This episode of the Tyler Tech Podcast features John Matelski, CIO at the National Association of Counties (NACo), sharing a national perspective on how counties are becoming more strategic in their approach to modernization. Recorded live at Tyler Connect 2026 in Las Vegas, he explores the shift from reactive, siloed efforts to more coordinated, enterprise-wide strategies. John highlights the growing challenges counties face, including workforce constraints, cybersecurity risks, and legacy systems, while also emphasizing the role NACo plays in connecting leaders and turning shared experiences into practical guidance. The conversation also touches on key trends such as cloud adoption, data governance, and the thoughtful use of AI, underscoring the importance of aligning technology decisions with long-term outcomes and service delivery improvements.
In this Tyler Tech Podcast episode, John Matelski, CIO at the National Association of Counties (NACo), shares a national perspective on how counties are navigating increasing complexity while becoming more strategic in their approach to technology. Recorded live at Tyler Connect 2026 in Las Vegas, the conversation highlights how counties of all sizes are shifting from isolated, reactive efforts to more coordinated, enterprise-wide initiatives.
Like many local governments, counties are facing a convergence of pressures, including workforce challenges, cybersecurity risks, and rising expectations for more seamless digital services. Talent shortages, aging workforces, and legacy systems continue to create barriers, while limited resources make prioritization a constant challenge. These dynamics are pushing leaders to be more deliberate about how they plan, invest in, and execute modernization efforts.
Throughout the discussion, John emphasizes the value of NACo’s national network in helping counties navigate these challenges. By connecting leaders across more than 3,000 counties, NACo enables peer-to-peer learning grounded in real-world experience. These insights help organizations avoid common pitfalls, move beyond theory, and accelerate more confident, informed decision-making.
The conversation also explores key technology trends shaping county strategies today, including cloud adoption, cybersecurity, data governance, and the growing interest in AI. John underscores the importance of strong data foundations and clear use cases, noting that successful modernization efforts require a focus on outcomes — not just technology itself.
This episode also highlights the 2026 State CIO Priorities Playbook, designed to help government leaders turn strategy into action. The playbook provides practical insights, real-world examples, and actionable guidance across top priorities like AI, cybersecurity, modernization, accessibility, and digital services.
And learn more about the topics discussed in this episode with these resources:
Listen to other episodes of the podcast.
Let us know what you think about the Tyler Tech Podcast in this survey!
John Matelski: I think what we’re seeing overall is that counties are, regardless of size, becoming more strategic in how they’re approaching technology. I think they’re moving more from isolated projects to more coordinated enterprise wide efforts. That’s even at the small jurisdiction level.
Josh Henderson: From Tyler Technologies, this is the Tyler Tech Podcast. I’m your host, Josh Henderson. Today’s episode was recorded live at Tyler Connect 2026 in Las Vegas and explores how county leaders are navigating an increasingly complex environment while finding new ways to collaborate, share insights, and drive better outcomes for their communities. And I’m thrilled to be joined by my guest, John Matelski, CIO at NACo – or the National Association of Counties.
NACo plays a central role in connecting county leaders across the country, providing a platform for peer learning, research, and practical guidance, and sharing all of it at events such as the upcoming NACo Annual Conference in New Orleans and beyond.
In this conversation, we explore what NACo is seeing across its national network, the biggest challenges counties are facing today, and how peer connections and shared experiences are helping leaders make more informed, confident decisions that translate into real world impact at the local level. There is so much to cover, so let’s dive right in.
John, welcome to the Tyler Tech Podcast.
John Matelski: Great to be here, Josh. Thank you.
Josh Henderson: So great to have you here. To start things off and from your perspective, what are the biggest challenges counties are facing right now, and how has that evolved over the past few years?
John Matelski: Thanks, Josh. I think what we’re seeing across counties now is really a convergence of multiple pressures that have clearly intensified over the last few years. Workforce challenges, I think, remain at the top, and they continue to evolve.
And it’s not really just about hiring. It’s about competing. It’s about getting the specialized, whether it’s subject matter expertise or the IT talent, cybersecurity, that kind of thing, while also trying to manage retirements, loss of institutional knowledge. I’ll tell you, even in DeKalb County, we’ve got an aging workforce where I came from.
