Five challenges facing government technology
Government technology leaders must address security, modernization, staffing, AI governance and funding at the same time, largely on aging systems.
Each challenge is harder to address without an accurate, current view of the estate.
Addressing them from a single view is more effective than running five separate programs.
How Axiarete addresses each challenge
Select a challenge to view details.
In 2025, a single ransomware intrusion reached more than 60 agencies of one state government, from motor vehicles to payroll.
- Maps which agencies share which systems, services and data, so the potential impact of an incident is known in advance.
- Identifies systems missing from existing inventories, a common point of entry in major breaches.
- Prioritizes vulnerabilities by reachability and mission impact; agents prepare fixes through change control and verify closure.
- Maintains a current software and AI bill of materials (SBOM and AIBOM), so affected systems can be identified as soon as a vulnerability is disclosed.
Federal deadlines now apply. Medicaid work requirements take effect on January 1, 2027, and from FY2028 states with SNAP payment error rates of 6% or more bear a share of benefit costs.
- Recovers eligibility and business rules directly from COBOL, CICS and IMS code, with 100% decoding accuracy in a state production deployment.
- Produces a sequenced modernization plan, with milestones and outcomes agreed in writing.
- Verifies each increment against the system it replaces before cutover, so that determinations and payments continue.
Experienced staff are leaving faster than they can be replaced, and the median tenure of a state CIO is about two years. Each departure removes knowledge of how systems work.
- Retains system knowledge, including business rules, dependencies and data flows, in a model that remains current.
- Provides delivery capacity through AxiareteForge, whose forward deployed architects and engineers work alongside the agents without adding agency headcount.
- Gives new staff a complete, current reference to the agency's systems from their first day.
Agencies are expected to adopt AI quickly while testing, assessing and monitoring each high-impact use. Both require an accurate understanding of existing systems and data.
- Documents which system owns which data, which process each system supports and what depends on it.
- Prioritizes AI opportunities across the estate by expected return.
- Operates its own agents with human oversight, review before each change, ongoing monitoring and a complete audit record.
Multi-year modernization funding is uncertain while operating costs continue to rise, so modernization increasingly needs to fund itself.
- Retires overlapping systems and licenses and tracks the savings in the operating budget. Enterprise clients report savings of 15% or more.
- Replaces five to ten separate tools with a single platform.
- Scopes each engagement to outcomes agreed in writing rather than open-ended time and materials.
Solutions for government agencies
Each solution can be procured independently. All use the same underlying model of the estate, so each additional solution builds on work already completed.
Discovery and portfolio
An accurate, current view of the estate.
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01
Technology Discovery & Compliance
Evidence-based inventory, including unrecorded assets and license compliance.
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02
Application Portfolio Management
Owner, cost, condition and risk for every application, kept current.
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03
AI-Powered IT Asset Management
Hardware, software and cloud assets linked to the systems that use them.
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04
Process Mining
How services actually run, and the systems that support each step.
Modernization
Rationalize, modernize and prepare for AI.
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05
Application Rationalization
Consolidation of redundant systems, with savings tracked in the budget.
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06
Legacy Modernization
Business rules recovered from legacy code; each cutover verified in advance.
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07
AI Readiness & Strategy
AI opportunities prioritized by expected return.
Security and operations
Protect and operate systems in production.
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08
Vulnerability Management
Vulnerabilities prioritized by reachability; fixes applied and verified.
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09
Software Quality Management
A 300-point standard drawn from NIST, ISO, OWASP and SEI CERT, applied to each change.
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10
Observability
Application and infrastructure health in a single view, including dependencies.
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11
AI-Powered IT Service Management
Change impact assessed before approval; incidents traced to root cause.
Applications by mission area
Select a mission area to view details.
Revenue & Taxation
Assessment and collection systems built decades ago, with tax law encoded in COBOL that few staff can still maintain.
Tax rules are recovered from the code and modernized in increments, each verified against the existing system before cutover.
Benefits & Human Services
From FY2028, SNAP payment error rates of 6% or more cost states a share of benefits, and eligibility logic is spread across mainframe, batch and case systems.
