This episode of the Tyler Tech Podcast, recorded live at Tyler Connect 2026 in Las Vegas, features a conversation with Morgan Jines, vice president of payments at Tyler Technologies, and Thomas Yarbrough, manager of payment operations, on how public sector organizations are increasing digital payment adoption while modernizing the resident experience. The discussion explores common barriers to adoption, practical strategies for expanding awareness and self-service, and the operational benefits of reducing manual processes through payment modernization. Morgan and Thomas also examine the value of unified payment platforms, improving revenue collection and reconciliation, supporting compliance and security requirements, and preparing for emerging payment trends such as digital wallets, mobile payments, and evolving resident expectations.
In this Tyler Tech Podcast episode, Morgan Jines, vice president of payments at Tyler Technologies, and Thomas Yarbrough, manager of payment operations, discuss how public sector organizations are modernizing payment experiences to better serve residents while improving operational efficiency. Recorded live at Tyler Connect 2026 in Las Vegas, the conversation explores the evolving landscape of digital payments, and the practical steps agencies can take to increase adoption.
Morgan and Thomas discuss common barriers to digital payment adoption, including resident awareness, longstanding habits, and varying levels of comfort with technology. They share strategies for reaching residents through multiple touchpoints, promoting self-service options such as autopay and e-billing, and creating payment experiences that are simple, secure, and convenient.
The episode also examines the operational benefits of payment modernization, including reduced manual processing, streamlined reconciliation, lower service shutoff rates, and more predictable revenue collection. The discussion highlights the value of unified payment platforms that provide a consistent experience across departments while strengthening security and simplifying account management.
Looking ahead, Morgan and Thomas explore emerging payment trends, evolving compliance requirements, and growing demand for digital wallet and mobile payment options. Throughout the conversation, they emphasize that successful payment modernization is not just about technology — it’s about improving the experience for both residents and agency staff through greater accessibility, flexibility, and efficiency.
This episode also highlights City Hall Selfie Day, an annual initiative celebrating public service and civic pride. The campaign encourages local governments and community members to showcase the places and people behind public service, helping build awareness, engagement, and appreciation for the work happening across cities, counties, and agencies.
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Morgan Jines: There’s so many downstream impacts operationally, even down to the resident. They’re just super critical, and we have a path for to solve with online payments.
Josh Henderson: From Tyler Technologies, this is the Tyler Tech Podcast. I’m your host, Josh Henderson. Today’s episode looks at how digital payments are evolving in the public sector and what agencies can do to modernize payment experiences without adding complexity for staff or residents. As expectations around convenience, security, and flexibility continue to rise, governments are rethinking how they deliver payment services across channels, systems, and departments.
Recorded live at Tyler Connect 2026 in Las Vegas, my guests are Morgan Jines, VP of payments at Tyler, and Thomas Yarbrough, manager of payment operations here at Tyler. Together, they work closely with public sector agencies to help expand digital payment adoption, improve operational efficiency, and create more unified, secure, and user friendly payment experiences.
In this conversation, we’ll explore where organizations are today in their digital payment journey, what’s driving or slowing adoption, and how agencies can take practical steps to improve both resident experience and internal efficiency. There’s a lot to cover. Let’s dive right in.
Morgan and Thomas, welcome to the Tyler Tech Podcast. Thank you so much for being here. It’s great to have you both here.
Morgan Jines and Thomas Yarbrough: Thank you.
Josh Henderson: Now to start things off, when you look across with the organizations you work with, where are most agencies today when it comes to digital payment adoption, and what are some of the biggest challenges that they’re trying to solve?
Morgan Jines: Perfect timing. We see a lot of different challenges. And I think one the things that are unique about payments and government specifically with adoption is the use cases are all over the board.
Our clients are all different sizes. And so, the challenges really vary based upon that specific demographic. What current payment channels that they’re accepting and having.
And then ultimately, where do they want to go? So, we’ll see challenges in terms of online pay, but maybe there’s high adoption with IVR or Text2Pay. Or maybe there’s, you know, we see a lot of success with the under bank when we’re offering certain prepaid cards. But then when you look at other payment channels related to in person and cashiering, that’s harder to do away with.
And so, I think some of the challenges is just trying to really identify what are the current barriers for why they’re not accepting online payments and adoption and then providing awareness. So, awareness, it’s hard to change people’s habits. And so, provided that overall awareness of availability and optionality is super important. And I would say another challenge is just technology and the change being hard for adaptation.
