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T E C H N O LO G Y L E A D E R S H I P I N T H E P U B L I C S E C TO R AU G U S T / S E P T E M B E R 2011
A LOOK AT THE FEDERAL CIO’S LEGACY AND THE CHALLENGES FACING HIS SUCCESSOR
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F E A T U R E S
8Kundra Signs OffVivek Kundra’s tenure as federal CIO spurred radical change in government IT implementations, but his successor will find many of the same challenges.B y B r i a n H e a t o n
C o v e r p h o t o S p e n c e r H e y f r o n
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CONT
ENTS
www.public-cio.com [3]
Gadgets vs. NetworksGovernment employees demand to use their personal mobile devices for work, so CIOs discuss how to respond to the cultural shift.
B y A n d y O p s a h l
Challenging the Status QuoChief Innovation Officer Bryan Sivak explains why failure is a necessary part of progress.B y J e s s i c a M u l h o l l a n d
Raising Your ProfileA CIO’s work is vital, but does everyone know it? Six steps for communicating your value.
B y E v a N e u m a n n
Money Matters Taking less salary to work as a government CIO isn’t just about serving the public. B y C o l i n W o o d
DAV
ID K
IDD
F O R M E R F E D E R A L C I O V I V E K K U N D R A
TOM
McK
EITH
22
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The inside pages of this publication are printed on 80 percent de-inked recycled fiber.e
U P F R O N T
6 Introduction
2 0 0 7 M A G A Z I N E O F T H E Y E A R 2008 Silver Folio: Editorial Excellence Award
[4]
U P F R O N T
6 IntroductionKundra’s replacement must continue collaboration.
48CIO CentralNews, Reviews and Careers
FastGovThe shifting sands of public-sector IT.B y P a u l W . T a y l o r
46
CTO StrategiesOutages Happen: Are You Ready?B y D a n L o h r m a n n
CIO2The Cost of NiceB y A n d y B l u m e n t h a l
D E P A R T M E N T S
42
Social Media vs. Free SpeechAs social networking becomes a part of government employee workflow, First Amendment rights are being challenged.B y B r i a n H e a t o n
F E A T U R E S
38
40
50
A p u b l i c a t i o n o f ©
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SHUTTERSTOCK.COM
Special ReportThis month Public CIO launches a series of special reports researched and written by e.Republic’s Center for Digital Government. These quarterly reports examine critical technology issues facing public CIOs, starting with an in-depth look at mobility. Download your copy at www.public-cio.com/reports.
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[ INTRODUCTION ]
In the last issue of Public CIO, I
wrote about the potential for stron-
ger cooperation between federal and
state government, noting that Vivek
Kundra was a champion for more
intergovernmental dialog and better
cooperation. Here we are a few months
later contemplating what Kundra’s
departure as federal CIO means for
state/federal collaboration and a host
of other matters.
As most of you know, Kundra left
the CIO post in August to accept a fel-
lowship at Harvard University. In his
place, President Barack Obama select-
ed Steven L. VanRoekel, who started
work on Aug. 5.
VanRoekel comes to the job with a
mix of federal government and pri-
vate-sector experience. From 1994 to
2009, he was an executive at Microsoft,
ultimately serving as senior director
for the company’s Windows Server and
Tools Division. VanRoekel also spent
several years as managing director
of the FCC and, at the time of his
appointment, was executive director of
citizen and organization engagement
at the U.S. Agency for International
Development.
It’s likely that VanRoekel will need
every ounce of that experience — both
public and private — as he confronts
the task before him. It’ll be his job to
push forward Kundra’s ambitious data
center consolidation, which envisions
closing 800 federal data center facili-
ties by 2015. In addition, he’ll lead the
shift toward cloud services, expanding
open government efforts and improv-
ing the efficiency of federal IT projects.
On a conference call with reporters,
VanRoekel said his stint with the FCC
prepared him for the task of moving
federal agencies toward new IT busi-
ness models. “I had the experience of
really taking an agency that hadn’t
done a lot on technology and hadn’t
embraced a lot of the work that Vivek’s
team had done, and driving a lot of the
initiative there,” he said.
On the same call, Jeffrey Zients, depu-
ty director for the Office of Management
and Budget and federal chief perfor-
mance officer, said the Obama admin-
istration will look to VanRoekel to close
the “technology gap” between the federal
government and private industry. “If you
look at the private sector over the past
couple of decades, it has achieved pro-
ductivity gains of 1.5 to 2 percent year
over year,” Zients said. “The federal gov-
ernment has largely missed out on these
gains, and the root cause too often is its
failure to leverage the power of informa-
tion technology.”
But as VanRoekel confronts these
internal challenges, he’ll also need to
continue Kundra’s legacy of involv-
ing state and local governments in IT
program decisions. Kundra ushered in
a sea change in relations between the
federal government and state CIOs —
and state IT leaders were understand-
ably anxious about his replacement.
The feds spend hundreds of billions of
dollars on state-operated transporta-
tion, health-care and social services
programs. And meaningful state/fed-
eral cooperation on IT systems that
deliver these programs is critical to
effective use of that money.
VanRoekel noted that much of his
private-sector career was focused on
Web services and XML technologies,
which are fundamental to cross-orga-
nizational shared services. “That theme
will carry forward into government
service and not only cross-agency col-
laboration inside the federal space, but
also the state space,” he said.
Maintaining and building on the
momentum Kundra created for inter-
governmental collaboration will be one
key to VanRoekel’s success — and it’s
vital for a nation that can’t afford to
waste scarce budget dollars on inef-
fi cient technology. ¨
Fed CIO Needs a Broad View
B Y S T E V E T O W N S
[6][6]
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[8]
Signs OffKundra
C O V E R S T O R Y
Vivek Kundra’s tenure as federal CIO spurred radical change in government I
BY B R I A N H E ATO N | S TA F F W R I T E R
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www.public-cio.com [9]
ft IT implementations, but his successor will fi nd many of the same challenges.
SPENCER HE YFRON
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[10]
His efforts were largely successful.
Kundra, who stepped down in
August for a fellowship at Harvard
University, is credited by the Obama
administration with saving taxpayers
more than $3 billion by scrutinizing
IT spending and identifying under-
performing projects.
But outside the Beltway, Kundra’s
legacy is less about money and more
about his pointed efforts to communi-
cate with state and local government
officials while giving their IT issues a
voice at the federal level.
Sean Vinck, CIO of Illinois, called
Kundra the “Suze Orman of govern-
ment information technology” for
his ability to empower people to
manage their IT affairs. Vinck added
that Kundra’s experience as CTO of
Washington, D.C., was invaluable,
as the perspective allowed him to
understand what federal practices
would harm state and local IT efforts.
“He knew that if the federal
government was not disciplined on
how it articulated and communi-
cated new regulations and programs
to state governments, they could
produce confusion, inefficiency
and increased costs,” Vinck said.
And prior to Kundra’s arrival,
Nebraska CIO Brenda Decker said
that she and many of her colleagues
felt that states were often an after-
thought in federal policymaking —
even when those decisions directly
impacted states. But Kundra made
great strides to overcome that.
“A lot of times I think we are
brought in at the end of the game,
where a lot of the decisions have been
made, and a project is developed by
the federal government and then
handed to us, and we’re supposed
deploy it now and fi nd the right solu-
tion to meet a federal mandate,”
Decker said. “Vivek has been very
instrumental in saying, ‘Let’s see
what the states think of this,’ [and
asking] ... ‘Is this something your
state can manage?’ ... rather than
saying, ‘Here it is, just go do it.’”
Stanley “Bill” Rogers, CIO of New
Hampshire, said that while he’s
only been on the job in the Granite
State for four or fi ve months, as
someone who has worked in large
global corporations, he thought that
Kundra’s work was top-notch.
“He brought on board some inno-
vative ideas, and it was like trying
to turn a cruise ship in the middle
of the ocean,” Rogers said. “What
Vivek did is what a successful CIO
needs to do — bring people together,
align goals and be a resource.”
A GAME CHANGERDuring Kundra’s more than two
years as federal CIO, myriad federal
IT advancements were made. His
25 Point Plan to Reform Federal IT
Management laid down a strategy to
harness new technology in a fi scally
sensible but fl exible manner.
To increase government transpar-
ency, Data.gov, a dashboard to track
the status of federal IT projects, was
created, as was a “cloud fi rst” policy,
which requires federal agencies to
look at cloud technology before
buying new computer systems.
In addition, Kundra instituted
TechStat Accountability Sessions,
during which he met with agency
leaders to discuss IT projects that
were behind schedule or inefficient,
and sought to improve them. The
Federal Data Center Consolidation
Initiative, a plan to signifi cantly reduce
the U.S. government’s 2,000-plus data
centers, is also ongoing, with 195
scheduled to shut down by the end of
the year.
In a June blog entry on Cio.gov,
Richard Spires, CIO of the U.S.
Department of Homeland Security
and vice chairman of the Federal
CIO Council, called Kundra a “strong
DAV
ID K
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WWhen Vivek Kundra was selected as the fi rst federal CIO by President Barack Obama in March 2009, the appointment came with some tricky marching orders. In addition to managing the government’s IT operations, Kundra had to fi nd a way to incorporate the latest tech advancements into federal agency IT implementations — and do so in the most cost-efficient manner.
C O V E R S T O R Y
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www.public-cio.com [11]
force for open govern-
ment” and credited him
with changing the dialog
and viewpoint of federal
government agencies.
Kundra’s efforts are highly regarded
in the private sector as well. Jay
Kalath, vice president and CTO of
ARRAY Information Technology, an
IT management and consulting fi rm,
said Kundra put in a framework at
the federal level that hits many of
the areas the technology industry has
been discussing for quite awhile.
Kalath was particularly enam-
ored with Kundra’s 25 Point Plan,
and added that the cloud-fi rst and
shared solutions approach has made
federal IT implementations much
more modular. “One thing he’s really
done is push the adoption of change
a lot more,” Kalath said. “His role
was a new one as the federal CIO;
the expectations weren’t really
defi ned, so he could walk in and
be that change agent. He put that
vision and framework in place.”
Calvin Rhodes, CIO of Georgia,
believed the push for open data
will be the most vivid memory of
Kundra’s time as federal CIO. “It’ll
be years before you’ll see the many
benefi ts of people using all that data,”
he said. “That’ll be his lasting legacy
— to have the vision to make that
data available to citizens, the private
sector and government entities.”
Decker added that Kundra’s
push toward open government
and cloud technology, and how it
trickled down to the state level,
made her feel more comfortable with
pursuing outside-of-the-box ideas.
“You always had this feeling
previously that nobody was really
using this stuff and, ‘Am I out here
on the bleeding edge of some-
thing?’” Decker said. “And I think
that is something [Kundra] really
did that’s going to be a legacy of
his for a long time. We’ll have the
opportunity to explore those things
without people second-guessing
whether we’re ‘losing it’ or not.”
WHAT’S NEXTSteven L. VanRoekel was appointed
by Obama as Kundra’s successor
on Aug. 4 and jumped in the fi re
immediately, starting the next day.
Former managing director of
the FCC, VanRoekel’s last post was
as executive director of citizen
and organization engagement at
the U.S. Agency for International
Development, which provides
economic and humanitarian aid to
people worldwide. He also spent
15 years as a Microsoft executive.
But VanRoekel’s lack of CIO expe-
rience may be an issue in regard
to success, said Andrea DiMaio,
lead government IT analyst at
Gartner, an IT and research advisory
company. DiMaio quickly pointed
out, however, that Kundra also had
limited work as CTO of Washington,
D.C., and no federal background
before taking the federal CIO job.
“[Kundra] was able to both drive
innovation and gain credibility
among CIOs, some of whom were
certainly skeptical about his appoint-
ment,” he said. “Keeping an outsider
view, being able to challenge the
common wisdom and using the same
prove-me-wrong approach that Vivek
used through most of his tenure is
something that Steve should pursue.”
Prior to VanRoekel being
named federal CIO, state CIOs had
plenty to say about what chal-
lenges and expectations await
the nation’s new IT leader.
Rogers said the federal budget
crunch will make it difficult for
federal agencies to invest in new
technologies while maintaining their
current operations. He emphasized
that the next federal CIO will be
NEW HAMPSHIRE CIO BILL ROGERS SAYS KUNDRA WAS
a catalyst for innovation.
STEVEN L. VANROEKEL
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[12]
knee-deep in standardization, data
center consolidation and the move
to cloud computing — while also
contending with funding challenges.
“You have to spend some money
in the beginning to get projects
implemented,” Rogers said.
Kalath agreed. He said Kundra’s
cloud-fi rst policy and the entirety
of the shared services IT model
he was trying to establish are
going to be judged over the next
12-18 months, and money will be
needed to see them through.
