How Kansas Used AI, Cloud and Data to Modernize Constituent Services

Put Constituent Needs at the Center

When Shultz arrived at the Kansas Department of Labor, the agency’s unemployment insurance system dated to the 1970s. Years of incremental updates had left the department relying on five interconnected systems, while customer service representatives worked from green screen terminals and memorized hundreds of system codes to resolve claims.

Then the pandemic exposed the system’s limitations.

Kansas’s unemployment rate surged almost overnight as demand for benefits skyrocketed. A call center that typically handled about 1,500 calls a day suddenly faced roughly 1.5 million calls during one peak period.

For Shultz, the experience reinforced a simple principle.

“Government can’t work like government anymore,” she said. “It shouldn’t be this hard.”

Rather than simply replacing aging technology, Kansas focused on making unemployment services easier for residents, employers and agency employees.

READ MORE: States improve unemployment services with cloud solutions.

Build a Foundation for Continuous Modernization

Kansas partnered with AWS to replace its legacy unemployment insurance platform with a cloud-based system built to scale over time.

The modernization project was completed in 29 months — on time, on budget and within scope, Shultz said.

The new platform dramatically improved reliability. The legacy system operated only about 65% of the time because nightly batch processing required scheduled downtime. Today, the cloud platform is available essentially around the clock, giving constituents access to services whenever they need them.

The project also illustrates an important lesson for government technology leaders: Modernization should establish a flexible foundation rather than recreate outdated business processes in newer software.

Use AI to Improve Service Delivery

Kansas also incorporated AI into everyday operations, but not as a replacement for employees.

Instead, the department uses AI-powered chatbots, transcription tools and AI-assisted software development to reduce routine work and improve constituent experiences.

Nearly 90% of users now complete services online instead of calling the agency, allowing customer service representatives to focus on more complex issues.

Employees also benefit from the simpler technology.

Training new customer service representatives used to require roughly eight weeks because they had to master multiple disconnected systems and memorize numerous codes. With the modern platform, training takes about two weeks.

LEARN MORE: Chatbots open the door to government access.

Make Data a Strategic Asset

For Kansas, successful modernization depended as much on data as on technology.

During the migration from the legacy environment, the department transferred nearly 600 million records while preserving the integrity of virtually all of that information.

Shultz also said that Kansas became the first state agency to operationalize its data strategy, creating a stronger foundation for future AI initiatives.

That investment is already producing measurable results.

The department recently met key U.S. Department of Labor performance metrics for the first time since 2005, an achievement Shultz attributed to the combination of modern technology, AI capabilities and improved operational processes.

For agencies pursuing AI, the lesson is straightforward: Reliable AI begins with reliable data.

DIVE DEEPER: Here are insights into data government for government agencies.

Learn From Other Governments

Kansas didn’t modernize in isolation.

Because its platform uses a microservices architecture, the department collaborates with several states to share code, compare implementation strategies and learn from one another’s successes. That collaboration reduces duplication while helping agencies solve common challenges more efficiently.

Shultz also emphasized that successful modernization depends on building relationships across government. Governors’ offices, legislatures, business leaders, labor organizations and agency staff all have important roles in sustaining long-term transformation efforts.

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View Modernization as an Ongoing Process

One of the biggest lessons from Kansas’s experience is that modernization doesn’t end when a new system goes live.

When the department issued its request for proposals in early 2021, generative AI had yet to become a major consideration for most government agencies. By the time the project concluded, less than three years later, AI had become central to technology planning across the public sector.

That rapid pace of change requires agencies to build systems that can evolve instead of treating modernization as a one-time project.

“If you think that you’re done, you have failed,” Shultz said. Modernization requires organizations to keep looking ahead.

Kansas’s transformation demonstrates that successful modernization begins with constituents’ needs, depends on trustworthy data and uses AI to reduce friction rather than replace people. For state and local governments planning their next technology investments, those principles can help create more resilient digital services while strengthening public trust.