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How to Keep the Momentum for ‘Contactless Government?’

The COVID-19 pandemic has increased the city’s ongoing digitization efforts as much as threefold, says Los Angeles CIO Ted Ross. And throughout the country, governments’ response to COVID-19 has been a success story in many ways.

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Los Angeles CIO Ted Ross.
This excerpt is adapted from an in-depth report on “contactless government” that first appeared in Governing, a sister publication of Techwire and part of e.Republic. The full report is available here.

In Los Angeles, San Diego and dozens of other cities across the country, the COVID-19 pandemic has raised the awareness — and hastened the adoption — of “contactless”  government to a new level. Demand for digital and no-touch public services has grown by 20 percent in the U.S., according to the consulting firm McKinsey, and governments have responded, ramping up online portals and services, rolling out contactless transit systems, enabling remote visits by social workers and enlisting chatbots to support surging demand in call centers.

But governments’ rapid response to the COVID-19 pandemic goes far beyond digital payment and delivery of services. Remote work, virtual hearings, digital identities and other technologies all are reshaping how governments operate and interact with their constituents in ways that will long outlast the pandemic. 

Take Los Angeles, for example: Mayor Eric Garcetti’s “Contactless and People-Centered City Initiative,” issued in late August, is nothing less than a long-term call to action for the city’s government. “As our physical doors start to reopen in the future, we will also expand our digital doors to provide services anytime, anywhere, and to all,” the directive says, pointing to “widely” varying disparities in digital services across the city’s departments. 

The pandemic has increased the city’s ongoing digitization efforts as much as threefold, said Los Angeles CIO Ted Ross. And throughout the country, governments’ response to COVID-19 has been a success story in many ways. Governments that had previously made investments in digital delivery were rapidly able to add additional services. Those that had already launched telework programs were able to scale up rapidly. In some areas, growth has been exponential. For example, the rapid adoption of telemedicine has accelerated anticipated roadmaps by as much as five years. But maintaining momentum has historically been a challenge for governments, Ross said.