Addressing the top 10 priorities of state CIOs with AWS

The National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) recently released the 2023 report of the top 10 priorities of state chief information officers (CIOs) for strategies, management processes, and solutions.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) works closely NASCIO and with state and local leaders across the US to develop solutions that address these top 10 needs. In this blog post, explore these top 10 priorities and how state and local leaders can use AWS to support them.

1. Cybersecurity and risk management

Cybersecurity and risk management rank as the top priority for the second year in a row. Strategically managing cyber risk and improving security posture continues to be a critical need as threats become more advanced and pervasive. With rapid recovery becoming a focus area, AWS is helping customers around the globe with the AWS Elastic Disaster Recovery solution.

Elastic Disaster Recovery minimizes downtime and data loss with fast, reliable recovery of on-premises and cloud-based applications using affordable storage and point-in-time recovery. Southwest Iowa Regional Medical Center used Elastic Disaster Recovery to improve recovery by 67% and strengthened the reliability of its electronic health records (EHR) system.

2. Digital government and services

Digital government and modernized service delivery remain the second highest priority for state technology leaders in the 2023 report. Citizens expect to engage with their local government in the same fast, digital manner that they communicate in their daily lives.

Public sector customers are using AWS to digitally transform their citizen engagement and service delivery management applications. The City of Fort St John used AWS to create a “virtual city hall” to deliver government services to their constituents wherever they are; within 10 months, their MyCityHall app was used by over 20% of the city’s population. Similarly, Alameda County used AWS to stand up an omnichannel contact center in less than 24 hours to address a 500% increase in calls and requests for information related to COVID-19, increasing accessibility to important information to its 1.5 million residents.

3. Workforce development

Talent retention, skill development, and innovation culture are increasing priorities for public sector agencies—workforce development moved from seventh place in 2022 to third place in 2023. CIOs know that attracting and retaining talent, developing employee skills, and supporting outdated legacy systems while trying to implement emerging technologies is an important juggling act.

To address these concerns, AWS offers comprehensive workforce development resources to help organizations increase the skills of their teams. By honing in-demand skills, organizations can create citizen-centric services and take advantage of the latest technology. Read the How to Develop a Digital-Ready Workforce guide, created by the Canadian government with the AWS Institute, as well as the How Governments Can Build Resilience in a New Normal policy toolkit to learn how governments are addressing reskilling the workforce and more after COVID-19. AWS also offers no-cost training, in addition to subscription content, through AWS Skill Builder, to help learners build cloud skills and more.

Plus, AWS works closely with state and local and education leaders to pioneer workforce development programs within their communities. Learn more about these initiatives in Texas, Utah, Virginia, Louisiana, the United Kingdom, Bahrain, and India, and more.

4. Legacy modernization

Like assembling a puzzle with thousands of pieces, modernizing legacy infrastructure assets and applications can be a complicated and intricate endeavor for public sector leaders. Increasing hardware costs, limited inventory availability, and lengthy shipping delays have compounded the problem.

Customers can work with AWS to simplify this process. AWS works backwards from customer-specific modernization priorities to tailor strategic and scalable mission-focused solutions. Customers can use the following AWS tools and services to help streamline the migration and modernization of their infrastructure:

The AWS Migration Acceleration Program (MAP) is a comprehensive and proven cloud migration program designed to help customers accelerate their modernization journey. MAP consists of an agile-based migration methodology that uses a three-step framework to 1) asses, 2) mobilize, and 3) migrate and modernize to evaluate a customer’s capabilities and environment to reduce cost and risk.

The Landing Zone Accelerator on AWS deploys a cloud foundation architected to align with multiple global compliance frameworks. Customers with highly-regulated workloads and complex security standards can better manage their compliance requirements and protect their sensitive data.

AWS Mainframe Modernization is a set of managed tools providing infrastructure and software for migrating, modernizing, and running mainframe applications. Your migrated mainframe applications can be deployed into a cloud environment with no upfront costs, and the AWS Partner Network is equipped with solutions providers that specialize in mainframe modernization.

Many governments may see cost as a barrier to modernizing legacy infrastructure. AWS provides tools to help customers calculate the costs and savings of modernizing with AWS. AWS Cost Explorer helps visualize, understand, and manage cloud costs and usage over time. Customers can create custom reports to dive deep into usage data to identify trends and cost drivers. AWS Pricing Calculator lets customers configure a customized cost estimate with transparent pricing for AWS Cloud products and services. AWS Modernization Calculator for Microsoft Workloads can help estimate the cost of transforming on-premise Microsoft workloads to the AWS Cloud, enabling customers to assess the benefits of using technologies built for the cloud, which can lead to a reduction in the total cost of ownership (TCO), elimination of software license management, and an increase in developer productivity.

