State CIO Trends: AI and Tech Powering Government Efficiency

Tyler Podcast Episode 144, 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, Liz Thomas, president of Tyler’s State and Federal Group, and Russell Gainford, chief technology officer, dive into how state agencies are translating the 2026 NACIO State CIO Priorities into action, with a focus on efficiency, modernization, and AI.

Drawing on insights from CIOs across all 50 states and U.S. territories, Liz and Russell explore how technology is being used to reduce administrative burdens, streamline workflows, and empower public sector teams. They discuss how AI, cloud platforms, and integrated systems are helping agencies work smarter, deliver faster results, and enhance resident and business experiences — all while maintaining security, transparency, and public trust.

The conversation highlights real-world examples of how modernization initiatives — from automating manual processes to building stronger data foundations — create measurable impact, improve staff capacity, and support better decision-making. Liz and Russell also address the importance of human-centered design, workforce engagement, and data-driven insights in successfully implementing new technologies.

This episode provides a practical look at how state technology leaders are using AI and modern tech to drive efficiency, improve outcomes, and meet the evolving needs of residents and businesses. It offers actionable insights for CIOs, technology leaders, and anyone interested in how thoughtful technology adoption is transforming government services.

This episode also highlights the 2026 State CIO Priorities Playbook, designed to help government leaders turn strategy into action. The playbook provides practical insights, real-world examples, and actionable guidance across top priorities like AI, cybersecurity, modernization, accessibility, and digital services.

• CIO Priorities Playbook: From Planning to Execution: Turning Priorities Into Progress

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

• Download: 2026 State CIO Top 10 Priorities
• Download: AI for Impact: Proven Results for Government
• Download: Modern Governments Live in the Cloud
• Read: AI at Enterprise Scale: Simplifying State Services Today
• Read: How Digital Services Shape Public Trust in Local Government
• Read: When Budget Pressure Forces Leaders to Change Tactics

Listen to other episodes of the podcast.

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

Transcript:

Liz Thomas: Efficiency can mean so many different things to so many different people. And I think that, you know, especially with our state government partners, what I believe it means to most CIOs is that it goes back to that value conversation. So, efficiency is really about, am I maximizing the dollar, every dollar that I spend on technology procurement?

Josh Henderson: From Tyler Technologies, this is the Tyler Tech Podcast. I’m your host, Josh Henderson. Thanks for joining us.

This is part two of our conversation on the NASCIO top ten state CIO priorities. In part one, we looked at the bigger picture, what this year’s rankings signal about the evolving role of technology in state government, including the rise of AI and the continued focus on cybersecurity, modernization, and accessibility.

And in this episode, we’re turning to execution, how agencies are able to put those priorities into practice from driving efficiency and reducing administrative burden to building stronger data foundations and leveraging cloud and AI in responsible, impactful ways.

I’m joined again by Liz Thomas, president of Tyler’s State and Federal Group, and Russell Gainford, chief technology officer here at Tyler. Let’s get into it.

Let’s start first with efficiency. So, you know, efficiency is becoming such a central theme in many government technology conversations. From your perspective, how are leaders defining efficiency today without sacrificing accuracy, transparency, or things like accountability as well?

Liz Thomas: I can take a stab at that first.

To me, first of all, I think efficiency can mean so many different things to so many different people, it can have such a negative connotation, sometimes, with it. I think that especially with our state government partners, what I believe it means to most CIOs is that it goes back to that value conversation. Efficiency is really about, am I maximizing every dollar that I spend on technology procurement? Am I getting the best value for that? Am I getting an enhanced resident experience? Am I getting the security that I need? Am I getting all of the features?

And so, versus maybe what a traditional private sector company thinks about efficiencies, and it’s all about bottom line. It’s really, they have the public trust for how they’re spending those dollars. And so, are they maximizing that value? And then when they think about the staff, are you maximizing the use of their time so that they are able to do the highest value components of government. The things that, whether it’s making sure that the right people are getting the right permissions or licenses versus the low value data entry or slog that might have been caused by some legacy technology workarounds or customization. So, I always think about more of, are we delivering maximum value versus that efficiency term?

