Mr. Rhodes is Chief Information Officer for the State of Georgia and Executive Director of the Georgia Technology Authority.
GTA has begun compiling data for the 2012 State IT Annual Report. Capturing and reporting IT data helps state executives and legislators to better understand the state's IT enterprise and its related risks.
The report provides agency heads and other decision makers with data for setting priorities and making cost-effective, risk-based decisions about needed improvements. It also enables us to see more clearly the IT issues faced by agencies and the state IT enterprise as a whole, and we typically see that our concerns parallel those of other states.
The data that comprises the report comes to GTA from state agencies, as required by a March 2008 executive order. We provide a web-based application for agencies to submit their data, and we encourage agencies to use the application as a management tool in such areas as IT security, portfolio management, business continuity planning, business applications and IT expenditures. Submissions were due September 3.
A large part of the data collection effort focuses on agency information security programs, and last month, I had the opportunity to address the annual meeting of the nation's most important information security organization serving government, the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center (MS-ISAC). As you may know, the MS-ISAC is designated by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security as the focal point for cyber threat prevention, protection, response and recovery for the nation's state and local governments. I was invited to speak to the group as a representative of the National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO).
Obviously, the group was particularly interested in IT security, which remains a leading concern for states. In fact, it has been among the top 10 priorities for state CIOs for the past eight years, and for several years it was the number one priority. We also talked about other priorities for state CIOs, including consolidation, budget and cost control, governance, health care, cloud computing, broadband and connectivity, shared services, portal, and mobility. Certainly, those issues are familiar ones for us here in Georgia.
The better our understanding of our own IT enterprise and its inherent risks, the better prepared we are to strengthen it. Agency participation in the State IT Annual Report enables us to work together to make that happen.