We’ve got probably about twenty five of the ninety folks that could retire today if they chose to. And I don’t think that’s uncommon. So, I think we’ve got to work through some of those challenges.
And also, think it’s really, you know, cybersecurity, those types of things are always prevalent. And, you know, our residents are really looking now for that Amazon experience. Most governments aren’t getting Well, I don’t know that any government can get there, but we really need to work together to find out how we can get as close as possible, as much as funding and budgets and all those types of things would allow, because private sector obviously is different than the public sector. So, all of this is happening within the confines of budget constraints, tighter resources, some different changing impacts, you know, at the federal level and some of those impacts, which actually kind of hinders our ability to, you know, prioritize and stay on that path with so much changing.
So, trying to work together and really, you know, from a NACo perspective, we want to kind of help be that glue that helps counties. And as we partner with the National League of Cities (NLC) and ICMA (International City/County Management Association) and some of these other associations, really working so that we can move away from reactive problem solving towards more of a strategic coordinated approach that goes beyond counties. Our focus is counties, but we want to make sure that cities, counties, states, special districts that we’re all really collaborating together.
Josh Henderson: We’re hearing a lot about that that move from the reactive to the proactive. Right? That definitely rings true. So, with so much change happening, what role do national associations like NACo play in helping local governments navigate these challenges a bit more effectively?
So, I think, you know, we serve both as a convener, bringing folks together, and whether it’s in person or whether it’s virtually, whether it’s through discussion groups or just however, we bring counties together really to share their real world experiences. We learn from one another, but we also need to take what we’re hearing on the ground and turn it into guidance that can really help move and promote progress.
And that helps us kind of develop our guidance, our toolkits, as well as a lot of at the policy level, you know, with our government affairs and those folks working with them, really building policies and those kinds of things that we can then share with counties and be that advocate for all 3,069 counties, regardless of size. Yeah. So, I think elevating and being that group or with some of our association partners, being those groups, playing that strong advocacy role, really elevating the priorities. So, it’s, you know, again, it’s not just one county, you’re no longer a minnow in an ocean, you’re really like a big fish in a pond now because you’re working collaboratively together.
And I think at the end of the day, it’s really more about how making sure counties feel supported, that they feel like they’ve got an avenue for collaboration with others, and whether it’s other counties, other cities, partners within our ecosystem, we need to make sure that we’ve got connections, resources, and that the voice that, you know, that they can have to help navigate change effectively.
Josh Henderson: Let’s dive into that a little bit deeper because you mentioned 3,069 counties. That’s no small amount of counties. So, one of the biggest strengths of an organization like NACo is that network. How do peer connections and shared experience across those counties help leaders make those better decisions?
John Matelski: Josh, there’s really a level of trust and I would say practicality that really comes from the peer to peer learning and the peer to peer engagement that that occurs that really, I don’t know that you can replicate it anywhere else. County leaders want to hear from people. They want to hear from their residents.
They want to hear from others who are operating in the same environment, dealing with similar constraints, political dynamics, resource limitations. So again, know, really the key is how can you get a nonpartisan convener who can maintain that nonpartisanship, look at the facts, assimilate them, aggregate them, and then provide value back to our memberships. I think also what makes the connections so valuable is, you know, the insights are really grounded by real world experiences. I mean, we bring counties of all sizes to the table and find out about their experiences, good, bad, or indifferent.
We want to make sure that we’re really cutting through the theory and getting into the practice. Theory’s great, but, you know, we’ve done many implementations where the theory did not match the outcome. So, we got to really make sure that we’re doing what we can to, you know, kind of help avoid any common pitfalls, anticipate certain challenges so we don’t have to recreate bad practices and have that ability to really move forward with greater confidence. I think also it creates a space where we can have candid conversations.
Even coming to an event like this, Tyler is such a great solution and has done so many great things, but we all have challenges. And it may not be Tyler; it may be our own internal challenges. So how we can work together, collaborate, work with our mission critical partner, perspective. It’s all part of being a national network, which includes our vendor community.
