Regulatory Tech Trends: Survey Findings With CLEAR and Tyler

Tyler Tech Podcast Episode 99, Transcript

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Show Notes

On this episode of the Tyler Tech Podcast, we’re bringing you Digital Technologies within Regulatory Agencies: Usage and Perceptions from Regulation Matters: a CLEAR conversation, a podcast from the Council on Licensure, Enforcement and Regulation (CLEAR).

CLEAR, in collaboration with Tyler, conducted a survey in February, which targeted more than 7,000 CLEAR stakeholders, representing more than 400 regulatory agencies, colleges, and bodies. The primary aim was to understand the use and perception of digital technologies within regulatory agencies.

Key insights from the survey reveal the following:

• Online Services: A significant number of agencies have adopted online user portals, with mobile access being a common feature. However, only a few have developed mobile-specific apps, highlighting a gap in mobile service provision.
• Payment Systems: The importance of centralized payment systems is emphasized, with a noticeable shift towards electronic payments over traditional methods like checks. This change aligns with broader societal trends towards digital financial transactions.
• Public Engagement: Regulatory agencies are focusing on improving online interactions with both licensees and the public. Enhanced mobile access and user-friendly digital interfaces are critical for meeting these goals.

Host Line Dempsey talks with Ronne Hines, regulatory consultant and former CLEAR president; Thomas Jackson, general manager of State Regulatory with Tyler Technologies; and Michael Teeters, senior product manager with Tyler Technologies, who all contributed to the survey and provided their expert analysis. The discussion on the Regulation Matters: a CLEAR conversation podcast delves into the details of these findings, offering valuable perspectives on the progress and challenges faced by regulatory agencies in the digital age.

Find more information and download the full report: Survey Report: Perspectives on Online Engagement

Find information on Tyler’s Regulatory solutions.

We also detail City Hall Selfie Day, an initiative created by Engaging Local Government Leaders (ELGL), which takes place on Thursday, August 15th. For inspiration for your own selfie, you can see some examples by checking out @tylertechnologies on Instagram.

Listen to other episodes of the podcast.

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

Transcript

Michael Teeters: A lot of the underlying commercial technology that, you know, our agencies use, whether those are through some of the, you know, large technology companies, you can look at your news today, and you'll see that they're applying AI to a lot of their solutions.

So, to a large degree, you're probably going to see AI tooling baked into some of the tools and applications that they use today. So, I think we'll see some real uptick happening just from that perspective.

What we would, of course, encourage members to do is keep their eyes open, gain as much familiarity around AI as they can, and certainly areas like chatbots or virtual assistants.

You know, that's where I'd really encourage people to keep an eye open because we do think those will probably be the areas where they'll most be able to benefit.

Josh Henderson: From Tyler Technologies, it's The Tyler Tech Podcast, your source for insightful conversations with thought leaders addressing the pressing issues in our communities.

I'm Josh Henderson, and I'm on the corporate marketing team here at Tyler. Thanks for joining us. In each episode, we dive into the essential topics shaping our society and shed light on the individuals, places, and technologies empowering the public sector. If you like what you hear, please consider giving us a five-star rating and review, subscribing on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts, and recommending the show to others.

And for today's episode, we're thrilled to bring you a conversation brought to you by the Council on Licensure Enforcement and Regulation, otherwise known as CLEAR. Their podcast is called Regulation Matters: a CLEAR conversation, and they explore regulatory developments, offer diverse viewpoints on key issues, and examine evolving perspectives in professional regulation. Today's state regulatory agencies face the dual challenge of streamlining interactions with licensees and improving online public engagement through digital platforms. To explore this challenge, CLEAR, in partnership with Tyler Technologies, conducted an online survey this past February.

You can find a link to download the survey in our episode show notes.

This survey was offered to over seven thousand clear stakeholders representing more than four hundred regulatory agencies, colleges, and bodies. The goal was to examine the use and perception of digital technologies, including online services, payment systems, digital profiles, and artificial intelligence within in regulatory agencies. And in this discussion, you'll hear host, Line Dempsey, chat with the authors of the survey, Ronne Hines, Thomas Jackson, and Michael Teeters, as they detail how digital technologies are reshaping regulatory practices and improving public safety. There's a lot to take away from these findings. So, without further ado, here's the episode, Digital Technologies Within Regulatory Agencies: Usage and Perceptions from the Regulation Matters: a CLEAR conversation podcast.

We hope you enjoy it.

