5 Keys to Digital Services Transformation

The .gov world is getting a makeover.

Local governments across the nation are starting to consider end users more closely, a long-welcome change in the digital development process. Where city and local governments have historically been complex and difficult for citizens to understand, many municipalities are taking the initiative to meet their citizens online more effectively and more efficiently.

New York state, for example, underwent a massive overhaul of its .gov presence in 2014, through which it made government services more accessible and increased traffic in droves. The city of Louisville, KY had similar success improving its site by focusing on what users wanted: accessibility, functionality and engagement.

“Designing and building these experiences requires collaboration across government, with total cultural support of the organization,” Acquia Public Sector Technical Director Dan Katz says. “For many state and local organizations, this is new territory.”

But some innovators have embraced this new territory head-on. The following five strategies have been common success factors among the state and local organizations leading the transformative revolution in digital services.

1.  Fly on the wings of existing efforts. If you’re looking for inspiration, there is precedent for digital transformation. A slew of federal initiatives focused on IT consolidation, cloud-first policy, open data and open source provide frameworks that state and local leaders can model.

Sometimes innovative solutions are hiding in plain sight. Piggybacking on preexisting initiatives and amplifying them can be a practical way to transform customer experiences through new applications, Katz says.

2.  Come together. Digital transformation relies far more on culture change than on technology, and the first step in achieving that is breaking down barriers between organizational functions.

Involve the enterprise. Be open. Be transparent. And be inclusive — when it comes to digital solutions, there’s no time or purpose for siloed verticals in an agency. Everyone within an organization holds stake in the success of digital transformation.

Make sure that the planning and execution processes reflect this cross-functionality. Bringing together members of every department of the enterprise and working with them through the visioning, implementation and execution stages will lead to smoother culture change and more fruitful outcomes.

3.  Assemble an A-team. Part two of culture shift is establishing support from the right powers. While breaking down siloes is essential, support and action from executive leadership are necessary in their own rights. It may involve starting small to prove the strength of a concept, but Katz calls executive buy-in “imperative.”

With the right top-level support, government should round off its team by looking for outside expertise to fill any gaps and take existing efforts even higher. Katz says industry can ideally serve as a set of training wheels during a digital services transition.

“Our model is about empowerment,” he says. “At some point, we want to take the training wheels off and enable government to own their own technology.”

4.  Walk in the open. Open source software (OSS) can be freely used, built upon and shared by anyone. With OSS on your side, you can leverage the best practices of other organizations innovating in similar ways.

Because of the massive scale on which government operates, agencies are best to set a path for their OSS transformation before they begin. When leveraging the power of OSS, it’s most important to make sure that this plan comes from a team of developers who are well versed in the world of open source or, if needed, a third-party expert.  

“Using open source creates a flexible, scalable interaction to meet the needs of what you already have,” Katz says.

Once implemented, technologies that are interoperable and open from application program interface (API) and integration standpoints can unite disparate systems and create internal efficiencies.

5.  Convert to a managed cloud platform. When you transition your infrastructure or, even better, your entire cloud platform to an as-a-service model, you shift the burden of maintenance and operations onto a vendor.

Doing so frees up technical resources from operations-only mode and transitions them to what Katz calls “innovation mode,” where they can funnel toward the minute details of applications and the technologies. From there, vendors can deal with operations and security while allowing agencies to concentrate on innovation.

Getting there

Most of all, Katz says, state and local leaders should remember that they don’t have to make this kind of transformation all at once.

“Take small bites,” he says. “Test it. Make sure you’re getting real feedback, engaging actual users and citizens.”

After all, citizens are the heart of the .gov revolution. Boston exemplifies this trend with its pilot website, which tests out new features and seeks direct feedback from citizens. The pilot launched in January and focuses on popular topic areas that citizens recognize: finding a home, buying a car, starting a business.

Moreover, the city continues to roll out its pilot in pieces (six in all.) When the pilot is done, the final product will be a thoughtful and proven tool for citizen service and engagement.

Katz says the Boston model shines because it engages users in the actual development process of the site. It starts with citizens in mind and will end with their voices heard and their needs met. That’s the ultimate recipe for digital success.

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