Paperless Government: 9 Practical Steps, Tools, Case Studies

Paper-based processes are still costing governments money, time, and public trust. Add in lost paperwork, slow permit approvals, long office queues, and the security risks of physical ID and paper records, and it becomes clear why so many government agencies are under pressure to go paperless. 

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In this article, we have compiled 9 practical ways you can achieve the paperless government concept, with tools and software you can start using immediately, along with real case studies of governments that have already made the shift. 
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1. Replace Physical Forms with Digital Forms

What it is and why it's needed:
Physical intake forms create bottlenecks: illegible handwriting, lost paperwork, manual re-entry into databases, no audit trail, and slow processing times. Digital forms let citizens submit online, auto-validate data, auto-populate known fields, and route straight into a workflow.
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How to achieve this:

1. Jotform Government, jotform.com/government:  No-code, drag-and-drop form builder with government-specific templates. Strong for agencies that need fast deployment without IT involvement.
2. SimpliGov, simpligov.com: Government-first platform combining forms, workflow routing, e-signature, and system integrations in one place.
3. Formstack, formstack.com/industry/government:  Focuses on eliminating paper with automatic prefill and document generation, plus Salesforce integration.
4. GovBuilt, govbuilt.com:  Drag-and-drop form creator with smart conditional fields and GIS auto-populate for address-based data.
5. NEOGOV eForms, neogov.com/products/eforms:  Converts existing PDFs into digital forms with automated approval routing, best for internal HR/employee forms.

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Case study: The City of Salina, Kansas replaced eight to ten separate paper form vendors with GovBuilt's digital forms platform, saving the city an estimated $30,000. 

Reference: govbuilt.com/solutions/digital-forms 

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2. Move from Paper ID to Digital Identity and Authentication

What it is and why it's needed:
Paper ID verification is slow, easy to forge, and excludes anyone who cannot show up in person. Digital identity systems let citizens prove who they are online through verified credentials, biometrics, or national eID.

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How to achieve this:

1. Auth0 (Public Sector), auth0.com/public-sector:  Identity and access management with single sign-on and multi-factor authentication for services like unemployment insurance and licensing.
2. Entrust Citizen Identity Orchestration, entrust.com/solutions/citizen-identity-orchestration:  End-to-end citizen identity journeys covering document capture, verification, and credential issuance.
3. Curity Identity Server, curity.io/solutions/government:  Supports OAuth 2.0, OpenID Connect, and national eID schemes like BankID and eIDAS, deployable on government-controlled infrastructure.
4. Thales Trusted Cred Platform, thalesgroup.com:  Covers the full identity lifecycle from proofing to issuance and biometric verification.
5. GBG Identity Verification, gbg.com/en-us/industry/government:  Reads biometric passports and runs forensic checks to catch forged or expired IDs.

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Case study: Entrust helped Antel modernize Uruguay's national digital identity platform, issuing secure mobile and smart card credentials for citizen access across public and private services. 

Reference: entrust.com/solutions/citizen-identity-orchestration 

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3. Replace Physical Signatures with E-Signatures

What it is and why it's needed:
Wet-ink signatures require in-person visits or mail-based routing, delaying permits, contracts, and approvals. E-signatures let documents be signed, tracked, and archived digitally with a legal audit trail.

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How to achieve this:

1. DocuSign, docusign.com/solutions/industries/government: Used by over 5,500 government agencies across all 50 US states, with FedRAMP authorization for federal use.
2. Adobe Acrobat Sign, business.adobe.com/industries/government: FedRAMP Moderate authorized, integrates directly with existing PDF workflows.
3. SimpliGov, simpligov.com: Bundles e-signature with the same forms and workflow platform mentioned in section 1, useful if you want one vendor.
4. eSign.AI, esign.ai: Built for compliance with regional regulations like Japan's Act on Electronic Signatures and Singapore's Electronic Transactions Act, useful for agencies operating across Asia.

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Case study: The San Antonio Housing Authority used DocuSign to manage housing assistance agreements and procurement requests, cutting procurement processing time from three weeks to two days. 

Reference: docusign.com/blog/government-use-electronic-signatures 

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4. Replace Paper Filing with Document Management and OCR

What it is and why it's needed:
Filing cabinets and boxes of historical paper records are slow to search, vulnerable to damage, and expensive to store. Document management with OCR converts scanned paper into searchable, indexed digital records.

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How to achieve this:

1. Laserfiche, laserfiche.com/solutions/government: Named a Leader in the 2026 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Document Management, with OCR, workflow automation, and audit trails built for government content.
2. OpenText Content Suite, opentext.com: Enterprise content management with strong records compliance features for large agencies.
3. DocuWare, docuware.com: Cloud-based document management with OCR and workflow automation, popular with mid-sized public sector teams.
4. M-Files, m-files.com: Metadata-driven document management that reduces reliance on rigid folder structures.
5. Hyland OnBase, hyland.com: Widely used in government and healthcare for records management and case processing.

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Case study: Tompkins County used Laserfiche's OCR to digitize meeting agendas, deeds, and citizen records, saving the county over $5.5 million in storage costs. 

Reference: laserfiche.com/resources/blog/what-is-optical-character-recognition-ocr 

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5. Move from In-Person Service Counters to Online Citizen Self-Service Portals

What it is and why it's needed:
Requiring residents to visit an office during business hours excludes working people and creates long queues for routine requests. Self-service portals let citizens submit and track requests any time, from any device.

