Which States Have the Best Technology?
By Colin Wood, Government Technology | |
McClatchy-Tribune Information Services |
Results for the 2014
Three states received an A grade this year as
Every two years, the
"States have made thoughtful, and for the most part, wise decisions on where they invested over the last couple years in particular," Sander said. "They needed to because financial resources were scarce and the competition in the enterprise was high. We're starting to see that really pay off now."
Of the 50 states surveyed, 21 improved their grade since 2012, 17 states remained the same, and 12 states saw a drop. As a group, the states are doing well and even the states with lower grades didn't drop by much, Sander said. All 12 states with decreased grades dropped by just one step, going from an A- to a B+, for instance.
The distribution of grades is trending up in 2014, with eight states in the A range, the same as in 2012, and 30 states in the B range, up from 22 in 2012. Twelve states received grades in the C range, and no states scored lower than a C-, compared to 2012, when
Missouri Makes the Grade
"They've done a lot of good work in supporting the legislative and judicial branch," Sander said. "One of the most important things is they've done a really good job of defining and describing how what they're doing is aligned with the policy, position and priorities of the governor, the legislature, and the citizens of
Like
View our infographic with more Digital States statistics here: How Digital Are States in 2014?
Missouri CIO Tim Robyn said the state's success stems from executive leadership from Gov.
In addition to receiving an A grade in 2014,
The public expects to be able to interact with their government using new convenient technologies, and with the new services that states like
Online services are therefore extremely important to
VADRS manages more than 2.5 million titles and registrations annually, 2,700 dealership and body shop licenses, and 12,000 sales licenses -- it brought a higher level of customer service and reduced costs for the state, VanOrden said. The overhaul involved the training of more than 300 people, and support from more than 24 county offices. But it was worth the huge effort, he said, because the state's department of motor vehicles leads the nation in online registration.
"We've got a very innovative population here in
Being a successful IT organization mainly comes down to having good people, he said. "I've got a chief operating officer who worked in the private sector for 35 years and was the CIO for a Fortune 500 company," he said. "I've got a chief information security officer who worked with Deloitte in security assessments and state governments for 15 years.
High Marks for
In
"It is the executive sponsorship and leadership from Gov. [
Behen recognized that many of the benefits his state and others are now realizing are the result of diligence and innovation wrought from hard economic times of the near past. Continuing that same mindset of innovation and collaboration is possible with concerted effort, he said.
"You don't want to get fat and sassy, right? You want to stay on the edge of things," Behen said. "I would hope that that continues, and I would say it's not a bad exercise every so often for organizations public and private to go through looking at what you're doing and how effective and efficient are you in that, and continuing on that path of improvement."
View the results of the 2014
View the text of our state by state analysis on page 2.
State by State Analysis
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2014 grade: C
2012 grade: C
-- -- -- -- -- --
2014 grade: C-
2012 grade: C
-- -- -- -- -- --
2014 grade: B
2012 grade: C
-- -- -- -- -- --
2014 grade: B+
2012 grade: B+
-- -- -- -- -- --
2014 grade: B+
2012 grade: A-
More than a decade in the making,
-- -- -- -- -- --
2014 grade: B+
2012 grade: B+
-- -- -- -- -- --
2014 grade: A-
2012 grade: C
-- -- -- -- -- --
2014 grade: B
2012 grade: B-
-- -- -- -- -- --
2014 grade: C
2012 grade: D
One of two states to earn a D grade in 2012,
-- -- -- -- -- --
2014 grade: A-
2012 grade: B
-- -- -- -- -- --
2014 grade: B+
2012 grade: B-
Under Gov.
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2014 grade: B
2012 grade: D
After posting one of the worst grades in 2012,
-- -- -- -- -- --
2014 grade: C+
2012 grade: B-
Under Gov.
-- -- -- -- -- --
2014 grade: B+
2012 grade: B+
-- -- -- -- -- --
2014 grade: B
2012 grade: B
Gov.
-- -- -- -- -- --
2014 grade: B
2012 grade: C+
Gov.
