State of California, USA

Building a world-class team to transform services for California's 40m citizens

California's digital services have been an important part of our response to COVID-19, helping to serve nearly 40 million residents in multiple languages. Public Digital has been an important partner, helping us think through what is possible and how to deliver.
Mike WilkeningSpecial Advisor on Innovation & Digital Services at Office of Governor Gavin Newsom

The problem

As the most populous state in the United States, with the world’s fifth-largest economy, California wanted to improve its essential public services.

A new administration had the will and remit to transform infrastructure and services, but needed clarity on where and how to start.

What Public Digital did

1We created and recruited a digital team to deliver online services for 40 million people
2We positioned infrastructure and the team for a world-leading response to Covid-19
3We performed a strategic review of existing infrastructure, team, digital presence and design

What California achieved

A new digital services team in the centre of state government. This team now leads the transformation of the state’s public services.

The team launched a public “alpha” website alpha.ca.gov focused on Californians’ top needs: making it easier to find and use government services and information.

They then launched covid19.ca.gov to track Covid-19. It provides clear and transparent information to 40 million citizens.

Prototyped 15 online services and launched an “alpha” website in 12 weeks
Covid-19 site in 7 languages was built in only 4 days
Google scored Covid-19 site 98 for speed - “exemplary high performance”