Eligibility rules and data flows are mapped end to end, so the logic behind each determination can be reviewed, tested and changed without interrupting payments.
Health & Medicaid
Medicaid work requirements take effect on January 1, 2027, on eligibility systems that hold protected health information.
New rules are verified against CMS requirements, and every unchanged determination is proven identical before cutover, on a platform that supports HIPAA compliance.
Medicaid eligibility system development may qualify for 90% federal matching funds, and operations for 75%, under a CMS-approved Advance Planning Document.
Public Safety & Justice
Records, dispatch and case management systems that require continuous availability, connected by integrations that are not fully documented.
Dependencies are mapped before any change is made, and agents act only within limits the agency authorizes in advance.
Motor Vehicles & Licensing
Licensing and registration platforms connected to dozens of partners, with duplicate systems accumulated over decades.
All partner interfaces are documented in a single dependency map, and overlapping systems are consolidated and retired.
Workforce & Unemployment
Claims systems that must absorb sudden surges in demand, running on platforms past end of life.
Critical components and their technical debt are identified and remediated before the next surge in demand.
Finance, HR & ERP
ERP, payroll and procurement systems on which every department depends, where a single upgrade affects the whole organization.
The impact of each release is assessed across the estate before deployment, and upgrades are planned and sequenced accordingly.
Education
Student information, grants and certification systems duplicated across institutions and programs.
Overlapping applications are consolidated, and the resulting savings are tracked in the operating budget.
State government mainframe modernization
State government · In productionThe state’s statutory programs ran on COBOL, CICS and IMS and were maintained by specialists it had retired and rehired. Systems integrators estimated three to five years for replacement. Axiarete analyzed every program, business rule and data path and delivered the replacement system.
- 100% accuracy decoding features, functionality and business rules
- Four decades of records migrated intact
- A production system now in service with the state
“I could never have thought of a system like Axiarete. Now that you have shown and delivered, I see so many use cases and possibilities for the platform.”
Engagement model
Axiarete provides delivery capacity as well as software: forward deployed architects and engineers work alongside the agents within the agency's controls.
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01
Assess
Axiarete builds the model of the estate from existing systems of record and assesses each application.
Initial view within two weeks -
02
Scope
A forward deployed architect agrees the systems in scope, outcomes and duration in writing.
Outcomes agreed in advance -
03
Deliver
Engineers and agents deliver changes weekly through the agency's pipelines, approval gates and change calendar.
First change in week one of delivery -
04
Sustain
Each change is certified against a 300-point standard drawn from NIST, ISO, OWASP and SEI CERT, and results are monitored after delivery.
Certified and monitored
Built for government security review
The controls below are implemented in the platform and set out in the customer agreement.
Agency-controlled autonomy
Set by the agency for each system and action, and adjustable at any time.
Agents prepare each change in full and wait for a named approver, who reviews it with the supporting evidence in the existing workflow.
All three modes produce the same audit trail.
Data protection
Dedicated tenant
A dedicated AWS environment for each customer, with no shared workloads or data.
No model training
Agency data and code are not used to train Axiarete or third-party models.
Encryption
AES-256 at rest with customer-managed keys. TLS 1.2+ in transit.
Zero-trust access
MFA, least privilege, just-in-time elevation, quarterly recertification.
Residency & deletion
Data residency defined in the agreement; secure deletion within 90 days.
Audit trail
Each recommendation is traceable to its source data, and audit evidence is recorded as work proceeds.
Agent changes and system authorization
Each agent operates with a defined identity, least-privilege permissions and approved tools. Changes prepared by agents are deployed through the agency's own pipelines, approval gates and change calendar, and are therefore reviewed under the same configuration-management process on which the system's authorization relies. Audit evidence is recorded as work proceeds and can support the agency's security assessments.
Contract termination
Agency data remains the property of the agency. Data export is available for 30 days after termination, all certified changes are already held in the agency's own repositories, and data is securely deleted within 90 days, including backups, with a certificate of deletion available on request.
Questions to ask when evaluating a partner
- 01
Does the vendor establish how a system works from its source code, or from interviews and documentation?