Russell Gainford: That’s great. And I think of where number one ended up this year on AI and we talk about efficiency. I think a lot of it starts with clear expectations and outcomes for what’s being invested in. Is there an understanding of who owns what? What are the expected results and how can you verify it? Especially when you’re using some of this newer technology.

And, you know, I’ve been in GovTech for probably somewhere in the neighborhood of 25 years now.

And ever since I’ve been at, there’s always been the statement of we have seen in agencies, they’ve been asked to do more with less. There are challenges on recruitment. There are challenges in workforce. And so, as they go through that, as somebody said a few months ago to me a comment of, well, it’s been like that for a long time.

Is it time to say, well, this may be an ongoing thing and is that where technology like the modernized systems, is that where technology like artificial intelligence can help remove the mundane? Can it remove the manual keying of a PDF into a new system? Can it prioritize and recommend the options for where you go and do inspections or the way that you’re looking at your current budget cycle? That’s where I think efficiency comes in for the automation of those tasks.

But the most important thing is, when you look at that, is do you have the guardrails? Do the do you have what is expected in a public sector jurisdiction, which is the trust for all those technology decisions being made? And that’s where human in the loop comes in. A human-driven approach to artificial intelligence or ensuring that there’s that data and that information to make more informed and more automated decisions, but there’s a human-centered design where they’re approving that, where they’re making those critical decisions, and they’re not going through unchecked.

So, I think efficiency is using the technology to get the most ideal outcomes where your staff can focus on the most important things but doing it with the guardrails and the capabilities to ensure that it’s not going off rogue and that people are making the right decisions at the right time.

Josh Henderson: I think that’s right on the money. And you, you know, you touched on the idea of workforce, workforce capacity, and so I wanted to kind of move into that next. It’s obviously a major factor, but how do you see technology helping to reduce the administrative burden so that public sector staff can, you know, focus on those more mission critical elements of their job?

Russell Gainford: I mean, kind of adding on what I was saying before about efficiency is there’s a lot of things that are out there that in the public sector built up over time that are paper-based, PDF-based, things that require entries into systems of record that take up a lot of time from people. And sometimes those can be keyed in incorrectly. The more modern capabilities and the solutions we deliver interface that more seamlessly, provide the capabilities to take these PDF type documents and translate them directly into the system of record without having to have the manual entry of it directly. But doing so in a way where staff can see the summary and see the risk points and understand where that’s going.

Also, that sometimes the amount of work is something that’s too much for the current staff and there’s always a backlist. Maybe it’s for regulatory and certain inspections that you’re doing. Using some of this artificial intelligence, who can actually look across and see patterns, and see prior inspection results and see what areas most at risk are and should be inspected first. Moving from that reactive type of maintenance and regulatory to more predictive is really a key feature area and capability.

And then finally, I’ll say when we think about the workforce is resident self-service, resident engagement. How hard do we always hear it is for the average citizen when they start looking across federalism of a service, they need that might be in the federal government, multiple different state agencies or the local government directly. Having the capability of using AI and getting to that data quickly without having to call in and request a ticket or help, really helps out the workforce because it reduces that burden of having to answer that daily and allows them to focus on other tasks that will continue to improve constituent service.

Liz Thomas: I love that you tied that into the resident engagement component because I do think that we’ve seen a tremendous our partners talk about the value from just the resident assistant chatbots that we’ve installed in a number of states that have immediately connected residents. So, it not only improves that resident experience or the business experience, they’re immediately getting to the services that they need. But if somebody can’t find those services, what are they doing? They’re picking up the phone or they’re emailing, they’re trying.

