NASCIO Midyear 2018: State CIOs Spotlight Security and Digital Transformation

When conducting its survey of State CIO Top 10 Policy and Technology Priorities for 2018, the National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) discovered there wasn’t much of a gap between the top concern of CIOs and the rest of the list — a departure from the norm.

For the top spot, CIOs told NASCIO they were concerned about issues surrounding security and risk management as expected, but other priorities including cloud services, consolidation and digital government followed closely.

“Data management and analytics, cloud solutions and certainly security are demanding our attention,” Oklahoma CIO Bo Reese, who serves as president of NASCIO, said in a November press release. “Unification of services will drive the need to improve data management discipline, enterprise governance and optimization.”

“There is an overarching continued consistency in the areas of budget and cost control, security and risk management,” NASCIO Executive Director Doug Robinson said in the release. “Digital government appears for the first time as priority four which is indicative of states’ efforts to focus on citizen services using digital platforms and integration.”

NASCIO will attempt to provide state CIOs with some resources to address these priorities during the NASCIO 2018 Midyear Conference from April 22-24 at the Hilton Baltimore in Maryland. The conference is a significant milestone on the road to the NASCIO 2018 Annual Conference in San Diego, Calif., from Oct. 21-24. NASCIO mines its annual list of priorities to produce focus areas for its strategic planning and it plans NASCIO conference sessions and publications around those priorities.

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State CIO Priorities Take Center Stage at NASCIO Midyear

In an early session at NASCIO Midyear, Gartner Research Vice President Rick Howard and Utah CIO Mike Hussey will assess how states can adapt artificial intelligence innovations for government use, specifically applications of AI and machine learning seen in the private sector to the State CIO’s Top 10 Priorities.

Oklahoma Director of Technology Services Dustin Crossfield will discuss Innovate Oklahoma, a program close to the heart of the NASCIO president, where anyone can issue a challenge to solve with tech and receive responses from eligible firms. Through public-private partnerships, Oklahoma seeks to turn these ideas into new startup companies that may reshape how state government works while growing new business.

Michigan CIO David Devries and Washtenaw County IT Manager Andy Brush will discuss shared services, another priority identified in the State CIO’s Top 10 Priorities. With Michigan’s CISO as a Service Program, the two will reveal how Michigan lends expertise to local governments that don’t have the resources for a full-time security officer but still remain exposed to sophisticated threats.

North Carolina CIO Eric Boyette will discuss how his state seeks to transform existing data assets into an information utility with the North Carolina Government Data Analytics Center, which assists state leaders in determining policy and operational investments.

In a closing discussion for NASCIO Midyear, Georgia Chief Digital Officer Nikhil Deshpande, New York Executive Deputy CIO Karen Geduldig and Massachusetts Chief Digital Officer Holly St. Clair will discuss how to incorporate end users into design processes to achieve simplicity and ease of use for government mobile apps and digital solutions. The discussion will include a brief showcase of state-specific apps.

As usual, NASCIO is hosting CIOs and other state executives close to Washington, D.C., to ease participation in a Washington “fly-in,” where they can meet with federal leaders to share their priorities and concerns. NASCIO has scheduled its 2019 and 2020 midyear conferences to occur at Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center, located in National Harbor, Md., outside of Washington, D.C., to facilitate this a step further.

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