10 Priorities, Concerns Facing State CIOs
State CIOs are not immune to the enterprise transformation issues that are hitting IT organizations everywhere. Here's a look inside the trends at the state government level, from the annual NASCIO State CIO Survey for 2016.
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The pressures of cloud migration, IT outsourcing, and other business transformation trends are not unique to enterprises in the private sector.
Government enterprises and their CIOs also list outsourcing, cloud, and legacy system modernization among their priorities now. That's according to the annual survey by the National Association of State CIOs (NASCIO) 2016.
The survey, conducted in conjunction with CompTIA and Grant Thornton, provides a look at the information technology trends inside state governments via an online survey of 43 state CIOs and separate interviews with 18 state CIOs conducted in March 2016. While the results, which were released in September, didn't yield any big surprises in terms of priorities and shifting trends, NASCIO executive director Doug Robinson told InformationWeek in an interview that there was at least one minor surprise in the results.
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"It wasn't a surprise, but more of a revelation that there was more progress than we were anticipating around Agile in terms of individual project delivery," Robinson said. "We asked the CIOs who participated in our survey, and we asked the same question again in an instant poll during our conference [in September]. And 95% of our members in the instant poll said they anticipated increased use of Agile."
Agile is an alternative way of developing software and of project management that incorporates incremental, iterative work, differing from "waterfall" methodologies, which require all design be done up front and often result in projects that stretch out for years. Agile provides users with the incremental benefits of incremental work.
This methodology's growing adoption within state IT organizations points to a shift in how government enterprises work.
"States have been locked into multi-million-dollar waterfall projects," Robinson said. "That's become unacceptable."
But the embrace of Agile is just one aspect of this survey and report on what's at top of mind for state CIOs. The following slides break out other key concerns and priorities for IT organizations in state-level government.
States aren't just talking about Agile. They are mobilizing with more cohesive plans around it. The NASCIO report notes: "There has been a significant decrease in the proportion of states where there is limited or entirely uncoordinated use of Agile or similar approach. More states are now either conducting pilot projects or engaging in widespread use with centralized guidance."
In 2016, 39% of state CIOs said they were working on pilot or trial adoption of Agile for certain projects. That compares with 32% in 2015. State CIOs said the top three critical success factors for Agile were picking the right types of projects (79%), customer involvement and commitment (64%), and effective training of staff (48%).
NASCIO reports that over the last six years it has asked state CIOs about IT services delivery, outsourcing, and consolidation, and over that period there's been a steady progression toward greater use of outsourcing. "While approximately one-third of states continue to own and operate all IT assets and operations, over two-thirds of states now outsource at least some IT infrastructure operations, and almost two-thirds use a managed services model for some or all IT operations," the report notes.
The survey also found that four out of five states outsource some IT applications and services -- much higher than the 42% that did so in 2010.
CIOs may be evolving to become more of a broker of these services, according to the report. In fact, NASCIO quotes one of its CIO respondents as saying, "We don't build or develop anything. We buy things that are SaaS or COTS services. Our CIO serves as an IT facilitator vs. provider."
The NASCIO CIO 2016 survey reveals that cloud-first policies have been emerging in a number of states. More than 70% of CIOs surveyed said they had cloud-first policies that were formal, informal, or in development.
Other CIOs noted that the policy of cloud-first may not really be relevant. NASCIO quotes one CIO as saying, "Cloud-first is antiquated. It's artificially restraining. If you're doing what you should be doing, you are creating an environment where modern software capabilities transcend that question."
State CIOs are facing a looming talent crisis as many Baby Boomer employees are headed toward retirement, and recruiting Millennials to fill the vacancies has proven to be a challenge. NASCIO asked state CIOs what single personnel reform would have the most impact if implemented. The clear winner cited by 30% of respondents was "Modernizing the IT job titles and classifications." Next, 20% of respondents chose "Modernizing office culture" with things like flexible work schedules and telecommuting. In third place, 15% picked "Removing IT positions from the civil service system," while 13% chose "Eliminating state unions representing IT."
NASCIO also asked CIOs what innovative strategies and tactics they've used to successfully recruit and retain a highly qualified workforce. Most CIOs, 75%, said, "Promoting non-salary benefits like greater stability and diversity of experience." The majority (64%) also said they used a "call to public service." Other top tactics cited included "public/private internships" (39%), "sponsoring community awareness events" (i.e. hackathons, robot build events, speaking at STEM schools) (35%), "building 'talent networks'" (31%), and "emphasizing location" (i.e. working in the state capital) (29%).
