Government Tech: To Wait or to Modernize, That Is the Question
By John White
There’s a cliché, or maybe a pattern, that’s emerged over decades where state and local governments are seen as hesitant to embrace new technologies or upgrades, often because they’re identified as an outsized expense. In my time working with state agencies across the country, I’ve noticed that hesitancy isn’t always tied to sticker shock. While the private sector can be nimble and adopt new tech quickly, the public sector has a responsibility to ensure the long-term stability of service delivery for constituents. So, sticking with what works is often the right path, for a certain amount of time.
It is true that those systems and processes, however, can live past their shelf life and ultimately take on an expense and risk of their own. In states like Ohio, Pennsylvania and beyond, I’ve also seen how technology modernization investments that once seemed ambitious are introducing exponential ROI. These technology systems can serve as the foundation for efficient, resilient service delivery. This is especially important for states, given the rapid pace of technological change and the reality that waiting is not always an option.
There are a few key technologies and processes that, if they aren’t already, deserve to be on the modernization fast track:
Cloud migration continues to be the single biggest shift for government agility and cost control in the last decade. Moving on-premises servers, data centers and backup systems, which are cost and maintenance intensive, to the cloud, is driving down expenses, removing legacy code and enhancing security. Though many state and local governments are still making the move to the cloud, the InnovateOhio Platform has driven cloud adoption and taxpayer savings for the state while improving customer experience by bringing hundreds of agency services to the same platform.
As residents increasingly expect government to meet them where they are, digital interactions have become essential to building trust and delivering efficient services. Today’s leading states have moved beyond traditional eGovernment to create consumer-grade experiences that mirror the convenience of banking or retail: mobile apps that simplify benefit enrollment, digital contact centers supported by AI and tools that allow constituents to submit forms without visiting an office. These same technologies empower frontline workers, including case managers or inspectors, to access and update information from the field, reducing manual paperwork and improving accuracy.
While many local governments still utilize antiquated legacy systems or manual processes to manage operations, ERP modernization allows them to move to more sophisticated, efficient systems for financial management, human resources, benefits administration and more. While some states began the transition in the late 1990s, it’s not uncommon that 40-year-old systems are still in use. Today, these can now be advanced to a statewide, cloud-based approach, delivering structural savings by standardizing processes and consolidating platforms across agencies to drastically improve government efficiency and service delivery.
Because a cyberattack is not a matter of if, but when, cybersecurity modernization is without a doubt one of the most crucial advancement governments should tackle. Across the country, states are proactively responding to the evolving threat landscape. Ohio, for example, was recently recognized at NASCIO for its digital fraud detection system, which won the 2025 State IT Recognition Award for its AI-based digital fraud prevention work. Ohio’s Fraud Detection and Reporting (FDR) tool has disabled more than 450,000 malicious accounts in under a year and will ultimately prevent millions in losses.
It’s becoming clear that AI is the next technology ripe for public sector consideration, and the technology modernization examples outlined above can give us some nice context for what it means to move forward. I’ll share more about specific AI opportunities in the future, and for those considering next steps, our Deloitte Generative AI and Government Work survey of some 19,000 government tasks provides a starting point for options to tackle first.
About the Author:
John White is the Managing Principal at Deloitte Consulting, LLP.