Ohio CIO working to improve digital services for residents

Despite being recognized in this year’s StateScoop 50 awards for State IT Innovation of the Year category, Ohio Chief Information Officer Katrina Flory said her team continues to improve digital services through the state’s InnovateOhio platform. 

InnovateOhio helps connect citizens to government services and provides agencies with better data, Flory said. She told StateScoop in a video interview that the state’s Bureau of Motor Vehicles and Department of Taxation have integrated into the platform, and other agencies will move over this year. 

“Lt. Gov. [Jon] Husted has been a major proponent of using technology to innovate and provide better services to Ohioans, so that’s really what we’re trying to do with the InnovateOhio platform,” Flory said during the National Association of State Chief Information Officers midyear conference in National Harbor, Maryland.

Flory said the state is also preparing to build out next-generation 911. Flory and Husted traveled across the state to talk with first responders about the importance of technology, a digital replacement to decades-old systems that run on copper phone lines, and why funding the project was a critical piece of the state’s budget. Although Flory’s office is not directly responsible for next-generation 911, she said her office provides network service support. 

Looking ahead, Flory said she’ll continuing to add services to InnovateOhio, help the state expand its cybersecurity capabilities and gather results from recent workforce development initiatives.

“We always look for those collaborative opportunities, as well,” Flory said. “Because we can have all of this technology, we can have all these roadmaps, but if we don’t have those resources and those partnerships to move us forward, we’re not going to be successful.”