Reassessing government technology and processes now, before the next crisis

While COVID-19 is far from “over,” businesses, governments and constituents are starting to regain a sense of normalcy in their lives.

What does normal look like? Which changes initiated over the last few years are here to stay? What should we do going forward to better serve our constituents?

One of the pandemic’s lasting impacts will be constituents’ increased expectations around government interactions. Gone are the days when residents would accept being forced to go to a municipal building, or wait on a call to pay a fine, file a form or access information. Today, they want more flexible, intuitive and digital options—akin to the experience of online shopping with a consumer brand.

This shift in expectations can be attributed to the digital services launched or expanded to promote social distancing and public safety during the pandemic. These customer experience-focused initiatives more closely mirror private sector interactions. Whether their motivations are health and safety or simply saving time, constituents have gotten used to the convenience of digital constituent services and aren’t interested in going back to the way things were.

Yet state and local government’s digital capabilities are still in their relative infancy. While some states have made great strides in introducing new digital processes to meet citizen demands, others are still in the early stages of their modernization journey and are feeling pressure to make decisions and adopt more resilient service delivery models faster than they otherwise would.

While the process deployed during the pandemic may have been rushed at times and even incomplete, the resulting systems were much more closely aligned with citizen preferences. Governments who improved digital interactions were finally able to begin engaging constituents where they are. At the same time, government personnel could more effectively streamline their operations to increase productivity, improve resiliency and reduce complexity.

Where do government agencies go from here?

As we head into the second half of 2022, the pandemic is still affecting daily life, the economy is in flux, and a possible recession could soon significantly impact government revenue.

So, when it comes to digital services and capabilities, where do agencies go from here?

Forward-looking governments are reconsidering the way they’re spending their budget, using it as a driving force to increase the pace and quality of their digital service modernization. Rather than exclusively considering the up-front cost of technology, these leaders are weighing the considerable cost savings and other benefits generated by modernization while bringing more private-sector practices into their government operations.

This empowers them to reassess what’s valuable vs. what processes are in place simply because they’ve never been reexamined. This type of reassessment is straightforward, guided by two key questions:

1. Is the outcome of the work we’re doing tied to compliance with a regulatory requirement or a FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) request? If yes, keep it and implement process improvement where possible.
2. If no, does it add value to an acute business outcome? If not, change it.

Governments can begin the task now of introducing technology and processes that are resilient enough to withstand future disruptions. They can seize this opportunity without having to undertake a rapid service delivery overhaul in the middle of a crisis.

Demonstrating success at VITA

The Virginia IT Agency (VITA) is the centralized technology agency for the Commonwealth of Virginia. VITA is an example of the type of repeatable success this resiliency-based methodology can achieve in driving a public sector technology transformation that delivers significant business outcomes.

During the height of the pandemic, the agency rethought its technology and processes from the ground up, rapidly scaling its infrastructure to support a fully remote workforce and enable critical government agencies to perform with minimal disruption. VITA also implemented new, robust cyber defenses with secure access service edge (SASE) and a zero-trust framework to secure and support the new hybrid and remote environment.

First, the agency understood that it was crucial to engage both financial and political stakeholders who would have a say in approving any technical budget. By clearly understanding the specific value of the new technology and optimizing its Multi Supplier Integration Model, VITA was able to demonstrate both fiscal responsibility in the short term and expected return on investment in the long term. Once deployed, VITA leveraged its new technology investments to secure, document and publicize initial wins, such as clear cost and time savings, dramatic productivity improvements, proving value to stakeholders and validating their trust.

In addition to benefiting the agency’s constituents and personnel, VITA’s digital transformation efforts resulted in an estimated $60 million of savings in the first fiscal year and more than $200 million of savings over the next four fiscal years. At the same time, the agency’s customer satisfaction increased by more than 200 percent from 2019 to 2021, and the service management lifecycle was radically transformed for the better.

While VITA’s results are certainly impressive, state and local government agencies of all types can benefit from this type of digital modernization and transformation. As governments face ongoing pressure from the pandemic and prepare for possible budget constraints from any looming economic downturn, it’s critical that they reassess their technology and processes now—before they’re facing the next emergency.

Jonathan Ozovek is the chief transformation officer, SLED, at Iron Bow Technologies. In this role, Ozovek drives the technology solutions, services, customer success, cyber security, resilience and programmatic strategy for all customers in state and local government as well as educational institutions.