What Is Innovation Debt?

Innovation debt and technical debt result from not evaluating and improving system and platform capabilities. In recent years, government has gotten better at solving for technical debt. All levels of government are making investments to remove the technical risk; however, often these investments are done with the dreaded vision of “like for like.” When governments simply upgrade in a “like for like” manner they miss the opportunity to provide new service improvements for customers: elected officials, citizens, residents, constituents, employees. “Like for like” creates a void in innovation and even negates the ability to have the conversation to pursue system upgrades and achieve innovation at the same time.