State CIOs to Focus on Cybersecurity, Consolidation, Cloud in 2014 Annual NASCIO Survey Reveals Top 10 Strategies and Technologies for States

LEXINGTON, Ky., November 5, 2013 — Security, consolidation, cloud services and enterprise portfolio management top the list of critical state CIO priorities in 2014, according to state information technology leaders surveyed by the National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO). The prioritized rankings of strategies and technologies reflect voting by state CIOs and are available for download from NASCIO at www.nascio.org/publications/

This year, NASCIO’s annual top 10 ranking shows IT security strategies and tools are at the forefront of discussion around the states, with ‘Security’ topping the list of Priority Strategies, Management Processes and Solutions and ‘Security Enhancement Tools,’ such as continuous diagnostic monitoring, coming in second among Priority Technologies, Applications, and Tools. Following closely behind were efforts at consolidation and a continued transition to cloud services.

Project and Portfolio Management enters the top 10 for the first time in the history of NASCIO’s rankings and assumes position 4. Security, always a member of the top 10, moves to position 1.

“It is significant that security has now risen to the number one priority on our top 10 list,” said NASCIO President and Mississippi Chief Information Officer Craig Orgeron. “As I presented in congressional testimony before the Committee on Homeland Security last week, cyber-attacks against state governments are growing in number and becoming increasingly sophisticated. Security has to be the top priority for all sectors. Clearly from our top 10 voting results, the state CIOs agree on this.”

The 2014 priorities align with the results of the Annual State CIO Survey conducted by NASCIO in partnership with TechAmerica and Grant Thornton. “The results of our top 10 voting correlate very closely with the results of our more in depth 2013 State CIO survey and report,” said Doug Robinson, NASCIO’s executive director. “We’ll clearly see more discipline and investment in managing portfolios at the enterprise level – pursuing the right projects with the right governance and oversight. In the coming months, our Enterprise Architecture & Governance Committee will be publishing in this area and hosting webinars to inform states on opportunities and best practices.”

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