Cloud to AI: Embracing Emerging Tech in the Public Sector

Tyler Podcast Episode 124, Transcript

The Tyler Tech Podcast explores a wide range of complex, timely, and important issues facing communities and the public sector. Expect approachable tech talk mixed with insights from subject matter experts and a bit of fun. Each episode highlights the people, places, and technology making a difference. Give the podcast a listen today and subscribe.

Show Notes:

In this episode of the Tyler Tech Podcast, we explore how public sector agencies can modernize with purpose — strategically adopting cloud technologies and preparing for emerging innovations like AI.

Recorded live at the Tyler Connect conference in San Antonio, this insightful conversation features Mike Teeters, senior product manager at Tyler. Mike shares practical guidance on moving away from legacy systems, overcoming budget and staffing challenges, and leveraging the cloud to ensure scalability, resilience, and continuous innovation.

We also discuss how government agencies can take incremental steps toward modernization, build trust through transparency and data governance, and evaluate success through measurable outcomes like improved service delivery and resident engagement.

Tune in to learn how to build a strong digital foundation today — and set the stage for what’s next.

This episode also highlights “Resilient by Design: How Technology Supports Government,” our free e-book that explores how public sector agencies can strengthen their resilience in the face of disruption. From cloud infrastructure and automation to secure payment systems and crisis response tools, the e-book features real-world examples of how technology helps governments maintain continuity and serve their communities more effectively.

• Download: Resilient by Design: How Technology Supports Government

And learn more about the topics discussed in this episode with these resources:

• Download: Cloud-Smart Strategies for IT Infrastructure Modernization
• Blog: Boosting Resilience: Cloud Solutions for Modern Government
• Blog: Partnering With Communities to Build Resilience
• Blog: Resilient Communities Rely on Modern Public Safety Solutions
• Blog: Increase Community Resilience With Modern Payment Systems
• Blog: How Cloud-Based Solutions Expand Access to State Services
• Blog: Resilience at Scale: Technology for an Unpredictable Future
• Podcast: The Cloud Advantage: Powering Public Sector Resilience

Listen to other episodes of the podcast.

Let us know what you think about the Tyler Tech Podcast in this survey!

Transcript:

Mike Teeters: So, the idea that you’re always on the latest version and kind of got an easy way to continue to stay current, that’s, you know, I think a great example where the cloud can be a benefit. And for your workforce, that ensures that people are always, you know, knowledgeable in terms of the latest functionality, what’s available in that that latest version, and so forth.

Josh Henderson: From Tyler Technologies, this is the Tyler Tech Podcast where we explore the trends, technologies, and people shaping the public sector. I’m your host, Josh Henderson. Thanks for joining us. In this episode, I’m joined by Mike Teeters, senior product manager here at Tyler.

We caught up at our annual Tyler Connect conference this year in San Antonio to talk about how public sector organizations can modernize with purpose, embrace cloud technologies, and prepare for the future of emerging tech like AI. Mike always brings such valuable insights to the show, so let’s jump right into the conversation.

Alright, Mike. Welcome back to the podcast. It’s great to be chatting with you again. It’s always good to have you.

Mike Teeters: Thanks for having me.

Josh Henderson: Of course. Today, we’re going to unpack how public sector organizations can modernize thoughtfully, embrace cloud technologies, and start positioning themselves to leverage emerging tech in ways that make sense for their communities. So, let’s start with their modernization journey then.

Why is modernizing government systems, particularly by moving to the cloud, such a timely and critical priority right now?

Mike Teeters: I think there’s probably a couple of things that we’ve seen over the last, call it, five years when it comes to modernization and where I think the cloud has really been a huge component.

Obviously, we had this huge event that occurred a few years ago with the pandemic. And so that really created a scenario where when you think about the way people are interacting with government, it really kind of forced or drove people to taking advantage of digital services. That idea of an online experience. So, I think we saw that as a big push.

The second thing that’s really been a big player, obviously, for a lot of our customers has been the threat of cyberevents.

