technology leadership in the public sector august ... · ed steven l. vanroekel, who started work...

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

C O V E R S T O R Y

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CONT

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Gadgets vs. NetworksGovernment employees demand to use their personal mobile devices for work, so CIOs discuss how to respond to the cultural shift.

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6 Introduction

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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

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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

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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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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

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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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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.

DAV

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C O V E R S T O R Y



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Copyright © 2011 Esri. All rights reserved.

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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.

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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.

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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

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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

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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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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.

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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.



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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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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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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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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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Mobile-Enabled ServicesImproving citizen access and decreasing costs

Best of the Portal

Government is taking online services one step further and is now off ering access to services — including driver’s license renewals and permits and license applications — through native apps and smartphone-optimized websites and services. As more citizens adopt mobile devices in their personal lives, they expect government services to be available through them. State and federal portals are making that anytime, anywhere access a real-ity by making e-government easy to access on any type of phone or tablet device. Th ose governments that off er mobile services are registering rapidly increasing traffi c on their sites.

What is it? Th e very fi rst state and federal government websites, created

back in the mid-1990s, were static, agency-oriented pages.1 Visi-tors could click and scroll, but that was generally the extent of interactivity. By the early years of the 21st century, governments knew the static sites were not maximizing the potential of the Internet and began creating more interactive Web portals instead.

State and federal portals have continued evolving to meet the demand for more convenience. Mobile capability extends services to those populations that increasingly need them when they are on the go. In 2011, smartphone-capable portals and ser-vices are still in their infancy, but adoption is gaining speed.

Why are mobile-enabled portals important?Revenue and budget problems plaguing federal, state and

local governments are old news. Unfortunately, the news is not expected to get better anytime soon.

Since 2008, governments have consolidated many agencies and facilities and have reduced services and personnel numbers. Despite this, they must continue to maintain high-quality ser-vice to constituents. Smartphone-enabled portals help govern-ments fulfi ll this mission while addressing budget challenges, because native apps and mobile-optimized services reduce manual workfl ows and allow agencies to redeploy staff to other value-added activities.

Mobile services also provide better customer service to the constituent. Rather than requiring citizens to visit a government

offi ce, make a phone call, or mail a letter to receive services, con-stituents can take advantage of easy-to-access and user-friendly mobile government applications.

Who’s doing it?

Arkansas• Mobile services on the Arkansas portal are becoming increas-

ingly popular and the state is working to develop and deploy more applications to improve customer service. Current mobile-optimized Arkansas.gov solutions include: – Th e Arkansas Game and Fish Check iPhone application,

which allows hunters and fi shermen to record and photo-graph their kills and catches from out in the fi eld, has been downloaded more than 40,000 times.

– Inmate deposits, which allow friends and families of prison-ers to deposit money into trust accounts so the inmates can make purchases in the prison commissary, had 1,200 visits in March 2011.

– Probation and parole payments, which allows parolees to make restitution payments and pay fees, was accessed more than 250 times in June 2011.

– Usage of inmate deposits and probation/parole is growing at a rate of 50 percent per month.

– Property taxes, which are due in October of each year, can now be paid via smartphone by residents of 39 of Arkansas’ 75 counties. Approximately 80 percent of the state’s population resides in these counties. In October 2010, 804 state residents paid their property taxes through the mobile-enabled portal.

• Prior to the January 2010 launch of the revamped Universal Financial Aid System in Arkansas, an average of 18,000 stu-dents each year received just under $48 million in fi nancial aid from the Arkansas Department of Health and Education. In 2010, the fi rst year the service went live, more than 30,000 students received $120 million in fi nancial aid. Th is was nearly three times the amount distributed the prior year. In April 2011, the portal launched a smartphone application for the Universal Financial Aid System and 12 percent of traffi c to the service is

ADVERTISEMENT

CDG11 AD NIC Mobile_PCIO_Sng.indd 2CDG11 AD NIC Mobile_PCIO_Sng.indd 2 8/11/11 5:20 PM8/11/11 5:20 PM


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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

© S

HUT

TERS

TOCK

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HEW


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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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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,

[36]

“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 #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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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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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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[ 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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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.

2011 Designer Creative Dir.

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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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technology leadership in the public sector august ... · ed steven l. vanroekel, who started work...

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