“The budget is going to be
a concern,” Kalath said. “Not
directly because we are trying to
do reductions to programs, but
there will be costs in adapting to
this model and the transition.”
Vinck wasn’t so sure. He acknowl-
edged that resources will always
be a challenge, but said Kundra’s
message was that the federal govern-
ment spends too much on technology,
not too little. “Kundra’s whole
tenure was about, ‘We’re spending
a hell of a lot of money and we’re
not getting where we need to get,’”
Vinck said, adding that solving IT
challenges is more a function of
management strategy and fl exibility.
Vinck said health-care reform
should be a priority for the new
federal CIO. He called the time-
lines and objectives of the federal
Affordable Care Act of 2010 — which
involves the states establishing health
benefi t exchanges by 2014 — “ambi-
tious.” His concern is that some states
won’t be able to meet the deadlines
without clear federal guidance.
“Unless the federal government
has a game plan that is concise
and realistic ... we will not meet
those time frames,” Vinck said. “It is
absolutely critical that [Kundra’s]
successor understand that and
realize his mission is to shepherd
those agencies and make it so that
federal agencies
are speaking with
a unifi ed voice.”
Decker said the
need for clarity goes
beyond health care.
She said vague or
confusing federal
initiatives were a regular
occurrence in the course of IT
business between the states
and Uncle Sam. “That’s one
of the things we tried to work
with Vivek on, and I think he
was making some headway,
but not as much and as
quickly as everyone wished he had.”
Decker also expects work on
some of Kundra’s initiatives to
slow down while his replacement
gets situated. “I think there will be
some things that will stumble and
stall for a period of time, if for no
other reason than people aren’t
going to operate for fear of what
CALVIN RHODES, CIO OF GEORGIA, SAYS KUNDRA’S LEGACY WILL BE
his passion for open data.
ANDREA DIMAIO, LEAD GOVERNMENT IT ANALYST AT GARTNER, SAYS THE NEW CIO SHOULD CONTINUE KUNDRA’S WORK.
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Copyright © 2011 Esri. All rights reserved.
A Transparent SolutionEsri® has the complete platform for your Gov 2.0
initiatives. With mapping applications and services
accessible on-site or in the cloud, Esri Technology
engages citizens, demonstrates transparency, and
fosters collaboration.
Learn more at esri.com/pciogov20
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[14]
will happen next and what the next
person will do,” Decker explained.
Kalath said one of the most impor-
tant things Kundra’s successor must
tackle is assisting federal agencies
in adapting to a cloud-fi rst way of
IT implementation. Larger agen-
cies might have an easier time due
to their resources, but mid-size and
smaller agencies will need help.
“You brought in someone like
Kundra who was an IT/tech agent
who had a fresh perspective ... who
opened up the hood and made a fair
assessment of [government IT] without
focusing on one agency or another,”
Kalath said. “Now some of the things
that are going to be hard are that
no two agencies are alike. It really
depends on looking at those agen-
cies and putting fair expectations on
[them] in terms of how to adopt [the
cloud]. I think the requirements are
there, but it is going to be a challenge.”
FILLING THE SHOESDecker, Kalath, Rhodes, Rogers
and Vinck agreed that while a
broad range of experience is a
key factor in a federal CIO, the
biggest need is for someone who
excels at being a communicator.
Kalath stressed the need for the
next federal CIO to ride the wave of
change that Kundra started in the
government IT community, which
starts with communication and
establishing expectations. “You need
someone who understands the federal
arena, but at the same time, needs
to be a change agent,” Kalath said.
Decker agreed and said she
felt the most important creden-
tial would be the ability to appre-
ciate the IT needs and concerns
of all levels of government.
“It was very fortuitous for us
that it was someone who came from
the local level and knew what we
dealt with as states,” Decker said
of Kundra’s appointment in 2009.
“But I don’t want to close my eyes
to the fact that there are talented
people out there [with only a]
federal background. I think with
the right set of skills, a person
could succeed without having that
hands-on [local] experience.”
Vinck said that fi rst and fore-
most, the next federal CIO must be
a diplomat who is skilled enough
in the private sector to bring forth
advancements, but sensitive to
how and why the public sector
and its challenges are different.
“I think it’s likelier that someone
can build on the successes Kundra
had if they have some relevant
public-sector experience,” Vinck said.
“Having said that, I’m a person who
believes the best answers can come
from surprising sources. But my point
would be that the idiosyncrasies of
the public sector are not self-evident
... to people whose backgrounds are
primarily in the private sector. So
there would be a learning curve.”
With VanRoekel now on the job,
DiMaio agreed with state CIOs that
many of the same challenges Kundra
dealt with still exist, particularly
when it comes to executing ideas.
DiMaio said pursuing greater
centralization or trying to exercise
more control over how federal agen-
cies spend IT dollars might be a tough
sell before the 2012 presidential
election. Instead of reinventing the
wheel, he suggested that VanRoekel
might be best served by simply
continuing the work Kundra started.
“Reinforcing most of Vivek’s [25
Point Plan] from the point of view
of increasing rather than reducing
choice would be a good start,” DiMaio
said. “In the last few months, Vivek
had moved in this direction, looking
at how agencies may benefi t them-
selves from his TechStat efforts, or
suggesting that cloud adoption is a
choice, rather than an obligation.”
VanRoekel, in a conference call
with reporters on Aug. 4, said he
planned to do just that. The new
federal CIO made a point of saying
there won’t be much difference
between the way Kundra handled the
job and the way he envisions doing it.
“I consider a very large percentage
of my job is carrying that torch
forward on the great work that has
been done,” VanRoekel said. “A lot of
that great work is attributed to the
team that is still here, and so I am
going to keep working with that.” ¨
C O V E R S T O R Y
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May require up to a $36 activation fee/line, credit approval and deposit per line. Up to a $200 early termination fee/line applies. Coverage is not available everywhere. The Sprint 4G Network reaches over 70 markets and counting, on select devices. The Sprint 3G Network reaches over 271 million people. See sprint.com/4G for details. Not all services are available on 4G, and coverage may default to 3G/separate network where 4G is unavailable. Offers not available in all markets/retail locations or for all phones/networks. Pricing, offer terms, fees and features may vary for existing customers not eligible for upgrade. Other restrictions apply. See store or sprint.com/4G for details. ©2011 Sprint. Sprint and the logo are trademarks of Sprint.
At 4G speeds, it turns red tape into confetti. Run your state or
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[16]
GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES DEMAND TO USE THEIR PERSONAL MOBILE DEVICES FOR WORK, SO CIOS DISCUSS HOW TO RESPOND TO THE CULTURAL SHIFT.
SHUT
TERS
TOCK
.COM
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ITH DAZZLING GADGETS like iPads and Androids flooding the market, people who weren’t techies before are becoming
geekier by the year. And CIOs get it. They know that a growing percentage of the government work force is conducting business on personal mobile devices.
GadgetsNetworksvs.
BY ANDY OPSAHL | FEATURES EDITOR
W
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[18]
As these user-friendly devices become intertwined with the
average person’s daily habits — both business and personal
— public CIOs are responding with formal policies. But not
all agencies agree on whether to embrace or discourage the
use of personal devices at work.
Nebraska, for instance, discourages them due to the
potential for making sensitive data vulnerable and the risk
of litigation over improper downloads. Yet even state CIO
Brenda Decker acknowledges the benefi ts of allowing per-
sonal devices on the secure government network.
“We understand there is a cost advantage,” said Decker,
pointing out that agencies could have fewer devices to buy
if employees used their own. “There is also a
convenience advantage to the employee,” she
said. “I carry two devices — one for personal
use, one for state use — and I have to be very
cautious that my family understands this is my
state device.”
Nebraska agency directors can approve the
use of personal devices on a case-by-case basis.
“A lot of our employees look at it and see
that they may have a dental appointment from
8 to 9 in the morning, but if they can sit in the
doctor’s office with their personal PC and get
that work done [or] put in an extra hour in the
evening to make up the time — that’s advan-
tageous to both the state and the individual,”
Decker said. “We see there are some advantages.
We just feel we have to be cautious about the
data that’s going back and forth.”
Decker is right about the cost advantage. A pilot proj-
ect that subsidizes data plans on personal devices for
employees in the Delaware Department of Technology and
Information already has produced tangible savings.
“We’ve seen about a 20 percent reduction in our wireless
costs and an 18 percent reduction in the number of state-
owned devices in that department,” said William Hickox,
Delaware’s chief operating officer. His staff recently sub-
mitted fi ndings to the governor and recommended taking
the policy statewide. Hickox predicts that Delaware could
save roughly $2.5 million annually.
Still, these policies raise plenty of questions for agency
managers and IT leaders. Among them: Should agencies
subsidize data plans for employees’ personal devices,
since employees likely would purchase them anyway?
Who will handle the workload of securing the numer-
ous types of devices that employees are likely to bring
to work? Should the help desk be expected to support
those devices?
As long-term budget shortages force public CIOs to
create a new normal, many are considering a switch to
personal devices as part of that evolution. Like any policy
decision, determining the role of personal devices in the
government workplace will bring its share of challenges,
benefi ts, unintended consequences and implementation
approaches.
THEY’RE DOING IT ANYWAYWhen Apple CEO Steve Jobs introduced the iPhone in
2007, he promised a cultural shift that would centralize
all computing needs onto one mobile device. To an extent,
Apple delivered on that lofty goal and devices like the
iPhone and the iPad became wildly popular. Resistance
became somewhat futile.
In other words, public CIOs are recognizing
that employees will attempt to use their shiny
new devices regardless of the rules. Delaware
succumbed to that inevitability in 2010 when
it launched a set of security policies for per-
sonal devices, mostly smartphones, to safely
access the secure state network. Despite the
state offering agency-sponsored BlackBerrys,
a portion of the work force insisted on using
personal devices and accessed the network
without formal approval. Not surprisingly, this
made Delaware Chief Security Officer Elayne
Starkey apprehensive.
“I’m sleeping easier at night because I know
that, as of Nov. 15, we have closed a signifi -
cant vulnerability,” Starkey told Government
Technology last year.
20 PERCENTTHE REDUCTION IN WIRELESS COSTS
ACHIEVED BY THE DELAWARE
DEPARTMENT OF TECHNOLOGY AND
INFORMATION AFTER ALLOWING
PERSONAL MOBILE DEVICES ON THE
SECURE STATE NETWORK.
“I CARRY TWO DEVICES — ONE FOR PERSONAL USE, ONE FOR STATE USE — AND I HAVE TO BE VERY CAUTIOUS THAT MY FAMILY UNDERSTANDS THIS IS MY STATE DEVICE.” BRENDA DECKER, CIO, NEBRASKA
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Th e situation state and local government leaders fi nd them-selves in is — by now — all too familiar. Budget shortfalls that were temporarily relieved by dollars from the American Recov-ery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) continue to threaten states and municipalities as this funding begins to phase out and the money is spent. Due to this, 2012 is anticipated to be one of the most diffi cult fi nancial years yet for state and local governments, with some estimates predicting that states will face budget shortfalls of $103 billion.1 Unfortunately, even if states make moderate gains in revenue, they are unlikely to close this large of a gap.
Th e severity of this problem can create an understandable tendency for lawmakers to search far and wide for solutions. Th e National Conference of State Legislatures bookended its Top 11 list for 2011 with balancing budgets in the lead, and infrastructure investments bringing up the rear. In between are what the group calls “deep, controversial and painful” budget cuts.
To try and minimize this pain, government technologists have optimized their government infrastructure to save as much money as possible. Th ese eff orts have helped agencies continue to pro-vide, and in fact to increase, vital services to constituents. How-ever, small changes are not enough when leaders are still on the hook to drastically cut costs and deliver savings.
In this environment, justifying IT spending requires a hard dol-lar return on investment that must also demonstrate how any new initiatives can help save crucial government programs. Simply put, leaders must begin implementing fresh ideas and new approaches — and reinvent the enterprise to capture cost savings in the short term.
Reinventing the Enterprise for Cost SavingsComprehensive services and IT management are coming
online at just the right time. Cloud computing, virtualization and consolidation can all cut data center costs in a dramatic fash-ion. Application modernization can improve functionality while slashing operation costs. New technologies and a reorientation of enterprise can cut costs across the entire scope of government.
What We Need to be Doing:
Virtualization: Listed as a Top 3 priority by public CIOs in surveys by the Center for Digital Government, virtualization essentially separates resources from the hardware that provides them. Not only an end in itself, virtualization is really the enabling technology for IT consolidation and the catalyst for cloud computing. Virtualization can help agencies consolidate servers and also help states centralize and provision services to agencies in an end-to-end model, reducing
or eliminating the need for an agency to purchase hardware. Vir-tualization also allows agencies to reduce energy costs and desktop virtualization can enable remote work for government employees.
