Workforce snaps into focus for state IT leaders, says NASCIO director

On the Priorities podcast, Doug Robinson, executive director of the National Association of State Chief Information Officers, says states will continue to prioritize workforce in 2023.

“With all those conversations we’ve been having about workforce and talent management, I was glad to see that moved up into a strong number three position,” Robinson tells StateScoop’s Benjamin Freed.

Workforce moved up to the No. 3 slot this year on NASCIO’s list of CIOs’ top priorities, up from seventh in 2022. Cybersecurity and risk management took the top spot for the tenth straight year, while digital government and digital services remained in the number two spot.

NASCIO also publishes a list of top technologies, applications and tools. For the first time, identity and access management ranked as states’ top technology on that list.

“That’s an opportunity for lots of growth and development,” Robinson says. “If you look at the data, there are only two states that have an identity-as-a-service model, meaning that you have an enterprisewide digital identity solution for all of the executive branch. I think we’re going to hopefully continue to see growth in that area. It takes work and it takes architecting the right solution, but based on the states that have done it, it clearly can be done.”

Later on the podcast, Illinois CIO Jennifer Ricker outlines her team’s work to modernize the human capital piece of the state’s enterprise resource planning system refresh.

Also on the show, Ana Vargas, the deputy director of the waste division for the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality, talks about a project tracking the safety compliance of underground storage tanks.

StateScoop’s Priorities Podcast is available every Thursday. Listen more here.

If you want to hear more of the latest across the state and local government technology community, subscribe to the Priorities Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify and Stitcher.