And, you know, we have to look at it and approach it, understanding that we’re all coming at from different contexts, different perspectives.
Maybe the perspectives are the same, but the scale is maybe just a little bit different.
So really, think being a part of a national network and working with various associations, we can see how others are dealing with it. We can see the context and then find the best route that maybe fits or the best solution that fits within the community environment that we have. And I think last on that, I’d say ultimately; by having these pure connections, we reduce isolation, we reduce the siloed kind of processing that happens typically in government.
And by building a trusted network that folks can turn to, you really can kind of speed up decision making, improve quality decisions. And I will say we have actually, in my experiences, both in DeKalb County, well, actually three places, DeKalb County, Gwinnett County, Georgia, and then when I was with the city of Orlando as well, these decisions really impact the value and our ability to deliver services.
Josh Henderson: That’s great. Very well put. I wanted to switch gears a little bit because there’s also a very strong focus, a strong emphasis on research and data Yes. Within the association. So, tell me a little bit about how NACo gathers insights from counties and how those insights are used to guide strategy and decision making within the association.
John Matelski: Good question, Josh. We’re constantly really engaging with counties. We’re doing it through surveys. We’re we’ve got it through work groups.
We have advisory committees, direct conversations, convening events again. And maybe we aren’t even the convener. Even being here with you at the Tyler event, it’s the same type of thing where this gives us the opportunity to engage with counties that are here, many of which know about NACo, but many of which may not. And especially if you’re in a particular field or maybe you’re not in the technology realm, you may not know specifically about NACo.
Or maybe there’s some organizations that, because of the federal advocacy, they know about NACo, but didn’t realize we had like a technical group, a tech exchange of peers and those kinds of things. So, it’s really incumbent upon us to leverage every single convening, whether we’re host or your host or whomever, and make sure that we’re continuing to build on those relationships and partnerships. We also work with folks like eRepublic, GovTech, Center for Digital Government. That’s all one agency.
Their city survey, their county survey. Obviously with NACo, my focus has been on the county surveys but working with partners in the ecosystem and not just doing our own surveying, I think that brings also some credibility. We’re able to look at, we’ve got county surveys, we’ve got city surveys, and then we can also look kind of at the blend so we can look at the local overall. I think at the end of the day, it’s about turning lived experiences into shared intelligence, I would suggest.
And so, technology needs to really remain a major part of the conversation, but with some of the things that we’re looking at, it’s not always about the technology. Technology can’t solve everything. Sometimes you got to look at your business practices or your workflows. You may have the perfect technology in place and still have it configured incorrectly.
So, getting that understanding of how you can engage and work with other folks. But again, would say that because we’re able to work with other folks and do surveys and making sure that we’re reaching out across all aspects in size, I mean, I think it’s sixty eight percent of our three thousand and sixty nine counties are small, fifty thousand or So, you know, with that in mind, we’re not just focusing on the large. In fact, we’re trying to leverage those relationships and the success stories and figure out how we might be able to take at the larger scale and maybe at a smaller scale, hopefully smaller price points and those kinds of things, really help impact and move small counties forward as well.
Josh Henderson: And I think to that point, I just want to take a small moment to plug all the great resources that are available at on the NACo website. Go check some of that stuff out.
John Matelski: I appreciate that. And especially if you’re worried about ADA compliance, we just released at our Ledge Conference last month, a new guide that helps whether you’re large, small. It kind of gives you some just feedback across the entire ADA ecosystem in terms of things that you should be looking for, how you can work on fixing things, different solution types, and those kinds of things. So, I think, you know, that’s just one great example where we’re trying to make sure that we’re staying up with the times.
Now we’re looking forward within the next week or so, hopefully within the next couple of days, we may be hearing something on the ADA landscape coming from the federal government. And if that changes anything with that document, we will immediately update. But that’s really what it’s about. It’s trying to, as quickly as possible, navigate the changes, which it might happen tomorrow, it might not happen for a couple of weeks, but being ready to be nimble and navigate to make sure that we’re on top of it, we’re analyzing it and getting that information out to our members.
Josh Henderson: Stay tuned. We’ll be right back with more of the Tyler Tech Podcast.