So, it has a twofold impact, right? You get the benefit of a really great solution for the end user, but also a burden that’s lifted off the agency. And we could give examples over and over. And like Russell said, it’s not about saying, man, we can now have less staff within an agency because they were already running significantly lower than probably what they need to be. It’s about improving not only the efficiency of those existing staff to where they are able to perform the human in the loop functions, but also job satisfaction and saying, hey, I’m not just staring at a mountain of paperwork. I actually get to do something that’s improving the quality of life for our residents and our businesses and our state.

So, other examples we can give, like our digital titling solution, when we first rolled that out through our partnership with Champ in West Virginia, we went from thirty days that it took to process a paper title to a matter of hours through the digital titling process. And the agency actually threw a party to reflect all the paperwork that was gone, that used to be stacks of backlog in getting through those title applications. And then that has rippling effects all the way through the economy. That means that, whether it’s used car dealerships that used to have to have cars sitting on a lot until a title could get processed, you just think about it.

It was kind of mind blowing to me to hear the ripple effects. It’s not just about the agency being able to reduce that burden. It’s all of the economic impacts that that came through that faster processing. So, I think that that’s really when you think about it, it’s reframing that very scarce workforce that governments have and just being able to do both, both lower the workflow on the backend, but also improve the experience on the front end.

Russell Gainford: A really great point Liz made there was also job satisfaction. And that reminds me of so many times that we’ve had a success at Tyler, we’ve introduced some AI and some automation capabilities is when an employee comes back and says, you know how much time I used to spend on this? You know, do you know that we had somebody that we had so much to do and they would spend all day every day keying in these things again that you that came from another jurisdiction that required us to have it in sync, and so that that’s a huge amount of value, and it’s a huge amount of value for that employee. They come in every day; they’re working on something that they feel is providing more value than what they were doing before.

Josh Henderson: That’s very well put. And I think this may be the first time I’ve heard of a modernization party being thrown.

Liz Thomas: It was it was great. We have pictures. It was fun. It was such a huge victory, and I think that, you know, great, great outcome.

Josh Henderson: That’s fantastic. And now moving on to, you know, the idea of cloud and shared platforms, which also, you know, shows up prominently in the CIO priorities. How does moving toward more connected cloud-based environments change the way agencies manage systems and deliver services?

Liz Thomas: I’d be remiss if I didn’t let Russell take this one as our cloud in charge.

Russell Gainford: I think when we look at the services that are being delivered, there’s a lot of capabilities that are provided when you move to the cloud versus just faster time to value. You’re able to get these systems updated more quickly. You’re able to provide them more reliably.

You’re able to provide them in a safer environment, which is something that we know many agency organizations, public sectors are constantly putting. It’s not number one, it’s number two this year, but it has been number one for the last five years. So doing so in a safer posture, but also it reduces the IT burden on staff. So you start talking about these modernized systems, and I think Liz articulated well earlier, that in the past when many agencies go through a lot of these testing procedures, might be doing it as more of a large implementation, but the ongoing value that can be delivered in these cloud-based systems is a lower amount of validation and testing, and it can be delivered quicker.

And you’re seeing it sooner. So, when you move to these new technology environments, you’re able to provide faster value, you’re able to provide in a safer way and it’s more reliable in performance when you do so. So, it just, it takes that technology piece of it out of the equation and allows you to focus on the business.

Liz Thomas: I think it also creates the interconnectivity, the ability to link systems and to be able to pull together data that we haven’t seen before. One of the things that we have in many of our states is that need to pull together data sources from disparate systems. And I think sometimes we underestimate the power of having cloud-based platforms that we can feed that data into. And I think that’s another thing that is such a big component of the cloud journey. But I think all the things Russell said, the security and reliability, the ability to scale. We have services in States that one day a year, the volumes can be 10x of any other day.

And to be able to handle that kind of user volume seamlessly, I think is another tremendous benefit of a cloud-based modern solution.

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

The National Association of State CIOs – or NASCIO – has released its top ten priorities for 2026, and they’re as relevant as ever.

