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NASCIO: In an environment of increasing external threats as well as vulnerabilities created by more mobile workers and new technologies, what has been your major challenge with respect to IT security?
Burns: Our major challenge is the timely formalization of policies, standards, and procedures which address the continuously changing landscape of IT security. Coupled with this is keeping our user community aware of the new threats to security and their responsibilities, as published in our policies, standards, and procedures, in regards to combating these threats.
NASCIO: What advice would you give to other State CIOs as being the most important elements of securing state IT infrastructure and protecting the privacy of citizens' personal information?
Burns: Security is not an event. Security is an ongoing process of evaluation of the level to which different resources must be protected and how to best achieve that level of protection with the limited resources available.
NASCIO: As CIO, how have you optimized your state's IT assets and delivery of services using a shared enterprise infrastructure model, especially as they relate to Consolidation and Shared Services, and Data center consolidation strategies and business justification?
Burns: Over the past couple of years, several shared services have been implemented including e-mail, disaster recovery facilities, WAN migration, migration to a general parallel file system (GPFS), storage area network systems, unified messaging, fax services, and active directory. Within the central IT authority, reorganization has combined multiple service and call centers into a single customer call center augmented by automated call management, change management, and resource administrative tools.
NASCIO: As CIO, what initiatives have you undertaken to promote cross-boundary collaboration and coordination with local governments in your state?
Burns: The most significant projects associated with collaboration and coordination with local government are in the law enforcement and social services programs. Other projects underway address bio-terrorism, cyber-terrorism, and spatial analysis.
NASCIO: During your tenure as state CIO, you have fought hard to promote an enterprise view of state IT with an emphasis on eliminating separate and redundant expenditures among state agencies. You have successfully initiated consolidation of email servers and transitioned most state agencies to a shared wide area network (WAN). What has been the biggest hurdle to establishing agency buy-in for these projects and how did you overcome it?
Burns: The biggest hurdle has been overcoming a misperception of poor performance and the high cost of services. Some agencies believe that the quality of service and cost of service for their agency would be improved if done internally. We have done an effective job of presenting a business case for shared services as well as identifying the specific advantages to the agencies. We have been aggressive in establishing acceptable service level agreements (SLAs) to measure the quality of service and to enhance customer satisfaction.
NASCIO: Please describe some of the major IT projects and initiatives that Alabama plans to undertake over the next 1-3 years.
Burns: Over the next several years, Alabama will have the following initiatives:
NASCIO: Please provide any additional information that you would like to include.
Burns: Our goal has been to "Get on the Right Track" for IT support for Alabama government. We've done this through an enterprise approach -- an approach that provides shared services to state agencies and creates economies of scale. The many initiatives shown above indicate that we've successfully done this and that we will continue to do so as we move toward the next generation of IT services.
