Future proofing government and the digital government customer experience

By Braden Thompson

It’s become conventional wisdom that government technology implementations trail behind the commercial and private sector, sometimes by years. We do in fact still see many state governments managing and grappling with on-premises software and hardware, despite the clear benefits of moving to the cloud. An outlier is the State of Ohio, which is a leading adopter in bringing commercial best-practices to the public sector. Specifically, Ohio’s state agencies are future-proofing their digital architectures, taking a human-centered design approach to the digital experience for citizens and workers. And by embracing constant evolution and continuous innovation, the state can get the most out of these new systems while enhancing resident service delivery. 

It’s a model that other states and agencies should consider following, and this is one way I’m thinking about it:  

Let’s future proof. A recent Deloitte survey found organizations say that moving to the cloud is a “force multiplier” where they use the shift to drive innovation. And to be honest, future-proofing our digital architecture often begins with a move to the cloud. This advance, in addition to making good business sense by reducing hardware maintenance and software licensing costs, also supports employees and citizens by allowing best-in-class commercial-grade applications to be more easily added and implemented in ways that better serve them. 

For example, Ohio moved its single-sign-on solution, OHID, to the cloud in 2019 and have since transitioned its 1990s-based legacy architecture to a modern, SaaS-based platform and Content Management System. This upgrade, which has been awarded five national awards for innovation and modernization from NASCIO and other government technology organizations, provides residents with secure access to an array of online integrated government agencies, programs and services. Today, more than 8 million Ohioans connect with some 2600 apps for instant access to critical state services from one login. 

Human-centered design with real users. Ohio is also adopting best practices from other industries in how they approach technology problem solving. Utilizing focus groups with residents and state workers who interact with these services, we can learn what’s already working well, what problems need solved and how these constituents really want them to be solved. Our Deloitte team, alongside Ohio Means Jobs, spent incredibly meaningful time with residents in helping to design and build the state's Ohio Career Navigator to connect those residents with the resources they need to succeed in their careers.

Resident focus groups can also influence the look and feel of your digital experience. How many times have you pointed your browser at a government site and felt like you took a time machine to 2004? With new CMS software, states can easily create a modern look, and a digital government experience influenced by actual residents, helping them get the services they need in an advanced and intuitive way.

Short-term successes serving long-term strategies. A common thread running through these successful government technology implementations is steadfast commitment to building business cases for both long-term upgrades – think cloud, cybersecurity, or digital IDs – and short-term implementations such as chatbots, artificial intelligence, and site redesigns. It can be a big ask to commit to long-term innovations. However, by building a platform that utilizes cutting-edge commercial technologies, governments can ensure that platform will be scalable and responsive to the tech breakthroughs and opportunities of the future. At the same time, states and agencies can garner wins with incremental improvements for their employees and constituents that make an immediate impact on government service delivery.

As we’ve witnessed in Ohio, leveraging commercial digital technologies for government platforms is improving service delivery while giving residents the advanced and seamless digital experience they’re accustomed to as consumers. It’s also bringing them a fairly unique government experience.

Braden Thompson is a Manager at Deloitte Consulting, LLP.