The National Association of State CIOs, or NASCIO, has released its top ten priorities for 2026, and they’re as relevant as ever. AI at number one for the first time, cybersecurity is holding strong, and the focus doesn’t stop there. Cloud, modernization, accessibility, data, and more are all top of mind for state CIOs.
Jade Champion: And Tyler has a companion to that list, the State CIO 2026 Priorities Playbook, to help agencies take the next step from strategy to execution.
Josh Henderson: You’ll find real case studies, honest insight into where progress stalls, and practical first steps across all ten priorities.
Jade Champion: It’s free, it’s actionable, and it’s ready for you right now in the show notes.
Josh Henderson: Go download the State CIO 2026 Priorities Playbook and start turning priorities into progress.
Jade Champion: Now let’s get back to the Tyler Tech Podcast.
Josh Henderson: I wanted to jump into technology and some of the trends that you you’re seeing within the association.
What are some of those key technology trends you’re seeing across counties today, whether it’s, you know, cloud adoption, AI, cybersecurity, or data governance? We’re hearing a lot of these words’ kind of nonstop now. So, tell me a little bit about what you’re seeing within the counties.
John Matelski: We are seeing a strong push towards cloud adoption. We’re seeing counties look for more flexibility, more scalability, more resilience.
Moving to the cloud really can help modernize the systems. Improves your disaster recovery stance. And quite honestly, it supports a more distributed workforce. You could also have your workforce, your own workforce, focused on those things that are more important and have some of the more mundane tasks and those kinds of things managed by a service provider.
Cybersecurity, of course, continues to be a top priority, and it’s really evolving way beyond technical controls.
The governance, the risk management, the workforce training. You could have the best technology in place. It just takes one uneducated person or unknowledgeable person unaware to just click on something and maybe our something didn’t update because it’s a brand new type of ransomware or type of event or activity, and there might be a timeframe when you click it, and we weren’t being able to stop it. So obviously AI is gaining attention, clearly, and counties are approaching it thoughtfully.
The key really is don’t venture into AI in any way, shape, or form if you don’t have data governance and if your data quality isn’t there. I think yet the reality is we could talk AI all day. I’m sure you’ve heard of the old adage garbage in, garbage out. Well, with AI, it’s garbage in, garbage out just that much faster.
And again, the scale. And so, we really need to be focused on, you know, how are we doing it thoughtfully? We want to make sure that we’re focused on service delivery and not AI for AI’s sake. I don’t think we should be hearing anyone say, oh, my city’s doing AI or my county’s doing AI.
You really got to focus on the use cases and make sure that, you know, it’s benefiting the organization and that you’re addressing the policies, the ethics, the guidelines, the guardrails. And especially when you’re looking at transparency, bias mitigation, and data privacy. So that’s a lot. And so, AI brings so much potential, but it brings so much challenges as well that cities and counties really need to face.
So, we’re also with that seeing, and rightfully so, that increased focus on data governance because now we know, oh, you know, in government, 80% is not good.
90% is not good. That gets you on the front page. 90%, if you shoot 90% in basketball or, you know, bat nine hundred or whatever it is in baseball, you’re an all-star. You’re a hall of famer.
In county and city government, you’re on the front page of the newspaper, which is the last place we want to be. So, we really need to make sure that we’ve got frameworks in place, that we have clear data ownership. All too often I hear, oh, that’s IT’s. Well, no, you’re the data owner, you’re the data custodian.
We may be backing it up and securing it and all those kinds of things. So, making sure you have those discussions.
I think what we’re seeing overall is that counties are, regardless of size, becoming more strategic in how they’re approaching technology. I think they’re moving more from isolated projects to more coordinated enterprise wide efforts. And that’s even at the small jurisdiction level, because I think folks are becoming more aware that those long term outcomes are really what we’re seeking. And by doing it the right way and by doing it in a formal process way and by collaborating lessons learned, best practices, etcetera, you’re much more likely to have better outcomes.
Josh Henderson: And, you know, as counties start to put in that work to modernize or to continue on or start their modernization journey, what are some of the most common challenges you’re seeing from IT leaders when trying to balance innovation with risk, security, and limited resources?