The NASCIO 2016 survey asked CIOs to describe the status of their IT application portfolio and estimate the percentage of systems that could be considered "legacy" and due for modernization. The largest percentage of CIOs (31%) said that 40% to 59% of their IT application portfolio fit the "legacy" definition, while 27% of CIOs said that 60% to 79% of their IT application portfolio fit the description. Some 25% said that they considered 20% to 39% of their IT portfolio as "legacy" and in need of modernization.
Will those systems get modernization? A full 39% of state CIOs said that more than 10% of their IT budget is allocated to modernization. And 29% of CIOs surveyed said that 6% to 10% of total IT budget will go to legacy system modernization.
(ImageMaxiphoto/iStockphoto)
Most CIOs consider data governance and management to be a key element of their strategic agendas and operational plans, with 58% of CIOs placing data governance and management as a High Priority or Essential element in achieving their goals and objectives. Yet there is still work to be done.
"While most states now have data classification and security standards in place, most are still a long way from implementing a mature Enterprise Data Management function," NASCIO said in the report.
Only one-third of state CIOs surveyed said their state had created a chief data officer position, but another 20% are considering creating the role, according to the survey. "Interestingly, states take different approaches to locating the CDO, with CDOs reporting to the CIO twice as common as those reporting to a different element of the state government," the NASCIO report said.
And what about the use of analytics in states? CIOs were asked about the status of strategies for using analytics to leverage big data in order to develop business insights and inform policy decisions. The largest percentage of states weren't quite there yet, with 35% of CIOs saying that they are just beginning to evaluate this. And 29% of CIOs said they have developed some early applications. Just 14% of CIOs said that this is a priority initiative for their states.
NASCIO asked if analytics were being used to compbat fraud, waste, and abuse, and 95% of respondents indicated some activity here. A full 42% have developed early applications, and 22% said they are gaining a lot of support from early applications. And 13% called this "a priority initiative for our state."
For state governments, this means a central consolidation of state technology infrastructure and applications rather than individual agencies operating their own IT departments and technology stacks.
State CIOs have ranked consolidation as a top priority for a several years, according to the NASCIO report.
"Consolidation efforts have increased in a number of areas, most notably datacenters, server, security, and telecommunications." Yet consolidation is an ongoing effort. There are only two technology areas where consolidation is complete in more than half of the states -- email and telecommunications.
NASCIO has previously highlighted how local and state governments have teamed up in some cases to improve efficiencies and save money. That continues today as local governments experience financial stress.
NASCIO's survey this year reveals that half of the states plan to increase their budgets for cross-jurisdictional collaboration, according to respondents. About one-third will sustain their current budget levels. Only 2% say they plan to reduce their budgets.
"States are clearly planning for sustained or increased levels of commitment to cross-jurisdictional collaboration," NASCIO said in its report.
Mobile devices are a part of most IT enterprise infrastructures today, and governments are working to get up to speed with mobile devices and apps. But very few state governments have mobile-enabled their applications. Only 2% of CIOs said that more than 80% of their applications are mobile ready. And 65% of CIOs said that less than 20% of their applications are mobile ready.
Yet when asked to characterize mobile devices and applications in their organizations, the highest percentage of CIOs, 33%, rated mobile devices and applications as a high priority. Thirteen percent said mobile was a low priority, 32% said it was a medium priority, and 20% said it was essential to their organizations.
State governments continue to rate cyber-security as a high priority in 2016. A full 72% said that they had adopted a cyber-security strategic plan, and 94% said they had adopted a cyber-security framework based on national standards and guidelines. What's more, 85% of CIOs surveyed said that they had developed security awareness training for workers and contractors. Some 83% had acquired and implemented continuous vulnerability and monitoring capabilities.
State governments continue to rate cyber-security as a high priority in 2016. A full 72% said that they had adopted a cyber-security strategic plan, and 94% said they had adopted a cyber-security framework based on national standards and guidelines. What's more, 85% of CIOs surveyed said that they had developed security awareness training for workers and contractors. Some 83% had acquired and implemented continuous vulnerability and monitoring capabilities.
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