How licensing, permitting and enforcement agencies turn “enterprise” thinking into fewer systems, lower costs and one consistent experience for the public
A legislative aide asks how many professionals hold credentials from more than one board. That simple question turns into a scramble across multiple licensing systems, spreadsheets and emails. Meanwhile, licensees juggle separate portals, logins and notices for different boards. This kind of sprawl develops gradually through separate systems, procurements and websites. Over time, it creates duplicate records, duplicate contracts and a fragmented public experience that makes even routine transactions harder.
Consolidation and optimization landed at number nine on NASCIO’s 2026 State CIO Top 10 Priorities, the 20th annual edition, built on responses from 51 state and territory CIOs. NASCIO defines the priority as centralizing and consolidating services, operations, resources, infrastructure and data centers, with “enterprise” thinking extended to communications and marketing. The category returned to the list this year, and the shift reaches well beyond central IT. State CIO priorities flow downstream. For regulatory agencies, the priority points toward enterprise licensing and permitting, replacing board-by-board systems, contracts and portals with a unified licensing platform that still honors each program’s rules and reaches every licensing board and commission.
This article continues a 10-part series examining NASCIO’s top priorities for state regulatory agencies in 2026. Each installment explores how pairing advanced technology platforms with disciplined operational practices helps agencies meet elevated expectations, stretch limited resources and deliver better outcomes for the public they serve.
NASCIO defines the priority as centralizing and consolidating services, operations, resources, infrastructure and data centers, paired with “enterprise” thinking in communications and marketing. These five layers include:
Money drives the answer. Budget and cost control sits third on the 2026 list and NASCIO noted significant upward movement for that category this year.
Legacy maintenance explains part of the pressure. GAO reports that the federal government spends more than $100 billion on IT each year and typically directs about 80 percent of it to operating and maintaining existing systems. GAO tracks federal figures only, but the lesson relates: dollars that keep duplicate, aging systems running cannot fund agency modernization.
Two lessons stand out. First, GAO found that states met real resistance. North Carolina officials noted that organizations fear losing control of their data, while West Virginia used the natural aging cycle of its hardware to consolidate without dedicated funding.
Second, the September 2026 NASCIO and Forrester report found that modernization success did not depend on whether a state ran centralized, decentralized or hybrid IT. Success followed relationships with agencies, spending tied to mission outcomes and governance for competing priorities. In that research, 61 percent of state CIOs said IT spending decisions align largely with statewide priorities and 53 percent use an enterprise governance review board.
State licensing agencies rarely operate data centers, yet they generate their own sprawl: separate licensing and permitting software for each board, separate contracts, separate public websites, separate renewal notices and separate versions of the same licensee.
That sprawl feeds the data problem that we covered in Priority #8. A NASCIO and EY study of CIOs and chief data officers in 46 states found that only 22 percent have a dedicated data quality program and 72 percent describe their approach as reactive or merely aware. Duplicate systems produce duplicate records and duplicate records undermine data quality programs before they start.
Four consolidation targets deliver the most value:
GL Solutions designed GL Suite’s enterprise licensing capabilities around this pattern. The cloud-based licensing platform brings multiple boards, professions and programs onto one cloud-based system, and each program keeps its own rules through configuration instead of custom code. Authorized agency staff adjust rules, workflows, forms and fees on their own, answering the control concern that stalls many consolidation efforts. Applicants see one portal and one login, and leaders see cross-program reporting.
Security matters as much as convenience when a central IT office reviews a regulatory agency software. GL Suite holds GovRAMP Ready status, giving CIOs and CISOs independently verified controls to evaluate. Agencies weighing consolidation can read the full enterprise licensing and permitting overview for detail on each capability.
Priority #9 rewards agencies that treat every board’s technology as part of one operation. Consolidation trims cost and risk, optimization frees staff for oversight and enforcement, and enterprise communications give the public a single front door. The states that consolidated data centers over the past two decades built the playbook. The boards and commissions inside those states now face the same opportunity at the application level.
GL Solutions has helped regulatory agencies run, grow and adapt since 1997. Contact our team to discuss how enterprise licensing software consolidates systems without losing program flexibility.
Chief Technology Officer Ryan Pedersen is an expert in technical solutions to industry needs. Ryan joined GL Solutions in 2010 as a developer and subsequently managed the development team for several years. He has served since as Vice President for Operations and Vice President for Business Solutions and currently works as Chief Technology Officer.