And so, that’s where the demographics comes into play. There’s certain demographics that Apple Pay, tap to pay is more common and prevalent. And if it’s not an easy option for them, then they moved another direction.
And so having that simplicity and technology is another barrier that we see and we try to overcome.
Thomas Yarbrough: And there’s also just what you’ve been doing forever. And just changing that behavior and adjusting to a new behavior that’s easier and having that good experience out front and, like, being able to repeat that experience. Because one negative experience can put you back a little ways, but making sure that’s positive when you walk in right at the front door, you’re going to be liable to come back.
Josh Henderson: I think that’s a really great place to start. And now a big part of this is encouraging residents to actually use digital payment options. What are some of the most effective strategies you’ve seen for increasing awareness and driving that adoption?
Morgan Jines: From the awareness perspective, it’s touching residents at every interaction point. And so, whether that’s their website and having updated verbiage for them to be able to see the availability to make an online payment or to set up account, enable self-service, that awareness is critical. Certainly, when it comes to direct mailers and flyers, that’s another way that we can engage with residents.
If they’re calling in for something completely unrelated, and they’re already on the phone with a CSR providing that awareness. Also, we have these, online payment channels that are available. There’s a self-service component.
There’s a reduction in shutoffs that have happened. And so, I think just from awareness perspective, it’s ensuring that we’re touching every resident interaction point and providing that awareness and transparency.
Thomas Yarbrough: And to build off of that, it’s the repetition. So, you had seen it in different places. And it shows the intention behind it to say, like, hey. We’re putting this up front. We believe in this, and we want you to use it. And so, they see it in different places.
Josh Henderson: That’s a really great point. Now beyond the awareness, though, how does communication and outreach play a role in influencing behavior and encouraging people to make that shift to digital?
Thomas Yarbrough: So, couple ways. Like, first off, getting them where they’re at. So, like, a lot of times it’s in, like, a bill presentment or a place where they’re already going to be going to understand how they need to interact with the agency they’re working with.
So, we get that in front of them where they’re already expecting to go to get information or to handle the business they’re going to handle anyway. But we want to make sure that information’s up front, how to make that payment, how to take those, payments and what’s available to them right up front and not making them search for it. That’s one thing that we’ll find is if you got to go looking for it, if it’s more than, like, three clicks, it’s vital that you’re not going to go somewhere else.
So, making sure it’s out there and it’s available and accessible.
Morgan Jines: And I think too, with the accessibility piece; once they go through that initial pain, if you will, right, of signing up for an online account and being able to self-serve, set it and forget it. So, autopay, I mean, these government agencies, you know, whether it’s utilities or taxes, these are required payments. And so, a lot of times, just being able to have that, go through that initial step of creating that account and setting up a recurring ACH or whichever preferred card that you have, it’s an afterthought.
And so, we’ll see when we’re running these adoption campaigns, it’s very rare that we abandon or lose somebody that has signed up for auto pay, right? This is something, when they’re in that residence, whether it’s utilities, as that example, if that family’s still living there, unless they have a new car that they want to add to their account, this is a recurring payment. They have to have it established. And so, they just don’t think about it again.
And so, once we provide that awareness and get them enrolled, their lives are easier and certainly the staff’s is because they’re not handling manual cash or checks and having to go through that administrative burden.
Josh Henderson: And carrying over to the operational side, with that ease of use, how does increasing digital payment adoption improve efficiency for staff, you know, within agencies and reduce manual processes there?
Morgan Jines: One specific case study that resonates with me that we have on is the city of Antioch, California. We did a great case study on them specifically, and one of the most powerful testaments in driving online payment adoption and modernizing was the impact it had on their CSR call times and being able to reduce that 20-30%. And then secondly, that decrease in utility shutoffs.
And so, at the end of the month, having staff to have to go shut off services and being able to decrease that by 50% by having an online payment option and other ways for people to pay was huge. And so, you have staff not having to be out in the field to turn off services, and then once payment is made, having to go back out into the field and turn on services. And then I always think too about the resident experience. You have a family that didn’t have services that they needed on.
And so, there’s so many downstream impacts operationally, even down to the resident, that are just super critical, and we have a path for to solve with online payments.
Thomas Yarbrough: And it could be depending upon what type of agency and what type of payments they’re accepting, there’s, like, different pieces that are specific for them. So, like, in a utility billing or a billing or a regular billing thing, there’s usually an entire process monthly that can be very time consuming; multiple days for multiple staff members to go through things that are manual, like opening up checks, scanning through, never get me started on check scanners. They’re, they’re never working when you want them to, and they’re always working when they’re not. But all that correction that you have to do that’s manual, removing that altogether by doing that happen through a digital environment, and then just processing it and doing your reconciliation.
