How a Modular Business Solutions Strategy Addresses Workforce Gaps

State and local governments face ongoing workforce challenges, including budget constraints and difficulty competing with the private sector. Often, antiquated technology and outdated processes make it even harder to attract and retain new employees.

That’s especially true in business-area applications for functions like budgeting, procurement, payments, permitting and grants management that are long overdue for replacement.

With modern business systems, agency leaders and staff can devote more energy to their most-pressing priorities because they’re losing less time to manual chores. Moving tasks out of spreadsheets and into purpose-built application interfaces improves document sharing and versioning. Analytics and reporting tools help leaders optimize operations and predict future challenges.

These solutions provide mobility and flexibility that are crucial in today’s hybrid environment. Cloud-based solutions let employees work from anywhere — in the office, from home or in the field.

Modern business solutions also make government agencies more competitive with employers in the private sector, says Center for Digital Government* Senior Fellow Justin Marlowe, who teaches public finance to graduate students at the University of Chicago’s Harris School of Public Policy.

“I’m around 25-year-olds all day, every day,” he says. “They’re thinking about changing the world by going to work in governments and nonprofits,” but antiquated business software will cause them to feel “frozen in time” once they start working at a state or local agency. “Having outmoded systems is certainly going to hurt with retention, especially among the newer folks,” Marlowe said.

By modernizing with a suite of modular, cloud-based business applications designed for state and local governments, agencies can increase efficiency and job satisfaction for their employees.

Read more

*Note: The Center for Digital Government is part of e.Republic, Government Technology's parent company.