Line Dempsey: Welcome back to our podcast, Regulation Matters: a CLEAR conversation. Once again, I'm your host, Line Dempsey. I'm currently the chief compliance officer with Riccobene Associates Family Dentistry here in North Carolina and along with practices in South Carolina, Virginia, and I'm also a board member and past president of CLEAR.

As many of you are aware, the Council on Licensure Enforcement and Regulation or CLEAR is an association of individuals, agencies, and organizations that comprise the international community of professional and occupational regulation. This podcast is an opportunity for you to hear about important topics in our regulatory community.

Through CLEAR's new premier partnership program, we have the opportunity to partner with sponsors to undertake interesting research projects.

With Tyler Technologies, and CLEAR as 2023-2024 premier partner at the supporter level, we were able to conduct a survey in February of this year in 2024 to examine the use and perception of digital technologies within regulatory agencies.

Joining us today, we have the authors of the survey report, Ronne Hines, regulatory consultant and past CLEAR president, Thomas Jackson, general manager of state regulatory with Tyler Technologies, and Michael Teeters, senior product manager with Tyler Technologies. We're glad to speak with you all today.

Ronne Hines: Thanks so much, Line, for having us. I'm excited to speak on the survey and this exciting project.

Thomas Jackson: It's a pleasure to be here today, Line.

Michael Teeters: Thanks for having us.

Line Dempsey: Before we get into the details of the survey, Clear would like to thank our podcast episode sponsor. Today's episode is sponsored by Tyler Technologies. Tyler Technologies is the largest company in North America to help regulatory agencies of all sizes to face their unique specific challenges. To learn more, please visit their website at tylertech.com/regulatory. Thanks again to Tyler Technologies for their support.

Now I'm interested to hear this about this survey. Obviously, technology is advancing and changing at the speed of light, continually transforming various aspects of our daily lives from, you know, the way we communicate and work to even how we access information. It's a challenge to keep up, and regulatory agencies face the dual challenge of streamlining online interactions with licensees and improving online engagement with the public. So let me first start these questions out with Ronne, who I've known for many years. So as CLEAR and Tyler Technologies conducted this survey regarding technology usage and regulatory agencies, what were the primary objectives of the survey?

Ronne Hines: Thanks, Line. CLEAR and Tyler really sought to examine the use and perception of digital technologies, including online services, payment systems, digital profiles, and artificial intelligence within regulatory agencies.

The goal was really to identify both the progress made and the challenges faced in enhancing licensee or public engagement.

Line Dempsey: Well, that's great to hear. How many stakeholders participated in the survey, and I guess what were their respective roles within their regulatory bodies?

Ronne Hines: Sure. So, while the survey was offered to more than 7000 individual CLEAR stakeholders, which represented more than 400 members, we had 69 self-selected participants, primarily from the US and Canada, plus individual responses from Ireland and the Northern Mariana Islands. The initial insights drawn from the cross section of the regulatory officials really offer valuable perspectives on technology.

The organizations and stakeholders come in a lot of shapes and sizes as you know, ranging from organizations that represented, a small number of licensees to over 500,000 licensees with specific responses from investigative staff, executive directors, college managers, agency administrators, facilities regulators, board and council members, examination staff, and legal staff.

Line Dempsey: Thank you, Ronne. Well, let me move on, to Thomas. Let me ask you a couple questions, maybe first on online services. So, what were the key findings regarding the adoption of online services by regulatory agencies, particularly concerning, like, mobile apps and interagency connectivity?

Thomas Jackson: Well, thank you, Line. I think the most important thing was that as we look down through the services and what we had, I think we had about 61 people answered that said they're actually having a an online a user portal, where 53 of them said that they actually had mobile access through a browser with a mobile access, but only 12 of them actually had a mobile facing app.

Two of them actually do not provide any type of online services for their mobile, licensees or registrants.

To me, that's kind of an interesting fact when you think about it in today's age of not actually providing any services at all. But I also think when you when you start to compare it that we're beginning to see that where there's a big difference between actually having that mobile app versus having mobile access.

I think as long as you're providing mobile access to that browser and having those types of good mobile browser specific functionality that you can reach the audience through those mobile devices now.

Line Dempsey: Yeah. I mean, I get frustrated even just dealing with a website that doesn't work well on my phone. I was trying to do a reservation in Colorado for upcoming trip and, at a campground, and it was, unbelievably difficult. I can't imagine how the licensee trying to be able to navigate something like that when they're trying to do something important with their license.

