibly diverse, from big metro councils like Brisbane City to small regional shires, and each has to serve everyone, every day." By the time of its acquisition, OpenCities was working with nearly half of all Australian councils and had expanded to New Zealand and the US.

Then came COVID-19, and the digital transformation of government went from "nice to have" to "essential overnight." "When people couldn't go into their local council office, everything had to move online," Gelbak said. "Suddenly, governments had to make paying a rates bill or booking a waste service as simple as ordering on Amazon." He credits Australia's public sector with moving quickly. "Government isn't always fast to embrace new tech," he said. "But COVID really put a rocket in governments wanting to go digital by default. Australia, especially, jumped ahead of the curve."

Making the invisible visible

Today, Gelbak leads Granicus' Platform division from Australia, overseeing the integration of AI and data tools used by thousands of governments worldwide. But his focus remains on Australian councils - and how technology can uncover insights that were once hidden. "The thing that excites me most is how we're using AI to surface the invisible," he said.

"Local government is the most complex customer service organisation in the world because its customer is everyone. Every search, every click, every question tells you something - and now, with AI, we can actually connect those dots." By linking data across websites, engagement portals, and service systems, Gelbak said Australian councils can now understand what drives satisfaction, trust, and participation.

"Fixing a customer experience in one area, say waste collection, might improve perceptions of trust in council leadership," he said. "That's the power of making the invisible visible."

Always-on listening, Australian-style

One of Granicus' newest Service Cloud tools, Government Experience Insights, is being piloted by several Australian councils after a successful proof-of-concept in the US. Instead of traditional annual community surveys, it uses AI to run short, context-sensitive feedback prompts.

"If I'm on a council site looking at events for kids, it might ask, 'How are we doing in arts and culture for young families?'" Gelbak explained. "It's relevant, effortless, and gives councils continuous, meaningful feedback."

That approach is already paying off in Australia. During the Western Australian bushfires, the Shire of Denmark used Granicus tools to stand up a digital consultation hub within hours. "They could communicate quickly, provide reliable updates, and capture live community feedback," Gelbak said. "It's one of my favourite stories because it shows how this technology really helps people."

Turning insights into action

Gelbak is the first to admit that "tech isn't the hard part." The challenge, he said, is strategy and measurement - knowing what to do with the data once you have it. "The big problem isn't the tech - it's using the insights properly," he said. "Every click tells a story. The trick is turning that noise into signals, and those signals into strategy."

One Australian example involved a large metro council where residents struggled to pay rates online. "They were planning to spend millions on a new system," he recalled. "But the problem wasn't the platform - it was language. The site said 'settle an infringement notice' instead of 'pay a parking fine'. Once we fixed that, satisfaction turned around completely."

That, Gelbak said, is the essence of making the invisible visible - seeing what's really happening beneath the surface.

Building trust through communication

Granicus' Australian customers also use its Service Cloud and Engagement Cloud platforms to reach more residents and close the loop on communication.

"The biggest erosion of trust in government is radio silence," Gelbak said. "People make a request and then hear nothing. We're helping councils automate updates so residents know exactly what's happening and when."

In Victoria's Yarra Ranges Shire, for example, Granicus tools helped digitise the deceptively simple question, "Do I need a planning permit?" "That one process used to take hours of phone time every week," he said. "Now residents can do it all online, and council staff can focus on higher-value work."

As Gelbak described it, the process is "a boring win, but a powerful one."