This episode of the Tyler Tech Podcast features Elliot Flautt, director of state data solutions at Tyler Technologies. He shares how governments are breaking down silos, balancing transparency with privacy, and using data to build trust with their communities. The conversation highlights the role of strong data governance, practical steps for maximizing limited resources, and how artificial intelligence (AI) is creating new opportunities for resident engagement. Tune in for insights on leading with data and preparing for the future of public sector innovation.
In this episode of the Tyler Tech Podcast, Elliot Flautt, director of state data solutions at Tyler Technologies, joins the show to discuss how governments are using data to drive smarter decisions, increase transparency, and strengthen trust with their communities.
Elliot shares his perspective on the importance of breaking down silos across agencies, balancing the demand for transparency with the responsibility to protect privacy, and making the most of limited resources. He highlights how effective data governance lays the foundation for governments to deliver value while safeguarding sensitive information.
The conversation also explores how innovations like artificial intelligence (AI) are opening new possibilities for resident engagement — from improving access to public data to suggesting services that communities may not realize are available. Elliot emphasizes the need to start small, build momentum with early wins, and grow data initiatives into programs that deliver measurable outcomes.
Tune in to hear how governments are leading with data to improve operations, foster transparency, and prepare for the opportunities with AI.
This episode also highlights the advantages of cloud infrastructure and how it is transforming the public sector. From reducing technical debt and streamlining operations to creating the flexibility to adopt AI and other emerging tools, the cloud provides a smarter, more resilient foundation for modernization, security, and innovation. Explore our resources in the show notes to learn how governments can maximize long-term value and take the next step toward a future built to adapt.
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Elliot Flautt: A lot of our customers are becoming more familiar with and more attuned to the different types of use cases that artificial intelligence can actually satisfy.
Josh Henderson: From Tyler Technologies, this is the Tyler Tech Podcast where we explore the trends, technologies, and people shaping the public sector. I’m your host, Josh Henderson. Thanks so much for listening.
Today, I’m once again joined on the show by Elliot Flautt, director of state data solutions at Tyler.
And in this episode recorded at Tyler Connect 2025 in San Antonio, we explore how government agencies are breaking down silos, strengthening transparency, and building trust through data driven decision making.
Elliot shares insights on balancing transparency with privacy, making the most of limited resources, and how innovations like artificial intelligence are opening new opportunities for resident engagement.
Let’s get right into our conversation. I hope you enjoy.
Elliot, welcome back to the podcast. It’s great to have you here.
Elliot Flautt: Thank you. Happy to be here again.
Josh Henderson: So, data has always been valuable, but it feels like public sector agencies are now in a moment where the stakes and the opportunities are even higher. Yeah. So, to get us started, what does transparent decision making mean to you in the context of government when it comes to data, and why is it so important right now?
Elliot Flautt: I mean, I kind of trace the power of data back to what really got me involved in working in government to begin with. I had the privilege of working with the King County prosecuting attorney’s office for as my first government job really, and that was all about data. How do we actually use data to better inform our decision making so that we use less of our gut and use more of the data can actually back up, the right decisions.
So, I think that now that government is really kind of latched on the data is going to be something that people really need to use to inform their decision making, that’s really going to be, helpful, not just internally, but also kind of push it out externally, from a transparency perspective. So that’s what I’m excited to be here at Connect kind of talking about.
Josh Henderson: Yeah. I mean, this kind of touches on exactly what you were just saying, but you’ve worked with many agencies of different sizes. How are governments today using data not just to make decisions internally, but to share information, like you said, to their constituents, to their residents?
Elliot Flautt: The resident engagement aspect of this is, I can’t say anything but pivotal. Residents are asking for that level of transparency. Residents are actually asking their government to back up their decisions with data to prove why they’ve actually made this investment over any kind of other investments that they may have made with the limited time and resources that they have.
