State and Local Network Modernization : Building a Resilient and Future-Ready System
State and local governments are modernizing critical services as budgets
grow tighter, risk tolerance shrinks and internal capacity remains limited.
In a 2025 survey of 300 state and local government respondents, 47% of
IT decision-makers said their agencies are focused on modernizing legacy
systems, while more than half said their organizations are prioritizing improved cybersecurity (54%) and reduced costs (56%).1
Typically, agencies have taken an incremental approach to modernization, onboarding new solutions from different vendors over time. However, this approach leads to more fragmentation, less visibility, increased complexity, cost unpredictability and operational risks.
Successful modernization now demands a shift from infrastructure as a collection of assets to the network as a managed operating model. Only then can agencies become more efficient, resilient and financially secure.
Shifting to a Network Operating Model
Governments have typically managed their network like a utility. “It’s been set-it-and-forget-it,” Smith says. “But if you look at a network as an operational model, it can help you and your technology stack serve residents better.”
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