Josh Henderson: Stay tuned. We’ll be right back with more of the Tyler Tech Podcast.
Jade Champion: Hey, podcast listeners. City Hall Selfie Day is right around the corner.
Josh Henderson: Mark your calendars for Tuesday, August 11, 2026, and join us in celebrating public service, civic pride, and the everyday heroes who keep our communities running.
Jade Champion: Here at Tyler, we’re joining in on the fun, spreading the word, and the selfies.
Josh Henderson: It’s simple. Snap a photo in front of your city hall or any government building, get creative, and post it with hashtag city hall selfie.
Jade Champion: City Hall Selfie Day is for everyone, town, city, county, library, special district, or even remote workers. So many ways to get involved and support your local government.
Josh Henderson: August 11, grab your camera, snap a selfie, and let’s celebrate local government together.
Jade Champion: Now let’s get back to the Tyler Tech Podcast.
Josh Henderson: Now another important piece of this conversation is this idea of a more unified payment experience. We try to encourage folks to unify systems, just generally speaking. But what does it mean to have a unified payment platform, and how does that change things for both residents and for internal teams?
Morgan Jines: I think for the resident experience, right, they’re not having to have multiple logins. They don’t have to have separate accounts for different types of payments that they’re taking. They’re not having to go to a portal for their taxes or for their utility bills.
Like, each service is managed through one account. And so just that simplicity and accessibility of having one login, of having multiple cards on file, of being able to manage the account maybe for a parent or for a child, there’s so much self-service simplicity by having that one portal. Then I also think too from the security perspective, having all of your data in one place being managed, know that it’s backed and PCI-compliant by a level one provider, super critical to being able to have a unified portal and then not have, you know, as many ancillary systems out there.
And I would think one more thing on the technology side is just the integration. Being able to have integration through a single system of record is super powerful. And there’s a lot of administrative burden that is taken care of by having that.
Thomas Yarbrough: Absolutely. To go back to or to one of your first points, Stuart, too is one of the barriers to entry sometimes is getting the citizen to sign up in the first place. But once you’ve done that, you’ve got all these pieces behind that one login and that one sign up. They’ve gone through the hard part, if you will, and now it’s easy and simple behind that door.
Josh Henderson: Simplified. Absolutely. So, but then for organizations who may be operating across multiple systems or departments, what are some of the benefits of standardizing that that entire experience with payments?
Morgan Jines: I think on the we’ve talked a lot about the resident experience, which is certainly critical and important. But, you know, they do. They have the self-service.
They have the efficiencies that they gain. They have, you know, the really just to control their account, to be able to download their past history of bills and payments, be able to accept both, whether it’s an ACH draft or a card payment, being able to have that flexibility. But I think also on the uniformity side from back office perspective, anytime we’re dealing with financials, there’s so much protection and integrity that we need to have with that and the level of scrutiny and regulations in the payment space in general. And so, if you have all of that through one system of record, your reconciliation becomes easier, your financial transparency. You’re able to see your deposits and your funds all in one spot.
And then, you know, from other key stakeholders, you’re able to see that, you know, by department and then ultimately rolled up. And so, it just makes that cash flow and predictability so much simpler and then certainly safer as well.
Thomas Yarbrough: Even with a larger organization, it’s very easy to get multiple different systems, multiple different admin logins, and to have all of the admin in one place where you can access it one and then manage it all in the same place is so time saving.
So many password resets you can get into and all that kind of thing that can be the day to day that’ll get you get you down. That’s all in one place. It’s easy to get to.
Josh Henderson: It’s fantastic. And now, you know, as agencies continue to modernize, as they continue on their modernization journey, how does improving the payment experience contribute to a more predictable and timely revenue collection?
Morgan Jines: Absolutely. I think one of things that we’re focused on at Tyler is, you know, expanding different payment channels.
And so, when you think about that, if you have your online payments that you’re offering today, maybe you’re offering cards and ACH, but that’s it. You’re not offering, you know, Text2Pay or Apple Pay or these other payment channels. I think as organizations move forward and think about modernization, we’re doing the same thing from a payments industry perspective and what’s coming. And so, once you bring all of those new payment channels and methods into your ecosystem, we’ve got to make sure that residents know about it.
