Transforming Government Payments: 2024 Research Insights
August 29, 2024 by Melissa Mayhew
State and local governments have made strides in enhancing online payments, but they must continue to mature their payment systems to meet rising constituent expectations while maintaining back-office efficiency. Today’s constituents expect payment platforms that are easy to use and offer a wide variety of payment methods, while government staff expect systems with a tighter integration to their existing business systems.
To understand the current state of government payments and opportunities for improvement, Tyler Technologies partnered with the Center for Digital Government (CDG) on a survey of government leaders. The CDG survey captured responses from more than 140 state and local government officials nationwide. Following are key study findings:
- 55% of respondents characterized their payment technology as only “moderately capable with room for improvement.”
- 45% of respondents described their constituents’ payment experience across government services as “fair” or worse.
- 68% of respondents called their back-office payment experience “fair” or “good” but saw room for improvement.
- 50% of respondents prioritized the integration with other systems as the biggest area for improvement in their payment technology.
- 35% of respondents stressed the need to improve experience for government staff.
Agencies want to see their payment technology improve. The most effective way to do that is a unified payment solution, which streamlines the collection of multiple payment types from varied locations and across departments while also improving the payer experience through a single, digital pane of glass. Only one third of CDG survey respondents said their jurisdiction has a single payment solution across all agencies and departments.
“We still see many cases where governments are leveraging multiple payment processors across various systems,” said Sloane Wright, senior vice president of payments. “In local government, you could have 15 or more systems focused on collecting revenue and three different payment providers, each with different platforms, features, and wallets.”
Consolidating payment solutions helps governments simplify connectivity, build a more secure process, and streamline reconciliation of data. State and local governments can use unified payment solutions to address constituent experience and internal processes simultaneously, delivering better results and user satisfaction.