AI at number one for the first time, cybersecurity is holding strong, and the focus doesn’t stop there. Cloud, modernization, accessibility, data, and more are all top of mind for state CIOs.

Jade Champion: And Tyler has a companion to that list, the state CIO 2026 priorities playbook, to help agencies take the next step from strategy to execution.

Josh Henderson: You’ll find real case studies, honest insight into where progress stalls, and practical first steps across all ten priorities.

Jade Champion: It’s free, it’s actionable, and it’s ready for you right now in the show notes.

Josh Henderson: Go download the state CIO 2026 priorities playbook and start turning priorities into progress.

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

Josh Henderson: Kind of moving from that to, you know, the number one priority, the one that showed up number one this this time around, and it’s been touched on a little bit throughout this conversation already. But artificial intelligence and automation tools, it’s you know, it goes without saying that they’ve received a great deal of attention lately. So, what role do stronger data foundations and integrated systems play in helping agencies adopt these capabilities more responsibly or safely?

Liz Thomas: Well, I mean, I think that the obvious statement in there is that AI models are only as good as the underlying data that they’re built on, right? So, it’s really no different than any model ever or any kind of data visualization tool or tool that’s pulling, but it’s become compounded because when we’re using AI, there’s this general sense that anything AI produces is the truth.

And what we know is that’s not always the case. And that’s why the underlying data foundations are so important. I think Russell touched on it, building the framework and the guide rails around how we’re using AI, being able to validate those, making sure that AI is not leaning in a direction that we don’t want it to, whether it come from what it’s suggesting to users. And so, I think that that’s the first step as we’re embracing the AI models and the AI is making sure that we have strong data foundations. And then the other thing I’ll say, and I’ll hand it over to Russell is that, you know, as we think about how we’re really leaning into AI in the state space, but in some ways we just have a much, much, much more powerful tool to solve the same problems and challenges that government has faced for years.

But the functions haven’t really changed and residents’ needs and businesses’ needs how government can serve those needs, those problems are still there and the needs of our residents and our businesses. But we just have this incredibly powerful tool that we can now use to solve those challenges. And so, if we focus on the challenge itself and then focus on making sure that we can use AI responsibly, safely with data that we trust, that’s really, I think, what it’s all about. It’s not just leaning into AI for the sake of AI.

It’s really saying, how can AI help us better serve this agency’s need and do that with the highest level of public trust that we know comes with working solely with government?

Russell Gainford: Yeah, well said. I agree with all those points and the data is how effective is the model without the data underneath it? And if you look at a lot of the studies that have come out from some of the consultants the last year, it’s really looking at the private sector, but times they’ve seen the problems, the foundation – there’s people in process, don’t get me wrong there – and then the foundation though is if the data is not a right state. And Liz mentioned with the cloud modernized systems, they can interconnect or the capabilities to have that single record, or if they are needing two systems, they’re in sync. Because if you don’t do that, you will have data that that’s incorrect. And then the follow on problem with that with AI is, especially in public sector where I mentioned before, we’re taking that human centric design where we’re focused on human in the loop and having that that level of trust that the AI you’re building takes you down that path.

How are your employees going to verify something if they can’t trust the data that’s coming now come? How are they going to say is what AI is coming back with correct if they don’t have the data to check what is the actual valid outcome for that constituent. That’s an incredibly key point. And then the third thing I’ll add on is where we’re seeing AI today, and it’s going very fast.

And I always think back to this article that was out many years ago that said that technology was going faster than the human capability to absorb it as a species as of 2017.

I always remember reading that.

AI is already moving on to MCP servers and the standards of interconnecting these AI agents and capabilities. And so, if your data’s not good, not only are you going to have trouble with the challenges that you’re having with your internal information, your internal processes, but there’s an ecosystem that you’re able to create together through MCP standards where AI can talk to AI. And if you can’t trust that you won’t get the value out of that over the next several years. So, data has to be the foundation, not just to help with the tasks that your team is going through to remove the mundane, also to double check it with your employees for the accuracy and the trust that’s required. But also, it prevents you to from building out the ecosystem that’s going to provide you further value in the future.

