State CIOs focusing on cyber, digital services, connectivity in 2022
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Cloud services, identity and access management and app modernization led NASCIO’s list of top tech tools.
For the ninth year in a row, cybersecurity tops the list of state chief information officers’ top 10 priorities for 2022, according to the National Association of State CIOs.
New to list, however, is enterprise architecture. It sits at No. 8 and includes governance; formulating, refining or implementing an EA strategy; business architecture; business process modeling; statewide EA program management; federal reference models; and whole-government EA, according to NASCIO’s State CIO Top 10 Priorities list, issued Dec. 8.
Digital government and services and broadband and wireless connectivity round out the top three priorities, coming in second and third, respectively, after cyber and risk management. This is the second year in a row that digital government and services has taken the No. 2 spot, while broadband moved up a spot from the 2021 list, replacing cloud services.
“It is no surprise that digital government, broadband and legacy modernization are ranked as high priorities by state CIOs,” Doug Robinson, NASCIO’s executive director, said in a press release. “The past two years have highlighted their importance to governors, state CIO customers and the citizens they serve.”
Modernization of legacy platforms and applications shot up two places to No. 5 this year, while consolidation and optimization squeeze into the 10th spot. For the first time since 2008, budget and cost control don’t make the list.
State CIOs also listed their top 10 priorities for technologies, applications and tools. In the No. 1 spot are cloud solutions, particularly software-as-a-service identity and access management (No. 2) and legacy application modernization and renovation (No. 3) switched places this year, compared to 2021.
Other as-a-service offerings came in No. 4, ahead of artificial intelligence and robotic process automation, including chatbots, voicebots and virtual assistants, which proved their worth to the public sector during the COVID-19 pandemic. In fact, an October NASCIO report found that 60% of respondents said they started using digital assistants, such as chatbots.
Remote work, which was No. 7 in 2021 -- specifically the provisioning of it through software, hardware, cybersecurity and collaboration tools -- was not on the list for 2022. Instead, data management earned a spot (No. 8).
NASCIO has published the list yearly since 2007, asking state CIOs to vote on their main strategies, policy issues and management processes. The organization uses the priorities to develop strategic areas of focus each year, formulate new issue forums and working groups, and plan NASCIO conference sessions and publications.