The Secretary of State on-boarded Cruz Nieto, its first-ever chief technology officer, in mid-October — intentionally less than a month before the Nov. 6 general election. That was so Nieto — previously the portfolio manager for the Office of Digital Innovation in the California Department of Technology — could observe the agency at work during an election, traditionally one of its busiest times. Any changes to the election process will, she said, be informed by lessons learned and takeaways from the 2018 contest, “and then we’ll make adjustments accordingly.” Among other takeaways:
• The CTO role at the Secretary of State’s Office was created to “elevate technology,” Nieto said; and to support CIO Rita Gass, to whom Nieto reports directly. Nieto described a “definite need to partner and have a delineation and provide support for the CIO.” Nieto expects her position to evolve, but characterized it functioning as the “chief technology operating officer,” focused on operational management but including security, tech services and investment, and innovation.
“Since it is a new role, I’m looking at different ways where I can provide the most value internally. My role includes creating efficiencies internally within our IT division, utilizing our IT resources in the best manner possible,” Nieto said.
• The agency’s most urgent need continues to be resources and staffing, the CTO said, noting that the public sector continues to struggle to hire and retain employees, against stiff private sector competition.
• California Business Connect, envisioned as a six-year project when proposed in 2012 by then-Secretary of State Debra Bowen, continues to roll out tools aimed at automating process and getting it off paper. Recent additions include Trademark Registration Online, LLC Termination Online, and LLC Formation Online — the latter two aimed at streamlining formation of limited-liability corporations. Additional enhancements are expected to go live later this year.
• The California Automated Lobby and Campaign Contribution and Expenditure Search System (Cal-Access) is currently in the planning stages, Sam Mahood, press secretary to Secretary of State Alex Padilla, told Techwire. In January, the Secretary of State's Office announced a $12.6 million, 19-month contract with Virginia-based tech services company Perspecta to replace the website for lobbyists. The site makes public financial information from state candidates, donors and lobbyists, among others. Another partner, PCC Technology, will create the necessary software.
• The Secretary of State’s Office will build on a big accomplishment from 2018 by expanding to other departments the knowledge base for its Eureka chatbot, making it multilingual, and using its cognitive services to optimize the agency’s trademark and resubmission process. The goal is to expand Eureka services later this year. In 2018, the Center for Digital Government* honored the chatbot with its Best of California Award.
“It’s a good use case, obviously, for any call center environment. We’re also evaluating any other use cases internally,” Nieto said. The Eureka chatbot is considered the first state-level foray into artificial intelligence, and the Secretary of State’s Office was the first state-level department or agency to use Microsoft's bot framework.
*The Center for Digital Government is part of e.Republic, which also is the parent company of Techwire, and Government Technology magazine.
