Legislation to advance IT consolidation and the state's use of data could mean a big leap for IT in Hawaii as the governor's term winds down.

Officials said an IT asset and service request tracking system was "invaluable" during a major consolidation effort completed in 2019.

Gov. Ned Lamont ordered the centralization of IT staff from about 40 agencies into a single statewide organization.

The CIOs of Minnesota and Tennessee both said their organizational structures aided their pandemic response efforts, but budget cuts could stall progress.

"We should’ve done more to do a cultural analysis," Stephanie Dedmon said of merging IT workers from 23 different agencies into a unified organization.

Consolidating IT functions was already saving the states tens of millions of dollars, but CIO Ed Toner said the project's true value was revealed when the pandemic hit.

An auditor's report shows many of the Office of Technology Services' customers are confused or unsatisfied by the service they receive from the young agency.

Leaders in state government should be owning the outcomes affecting the public, state CIO Fred Brittain says.

State CIO Tim Bottenfield said infrastructure consolidation is complete and now officials are now looking at applications and people.