John Matelski: You said limited resources, so I’m going to bypass that. And to me, it’s not even about budget.
It’s about the biggest challenge to me this day and age is prioritization. There are no shortages of opportunities across counties, regardless of whether you’re an IT or a different part of the organization to innovate, but their resources, whether it’s funding, whether it’s staff, whether it’s time, they’re limited. So, we really need to be very deliberate about our investments, about how we move forward and make sure that we’re doing it in alignment with our strategic plan, the overall strategic plan of the city or the county or the special district.
I think legacy infrastructure in many cases continues to be a huge challenge. Many counties, especially smaller ones are working with systems that were not designed to integrate with some of these newer technologies. So even relatively simple upgrades, and I put quotations around that because I have, you know, even the simplest upgrades always have challenges. So, when it becomes complex or more complicated or resource intensive, it’s really about how can you make sure that it fits within your broader ecosystem, it doesn’t introduce new risks, you’ve got buy in, and at the end of the day, better outcomes.
So, I think really that’s the focus. And there’s also the growing expectation to move faster. Everyone wants that Amazon experience and immediate gratification.
So, I think, you know, as we’re looking at how we’re developing digital services and those kinds of things, we really need to do a better job of enhancing that, making sure that we’re covering, you know, emerging threats. And it’s a constant balancing act. So how do you drive innovation, manage risk, and do that without necessarily a reliance on external folks? Because that’s typically going to cost more money. So even there, too, I think it’s looking at your current ecosystem, figuring out within your current partner community, especially your critical partners, how can you best leverage the solutions that they have in place? I would never say, oh, know, put everything in one bucket. But I would also say you don’t want to have too many systems in place that are connected because then at some point you got seven or eight systems interacting and something goes wrong.
It’s not even this anymore. I mean, I need to get seven hands or something to point to everyone. That could be a problem. So I think, you know, we just need to understand that it is a balancing act and with technology changing, with politics, you know, kind of changing and evolving, We just need, as cities and counties, to be adaptable, and as associations, we need to be here to work amongst and with our community, to work with partners such as Tyler, to make sure that we’re doing the best that we can to move government forward.
Josh Henderson: Really, really well put. Now we we’ve covered quite a bit in this, so for leaders who, you know, might be feeling overwhelmed, and I feel like associations like NACo are trying to limit the amount of overwhelming feelings that counties are feeling. So, but they may not be fully engaged yet with NACo. What are some of the most valuable ways they can tap into this network or tap into some of those resources available to them?
John Matelski: So, we are very intentional, you know, about how we can put together resources that meet the needs of our community. We don’t just put together stuff because we think it’s important. We do surveying.
We do, you know, talking within the community. We work with our partners and find out some of the pain points and find out how we can best kind of work together where we can then bring solutions to the table. That’s really what it comes is. How can we bring solutions?
And we need to have solutions that are outcomes focused, not just bringing something in, you know, to try to fix something. So yes, we want to fix something, but you need to have specific outcomes. And I think it’s really important that agencies at cities, counties, etcetera, are very intentional about how they bridge that gap between ideas and execution.
So many great ideas out there, but then when it comes down to executing, how do we do it in the best manner and identify best practices?
And so, you know, you may implement something in your city or your county, and I may try to do the exact same thing, and for some reason it doesn’t work. It could be cultural. It could be nothing. Again, it’s probably nothing to do with the technology.
It’s probably some other workforce related, I would suspect, type of thing, or it could be where you’re not having partners collaborating and communicating and whatever. But I think if we could focus kind of on the practical application of how things are rolling out, that’s why provide, NACo provides toolkits and playbooks and real world cases. We also, you know, will set up calls. You know, if a county calls me and says, hey, we’re trying to do this particular thing.
Who’s maybe a leader in that particular area? We will hook them up with other counties or other cities who have already had some similar successes with that type of program. So, I think really that’s what it is, is creating those opportunities to make sure we’ve got that knowledge sharing, that we’ve got that education, that we’ve got that learning, and then that we continue to enhance upon that through whatever ways we can engagement. Again, even cross association, because there’s value in the other association.