Real-life example: Fairfax County, Va., is virtualizing and consoli-dating servers in its data center. Th e county plans to go from 512 physical servers down to 8 physical servers using virtual technol-ogy. Th is move will help the county realize signifi cant energy sav-ings in electricity of over $214,000 annually.
Data Center Consolidation: IT consolidation is the process of abstracting and combining common technology functions from sepa-rate operating divisions to act as a shared service back to the divisions. More simply, it can mean moving from a typically decentralized envi-ronment to one that is based on a shared services approach. It provides a number of benefi ts for government agencies, including eliminating hardware, reducing carbon footprint and freeing up staff time. As orga-nizations look to lower costs and provide services more effi ciently, they oft en start with consolidation.
Real-life example: Th rough IT consolidation, the city of Denver was able to consolidate 60 systems into a common storage area network (SAN), streamline six e-mail systems down to two and save $1.2 million on licensing costs alone, among other benefi ts.
Cloud Computing: According to research by the Center for Digital Gov-ernment, cloud computing is the No. 1 trending technology in state and local government, indicating that its importance to CIOs will continue to grow in the coming years. Clouds are a large pool of easily usable and accessible virtualized resources that can be dynamically reconfi gured to adjust to a variable load, allowing for optimum resource utilization.
New Thinking for the Enterprise: Cutting Costs with Cloud, Consolidation and Modernization
Issue Brief
“By leveraging emerging technologies, such as virtualization for state agencies to bring together an Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) off er-ing for Arkansas’ public sector, this off ering has allowed state agen-cies, boards and commissions to capitalize on the benefi ts of cloud computing … We have found that by off ering this technology in our data center, we are able to provide our public sector customers the foundation and framework for future system implementations that meet the need to ensure security, reliability, interoperability and an overall positive economic benefi t for Arkansans. At the end of the day, virtualization and cloud computing are about dollars-and-cents and fundamentally changing attitudes about owning technology assets.”
CLAIRE BAILEY, CIO, STATE OF ARKANSAS
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While there are diff erent types of cloud models — including private clouds, public clouds, community clouds and hybrid clouds, essen-tially cloud computing is a pay-per-use model in which guarantees are off ered by the provider through service level agreements.
Real-life example: Th e New Mexico Offi ce of the State Attorney General chose to use a cloud e-mail application instead of upgrad-ing a current system. Compared to the expenses in upgrading the old e-mail system — a $300,000 one-time cost and up to $150,000 annually — the new system, which includes much more than just e-mail, costs New Mexico about $10,000 per year. “Th ere is no way to do an e-mail system for that,” James Ferreira, CIO of the New Mexico Offi ce of the State Attorney General, said. “You can’t even buy a server for that.”
Application Modernization: Many of the government IT systems that support mission-critical services are more than 20 to 30 years old. When these systems were initially designed, many of today’s requirements simply didn’t exist. Th e security challenges of the early 1980s — when systems were isolated from the Internet — are very diff erent from the ever-evolving threats faced by leaders today. Many of these systems were intended only for internal use, never anticipating a 24/7 audience of citizens connecting directly via the Internet. And fi nally, many of these systems rely on a shrinking workforce that is knowledgeable on the older platform technologies.
Application modernization is the task of bringing these legacy systems “up to code” so they can meet or exceed today’s require-ments. Th is doesn’t always mean wholesale replacement, which is good news for budget planners. Aft er careful examination and strategic planning, governments can chart their own path to mod-ernizing their application inventory. While this is no doubt hard work, there is great potential for cost savings in this area. Th e National Association of State CIOs (NASCIO) recently ranked application modernization as the No. 4 highest priority for 2011.
Real-life examples: Pinellas County, Fla., is replacing its 35-year-old courts management system for many of the reasons noted above. Th e system was internally built years ago, and now requires a prohibitively high degree of maintenance. Data is locked in silos for each of the major court types, which slows business processes and restricts information sharing.2
Th e New Jersey Treasury Department has kicked off a major modernization project, in part spurred by demands from the pub-lic themselves. A newspaper in the Garden State reported on a list of the 10 oldest systems in state government, and uncovered legacy applications dating back 42 years to 1969. New Jersey CTO Adel Ebeid said that, “Th is is an administration that has recog-nized how old our systems are and has started to take great strides to address the issue.”3
Making Change Happen – What it Takes to Get ThereReinventing government services for cost savings can seem
daunting at fi rst. Before the fi rst steps can be taken, the organi-zation needs to develop a comprehensive strategic vision for the enterprise. Th is needs to address the realities, goals, needs, con-straints and challenges of all parts of the organization. It is vital that this plan take an integrated approach across all aspects of technology — from enterprise services to hardware, soft ware and the cloud. Fixing one aspect in isolation won’t solve the problem. In fact, isolated priorities and one-dimensional thinking played a large part in creating the problem in the fi rst place.
Once government has a solid strategic roadmap, the focus can shift to fi nding the smartest, most direct and most cost-eff ective path to get there. Since governments have spent so much time maintaining old systems and comparatively less on new projects, this eff ort will also involve a shift in mindset. It is important for government to assess the skills needed for modernization and to bring in a fresh perspective. Too oft en projects and procurements have loft y goals painting a bright future, but are held back by detailed requirements that are fi rmly planted in the past.
Finally — and perhaps most fundamentally — govern-ments need a deep willingness to change. Constituent demands and today’s budget challenges aren’t going away. Smart govern-ment leaders from policy to administration need to be willing to embrace new mindsets and boldly seek out the benefi ts of change.Endnotes1. http://www.cbpp.org/cms/?fa=view&id=7112. http://www.govtech.com/public-safety/Pinellas-County-Courts-Management-System-021811.html3. http://www.govtech.com/budget-fi nance/New-Jersey-Treasury-Legacy-Systems.html
New Thinking for the Enterprise
“Due to budget challenges that we’ve all faced over the past few years, the state of Delaware has specifi cally focused on virtualization eff orts to reduce short-term expenses. By establishing and creating a private cloud infrastructure, the state has experienced an immediate cost savings of $1.2 million annually. Th ese are real cost savings and not simply cost avoidance. Th e ability to prove this success has resulted in further support from other state agencies and we are now moving towards the virtualization and migration of all hardware infrastruc-ture throughout the state. We anticipate virtualizing all eligible serv-ers throughout the state within the next four years.”
BILL HICKOX, CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER, DELAWARE DEPARTMENT OF TECHNOLOGY AND INFORMATION
“Kentucky is likely unique among many other sister states in that ‘cloud computing,’ or strategic sourcing, has been in place for vari-ous services since the 1970s. For example, Kentucky has successfully provided mainframe computing services, using a ‘cloud’ model, for decades. E-mail services are also provided in the same shared-ser-vices fashion for the executive branch, albeit only since 1999. As the interim CIO of the Commonwealth, my overarching objective is to ensure quality IT services are provided, while continually reduc-ing operational costs. Part of that objective involves researching all methods of IT sourcing, including cloud computing. We evaluate all options for IT delivery, and as the dynamics of the IT business change, we will be equally prepared to change.”
LORI FLANERY, SECRETARY OF FINANCE AND ADMINISTRATION, KENTUCKY
UNDERWRITTEN BY: Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) listens to customers and delivers innovative technology and services that give them the power to do more. Forging
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© 2011 e.Republic. All Rights Reserved. | 100 Blue Ravine Road, Folsom, CA 95630 | 916-932-1300 phone | 916-932-1470 fax | www.centerdigitalgov.com
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www.public-cio.com [19]
Since then, attitudes have evolved in Delaware. The
Department of Technology and Information’s subsidy pol-
icy creates a fi nancial incentive for employees to use
their personal mobile devices. If the pilot goes statewide,
employees who are willing to turn in their state-issued
devices will be reimbursed up to $30 per month for data
plans on their personal smartphones.
Hickox said there was extensive debate about whether
the state should pay for data plans that employees would
probably purchase themselves. Simple cost savings set-
tled the argument. Most state agencies pay $80 to $90
for each BlackBerry, Hickox said. Under his proposed
change, employees would pay for their own devices, voice
plans and associated taxes. The state would merely cover
the $30 data plan. If state business increases the bill for
an employee’s voice plan, the state will kick in an extra
$10. Hickox said his team is careful to call the money a
“reimbursement,” not a stipend, because a stipend counts
as taxable income. Employees turn in their receipts each
month for the reimbursement.
In North Dakota, a similar policy is in the works — its
pilot allows iPads and other personal mobile devices on the
network, and the state offers classes on how to safely use
the devices. North Dakota CIO Lisa Feldner said she was
shocked to learn that so many state employees used per-
sonal iPads at work; they were using wireless connections
provided for guest access instead of connecting through the
secure network.
“Rather than taking the hard line stance, we’re saying,
‘OK, if you’re going to do this, we want you to
know it’s still important to keep the network and
the state’s resources secure,’” Feldner said.
The state hired a technology instructor from a
public school district in North Dakota to teach
the classes, which are consistently packed.
POTENTIAL GAINS WITH PERSONAL GADGETSWhen it comes to allowing personal devices
on the network, some CIOs envision benefits
beyond cost savings and employee satis-
faction. Feldner, for instance, sees them as
important tools.
“A lot of these devices allow people to be more
productive, more so than perhaps a laptop does,”
she said. “A laptop is a fairly large device, and
maybe the battery doesn’t last very long. You can
take an iPad or one of the newer tablet devices,
have it on your lap and get a lot of your e-mail
done. They don’t make any noise, you can take
notes and you have a battery life that’s huge on
all of these devices.”
Allowing employees to use these machines also is criti-
cal to retaining top IT talent, Feldner believes. Contrary to
most of the country right now, North Dakota has a thriv-
ing economy due to its agriculture and energy industries.
The state is home to Microsoft’s second largest campus,
and Feldner directly competes for talent with a few nearby
IT fi rms.
“As you get the younger generation that grew up in the
digital age, they expect to be able to use all of these devic-
es,” she said. “They buy them anyway, and they want to use
them at work.”
Feldner was also struck by how much faster nontechnical
employees learned to use commercial devices like the iPad
compared to government-issued laptops. “I don’t know why
these devices are more user-friendly,” she said, “but they
seem to be.”
Looking east to Montgomery County, Md., CIO Steve
Emanuel recently received some seed money to enhance
the county’s mobile IT strategy. Emanuel, who likes
using his iPad at work, may use some of his new funds
to see if personal devices could reduce his maintenance
staff’s workload.
One idea, which is still incubating, is to pay employees
stipends to purchase maintenance plans for their personal
devices. Since other counties have achieved efficiencies
by offering stipends for personal cell phones used at
work, Emanuel said stipends for maintaining tablets and
other devices might alleviate his help desk’s workload.
The incentive for end-users, Emanuel said, would be that
“THE STIPEND PROCESS WOULD SAY, ‘WE’RE PAYING YOU TO USE YOUR EQUIPMENT. IF YOU HAVE A PROBLEM WITH IT, YOU BETTER HAVE A PLAN B.’” STEVE EMANUEL, CIO, MONTGOMERY COUNTY, MD.
DAV
ID K
IDD
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[20]
they could pocket any of the maintenance
stipend they didn’t use. When it comes
to connecting the devices to the network,
Emanuel said help desk workers possibly
could write employee guides based on the
similar menu systems used in the various
commercial devices.
Emanuel emphasized that employees who
take the stipend would be expected to be
savvy, educated end-users who can handle
most device problems on their own.
“The stipend process would say, ‘We’re pay-
ing you to use your equipment. If you have a
problem with it, you need to have a plan B,’”
Emanuel said.
Time will tell whether Emanuel’s idea to
subsidize private maintenance plans comes to
fruition. Some other local officials, like CIO
Gary Cavin of Columbus, Ohio, are willing to
allow personal devices on the network, but
won’t go as far as paying for private mainte-
nance plans. “I can’t say it’s something that’s
impossible,” he said, “but for us right now,
that’s not the direction we’re headed.”
Columbus senior systems administrator Ivan
King said quality control would be too com-
plicated. What would happen, he asked, if the
employee broke the personal device? “Where is your service
level agreement? Because now that guy has to run to Best
Buy,” he said. “Say they’re going to ship it back to Dell. He’ll
get a new one in three days, and now he’s not doing anything.
I don’t see how that model plays out.”
In North Dakota, the help desk offers techni-
cal support on personal devices. The extra work
hasn’t overburdened the help desk, Feldner
said. “When we started seeing these devices
show up, we equipped our help desk with a
couple of them so they had some idea that these
things were here,” she said.
