As chief information officers at all levels of government take a wider, more enterprise look at their role than in the past, it is becoming increasingly important that they are more than just tech-savvy.
In 2011, when Mark Raymond was first appointed chief information officer of Connecticut, the No. 1 tech priority in state government was hardware virtualization, according to the National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO). Raymond, who was recently re-appointed by incoming Gov. Ned Lamont, found that much of his time was spent doing just that: virtualizing the state’s technology, moving a data center, anything to improve the technical efficiency of the operations, he recalled.
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For many organizations, including government, digital business is moving from an innovative trend to a core competency. According to Gartner’s 2016 CIO Agenda Survey, which included responses from 2,944 CIOs worldwide, leveraging digital technologies to transform traditional operational and service models has risen to the top of the business agenda for many elected leaders and public officials.
However, the attention of CIOs in government remains more on the tactical, such as reducing costs and improving digital channels to citizens. In this sense, digital government is currently being deployed as an extension of earlier e-government initiatives, which largely preserved existing operational or service models. Simply put, digital transformation is still at the embryonic stage of maturity in government.
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New CIOs have about 90 to 120 days to make their mark on an organization. The transition also creates a tremendous opportunity for CIOs. Anticipation of what digital can deliver is great.
But it is not an easy task. The lines of demarcation in companies are blurring. New CIOs must read between the lines -- between industries, customers and product developers -- as they move swiftly to learn the business, find their niche and make an impact on the enterprise. Speed -- or multiple speeds in the world of IT, given legacy systems and the arrival of digital -- is the focus as digital drives the rate of innovation and business leaders' expectations.