Q&A with Stephen Walsh: Driving Digital Government Transformation
Slalom’s Stephen Walsh dives into successfully navigating digital transformation, embracing change, driving adaptation, developing processes, and broadening comfort zones.
Reflecting on your journey in the public sector, how would you describe “digital transformation in government”? How has government agencies’ approach to driving these initiatives evolved through the years?
Transforming government is about creating meaningful change for the public — full stop. Whether it is transforming internal operations for increased productivity, or modernizing the way constituents interact with the government as they are renewing their driver’s licenses, every technology implementation is a means to an end, to improve public outcomes.
During my tenure as the chief information officer of the New York City Fire Department, and later as the executive director for the New York City (NYC) e-Government Office, not only was technology very siloed, but most governmental business processes were as well. Residents that required access to government services or assistance usually had to learn to figure out how to navigate the bureaucracy themselves, usually on trial and error, and with considerable effort. Government services were never intuitive when conducted in person for one agency, let alone, trying to conduct business or access services across multiple agencies.
From a technology perspective, the initial wave of e-Government was also implemented in agency silos– but it now enabled the transaction of services on-line rather than in-line at an agency office. While many think of the technology enablers around e-Government, it was more about aligning technology to government operations. However, the NYC e-Government set the foundation by creating the city-wide governance process for cross agency-collaboration and decision-making, while also building out the technology infrastructure for the city, which wound up being critical in the cross-agency response and recovery efforts during and after 9/11.
The digital government and/or digital transformation has been building on this legacy for two decades with meaningful, but incremental improvements to both government legacy systems and processes.
What are some of the critical elements required for successful digital transformation programs? Or, conversely, what inhibits transformation?
Both during my time serving in government and now looking at it from the outside as a public sector consultant, there are key areas that I see as a must for success. People, process, technology. We all heard and repeated it frequently when working on digital transformation initiatives. That is true, but projects succeed or fail based on people. The greatest asset or liability to transformation is people. Organizations that fail to invest in their people or do not address the human factor in technology implementations will seldom achieve the results hoped for.
With the pandemic, we’ve seen IT getting involved in greater business decisions and a renewed interest in furthering cross-agency collaboration in states and localities. This has been a refreshing shift for those of us who have led digital transformation initiatives in a much-siloed environment, as I’ve shared. Then, the business value of digital transformation initiatives to residents were realized in years. However, the technological advancements since then–from cloud to Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platforms such as Salesforce– have empowered and enabled cross-agency collaboration across governmental business processes to serve the residents in a much more responsive and meaningful way.
As is often the case, crises tend to accelerate digital transformation, and the response from government IT during COVID-19 was nothing short of extraordinary. In my role as the University Executive Director of Enterprise IT Services for the CUNY (City University of New York) System, we faced the immense challenge of transitioning 300,000 students and 50,000 faculty and staff members to online instruction and business operations within a few business days. However, thanks to the University’s already established and robust IT infrastructure, which included redundant networks, advanced identity management applications, as well as various SaaS solutions and vendor agreements, we were able to scale rapidly.
Prior to the pandemic, the majority of the University’s instruction was conducted in-person, accounting for over 90%. However, during the pandemic, we swiftly shifted to 100% online instruction. The level of academic transformation achieved in such a short time would have taken years, if not a decade, to replicate under normal circumstances. This experience taught us an important lesson: the constraint for modernization doesn’t always lie in IT itself but rather in the government’s ability and willingness to leverage the potential of its people, processes, and technologies to bring about real change.
The economic downturn followed by a global pandemic has created an unpredictable business environment, spurring up a wave of cost-saving measures to do more with less including hiring freezes or layoffs — conditions historically all very familiar to public agencies. With the pandemic relief funds dwindling, how can states ensure the continued success of digital transformation programs?
Finding focus in unpredictable times can be challenging. At Slalom, we believe that putting people first can help organizations thrive in a chaotic world. While many outside factors are at play, the people you choose to invest in remain under your control. I’m pleased to see the increasing attention on workforce development by government agencies, especially in areas that require advanced technical expertise, such as cybersecurity.
State and local government IT workforce challenges aren’t new. In fact, if you look at many of the recruiting and retention tactics suggested by organizations like NASCIO almost a decade ago, they are still relevant. Although the timing for governments to carry out their “call to action” has been accelerated coming out of the pandemic, it has taken on a somewhat different flavor. With COVID-19, agencies were forced into an accelerated pace of digital transformation — especially with cloud platforms and SaaS products — and now it requires a skilled workforce to both maintain and continue to deliver and transform on the foundation it built over the last two years.