CALMING SECURITY FEARS Security issues regarding personal devices
on a government network usually concern the
downloading of health and human services
data and tax-related documents. North Dakota
doesn’t yet allow the ability to do so on per-
sonal devices. The data the state permits for download onto
personal devices, Feldner said, is public record. However,
her team still puts strict security protections on these per-
sonal handhelds, including special password protection.
The devices also can be wiped remotely.
“Since people have their state e-mail on their devices, if
they get stolen, we don’t want the culprit sending e-mails
from that user’s account,” Feldner said. The application used
for this protection wipes the device automatically after
someone makes 10 failed password attempts.
Delaware, by contrast, allows sensitive
fi les on personal devices but installs special
encryption to keep unapproved eyes from
viewing the data. North Dakota uses this
sort of encryption on state-issued laptops,
which can be used for sensitive fi les. Although
Feldner doesn’t do this for personal devices,
she expects to hear requests for it eventually.
As for whether personal gadgets require
additional information security personnel
for the added work, Feldner said that hasn’t
been the case. But it doesn’t mean her
security officers are happy about allowing
the devices.
“They’re not thrilled because it’s one more thing they
have to try to keep ahead of,” Feldner said. “They under-
stand that this is the way the world is moving, so we
need to accommodate it and figure out a way to keep
things secure.” ¨
PAM
ELA
SMET
TE
“RATHER THAN TAKING THE HARD LINE STANCE, WE’RE SAYING, ‘OK, IF YOU’RE GOING TO DO THIS, WE WANT YOU TO KNOW IT’S STILL IMPORTANT TO KEEP THE NETWORK AND THE STATE’S RESOURCES SECURE.” LISA FELDNER, CIO, NORTH DAKOTA
10THE NUMBER OF
FAILED PASSWORD ATTEMPTS BEFORE
INFORMATION IS AUTOMATICALLY
WIPED FROM NORTH DAKOTA
EMPLOYEES’ DEVICES.
PCIO08_16.indd 20PCIO08_16.indd 20 8/11/11 3:08 PM8/11/11 3:08 PM
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in 16 Commodity CategoriesYou may have joined TCPN to use one particular contract, but dial up your efficiency by utilizing the bid law compliant resources available from TCPN. Visit the online app store for contracts at www.TCPN.org/vendors.
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[22]
QUOSTATUSthe
CHALLENGING
CHIEF INNOVATION OFFICER BRYAN SIVAK EXPLAINS WHY FAILURE IS A NECESSARY PART OF PROGRESS.
B Y J E S S I C A M U L H O L L A N D I P H O T O S B Y D A V I D K I D D
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BRYAN SIVAK’S MISSION STATEMENT IS SIMPLE: TO CHALLENGE THE STATUS QUO WHEREVER IT EXISTS. DOING THAT IN A GOVERNMENT BUREAUCRACY, OF COURSE, IS A BIT MORE COMPLEX.
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[24]
IN WHAT WAYS DOES WORKING FOR A STATE DIFFER FROM WORKING FOR A CITY?
There are some very interesting differences between the
state and local levels. Many are pretty obvious, but I think
they’re hard to grasp until you’ve done both. You’re not
dealing with things, like potholes and mass transit systems,
so it defi nitely takes longer to see the impacts of many deci-
sions and actions you take. But the potential scope of any
decision or action is much broader. I think with the right
attitudes of the people running the operational agencies
(the cabinet secretaries and others in the governor’s office),
there are some very direct and tangible actions that can be
seen relatively quickly and easily. It just depends on what
you’re looking to do and how to do it.
DO YOU USE THAT CITY-MINDED VIEWPOINT IN YOUR NEW ROLE? DOES IT CHANGE HOW YOU WORK AT THE STATE LEVEL?
I’ve been approaching this very much the same way I was
approaching it at the city level. I think given what I’m try-
ing to do, a lot of the activities are going to be similar. Many
of the people in the O’Malley administration also came
from the city level. A lot of people were working with him
when he was the mayor of Baltimore. The experiences that
I have and that a lot of the other folks in the administration
have are very similar.
DO YOU THINK THERE’S A STRENGTH IN THAT?Absolutely. When you’re running and doing work in a
city, I think there’s a very strong connection to the people
and to tangible things you can do to affect their lives in a
benefi cial way. It’s much more personal. You’re interacting
with individuals on a more regular basis, and that has to
come with you when you move up the ladder. As you scale
FORMER DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA CTO BRYAN SIVAK is best known for implementing technology initiatives like the accountability portal TrackDC. But his new role as Maryland’s first chief innovation officer may be his most challenging yet.
Sivak is tasked with helping to implement some of Gov. Martin O’Malley’s signature initiatives like setting up the best health insurance exchange in the country, addressing critical issues like public safety and broadband access, and engaging citizens in their government via technol-ogy and social media.
Though it’s been just four months since he started, Sivak says he’s looking forward to ushering in an open mentality when it comes to the challenges of innovating. In two phone interviews — one in late May and another in early August — Sivak spoke about the variations he sees in work-ing for different levels of government and why failure is a necessary part of innovation.
“There are different ways of doing things that are complementary to achieving the goals of your organiza-tion and your operation, and we can work on all of those things.
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www.public-cio.com [25]
these different jurisdictional boundaries,
it gets less personal. But I think those per-
sonal stories and contacts bring you back
down. They’re the things that remind you
of why you’re doing this in the fi rst place.
HOW WILL YOU USE YOUR EXPERIENCE AS THE DISTRICT’S CTO IN YOUR NEW ROLE?
To really do some of the things I’m trying
to do, I need to get the cabinet secretaries to actually work
with me and want to try some of these new ideas. I think
that my experience running an agency — obviously not as
big, but still a pretty large operation — gives me some street
cred, if you will. I can go to a cabinet secretary and say,
“Look, I’ve done your job, at least in a similar fashion, so I
know what you’re facing. I understand how hard it can be
to try anything new and different with the challenges of a
day-to-day operation.” But I think that’s where I can help.
That’s where I can come in and say, “There are different
ways of doing things that are complementary to achieving
the goals of your organization and your operation, and we
can work on all of those things.”
WHAT ARE SOME OF THE NEW THINGS YOU’RE TRYING? One side of it is looking at a series of objectives the gov-
ernor has. It’s kind of a fascinating administration because
he’s term-limited, so he really has to execute as quickly
as he can on a number of different things. I’m working on
trying to help look at some of these signature initiatives
and get them done in a relatively quick time frame. For
example, the governor wants Maryland to be the No. 1 state
for health care in the country. As part of that, we have early
adopter grants from the federal government to build this
health insurance exchange that needs to be set up by 2014.
Our goal is to set up the best one out there — the one that
helps the most people and that does everything as well as
we can possibly imagine it.
There are a whole bunch of other things around public
safety. The governor is big on interoperability and making
sure people can communicate with each other in times of
crisis. We have lots of different projects happening right
now in the public safety arena that need to be knit together
in a seamless and cohesive fashion. Broadband is some-
thing I focused on quite heavily in D.C. And digital divide
issues — that’s another thing that’s big in Maryland right
now, so I’m working on that. I’m trying to push different
agencies to take advantage of new technologies to capture
citizen feedback or communication around various issues
... ways of leveraging social media to both get information
from people and push information to people.
WHAT DOES THE “CHIEF INNOVATION OFFICER” TITLE MEAN AS FAR AS YOUR ROLE IN GETTING THINGS DONE?
There are many different ways to defi ne the term or the
concept of innovation within government. What I’m explain-
ing to people as an overall mission [is] a single statement:
Innovation means challenging the status quo, wherever it
exists. That statement can be applied in a number of ways.
“A lot of this boils down to really letting the people who are in the trenches doing the day-to-day work do things in their own way. Give them the freedom to try new stuff.
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[26]
One obvious way is breaking through years of entrenched
bureaucracy and the “because that’s how that’s always been
done” attitude. Another way is to push people, especially
leaders at agencies or managers of large groups of people,
to be more risk-tolerant and to understand that failure is
not only an option, but it’s sometimes a necessity to actually
move some things forward — as long as that failure is fast
and cheap.
IN AN ARTICLE ON TECHPRESIDENT.COM, YOU SAID ONE OF YOUR BIGGEST CHALLENGES WILL BE TRYING TO SHOW PEOPLE THAT FAILURE IS OK AND IT’S NOT GOING TO GET THEM FIRED. CAN YOU EXPLAIN WHY THAT’S SO IMPORTANT?
When I fi rst started in government
a couple of years ago, I was expecting
to see the [stereotypical] government
bureaucrat. What I found, more often
than not, were people who are incred-
ibly motivated and dedicated to the job
they’re trying to do, and really are doing
it for the right reason ... because they
were trying to do something good for
people. I think over years, a lot of your
drive and gusto gets beaten out of you
by bureaucratic red tape, people telling
you “no” and not being able to fi nd an
easy way around things. Then maybe
worst of all, there’s typically no incen-
tive in the government for anybody
to try anything new. As I said before,
I think failure is a necessary part of
innovation. You can’t be expected to hit
a home run every time. Sometimes it’s
going to be a single; sometimes you’re
going to foul out to the catcher. But we
need to accept that to make some sig-
nifi cant changes.
A lot of this boils down to really let-
ting the people who are in the trenches
doing the day-to-day work do things in
their own way. Give them the freedom
to try new stuff. They’re the ones who
know all these things the best. Let them
fail and then let them succeed, and celebrate both the
failures and successes until people realize there are better
ways of doing things.
It’s not a natural act for governments that are under con-
stant scrutiny and pressure to never do anything wrong. I
think that’s another side of it that has to be addressed, but
that’s part of my role. I want to evangelize the fact that you
can’t expect things to be perfect every time, especially if you
want things to work out for the better and change. The way to
do it is to fi nd some bright spots because there are people out
there doing this right now in Maryland and elsewhere. If we
can fi nd those bright spots, hold them up as shining exam-
ples and show people how to replicate that success, then we
“If I am successful, my position might no longer be necessary because we will have been able to bake these concepts into the DNA of the organization.
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www.public-cio.com [27]
can start a really signifi cant movement toward making this
the status quo as opposed to the way they are right now.
SINCE YOU BEGAN IN APRIL, HAS ANYTHING NEW OR NOTEWORTHY OCCURRED AS FAR AS YOUR POSITION IS CONCERNED?
The universe of potential projects keeps growing. I’ve
gotten involved in initiatives ranging from public health,
procurement reform, work force issues, public data and
transparency, job creation, technology commercialization
and much more. The big challenge, to be honest, has been
keeping things off my plate — there’s a ton of interesting
work to do.
WHAT ADVICE DO YOU HAVE ABOUT YOUR POSITION FOR OTHER STATES THAT ARE CONSIDERING SUCH A POST?
This role is less of a “creative idea generation and imple-
mentation” job and more of a “surface and facilitate the
ideas of others” job. I’ve spoken to public, private and
nonprofi t organizations that have tried or are trying to do
something like this and the situations are all very similar
— the organizational hierarchies, internal bureaucracies
and politics have prevented good ideas from surfacing and
being implemented. Fear is a potent motivator. If an orga-
nization is truly serious about doing something like this, it
has to be willing to implement signifi cant cultural change
and be ready to celebrate small failures as much as success-
es. This means fi nding an individual or individuals who can
truly fi ll the role of enablers, either from a minor fi nancial
perspective, a collaboration and silo-breaking perspective,
a red-tape cutting perspective or in many cases, all of the
above. Leaders have to be willing to embrace challenges to
the status quo — something easier said
than done. And in the medium to long
term, it helps to set aside a relatively
small fund to help enable potentially
risky ideas that require small invest-
ments to get started.
WHAT PROJECTS HAVE YOU WORKED ON THAT DON’T REQUIRE NEW FUNDING?
One thing I’ve been spending a lot of time on is job cre-
ation. The governor is a big believer in small companies
being the engine of job growth, and I’ve been looking at
ways to help enable the creation of new businesses across
the state. Maryland receives a huge amount of investment
of R&D dollars, but it ranks relatively low in terms of com-
mercialization of the technologies created through this
investment. I believe that there isn’t too much a state can
do from a legislative perspective to help solve this problem,
but there is one thing government is ideally positioned to
do: convene. There is a large community of individuals in
the state who can help build out these groups and provide
a robust support infrastructure, and we can help enable
these communities by creating connections between exist-
ing groups and individuals who don’t normally connect.
Another area of focus for me is cost-neutral internal opera-
tional efficiency. I’m helping a number of agencies imple-
ment ideas that are primarily focused on process change,
some related to technology, but more often than not, [are]
based on basic cultural change. I’m also working on a
longer-term effort to formalize the ability for individuals
and groups to not only think creatively about ways they can
challenge the status quo, but also to actually do something
about it. This is one of those efforts where if I am success-
ful, my position might no longer be necessary because we
will have been able to bake these concepts into the DNA of
the organization. That’s looking far down the road, but I’m
optimistic that we can at least get the organization moving
along this path during my tenure in the state.
