digital services

County’s integrated platform delivers client-focused social services

With HSD Dynamics, Maricopa County can easily share data with APIs, track metrics and automate manual tasks to ensure residents get the services they need.

  • By Stephanie Kanowitz

How one city managed an IT staff consolidation

Lessons from Seattle’s years-long effort to consolidate IT workers from different city departments into a single agency.

  • By Kaitlyn Levinson

Align agencies, residents to boost customer experience

Online portals can streamline services delivery and even support related applications, but agencies must build trust with staff and residents as they roll out automated services that collect personal information, agency experts say.

  • By Chris Teale

Trust will be key for US Notify—a text message service for state benefits

A pilot program will help state benefits programs send text alerts to low-income families in need of public services.

  • By Aaron Boyd

Twitter turmoil prompts agencies to plan for social media upsets

Agencies must find ways to adapt to changes in Twitter’s operations to ensure residents still receive the information they need, experts say.

  • By Kaitlyn Levinson

Zero-trust citizen access: Secure services for residents and agencies

COMMENTARY | A zero-trust citizen portal gives residents seamless access to public services while protecting increasingly vulnerable government networks from attack.

  • By Ian Milligan-Pate

CODE PA to design simple, seamless, secure digital services

The Commonwealth Office of Digital Experience, Pennsylvania's new customer experience shop, will build and deliver accessible, equitable and effective online services.

  • By Kaitlyn Levinson

New guide looks to slash 'time tax' on benefits applications

The project aims to make applications for government programs such as childcare assistance more user-friendly and less time consuming.

  • By Natalie Alms

ChatGPT for state and local agencies? Not so fast.

Tasks that can benefit from automation such as software development, traffic management or rote tasks are good candidates for ChatGPT, but those that need more subjectivity still require human intervention, experts say.

  • By Stephanie Kanowitz

How chat comments can supercharge safety net programs

With help from Code for America, New Mexico is analyzing its chat session data to uncover ways to improve customer experience through automation or a more personal touch.

  • By Stephanie Kanowitz

Modernization takes agencies from service providers to service brokers

Enterprise IT teams should focus on making services easier for staff and residents to access and engage with, one state CIO said.

  • By Chris Teale

How agencies can help constituents find accurate information quicker

COMMENTARY | With AI-enabled answer engines, users can ask complete questions and get the correct answer regardless of how they phrase the question.

  • By John Reuter

Government still wrestles with digital equity, accessibility

Agencies struggle to provide services for individuals with limited English, digital literacy issues and unreliable broadband or online access, a recent survey found.

  • By Stephanie Kanowitz

Dig into feedback on digital services, experts advise

Whether from staff or residents, feedback can help agencies spot pain points and improve user experience.

  • By Stephanie Kanowitz
Featured eBooks

Building scalable, cost-effective application security

COMMENTARY | Automated scanning and remediation platforms can identify, fix and prevent security gaps and vulnerabilities at the software application and development levels.

  • By Mark Townsend

Treasury reopens ‘help desk’ for states and localities

The call center, which fielded 300 calls and about 2,000 emails a week before it was shut down, provided governments with assistance on the handling of various pandemic-related programs.

  • By Kery Murakami

Modernization needs partners inside, outside government

Local leaders say they need buy-in from users as well as partners who can walk them through modernization.

  • By Chris Teale

What are the pros and cons of digital workers?

Organizations should consider the costs—and ethics—of implementing an artificial intelligence-enabled workforce.

  • By Rachel Cramer, Futurity

How does ChatGPT differ from human intelligence?

Humans and computer intelligence harbor many similarities in how they process information, researchers say, but machines still have limitations.

  • By Corrie Pikul, Futurity

How to build an effective crisis contact center

Preparing a contact center for emergency response involves a unified communications strategy across platforms, staffing flexibility and scalable technology.

  • By Kaitlyn Levinson

Digitized ID eases re-entry for formerly incarcerated

To streamline the re-entry process for released inmates, the Maryland Re-Entry Passport program launched an online portal that stores digitized copies of personal documents.

  • By Kaitlyn Levinson