Upping the Ante for Public Sector CIOs

By Kim Boatman

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s appointment of Teresa “Teri” M. Takai as California’s first statewide CIO in December signals something of a sea change in public sector IT.

The cabinet-level position, created through legislation, isn’t the first of its kind in the country. States are trending toward streamlining IT operations, and in the process, handing more authority to CIOs. But Takai’s appointment carries particular significance, given the economies of scale at work in California. She’ll oversee California’s $6 billion IT budget, and her work to drive efficiencies in a state that rates as the world’s eighth largest economy will be carefully watched by public sector IT managers and CIOs at every level.

“That’s very courageous, and as long as the governor supports the CIO, they can make dramatic improvements,’’ says Alabama CIO Jim Burns. In many cases, says Burns, states are mirroring the approach used in the private sector.
 
“It’s not a new concept; it’s just new to government,’’ he says. “Just about any business of any size has gone to this [concept] years ago, because industry has realized that IT is integral to their operations.”

Bringing process-driven IT to the public sector offers substantial benefits, but CIOs and IT managers also face some unique challenges. Among the benefits:

• Increased efficiency When Burns, who has broad authority but reports to the state CFO, took over in Alabama 3½ year ago, the state used a bewildering 45 different e-mail systems. “It was craziness when you had to deal with the state, just with e-mails,’’ Burns says. It took an executive order from the governor, but Burns consolidated the network. When J. Stephen Fletcher became CIO in Utah in 2005, he found state employees using 125 different standard desktop configurations, with 22 unique word-processing packages. “That’s real easy, to say, ‘Let’s get some standards,’” says Fletcher, whose cabinet-level role was also mandated by state legislation.
• Set standards and policies Operations are easier to manage with set standards in place, says Fletcher. And agencies are able to engage in cross-boundary communication. This sort of interoperability is particularly significant when a disaster such as Hurricane Katrina occurs, points out New Mexico CIO Roy Soto. Legislation last year elevated the CIO to a cabinet-level position in New Mexico, with responsibility for what Soto calls the “merging fields” of communications and IT.
• Improved economics In Alabama, Burns found some agencies were spending as much as $50 per employee each month simply for e-mail service. E-mail costs are down to just $5.50 per employee per month now. States can leverage buying power and spend less on support when each agency isn’t operating its own IT shop.
• Heightened security In the face of data breach threats, public sector CIOs and IT managers must grapple with maintaining the security of vast amounts of personal information. Alabama now has one firewall, “one face to the Internet,’’ says Burns, and operates in a more secure manner. “All agencies need networking, but that is something that should be run out of the office of the CIO,’’ he says.
• Increased political clout “One of the advantages of having this at the cabinet level is it really brings tech and telecommunications to the policy table,’’ says Soto of his position. “You’re right there, you’re with the senior advisors advising the governor, doing the planning, doing the budget, doing everything.’’

Of course, this sort of shift in the way government works is not without its costs. Among the potential downsides, say state CIOs:

• Political gamesmanship Appointed by a governor, a cabinet-level CIO can be thrust into the middle of political battles. CIOs can find themselves in the role of lobbyists, as they seek the necessary legislative backing for funding or for changes in how IT is budgeted. It also can take a deft and diplomatic touch as a CIO handles the reallocation of IT resources once controlled by individual agencies. “Most cabinet members can draw a circle around their responsibilities very easily,” says Burns. “IT crosses all those boundaries, so now you’ve really put that CIO in what can be an awkward position.”
• Change management Burns estimates 35% of Alabama agencies went “kicking and screaming’’ into the state’s unified email system. It can be difficult to combat the “this-is-the-way-we’ve-always-done-it” approach. Soto considers this the most significant challenge of his position.
• Flexibility Centralized and streamlined operations can mean a loss of flexibility when it comes to meeting the unique business needs of some agencies, says Fletcher.

Ideally, says Fletcher, state CIOs will be given the mandate to reduce costs and eliminate redundancies and yet to provide good service. “That takes even more change,” he says. “That’s what governments are now tending toward.”

And increasingly, this means CIOs and IT managers in the public sectors must possess a unique set of skills.

“You really have to understand the technology to manage it, but you also have to be politically savvy because that can blindside you,’’ says Burns. “You also have to have the managerial skills and leadership.

Kim Boatman is a freelance business journalist in Silicon Valley, Calif. She spent more than 15 years reporting for the San Jose Mercury News.