So I think that the fact that governments are now able to kind of push out a lot of the data that they’ve used and do so not just once, but also do so in a way that’s repeated, and sustained is really driving different levels of engagement, different levels of conversation across the country regardless of what kind of jurisdiction you’re working in. So whether that’s a state who’s actually doing that and saying, here’s how we’re better able to deliver service around, you know, Medicare and Medicaid, or whether it’s your local water district who can come in and say, we’ve actually done this capital investment, and we think it’s going to yield this type of outcome, is really something that a lot of residents are expecting and sometimes even demanding of their of their governments these days.
Josh Henderson: Right. And now, oftentimes, with government agencies, there are these silos that are created, especially when it comes to their data. Yep.
How are agencies breaking down silos and sharing that data across departments to get, you know, a fuller picture to make those informed decisions?
Elliot Flautt: The way in which they’ve actually been able to do this is really through a lot better collaboration. And when I say collaboration, I mean a much better collaborative environment that exists within government between folks that are on the ins the information technology side of the house or IT, as well as folks that are kind of driving the business decisions of their government.
The way in which I’ve seen this kind of change over the past eight, 10 years is that IT and the business are actually collaborating a lot on, how they want to make this this process work better so that people can actually manage that on their own rather than having to go back to another party to say, here’s how I want to share my data and here’s how I want to actually be collaborative. Really making sure that business users can, share the data they want to and have control over that process is really something that I’ve seen really start to take leaps and bounds in the last five years.
Josh Henderson: That’s great. And now with data playing such a central role. How do governments balance the need for transparency paired with the responsibility to protect privacy and ensure ethical use of data?
Elliot Flautt: It’s always a balance, and it’s always a learning process that I find that governments are very much, in the process of learning and doing so in collaboration with their residents.
And the way that this kind of gets managed kind of behind the scenes and more operationally is setting up data governance in a way that’s going to be really helpful and, in a way, that’s going to be useful for the intended audience.
So, defining, what your standards are really for how you protect certain primarily identifiable information or PII and understanding that, yes, you can share this field and not that field is really a lot of the nitty gritty work that governments are doing day in and day out to really adhere to their governance standards.
Governance is kind of the foundation for making sure that people are able to share the right information with the right audience. And without that, on a good day, you end up with maybe not sharing any information at all. And on a bad day, you end up sharing information that shouldn’t go out in public.
Josh Henderson: I know, you know, working with public sector, we understand some of the challenges that are involved in that, including budget restrictions and things like that. How can leaders make the most of what they have and still use data to drive meaningful improvements?
Elliot Flautt: It’s a tightrope. I’ll put it bluntly that way. Because you have to balance, essentially how you’re managing all of the different investments that you could foreseeably make and with limited budgets that governments are working with, especially these days. So, I think that a lot of folks that they, are ultimately trying to toe the line into what’s going to have the most impact. Finding out upfront how they can actually go out and determine whether or not this investment that we’re going to make from a data sharing perspective is going to yield the intended outcomes is what, a lot of our customers are asking for upfront rather than hoping that it’s going to yield results down the line.
Josh Henderson: Stay tuned. We’ll be right back with more of the Tyler Tech Podcast.
Every day, public sector leaders are rethinking how technology supports their communities.
Jade Champion: And more than ever, they’re finding the answer in the cloud.
Josh Henderson: From streamlining operations and reducing technical debt to creating the flexibility to adopt AI and other emerging tools, cloud infrastructure is transforming how governments deliver services.
Jade Champion: It’s not just about migrating systems. It’s about building a smarter, more resilient foundation for modernization, security, and innovation.
Josh Henderson: At Tyler, we understand how governments are making that shift, the trends driving adoption, ways to maximize long term value, and the steps to make your journey a success.
Jade Champion: Check out the resources in our show notes to learn more about the cloud advantage and how you can take the next step toward a government that’s built to adapt.
Josh Henderson: The future of government is in the cloud.
Now let’s get back to the Tyler Tech Podcast.
What innovations or emerging uses of data are you most excited about right now? And where do you see agencies heading when it comes to leveraging data more creatively and more effectively?
Elliot Flautt: I don’t think this would be a government technology conference without referencing artificial intelligence, but I think that that is something that I particularly am or that is something I’m particularly excited about, is that a lot of our customers are becoming more familiar with and more attuned to the different types of use cases that artificial intelligence can actually satisfy.
