Lexington, Ky, Wednesday, December 8, 2021—today, the National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) released the State CIO Top 10 for 2022. The Top 10 represents state technology leaders’ top policy and technology priorities for the coming year, as voted on by state chief information officers (CIOs), and has been published every year since 2007. Cybersecurity remains the top priority for the ninth year running and enterprise architecture makes the list for the very first time.

“It is no surprise that digital government, broadband and legacy modernization are ranked as high priorities by state CIOs,” said Doug Robinson, NASCIO Executive Director. “The past two years have highlighted their importance to governors, state CIO customers and the citizens they serve.”

Other items of note from the 2022 Top 10 are:

• Digital government / digital services ranks as number two for the second year in a row
• Broadband moves up one spot to number three
• Legacy modernization moves up to the number five spot after being in the seventh position last year
• Consolidation/optimization takes the number ten spot which is the lowest ranking it’s had since the Top Ten started
• For the first time since 2008, budget and cost control doesn’t make the Top 10 list

NASCIO utilizes the annual voting of priorities to develop strategic areas of focus for the coming year, formulate new issue forums and working groups and plan NASCIO conference sessions and publications.

NASCIO Contact

Meredith Ward
Director of Policy and Research
National Association of State Chief Information Officers
859.514.9209
[email protected]

Lexington, Ky., Tuesday, October 26, 2021 – The National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO), the Center for Digital Government (CDG) and IBM today released a report entitled, AI Meets the Moment: How a pandemic has shaped AI adoption in state government and what it means for the future. The report explores the rapid adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) by states during the COVID-19 pandemic and includes insights from a survey and in-depth interviews with multiple state chief information officers (CIOs) and agency leaders.

Broad gains in AI adoption by state governments were revealed since this report was first done by the same group in 2019 – especially in chatbots and digital assistants – in combination with robotic process automation (RPA). Overall, the survey and interviews showed growing optimism on the potential of AI, propelled in part by its role in helping to address challenges created by the COVID-19 pandemic including capacity increases and business process changes in state systems that serve the public. For example, the survey found that 60% of respondents started to use digital assistants, such as chatbots, to help more effectively deliver critical information to large numbers of constituents via channels like call centers. While there was some suggestion that an underappreciation for the level of skill and dedication required to mine the possibilities of AI still exist, success with AI-enabled applications is starting to melt resistance in state agencies nationwide.

Michael Leahy, NASCIO President and Secretary of Information Technology for the State of Maryland, commented, “The COVID-19 pandemic presented the right business case for many state CIOs to adopt AI and it has been beneficial to the expedited delivery of services to citizens.”

Some of the key findings from the CDG / IBM / NASCIO study include:

• AI is driving positive results in several areas, for example improved service delivery (71%).
• Optimism on AI’s potential to transform organizations runs high among the state-level technology leaders surveyed with just over half (56%) believing that transformation can happen in one to three years, and just under a quarter (23%) believing it can happen right away.

“This year’s report shows the proven value of AI to state leaders during the COVID-19 pandemic, which is a powerful indicator AI acceptance is rapidly maturing,” said Steve LaFleche, General Manager for IBM’s U.S. Public and Federal Market. “We look forward to collaborating with government leaders as they continue to expand the benefits of AI for their constituents – I am optimistic and excited for the future.”

“Last year, we observed how the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the adoption of AI. Our 2021 report findings show that momentum continues to build, and AI is delivering real, tangible outcomes,” said Joe Morris, Deputy Chief Innovation Officer for CDG.

To read the publication, visit NASCIO’s Resource Center.

NASCIO Contact

Meredith Ward
Director of Policy and Research
National Association of State Chief Information Officers
859.514.9209
[email protected]

Seattle, Wash., Wednesday, October 13, 2021 — The National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) recognized Calvin Rhodes former chief information officer (CIO) for the State of Georgia, with the association’s Meritorious Service Award. NASCIO created the Meritorious Service Award several years ago, honoring leadership in state government and dedication to the advancement of NASCIO’s mission.

Calvin joined the Georgia Technology Authority in January 2011 to lead the state’s IT transformation and consolidation effort. The initiative has strengthened security, modernized infrastructure and networks, improved reliability, and increased transparency in the state’s IT enterprise. Calvin also was heavily involved in the creation of the Georgia Cyber Center; whose core mission is to develop the next generation cybersecurity workforce by delivering affordable and relevant cybersecurity training and education.

Calvin is also highly engaged with NASCIO; he is a frequent speaker and served on the Executive Committee between 2012-2016.

NASCIO Contact

Meredith Ward
Director of Policy and Research
National Association of State Chief Information Officers
859.514.9209
[email protected]

Seattle, Wash., Tuesday, October 12, 2021 —The National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) presented the State Technology Innovator Award to three deserving public servants during the NASCIO 2021 Annual Conference. The NASCIO State Technology Innovator Award honors outstanding state government employees who have made contributions to advance state technology policy through the promotion of best practices, adoption of new technologies and advancements in service delivery. Nominations were gathered from NASCIO members and selected by the NASCIO Executive Committee.