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How to achieve this:

1. Granicus govService, granicus.com/uk/product/govservice: Combines online forms, workflow, and case management for resident-facing services.
2. Accela, accela.com: Strong fit for states, counties, and large cities that need multiple departments to coordinate on permitting and licensing.
3. GovOS, govos.com: All-in-one platform for records management, tax filing, and business licensing.
4. Salesforce Government Cloud, salesforce.com/solutions/industries/government:  CRM-based citizen service platform for agencies already using Salesforce elsewhere.
5. My Council Services, mycouncilservices.com: Built specifically for UK councils and aligned with Government Digital Service design standards.

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Case study: Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council built a self-service portal for council tax and business rates, redesigning the service as digital-first and integrating it with existing back-office software to cut phone and face-to-face contact volume. 

Reference: local.gov.uk/case-studies/developing-customer-self-service-portal-council-tax 

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6. Replace Paper-Based Payments with Digital Payment Platforms

What it is and why it's needed:
Mailed checks and in-person cash payments are slow to process, easy to lose, and expensive to reconcile. Digital payment platforms let residents pay fees, fines, and taxes online through cards, ACH, or digital wallets, while automating reconciliation on the agency side.

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How to achieve this:

1. Catalis Payments, catalisgov.com/payments: Supports cards, ACH, digital wallets, and real-time payment networks built specifically for tax and court payments.
2. Tyler Technologies, tylertech.com: Widely used payment and ERP integration platform across US local governments.
3. REPAY, repay.com: Focused on modernizing government disbursements away from paper checks, PCI DSS compliant.
4. CORE, corebt.com: Payment processing with over 400 integrations into existing government host systems.

Case study: Coconino County, Arizona, replaced fragmented tax payment systems with Catalis Tax Payments, supporting cards, e-checks, PayPal, and Venmo. The county saw a 480 percent increase in electronic payments and a 98 percent collection rate. 

Reference: catalisgov.com/accelerating-digital-payments-in-government 

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7. Use Digital Notifications Instead of Paper Mail and Notices

What it is and why it's needed:
Physical letters are slow, costly to print and post, and easy to miss. Digital notifications through email, SMS, and portal alerts reach residents faster and provide delivery confirmation.

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How to achieve this:

1. GOV.UK Notify, notifications.service.gov.uk: Government-owned messaging platform available to any UK public sector body without a procurement process, used by over 1,500 organizations.
2. Granicus GovDelivery, granicus.com: Widely used across US federal, state, and local government for citizen notifications and alerts.
3. Everbridge, everbridge.com: Focused on critical and emergency communications for public sector and business continuity.

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Case study: Bracknell Forest Council used GOV.UK Notify to send an emergency text alert when 7,400 Direct Debit payments were unexpectedly delayed, quickly building a new template and reaching affected residents. 

Reference: gds.blog.gov.uk/2019/05/20/how-gov-uk-notify-is-helping-local-authorities-improve-their-services 

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8. Choose Interoperability + APIs Over Manual Inter-Agency Data Sharing

What it is and why it's needed:
When agencies keep separate, disconnected databases, citizens end up re-submitting the same information to multiple departments and staff waste time manually cross-checking records. Interoperability platforms let systems securely exchange data through APIs so agencies do not need to rebuild the same connection independently.

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How to achieve this:

1. X-Road (NIIS), niis.org,  cyber.ee/resources/case-studies/estonian-interoperability-framework-x-road: Open-source data exchange layer, originally built in Estonia and now used in Finland, Iceland, and other countries.
2. MuleSoft Anypoint Platform, mulesoft.com: Widely used API integration platform for connecting legacy government systems.
3. Boomi, boomi.com: Integration platform used across the public sector for connecting disparate case management and finance systems.

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Case study: Estonia's X-Road enables secure data exchange across more than a thousand public and private organizations and has been federated with Finland for cross-border queries like population registry checks and health insurance verification, helping Estonia deliver 99 percent of public services online. 

Reference: cyber.ee/resources/case-studies/estonian-interoperability-framework-x-road 

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9. Replace Legacy Paper Archives with Retention-Compliant Digital Archiving

What it is and why it's needed:
Going paperless does not mean deleting everything. Government records often carry statutory retention periods, and paper archives are slow to search and vulnerable to fire, flood, or decay. Digital archiving preserves records in tamper-proof formats while enforcing legally mandated retention and disposal schedules.

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How to achieve this:

1. Preservica, preservica.com: Built specifically for long-term digital preservation and compliant archiving in the public sector.
2. RecordPoint, recordpoint.com: Cloud-based platform for federated records governance across multiple content sources.
3. Pagefreezer, pagefreezer.com: Focused on open records and sunshine law compliance, including web and social media archiving.
4. Iron Mountain, ironmountain.com: Large-scale digitization and AI-assisted records classification for national archives.

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Case study: The UK National Archives used Iron Mountain's AI and machine learning tools to identify records with historical value and detect duplicates ahead of the 20-year transfer deadline required under the Public Records Act 1958, speeding up a process that would otherwise require manually reviewing enormous volumes of material. 

Reference: ironmountain.com/en-gb/resources/case-studies/t/the-national-archives-case-study 

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Ready to Go Paperless? Talk to us!

Relay by Pursuit is a boutique government reseller that works with 850+ vendors to help government agencies achieve their paperless goals. Our expert team guides you through the entire journey of choosing the right vendor and service for your agency's specific needs, while our AI tools help you compare options and secure the best rates.

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Whether you are digitizing forms, upgrading identity verification, or building a fully connected citizen portal, we help you cut through the noise and move forward with confidence. Consultation is free, as always. Book your free consultation today.