Dispatch: NASCIO 2024 Midyear & what state CIOs care about most

Episode Notes:

• Subscribe to Sam’s newsletter, The Review, for more insights like this

• Connect with Sam on LinkedIn

• Learn more about the NASCIO 2024 Midyear conference

• Check out the midyear conference agenda

• Check out the 2024 top priorities for state CIOs

• Read about Submittable’s AI principles

• Read NASCIO’s 2023 State CIO Survey

Transcript

Welcome to Impact Audio. I'm Sam Kaplan, Vice President of Social Impact at Submittable. Today's episode is a dispatch from NACIO's twenty twenty four midyear conference, where I'll share my biggest takeaways from that event.

NACIO, which stands for National Association of State CIOs, holds two conferences a year where some of the smartest technologists in the world get together and swap notes. The midyear conference held this past April in National Harbor, Maryland was heavily focused on AI and how state governments are planning to incorporate it into their systems and applications. The chief concern was on how to adopt this new technology responsibly. My friend and colleague, Stacy Svem, Senior Product Marketing Manager wasn't able to attend, but we sat down to discuss these trends and other highlights from the event. So without further ado, here's our conversation.

Hey, Sam. Tell me about what Nasio is, as well as a little bit more about this event.

Yeah, Stacy, happy to. So NACIO is an abbreviation and it stands for the National Association of State Chief Information Officers.

It's a member organization. Their mission is about advancing government excellence through trusted collaboration and partnerships and technology leadership. And their vision is government in which the public is fully served through business innovation and the optimal use of technology. So this is essentially a member organization, where all fifty state chief information officers are members and various members of their staffs are also part of this organization.

And then tons of technology partners and vendors are also members of Nasio. So they do a couple conferences a year. The one that I attended last month was the NACIO mid year twenty twenty four event. And then in the fall, they have like the main conference. But even though this was the mid year, there were still close to one thousand attendees at this one. And it's just such an interesting composition of people. So I would guess totally unscientifically that the audience was probably eighty percent people like me, like technology vendors and partners.

And maybe twenty percent of the conference were those fifty state CIOs and various members of their staff.

And what's really cool about the conference is that it's an opportunity for all of these state CIOs to come together and to share insights on what their greatest challenges are and how they're tackling them. And it's a really important event for vendors because it gives all of us an opportunity to really like understand what their challenges are, and how we in turn can like help them do their work better, whether that's developing our own product strategies to serve these customers better, you know, or just figuring out like how to be better partners. I would also say this event is pretty typical format, like it has several keynotes where everybody's in the same room at the same time, learning the same kinds of things.

And then they also do a bunch of breakout sessions. And then the one event within this conference that's super unique, Stacy, is that it has like a speed dating component to it where everybody who's attending has an opportunity to get in a room with all of those CIOs. And you walk up to the CIO that you're most interested in talking to, and you get like ninety seconds with that CIO. So it's it's, it's not a great opportunity to like go and pitch your service or a product or a company, but just to go and like get to know them, maybe ask a question, kind of work on building a relationship with these different CIOs and their teams.

And then the last thing I would say about this, because I'm such a fan of the NACIO organization, is that one of the coolest things that they do, Stacy, is that they create a survey for all of those fifty state CIOs. And they take the findings of that survey, and they translate that into like a top ten strategic priorities list, and a top ten technology priorities list. And I'll talk about some more of that as we go on.

But it is such a novel sort of useful way to help all of the technology partners and ISVs really understand like what's most important to to these CIOs.

That is awesome. And I definitely wanna hear more about that. So I so wish I could have been there in person, but I would love just to understand, like, what sessions or speakers stood out to you the most?

Yeah. There there were a bunch. And I'm going to focus in on like one in particular, because I think that this one session like incorporated a lot of the same themes and ideas and conversations that many of the other sessions did. So there was one session early in the conference called the Corporate Member Exchange.

And there were three CIOs who were featured in this sort of fireside chat. So one was David Edinger, who was the CIO for the state of Colorado, Tim Galluzzi, who is the CIO for the state of Nevada, and Trina Zano, who is the Chief Information Officer for Wisconsin. And the title of this talk was A View from a State CIO. And they really talked just a ton about like their key initiatives and challenges, various things that they're working on.

