NASCIO Releases Building Successful Relationships: State CIO Advice for IT Partners, a brief focusing on state CIO/IT partner relationships

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LEXINGTON, Ky., Thursday, March 5 — The National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) released a brief focusing on state CIO/IT partner relationships today. The NASCIO Corporate Leadership Council (a committee made up of NASCIO’s corporate members) interviewed State CIOs in 2014 to research best practices for IT partners when engaging with state CIOs.

Given today’s fiscal environment, states are turning to their IT partners to provide cost-effective delivery of citizen services. This brief focuses on the best strategies for IT partners to engage with state CIOs while building successful business relationships.

“As states face increasingly complex and often time-sensitive challenges, having an ecosystem of reliable and capable information technology partners is an imperative for success. Those CIOs and IT partners that work together to share ideas, best practices and emerging technologies are best able to respond to these challenges in an agile manner that produces results for the citizens. This paper helps identify some of those best practices,” said Microsoft’s Kim Nelson, who chaired the CLC during the project.

The five recommendations most widely agreed upon by State CIOs included being prepared, anticipating and understanding a state’s problems, knowing the best methods for securing and having meetings, developing and cultivating trust, and knowing how to use lobbyists effectively.

“The NASCIO Corporate Leadership Council, welcomes the opportunity to support the state CIOs by taking on meaningful projects like the creation of this brief. This was a chance to roll up our sleeves, research individual CIOs’ real world experience and gather our collective findings to produce this best-practice resource, valuable to inform both CIOs and corporate partners,” said current CLC Chair Pat Cummens of ESRI.

Read the brief at www.nascio.org/SuccessfulRelationships/

NASCIO Releases Federal Advocacy Priorities: Cybersecurity tops list, followed by modernizing regulations and collaborating on broadband projects

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WASHINGTON, D.C., Tuesday, January 21 — The National Association of State Chief Information Officer’s (NASCIO) announced its 2015 federal advocacy priorities today. Cybersecurity is NASCIO’s top federal advocacy priority for 2015, followed by continuing to modernize federal regulations that hold back state innovation, and broadband projects for the public safety community and students.

More specifically, NASCIO will focus its advocacy for the year in the following areas:

1. Cybersecurity: Securing Public Networks, Readying the Nation

2. Modernize Outdated Federal Regulations Impacting State IT

3. Building a Sustainable Nationwide Public Safety Network

4. Collaboration on Broadband and Telecommunications

Fact sheets and additional details on the NASCIO’s 2015 federal advocacy priorities can be found at www.nascio.org/advocacy.

“Cybersecurity is a critical concern and priority for state CIOs,” explained NASCIO President Stuart Davis, Chief Information Officer for the State of Ohio. “Our nation must do more to combat the asymmetrical, sophisticated threats our government networks face on a daily basis.” NASCIO is seeking greater resources and collaboration from the federal government to mature information sharing and coordinated cyber threat response, as well as ensuring states have access to talented cybersecurity professionals and advanced cybersecurity tools.

NASCIO will also be working with federal officials to reduce regulatory burdens that limit flexible use of IT solutions at the state level. Federal agency rules often limit states’ abilities to promote shared solutions and integrated channels of services. Ultimately, this means more tax dollars from citizens for duplicative, less efficient services.

In addition, NASCIO will continue to participate in a national conversation on a number of broadband and telecommunications related issues, including continuing the planning of the FirstNet public safety broadband network, promoting broadband connections for schools and libraries, and proposed changes to the 1996 Telecommunications Act.

“As technology evolves and increasingly integrates itself into how government interacts with the public and does business, we naturally need to update federal laws and programs to reflect that reality,” explained Mitch Herckis, Director of Government Affairs for NASCIO. “NASCIO’s goal is to work with our federal partners to secure public networks and build information technology solutions that best serve citizens.”

The association’s federal advocacy priorities for the year are selected by its Executive Committee based on the intersection of the leading policy priorities of state CIOs (available at nascio.org/topten) and key opportunities to work with Congress and the executive branch.

