Capitals in the Clouds Part III – Recommendations for Mitigating Risks: Jurisdictional, Contracting and Service Levels

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Cloud computing will continue to be an invaluable resource for state and local governments in their efforts to rationalize and optimize computing resources. Cloud computing should be seen as an IT innovation that can support rationalization and optimization of business services as well as IT services. Due diligence prescribes the necessity of exploring and evaluating jurisdictional issues in order to ensure long term sustainability and growing adoption of collaborative government operations in state and local government.

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The Heart of the Matter: A Core Services Taxonomy for State IT Security Programs

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To ensure that IT security remains robust in the current difficult budget environment, the National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) has identified a taxonomy of core, critical IT security services to facilitate the analysis of requirements, sourcing options, and costs for delivering appropriate security. For each of the twelve services that were identified, the brief includes a description, a list of the key activities associated with the service, and a list of tools that commonly support service delivery.

 

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Capitals in the Clouds – The Case for Cloud Computing in State Government Part II: Challenges and Opportunities to Get Your Data Right

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Cloud computing brings with it opportunities, issues and risks. One major consideration that must be addressed is the management of data – governance, stewardship, consistency, ownership and security. Data is the lifeblood of state government operations and critical for service delivery. With the fiscal stress and operational pressures that are driving state and local governments toward serious consideration and adoption of cloud computing, the data must not be ignored. These pressures must be managed intelligently to avoid pushing government into a future situation that could constitute greater cost, and more difficulty in achieving interoperability of government lines of business and government jurisdictions.

 

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State CIO Top Ten Policy and Technology Priorities for 2012

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Each year NASCIO conducts a survey of the state CIOs to identify and prioritize the top policy and technology issues facing state government. The CIOs top ten priorities are identified and used as input to NASCIO’s programs, planning for conference sessions, and publications.

 

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The 2011 State CIO Survey

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NASCIO partnered with TechAmerica and Grant Thornton LLP to survey state and territorial chief information officers (CIOs) on their most challenging issues and significant opportunities. At a high level, the survey reveals this to be a time of evolving roles, changing organizational capabilities and demanding workloads for the CIOs. The themes that emerge from the 2011 survey results center on consolidation, collaboration, clout and change — a new state CIO agenda. The report, which is the second Annual Survey of State Chief Information Officers, is titled: “A New C4 Agenda: Perspectives and Trends from State Government IT Leaders.”

 

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Sustainable Success: State CIOs and Health Information Exchange

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While NASCIO has continued to track the role of the State CIO in Health Information Exchange (HIE), the recently released issue brief highlights the importance of a sustainable public HIE. Included in the brief are best practices for creating potential revenue streams, considerations for systems development, and innovative options that may reduce maintenance and lower costs. State CIOs and state policy officials need to consider the business drivers that will ensure that revenues exceed costs to plan, implement and operate an interoperable HIE. State CIOs recognize that there is no better opportunity than now for carrying out these goals, but continued ingenuity will be imperative in ensuring a state-run HIE is independently sustainable when public grants may no longer be available.

 

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State Cyber Security Resource Guide: Awareness, Education, and Training Initiatives

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For the 2011 observance of National Cyber Security Awareness Month, NASCIO has updated its Resource Guide for State Cyber Security Awareness,Education, and Training Initiatives. The guide includes new information from our state members, who provided examples of state awareness programs and initiatives. This is an additional resource of best-practice information, together with an interactive state map to allow users to drilldown to the actual resources that states have developed or are using to promote cyber awareness. It includes contact information for the CISO, hyperlinks to state security and security awareness pages, and information describing cyber security awareness, training, and education initiatives.

The Resource Guide is a work-in-progress that should provide a valuable reference resource for Cyber Security Awareness Month, as well as the ongoing planning of security awareness and training efforts state programs may undertake thereafter.

 

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Capitals in the Clouds – The Case for Cloud Computing in State Government Part I: Definitions and Principles

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Cloud computing has arrived as a serious alternative for state government. There are outstanding issues that must be faced and dealt with in order to maintain the reliability, responsibility, security, privacy, and citizen-confidence in government services. Government is exploring technology and business process innovations that will make the way for government to deliver existing services more economically. Cloud computing provides a number capabilities that have the potential for enabling such innovation.

 

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On the Fence: IT Implications of the Health Benefit Exchanges

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Despite the contentious debate over national health care reform there seems to be one trend that has gained some degree of consensus at the state level – planning for implementation of state health benefit exchanges. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) has already provided $2.8 billion in funding to states to build benefit exchanges, expand Medicaid eligibility and continue prevention efforts. In addition to the substantial amount of funding states have already received, they will receive billions more during 2011 and beyond. The Affordable Care Act provides states with the unique opportunity to either develop and run their own exchange or default to the federal government to establish and operate the exchange. State CIOs will play varying roles in health care reform, but irrespective of their responsibilities it will be imperative to provide sound leadership and provide feedback to governors on any IT gaps that may exist during this momentous time.

 

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A Call to Action: Information Exchange Strategies for Effective State Government

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NASCIO Recommends State Government Adopt the National Information Exchange Model (NIEM) to Enable Government Information Sharing

The National Information Exchange Model (NIEM) provides a broad range of products and capabilities for planning and implementing enterprise-wide information exchanges. Government effectiveness and citizen centric government services require effective cross line of business collaboration and communication. Use of national standards will avoid redundant investment and unnecessary variation. What is needed is a common discipline for information sharing that is employed by all government lines of business. NIEM exists as that discipline for federal, state and local government.

 

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