PayIt employees will be sharing their insights in this series written by our teammates — showcasing the talent, expertise, and positive attitude that each PayIt employee brings to the company. This post contribution is from Austin Wakat, PayIt’s Head of State and Local Products.

“The traditional path to system modernization for DMVs is broken.”

Those were strong words I chose to open a panel discussion at the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators (AAMVA) conference in Edmonton, AB, Canada — especially to a room of agency representatives and vendors that are in the midst of just that: system modernization.

But with the approach the industry has historically taken (“all-in” investments that cost millions of dollars, scoped to overhaul every facet of these large complex systems, and multi-year timelines), well, a lot of things have to go right for those projects to succeed.

When delays happen or budgets are tapped, one aspect that typically loses priority is the stakeholders’ customer experience interacting with their DMV. My argument: that’s exactly where we need to focus first.

Customer experience for stakeholders across the ecosystem

DMV operates in an ecosystem of stakeholders. The general public is the most obvious user, but we also have to consider dealers, fleets, insurance carriers, banks, and partner agencies (like law enforcement) that all have a vested interest in making transactions with the DMV easier and less costly.

What are stakeholders looking for?

Most people expect a user experience that aligns with the rest of their digital footprint.

The general public, for example, is accustomed to buying something on Amazon with a couple of clicks, getting QR codes to process ecommerce returns, depositing a check with a bank app, and ordering coffee or groceries on their phones.

Similarly, commercial stakeholders have experienced much of their enterprise software move to the cloud. Many companies have already incorporated highly automated workflows for standard business processes. And they expect that same efficiency and automation to occur in their interaction with Motor Vehicle agencies.

What’s our approach? “Outside → In”

Remember those expensive, time-consuming “all-in” investments I mentioned earlier? There’s no need to dig your agency into that hole.

It’s possible (easier and cheaper) to partner with a vendor that can integrate with your current back-end systems — delivering a digital experience that customers and staff appreciate while the updates to internal systems happen separately and evolve over time. (And if you happen to already be in the midst of the back office switch, you shouldn’t wait for customer experience change.)

When you put “Outside → In” into action, you get results like North Carolina DMV:

• $2.8 billion total online revenue collected with myNCDMV
• 7 million user accounts created
• 40% decrease in office wait times
• 3 million online transactions for license plate renewals in the first year

Read the full North Carolina DMV success story.

By decoupling innovation to the digital “front office” from back-end system upgrades, DMVs can meaningfully enhance the customer experience without having to wait for the drawn-out, complex updates to modernize internal systems.

✔ Deliver new digital tools for stakeholders today
✔ Incrementally add services as the agency is ready

This creates a scenario where rather than waiting years to claim victory, the stakeholder community sees wins along the journey.

We recognize the reality that agencies face to modernize outdated internal systems, but if we put ourselves in the shoes of the stakeholders interacting with the agency and start to innovate their customer experience first, we create less dependency on internal systems modernization, which can happen in parallel or over time.

Ready to innovate the customer experience for DMV? Start with these resources (and let us know if you have questions):

Boost efficiency and convenience for customers with multiple DMV online payment options

Explore PayIt’s Motor Vehicles solution