And again, like a lot of these topics were the same themes and topics that I heard in many of the other sessions. So I'll call just a few of them out for you, Stacy. So David talked a lot about the theme of simplicity. And the point here is that like these CIOs serve a whole state government, and that's a huge entity, and it consists of multiple agencies and teams and users.

And a lot of those constituents are kind of all doing the same thing. And up into this point, a lot of the CIOs have created bespoke processes and systems that are somewhat unique for each of those stakeholders. And they're realizing that that is not a sustainable way to do business. And so they're really looking for opportunities to begin to simplify to consolidate a bunch of these different systems down to like one or two systems.

And they're doing the same thing with like processes. So like rather than having a hundred different processes for a hundred different groups, they're now working to try to figure out like, how do we simplify things? How do we wind up with one or two processes that serve the needs of the majority of our constituents out there? So that was David's theme around simplicity.

Tim talked about how he and a lot of other state CIOs are working to transition their role from being less transactional to more strategic. And this actually aligns, I mentioned that that top ten list that you also mentioned a minute ago. So there was a new entry onto the top ten priorities list this year and came in as number ten. CIO is broker slash new operating model.

And long story short, like these CIOs have in many cases been viewed as people who to call when you need to put out a fire or you have a very specific need for your team or your organization.

And the CIOs are working really hard right now to transition that role from being viewed as like, I have an issue, I need you to come fix it. Like, that's transactional. Now they want to be seen as much more strategic. And they want the role to be like a broader kind of strategy role so that they're being brought in early on in discussions where technology can play like a critical role in helping to solve some major issue that many agencies or many stakeholders or users are experiencing at the same time.

And then lastly, Trina talked about the importance of relationships with vendors and technology partners. And she made this really great point that like, in large scale projects, things rarely go well. And she really made this, you know, super important point to all of the vendors and partners in the room that like, when things aren't going well, you have to speak up. You have to be honest, you have to be transparent.

Like those are really critical components of a strong relationship. And, you know, one of the first things that I learned as I joined Submittable and we began to service all of these state governments is that like CIOs are they will never be staffed in a way that enables them to like build everything that they need. And so technology partners are an absolutely critical component of them being able to achieve all of their goals and begin to function more strategically. And so by extension, having these really solid, transparent, honest relationships is totally critical to the way that they work.

That is awesome. And when you were talking about David's theme of simplicity, it made me think of attending NGMA this year, the National Grants Management Association. And they had a really big focus on centralization, which I feel like I don't know. Do you feel like those are two similar themes? Because it seems very similar to me.

Yeah, it's it's exactly the same thing. And it's it's a lot of what David and many of the other CIOs talked about it at Naseo. And so a great example would be like, look at what Submittable does with our grants management platform. Like if you go to any given state, they likely have many different software applications or platforms that are used to essentially do the same thing. So for grants management, it may be that they have multiple agencies who are all have their own grants management platform.

And in all likelihood, the state has built something for grants somewhere along the way. And they have all of these different systems in place. And they're kind of all doing the same thing. But you can imagine like the cost, and the amount of energy and time that it takes to maintain all of those systems and some work better than others.

And the data is all locked away in those individual systems. And so now from that sort of centralization standpoint, to use your your term, and from that strategy perspective that I mentioned, like now they're beginning to think, how can we reduce the number of applications that we have out there that are all kind of doing the same thing. And so it's super exciting for a company like Submittable because we think that a lot of organizations can use our grants management platform, to manage all of the grants across an entire state government and all of the agencies out there. Happily, that's what these CIOs are also beginning to recognize as being something really critical to their success.

Absolutely. And they I really do think this work that's coming from the top from, like, OMB and they they established the COFA, I think it's the Council of Fair Financial Assistance. Yeah. And then with the CIOs like you're talking about with their themes, I really do think we're gonna start seeing more of that, trying to just make it more simplistic for, the constituents out there and for those agencies that are trying to run all of these different grants.