And so, the idea that you can be better prepared and really reduce kind of your exposure to, you know, cybersecurity events by transitioning to the cloud gives you the advantage of being better prepared. Obviously, having software that’s going to be, you know, the most current up to date, taking advantage of the most security applications that are available and so forth, I think, is a is a big part of what we’ve seen.

I know you probably will have some questions around what’s, you know, what’s going to be coming in the future. But one of the big other areas here would obviously be AI and, you know, what that means, and that’s where I think also the cloud can, you know, play a pretty big role.

Josh Henderson: For governments that are taking steps toward modernization, how does cloud technology help them scale, improve service delivery, and address workforce pressures that they may be under?

Mike Teeters: The cloud offers a few different avenues for our customers when it comes to things like scaling and being able to address workforce pressures. You know, number one, it puts you in a position where instead of having software that you’ve installed in your data center on, you know, your infrastructure, Now you’re taking advantage of cloud infrastructure, and we certainly are a big advocate of the benefits of the public cloud in the sense that it provides, really just unlimited scalability, really, for most of our customers. And, again, if you kind of think of, typical types of things that occur on an annual basis for our customers, there are periods where they would have intense pressure on their infrastructure and on their data center. That’s a really good example, you know, whether it’s year end, it’s, you know, for, you know, annual benefits application. It could be, you know, financial activity that’s occurring periodically.

All of those kinds of things are really good examples where now with cloud, you have a really easy way to scale.

I think in terms of workforce, it really can be kind of a workforce mitigator or, you know, maybe enhancer.

I think, Tyler, again, just we have such a big footprint with our solutions that it makes it a lot easier, obviously, to keep people current. With the cloud, you’re on the latest version of the software. And so, I know many of our customers are often challenged because, just because of their staffing size and so forth.

It can be really difficult to kind of keep up with versions as they get released. So, the idea that you’re always on the latest version and you kind of got an easy way to continue to stay current, that’s, you know, I think, a great example where the cloud can be a benefit. And for your workforce, obviously, that ensures that people are always, you know, knowledgeable in terms of the latest functionality, what’s available in that that latest version, and so forth. So maybe a couple of examples.

Josh Henderson: That’s great. And I think another challenge, obviously, in working with the public sector is budgeting constraints. So, moving from legacy systems can often be difficult one for a lot of agencies.

Mike Teeters: That’s a really, really good point to highlight, Josh. And I think, you know, what we saw with the pandemic, I think one of the silver linings, if you will, that came out of that was that there were federal funds that came out really to help our customers, you know, whether they’re local government customers, you know, but all the way up to state government customers, to be able to take advantage of those funds to modernize their solutions. Modernize those systems.

It’s just natural there would be a transition to cloud based solutions as part of that.

One of the advantages I would argue about the cloud is that it really takes what, for a lot of our customers, was this periodic big capital investment. You know, I’m going to put in a new system, or I need to make these big upgrades in terms of moving to sort of a major version. Really, with the cloud, it kind of smooths all that out because now you’re always going to be on the latest version of the software, which means those gaps, those jumps are going to be a lot smaller. And number two, it really gets baked into your operating budget.

So, kind of operating that solution, you’ve transitioned a lot of the infrastructure and operating costs to Tyler, because it’s a cloud solution. So, you’ve alleviated some of that. You’ve really kind of built it into your ongoing, you know, operating budget.

It’s a different model. It’s a little bit different way about thinking things, but we think for a lot of our customers, it really provides, really, a better experience. And if you look back at, in the past when we had, you know, our SaaS solutions, you know, probably over the last decade or so, that was a really good example of, I think, the earlier iteration of this approach, like, transitioning some of those costs. So, I think there’s a lot of benefits for customers, and there’s a couple of examples.

Josh Henderson: I think those are great examples. And, you know, we talk a lot too about how there’s just constantly emerging technologies, you know, coming out into the public sector. And so, some agencies might feel a little bit daunted just by the sheer amount of emerging technologies.

But how can a cloud infrastructure set that base and help folks move into the future and embrace any sort of emerging technologies that might come through?

Mike Teeters: It’s a great question, and I think it’s going to be an ongoing challenge for our customers.

