Digital Services

The state of New York’s inaugural Chief Customer Experience Officer Tonya Webster was appointed to shape the method, style and efficiency of government interactions. This week, the state is reporting on its progress.

The chief information officer for the Diamond State has been in place since 2023 and was previously its chief technology officer. Lane has been with Delaware for eight years, following a 35-year private-sector career.

Completed in less than a year, the new state website combines 64 separate state sites into a unified digital destination with a smoothed search function. The Pennsylvania Office of Digital Experience led the effort.

State residents who work in the public sector, including in local government and education, have had employer contributions to their retirement accounts impacted by suspicious activity on servers.

A widespread cybersecurity breach of the PowerSchool Student Information System — used across the U.S. and internationally — is impacting Connecticut schools. The incident was discovered Dec. 28.

With the clock ticking on a municipal election, Dallas County officials are moving to ensure electronic poll book software functions as intended. Less than four months remain to resolve a malfunction from last year.

The City of Lakes was recently jointly awarded a U.S. Department of Transportation grant. Officials there will work with their counterparts in Seattle to develop a program assisting package delivery services.

Chief Technical Officer Gregory Scott, who heads the county’s Department of Information Technology, is preparing to retire after nearly six years in the role. He has helped the local government refine its resident experience.

Municipalities around the nation are carefully using artificial intelligence to improve access to documents and public meeting materials, leaders said during the GovAI Coalition Summit in December.

Ohio is investing $83 million on a project to modernize its 20-year-old unemployment system. The new solution promises to provide improved user and employee experiences as well as better fraud prevention.

Collaboration and partnership with other agencies was central to the redesign of the WaTech Service Catalog, to better understand the needs of state departments and deliver a more obtainable product.

When an Internet service provider was unable to comply with contract language, commissioners in Ashtabula County decided to rebid the project. This time, companies can bid on smaller portions of the initiative.

Bob Ferguson, the state’s incoming governor, will keep Bill Kehoe, its CIO and director of Washington Technology Solutions for more than four years, in place. Kehoe was previously CIO for Los Angeles County.

The state has committed to replacing its current campaign finance reporting system with a solution that may be easier to use than its current one. Like the old system, the new one will enable disclosure of campaign contributions and related details.

The Alaska Department of Revenue will work with Saige Consulting to modernize the Dividend Application Information System, by which qualifying residents receive their annual stipend. The new solution is expected in 2026.

The city’s Office of Records Custodians now publishes the reports of vehicle crashes online weekly. This means the public is no longer required to file individual public records requests to gain access.

Several recent initiatives from the Beeck Center are intended to assist the public sector in digital service delivery, including FormFest 2024 and the Digital Government Hub, an innovation-focused fellowship.

Many organizations have incorporated technology into their hiring processes. The Center for Democracy and Technology studied how one hiring technology — digitized assessments — impacts job seekers with disabilities.