So show them. Visualization is a powerful method of articulation. Many people do not readily understand concepts or see cause-effect relationships unless they can visualize them. Convince GIS users they can measure, analyze, manipulate and integrate information into knowledge. Most everything a state or local government does can be tied to a locality.
Users can derive value from knowing everything they can about a given location.
For instance, agencies collectively know the soil type, groundwater level, surface structures, distance to emergency services, access to roads, tax rate, permits issued and a host of other details for a given locale. They can make use of some unique combination of that data to solve a given challenge. GIS leverages data residing throughout state agencies a power not easily achieved by data warehouses and enterprise resource management systems. The key element of a GIS is that it is not simply storing data from various sources but integrating it to synthesize better information and knowledge. Adding the spatial element to GIS expands your ability to view changes over time.