You know, today, probably the big thing that most of our customers are really looking at is how do they take advantage of sort of the promise around AI. AI is a is a great example. And I think this is where our approach, at least, to transitioning to the cloud, it allows us to start to introduce AI based capabilities or AI based functionality in in really a very targeted way that customers can choose to take advantage of.

If you and, again, I know, you know, with the conference here, there’s going to be a number of sessions where we’re going to highlight how we’re starting to approach doing that. Really taking a lot of the solutions that we have today and providing kind of an AI component. For a customer, the great thing about this is that they don’t have to make a wholesale jump into a completely new solution. Right now, they’re able to take a look at their Tyler solution. It’s running on the cloud, and they’re like, oh, there’s some new capabilities that I could take advantage of, and they can essentially pilot that, you know, or start kind of taking those, you know, those initial steps to getting comfortable.

And I’m sure you’re going to ask some questions around, well, what does that mean in terms of, you know, data and privacy and things like that?

But it really gives them an opportunity to start to get their feet wet. And they don’t have to take a huge step.

Josh Henderson: I think that’s important to reiterate, is that you don’t have to start huge. You can start small. You can take those steps, and you can get to where you need to be. I think I already know the answer to this question. But, of the emerging technologies you’re seeing today, which ones do you believe will have the most transformative impact on public sector operations, say, in the next five to ten years?

Mike Teeters: Clearly, the cloud. And I say that because we still have a lot of customers that I think are just getting comfortable with the idea of running applications outside of their data center, making that transition in the cloud. We have a lot that’ll be here, you know, in the conference that have made those moves and have kind of gotten that comfort level.

But we still have a number that, for them, it’s still a level of comfort. And in many cases, it’s really also kind of getting, comfort for their stakeholders. So, you know, city council, you know, county commission, folks that are responsible for, you know, budgeting and supporting these systems, really getting a comfort level with those folks.

So, I would say for some of our customers, you still have the cloud as, like, the new thing.

I obviously would say that the big one that when we think about, say, the next five years, it’s clearly going to be AI.

And this is an area where we get a lot of questions from customers.

They undoubtedly are getting a lot of questions from, you know, their stakeholders and from their constituents in terms of, you know, how are you taking advantage of this? What are you doing?

We really do see this as, you know and I think it’s reflective in the way you kind of see what’s happening in sort of the commercial, you know, space as well. We do really see it as a as a game changer.

There are some unique aspects to applying AI in, public sector that I think Tyler is well positioned to guide our customers through.

And, you know, I’m happy to expand on some of that.

But I do think it really holds a lot of promise for being able to take advantage of, a lot of what customers do today and mitigate some of the challenges that they have when it comes to, you know, having the right staff, you know, limited resources and things. And a lot of these are just they’re ongoing challenge. You know, these are challenges customers have had for years. Yeah. Now we think AI will help to address some of those things or at least mitigate some of them.

Josh Henderson: Stay tuned. We’ll be right back with more of the Tyler Tech Podcast.

Jade Champion: You can’t always prevent disruption, but you can prepare for it.

Josh Henderson: That’s right. And in our latest e-book, we explore how government agencies are building resilience into their operations from cloud-based systems and automation to tools that improve response and coordination.

Jade Champion: You’ll discover real world examples like how an emergency app help residents in Louisiana stay informed and how secure payment technology supports service continuity during a crisis.

Josh Henderson: It also walks through six practical steps to help you assess risks, modernize infrastructure, and strengthen your ability to adapt.

Jade Champion: Download your free copy of “Resilient by Design: How Technology Supports Government” at the link in the show notes.

Josh Henderson: Because every government needs a road map to resilience, and it starts with the right technology.

Now let’s get back to the Tyler Tech Podcast.

How should government leaders approach transparency and public trust as they roll out new digital services and technologies?

Mike Teeters: It’s a thorny issue because in in many cases, you know, we see with our customers, they obviously have, a combination of things that are influencing how they could take advantage of things like AI.

You know, they have a fiduciary responsibility to, you know, their citizens, the data that they’ve got. There’s obviously data governance, considerations in terms of things like PII, health care data, and so forth. There are regulatory and statutory requirements that they have.