Thomas Jackson: Well and that's the case now. I mean, there's there are applications out there where you can actually fill out the whole application online now through your mobile device because a lot of our constituents actually that's all they have. You know, when you think about it 15 or 20 years ago, you know, people were using desktops or they were starting to use laptops at that time. But now you don't even see that anymore. I mean, people don't own desktops. They don't own laptops. I mean, the thing that they use most often is their mobile device.

But they've come such a long way in the fact that you are able to use those mobile devices even through the browsers now, that it's not as big a deal where you don't necessarily have to have that mobile app. It's a nice to have and it's a good thing to have. But as long as you can have that responsiveness in that mobile browser, then you've come a long way of being able to allow people to actually be able to access your services 24/7.

Line Dempsey: Well, Thomas, how do, regulatory agencies, you know, view the importance of providing maybe, like, even a centralized payment system. And I guess with that, you know, what steps can be taken to address disparities in access between licenses, you know, and maybe the public?

Thomas Jackson: Well, I think that's the key. As you look down through the years, I mean, people are using their phones now to pay for everything.

So, having that ability to have that centralized payment system and have that one payment system for everything is important.

The biggest difference now is whether they're coming through the online system and paying through credit card or whether they're still sending a check. And it's really broken down on whether it's a constituent or a business. A business now are really the ones that are really paying with check. Although there are still some constituents out there that are still paying with check, it is a much more few and far between.

I mean, if you look at it now, I mean, kids graduated from high school now. Some of them don't even understand how to get checks. I mean, how many of us actually remember when you used to have to when you ordered your checks, you used to have to order higher numbers on your checks just to make sure that somebody would actually accept it. You know?

So, there's a there's a big difference now between what it was 25 years ago and what it is now.

So, having that centralized payment system and having that ability to be able to set the accept those credit cards and accept those electronic funds transfers are just much more important now than what they want than what they were. And I really think from a public standpoint that it really depends on whether or what you're accepting. You know, most of our agencies are really the information on the web. So, unless they're performing some kind of service like a complaint or they're trying to perform some kind of enforcement service or if they're providing some kind of FOIA request where they're trying to allow some freedom of information act. Most of the time, the public really doesn't interact as much as they do with as a licensee or the registrant about being able to pay for services online.

That is at least in the regulatory industry anyway.

Line Dempsey: Great. Thanks for that, Thomas. I appreciate it. Well, Mike, let me move over to you.

I guess, looking at, like, digital profile wise, what are the perceptions of regulatory agencies regarding the importance and implementation of digital profiles for both licensees, registrants, and the public?

Michael Teeters: Yeah, Line, great question. And I think highlighting that there are really two different stakeholders that we're talking about here as Thomas was kind of touching on. We've got public users. Right? And we think about things such as, submitting complaints, right, or making FOIA requests. Those are really good examples.

On the other hand, we have our actual licensees or registrants, right, that are going to have an ongoing relationship with the agency over time. And so, really, when you think of those two groups, what we've noticed in our research, number one was that, nearly 90 percent of the folks surveyed do provide some, or consider a digital profile to be highly important. It's really a key engagement tool, and you can imagine that for things such as, license renewals or notifications, the types of, interactions that are really critical or regulatory agencies, and the folks that are actually utilizing those services.

On the public side, even then, nearly 50 percent of the folks that we surveyed noted that they do provide some kind of digital profile.

And that could be as simple as I submitted a complaint, very basic profile could just be having that kind of notification recorded.

I would say that we find these to be a lot more typical nowadays than we did in the past. As Thomas noted, if you were to go back several years, a lot of times, the online experience was very basic, more informational.

Now, really, there's a much higher level of expectation, both from a public user as well as from, you know, or registrant, that they're going to be able to do a lot of those inter agency interactions online.

So, the other aspect of this would be how we personalize that experience? So, think about it from the agency perspective.

We also asked that question. We got really good feedback.

Again, rating how important is a personalized experience for your agency with these two different types of users.

Again, over 50 percent of the respondents indicated, even for a public user, it was important or very important.

Again, I suspect a lot of that is just based on the experience that we all have in our retail experiences or online experiences where we're expecting that there's some level of personalization. I'm getting information that's relevant to me. I'm getting it in a timely manner, that kind of thing.

Obviously, if you look at the licensee or registry registering side, even more important.

You know, we had almost 3/4 of our respondents indicate that that personalized experience was really critical.

I guess the other thing that I'll kind of highlight here, Thomas mentioned that what we're also seeing is a real digitization of the process. So, if you think about a lot of your experiences with retail, you go out, you make a purchase, you can go back, pull up your profile and actually see a receipt or you can see your order history.

