Findings released by the National Technology Association on Wednesday show that the Civic Services Portal is highlighted for the state IT sector. 29% of the state reported operating such portals, while 39% said they were building one.
But increasing numbers of states run portals that collect all their digital services in one convenient location, many still lack privacy measures, organizing services in ways that make sense to their users and finding the right funds.
This survey, which collected responses from technology staff in 41 states, shows that budget constraints for such projects are a critical issue. While 93% have made funding the biggest challenge, comments collected from authorities indicate that creating a civic services portal is considered a priority in many states.
(The states that did not respond to the survey are California, Colorado, Hawaii, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, New York, Oklahoma and South Carolina. Washington, DC also did not participate.
“It is a central guideline principle for IT organizations to focus more on outcomes and users and to fulfill the greatest benefits of our members with ongoing IT initiatives,” the unnamed official is quoted as saying in the report.
While some states focus on users, many still suffer from this concept. The survey shows that 73% of states organize their services on portals based on the agents that provide them. This is considered a more intuitive way to find what users are looking for, compared to 27% of organizing services by type.
Some states use portal data to inform policies, but these efforts are still in the early stages. Only 15% have “full integration” of citizen portals into decision-making, while 49% have partially integrated and 36% have not integrated the portals into policy improvement initiatives.
Research shows that 20% of states integrate artificial intelligence tools into their services, 41% are currently adding AI, while 39% are not adding AI. Chatbots are the most common way to do this. 95% name chatbots as AI use, followed by 50% of states that specified contact center tools and 41% who specified fraud detection tools.
The state is building new service portals and trying to improve them. The top priority appointed by the state for these projects was to increase the accessibility and ease of service and expand self-service options for common tasks.
Some states are seeking better privacy measures, but many don't make it a priority. 56% of the states have designated privacy as their core focus and said they embed protection into their configuration process. 27% said they are dealing with data privacy through compliance with external regulations. Only 7% said they were considering privacy when collecting data.
Civic Services Portals have been on the wish list of most technology personnel for many years, but creating them requires navigating the complex web of outdated systems, incompatible platforms, data silos and identity management challenges. But as states modernize their systems, many are bringing together services and providing a customer experience that emulates what the private sector has to offer. State tech officials often create frictionless online experiences that people enjoy the success of companies like Amazon and Domino's Pizza.
The state is also looking for new platforms. Alaska Chief Information Officer Bill Smith recently told StatesCoop that for the past seven months he has been involved in an AI-powered mobile app that his office is planning to launch soon. He said he was designed to “splittle” the process of using government services.
“We really learned that the mobile app pathway has many more opportunities to make interactions with the government easier than we expected,” Smith said.
