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NASCIO report emphasizes innovation, relationships as critical for State CIOs

Though the overall role of a state CIO as a technology leader for the government is the same throughout the nation, the specific tasks, models and even job title tends to vary on a state-by-state basis.

The National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) CIO Leadership Working Group released a report on Monday examining how State CIOs have had different role structures and relationships in different states and time periods.

"CIOs must adapt to quickly evolving technology, disruptive forces and a new generation of customers," said David Behen, the NASCIO CIO Leadership Chair and chief information officer for the State of Michigan, in a press release.

The report, titled "State CIO Leadership in Government Innovation and Transformation," summarizes the information found in publicly available data and interviews with 11 State CIOs, in which they were asked to rank critical success factors involving relationships, authority, operations and innovation.

The assessment also included interviews with private sector CIOs regarding the same domain areas and critical success factors to compare private and public sector models for how CIOs operate.

The report included a forward from Jim Geringer, the former Governor of Wyoming, and Bill Leighty, the Chief of Staff to Former Virginia Governor Mark Warner and Governor Tim Kaine. Both emphasized that innovation is the key to moving forward.

"The CIO should not be just a vertically challenged manager of routine commodities, manager of hardware, software, IT procurement and training," Geringer said in the forward. "Unfortunately, that’s just what too many CIOs are today."

The Working Group’s research found that about half of State CIOs report having authority over an IT department or agency, while the other half had to report to another head of a department, such as for Finance, Administration, Budget or the Governor’s Office.

Most State CIOs regarded their main priority as agency infrastructure requirements with security and standards close behind, but only a third of CIOs regarded innovation as part of their role.

Private sector CIOs, on the other hand, regarded innovation and efficiency as their main priority; they reported that infrastructure management and running their organization is the job of the other operating staff.

The issue of whether a chief information officer is enough to take charge of information technology. According to an article by Government Technology, state CIOs are almost equally split on whether there needs to be a chief innovation officer in addition to a chief information officer. In a survey asking NASCIO Conference attendees the question, 33 percent said yes, 30 percent said no and the remaining 37 percent were unsure.

Some states are trying to make innovation a more broad effort outside of the CIO. Government Technology reported that Philadelphia, Pa. will be opening an "innovation lab" to bring city employees to work with nonprofit organizations and startups.

The other main difference between public and private sector CIOs is that State CIOs believe that they needed relationships with higher key executives in order to have enough authority to take action, while corporate CIOs are empowered to act on their own volition.

The Working Group recommended that State CIOs stay informed on all critical issues facing the state; develop relationships with the governor, Chief of Staff, the legislature and the press; communicate to the state how technology can be used as an asset and start conversations about innovation on how to solve current problems with IT.

The role of the CIO has been and needs to continue to evolve, Leighty said in the forward of the report.

"The evolution of the role of the State CIO is necessary to help bring leadership and innovation to government, allowing agencies to increase their agility and respond to the demands of servicing a new generation of customers," Leighty said.

The paper is available as www.nascio.org/publications.