NASCIO Applauds Congressional Action on Cybersecurity

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LEXINGTON, KY. Friday, December 19, 2014 – The National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) President Stu Davis, chief information officer for the State of Ohio, released the following statement regarding congressional action on cybersecurity legislation:

“NASCIO’s members are very pleased that the 113th Congress was able to take substantial and meaningful steps to secure our nation’s cyber infrastructure before adjourning. Cybersecurity remains the number one priority of state CIOs. The passage of the Cybersecurity Enhancement Act of 2014 (S. 1353), National Cybersecurity Protection Act of 2014 (S. 2519), and Federal Information Security Modernization Act of 2014 (S. 2521) will help develop the nation’s cyber workforce, codify crucial cybersecurity activities in the executive branch, and initiate much-needed reforms to outdated government data security regulations that currently create red tape and little else for the states.”

“According to the 2014 Deloitte-National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) cybersecurity study, released October 1, insufficient funding, sophisticated threats, and shortage of skilled talent threaten security and put state governments at risk. Approximately 6 in 10 (61 percent) CISOs cited an increase in sophistication of threats, up from roughly half (52 percent) in 2012. The number citing a shortage of qualified cybersecurity professionals jumped from 46 percent in 2012 to 59 percent in 2014. The action by Congress may provide some initial support for correcting these trends.”

“Our organization is thankful for the hard work put in by Senators Rockefeller (D-WV), Thune (R-SD), Carper (D-DE), Coburn (R-OK), as well as Representatives McCaul (R-TX), Thompson (D-MS), Meehan (R-VA), and Clarke (D-NY), to pass this legislation. They need to be commended for their perseverance and dedication to this important issue.”

“NASCIO looks forward to working with the administration to implement these bills, as well as continuing to work with our allies in the 114th Congress to continue to improve our nation’s cybersecurity posture. The passage of these bills are a clear sign of the strong consensus that more must be done to improve our cybersecurity defenses. It is an excellent first step that will bring more cybersecurity professionals to all levels of government, improve information sharing and coordination between the public and private sector, and ensure we are all taking the right steps to secure our networks against the millions of attacks our state IT systems are fighting against each day.”

Collaboration — Funding ideas for delivering outcomes

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Funding: The Drive Wheel for Cross-Jurisdictional Collaboration

LEXINGTON, Ky., Wednesday, December 10 — Increasing the quality and availability of citizen services through collaborative enterprise-wide and cross-enterprise collaboration is motivated by achieving a citizen centric outcome, a comprehensive view of the citizen, and organizing with consideration to life events, according to a report released today by the National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO). This motivation includes goals for increasing efficiency, effectiveness and capacity. The key to reaching outcomes is gaining initial and sustained funding. An “outcomes based” business case that fully accounts for all costs will help secure the necessary funding. The report, “Funding: The Drive Wheel for Cross-Jurisdictional Collaboration,” focuses on funding options. Visit www.nascio.org/2014FundingTheDriveWheel/ to read the report.

“In this report we look at a lot of funding options for IT and refer back to previous research we’ve done on this topic,” said Brenda Decker, co-chair for the NASCIO Cross-Jurisdictional Collaboration working group and chief information officer for the state of Nebraska. “We also make the case that understanding and clearly articulating all costs is an important part of the business case development and is essential prior to seeking funding.”

“This report rounds out our library of resources regarding cross-jurisdictional collaboration,” said Calvin Rhodes, co-chair of the NASCIO Cross-Jurisdictional Collaboration working group and chief information officer for the state of Georgia. “Funding is on the critical path to kicking off collaboration and sustaining it. That funding may be derived from a variety of sources creating essentially a funding basket.”

