Preparing for Future Shocks in State Government: State CIOs Play an Important and Expanding Role in Resilience

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State CIOs face a range of issues that could test the resilience of their states, their teams and themselves —from future public health crises and cyber threats to climate change, workforce shortages and disruptive new technologies. In this new report from NASCIO, the Center for Digital Government and IBM, these issues are explored and CIOs give insight on how they are facing these challenges.

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The 2020 State CIO Survey

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2020 is a year that has undoubtedly been defined by the COVID-19 pandemic. In this eleventh annual state chief information officer (CIO) survey, we received the perspective of 47 state and territory CIOs on the extraordinary and unprecedented challenges they faced this year. In addition to directly addressing the issues and lessons learned by CIOs in responding to the pandemic, we also received updates from CIOs on many of the tradi­tional topics covered by the survey, including CIO organization business models, digital government, adoption of cloud and emerging technologies and state and local collaboration. As might be expect­ed, there was not a single topic area where the pandemic did not impact state CIO experiences in some way. The continuing work to address the immediate challenges of COVID-19 and to prepare for the long-term impacts to state and citizen work and personal lives is reflected throughout this year’s survey.

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Chat with Us: How States are Using Chatbots to Respond to the Demands of COVID-19

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When the COVID-19 pandemic hit the United States in March 2020, states experienced unprecedented surges in online inquiries and transactions. Many digital services and call centers supporting government services were overwhelmed.  Citizens were frustrated and the states needed to respond quickly with new approaches.  Automation, in the form of chatbots, was quickly developed and deployed to supplement existing human resources.  NASCIO research estimates that today around three-quarters of states are deploying chatbots to assist with questions on unemployment insurance, general COVID-19 questions or for other state agencies that may be receiving unusually high traffic due to the pandemic. These chatbots have responded to millions of citizen questions and continue to learn and build on the existing knowledge base.  This publication includes state examples, predictions for the future and links to state chatbots.

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The State CIO Experience: Perspectives on COVID-19

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Session from the NASCIO 2020 Midyear Webcast Series

Panel: Stephanie Dedmon, CIO, TN | Jim Weaver, CIO, WA | Curtis Wood, CIO, MA

(includes welcome remarks by NASCIO President Denis Goulet, Commissioner, New Hampshire)

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COVID-19 Planning and Response Guidance for State CIOs (v2 3.26.20)

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Today we are facing a COVID-19 (coronavirus) global pandemic. The situation is dynamic and moving fast.

  • What is the role of the state chief information officer (CIO) in coordinating a response with the Governor’s office and other state agencies?
  • What is the role of the state CIO when planning for reduced staff?
  • What are the critical issues that need to be prioritized to ensure continuity of operations for your organization?
  • What are challenges related to expanded remote access for employees?
  • What are the potential cybersecurity risks?
  • How does the current circumstance impact the current project portfolio?

State CIOs have an obligation to ensure that IT services continue during this pandemic outbreak and planning for such a scenario has become essential. As such is it imperative that state CIOs have a seat at the table with government leaders and take an active role in the state response to COVID-19. There are simple steps that state CIOs can follow during the next days and weeks.

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Award Recipient | California: Identification and Removal of Hazardous Materials During Wildfire Response

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State IT Recognition Awards Recipient in the category Information Communications Technology (ICT) Innovations

Top Ten Talks: Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity

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Top Ten Talks session at the NASCIO 2016 Midyear Conference in Baltimore, MD.

Speaker has just 5 minutes to deliver a focused talk on one of the CIO Top Ten Priorities.

 

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Cyber Disruption Response Planning Guide

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State government must now view cyber attacks that are more than cyber incidents.  We must prepare for larger magnitude events.  These can be termed cyber disruptions, disasters or even catastrophes.  This publication includes the following:

  • A call to action for states to develop state cyber disruption response plans that include: a governance structure that clearly designates who is in charge in a given event or phase of an event; development of a risk profile for state assets; collaboration among the various agencies that have cyber responsibility; and a communication plan to ensure the right people have the right information as early as possible so they can response effectively.
  • A checklist for states to work with in developing progress toward a cyber disruption response operating discipline.
  • A cross functional process description that can be used as a starting point for states to develop their own unique cross functional process for orchestrated planning and response at various threat levels.

 

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State CIO Top Ten Policy and Technology Priorities for 2016

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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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State CIO Top Ten Policy and Technology Priorities for 2015

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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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Priority Strategies, Management Processes and Solutions

Top 10 Final Ranking

  1. Security: risk assessment, governance, budget and resource requirements, security frameworks, data protection, training and awareness, insider threats, third party security practices as outsourcing increases, determining what constitutes “due care” or “reasonable”
  2. Cloud Services: cloud strategy, proper selection of service and deployment models, scalable and elastic IT-enabled capabilities provided “as a service” using internet technologies, governance, service management, service catalogs, platform, infrastructure, security, privacy, data ownership
  3. Consolidation/Optimization: centralizing, consolidating services, operations, resources, infrastructure, data centers, communications and marketing “enterprise” thinking, identifying and dealing with barriers
  4. Broadband/Wireless Connectivity: strengthening statewide connectivity; implementing broadband technology opportunities
  5. Budget and Cost Control: managing budget reduction; strategies for savings; reducing or avoiding costs; dealing with inadequate funding and budget constraints
  6. Human Resources/Talent Management: human capital/IT workforce; workforce reduction; attracting, developing and retaining IT personnel; retirement wave planning; succession planning; support/training, portal for workforce data and trends
  7. Strategic IT Planning: vision and roadmap for IT, recognition by administration that IT is a strategic capability, integrating and influencing strategic planning and visioning with consideration of future IT innovations, aligning with Governor’s policy agenda
  8. Mobile Services/Mobility/Enterprise Mobility Management: devices, applications, workforce, security, policy issues, support, ownership, communications, wireless infrastructure, BYOD
  9. Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity: improving disaster recovery, business continuity planning and readiness, pandemic/epidemic and IT impact, testing
  10. Customer Relationship Management: building customer agency confidence and collaboration, internal customer service strategies, service level agreements (demand planning)