However, aging government civil service and human resource policies are constraining government IT from continuing down the innovation path. To retain staff, governments need to continue embracing a hybrid workforce, especially considering the pay scale compared to the private sector. Agencies need to invest in training and upskilling employees to meet the demands and growth of digital transformation. States and localities can consider broad-banding civil service workforce titles to accommodate new technologies and services, and by abandoning formal government organizational structures, they can leverage a matrix model with skills and staff across an organization. Lastly, increasing the pay scale is crucial to retaining existing employees and attracting new ones. Government agencies can lift the constraints, but it is a time-consuming process and one that is often subject to unions, collective bargaining, and budgetary allocations.
If you were to take a retrospective look at the last few years of any state or municipal budget — considering the investments made in technology alone and how much they continue to spend on licensing and other modernization efforts — and then compare it with the investments made in its people through training, change management, etc., you would expect to see an extremely lopsided result. Transformation cannot effectively occur without a concerted strategic effort to re-engineer the government workforce. There needs to be specific workforce development initiatives led and governed at the executive level (Governors and Mayors) in order to ensure its priority and agency alignment. People are your greatest asset; invest in them!
In parallel, government agencies will need to look towards adopting a stronger role in procurement and vendor management. If the government skills gap becomes too great and there are extensive dependencies on certain platforms or vendors, while modernization continues, then many governments will be forced to rethink their model of providing services. They may transition from being a direct provider to one that has become more outsourced. Thus, having the capability to manage large contracts and vendors to deliver on transformative efforts will be critical. There are pros and cons to these models, both in terms of cost and delivery. However, I can see vendor-centric models starting to become more prominent as long as the government fails to address the workforce challenges.
What do you wish you’d have had when you were a CIO in the public sector years ago?
When reflecting on my time as a CIO in the public sector, there are a few key elements that I wish I had access to. One of them is SaaS solutions with out-of-the-box capabilities. Back then, the process of customization was extensive, but nowadays, the focus is on configuring and making minor customizations. This shift would have allowed us to drive business results at a much quicker pace, delivering value more efficiently.
Another aspect that I believe would have been beneficial is the adoption of Agile methodology. The traditional waterfall approach and the aging PMBOK methodology for project management were not as effective in the government setting. Embracing Agile or a hybrid approach would have maximized our investments and enabled us to deliver value to our constituents and residents more effectively.
Lastly, I wish we had fully embraced cloud technology. The cloud offers scalability, cost savings, and increased accessibility. Its potential as a game-changer cannot be overlooked. Incorporating cloud services into our operations would have provided us with the flexibility and advantages needed to enhance our overall performance and outcomes.
We’re continuing to see transitions in state and local IT leadership. Any departing thoughts or advice you have for new public sector CIOs driving digital transformation?
As we witness transitions in state and local IT leadership, I believe it’s crucial for new public sector CIOs driving digital transformation to approach it with the right mindset. To me, transforming government goes beyond improving technology — it’s about creating meaningful change for the public. It’s essential to view IT as an enabler for a much larger purpose.
When developing strategic plans for digital transformation initiatives, it’s important to identify the desired outcome and purpose of each project. Ask yourself: Why are we doing this? How does it benefit the public or the agency? By establishing clear and identifiable outcomes and purposes, you can create alignment within your organization.
When combining CRM with robust identity access and management platforms, mobile functionality, strong governance processes, and alignment to cross-agency business processes, the digital experience becomes transformative. For instance, residents should no longer have to navigate multiple agencies to apply and qualify for various public benefits. We’ve seen improvements with numerous platforms rolled out by state and city governments, creating a more seamless experience through digital transformation strategies. However, given the sheer number and complexity of public-facing government services, we’ve only scratched the surface. There is still a long way to go, but the technology enablement is already here. What we need is a shift in focus for government agencies to adopt an enterprise strategic approach that serves the public through technology, rather than tackling one agency at a time. True transformation occurs when agencies align on common outcomes.
Imagine a world where residents and business owners can interact with the government seamlessly, just as they do with private enterprises. They would only need one citizen ID that could be used across any agency. The experience would guide them to the right processes or agencies without requiring them to navigate a complex government bureaucracy. Whether it’s starting a business or opening a restaurant, the goal is to create an environment where individuals can easily access the services they need.
Editor’s note: This interview was inspired by a panel session Stephen Walsh participated in at the New Jersey Digital Government Summit 2023. Responses have been edited for brevity.
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