Digitizing records and processes allow governments to provide services to meet the evolving expectations of citizens and businesses, even with tighter budgets and more complex challenges.

Courthouse squares are not immune to adversity. Many local, state, and federal government offices across the country have been dealt serious blows by natural disasters, fires, leaky pipes, and technology outages over the years.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, state and local government agencies across the globe have been forced to close their doors and reduce staff significantly. Shutting down operations for extended periods means that crucial services to citizens are slower or simply not available—this equates to a bad citizen experience.

Closed to the public or not, government agencies must still deliver vital services to the public sector.

Digital transformation has been on the agenda of government employees for many years – despite huge steps in the right direction, bringing agencies to the digital age has been a slow and arduous process. Even with the best intentions, many office’s digitization efforts are hamstrung by bureaucracy and external factors.

COVID-19 will be the catalyst that changes the mindset about digital technology in government from nice-to-have to mission-critical.

Accelerating digitization in government

Illuminated during the pandemic was government employees’ dependency on paper and manual processes that require a high degree of human interaction. Too many important documents still exist only in paper form, and too many government functions still rely on printing, signing, faxing, and mailing physical documents.

Nearly all government agencies have invested in records management systems to create public service access to electronic records. Many of these systems were purchased after 2000. If historical records – those prior to the system being installed – have not been converted to an electronic format and imported into the system, a large, important gap remains in the database.

Real estate transactions, for example, require copies of mortgage and conveyance instruments. A title attorney or abstractor may need to search as far back as 40 years to determine the chain of custody for a piece of property. Even though most counties have a land record management system in place from vendors like Cott Systems, Tyler Technologies, or Software & Services, many land instruments have yet to be scanned and indexed into the system. Once all land records are made available in a single repository, a recorder’s office can bring in new revenue through online subscriptions without ever touching a document.

Other manual processes that are ripe for digitization include FOIA requests, permitting, marriage licensing, and grant application processes.

Beyond paper in government

Digitizing paper documents is the low-risk, high-yield lever of digital transformation. Once a system to manage records is in place and all documents have been made accessible, agencies can tackle other repeatable, manual processes that slow government offices down.

While each office has a unique set of functions, there are several areas that are primed for modernization in government.

1. Title and Genealogical Research. Is your vault still filled with researchers that rely on paper documents? Making these documents available online reduces foot traffic and improves customer service.

2. E-signatures. In a rapidly maturing market, digital signatures have been used extensively in the private sector for years. Government offices can drastically reduce the number of documents printed, scanned, and emailed with paperless signing and approvals.

3. Video conferencing. Agencies are already moving meetings and other events to a virtual environment. This trend will likely continue as more agencies add technologies like Microsoft Teams and Zoom.

4. Employee onboarding. Hiring new applicants can be a slow and laborious process. Agencies that digitize this process can have candidates apply online and upload their data seamlessly. Automation tools can route the documents to a hiring manager for review, greatly reducing the time it takes to hire a new employee.

5. Chatbots. Deploying chatbots allows citizens to get answers to general questions around the clock from your website. “Missi”, Mississippi’s online chatbot fields 3,600 queries per month. Each interaction with Missi could have been a 5- or 10-minute phone call with a staff member. Missi was loaded with pertinent data related to COVID to keep residents informed of the latest news, freeing up drastically needed staff.

Moving your government agency into the digital age

Government offices inherently move at a slower pace than the private sector – as they should. They manage and control vast amounts of data from centuries past while serving an ever-growing and evolving population. Fear of reducing staff or wasting tax dollars looms over any decisions that involve major change – even those that could revolutionize a city, county, or state.

As government inches closer to digitization, the opportunity for improvement is lying in wait. Now is the time to eliminate all paper and any manual processes that inhibit your agency from responding to challenges when they arrive on your courthouse’s front steps.

Revolution Data Systems has scanned and indexed millions of documents for government agencies across the country. We can work with you to un-stick stuck processes that are causing slow-downs in your office. Contact us to go digital in your government department.