HOW DIFFICULT HAS IT BEEN TRYING TO TEACH PEOPLE THAT FAILURE IS A NECESSARY PART OF INNOVATION?
So far I have found a wide and varied range of groups
and individuals across the government. We have a num-
ber of agency leaders and middle managers who are true
visionaries and have been willing to embrace new ideas
or initiatives in the name of progress. There is not much
I need to do in these situations except help surface ideas
from elsewhere in the bureaucracy and make connections
between organizational silos to facilitate the implementa-
tion of these ideas. There are other cases where the ossifi ed
bureaucracy has created layers of middle management who
are incented to keep their heads down as opposed to trying
new things, and this is where I’ve had a lot of fun so far.
One of the great things about my job is that I can assume
a lot of risk. If you have a great idea but worry that if
something goes wrong it will come back to haunt you, I can
accept the risk of failure and take the blame if necessary,
while letting you take all the credit if the implementation
of the idea is successful. Convincing people that this is
actually possible is a bit of a challenge, but once we get
there, anything is possible. ¨
Jessica Mulholland is associate editor of Public CIO.
“I think failure is a necessary part of innovation. You can’t be expected to hit a home run every time.
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now coming from mobile users. • According to the Arkansas mobile portal team, several chal-
lenges must be addressed in developing successful mobile websites and native applications: – Designing for a small screen, especially for graphics and usability – Supporting a number of diff erent mobile devices – Providing the most-needed mobile functions – Eliminating applications that are too complicated for mobile
devices, such as services that require multiple documents or intensive graphics
– Tying together visitors’ location-based information and phone mapping features so users can get the information they need
– Building separate instances of graphics and sizing for native device applications, i.e., iPhone apps for iPhones, Android apps for Android phones
– Finding a common, yet powerful, development platform for training personnel and providing the best possible environ-ment for creating mobile apps for the site
New Mexico Motor Vehicle Division• New Mexico’s www.mvd.newmexico.gov/mobile solution
launched on February 21, 2011. “We wanted to provide a great deal of [quick-loading] content, fairly simply,” says Alicia C. Ortiz, deputy director of the New Mexico Motor Vehicle Division. “We focused on what we considered the most important information based on the questions we get from the public and on the most visited Web pages on our site.” Top applications focus on a range of “How do I …” questions plus finding services normally provided at field offices so citizens do not have to travel.
• Some of New Mexico’s top mobile applications include: – Getting a new driver’s license, changing an address, and
other basic services
– Using the “Where’s My License?” app to track the status of a driver’s license application
– Finding fi eld offi ces, operating hours, contact information, current wait time
– Locating ports of entry for commercial drivers – Finding private title service companies that can issue titles
• Like other states, New Mexico suffers from fewer and fewer resources. “There are a lot of technological advances that states don’t necessarily have the funding to support,” Ortiz says. “We’re always looking for ways to improve customer service, prevent people from having to come to our over-taxed service centers, and provide people with alternatives that make it easier for them to do business with us.”
Where Can I Find Out More?
“Building the Innovation Nation”50 State Portals Assessmentwww.govtech.com/innovationnation
“Th e Self-Funded Model: Eliminating costs and enhancing service delivery”www.govtech.com/innovationnation
Endnotes
1. Gant, Jon P. and Diana Burley Gant, “Web portal functionality and State government E-service,” Proceedings of the 35th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, 2002, IEEE Computer Society.
NIC is the nation’s largest provider of eGovernment services and secure payment processing solutions. It builds, manages
and markets online services for 23 states and hundreds of local governments. NIC’s solutions simplify time-consuming
processes, increase effi ciencies and reduce costs for government agencies and the constituents they serve.
ADVERTISEMENT
© 2011 e.Republic | Smart Media for Public Sector Innovation | All rights reserved. | 100 Blue Ravine Road, Folsom, CA 95630 | 916-932-1300 phone | 916-932-1470 fax
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[30]
RA SING YOUR PROFILE
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www.public-cio.com [31]
B Y E VA N E U M A N N
Being the chief of information, as in chief information offi cer, means you’re responsible for the fl ow of knowledge between people in your organization. CIOs often are described as not much more than technocrats who are wrapped up only in the procurement and implementation of new technologies. Too often, those within their agency (and sometimes even CIOs themselves) don’t realize the true strategic value their offi ce delivers. It’s about a lot more than fi xing BlackBerrys — CIOs facilitate agencywide collaboration and effi ciency that furthers the government’s mission. The key to CIOs being more to their organization than just the head IT offi cer is to communicate their value.
A CIO’S WORK IS VITAL, BUT DOES EVERYONE KNOW IT? SIX STEPS FOR COMMUNICATING YOUR VALUE.
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[32]
BE THE CHIEF OF INFORMATIONCIOs already do a good job of managing enterprise-
level technology adoption and policymaking that meet
strict requirements. But have you considered going above
and beyond the traditional role of a CIO? Consider this:
What if you were truly the chief of information, sharing
openly with subordinate groups about organizational
plans and objectives? Those who work for you, or groups
that depend on your office, may not truly realize how
valuable the work your office does is for them unless you
make that information readily available. Don’t neglect
telling your story to others in the organization. The
messages should drive your overall strategy as a CIO —
ensure that each time you communicate, it’s fi lled with
purpose.
DON’T JUST TELL, SHOWPeople are generally visual thinkers. So communicating
your messages to stakeholders, especially in a fast-paced,
digital-driven world, will go a lot further if they are
visual. Create compelling charts, infographics and photo-
driven stories about your successes. Design collateral
that people want to read, and can quickly scan and still
get the point — which is that you’re doing a great job,
and the CIO’s office is contributing exponentially to the
agency’s overall success.
JUSTIFY INVESTMENTSDo you have trouble persuading leadership, or even your
employees, that your investments are the right ones? Can
you really blame them if you haven’t shown them what the
predicted outcomes are? Again, you’re showing stakehold-
ers, not just telling them, that your plans can work.
Do this with business cases. Perhaps another agency or
private-sector organization already has pioneered the way
with strikingly good results. You’ve done your homework on
why your proposed investments are good ones — but no one
will know if you don’t show them. Create scenario stories
and show how your solutions fi ll the gaps your agency may
have in the future. Justify investments by communicating
openly about them and telling stories that people can easily
grasp instead of just throwing numbers at them. And don’t
be afraid to elicit feedback — the communication model
needs to be two-way. Stakeholders are likelier to buy into
your strategy when they’re part of the solution.
MAKE YOUR CONTRIBUTIONS CLEAR TO NON-IT EXECUTIVESWhether in government or commercial operations, the
CIO plays an important role in keeping things working
from day to day. Without the solutions your office imple-
ments, many functions that other executives — and ground-
level employees — take for granted wouldn’t be available.
But many stakeholders who depend on your services daily
probably don’t think about the hard work that goes into
providing them (unless, of course, something goes wrong).
Building relationships with other executives and employ-
ees in your organization before there is a problem makes
things go more smoothly when issues arise. To do this,
it’s imperative that you maintain a steady fl ow of digest-
ible information in and out of the CIO’s office. Digestible
means, of course, information that enables non-IT execu-
tives to understand the intricacies of all the things you’re
doing to make their lives easier. Identify a talented commu-
nicator, either internally or externally, who can successfully
translate technical topics for nontechnical people. Do the
legal, public affairs, science, HR and other professionals in
your agency truly understand what you do for them? Do
smaller internal organizations that rely on the CIO’s office
for guidance and support really appreciate the value you
contribute? If they don’t, perhaps it’s time to speak in nar-
ratives, in layman’s language and with visual components
that effectively explain your office’s successes.
FIND OUT WHAT PEOPLE REALLY NEEDDon’t let vendors and fads dictate your IT strategies.
Stay focused on maintaining open lines of communi-
cation with your core agency stakeholders to find out
what they really need. Have you spoken with employees
who are in the trenches every day using technologies
that were put in place by the CIO’s office? What solu-
tions would optimize and streamline their jobs? By tak-
ing care of these individuals, you essentially increase
the agency’s overall effectiveness. What information
do workers need? What information and support do
they need most quickly? What bureaucratic steps keep
them from getting the resources they need in a timely
manner? By employing open lines of communication
that work in both directions, you can be in tune with
the agency’s needs in real time. If you provide valuable,
understandable information, you’re likelier to get honest,
helpful feedback.
JUSTIFY INVESTMENTS BY COMMUNICATING OPENLY ABOUT THEM AND TELLING STORIES THAT PEOPLE CAN EASILY GRASP INSTEAD OF JUST THROWING NUMBERS AT THEM.
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www.public-cio.com [33]
COMMUNICATE WHAT TECHNOLOGIES HELP THE AGENCY TO DOQuash perceptions that your office excels at just play-
ing with technology. When you embark onto technological
territory that may be new for personnel in your orga-
nization, prepare your staff by clearly explaining what
the new technology will help the agency do. Will it cut
costs? Will it save time? Will it cause any pain points
for end-users, and if so, what are you doing to mitigate
those issues?
By providing transparent communication about new
technologies and policies, and listening to feedback from
your audiences, making important decisions becomes
easier. Potential issues are identifi ed earlier. Preparing
responses to common misperceptions becomes less of a
guessing game. Overall, the result is better for the agency
because a solution that does something — and that has
been accepted by the community because of early involve-
ment — is a solution that satisfi es more end-users. When
the community feels that the communication process
works both ways, you’ll identify champions within your
agency who don’t always fi t the CIO profi le. But because of
your excellent explanations, they’ve envisioned life with
the technologies and policies you’re implementing. They
become ambassadors for your office’s initiatives, and the
perception of value of the CIO’s office steadily increases
from within the organization.
These steps help accomplish the objective of ensuring
that others understand the value of the CIO’s office, and
it all goes back to one point — communication. It might
be easy to get tied up in your responsibilities as a CIO and
hope that someone else is effectively communicating with
your stakeholders, carefully explaining why you’re doing
things the way you are. But that’s not always the case. To be
a more effective CIO, you’ll need the entire agency on your
side, contributing to the greater conversation about orga-
nizational efficiency. Until everyone knows you’re ready to
talk, and until they understand your role, they’re likely to
stand by silently hoping for something better. Fill that void,
and let the information fl ow. ¨
Eva Neumann is founder and president of ENC Marketing
& Communications.
CASE STUDY | BUILDING A STRATEGY
When the offi ce of the CIO (OCIO) within one U.S. government agency needed to raise awareness internally about how it serves the department, it sought help to develop a comprehensive communications strategy to ensure the offi ce’s value was fully realized. Through a messaging session and interviews with IT leaders, an internal awareness campaign was created to help identify the OCIO’s core competencies to create a brand identity and provide stakeholders with information about the offi ce’s accomplishments and capabilities, with emphasis on strengthening its cyber-security.
Because the CIO’s offi ce covers highly complex subject matter, direct, strategic messages were developed that would become the core of the OCIO’s reputation. Now the CIO has elevator pitch-style language that conveys the organization’s roles and responsibilities — in terms that are relevant to the many audiences it serves. Because the OCIO supplies information, applications and systems that people rely on to perform their jobs, communication materials were created that highlight the human impact of its work.
To visually showcase the human-interest angle of the OCIO’s work, a case study was developed to provide a creative look at what the offi ce had done to improve the agency’s security infrastructure. The case study is an appealing and compelling product that gives the agency a more persuasive way to show the U.S. Congress, undersecretaries, smaller IT components within the agency and other stakeholders that the OCIO is accomplishing its mission. Instead of complex network diagrams, pictorial representations convey to end-users what their personal views look like in terms of the agency’s larger security infrastructure.
The case study is just one example of a communication tool that accomplishes some of the objectives defi ned above. Another valuable tool the agency created was an accomplishments and capabilities booklet, which tied in the organization’s strategic messaging to convey purposeful language to stakeholders about what the organization has done, is doing and can do for them.
BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS WITH OTHER EXECUTIVES AND EMPLOYEES IN YOUR
ORGANIZATION BEFORE THERE IS A PROBLEM MAKES THINGS GO MORE
SMOOTHLY WHEN ISSUES ARISE.
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orking as a public CIO can be a stressful job that comes with some unsavory snags. The stress of working in the
public eye can bring out the gray hairs. There’s scrutiny from every direction — the media proffers criticism of every decision, there are co-workers who have agendas and don’t cooperate, and with such pressure, even the CIO may come to privately second-guess his or her own decisions. Getting things done is never as easy as it seems — CIOs have to fill out three forms and hold a meeting just to use the restroom. And being a public servant means being responsible for mil-lions of dollars and taking a pay cut for the privilege of work-ing for government.
