Over the past year and a half, the pandemic made it painfully clear that inequalities for women and communities of color must be addressed in every industry. Although technology and government aren’t the only sectors that need to revise the systemic barriers holding these workers back, the problem is apparent to all. One stark example: Women remain woefully underrepresented in the technology industry. Despite making up about half of the...

Too many cities and counties rely on networks that simply weren’t developed for today’s world. Chances are, your core network technologies date back to a time before widespread adoption of cloud and smartphones; before the emergence of intelligent lighting, smart garbage cans and ubiquitous video; and certainly before the pandemic-driven acceleration of remote work and digital government services. Join Government Technology on Sept...

The pandemic has led to unprecedented service delivery challenges for state and local governments, but it also has presented a once-in-a-generation funding opportunity for public sector organizations to make long-term technology investments. The American Rescue Plan (ARP), which was passed in March 2021, made $350 billion available to state, local and tribal governments through the Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Fund. ARP also pro...

The pandemic has permanently altered the way government conducts business, including where it conducts business. Recent Center for Digital Government research found nearly three-quarters of state and local agencies anticipate hybrid work — where employees work from home at least on a part-time basis — will be their long-term model. But it will take innovation and creativity to make this workplace of the future successful. In a new...

Constituents trust their local governments to provide services that are responsive to their individual needs. Now, more than ever, constituents expect their government services to evolve and change - just like how their own lives have evolved and changed. This is especially true as governments embrace flexible working policies and remote work arrangements for their employees - and, in the process, innovate on traditional, in-person services. B...

It’s more important than ever for special district leaders to understand how emerging technologies can impact their organizations. The pandemic accelerated demand for IT modernization and raised digital expectations among your executive leadership and constituents. The future is arriving at an unprecedented pace and special district leaders need to understand how to prioritize and securely deploy these technologies in the midst of other...

As higher education institutions begin a new school year, many are looking at how they can improve academic support and administrative process. Many of these processes have been siloed and manual, leading to lost time and frustration for both employees and faculty and the students they serve. Optimizing the student experience is more important than ever before as the pandemic impacted both enrollment and budget levels. Higher education institu...

After a year marked by a global pandemic and civic unrest, local government leaders are even more focused on connecting and building trust with constituents. New research from the Center for Digital Government shows city and county leaders overwhelmingly believe local government plays a critical role in building a sense of community with residents — and they’re increasingly using digital tools to do so. On Sept. 16, Government Tech...

Open to Public Sector only. The events of 2020 rapidly accelerated the use of technology and digital expectations the public has for their state and local government agencies. These new expectations have pushed the need to modernize the experience of government to be accessible in new, and sometimes, contactless ways. But the events of 2020 were merely a warm-up act to the new pace of change that will continue through 2021 and beyond – a...

Traditional service delivery in government has often focused more on processes than on people in need. Siloed programs, departments and IT systems have required vulnerable constituents to navigate unnecessary complexity and often participate in redundant processes to get access to services. At the same time, agencies have been stuck with monolithic or highly customized technology systems that have hindered innovation.Technology today is changi...