-- -- -- -- -- --
2014 grade: B+
2012 grade: B+
-- -- -- -- -- --
2014 grade: B
2012 grade: B
-- -- -- -- -- --
2014 grade: B
2012 grade: C
-- -- -- -- -- --
2014 grade: B
2012 grade: B-
The state's core objectives of IT consolidation, interoperability and standardization continue to drive its technology forward, while also using StateStat to monitor performance management. IT initiatives since the 2012
-- -- -- -- -- --
2014 grade: B-
2012 grade: B
Gov.
-- -- -- -- -- --
2014 grade: A
2012 grade: A
-- -- -- -- -- --
2014 grade: B+
2012 grade: A-
-- -- -- -- -- --
2014 grade: B
2012 grade: B
Gov.
-- -- -- -- -- --
2014 grade: A
2012 grade: B+
A repeating theme from Gov.
-- -- -- -- -- --
2014 grade: B
2012 grade: C+
-- -- -- -- -- --
2014 grade: B
2012 grade: B+
-- -- -- -- -- --
2014 grade: C
2012 grade: C
Nevada IT wants state government to be more responsive and efficient, and does so by offering more online services to constituents, using technology to streamline procurement processes, and going paperless to process employee time sheets. And over the past two years, the state has designed and implemented a centralized security solution that, since being deployed, has decreased the number of monthly reported incidents by 50 percent.
-- -- -- -- -- --
2014 grade: C
2012 grade: C
Gov.
-- -- -- -- -- --
2014 grade: B-
2012 grade: C+
Moving from a C+ to a B- in this year's
-- -- -- -- -- --
2014 grade: C+
2012 grade: B-
Gov.
-- -- -- -- -- --
2014 grade: B
2012 grade: B+
Technology is central to almost everything the state of
-- -- -- -- -- --
2014 grade: C+
2012 grade: B-
Breaking down silos and working as part of a team was a requirement in
-- -- -- -- -- --
2014 grade: B+
2012 grade: B
In
-- -- -- -- -- --
2014 grade: A-
2012 grade: A-
After surviving the worst economic period in its history,
-- -- -- -- -- --
2014 grade: C
2012 grade: C-
The state has focused on consolidating IT infrastructure since Gov.
-- -- -- -- -- --
2014 grade: B
2012 grade: B+
The slight dip in
-- -- -- -- -- --
2014 grade: A-
2012 grade: A-
-- -- -- -- -- --
2014 grade: C
2012 grade: C
Among
-- -- -- -- -- --
2014 grade: C+
2012 grade: C
Presumably in response to the 2012
-- -- -- -- -- --
2014 grade: B-
2012 grade: C+
Following several years of vacancies in technology positions, the state is now fully staffed and planning for impending retirements in IT with innovative recruitment, training and retention programs.
-- -- -- -- -- --
2014 grade: B+
2012 grade: A-
Fresh on the heels of a first place finish in the
-- -- -- -- -- --
2014 grade: B
2012 grade: B
Notable initiatives include a cooperative contracts program that helps reduce costs for agencies buying technology products and services. Neighboring
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2014 grade: A
2012 grade: A
Perennial high achiever
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2014 grade: B-
2012 grade: C
Responding to leaders and commissioners in the state,
-- -- -- -- -- --
2014 grade: A-
2012 grade: B+
The first state to adopt the cyber framework of the
-- -- -- -- -- --
2014 grade: B+
2012 grade: C-
Gov.
-- -- -- -- -- --
2014 grade: B+
2012 grade: A-
Gov.
A connectivity initiative made great progress in bringing lower cost high-speed Internet to West Virginians -- not an insignificant accomplishment given the state's demographics and geographic challenges. More than 675 miles of fiber were laid, and 1,200 routers were installed at 623 sites. Fiber connectivity is now available at every K-12 institution in the state. The microwave radio system got major upgrades as well, with 12 new towers added, five existing towers replaced and upgrades to 88 more.
-- -- -- -- -- --
2014 grade: B
2012 grade: C+
-- -- -- -- -- --
2014 grade: C
2012 grade: C
Gov.
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