Yep. Totally agree with you.

Yeah. And then I had peaked at the NACIO sessions, and a theme I also saw when I was at NGMA is a lot about AI. So nearly all the sessions were about generative AI as well as, like, data management.

How are state CIOs thinking about these subjects?

Yeah, I'm so glad you asked. You know, I have never experienced like the emergence of a new technology that has just completely taken over the conversation in the way that artificial intelligence has. So, you know, we talked about the top ten strategic priorities earlier. And I was going back and looking at like the last several years worth of top ten priorities. And typically what you see at Nasya was like, there may be like a new a new priority introduced, it comes in at number ten. Like so this year for twenty twenty four, artificial intelligence and machine learning and robotic process automation wasn't on the list last year. And this year, came in as the third highest priority behind cybersecurity and digital government digital services.

So to see a theme emerge like that and become such a central part of the strategy and the conversation, again, it's just kind of unheard of. And so that theme of AI like really, really dominated so much of this particular conference. And, you know, a few things that stood out to me about this, like one CIO mentioned how AI has become fifty percent of their job, like fifty full percent of somebody's workload like in that high level strategic role as a state CIO.

Another interesting point about this is that as you listen to the different CIOs talk, like there's really a spectrum in terms of the level of adoption that has happened. So you have some states that are really just now kind of doing the homework and beginning to think about it. And you have other states out there like New Hampshire that have these really robust strategies in place.

Stacy, one thing that, you know, I go to a lot of different conferences for philanthropy in the government space, and even like in the corporate social responsibility arena. And I have to say like, I am totally impressed with the level of rigor and discipline that so many of these state CIOs are applying towards AI adoption. A lot of them are forming like a AI center of excellence, where they're bringing in like colleagues from all across the state government who have some, you know, expertise in AI, or you know, that really like, realize that like AI is going to play a major role in the way that they do their work going forward. They're actively hiring people with AI expertise.

And it just feels like a much more formal adoption than what I'm seeing in other sectors, including the corporate sector. So, you know, in the past, I think we have sort of thought of the government as being like slow to move and, you know, like kind of like technology laggards like that is not the case with government and AI. They are actually ahead of the curve and kind of leading many of their peers out there in other sectors. And just a couple other points on AI, like one thing that everybody is thinking about out there is data usage and data protection, and data privacy, like that has emerged as a real central key concern for all fifty state CIOs out there. You know, they're especially thinking about like, how do we keep citizen data private? So I'm especially happy to see that like, know, that that conversation around privacy and responsible use is at the core of how they're adopting AI.

And then a lot of the CIOs talked about like what they're actually doing in terms of getting started.

A couple of the key use cases that I heard about over and over again, the first is like citizen facing chatbots, and another is translation services. So, you know, this kind of aligns with like that, that priority that I mentioned earlier, digital government, digital services, like how do they develop technology that's more useful for ordinary people and citizens like you and I who are accessing their applications.

And chatbots is a great way to start. It helps to alleviate some of the need for having like so many staff that are focused on like answering questions. And the data is pretty safe for them to get started with. So they can take like, you know, existing documentation that's on the website, and now they can point generative AI at that and get pretty accurate answers in a much more expedient and less costly way than they have been able to in the past.

That's awesome. And it does make me wonder. Like, it's one, it's just so exciting to hear that they're making this such a priority, and it jumps so fast. And I would love to know, like, why do you think government is leading with AI, like, above possibly, like, the corporate or other spaces? And I'm wondering, is it because, like, for instance, like, the data management of trying to get to a more simplistic or that centralization? Or is it I know previously at Nassio, like, workforce development was, like, a really big key topic of, like, trying to attract employees to government. Like, I'm just curious if you have any ideas if maybe that's part of it or, like, why do you think they're just leading the charge for AI?

I mean, I think part of it is just that the hype around AI has been so incredible. But you're also seeing like at the federal level, they are they are putting out guidance on how the government should be using AI. So for one, it's just something that I don't think that they really have the option of ignoring or postponing, like it's really important to like, you know, all levels of government, that they not only begin to adopt it, but they do it in a way that makes sense, that's responsible, that's ethical.

