Regardless of its size or complexity, any state or local government can benefit from digital transformation.
For starters, modernizing legacy systems and bringing their technology up to speed with the demands of the current digital era goes a long way towards improving the citizen experience — something that should always be a priority for government officials. It also improves confidence through the creation of frictionless experiences. Automation, in particular, promotes transparency and efficiency.
From an internal perspective, digital transformation saves government employees a tremendous amount of time. By relieving them of the burden of those important yet time-consuming administrative tasks, workers are free to devote the maximum amount of their attention to the matters that truly need them — something that benefits both governments and the citizens they serve.
Yet at the same time, there is truly no "one size fits all" approach to digital transformation. Governments need to first begin inward, documenting the problems they're trying to solve and the services they want to bring to their communities. Only by having a clear understanding of that starting point will they be able to come up with the roadmap that serves all parties equally well moving forward.
Digital Transformation for the Modern Era
One of the most important lessons to be learned about digital transformation is its starting point — that is to say, all technology decisions must be fully aligned with organizational goals.
This is a significant part of the reason why it's so critical to make sure that IT stakeholders are carefully communicating with all internal departments so that all parties better understand A) what needs to be accomplished, B) why it's so important and C) how technology can provide the roadmap to best get to that point.
It would be a mistake to think of a digital transformation on purely a project basis, particularly when it comes to organizations that are as far-reaching as state and local governments. Beginning with a view that is far too narrow is how a lot of these initiatives tend to fail.
Along the same lines, it's also important to lean into any technological integrations whenever possible. It's not just about adopting new software-based solutions; it's about embracing solutions that are all designed to work together, allowing critical data to freely move across an organization for the first time. Failure to do so only creates data silos that you can't afford to have.
Not only do these integrations help to make sure all parties who need access to information always have it, but they also eliminate redundancies in a way that saves wasted time, which in and of itself is one of the most important advantages of all.
Beyond that, it's always crucial to building a digital transformation roadmap that embraces Agile methodologies. Agile is a type of software development that is iterative by its nature, meaning that both the requirements and the eventual solutions themselves are allowed to evolve as collaboration continues through the development process.
Essentially, you're allowing people to remain flexible enough to change as they work. If a new requirement is discovered, it can be easily implemented without forcing the entire team to go back to the proverbial drawing board.
This is especially important in the public sector, as it allows for key stakeholders to quickly realize value from their digital transformation initiatives, all while embracing the possibility that even major changes may be necessary as the project moves along. To put it another way, you've come up with a roadmap for digital transformation but that roadmap isn't written in stone. If a better idea comes along or if a new "problem" is discovered that needs a solution, this can all be implemented without major delays to the project overall.
In the end, local and state government organizations stand to gain the most by embracing new technology, particularly when it comes to initiatives like going paperless. Governments have a duty to serve their people, but they're also constantly facing budget cuts and other regulatory and compliance issues.
This level of digitization goes a long way towards mitigating risk from these issues, all while also creating a better experience on behalf of citizens.
Here at DMI, our approach to modernization delivers consumer-grade results within a highly complex regulatory framework, improving efficiency and greatly reducing costs to the state, and costs to their constituents in real terms of time and money.
We automate processes, convert lagging technology, and deliver proven solutions across all levels of state and local government. We’ve developed game-changing solutions around lottery fraud investigation, child welfare case management, and emergency preparedness that can be delivered rapidly and at scale. As the business of state management evolves, we stand as partners to see the vision from concept to reality.
Contact us to learn more about our digital capabilities for state and local governments.