For example, the average salary of a state CIO is $130,552, according to a survey released biannually by NASCIO. This figure is more than three times as much as the average U.S. wage, so it’s not as if state CIOs are hurting compared to the average American. But state CIOs make about one-third less than their private-sector counterparts who, according to NASCIO Executive Director Doug Robinson, make nearly $190,000 a year.
“We’ve been tracking this for six or seven years,” Robinson said. “The majority of state CIOs leave. They come from the private sector and when they leave, they go back to the private sector.”
It’s more than just a $60,000 salary cut, Robinson said. Officials working for private companies also get bonuses, stock options and a better benefits package than those working in the public sector. So who in their right mind would tolerate the smaller paycheck in exchange for a bunch of headaches?
As it turns out, few tolerate it for very long. The average tenure of a state CIO is 20 months, Robinson said. This is partially because, in most states, the CIO is an appointed posi-tion, meaning state CIOs typically lose their job when there’s a change in power. But it’s also because it’s a difficult job with comparatively low pay.
Jesse Rothstein, an associate professor of public policy and economics at the University of California at Berkeley, said it’s a case of simple economics. “If you pay less, you can’t get as competent or skilled a worker,” Rothstein said. That’s not to say there aren’t competent, skilled workers in government — there
W
TAKING LESS SALARY TO WORK AS A GOVERNMENT CIO ISN’T JUST ABOUT SERVING THE PUBLIC.
MONEYMATTERS
B Y C O L I N W O O D I C O N T R I B U T I N G W R I T E R
I L L U S T R A T I O N B Y T O M M c K E I T H
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defi nitely are. But the fundamental economic incentives for
the most skilled workers to stay in government are missing.
If the incentives are in the private sector, that’s where the
talent will go.
To some, this is a cold outlook. After all, money isn’t
everything. What about the people who want to make a
difference or those who view the world through a pair of
government-issued, rose-colored glasses?
THE WARM FUZZIESMelodie Mayberry-Stewart, who served as New York’s
state CIO for nearly four years before resigning in March,
said salary wasn’t a big consideration when she took the
position. “It’s about wanting to serve. You have to love tech-
nology and how technology can better serve the citizens,”
she said. But looking at friends in the private sector who
make seven fi gures, she said, forced her to examine why she
took the position of CIO in the fi rst place.
“It’s defi nitely a sacrifi ce when you look at opportunities in
the private sector. You look at those temptations. You wouldn’t
be human if you didn’t,” Mayberry-Stewart said. But her
desire to serve prevailed and she has no regrets, she said.
Having a fulfi lling career requires more than money,
Mayberry-Stewart said. “I think everybody wants to be
where they can make a contribution and think what they
do is appreciated,” she said. But just because you’re doing
something in the public’s interest doesn’t mean it can’t also
be self-serving; for many, being a public CIO is an invest-
ment in time.
It also looks good on a resumé, Mayberry-Stewart said.
“CIOs typically do well when they leave [government ser-
vice],” she said. “Very rarely do you hear a CIO isn’t able
to fi nd a position. Every career is a stepping stone to the
next position.”
In Mayberry-Stewart’s case, leaving her post as New York’s
CIO opened several options and she chose a position as CEO
at Tri Group Holdings, a technology and behavioral health
consulting fi rm. “It’s an opportunity for me to utilize all of
my skills and for me to blend technology and health care,”
she said. The chance to help provide medical care to the
poor and disenfranchised who are suffering from illness is a
wonderful option that may not have been possible without
the connections that came with being a state CIO, Mayberry-
Stewart said.
THE NOT-SO WARM AND FUZZYNot everyone has such an idealistic outlook, however.
Former Alaska CIO Anand Dubey was clearly frustrated by
his time in public service. “Two kinds of people do it. One
type does it for the retirement,” he said. The second type of
person, a category in which Dubey includes himself, does it
as a one-time public service.
Having spent most of his career in technical and busi-
ness consulting roles, Dubey said he was willing to accept
a salary he normally wouldn’t consider for a change of pace
and chance to give back. “I was sick and tired of waiting on
the sideline and offering ideas,” he said. Dubey is also an
immigrant and cited this as another reason he felt he owed
the country a term of service.
“I knew ahead of time I wanted to do it for one term only,”
he said. “When all was said and done, I felt relief. The relief is
unbelievable. I literally watched everybody, including myself,
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“IT’S DEFINITELY A SACRIFICE WHEN YOU LOOK AT OPPORTUNITIES IN THE PRIVATE SECTOR. YOU LOOK AT THOSE TEMPTATIONS. YOU WOULDN’T BE HUMAN IF YOU DIDN’T.” MELODIE MAYBERRY-STEWART, FORMER CIO, NEW YORK STATE
BY THE NUMBERS2011 State CIO Average Salary: $130,552
2008 State CIO Average Salary: $124,740
2011 Private Company CIO Average Salary: $210,300
2010 Private Company CIO Average Salary: $219,300
2009 Private Company CIO Average Salary: $247,900
2008 Private Company CIO Average Salary: $237,360
2007 Private Company CIO Average Salary: $185,240
2010 #1 HIGHEST State CIO Salary: Wyoming - $194,400
2010 #2 HIGHEST State CIO Salary: Virginia - $191,906
2010 #3 HIGHEST State CIO Salary: Texas and California - $175,000
2010 #1 LOWEST State CIO Salary: Hawaii - $83,040 - $118,212 range
2010 #2 LOWEST State CIO Salary: Vermont - $87,776
2010 #3 LOWEST State CIO Salary: Maine - $96,553
2011 State CIO Average Tenure: 1 year, 8 months
2011 Private Company CIO Average Tenure: 5 years, 2 months
Sources: NASCIO, 2011 State of the CIO report and 2010 The Book of the States.
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age on the job.” New people came in, they were optimistic
but they didn’t understand how difficult it was to change
anything, Dubey said. “They truly believe they can jump in
and run the bureaucracy. It takes a year or two to understand
the challenge,” he said. And by then, time is up and they’re on
their way out the door.
The technical challenges Dubey faced were almost
simple, he said, compared to the red tape involved. “The
bureaucracy is so amazing there’s no way to describe it, no
way to understand it unless you’re actually in it,” he said.
That inertia made fi xing even the smallest problem like
pulling teeth, Dubey said, even though nearly everyone he
worked with was highly competent.
“It’s almost impossible to truly accomplish anything,”
Dubey said. “You have to focus on incremental change and
continuing what the last guy did.”
A DIFFERENT VIEWPerhaps the issue is that those who come from the pri-
vate sector aren’t ready for the reality of government work,
especially when they also have to sacrifi ce a big chunk of
salary. But state CIOs who’ve made a career of government
work tend to have a different outlook.
Carlos Ramos, California’s newly appointed CIO, has
worked in the public sector for 24 years. Ramos agreed that
working for the government is taxing, but he takes a more
patient view of progress. Ramos said it’s important for state
CIOs to understand that government operates differently
than a private company and that success depends on one’s
ability to embrace collaboration and see the bigger picture.
While many CIOs are only visiting the public sector for
a couple of years before they return to the private world,
there are those like Ramos, who begin programs in one
department and get promoted somewhere else, but their
work doesn’t necessarily die when that happens. “I think
the work I started in one area actually carries over very
well, and I was able to continue it on a grander scale,” he
said. “So I guess I wouldn’t look at it as a 20-month term.”
Those who stay in government longer may be likelier to
see their efforts succeed, but that’s not to say there isn’t
room for talent from the private sector. “I think it’s healthy
to have a mix of private-sector experience and public-
sector experience,” Ramos said. “You also need innovation.
Having people come in here thinking like business people
is a good thing.”
The issue of money returns, however, as attracting and
retaining talent can be difficult, Ramos said. “Some of our
most skilled technicians and engineers in our public safety
communications office get picked off regularly,” he said. “I
think, in some cases, a better compensation package would
help us retain very critically needed and trained staff.”
But ultimately, the trials and tribulations of working for
the government are a greater force than any salary, Ramos
said. Offering more money wouldn’t be enough to entice
people to stay. “If you’re coming into government or public
service just for the money, you’re not going to last,” he said.
“Ultimately you [must] have a passion for public service
and a commitment to making a positive impact because the
money’s only one part of it.” ¨
Colin Wood is a technology writer based in Folsom, Calif.
“I THINK, IN SOME CASES, A BETTER COMPEN-SATION PACKAGE WOULD HELP US RETAIN VERY CRITICALLY NEEDED AND TRAINED STAFF.” CARLOS RAMOS, CIO, CALIFORNIA
PUBLIC VERSUS PRIVATE
JESSE ROTHSTEIN, associate professor of public policy and economics at the University of California at Berkeley, explained the salary statistics and diff erence between the private and public sectors.
“Government workers tend to make more than the average private-sector worker. But there aren’t very many unskilled government workers,” Rothstein said. There are, however, a great number of private-sector minimum wage jobs, which brings down its overall average wage. Also, comparisons between both sectors are usually averages of the entire sector and don’t typi-cally examine the diff erence between equivalent positions.
State CIOs make considerably less than private-sector CIOs, but does this mean state CIOs are underpaid? It’s hard to say, Rothstein said. “In theory, people should be paid their marginal profi t.” In other words, people’s pay should commensurate what their labor generates. “There’s no inherent value in labor. It’s what someone is willing to pay you,” he said. And as with many jobs, CIO salaries are negotiated based on the applicant’s experi-ence and state’s budget. Working conditions also determine who ends up where, Rothstein said. While a dearth of incentives and unfavorable working conditions in the public sector may turn off a lot of talent, it may also attract those with better intentions, Rothstein said.
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[38]
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www.public-cio.com [39]
Technology outpacing the policy that governs it isn’t
a new phenomenon. But as government officials
across the United States are discovering, keeping up
with the times with regard to social media can raise some
serious questions and cause public outcry about public
employees’ right to free speech.
Delaware’s Kent County Levy Court — the equivalent of
a county council — has an existing rule that bars employ-
ees from using government equipment for personal social
media activity at work. But a proposal introduced in early
May would have extended that ban to include activity dur-
ing non-work times, specifi cally as it relates to commentary
that disparages co-workers or refl ects unfavorably toward
the county government.
Local media in Kent County were up in arms over the matter.
“You can’t criticize county government decisions on your
own time?” questioned a May 6 editorial on Delawareonline
.com. “This is a proposal that requires considerable rethink-
ing. Kent County should stick with workplace rules.”
The message was apparently received. When contacted on
May 16, Bret Scott, a spokesman for Levy Court, explained
that the proposal is currently tabled for further discussion
and revisions.
Scott said the reasoning behind the initial Levy Court
proposal stemmed from ongoing discussions in the legal
community about companies needing to protect themselves
and have a policy in place to govern social media use.
AS SOCIAL NETWORKINGBECOMES A PART OF GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEE WORKFLOW, FIRST AMENDMENT RIGHTS ARE BEING CHALLENGED.
BY B R I A N H E ATO N | S TA F F W R I T E R
SOCIAL MEDIA vs. FREE SPEECH
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[40]
But clearly, not everyone in the county agrees on what the
policy should be. And with employees’ inevitable use of sites
like Facebook and Twitter — whether on or off the clock —
states and localities must deal with the issues that arise.
KENT COUNTY, CONTINUED … “The commissioners asked that our Employee Council
have a chance to review the policy,” Scott said. “The Employee
Council came back with comments that it wasn’t clear to
them on what constituted appropriate or inappropriate use
of Facebook and other social media sites. I don’t know for
certain, but the revisions might better clarify [this].”
In a June 7 e-mail to Public CIO’s sister publication
Government Technology, Scott said Levy Court had a com-
mittee meeting that evening in which the policy changes
regarding a potential ban on social media use by Levy Court
employees at both work and home would be further discussed.
According to a June 16 report in the Dover Post, Levy Court
commissioners approved a social media policy at their meet-
ing on June 14. The new policy doesn’t prevent county work-
ers from using social media at home, but it does prohibit Kent
County employees from accessing and using social media
during their workdays, unless instructed by their department
heads. Employees may, however, use social media on their
personal mobile devices during their lunch break.
The Post also revealed that county workers found guilty
of “misconduct,” such as sexual harassment of another
employee via social media, could face disciplinary action.
Finally, any employee found violating the county’s social
media policy could be terminated.
Scott did not return repeated messages from Government
Technology seeking details regarding the commissioners’
deliberations on the adopted policy.
Prior to the Kent County proposal being adopted in June,
the IT and legal community weighed in heavily on the free
speech and social media question.
Phillip Sparkes, assistant law professor and director
of the Chase Local Government Law Center at Northern
Kentucky University, said that as he understood it, Kent
County’s initial proposal in May would have potentially
barred county workers from using social media in their
private lives, and would ban government employees’ right
to talk about certain subjects.
