State agencies and regulatory boards face a productivity problem, not a workload problem. Taxpayers fund people, not paperwork. Yet, across government, highly trained professionals spend countless hours routing applications, managing regulatory workflows and completing repetitive administrative tasks. Agency leaders must ask themselves if they truly maximize the value of their employees. Adding headcount relieves pressure temporarily but rarely solves the underlying issue. The real challenge lies not in staffing, but in throughput. High-performing agencies win by eliminating manual work and automating routine decisions. Taxpayers fund regulatory agencies to produce outcomes. Regulatory agency modernization helps process more work, without continuously asking for additional staff.
Government regulatory agencies process more work with the same or fewer resources.
Expectations on regulatory agency leaders include:
Yet many agencies continue to rely on workflows built around manual intervention. When employees spend time routing applications, reviewing checklists, searching for documentation or moving work between systems, they stop advancing mission-critical work.
“The problem isn’t that agencies don’t have enough people. The problem is that too many skilled employees spend their time moving work through the system instead of making decisions that move the agency forward,” explains Sam Hardin, GL Solutions’ Chief Revenue Officer.
According to Hardin, the conversation around operational performance often starts in the wrong place. Many organizations focus on staffing levels when they actually need to examine the systems and processes that determine how work moves through the agency.
Manual work impacts regulatory agencies in ways that go beyond productivity metrics.
Every manual touchpoint creates opportunities for:
As volume increases, risk increases.
When work happens through emails, spreadsheets and manual tracking processes, leaders often lack visibility into:
Without visibility, improvement stalls.
Source: Center for Digital Government Research Report
Key finding: A national survey of 100 state and local government leaders found that nearly three-quarters of respondents already invested in technology modernization efforts, with improving efficiency, the leading cause of those investments. More than half planned additional modernization investments in the coming years.
Why it matters: The research shows how manual processes contribute to operational inefficiencies and service-delivery delays. Agencies increasingly recognize that modernizing regulatory workflows and reducing manual work remain essential to improving responsiveness and keeping pace with growing constituent expectations.
Source: NASCIO and McKinsey & Company
Key finding: NASCIO surveyed 49 state CIOs and found that many states move from pilot programs to broader deployment of automation technologies. The report identifies skills shortages and increasing service demands as key reasons agencies pursue new technologies to increase productivity and scale operations.
Why it matters: This research reinforces the connection between operational efficiency, responsiveness and citizen satisfaction. As agencies face staffing constraints and growing workloads, automation enables employees to spend less time on administrative tasks and more time delivering services, making decisions and supporting mission outcomes.
Source: U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO)
Key finding: The federal government spends more than $100 billion annually on IT and cyber-related investments, with agencies typically spending about 80% of those funds operating and maintaining existing systems. GAO found that aging legacy systems continue to create operational challenges, increased costs and agency modernization barriers.
Why it matters: This research highlights the growing importance of workflow automation and regulatory modernization across government agencies. When agencies remain dependent on outdated systems and manual processes, they struggle to improve speed, reduce backlog and increase operational capacity. Modernization helps remove those constraints and enables more efficient service delivery.
Agency Challenge: The North Carolina State Board of Certified Public Accountant Examiners relied on manual processes, causing fragmented workflows across license renewals, applications, exams, transactions and communications.
Solution: The North Carolina State Board of CPA Examiners replaced paper-based processes with automated workflows for renewals, applications, exams, payments and communications, creating a consistent online experience for applicants and staff.
Read the Full Story: North Carolina CPA Board on Automating Workflows
Every regulatory agency wants to serve more people, reduce delays and improve responsiveness. Yet many organizations continue to lose valuable capacity to manual processes. The agencies that succeed in the years ahead build modern regulatory operations designed for speed. Reducing manual work increases capacity, accelerates service delivery and improves public outcomes.
GL Suite helps regulatory agencies automate workflows, reduce manual effort, improve visibility and increase throughput while maintaining regulatory integrity.
Renee Moseley joined GL Solutions in 2016 with an educational and professional background in research and writing, along with software documentation. At GL Solutions she produces informative content to help regulatory agencies stay current on news and information that supports their success.
