Beyond Tech: 4 Keys to Successful Government Modernization

With more than 25 years working on government modernization projects in the state of Ohio, I’ve witnessed technology advance at exponentially faster rates, with massive breakthroughs that completely alter how governments provide critical services to constituents. Now as state CIO working within the Ohio Department of Administrative Services (DAS), I’ve also found that even the most impressive technology by itself isn’t enough to ensure modernization works for everyone. Because when government doesn’t set up the technology for success, innovation can stall and you’ll miss out on huge wins for agencies, government employees and residents.

All of us in Ohio have learned that supporting tech modernization means a combined and concerted effort to introduce road maps for constant innovation; a communications infrastructure that innovates alongside technology; policy leadership and guidance; and a laser focus on meeting end-user needs. This is what that’s looked like for Ohio:

EVOLVING INNOVATION ROAD MAPS

First, in order to continuously innovate, you must be willing to put your plans to paper and simultaneously be ready to adjust and reprioritize as technology or user needs change. Fortunately, our CIOs and tech leads across some 25 Ohio agencies view innovation as a continuous cycle.
So each year, we share our program road maps and invite our agency partners to weigh in throughout the process — even after it’s complete. For example, an upcoming digital business identity project with the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services (JFS) was originally slated to begin in about 18 months. But JFS came to us with a more immediate request to tackle business identification that would map individuals to real businesses, validate those businesses and help them prevent fraudulent unemployment claims. Seeing the promise of this opportunity — and recognizing its importance to JFS — we pushed this project to the front of the line.

COMMUNICATIONS AS INNOVATION INFRASTRUCTURE

These road maps, while often outlining enterprisewide technology implementations, don’t always require a centralized approach. In Ohio’s model, we treat our agencies as customers — they have application ownership where it drives their specific mission or leverages their unique capabilities in serving residents. So how then do you avoid the siloed approach historically taken in state government? For Ohio, it’s through structured engagement and constant communication.

Among several other initiatives, we hold multiagency CIO Council meetings every six weeks, while cross-agency groups of more than 40 technologists and administrators meet biweekly. IOP (InnovateOhio Platform) Day, Infrastructure Service Day and Coffee with the CISO keep interested state employees informed and engaged and serve as our always-on listening system. By creating an environment where people can bring ideas, debate and learn from one another, I believe we’ve earned significant trust that makes enterprise adoption possible.

IF YOU BUILD IT, WILL THEY COME?

We’re fortunate that Ohio has historically been forward-thinking in our approach to technology innovation. In part, it’s through support and policy guidance from the administration, including Executive Order 2019-15D to establish IOP. However, building a system like IOP to streamline and modernize interactions between the state and its residents doesn’t guarantee its use.

Organizational change management has been vital to supporting adoption of every modernization project. In practice, this means that every time DAS goes live with a new solution, we can again prove our value to our agency customers and state leaders. And once we have the trust and confidence of those stakeholders, we’re in a position to truly drive innovation across the entire ecosystem.

FOCUS ON THE END USER

Designing exclusively for Ohioans and government employees who use these services is also critical. Our digital identity solution, OHID, enables single-sign-on access to dozens of agencies and today has more than 8 million residents and state and local government employees connecting to critical state services, from tax filing and vehicle registration to unemployment benefits and licensing.

Ohio’s integrated eligibility system for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, Medicaid and child care is another area where we have focused on the customer, which could be the caseworker or Ohioan receiving the benefits. The National Association of State Chief Information Officers has recognized Ohio with a number of awards related to Ohio Benefits including one around the automated “Family of Bots” we developed to help Ohioans enroll in these programs, while saving caseworkers across Ohio’s 88 counties time so they can focus instead on serving their clients.

Awards are wonderful recognition for all the people behind these projects, but these projects were successful because they were guided by our customers: the agencies, businesses and residents that rely on these technologies every day to carry out their jobs and to live fulfilling lives.

As anyone, I know how easy it is to get caught up in the tech, because the feeling of being part of true technology innovation is energizing to all of us in this field. But even better than that? Hearing from fellow Ohioans that our continuous innovations have fundamentally improved their life.