1. Digital Services Georgia
Location: Atlanta, Georgia
Website: https://digitalservices.georgia.gov/
As one of the oldest digital services agencies in state and local government, Digital Services Georgia has virtually written the playbook that many others follow today. Nikhil Deshpande, Georgia’s chief digital officer and the agency’s director, says leaders often lose sight of how important digital services are as matters of security, workforce and modernization take priority. His philosophy is simple, centering around the notion that users “don’t don’t really care or want to spend time understanding the complexity of the different departments, divisions or organizational structures.” They just want what they want — quickly. Most recently, this has manifested in Georgia through consolidation of 90 agency websites onto a common platform as the state pilots a new, streamlined, peach-accented website that puts the user front and center. Deshpande says it’s all about eliminating “friction” in the user experience and helping employees do their jobs more efficiently.
Alphabet soup is not my favorite, but this status board reflects the hard work of 18 months, hundreds and thousands of content items, and working with 900+ stakeholders. Down to our last round of sites to move in our Drupal 7 to 8 migration. I’m so proud of my @GeorgiaGovTeam pic.twitter.com/4VxuZmxTPj
— Nikhil Deshpande (@nikofthehill) January 17, 2020
