Introduction
In today’s age, modernization goes beyond infrastructure. It includes unlocking the potential of artificial intelligence (AI). AI offers opportunities to transform how state, local, and education (SLED) agencies operate. However, there are numerous challenges that can block the acceleration of AI implementation. Some barriers include applying these technologies securely, responsibly, and affordably within the constraints of the public sector.
With Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, these challenges can be solved. OCI offers the world’s first second-generation cloud platform with built-in AI capabilities, high performance, and a secure architecture trusted by governments worldwide. OCI empowers agencies to reimagine service delivery, automate processes, and make data-driven decisions – while reducing complexity and costs.
This blog explores how agencies can overcome IT modernization challenges and unlock the full potential of AI using Oracle Cloud Infrastructure.
The Modernization Problem
One of the biggest challenges that government agencies are facing is legacy systems. These systems are oftentimes critical to day-to-day government functions and pose as a significant obstacle to digital transformation. Legacy systems are associated with increased susceptibility to security risks, performance and scalability limitations, and higher maintenance and operational costs.
Overcoming these challenges can be overwhelming for SLED agencies. Budget constraints, complex procurement processes, and workforce skill gaps often create significant barriers to modernization. However, in today’s rapidly evolving technological landscape, adaptability is no longer optional.
Reimagining Modernization with Oracle Cloud Infrastructure
Oracle brings more than 40 years of deep technology heritage, with a significant footprint across the database and SaaS landscape. What many agencies may not realize is that this same expertise forms the foundation of Oracle Cloud Infrastructure. By extending decades of experience and institutional knowledge into the cloud, Oracle has built the world’s first second-generation cloud—designed from the ground up to address the limitations of earlier cloud models.
This second-generation cloud represents a fundamental re-architecture of the conventional public cloud. Drawing on decades of enterprise experience, Oracle reimagined cloud infrastructure to deliver high performance and cost efficiency without compromising security. OCI stands out as a comprehensive cloud platform with security built in by design, protecting users, applications, data, and infrastructure. It also provides powerful capabilities for managing diverse data workloads, enhanced by advanced, AI-driven services.
OCI for AI
Inherent Security by Design
Security remains a top concern for SLED agencies looking to modernize with the cloud. OCI helps alleviate this concern by designing our cloud with built-in security. OCI’s architecture isolates customer workloads by separating the networking and control planes. This inherent design, coupled with a zero-first principle, reduces surface attack.
OCI offers consistent governance models across commercial, government, and sovereign regions, enabling customers to adopt AI while maintaining control over where data resides and who can access it. State and local agencies operate under stringent compliance requirements, and OCI was purpose-built to support these needs through a broad portfolio of compliance programs, including FedRAMP High, CJIS, and HIPAA.
As a result, agencies can confidently focus on adopting AI within a highly secure, compliant environment with OCI.I.
OCI’s AI Ecosystem
Oracle embeds AI capabilities throughout the cloud stack, from infrastructure to application services. SLED agencies can integrate their existing ERP systems (PeopleSoft, Workday, etc.) seamlessly with OCI workloads. Connecting these applications offer advanced analytics and AI capabilities that accelerates time-to-value for enterprises.
SLED agencies can accelerate AI adoption with pre-built OCI solutions that are ready to test and deploy in a secure cloud environment. Using services like OCI Generative AI and Document Understanding, agencies can evaluate capabilities on real data in a controlled pilot before scaling to production. By leveraging proven solution patterns, teams can focus on implementation and outcomes rather than building everything from scratch.
OCI’s AI ecosystem brings together secure AI infrastructure, ready-to-use AI services, and intelligent applications to help state and local agencies modernize services, automate legacy records, and deliver faster outcomes for citizens—without compromising compliance or budgets.
Lowest Cost to Scale AI
OCI stands out for its cost-efficient approach to AI, combining high-performance infrastructure with predictable, pay-as-you-go pricing.
Our GPU pricing is consistent and transparent—no hidden fees or unpredictable spikes—allowing organizations to budget and scale AI projects with confidence.
Unlike other cloud providers that impose high data egress fees, OCI prioritizes pricing transparency. With 10 TB of free monthly data egress and industry-leading networking performance, OCI ensures customers benefit from low, predictable costs even as data volumes grow.
Accelerating Innovation in the Public Sector
Modernization efforts in SLED increasingly leverage AI to improve service delivery and operational efficiency. A common entry point for AI adoption is the deployment of intelligent chatbots.
SLED agencies can utilize OCI’s Digital Assistant to create conversational interfaces or chatbots to accomplish the following solutions:
- Provide accurate, real-time responses to citizens’ frequently asked questions
- Assist with tax submission and return processes
- Guide residents through driver license renewals and other routine transactions
- Offer continuous, 24/7 support for agency services
With OCI’s out-of-the-box chatbot capabilities, agencies can initiate AI-driven transformation immediately. These solutions can bridge the skills gap, enhance citizen engagement, and create the foundation for broader AI integration across government services.
Real-world Impact
Generic use cases show the potential of AI, but the impact becomes clear when you look at how some SLED agencies are using AI on OCI. One customer’s use case dive into the real application of AI with measurable impact.
The Choctaw Nation is the third-largest tribe in the United States. The tribe’s history and culture run deep and preservation is important. With only 300 native speakers, the demand for language preservation is imperative.
The Choctaw Nation chose OCI as its AI platform to build a powerful language translation application to transcribe English to the Choctaw language and from Choctaw to English. This application helps to keep the Choctaw language alive by providing linguistic resources and making it more accessible. The application receives translation requests from the community, proposes initial translations, and routes them to Choctaw linguists for refinement and approval. When a request is submitted, an AI agent orchestrates the translation process using a fine-tuned Llama model and retrieval-augmented generation.
Oracle Database provides secure data storage, management, and AI-driven capabilities, while Oracle APEX allows the team to rapidly build translation workflows and shorten development cycles. Developers can work within familiar OCI Data Science tools and utilize OCI’s GPU infrastructure for model tuning, all while keeping sensitive language materials within Choctaw-controlled OCI environments to meet strict data residency and cultural protection requirements.
The tribe aims for this technology-enabled approach to become a blueprint for other Indigenous communities—offering a scalable, secure framework for language preservation for future generations.
Read more about The Choctaw Nation’s AI use case on OCI here.
Conclusion
For decades, SLED agencies have faced significant barriers to IT modernization. Oracle Cloud Infrastructure provides the platform to accelerate both modernization and AI innovation, all while prioritizing cost efficiency. With its next-generation architecture, OCI can help meet the demands of any AI use case.