Data pace | Job creation starts with better use of technology in state government
Mainers paying attention to the 2010 gubernatorial campaign will notice much talk about jobs. With 58,600 unemployed people in this state and an unemployment rate of 8.3%, it is no wonder that candidates have a newfound enthusiasm for the subject.
The greatest challenge facing the next governor might be posed by people with jobs, specifically the 12,000 or so state employees who keep Maine’s government running. Despite the hard work of these dedicated employees, it appears state government hasn’t made the same productivity gains as the private sector has over the past two decades.
A walk into the back office of any convenience store in the state will show a host of licenses and permits from different state agencies. If you ask the proprietor, he or she may say they deal with several of the state’s Cabinet-level agencies each week. Even the most rudimentary convenience store could have involvement with the departments of Agriculture, Labor, Health and Human Services, Professional and Financial Regulation and Environmental Protection, as well as the Workers’ Compensation Board and Maine Revenue Services (a part of the Department of Administrative and Financial Services). If the store also sells bait, you can add Inland Fisheries and Wildlife to the list. Wouldn’t you think there could be one license to operate a convenience store?
Just the fax
In autumn of 2009, I had an opportunity to work with a state agency as it prepared to implement a new regulatory process for a law scheduled to take effect on Jan. 1, 2010. The business process envisioned by this agency included having the regulated population (in the private sector, we call them customers) download a PDF document, fill it in by hand and fax it back to the state office where a clerk-typist would collate the form as it came in. The agency anticipated that this process would happen between 5,000 and 9,000 times per year. Each form was approximately five pages long and also included several pages of supporting documentation. This process required more than 30,000 faxed pages annually.
Ultimately, the process will move to an online form with a database, but the experience reminded me that there is a big difference between the public and private sectors. Could you imagine L.L.Bean asking you to fax your next order?
The environmental and personnel costs of this process were disturbing. Even more upsetting are the lost productivity and the inability to use the data in a meaningful way. A better system using an off-the-shelf database application would allow the agency to collect data electronically, helping it detect fraud or other non-compliance.
These examples and others beg the question of whether state government has the management expertise to accomplish its mission in an efficient manner. In many cases, the challenge lies not with the manager, but with the chain of command within state government, which often makes it time-consuming and expensive to deploy new technology.
In an attempt to control costs, the state of Maine has centralized all of its technology assets within one Cabinet agency, the Department of Administrative and Financial Services. Whether or not the move is saving money, it certainly has affected the way state agencies use technology. The world has changed a great deal in the past decade, especially as it relates to the deployment of technology. Many Maine companies have been able to reduce overhead and improve customer service by empowering managers who use custom and off-the-shelf technology.
Productive progress
Our state government is organized much like it was when Gov. Ken Curtis last rearranged the deck chairs almost 40 years ago. A new governor concerned about job creation will need to find a way to ensure that each state government office becomes an office of innovation. Better use of technology in our state agencies would likely result in the need for fewer employees and higher performance. If we’re willing to invest in laptops to ensure that our children are technologically proficient, we need to do the same for the managers who are charged with running our government.
As consumers, we should insist that each state agency, bureau and division is using technology to realize the same productivity gains as the private sector does every day. As voters, we ought to be asking which candidate has the mettle to dig into each Cabinet-level agency and force it to reinvent itself, starting with a focus on its core mission.
John O’Dea is executive director of Associated General Contractors of Maine. He can be reached at editorial@mainebiz.biz. Read more of John's column here.
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