Sparkes discussed the relationship between Kent County’s
proposal and the outcome in Garcetti v. Ceballos, a 2006
Supreme Court case that found that government employ-
ers can exercise a level of control over what employees say
and do. But Sparkes said the ruling in that case refers to the
“official speech” of an employee, not his or her
personal comments when off the clock.
Using himself in a hypothetical example,
Sparkes said that while it’s obvious he couldn’t
disparage a colleague in a faculty meeting, if
his employer adopted Kent County’s original
proposal, he couldn’t log on to his Facebook
account from home and vent about what was
going on at the office, which Sparkes said is a
big stretch from the conclusion of the Garcetti
case.
“Kent County’s [May proposal] has extrapo-
lated that to defi ne official speech in a way
much broader than I understood the Garcetti
court to be talking about,” Sparkes said.
“[The court] described official speech as essentially speech
the government paid for. My private [statements] are not
speech I was hired to make.”
CHANGING LANDSCAPESocial media use has been a hot-button issue for munici-
pal governments for the last few years. In June 2009, citi-
zens throughout Bozeman, Mont., cried foul when the city
required the disclosure of and access to a job applicant’s
social media profi les.
While the Bozeman policy was quickly rescinded, it’s
clear that not everyone is comfortable with the quickly
eroding line between business and personal privacy.
The change is happening, however, and many employers
are embracing it. In Arvada, Colo., CIO Michele Hovet, an
avid Twitter user, touted the benefi ts of social media and
changed an employee’s job description so she could use her
enthusiasm for Facebook to increase the city’s marketing
efforts and interaction with citizens.
Prior to this change, the employee was caught several times
using her smartphone to access a personal Facebook account, in
violation of city policy against personal use of social media. “It
dawned on me that she knows how to do this, she has time to
monitor and respond,” said Hovet. “So now I’m trying to capitalize
“I THINK FOLKS WHO DRAW LINES AS FAR AS WHAT YOU CAN AND CAN’T DO ON YOUR FREE TIME ARE AVOIDING THE INEVITABLE.” MICHELE HOVET, CIO, ARVADA, COLO.
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www.public-cio.com [41]
on that. We were looking for someone with the passion and time
resources to be proactive on monitoring our social media sites.”
Hovet also revealed that Arvada’s policy only allows the
use of social media for business reasons, but she’s hoping to
change that in the future.
“I think the world is changing, and with newer workers
being socially connected, you have to manage that differ-
ently and let people use the tools, instead of trying to enforce
the rules,” Hovet said. “For social media, I see it no different
than a telecommuting employee. I expect a certain amount
of productivity, but are they going to pick up a phone when
their wife calls? Sure. But I don’t see that being a lot different
between them sending a quick tweet or text message.”
HANDLING SOCIAL MEDIAAs for the line between an employee’s speech on or off the clock,
Hovet felt that policymakers need to get past the fear factor and
let employees be more accountable for their actions.
“I think folks who draw lines as far as what you can and
can’t do on your free time are avoiding the inevitable,” Hovet
said. “Social media has been here, and it’s not going away.
Locking it down is just going to create more management
headaches in the long run.”
David McClure, associate administrator of the General
Services Administration’s Office of Citizen Services and
Innovative Technologies, agreed that social media use is
inevitable. And while agencies can make a simple decision
to shut people off from it at work, it may ultimately be coun-
terproductive.
“Regardless of whether we allow it in government or not,
the one thing we have to realize is that the growing use of
new media, just in personal and consumer life, is escalating,”
McClure said. “And you can’t ignore that. You’d be ignoring
the reality of what people are using to obtain and share infor-
mation and create information sites.”
In Arkansas, CTO Claire Bailey admitted that she found
herself in a “dilemma” regarding employee communica-
tions on social media sites. Although she supports the use of
Facebook and other social networks, she restricted their use
to the state’s communications group after watching employ-
ees overuse Facebook for personal activities.
“To me, freedom of speech is precious to our nation, so I am
very cognizant and respectful of that. But at the same time, I
have to be respectful of state laws,” Bailey said, adding that for
now, social media use falls under Arkansas’ Internet Use Policy.
The policy clearly states that employees can use the Internet
for personal communication briefl y during the workday, but
“any use that contains defamatory, false, inaccurate, abusive,
obscene, pornographic, profane, sexually oriented, threatening,
racially offensive or otherwise biased, discriminatory or illegal
material” is considered unacceptable.
According to Bailey, Arkansas doesn’t have a policy that
restricts an employee’s personal communications on social
media during non-work times on personal equipment, unless
that communication was something like a death threat.
“From my personal perspective, I still believe in the consti-
tutional values our forefathers set forth,” Bailey said. “I know
that sounds very American, apple pie and baseball, but ... I
don’t see that blur of First Amendment rights.”
Instead of taking a “yes or no” approach to social media,
McClure encouraged decision-makers to conduct an in-depth
evaluation of what social media sites can be used for, and then
write a fl exible policy governing their use by employees.
Most importantly, he emphasized the signifi cance of updat-
ing policies and guidelines so they adapt as social networking
use changes. To that end, McClure also pitched the best prac-
tices examples located on Howto.gov, a website created to help
government workers create a better customer experience.
In the case of using government equipment for personal
communication, however, McClure said the policies of an
agency or organization must be written to account for that, so
workers are crystal clear on what speech is considered “free”
and what speech is restricted, based on when that communi-
cation is being delivered, in what medium and on what device.
“If you are using government resources, there are rules
employees are expected to abide by,” McClure explained. “If
those rules and guidelines are clearly stated and people
know what they are, then there are no reasons why that
should be considered illogical.” ¨
POLICY PIPELINEA growing number of governments are adopting policies that regulate how employees can use social media at work. Each of them are written diff erently. For a selected list of social media policies in government, go to http://tinyurl.com/socialmediagovernance.
The list includes links to social media policies written by Seattle, New York City, Massachusetts, Delaware, the Defense Department, the Environmental Protection Agency and many others.
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News, Reviews & Careers
CIO TRANSITIONSSanjeev “Sonny” Bhagowalia was
named Hawaii’s fi rst full-time CIO by
Gov. Neil Abercrombie. Bhagowalia
previously served
as deputy associate
administrator with
the Office of Citizen
Services and Innovative
Technologies, a depart-
ment of the U.S.
General Services
Administration.
Bhagowalia began
his new post July
7 and will head
Hawaii’s recently established Office
of Information Management and
Technology.
In June, Richard Boes was appointed
Vermont’s new CIO and commissioner
of the Department of Information and
Innovation by Gov. Peter Shumlin. In
his new position, Boes will be tasked
with delivering IT services across each
of Vermont’s state government branch-
es, according to the governor’s office.
Boes’ background is
technology services in
higher education. He has
served as senior director
of IT services and chief
information security offi-
cer for California State
University, Fresno (Fresno
State) since 2005. Before
his tenure at Fresno State,
Boes was the director of
network technology at
Brown University.
California Gov. Jerry Brown named
Carlos Ramos state CIO in June.
Having worked for more than two
decades in various capacities for state
agencies, Ramos is well known in the
public-sector IT community for his
project management expertise.
From 2006 to 2008, Ramos directed
the Office of Systems Integration that
manages the state Health and Human
Services Agency’s multibillion-dollar
IT portfolio.
John Letchford officially became
Massachusetts’ CIO in July. Letchford
was named deputy CIO in
February 2008 and served
as the state’s acting CIO
beginning in summer 2010
when Anne Margulies quit
as state CIO to become CIO
of Harvard University. After
taking the acting CIO posi-
tion, Letchford also contin-
ued his role as deputy CIO.
Northrop Grumman
has named Jim Kane vice
president and program manager for
the company’s Virginia Information
Technologies Agency program, the
public-private partnership manag-
ing the state’s IT service delivery and
infrastructure.
Kane was formerly Northrop
Grumman’s IT services director on
the U.S. Missile Defense Agency Joint
National Integration Center Research
and Development Contract program.
In June, Tom Suehs, executive com-
missioner of the Texas Health and
Human Services Commission, was
awarded the Bob Bullock Award for
Outstanding Public Stewardship at the
Government Technology Conference
Southwest in Austin.
The Bob Bullock Award is presented
annually to a Texas state executive or
elected official for outstanding lead-
ership, innovation and a career that
exemplifi es dedication to serving Texas
citizens. The namesake for the award,
Bob Bullock, was a longtime fi xture in
the Texas Legislature.
SURVEY FINDS CIOS ‘CAUTIOUSLY OPTIMISTIC’ ON BUDGET OUTLOOK
The CDW IT Monitor, a bimonthly
index of confi dence and industry
growth, found in its newest report
released in July that although there’s
been a small decrease in budget recov-
ery, IT decision-makers are showing
“cautious optimism” and making care-
ful decisions concerning IT spending.
“CIOs are looking at every IT invest-
ment in terms of how it makes sense
for the business, and our data show
they are still spending on key invest-
ments, including software and hard-
ware — particularly mobile devices,
virtualization and security,” said
Thomas Richards, president and chief
operating officer of CDW, in the report.
State governments are showing a
more favorable budget outlook, with
32 percent of IT decision-makers in
state governments expecting budget
increases, according to the report.
[ CIO CENTRAL ]
[42]
Sanjeev “Sonny” Bhagowalia
John Letchford
B Y E D I T O R I A L S T A F F
Tom Suehs
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Go to www.convergemag.com/2011Q3report to download.
Sponsored by:
Converge Special Report
Featuring:The emergence of the education dashboardIdeas to transform how we measure, evaluate and predict
student resultsExamples of district, state, national and higher education
dashboardsThe information behind the dashboard – data management
systemsKey technology considerations for implementing a dashboard
Produced by:
DOWNLOAD THE LATEST EDITION
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[ CIO CENTRAL ]
[44]
Although this reading is down two per-
centage points from June 2010 fi ndings,
the 32 percent is up eight percentage
points from April 2011 fi ndings.
NASCIO SAYS STATE CIOS ARE UNDER THE MICROSCOPE ON HEALTH BENEFIT EXCHANGES
In the coming years, state CIOs
will be asked to perform a variety of
health IT tasks, particularly in the imple-
mentation of health benefi t exchanges
(HBE), according to a publication
released in June by NASCIO.
The report, On the Fence: IT
Implications of the Health Benefi t
Exchanges, discusses the responsibili-
ties and challenges facing CIOs charged
with creating and deploying HBEs —
one-stop shops where individuals can
more easily fi nd a health insurance plan.
CIOs nationwide are under the micro-
scope as they must identify technology
gaps that need to be fi lled and assess
existing legacy systems that may support
the exchanges and establishment of
multistate collaborations.
PITTSBURGH’S CITY GOVERNMENT TO OUTSOURCE E-MAIL
Pittsburgh is switching its e-mail
system from Microsoft Exchange 2003 to
Google Apps for Government. City offi-
cials believe the move — which should
be complete by Thanksgiving — will
improve services and save the municipal
government approximately 25 percent in
annual e-mail support costs.
Howard A. Stern, CIO of Pittsburgh,
said the fi nancial savings will be nice,
but the shift to cloud-based e-mail
is more about increasing electronic
storage capacity for the city’s 3,000
employees and furthering the mayor’s
efforts to modernize city government.
DAVI
D KI
DD
WASHINGTON STATE BEGINS MOVE INTO NEW DATA CENTER AND OFFICE COMPLEX
Washington began moving state
agency employees into its new
1,000-person office complex, which
was built in conjunction with the
state’s new data center. The build-
ings, located adjacent to each other in
Olympia, opened on July 15, after two
years of construction. The $255 mil-
lion project, a price tag that includes
the 50,000-square-foot data center
and additional space, was criticized by
some lawmakers and budget watchdogs
this year after a report suggested that
the state would only need 4,000 feet of
the data center’s total fl oor space.
MINNESOTA PURSUES CONSOLIDATION OF TECHNOLOGY SERVICES AND STAFF
The budget agreement that ended
Minnesota’s nearly three-week govern-
ment shutdown resulted in legislation
that will consolidate the state’s IT
services and staff. The new legislation
will require all IT staff from 70-plus
agencies to move to the Office of
Enterprise Technology (OET) — the
state’s central IT organization. Once
the consolidation is complete, the
OET will have 1,800 employees —
a steep increase from its current
350-person headcount.¨
MICHIGAN CTO DAN LOHRMANN RECEIVES LEADERSHIP AWARD
Michigan CTO and Public
CIO columnist Dan Lohrmann
has received an InfoWorld 2011
Technology Leadership Award.
Lohrmann, who also serves as
director of infrastructure ser-
vices for the state’s Department
of Technology, Management and
Budget, was recognized for his
government IT efforts as the state
has coped with the recession.