We have to make sure the technology is configured appropriately. And so, I think there’s a lot of involvement from both stakeholders that are required to be successful, but it’s not just we have the technology now, but how do we get that message out to residents? And then how do we ultimately continue to grow and support all payment channels? And I also think from an adoption perspective, one thing that’s so important is to not just focus on a certain timeframe but continually monitor and measure your success at ultimately changing that resident behavior.
And to me, that’s really part of what we’re trying to do here, you know, is just really trusted advisers and help provide that awareness that this evolves and changes with the industry, and, you know, we’re here to support that as you grow.
Thomas Yarbrough: Absolutely. And then on time payments. So, setting things up for autopay and having that situation where on a schedule, you can depend on it.
We work a lot with utility agencies that have to deal with things like cutoffs and stuff like that. Those are things that are going to cost more overhead, and they’re also going to cost the citizen, like, someone can get themselves in trouble. They end up owing twice as much as they started out at owing. So, at the same time, getting that when it’s supposed to be, avoiding those penalties, avoiding all of the extra overhead that comes with managing that, having it in time, and we really do try to advertise that for adoption.
Josh Henderson: There’s been a lot of great, information shared here today. But for those who are looking to make progress in this area, what are some practical cost effective steps that they can take to start increasing adoption without needing a, you know, maybe a complete overhaul of their systems?
Morgan Jines: I think there’s a I think there’s a lot of things that you can do. I mean, I think about it in three different buckets. I think of it from an awareness perspective.
And just making sure that there’s website language is updated, provide that awareness. I think about, you know, even in the technology, just enabling reminders that there’s an option to enroll in autopay, that they can receive e-bills. And so, kind of going back to those resident touchpoints, just providing that awareness everywhere you can and certainly ensuring that there’s, you know, incentives behind that. Incentives meaning they can set it and forget it.
They don’t have to worry about shutoffs. So, it drives that more predictability to be future forward. And I think probably the last piece is when you think about adopting other payment channels, is there a proactive approach, like at those touch points when customers come in for any other CSR item that they’re dealing with? Just proactively mentioning it.
So not an overhaul of anything, rather, it’s just being more proactive in your strategy to communicate effectively with the residents and meet them where they are.
Thomas Yarbrough: And our agencies are trusted by all their residents. So, their opinions and the way they feel about it and their comfortability with the system matters immensely.
Josh Henderson: Excellent. Excellent. Now as we wrap things up, just wanted to look ahead a little bit. How do you see digital payments continuing to evolve in the public sector, and what should organizations be preparing for next?
Morgan Jines: I think from an evolution perspective, we monitor it from a regulatory perspective, certainly. PCI compliance security is always top of mind. And so, I think when we bring solutions to market, we are focused on what is meaningful to government.
And so, looking at things such as interchange optimization, looking at discount programs for fees related to credit cards, we’re looking at those sorts of things. And then certainly any new mandates that come out related to security and compliance, we’re building all of our solutions on that foundation of being the PCI level one security provider and making sure that we fit into all the regulatory so our clients don’t have to worry about separate audit checks, so they don’t have to worry about going through separate ports.
That we make sure that their compliance and their adherence to that is very simple and easy. Also focusing on what they want and listening to our clients. And I think, this past year, we’ve heard Venmo, PayPal more than we’ve ever heard it. And so, making sure that what we’re delivering is not necessarily the next shiny thing, but it’s what’s important to government and our clients.
And so, we’re listening to that and finding the balance of bringing that to the market with what’s also backed by, you know, industry regulation.
Thomas Yarbrough: The new payment channels, I think, is one of the biggest pieces. The other one is we keep seeing this as, like, legislation keeps changing around payment in payment taking and the way you’re able to do it. And to have a partner like Tyler to come in here and keep their finger on that pulse and to be able to be there to help and guide and protect through that can be very helpful. We can avoid, like, all sorts of stress.
Josh Henderson: I think that’s the perfect place to wrap up this conversation. This has been really enlightening. Morgan, Thomas, thank you both so much for sharing your insights and helping break things down for us, and I hope to talk to you again soon.
Morgan Jines and Thomas Yarbrough: Thank you, Josh. Appreciate it.
Josh Henderson: As we heard today, improving digital payments in the public sector is about more than just adding new payment options. It’s about meeting residents where they are, simplifying access, and creating a consistent, secure experience across every interaction point.
From increasing awareness and reducing friction in adoption to unifying systems and streamlining back office operations, we heard how thoughtful payment modernization can reduce manual work, improve predictability in revenue collection, and ultimately create a better experience for both staff and residents. If you’d like to learn more about the solutions discussed in this episode, check out the show notes for additional resources.
We’d also 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.