So, there’s really a variety of things when it comes to kind of, like, data governance and whatnot.

I think for a lot of our customers, step one is just understanding what you have. And understanding, not just, you know, what data you have in hand, but also really having an understanding of, what your obligations are in terms of, you know, statutory or regulatory requirements.

And, and then that gives you sort of a starting point for then understanding, okay, I’ve got all of this transactional data. I have, you know, I’ve got a lot of data that I could leverage to improve service delivery, to automate processes and streamline, you know, the experience that we have, whether it’s behind the desk or in front of the desk. A starting point for even kind of assessing what you can do is just understanding what you have and then kind of what you’re obligated to.

Josh Henderson: I kind of wanted to dive in a little bit into the idea of partnerships because we don’t want government agencies to think that they’re going into this stuff alone. What should agencies be measuring to truly understand the impact of these initiatives? And how can they sort of, like, lean on other governments or technology providers to help them along the way?

Mike Teeters: That’s a pretty big question, I think, for a lot of governments. You know, number one is when you think about what’s happening in the world and a lot of what they’re, really, challenged with. And, what pops up, you know, at the top of my mind could be things like cybersecurity. It’s a really good example.

We have a lot of customers that have certainly gone through cyberevents, and it is first and foremost that’s a really good example where being able to collaborate with, you know, other public sector, organizations, whether those are, you know, municipalities that are near you, other local governments, county governments, is, I think, a huge win in the fact that you kind of collaborate together in terms of cybersecurity posture. And a lot of that is, you know, what works, best practices, you know, really kind of, building up kind of a community of practice, if you will.

Obviously, not to completely toot Tyler’s horn, but, you know, these are areas where I think we can be a very effective technology partner in large part because if you’re working with sort of your colleagues and partners, you know, these kind of fellow governments that are in the area where you’re at, well, you’ve got us as sort of a resource with that bigger, you know, much, much bigger, umbrella of, you know, government organizations that we work with.

And the fact is that we have practices around these areas in terms of, you know, cybersecurity, in terms of, you know, transitioning to the cloud and so forth. So really steps that, for example, can reduce your security exposure. You know, just thinking about cybersecurity as an example.

I think that can be really key.

We’re in an early stage with things like AI. I mean, just kind of shifting gears a little bit. And so, I think this is going to be a great example where a lot of governments will be able to kind of work together collaboratively to understand how they’re taking advantage of some of that. Okay.

You know, again, we’re in early days. It’s kind of funny when you think about it was only, I mean, it was only a few years ago when something like ChatGPT emerged. And here we are.

And, you know, at this conference, Tyler’s going to have some examples of things that we’re bringing to market. So, in that very short time, it’s the same thing where I think you’re going to see kind of a rapid, evolution of, you know, just in terms of best practices, ways to do things, ways not to do things.

So, again, kind of building that community of practice, I think, is really key. And I and I would encourage all of our customers to do that with, you know, with the governments that they work with in their area. Yep.

Josh Henderson: I think that’s great insight.

So finally, just to kind of wrap things up, this is a bit of a loaded question for you. But what advice would you give to public sector leaders who know that they do need to modernize and prepare for the future, but aren’t sure where to start? What would you say to them?

Mike Teeters: Oh, my goodness.

Well, I would offer a few thoughts here.

And I you know, my background even before I came into Tyler, I did consulting and systems consulting in government.

And so, a lot of times, when I think about, again, what’s happening today in terms of things like the cloud and AI and so forth, I think, I you know, I first, the first step in my mind is really for a government to really understand kind of where they’re at. So that is, you know, understanding what systems you have, kind of the state of those systems.

You know, for a lot of our governments, a lot of our customers, you know, it’s a mix. I mean, they may have a Tyler solution, which is relatively new, but they may have another solution that they’re using for some other facet of what they do that is much older. So, just having an idea of kind of what you have in place, so this idea of cataloging things. I think the second thing, and we talked a bit about this, was this idea of really understanding what data you have. Because if you look at things like AI, that is very driven by, what data you have as for the business logic in your systems.