What to look for Analysis based on the code, with each conclusion traceable to it.
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When is the first change delivered?
What to look for Within weeks, through the agency's own change control.
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Are vulnerabilities remediated, or only reported?
What to look for Remediation, with each fix verified in production.
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What does the agency retain when the contract ends?
What to look for A current model of the estate, owned by the agency.
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Can each AI-generated conclusion be supported for an auditor?
What to look for Recorded sources, reasoning and approvals for every conclusion.
Frequently asked questions
Which solutions does Axiarete offer to government agencies?
Axiarete offers eleven solutions on a single platform: Technology Discovery & Compliance, Application Portfolio Management, AI-Powered IT Asset Management, Process Mining, Application Rationalization, Legacy Modernization, AI Readiness & Strategy, Vulnerability Management, Software Quality Management, Observability and AI-Powered IT Service Management. Each can be procured independently, and all share the same underlying model of the agency's technology estate.
How does Axiarete modernize COBOL and mainframe systems?
Axiarete's agents analyze every program, business rule and data path directly from the source code, sequence the work by dependency, and verify each increment against the component it replaces before cutover. In a state government deployment, analysis of COBOL, CICS, IMS and BMC components took 95% less time, business rules were decoded with 100% accuracy, four decades of records were migrated intact, and the replacement was delivered in 80% less time at half the integrator's estimated cost.
Can Axiarete help agencies implement Medicaid work requirements and SNAP accuracy changes?
Axiarete recovers the eligibility rules already encoded in legacy systems and maps the data flows on which verification depends. New rules are verified against CMS requirements, and every unchanged determination is proven identical before cutover, so that determinations and payments continue through the transition. Medicaid eligibility system development may qualify for 90% federal matching funds, and operations for 75%, under a CMS-approved Advance Planning Document. Policy decisions remain with the agency.
How does Axiarete strengthen government cybersecurity and resilience?
Axiarete maps which agencies share which systems, services and data, so the potential impact of an incident is understood in advance. It identifies systems missing from existing inventories, prioritizes vulnerabilities by reachability and mission impact, and uses agents to prepare fixes through change control and verify closure. It also maintains a current software and AI bill of materials, so affected systems can be identified as soon as a vulnerability is disclosed.
How does Axiarete address the government IT workforce shortage?
Axiarete retains system knowledge, including business rules, dependencies and data flows, in a model that remains current as staff change. Through AxiareteForge, forward deployed architects and engineers provide additional delivery capacity, working alongside the agents within the agency's pipelines and approval processes.
What security certifications does Axiarete hold?
Axiarete is SOC 2 Type II attested and ISO/IEC 27001 and ISO/IEC 42001 certified, and supports HIPAA compliance, with a business associate agreement available. Each customer operates in a dedicated AWS environment with AES-256 encryption, customer-managed keys, zero-trust access and data residency defined by agreement. Customer data and code are not used to train Axiarete or third-party models.
How do Axiarete's AI agents remain under agency control?
Each agency sets the level of autonomy for each system and action. In Recommend mode, agents only propose changes; in Approve mode, they prepare changes and wait for a named approver; in Execute mode, they act only within limits authorized in advance. All three modes produce the same audit trail, and each recommendation is traceable to its source data.
How do changes made by Axiarete's agents fit within an agency's system authorization?
Each agent operates with a defined identity, least-privilege permissions and approved tools. Changes prepared by agents are deployed through the agency's own pipelines, approval gates and change calendar, and are therefore reviewed under the same configuration-management process on which the system's authorization relies. Audit evidence is recorded as work proceeds and can support the agency's security assessments.
What happens to agency data when a contract ends?
Agency data remains the property of the agency. Data export is available for 30 days after termination, all certified changes are already held in the agency's own repositories, and data is securely deleted within 90 days, including backups, with a certificate of deletion available on request.
How quickly does an agency see results?
An initial view of the estate is typically available within two weeks. Once scope and outcomes are agreed in writing, the first certified change is delivered in the first week of delivery, with further changes delivered weekly through the agency's change control.