Josh Henderson: It’s always important to, yeah, to keep that in mind when it comes to your data within the agency. And now, you know, we’ve talked a lot about how a lot of these priorities kind of speak to improvements within a workforce, but, ultimately, many of these technology investments are meant to improve the experience for residents or, you know, businesses interacting with government. How do stronger systems behind the scenes translate into simpler, more responsive services sort of on the front end with those with those types of interactions?

How can you speak to that?

Russell Gainford: Well, just a stronger system is going to be more reliable. It’s going to be more performance. It’s going to have the right data.

The reality is that citizens expect their services that are provided from the state to be just like Google, 24/7. Anytime that I have the capability to get on and make my application or get my permit or my license, I expect it to be available. And so that type of a more modernized system can provide that easily. And in addition to that, it’s 100% monitored.

So, your team is always aware when any type of blip occurs. Otherwise, we hear the stories of older systems that are down, but no one even realized until there’s a level of feedback from the constituents. So, providing that is incredibly important. The other thing is, I think Liz mentioned, like a resident assistant.

So, the new stronger systems and the stronger technologies can also take existing solutions and service portals, and they can tie them together. They can provide them in a single view to a constituent, which used to take, you know, 12 clicks of navigation. And these technologies can now make it seamless for a citizen to apply for something, even if it’s required to get data from three or four different agencies. That single counter approach, but in a virtual environment.

Liz Thomas: I think it also is allowing states to really track the outcome. So, there’s the system to where we can tweak and make feedback and changes very fast, right? We see a trend in what’s coming through the resident engagement – or the resident assistant or the resident engagement portal. We can say, hey, there’s a need out here for this, or we need to change the way we’re getting a lot of questions.

Let’s start tweaking our system to make sure that it’s capturing. But I think that strong data and the ability to connect data is allowing better decision making too. And I think that’s such, when you think about what government exists for, right? Everybody is looking to measure the outcomes of the policies and programs that they have in place.

And I think having connected data, whether it’s being able to share economic insights, which comes through our data and insights program with the state and saying, hey, here’s where your programs are really making an impact, or people are leaning into a service that were provided to maybe it’s an underserved population and we can start to track the impacts of those programs. Or whether it’s using priority-based budgeting to really make smart decisions that are not just, you’re not just trying to find a needle in the haystack through the budgeting process and looking at it on a pure spreadsheet basis.

You’re actually saying, hey, did you realize that we’re running two fleet operations independently in two different agencies across that we could maybe combine those and get more benefit for the residents? I think just having better data creates the ability to make better decisions.

And then that provides better value to residents, businesses, and the state.

It’s the underpinning for everything that we do.

Russell Gainford: These stronger systems, I think Liz made a great point. You can measure outcomes.

Not just on the initiatives you have, the revenue you’re generating, but you can also track user journeys, which we do in the modern cloud-based systems where you can actually track the is what we put in actually working for our constituents? Are they abandoning a process midway through? Are we getting feedback that it’s ten times easier? You can embed your feedback forms. All the capabilities in more modern cloud native systems, when we provide them, our end users are able – when I say our end users, our actual employees inside that are working and servicing the constituents – can get that real time feedback. And it’s incredibly valuable, not only to just the service that they’re going through but actually getting the data to prove that the new programs work effectively.

Liz Thomas: One fun example I just thought of, as you were saying too, or as you were talking, Russell, was that in our outdoor recreations platform, for example, right? We can use data to enhance that experience. So, in some ways, it’s just like when you’re shopping, I’m getting all these things that shockingly are just exactly what I’m looking for. We are not doing that to our residents, but what we are saying is, we know that if you go to this campground, you’re going to need a parking permit or else you’re going to get frustrated.

