State CIOs Climb the Ranks
- By Diane Frank
- May 01, 2000
State chief information officers have progressed rapidly to positions where
they can have a real impact on how states serve citizens, according to the
president of the National Association of State Information Resource Executives.
More than half of state CIOs report directly to governors or hold cabinet-level
positions, said Otto Doll, commissioner of South Dakota's information and
technology bureau, while speaking in Washington in March.
Such power positions enable those CIOs to work with policy and operations
people to find ways that information technology can make the government
work better, he said.
"In the increasingly technology- reliant world we live in, the CIO serves
as the government's information management leader and key strategist to
the decision points facing our political leaders," Doll said. "The role
of aligning technology to achieve government program goals has never been
so crucial to effective government. The CIO plays an essential role for
making information technology work for government."
South Dakota is an example, Doll said. For several years, South Dakota has
allowed citizens to download forms from its World Wide Web site, print them
out and mail, e-mail or fax them in. The state has slowly added the ability
to fill out and submit forms online, but Doll recently initiated a program
to offer electronic submission for 80 percent to 90 percent of the state's
forms in the next 18 months, he said.