So, again, having kind of an understanding around this. And I know, again, just to highlight here at, you know, Connect, we will have sessions that will talk about things like data governance and really kind of provide some pointers and direction around how our customers can best prepare themselves to take advantage of things like AI. So, a second thing clearly is sort of around, you know, understanding what data you have and kind of getting that prepared. I think the third thing in my mind is really then kind of prioritizing.

You’re probably going to have a bunch of different paths you could go down. And I think about a lot of what I do at Tyler as an example. I have a tendency to focus on resident engagement and a lot of the work that we do in terms of our public facing solutions. So, I would naturally gravitate towards those areas, because I do think those are really good examples of where governments have, you know, a lot of exposure. But, also, if they do those things well, it can be, you know, it can be very positive.

So, when I think of prioritization, I think, you know, where is it that you’re having challenges today? And that could drive the decision to transition from something that’s in your private data center into a cloud solution. It could drive, you know, hey. I’ve got, you know, limited resourcing in an area. Okay. That’s going to push that higher up in the list and make me, you know, look at that first.

And that’s an example where AI could come into play. Oh, I could take advantage of AI because I’ve got limited resourcing here.

I’ll add maybe as kind of a fourth area or a bonus point, you know, for our customers.

I do strongly encourage them to think about, you know, what I would call success metrics. So, a lot of times when we think about this, you know, we’re thinking about things like citizen satisfaction.

We’re thinking about, what is it that today you’re probably already looking at, you know, in your various departments, when you think about your systems and really the services you provide, and you’re like, what are the metrics that are important for service delivery for, you know, just operational efficiency and so forth. A lot of times, I think customers have a very good handle on that. So, you kind of think about these other aspects that we’re talking about, and it’s really kind of aligning them with, oh, well, how can I make a difference, you know, really pushing this particular thing up? How can I increase satisfaction?

How can I increase resonant engagement? How can I better streamline, you know, a particular process?

And you give me a little bit of rope here. I’ll just I you know, an example that I think of even where I’m at locally, I’m in the Tampa area. I think most of our podcast listeners are very familiar. Florida got hit with a couple of hurricanes last year. So, you know, on the West Coast, the Gulf Coast of Florida, you know, we have a lot of our communities that, you know, were really impacted in terms of damage to people’s homes, damage to businesses.

This is a really good example where if you can bring the right technology to bear, you can bring some steps to you can accelerate getting permits issued to get those places improved. You can improve, you know, the interaction that people are having with government.

How do I get to the right person? Well, that’s a good example where, you know, if we’re able to quickly get something in place that allows somebody to understand, oh, I need to get this permit. Here’s the information I need to fill out and so forth. So, I think there you know, again, I just think there are some really examples that that probably most listeners would immediately go, oh, yeah.

If I had some tooling that would help me do these things, it would really help address this. And I think most communities across the country, in Florida, it just happened to be hurricanes. But, you know, it could be, you know, where you’re at, it could be getting in a big influx of, you know, new residents. It could be that you, you know, you’re dealing with weather, you know, flooding or storms or other things.

So, you could start to think of some things that are really pressuring kind of the way you are doing business. Those would be the things that would potentially help drive some of that decision making as well. Yeah.

Josh Henderson: It’s wonderful advice, Mike.

And, yeah, we always appreciate you having on the show. Yeah. Thank you. The show. And, yeah, good luck with everything happening here at Connect.

Appreciate it.

Mike Teeters: Thanks, Josh.

Josh Henderson: As we heard today, modernizing in the public sector isn’t just about adopting the latest technology. It’s about building a foundation that supports long term resilience, better service delivery, and readiness for what’s next.

Mike shared thoughtful insights on how the cloud is helping agencies navigate work force pressures, budget constraints, and the path to emerging technologies like AI with a focus on starting small, staying strategic, and partnering for impact.

If you’d like to learn more about the topics we covered today, be sure to check out the show notes for additional resources, and we’d love to hear your feedback. Fill out the listener survey linked in the show notes or reach out anytime at podcast@tylertech.com. And don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and review the podcast so you never miss an episode.

For Tyler Technologies, I’m Josh Henderson. Thanks for listening to the Tyler Tech Podcast.