Collaboration — Funding ideas for delivering outcomes

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Funding: The Drive Wheel for Cross-Jurisdictional Collaboration

LEXINGTON, Ky., Wednesday, December 10 — Increasing the quality and availability of citizen services through collaborative enterprise-wide and cross-enterprise collaboration is motivated by achieving a citizen centric outcome, a comprehensive view of the citizen, and organizing with consideration to life events, according to a report released today by the National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO). This motivation includes goals for increasing efficiency, effectiveness and capacity. The key to reaching outcomes is gaining initial and sustained funding. An “outcomes based” business case that fully accounts for all costs will help secure the necessary funding. The report, “Funding: The Drive Wheel for Cross-Jurisdictional Collaboration,” focuses on funding options. Visit www.nascio.org/2014FundingTheDriveWheel/ to read the report.

“In this report we look at a lot of funding options for IT and refer back to previous research we’ve done on this topic,” said Brenda Decker, co-chair for the NASCIO Cross-Jurisdictional Collaboration working group and chief information officer for the state of Nebraska. “We also make the case that understanding and clearly articulating all costs is an important part of the business case development and is essential prior to seeking funding.”

“This report rounds out our library of resources regarding cross-jurisdictional collaboration,” said Calvin Rhodes, co-chair of the NASCIO Cross-Jurisdictional Collaboration working group and chief information officer for the state of Georgia. “Funding is on the critical path to kicking off collaboration and sustaining it. That funding may be derived from a variety of sources creating essentially a funding basket.”

Collaboration — Funding ideas for delivering outcomes

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Funding: The Drive Wheel for Cross-Jurisdictional Collaboration

LEXINGTON, Ky., Wednesday, December 10 — Increasing the quality and availability of citizen services through collaborative enterprise-wide and cross-enterprise collaboration is motivated by achieving a citizen centric outcome, a comprehensive view of the citizen, and organizing with consideration to life events, according to a report released today by the National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO). This motivation includes goals for increasing efficiency, effectiveness and capacity. The key to reaching outcomes is gaining initial and sustained funding. An “outcomes based” business case that fully accounts for all costs will help secure the necessary funding. The report, “Funding: The Drive Wheel for Cross-Jurisdictional Collaboration,” focuses on funding options. Visit www.nascio.org/2014FundingTheDriveWheel/ to read the report.

“In this report we look at a lot of funding options for IT and refer back to previous research we’ve done on this topic,” said Brenda Decker, co-chair for the NASCIO Cross-Jurisdictional Collaboration working group and chief information officer for the state of Nebraska. “We also make the case that understanding and clearly articulating all costs is an important part of the business case development and is essential prior to seeking funding.”

“This report rounds out our library of resources regarding cross-jurisdictional collaboration,” said Calvin Rhodes, co-chair of the NASCIO Cross-Jurisdictional Collaboration working group and chief information officer for the state of Georgia. “Funding is on the critical path to kicking off collaboration and sustaining it. That funding may be derived from a variety of sources creating essentially a funding basket.”

NASCIO Receives U.S. Department of Justice Grant to Advance Cybersecurity in the States

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LEXINGTON, Ky., Wednesday, November 5, 2014. The U.S. Department of Justice has awarded the National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) a National Justice Information Sharing Initiative grant to advance best practices in cyber incidence response planning and the use of cyber analytics at the state government level.

The award, in the amount of $100,000, continues the partnership begun in 1998 between NASCIO and the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) to advance enterprise architecture and information sharing in the states.

“Cybersecurity remains a top priority for state CIOs and CISOs as well as governors,” said Stu Davis, NASCIO president and Ohio chief information officer. “Our 2014 State CIO Survey presents a clear picture of the current cyber threat landscape as well as the most significant challenges states are facing in protecting state applications and citizen data. We’re thrilled to be partnered with the U.S. Department of Justice in addressing these challenges as we continue efforts to mature capabilities across all of the states and territories.”

The NASCIO proposal included several objectives which include developing guidance for the creation of a state Cybersecurity Disruption Response Plan and creation of best practices on the adoption of cyber threat analytics. NASCIO will work with the state law enforcement community, subject matter experts, and BJA to evaluate and promote current and emerging national cybersecurity strategies by complementing existing efforts and coordinating with national level cybersecurity initiatives.

