And in so doing, they’re reimagining service delivery efforts, IT leaders said during a recent FedInsider webinar.
In California, Oakland CIO Tony Batalla oversees IT operations by a team of over 80 staff members, and is focused on bringing the city’s tech capabilities into the modern age one project at a time.
“A lot of what we’re doing now is just modernizing legacy systems and identifying a road map,” Batalla said during the webinar. “Oakland has a mix of fully modernized systems and others that need upgrading. You analyze, create a road map, and then execute."
One of his department’s top priorities is integrating diverse community voices into its modernization initiatives. Batalla, whose department has an annual budget of around $40 million, said he believes community engagement is crucial to modernization efforts — particularly in projects like website redesigns, where a combination of data analysis and direct resident feedback ensures a balanced approach reflecting diverse voices.
“When you work in government, you must consider all voices — not just the loudest ones,” Batalla said. “Unlike the private sector, where you can target a single customer segment, public-sector IT has to ensure that even the least-heard voices get recognized. That’s why our communications division is critical in shaping how we roll out new technology.”
When redoing Oakland’s website, the team combined data analytics with community feedback to determine priorities. Officials looked at the most-used hyperlinks and features, and heard from residents — “a mix of back-end analysis and front-end outreach that ensures we build services that meet the needs of the people using them,” Batalla said.
Joseph Simmons, IT consultant for Dover, Del., and former IT director for Kent County Levy Court, told attendees when he first arrived at the county, its IT infrastructure ran on legacy systems that made recruitment difficult.
The county transitioned key systems to the cloud, starting with Microsoft 365 and later migrating its entire enterprise resource planning system.
“The challenge wasn’t just technical — it was cultural,” Simmons said. “Many employees were accustomed to green screen applications they had been working with for 20 years. Suddenly, they had to use multifactor authentication and modern interfaces, which required change management.”
Kent County is also leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance citizen services; an AI-powered chatbot named “Reggie” facilitates real-time, two-way communication.
“Normally, if somebody calls the county offices wanting information about property zoning, they either wait for a planning office representative or leave a voicemail. That’s not the best experience, so we asked how we can make our website bidirectional and came up with Reggie,” Simmons said.
Reggie pulls data from multiple systems — real estate property records, public meeting schedules and permitting requirements — offering instant answers to most resident inquiries. And that’s not all.
“The bot doesn’t just answer questions — it learns. If a question isn’t in its database, it gets flagged, and we train it to respond better next time,” Simmons said. “Residents love it. They no longer have to wait in a phone queue and can get information after hours.”
In Oakland, the Internet of Things has made a substantial difference in modernizing public safety. Last year, the city completed its first major emergency dispatch system upgrade in 20 years.
One upgraded tool being used, Batalla said, is ShotSpotter, the IoT-based acoustic sensor network that detects gunshots and alerts law enforcement. It has been operational for several years, the CIO said, but his department fine-tuned the tool to reduce false positives using IoT.
The city’s extensive license plate reader network also utilizes IoT for post-incident investigations. Oakland Police Department has reported significant improvements in solving cases since implementing the system, Batalla said.
Technology isn’t the only factor driving these sorts of improvements in local government. Agencies working together play a crucial role in optimizing resources and implementing any large-scale modernizations, Simmons said, and standardizing their hardware and software can make it easier to share expertise and support.
“If you use the same hardware or platforms as your neighboring agencies, you don’t have to reinvent the wheel," he said. “It also helps with recruiting talent since more people will already be familiar with the technology.”
Success, he added, requires not just strategic planning and execution — but a healthy dose of patience.
“Rome wasn’t built in a day, and digital modernization isn’t either,” Simmons said. “But if you stick to the plan, the results will speak for themselves.”