5. Identity and access management (IAM)

Public sector agencies need a defined framework of processes, policies, and technology to manage digital identities. The amount of sensitive data stored on enterprise systems is growing, along with increasing regulatory pressure to audit and protect it. This makes well-managed access to enterprise systems, multi-factor authentication, and secure identities for both employees and customers essential.

AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) enables customers to specify who or what can access services and resources in the AWS Cloud, centrally manage permissions, and analyze access to resources. The AWS Partner Network also features a variety of IAM and other security solutions that can be purchased quickly with ease through the AWS Marketplace.

6. Cloud services

State and local leaders recognize that it’s a priority to develop a cloud strategy that supports their missions. Public sector leaders across the country and around the world use AWS to implement their cloud strategies. Over 7,500 government agencies are using AWS and over 14,000 education institutions of all sizes—from primary and secondary schools through higher education—use AWS.

The AWS portfolio of solutions, services, products, and tools has simplified the process of evaluating an agency’s cloud business case and value proposition. With tools such as the AWS Cloud Adoption Readiness Tool (CART), Migration Evaluator, and the public sector cloud procurement guide, public sector leaders can take the guess work out of the cloud migration process. Additionally, AWS Professional Services (AWS ProServe), a global team of cloud experts, can help agencies by supplementing their team with specialized skills and experience in cloud adoption and migration.

Plus, the AWS Partner Network has more than 100,000 solution providers, many with applications and services that can be procured quickly and simply through the AWS Marketplace. Organizations and agencies can also use AWS GovCloud (US) Region, which is designed to host sensitive data, regulated workloads, and address the most stringent U.S. government security and compliance requirements, including the Department of Justice (DOJ) Criminal Justice Information Systems (CJIS) Security Policy.

7. Consolidation and optimization

Duplicate and underperforming systems and services are a concern for many customers that the AWS public sector team engages with. While it is fairly simple to identify unnecessary redundancies in services, agency leaders and system managers may feel resistant to unifying systems. Creating economies of scale with intergovernmental collaboration and improving operational efficiency through optimizing resources is much easier said than done.

Organizations can learn more about cloud optimization in no-cost innovation and government strategy workshops that include exercises to assist with these specific challenges. These workshops are led by the AWS Executive Government Advisory team, which is made up of former C-level public sector executives that have over 200 years of combined experience as in-chair CIO, chief information security officer (CISO), chief data officer (CDO), and chief performance officer (CPO) in large state and local government agencies. These experienced leaders, in addition to the AWS public sector solution architects and solution providers in the AWS Partner Network, help agencies across the country overcome the challenge of consolidating and optimizing IT resources.

8. Data and information management

Data and information management is another high priority as more organizations are becoming data-driven. While many state and local government agencies have successfully implemented data warehouses and portals to share civic formation, some agencies are further innovating with their data using data lakes and artificial intelligence and machine learning. These technologies allow unstructured data from a variety of sources to be combined in a single repository for simplified querying and advanced analytics.

9. Broadband and wireless connectivity

Broadband and wireless connectivity are keys to bridging the digital divide and making sure that citizen services are delivered equitably and inclusively. AWS works closely with broadband service providers and public sector leaders to identify areas where digital equity can be improved using civic data. Then, AWS helps to implement solutions to close those gaps strategically. One offering, AWS Private 5G, is a managed service that makes it simple to deploy, operate, and scale your own private cellular network, with all required hardware and software provided by AWS. For example, schools can use AWS Private 5G to supplement Wi-Fi with private cellular networks, so they can deliver reliable campus connectivity. Offsite, private cellular can cover traditionally underserved students who lack broadband access at home, providing a digital lifeline for remote learning. With AWS Private 5G, organizations can build private mobile networks to take advantage of the technological beneﬁts of 4G LTE or 5G while maintaining the security, granular application, and device controls of a private network.

10. Customer relationship management (CRM)

State and local government agencies have unique and complex customer service challenges. It’s no secret that “Customer Obsession” is the number one Leadership Principle at Amazon, so we know a thing or two about managing relationships with customers – and what’s more, in making sure our customers can make a positive impact for the people they serve. Governments are using AWS to support constituent engagement systems, streamline the customer experience, and more.

The AWS Partner Network enables customers to accelerate their journey to the cloud by simplifying the process of identifying and evaluating the right solution you’re your needs. The AWS Solutions Library includes a collection of vetted, curated solutions for CRM solutions with comprehensive citizen engagement tools that enhance customer relationships and the customer experience.

Executive education and customer support

The AWS Executive Government Advisory team works closely with customers to identify solutions to the top 10 state CIO priorities and the many other challenges IT leaders are facing. Reach out to the AWS Public Sector team to start a conversation about how we can help you address your organization’s priorities with the cloud.

Learn more about how state and local governments are using AWS to make a difference for their constituents and communities with cost-effective, scalable, secure, and flexible at the AWS for State and Local hub.