So, another example of a question that we asked and got really good feedback on, what was the importance of, connecting those digital services and forms around agency engagement? So, this idea of really digitizing the experience.

Thomas used a really good phrase that we hear quite a bit, this idea that, you know, you're open 24/7. So, again, whether you're a public user or a licensee or registrant, really making the agency services available all the time or as much as possible.

Again, very high response rates from both sides of the coin with our respondents, for; and just to give you a good sense of this, considered very important, 44 percent of our respondents when it came to public users. So, this idea of a digital experience was really key, even greater for our licensees and registrants.

92 percent. So, essentially, it's kind of a baseline capability to have that digital experience. They rated it either very important or important. And I think that really mirrors a lot of what we're seeing in the market, both at the agency level and for a lot of what, we see happening at the state level across agencies across the state.

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

Hi, podcast listeners. My colleague Jade Champion and I are here to let you know that City Hall Selfie Day is quickly approaching, and it's time to start brainstorming innovative ways for you and your organization to participate.

Jade Champion: That's right, Josh! City Hall Selfie Day is Thursday, August 15th, and is organized by the Engaging Local Government Leaders Association, also known as ELGL. They created this fun event for people who work in and with local government.

Josh Henderson: And here at Tyler Technologies, we're all about empowering those who serve the public, so we wanted to make sure you knew about this special day so we can celebrate you.

Jade Champion: I might be a little biased, Josh, but I think City Hall Selfie Day is one of the best days of the year. We love seeing all your smiling faces in selfies that showcase your love for local government.

Josh Henderson: And it's so easy to participate. Just take a creative picture of yourself or a group photo in front of a local government building, like a city hall, then post it on social media with the hashtag #CityHallSelfie.

Jade Champion: And don't forget to tag Tyler Technologies on social media so we can see all your fantastic selfies too. ELGL will be awarding prizes in different categories, including the funniest selfie, most creative, and many more.

Josh Henderson: For some ideas of innovative pictures and poses, check out our show notes for links to examples and go to elgl.org/cityhallselfie for more info. Get those cameras ready and show off your local government pride on City Hall Selfie Day. Now let's get back to The Tyler Tech Podcast.

Line Dempsey: Well, you know, as we talk about digital experiences, we can't help but talk about artificial intelligence. And so, I guess, do regulatory agencies perceive that that role of AI enhancing, you know, these interactions with the stakeholders? And if so, what are some of the barriers that exist to that's its adoption?

Michael Teeters: Yeah. Great question. And, obviously, very timely when we think of all the activity, and news around AI, really the emergence of, generative LLMs and all, really, these kind of new techniques now that have become, very quickly becoming mainstream when you think about how they're being applied to, a lot of the, commercial solutions that are available.

So, we asked a couple of questions around AI, and we got some very interesting feedback. One is, is your organization currently using AI to facilitate interactions with licensees or members of the public?

75 percent of our respondents said no. We have about just under 20 percent that said, I don't know, and less than ten percent that said yes.

Probably not a huge surprise because we've seen that really evolve quickly, and, typically, we do see a lag between the commercial, application of new tech and, obviously, what gets applied in public sector.

However, really good examples where we would see AI being beneficial for our regulatory users are areas such as virtual assistance or chatbots.

That's a really common example where it's been implemented in the commercial side. So, again, you could imagine that would be a very good fit for a lot of the types of users, whether they're public or licensees or registrants.

The other question we asked is and we had quite a few people that haven't started using AI. So, are they planning to implement AI in the next two years?

Well, again, we had a small number that said yes conclusively.

We had about a third of our respondents that said no, but we had a very large number, almost 60 percent that said they don't know.

Just based on what we're seeing happen in the market, I do expect that probably quite a few of those I don't knows will probably translate into yeses, in large part because it's evolving so quickly.

The other thing I'd just point out is that a lot of the underlying commercial technology that our agencies use, whether those are through some of the large technology companies, you can look at your news today, and you'll see that they're applying AI to a lot of their solutions. So, to a large degree, you're probably going to see AI tooling baked in to some of the tools and applications that they use today. So, I think we'll see some real uptake happening just from that perspective.

What we would, of course, encourage members to do is keep their eyes open, gain as much familiarity around AI as they can, and certainly areas like chatbots or virtual assistants. You know, that's where I really encourage people to keep an eye open because we do think those will probably be the areas where they'll most be able to benefit.

Line Dempsey: Now if in the off chance that some of these regulatory agencies have watched the movie The Terminator, What can you tell them to help demystify AI basically and kind of emphasize its practical benefits to the stakeholders?