And you’re most likely going to fish here. So, we’re actually allowing our parks departments to create a really cool experience using the data that we know that’s going to make that stay in that state park even better. It’s going to make it seamless for the person that booked that reservation and it’s going to make them want to come back. And that’s ultimately the goal of every parks department is how do we increase folks coming into the parks and enjoying this great public benefit.

So, it’s taking that same philosophy of using great data and leaning into the tools, but really thinking of it of how do we, you know, not how do we get Liz to click on this thing to buy, but how do we improve the journey for this resident that just wants to have a fantastic time staying at a California state park?

Josh Henderson: I think that’s a really great example. Thanks for that, Liz. And I think to just reiterating that, you know, those metrics, those improvement measurements, those are so important, and are available to you as you, you know, go on your modernization journey. You can access all that stuff.

So, great stuff. This conversation has been, wonderful. So much great stuff to dig into here for our listeners but I just wanted to leave you both with one last question, and I’m sure we’ll touch on some stuff we’ve already touched on, but that’s okay. We wanted to wrap things up cleanly here.

So, looking ahead, which capabilities or areas of focus do you think will matter most for state technology leaders, let’s say, over the next year or two? You know, we can’t predict the future or anything like that. But where do you see that heading for states?

Russell Gainford: Would you like to take this one, Liz?

Liz Thomas: Yeah. Sure. I’ll start. You know, I don’t see AI falling off the top of that list anytime soon, but what I see is AI really being part and parcel with the other priorities.

So, I think it’s going to be, how do I lean into AI in a secure way? How do I manage identity? How do I manage, how do we put the guardrails up? So, I think that’s going to be the focus is really embracing but harnessing the power of these new technologies because AI is just going to, the powers are going to increase exponentially.

And so, staying ahead of that, all of those other factors really play into that. Right? How do I harness and lean into these technologies but do it in a safe, secure manner? How do we make sure that that our guardrails are keeping up with the pace of technology?

I think that’s going to be a huge priority.

Russell Gainford: Yeah, great points. I agree with Liz, AI at the top. There’s number one and two, AI and there’s cyber. I don’t think they’re going to change.

A matter of fact, if AI stopped today and as fast as it’s moving, which is lightning speed, if it stopped today, it could be up there for years because the amount of time it takes to take all the benefit that’s been created to date and absorb it into the capabilities that for assistance self-service, for back office assistance, for all the capabilities, it’s going to take a lot of time to absorb that in. We’ve seen that with any great technology change. But I could see even cyber moving to one or staying at two for another reason is people are using bad actors or using AI now to do more negative cyber-type espionage and capabilities and bad actors trying to get into systems.

So, that kind of relates back to the modernization and in getting into that newer type of cloud environments that provide that that upper tier security with world leading experts on these hyperscalers. So, I see number one and two, whether they swap or not next year, staying the same. And I think they’re in the right place. And I’m excited to see the modernization continue with states as these new technologies are learned.

Josh Henderson: So, artificial intelligence and cybersecurity, they’re not going anywhere, and you heard it here first.

Thank you both so much for this conversation. It’s been it’s been really, really great. And, you know, as technology continues to change and things like that, we’ll definitely have you both back on to kind of touch on everything for us.

Appreciate it.

Russell Gainford: Thank you, Josh.

Josh Henderson: As we’ve heard in part two of this series, translating the NASCIO top ten priorities into action requires more than strategy. It’s about execution, collaboration, and thoughtful use of technology. Liz and Russell shared how agencies can move from planning to practice using cloud solutions, AI, and modern workflows to streamline operations, improve data visibility, and empower teams to make better decisions faster. It’s a clear example of how aligning technology with purpose, transparency, and staff engagement can drive meaningful impact across state and local government.

For additional insights and resources from this episode, check out the show notes. We’d also love to hear your feedback. Fill out the listener survey linked in the notes or reach out anytime at podcast@tylertech.com. And be sure to subscribe, rate, and review the show so you never miss an episode.

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