We’re starting with a lot of the lower risk, higher impact use cases, like, basically using public data and making that more effective so that people can actually start to go in and get better answers to their questions without having and doing so on their own time rather than having to work during business hours. Because your business hours and my business hours may not be the same. Say I’m a third shift worker and I get off at five o’clock in the morning, I’m going to need to go ask a question of my local jurisdiction when I get off work, not necessarily during the nine to five period when a lot of people are going to be working there.
That’s super impactful. And then we’re actually starting to see a lot of the investments in the artificial intelligence space really take off in terms of being able to do what could be described as kind of like an agentic workflow, where if we know about a user and we know how they’ve used, government services in the past, we can actually start to suggest ways that they may not may, find access to other, services they might not have thought that they could get access to. So really being able to better engage with residents in that capacity is something that that data governance I was talking about, the data privacy and security really builds toward that eventual goal, toward something that is going to be useful in the artificial intelligence realm rather than just fluff and maybe a nice to have.
On the other side, the way that I’ve seen it be very creative on the kind of data transparency perspective is really starting to do a lot of transparency projects that are going to better engage the community and start to crowdsource some of the ways in which that data can be used. It’s something that people can actually go in and start to do their own analysis and start to suggest ways in which they might like to see some of their budget, spent, some of their prioritization exercises be done that way. And that’s really something that good data governance, good data transparency practices are going to facilitate. That’s great.
Josh Henderson: And I feel like the last time we had you on the podcast, it was almost exclusively on AI. And that was only a few months ago, and I feel like it’s changed significantly Yeah. Since the last time that we talked. So, in your view, though, when it comes to AI, is this about chasing innovation for agencies, or is it becoming a necessity for serving communities more effectively in your opinion?
Elliot Flautt: I can’t say strongly enough that this is something that is going to become a necessity. I was actually talking to some of our customers that were here stopping by our AI booth. And not going to name any names, but this jurisdiction has had, in the last year, their population doubled from 4,500 people to this small community to around 9,000.
So that is a 100% increase over the past year, and being able to keep up with the same level of service demands that new residents have come to expect at larger jurisdictions may be a challenge for some of these new growing communities that are, having to deal with the influx of folks that have moved to this rapidly developing community.
I think that artificial intelligence is something that could actually very much help with augmenting the staff, be able to handle some of the more routine questions, to be able to free up that staff of that jurisdiction towards doing things that are much higher value, towards doing things that are going to actually help improve the resident experience rather than just, keeping up with the demand or just meeting the mail. So, hopefully, that makes sense. I mean, I think that there’s a big opportunity that exists out there, and artificial intelligence is certainly some is certainly one of the tools that we can reach for to help our customers, meet their residents when they’re at.
Josh Henderson: I feel like that makes perfect sense. I think that’s really good perspective as well.
So, as we start to wrap things up, what’s the one piece of advice or encouragement you’d offer government leaders looking to better harness their data, not just to improve operations, but to strengthen trust and transparency within their communities?
Elliot Flautt: I would say that one of the biggest pieces of advice is that I would that I would give is to start small, to start with something that, is going to have the capacity to grow, and that you’re not going to have to do a lot of work upfront to, really kind of see the value realized. Once you are able to start small, be able to have some small wins with your internal stakeholders as well as your, residents, that’s going to really start to grow that into a program and, something that’s going to be able to grow over time and really start to demonstrate the value early rather than just waiting a year to be able to see that.
Josh Henderson: I think it’s a great place to wrap up. It’s been such a great conversation.
Elliot Flautt: Thank you very much.
Josh Henderson: As we heard today, data is playing a central role in how governments operate, from breaking down silos and strengthening transparency to balancing privacy with the responsibility to serve residents more effectively.
Elliot highlighted how agencies can start small, build momentum through early wins, and ultimately use data not just to improve operations but to strengthen trust with their communities.
If you’d like to dive deeper into the topics we discussed, check out the show notes for additional resources, and we’d love to hear your feedback. Fill out our 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.