Counties aren’t that different from cities. There is some uniqueness, but the reality is we’re all facing the similar challenges and working together to resolve those both alone, but more importantly, collaboratively, I think is very, very important.
Josh Henderson: I mean, an important reminder, absolutely. Now, looking ahead, obviously things aren’t getting less complex for counties as we look into the future, but how do you see the role of national associations evolving as local governments continue to, you know, face new challenges and opportunities as well?
John Matelski: I think partnership just is essential. That that’s really what it comes down to. The challenges that we’re facing are too complex.
They’re too interconnected for really any one organization to handle. And in fact, I’d, you know, suggest, you know, when the well, I won’t say which city, but when a city near us had a ransomware attack, we even though it wasn’t affecting us, we had to shut down our some of our connectivity with them to make sure that, there wasn’t any tangential or reverb or whatever you call it, the word would come back on us. So, no matter what, you’ve got to be working and collaborating. We also work very closely with different federal agencies, with the private sector partners, nonprofits, and the other associations, and really working on creating resources that would add value for our particular members.
We also bring those to the table with different perspectives based on size.
And so, it’s not always about size of the county or city. It all may just be where they’re at along their journey on a particular technology or a particular implementation too. So, I think it’s important to realize that each partner that we could bring to the table brings their own policy insight, their own technical capabilities, funding opportunities, program support. So again, you know, why would you be at it alone? Let’s be in it together. Let’s collaborate. I think a big part of our role also is how can we work together to kind of like align the efforts.
You know, someone has to be the glue and NACo is more than happy to be that. We’d love to be the glue between the cities, the states, and then also some of that federal collaboration.
You know, by working together, we can also streamline our resources, connect the right partners. NACo doesn’t have all the answers. So, you know, working with some of our other associations or some other partners within our community that do have the answers that helps us learn.
And I think the key really is partnerships help us stay ahead of emerging issues. If we stay in our own bubble, we’re not going to hear about other stuff. By partnering with others, we hear about it as it’s happening. We can protect ourselves.
We can work together. I think at the end of the day, it’s really making sure that counties have a strong support ecosystem, that they don’t think that they have to do this alone. And again, it needs to be relationships that expand across policy, workforce and beyond, and the technology, of course. And so let’s also not minimize the impact that folks like you, like Tyler Technologies and some of the other mission critical partners play here into the ecosystem, because without you, without having these convenings, without you bringing your subject matter expertise to the table, we would be all, quite frankly, in a world of hurt.
So, you know, our partner communities, and especially in this situation, Tyler, just brings so much knowledge. You bring that knowledge and expertise from across all sizes of counties. And I think it really is helpful as we have these types of engagements to be able to work again together and make sure that you are a critical player in the ecosystem and not just there on the periphery.
Josh Henderson: I think it’s good to continue to reiterate that you are not in this alone.
There’s help available to you when you need it. John, thank you so much for sharing your perspective and helping highlight the important role NACo plays in supporting local government leaders. And I really appreciate you taking the time today.
John Matelski: Thanks so much, Josh. I appreciate it. Thanks for having me.
Josh Henderson: As we heard today, the challenges facing counties are increasingly interconnected from workforce pressures and cyber risk to rising service expectations and the need for more modern responsive systems. John shared how NACo plays a critical role in helping local governments navigate that complexity by convening leaders, sharing real world experiences, and turning those insights into practical guidance and advocacy that supports counties of all sizes. A consistent theme throughout the conversation was the value of connection, whether through peer to peer learning across jurisdictions, collaboration with partner organizations, or aligning strategy with on the ground realities. That shared perspective is helping counties move from isolated problem solving toward more coordinated, strategic approaches to modernization and service delivery.
If you’d like to learn more about the solutions discussed in this episode, check out the show notes for additional resources, and we’d love to hear your feedback. Fill out the listener survey linked in the notes or reach out anytime at podcast@tylertech.com, and be sure to subscribe, rate, and review the show so you never miss an episode. For Tyler Technologies, I’m Josh Henderson. Thanks for listening to the Tyler Tech Podcast.