Public Sector Podcast and Case Study: EDDNext's 5 Year IT Modernization Journey

Speaker

Ron Hughes, the Deputy Director for EDDNext

Show Notes

EDDNext’s journey offers valuable insights into the complexities of large-scale public sector modernization. By focusing on incremental improvements, employee involvement, and a relentless emphasis on customer experience, the EDD is paving the way for a more agile, efficient, and user-centered public service. 

Quick Facts

• Department: Employment Development Department (EDD), California
• Programs Managed: Unemployment Insurance, Disability Insurance, Paid Family Leave, Payroll tax collection, Employment and Skills services, labor market information
• Project: EDDNext, a multi-year  modernization initiative
• Key Objectives: Enhance customer and employee experience, streamline policies and processes, and modernize technology infrastructure
• Volume: Over 20 million people filed 60 million benefit claims in the past decade

Opportunity

EDD faced severe challenges with its aging technology infrastructure, which became glaringly evident during the COVID-19 pandemic. At one point, weekly claims surged from an average of 56,000 to over a million, revealing the system's inability to handle high volumes and pushing customers to call overwhelmed contact centers. The EDD saw an opportunity to fundamentally reimagine how it served Californians by modernizing not only its technology but also its policies, procedures, and customer service practices. The goal was a holistic transformation that would make EDD more resilient, responsive, and customer-focused. 

Solution

EDDNext, the EDD’s modernization effort to completely transform customer and employee experience, not just technology but a broad, customer-centric transformation including policies, procedures, claims processing, forms and online applications. Key solutions include: 

• Shared Customer Portal: A unified “myEDD” portal, built on Salesforce technology, offering a centralized, user-friendly experience for all benefits programs.
• Contact Center Modernization: Revamping call centers into complete contact centers based on Amazon Web Services (AWS) Connect, enabling capabilities likeself-service options with chatbots, natural language interactive voice response (IVR), text messaging, and, in the future, live chat and AI/ML based functionalities
• Document Management: Transitioning to a new document management system to handle over 15-20 million paper forms annually, using modern optical character recognition (OCR) technology and automated processing, significantly reducing dependency on outdated paper scanning and manual processing.
• ID Proofing and Security: Implementing a risk-based ID verification system, allowing frictionless ID proofing for most claimants.
• Multilingual Support: Enhanced language access to support California's diverse population, with Unemployment benefits services in eight languages and translation services covering over 200 languages.

Implementation

The implementation was structured around seven concurrent workstreams, each targeting a different aspect of EDD’s operations. EDD employed an Agile methodology, using a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) approach to roll out incremental updates every three to four months. This ensured that progress was continuous, and technology remained up-to-date. 

Challenges included managing a fast-paced change environment, coordinating among multiple vendors, and ensuring collaboration between state staff and external partners. Preparing the organization for the change is a major emphasis, including building awareness and training staff on new technology, policies and procedures. Organizational Change Management (OCM) was central to the approach, with employees actively involved in the design and feedback process to encourage buy-in and adaptability.  

Very early on, EDD recognized the importance of incremental change and agile methodology of rolling out incremental functionality, while executing multiple workstreams was an effective implementation strategy. 

Outcome

While EDDNext is ongoing, the project has achieved several transformative milestones: 

• Improved Accessibility: With a device-agnostic, mobile-friendly portal, over 60% of users now access services on mobile, significantly expanding accessibility.
• Enhanced Efficiency: New self-service options (e.g., IVR) allow customers to check claim status and reset passwords without agent assistance, saving considerable time for both users and staff. The new systems handled over 2 million password resets in six months alone.
• Reduced Paper Dependency: The new document management system digitizes paper processes, reducing the volume of manual paperwork and cutting costs.
• Enhanced Security and Speed: Initial assessment of risk-based ID verification allows 95% of users to verify their identity without document uploads, expediting the application process.
• Direct Deposit Uptake: 70% of applicants now use direct deposit, streamlining benefit disbursements and reducing reliance on paper checks.

Future

EDDNext has set a clear roadmap for the future, with several next steps: 

• Completing Existing Implementations: Finalizing the rollout of the document management and ID proofing solutions across all EDD programs.
• Comprehensive BPR Completion: Extending business process reengineering (BPR) efforts across the entire organization to enhance service delivery.
• Integrated Claims Management System: Launching a multi-million dollar project to replace a 40-year-old claims system, ensuring flexibility, scalability, and resilience.
• Continued Change Management: Preparing EDD’s workforce and customers for ongoing changes through continuous feedback, training, and support.