Michael Teeters: Yeah. Great question. I do feel like we're not quite at the Skynet takes over stage of things, so that's the good news.

Line Dempsey: That's good. That's good.

Michael Teeters: Yeah. That's the good news. So, typically, when you talk about something like a chatbot, what we're doing is, seeing a lot of the transactional data or interactions the types of questions that people come in, the interactions they might have on a support website, site, frequently asked questions. They're able to really kind of take that data, run it through a model, and then that means that somebody comes in, a chatbot pops up, they start to ask a question in regular language.

You know? Hey. How do I do this? Right? And the chatbot will basically leverage all of that data and say, oh, well, sounds like you're trying to do x.

You'll need form a b c. In order to do that, I can link you over to that form right now. So that kind of experience, that's in contrast to the way a lot of our chatbots operate today. There's typically a lot of people behind the scenes. It's just like a support website.

And so that's really the big benefit. We can leverage all this activity that's already occurring with the agency, and we don't need to have quite as many hands on keyboards in order to respond to it.

The example I gave you that you could see, there's no Skynet involved. I don't think you have to worry about machine uprising yet. That'll probably take at least a few more years.

Line Dempsey: Fantastic.

Well, I know I started with Ronne. Let me finish with Ronne now. A couple more questions for you. So, what are the implications of the survey findings regarding the satisfaction rates of stakeholders, with the quality of technology tools, and how can agencies address this issue?

Ronne Hines: Thanks, Line. Survey results really show an agreement with the potential of technology to improve, engagement with licensees as well as the public.

But a minority are unsure. So, the uncertainty could just indicate a perception of complexity associated with the technology implementation.

I think that there were a lot of average satisfaction rates above 80 percent, which consider that users' needs and expectations are being met.

Respondents did perceive that stakeholders were 87 percent satisfied with the accuracy of information and with 85 percent with data privacy.

So, I think as indicated earlier and as a previous regulator, technology needs have vastly expanded and rapidly, continued to grow and did during my years, in working in the state of Colorado. It is essential that regulators can depend on technology experts to aid in meeting the needs of applicants, licensees ,and the public.

Line Dempsey: Great. And in conclusion, what are the key takeaways from the survey findings, and what future steps are recommended for future research and improvement in regulatory agency technology usage along with, stakeholder engagement?

Ronne Hines: Well, I think the key takeaways and recommendations are pretty clear, to enhance user portals to facilitate broader, more efficient services, to expand and simplify digital payment acceptance, to unlock the potential of digital profiles for a more seamless experience, and to demystify AI, emphasizing its practical benefits. I think those steps, will not only address current challenges, but also set a path for continuous improvement and stakeholder engagement within the regulatory landscape.

Line Dempsey: Excellent. Well, it's certainly been some interesting research on a topic with significant impact for regulatory organizations and the public that they serve. So, thank you, Ronne, Thomas, and and Mike for speaking with us today.

Thomas Jackson: We appreciate you having us on today, and, it's been an interesting topic to discuss today.

Michael Teeters: Thank you, Line. Appreciate it.

Ronne Hines: Yeah. Thanks, Line, and thanks to Thomas and Mike. It's been a fun conversation today. I appreciate being here.

Line Dempsey: Absolutely. It has been a pleasure.

So, the full survey report is available on the Tyler Technologies website, tylertech.com under resource downloads. The authors presented the research at Tyler's Connect conference in May, and they'll be presenting a session at CLEAR's conference in September. So, we look forward to hearing more.

Josh Henderson: We hope you enjoyed listening to this special episode of the Regulation Matters: a CLEAR conversation podcast.

Be sure to subscribe to the clear podcast wherever you listen. If you'd like to learn more about the survey report or other topics discussed throughout the episode, check out our show notes for more resources.

A modern digital infrastructure allows the public sector to adapt in the digital age. From operational agility to data management and analytics, as well as cost savings, security, compliance, and scalability, governments are poised to take advantage of innovative technology to create more efficiencies in their systems and better support and connect their communities. Tyler creates solutions made exclusively for the public sector and has experts with government experience ready to support you on this journey.

I hope you're excited about what the future holds and will reach out to us at podcast@tylertech.com to connect with a subject matter expert if you'd like to learn more. And whether it's state regulatory challenges or a modern digital infrastructure or something else entirely, we want to hear from you about what you enjoy hearing more of and how we can make the Tyler Tech podcast even better.

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And don't forget to subscribe to the show and rate and review the podcast. For Tyler Technologies, I'm Josh Henderson. Thanks for joining The Tyler Tech Podcast.