“In the recently released Deloitte-NASCIO 2014 Cybersecurity study we learned that the majority of states do not have established plans and policies related to cybersecurity incident response and forensics,” said Doug Robinson, NASCIO executive director. “Our goal is to bring all the states up to some level of parity related to these capabilities as well as cyber threat analytics. This support from the U.S. Department of Justice provides NASCIO the necessary resources to continue this work.”

Cybersecurity, Cloud and Consolidation are Top Priorities of State CIOs in 2015

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LEXINGTON, Ky., Thursday, October 30, 2014 — Security, cloud services and consolidation remain in the top three positions of critical state CIO priorities in 2015, according to state information technology leaders surveyed by the National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO). The prioritized rankings of strategies and technologies reflect voting by state CIOs and are available for download from NASCIO at www.nascio.org/topten/.

This year, NASCIO’s annual top ten ranking shows IT security strategies and tools are at the top of the list across the states, with ‘security’ topping the list of Priority Strategies. Cloud services and consolidation/optimization traded positions for second and third compared to the previous year.

“Security, cloud services and consolidation remain at the top of the list for the third consecutive year,” said Stu Davis, NASCIO president and Ohio chief information officer. “These three priorities, along with budget and cost control, have made top ten ranking every year since 2009. In the coming year, NASCIO will work collaboratively to address these priorities.”

Doug Robinson, NASCIO’s executive director noted, “Data management appears for the first time on our top technology priorities. State CIOs understand the real challenges of data governance and the need for more discipline around the management of state data assets. In alignment with these results, we’ll certainly have a focus on enterprise data management this year.”

NASCIO utilizes the annual list of priorities to develop strategic areas of focus for the coming year, formulate new committees and working groups, and plan NASCIO conference sessions and publications.

NASCIO Raises Awareness for Electronic Records Day

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LEXINGTON, Ky., Friday, October 10 — Today, the National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) celebrates Electronic Records Day, raising awareness among government agencies, organizations, and the public about the critical role electronic records play in society today.

For the third year, the Council of State Archivists (CoSA), as part of its State Electronic Records Initiative, continues to raise awareness around E-Records Day. With the increasing reliance on IT, the challenge to manage, preserve, and provide access to digital records and information continues to grow. CoSA vigilantly works to share information with states on managing their digital resources, including enlisting help to preserve electronic records.

“E-records safeguard the rights of the public by providing greater accessibility,” said Doug Robinson, NASCIO executive director. “Users must recognize the importance of managing electronic records and put forth effort to correctly preserve them.”

Join NASCIO and CoSA in raising community awareness of digital records, and of the need to stay ahead and preserve them. See CoSA’s Electronic Records Day webpage for more information: www.statearchivists.org/seri/ElectronicRecordsDay.htm

NASCIO Members Raised the Bar at the 2014 Annual Conference

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Raised $4,183 for the Connected Tennessee’s Computers 4 Kids

LEXINGTON, Ky., Wednesday, October 8 — State and corporate members of the National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) raised funds for a local non-profit, Connected Tennessee’s Computers 4 Kids (C4K), while in Nashville for their 2014 Annual Conference.

“As a lead organization committed to excellence in the use of information technology, NASCIO’s leadership and members recognize just how critical digital literacy and access to modern technology are for today’s youth,” said Corey Johns, executive director, Connected Tennessee.
“We are honored by the generous support of NASCIO’s Give Back campaign for our Computers 4 Kids (C4K) program. This donation will continue the program’s impact on the lives of disadvantaged Tennessee youth by enabling critical access to today’s technology and the opportunity for 21st century digital skills development.”

The C4K program has helped to prepare Tennessee’s most vulnerable youth for success by providing them with access to technology that could otherwise prove beyond their reach. The program promotes economic, career, and educational development through the provision of computers and broadband Internet, technology and digital skills training, and community awareness building that highlights the benefits of technology adoption. Since 2008, over 5,000 computers have been donated to disadvantaged Tennessee youth and more than 90,000 annual digital literacy training hours have been logged.

Learn more about C4K at www.connectedtn.org/.