The following are the recipients of the 2021 NASCIO State Technology Innovator Award:

Rick Klau
State Chief Technology Innovation Officer, California Department of Technology

Rick Klau got involved in state technology when he was in the private sector and volunteered to help California with its COVID-19 vaccination data efforts. His work so impressed State CIO Amy Tong that she asked if he would consider joining her team. Without hesitation, Rick became California’s Chief Technology Innovation Officer in early 2021. Rick has overseen the creation of a digital vaccination record for Californians and the Digital COVID-19 Vaccine Record Portal—a first of its kind service in California. Under Rick’s guidance, team building, leadership and advocacy, the portal was released in June 2021. The voluntary system gives every vaccinated Californian who wants one a digital version of their vaccine record that is also a SMART Health Card. With this ecard, California residents have an opt-in, secure and shareable digital copy of their COVID-19 vaccination record to use as they see fit. In just 12 days after its launch, the system delivered more than 1 million digital vaccine records to California residents.

Dale Richardson
Chief Operations Officer, Texas Department of Information Resources

Dale Richardson helped guide the Texas Department of Information Resources (DIR) response efforts through the COVID-19 pandemic and the Texas winter storm of 2021. Under Dale’s operational leadership, DIR ensured continuity of operations for Texas state agencies and institutions of higher education. When Texas organizations needed information technology services the most, Dale and his team managed the state’s data centers and statewide network without disruption. With pre-emptive preparation and planning, Dale’s team implemented a variety of expanded technology solutions and provided guidance for agency technology implementation in response to COVID-19. Additionally, Dale has implemented the Texas Data Center Services model to provide technology services and solutions to state agencies and local governments including private and public cloud
services, mainframe services and security operations services. In December 2020, DIR customers rated the services model with 100 percent customer satisfaction.

Julia Richman
Deputy Executive Director, Colorado Governor’s Office of Information Technology

Julia Richman joined the Colorado Governor’s Office of Information Technology (OIT) in February 2019, and was critical to the agency’s COVID-19 response efforts. She simultaneously helped to move both OIT employees to remote work as well as support the more than 32,000 state employees who began working remotely. Additionally, she served as OIT’s connection to the Governor’s Innovation Response Team. Within weeks of joining OIT, Julia assessed the agency’s operating model and determined that it was no longer optimal and needed updating. In August 2020, a two year program to reimagine information technology was launched under Julia’s leadership. As part of this program, several projects have already been completed including the vendor management project; a new, user-friendly service catalog; an IT service hub; and real-time billing. Finally, under Julia’s direction, an IT Rates and Services Board and an IT Strategy and Planning Board were established.

NASCIO Contact

Meredith Ward
Director of Policy and Research
National Association of State Chief Information Officers
859.514.9209
[email protected]

Study highlights areas of progress and challenges as cloud computing spreads in state government

Seattle, Wash., October 11, 2021 – A new biennial study by the National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) and Accenture focuses on increased interest and use of cloud computing in state government, state chief information officers’ perspectives on the current state of cloud adoption and provides an assessment tool to help guide advancements in states’ use of cloud.

The study notes that state governments are relatively new to the cloud market, with cloud first appearing on NASCIO’s State CIO Top Ten priorities list in 2010. Even with considerable uptake of cloud in state government over the past decade, CIOs point to major barriers slowing their move to cloud, including considerations around financial management and budgets, cybersecurity, procurement and workforce.

“We found state CIOs widely acknowledge benefits from shifting to the cloud, including potential cost savings, system flexibility, scalability, security and improved citizen experiences,” said Doug Robinson, NASCIO executive director. “And many of them want to more aggressively address perceived barriers that stand in the way of tapping more cloud power to advance digital and operational capabilities, so we offer this new report as a resource.”

Some of the key findings from the NASCIO/Accenture study include:
Many states still reliant on CapEx spending – 54% of CIOs reported that their state budget office prefers the best-suited funding model for cloud budgeting, OpEx (operating expenditure); 24% report a state budget preference for CapEx (capital expenditure budgeting), generally not conducive to effectively budgeting for cloud.

Continued heavy reliance on mainframe computers – 89% still have a mainframe computer, and 71% have not moved any mainframe applications to the cloud, a key step in enterprise cloud implementation.

Desired cloud offerings – CIOs flagged certain functionalities they would like to see more of in vendors’ cloud offerings, with integration, pricing and transparency topping the wish list.

“There is inevitably going to be continued strong uptake of cloud by state governments intent on making best use of their people and budgets and better serving their citizens,” said Ryan Oakes, who leads Accenture’s global public sector work. “With many states still early in their cloud journey, there are abundant opportunities for them to move forward in a more systematic and disciplined manner.”

The NASCIO/Accenture cloud study will be conducted on a biennial basis.

NASCIO Contact

Joe Dickie
Accenture
512.694.6422
[email protected]

Meredith Ward
National Association of State Chief Information Officers
859.514.9209
[email protected]