InfoWorld said Lohrmann was
able to reinvent how Michigan
did its IT work given the state’s
budget constraints as a result of
the recession. Lohrmann and his
team re-evaluated the state’s
technology by examining how
support calls were handled and
how a private cloud project
could increase computing
capacity and decrease costs.
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An Insightful Must Read for All Public Sector Executives!Download today at: public-cio.com/reports
Sponsored by:
NEW!
Special Report: A Guide to Mobility in Government This compelling new report “peels back the covers”
on the rising trend of mobility — from the countless
effi ciencies it brings, to navigating often unforeseen
challenges, to the out-of-the-box innovators and real-life
examples across federal, state and local governments.
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TECHNOLOGY EVENTUALLY
upends everything. In 1975,
Eastman Kodak was the fi fth-
largest company in the S&P 500, but
the last roll of its iconic Kodachrome
fi lm is now a museum piece. The Flip
camera democratized video in a shin-
ing moment before being eclipsed by
smartphones and made into a his-
torical footnote by a new owner.
Friendster and Myspace pointed to
the potential of social media without
delivering on it themselves. And before
IBM and Apple rallied and re-created
themselves, corporate obituaries were
written for each of them.
A recent New York Times edito-
rial mused about the next corporate
behemoth to go the way of Kodak
and which might be the next Google,
citing “the ease with which new tech-
nologies emerge to challenge the most
entrenched colossus.”
That’s what makes them so prom-
ising and threatening. They don’t fi t
in some of the best made plans —
sudden, convulsive, disruptive change
wrought by technology doesn’t fi t
neatly into the Baldrige Criteria or
other performance measurement
schemes focused on continuous, incre-
mental improvement. Elected officials
pursue the former as states and local-
ities struggle out of the fi scal crisis —
and the organizations they lead tend
to embrace the latter.
[ FASTGOV]
In many states, elected officials seem
increasingly convinced that their IT
organizations have Kodak-like prob-
lems, so they do the one thing that’s
within their grasp — they restructure.
Consolidation is a perennial favorite for
administrations convinced that there’s
more money to be squeezed out of IT
budgets. In an apparent bid to become
the public-sector equivalent of Ford
or General Motors in the comeback
category, a number of states have gone
further, rolling IT into larger reforms.
Through a difficult three-year pro-
cess, California fi nally established its
state CIO as a Cabinet-level official.
Hawaii established its fi rst state CIO
this year, while Oklahoma moved to
strengthen its state CIO role, which was
created last year. North Carolina sees
promise in the Virginia and Georgia
playbooks, where operational respon-
sibilities and risk were shifted to part-
nering vendors. It’s also worth noting
that a single company now runs almost
half of all state portals.
Citing the progress made by new
leadership at the Texas Department of
Information Resources (DIR) in real-
izing operational efficiencies, Gov.
Rick Perry bought the agency more
time to reinvent itself. In vetoing the
DIR’s sunset bill, Perry set out his
expectations for improved IT procure-
ment, an active and focused executive
branch role in data center consolida-
tion, and continuing consultations with
DIR customers and the comptroller in
addressing issues raised in the Sunset
Commission report.
Then there’s Washington state,
where the Department of Information
Services was merged out of existence.
The department’s computing and tele-
communications utilities were com-
bined with the state printer, motor
pool and other operational compo-
nents of the departments of General
Administration and Personnel, result-
ing in a new Department of Enterprise
Services. The new department carries
with it a mandate to contract out more
and more of its services each year com-
bined with restrictions on collective
bargaining for its IT employees.
The Washington state CIO is now
nested with a small policy staff in the
governor’s budget office. While at arms
length from IT operations, the next
appointee will inherit the challenge of
fi nding a workable operating structure
for the newly completed and oversized
$255 million data center, which was
designed and built based on now obso-
lete technology assumptions.
All told, these shifts have resulted
in a 15-year high in the percentage
of state CIOs that have a seat at the
Cabinet table (84 percent) and a
15-year low of state CIOs with direct
operational responsibilities (70 per-
cent). The widening gulf may be the
natural outworking of the new turn-
around-focused conventional wisdom.
The delinking of policy and practice
may also inadvertently diffuse account-
ability for whether and how well the
new approaches work. ¨
Paul W. Taylor is chief content officer for e.Republic. Taylor previously served as the deputy CIO of Washington state and as chief strategy officer for the Center for Digital Government. He has worked in the public and private sectors, the media and Washington’s Digital Government Applications Academy.
The Shifting Sands of Public-Sector ITState CIOs are moving from direct operational responsibilities to having a seat at the cabinet table.
B Y P A U L W . T A Y L O R
[46]
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Register now toattend theconference!
Join state CIOs for the 2011 NASCIO Annual Conference. NASCIO conference attendees include the highest-profile government and corporate technology experts in the nation. In addition to state CIOs and our corporate partners, past NASCIO conference attendees have included governors, state and federal legislators, and other elected and appointed officials.
NASCIO is the premier network and resource for state CIOs and a leading advocate for technology policy at all levels of government.
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MOST TECHNOLOGY leaders
know that sinking feeling.
The phone rings, and the
voice at the other end says, “The main-
frame just crashed.” Or, “We lost power
at the data center and some of the
uninterruptible power supply units (or
the generator) didn’t work properly.”
Just as scary: “Our vendor’s network is
down. The incident is impacting thou-
sands of customers.”
Computer and network outages —
and the corresponding ramifi cations
— come with the IT territory. Even
when services are outsourced, the ulti-
mate responsibility still rests with the
public CIO. Despite mind-numbing
thoughts of “what if,” our teams must
implement recovery efforts just as a
fi re department responds to fi res. And
yes, seconds matter.
While the need to activate a full-
scale disaster recovery plan may be
rare, operations personnel deal with
varying types of critical incidents
regularly. But how effective is your
team in these situations? What’s your
recovery time objective when things go
wrong? Simply stated: Are you ready
for the next signifi cant outage?
KEY CONSIDERATIONSSo what are some of the keys to a
successful outage remediation?
1) Understand the outage scope, your options and timelines. Just as the mili-
tary wants intelligence regarding
[ CTO STRATEGIES ]
enemy movements in a war, operations
leaders must quickly grasp the extent
of an operational emergency. Good
monitoring tools, end-to-end system
management capabilities and quali-
fi ed operations staff are essential for
achieving timely restoration of service.
Tip: Beyond asking what happened,
ask if anything changed. Can you roll
back to the previous confi guration?
Utilize request for changes and change
control boards to track activity. In
Michigan, we activate our Emergency
Contact Center during major incidents
to ensure that the right priority is
placed on the situation. All key resourc-
es gather (virtually or in person) to
coordinate recovery options.
2) Develop clear roles and responsibili-ties. Early decisions are often the key.
Who’s in charge and what resources are
available? Should we keep fi xing the
problem or activate the disaster recov-
ery plan? What resources or vendor
relationships can help?
Seasoned pros who have been
through outages know that confl icting
information and competing interests
often emerge. Sometimes the technical
staff will underestimate the issue or
overestimate their ability to remediate
what happened, making matters worse.
Tip: Developing “run books,” compi-
lations of the procedures and opera-
tions that the system administrator or
operator carry out, can help navigate
outages. A good run book includes
Outages Happen: Are You Ready?Three keys to a successful outage remediation.
B Y D A N L O H R M A N N
[48]
procedures for every anticipated sce-
nario and generally uses step-by-step
decision trees to determine the effec-
tive course of action.
3) Promote excellent communication.When critical systems are down, every-
one counts the minutes. Perception is
reality, and while some loss-of-service
situations will make the local news and
others won’t, public perception can
impact your actions. Remember that
communication continues after systems
are restored. A good root-cause analy-
sis listing lessons learned — including
people, process and technology activi-
ties — should be provided to clients
after appropriate review.
Tip: Develop an emergency commu-
nication plan for dealing with internal
and external stakeholders. Don’t let this
become shelfware — practice differ-
ent scenarios during tabletop exercises.
Meeting customer expectations and
building confi dence in your statements
is as important as restoring service.
Don’t make promises you can’t keep.
In May, Michigan had two outages
that made the news. Fortunately our
experienced public information offi-
cer handled all media inquiries with
expert precision. He knew what ques-
tions would be asked, who to contact
internally to get the facts and what to
say about restoration times.
In conclusion: Despite our best efforts,
technology outages are inevitable.
Cloud computing and more smart-
phones in the enterprise will further
complicate end-to-end service restora-
tion and escalate the need to partner
with vendors. Prepare now for the
unexpected. ¨
Dan Lohrmann is Michigan’s CTO and previously served as the state’s first chief information security officer. He has 25 years of worldwide security experience, and has won numerous awards for his leadership in the information security field.
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Building the Innovation Nation
an interactive tool of State and Local e-Government performance measures, assessments and research.
Best of the PortalNew Solution Briefs Mobile Services Self Funded Model
Download your free copies at: govtech.com/innovationnation
underwritten by:
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EVERYBODY KNOWS that hir-
ing mistakes are costly, but
can you put a number to that
cost? A few years ago, the Future
Foundation in the United Kingdom
did just that using a simple method:
Multiply the number of managers in a
given country by their average salary.
Then multiply that number by the
percentage of time they spend dealing
with underperforming employees. The
results were staggering. In the United
States, managers spend an estimated
$105 billion annually dealing with
poor performers.
In an environment where budgets
are tighter than ever and resources are
squeezed all around, organizational
units and employees are constantly
being asked to do more with less. The
result is tremendous pressure on all to
hit the ground running, make every
person count and meet aggressive per-
formance targets.
Yet managers often fi nd themselves
failing to make their employees’ unique
talents mesh with the organization’s
expectations. This is costly — and frus-
trating for managers and employees.
Both believe they’re right, yet the work
outcome is still less than optimal.
But fi nding the right candidate for a
job is much like fi nding a spouse — it
requires the right chemistry. There’s
a critical difference between having
great qualifi cations and being the right
person for a particular job, which is a
concept that organizational behavior
specialists refer to as “person-job fi t.”
Jeffrey R. Edwards, distinguished pro-
fessor of organizational behavior at
the Kenan-Flagler Business School at
the University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill, believes it’s critical to
match the individual and the position
correctly. He calls it a fundamental
concern for individuals and organiza-
tions, in that good fi t increases job
satisfaction, reduces job stress and
enhances overall effectiveness.
All managers will eventually con-
front the issue of poor person-job fi t.
Most will try to coach, counsel, mentor
and train the employee, but if those
things don’t work, they may try to fi nd
a better fi t for the employee inside or
outside of the organization.
As long as the fi t problem persists,
however, there’s heartache all around.
Tasks pile up or need redoing, miscom-
munications abound and other employ-
ees become resentful of the extra work
that inevitably gets shifted to them.
So what is the manager to do? Let
the problem linger and morale suffer?
Address it head-on and face the pros-
pect of a time-consuming, possibly
even litigious, process?
What complicates the matter is that
sometimes the manager is the prob-
lem; sometimes when individuals are
deemed to have performance problems,
the reality is that their managers are
being subjective, arbitrary or vindictive.
In this case, perhaps the manager
is misfi t for his or her position (of
The Cost of NiceDealing with poorly performing employees is costly, but key approaches can help manage the issue.
B Y A N D Y B L U M E N T H A L
[50]
authority) and the employee is the
unfortunate victim.
Assuming that one is a competent
manager with good intentions, there
are three key approaches that can help
manage the issue of person-job fi t most
effectively.
First, expect excellence. The “label-
ing theory” has shown that employees
perform better when the bar is set high.
Work performance is often like a self-
fulfi lling prophecy in which people live
up (or down) to the expectations that
others have of them.
Second, as one of my mentors told me
years ago, “set people up to succeed.”
Do everything in your power to help
your employees do their jobs success-
fully — giving them not just respect
and empowerment, but also resources,
recognition, training, tools and more.
Third, resist the impulse to do the
work yourself. It may be intuitive to
simply roll up your sleeves and get it
done, but autonomy and the pleasure of
accomplishment are some of the greatest
contributors to an employee’s job sat-
isfaction. Balance providing input and
guidance with allowing employees to
try it their way, make their own mistakes
and learn independently from them.
In the end, it all comes down to the
golden rule: Treat others as you’d want
to be treated. When you see employees
struggling, try to bring them up to speed
in every way possible. If that doesn’t
work, help them fi nd a better position to
continue their path of professional and
personal development, while searching
for someone who better meets the job
requirements. That kind of win-win is
best all the way around — for manager,
organization and employee. ¨
Andy Blumenthal is a Division Chief at the U.S. Department of State. A regular speaker and published author, Blumenthal blogs at http://totalcio.blogspot.com. Blumenthal’s views are his own and do not represent those of any agency.
[ CIO 2]
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