Modernization

From paper to portal: How one city brought tax filings online

Under an aggressive modernization strategy, Columbus, Ohio, has built a one-stop shop for filing income tax returns.

  • By Chris Teale

How the procurement process can help agencies acquire responsible AI

Buying artificial intelligence is not just about setting new policies to manage emerging technology, but applying tried-and-true processes, one expert says.

  • By Stephanie Kanowitz

No longer just nice to have: Data literacy essential to digital government

While more data-mature cities are seeing payoffs from upskilling staff, even small gains can make a big difference.

  • By Stephanie Kanowitz

Unwinding the public health emergency: Medicaid agencies should slow down to speed up

COMMENTARY | States that take the time to strategically adjust their staffing, processes and technology could ultimately speed up the Medicaid redetermination process.

  • By Blake Shaw

How to hire faster in the public sector

COMMENTARY | By rethinking its recruitment processes, technology and organization, one city cut the time it took to fill vacancies by 38% in two years.

  • By Alex Smith

Cloud a ‘game-changer’ for health insurance marketplace

When California’s health insurance marketplace migrated to the cloud, it cut costs, improved consumer experience and gained the ability to scale to demand.

  • By Frank Konkel

New life for old coal: Mine lands and power plants are hot renewable development spots

Converting old coal plants to renewable energy storage sites can set states up for job creation and increased tax revenue, one observer says.

  • By Robert Zullo, Iowa Capital Dispatch

Government runs on a 64-year-old language. Could AI help change that?

COBOL is still relied on for many essential services. But as experts in the language retire, states are looking at new technologies and ways to change workplace culture to help ease the transition away from it.

  • By Chris Teale

Lessons from one state’s effort to modernize its criminal justice system

New York’s sweeping 2020 law sought to accelerate pre-trial processes with technology upgrades. But the state’s experience offers lessons for other jurisdictions undertaking similar efforts to modernize the justice system.

  • By Stephanie Kanowitz

Introducing the 2023 Rising Stars

Route Fifty is proud to participate in the Rising Star Awards, a program that recognizes innovative, early-career individuals who are already having an outsized impact in the government IT community.

  • By Elizabeth Daigneau

Feds hope more data access will improve states’ SNAP delivery

The U.S. Agriculture Department is working to help states address card skimming and other persistent problems in the SNAP program.

  • By Natalie Alms

Cloud adoption essential, but still challenging

Pittsburgh has racked up some early successes with its cloud migration, but a combination of limited finances, technical debt and the need to educate employees slows progress.

  • By Chris Teale
Featured eBooks
The State of Trust in Government
Cybersecurity in State and Local Government
Building Data Literacy in the State and Local Workforce

State leaders count up modernization wins

Tech leaders say gains in system processing speeds, security and customer experience make the case for modernization.

  • By Chris Teale

The future of government is (still) digital

More than 20 years after a report foresaw a government dominated by digital services, an update finds that a lack of tech savvy workers and funding are hampering efforts to realize that vision.

  • By Chris Teale

State CIOs look ahead to a collaborative, automated future

A survey of state technology leaders found that the CIO role has evolved from one concerned with building a state’s own tech infrastructure to one focused on acting as a broker of services. The change comes amid increasing automation, use of AI and cybersecurity challenges.

  • By Chris Teale

The money's out the door in nationwide unemployment insurance modernization push

A Labor Department official said efforts to help states modernize their UI systems are trending in the right direction, but funding may be insufficient.

  • By Natalie Alms

Three years since the start of the pandemic, unemployment insurance fraud is still a multibillion dollar problem

Several states have recently reported increases in fraudulent claims. After spending hundreds of millions of dollars to upgrade systems, emerging threats are putting pressure on states to modernize even further.

  • By Chris Teale

Unemployment insurance modernization takes hit in Congress

The funding reduction is part of the debt ceiling compromise, but the Labor Department says it still plans to focus on helping states combat identity fraud and strengthening the integrity of the UI system.

  • By Natalie Alms

Agency execs strive to maintain modernization momentum

Government leaders want to keep up the pace of COVID-era innovation, but do so more securely, a new report finds.

  • By Chris Teale

State expands streamlined, automated licensing

Wisconsin’s successful migration of its occupational licensing system to the cloud now includes business licenses.

  • By Chris Teale

Public safety relies on behind-the-scenes technology

COMMENTARY | Reliable emergency response, citation management and crime analysis technologies give responders the data they need quickly and accurately.

  • By Skip Bland