I also heard a lot of state CIOs talk about AI as a way to enhance the workforce. So there, I don't think that state CIOs are looking for AI as a replacement to hiring people. I think that they're realizing that it is a pretty fantastic way to supplement the work that existing employees are already doing, right. So if they can find ways to use AI to make it easier and faster to access critical information, or if they can find ways to enable chatbots to answer my questions rather than, you know, a human being having to answer those, and then they can take that person and put them on more cognitive work. That seems to be like the real, you know, thing that is getting a lot of the CIOs excited when it comes to AI.

That is awesome. And I definitely have heard too.

I was chatting with a woman from the US Department of Interior, and she was talking about how they're planning on using AI for like a training tool to have kinda running in the background, and they're working on this to just really make sure that they get their workforce to be able to be trained. And so I thought that was a really cool way of, like, again, not replacing people, but just enhancing.

Yep. That's exactly right.

So for this conference for the NACIO mid year, what's one thing people who didn't attend this event should know?

First of all, like, it's a unique kind of event. So, you know, it's intended for people who are directly working with these state governments in terms of technology and IT partnership. For me, I just think it was a super enjoyable conference. I think it's a great opportunity to learn.

A couple of our colleagues, TJ Goebel, Brian Stick over there with me, they're account executives at Submittable. You know, I think that the conference is perfect for them. Like it gives them an opportunity to like meet new CIOs to talk a little bit about like what our organization is doing, how we feel like we can help them, you but it also gives them an opportunity to like, build on existing relationships. And that seems to be what the real point of this conference is.

As interesting as the keynotes and the breakout sessions are like the real work of the conference happens in the hallways and over meals, and they have a lot of networking events built in at any point in time, like you can just walk down, you know, around the hotel, the conference area, and you'll just see, you know, CIOs talking with vendors and potential vendors, and everybody's excited, like they're talking about these like big, big technology related challenges that we're all trying to, like, collaboratively solve.

And so I think it's that networking component of this that, like, is what really makes Nasseo special.

And that makes a little more sense too about the speed dating comment you made earlier. They're definitely working hard to make that happen.

That's right. That's totally right. Yeah. And that was so uncomfortable for me, by the way, Stacy.

Like, I cannot talk for ninety seconds about anything. So I like to go and shake somebody's hand and have to have this really sort of succinct, like, here's who I am. Here's why I'm here. Like it killed me.

But but for TJ and Brian, like they are such pros. And it was so much fun to be able just to watch them and, you know, with their talents and in this kind of environment, like, mean, absolutely perfect for those guys.

Oh, so, yeah, I didn't think of the speed dating as being I assumed you'd get to ask a question, but it is it really more on the person that's, like, coming up to the CIO to, like, do a little pitch?

You know, like, thought that it was going be more pitch, but it really wasn't. I think it was an opportunity to, like, ask an intriguing question or, you know, if you have something specific like, hey, you know, we're working with your state in this area, would like to work with them in this area. Can you make a recommendation who we might who might speak to?

You know, like for me, I was just asking them, you know, like these really kind of esoteric questions about like, you know, artificial intelligence and how it's going to change the way that, you know, that citizens interface with their their state governments and their eyes light up, they just get so excited and they nerd out talking about that kind of stuff. So it was totally fun for me. But I think that for so many partners and so many pros out there like TJ and Brian, like it's a really invaluable opportunity and experience to get to interface directly with those tech leaders.

That is awesome. So the NACIO mid year conference sounds like it was pretty interesting. Any closing thoughts?

No, I mean, I'm looking forward to going either, you know, at the end of this year to the big conference or or again, next spring to the mid year one.

I'm really interested to see how the AI conversation develops. Like, it is it really a hype cycle and like this time next year, you know, it's going to go from number three on that priorities list down to number eight or nine, or is it going go from number three to number one potentially? So I'm very closely following how this progresses.

I'm super excited that so many CIOs, you know, making this like really major effort to move from tactical to strategic. And I'm excited to see how our own organization Submittable can help them do that in terms of grants management.

Thank you so much.

Yeah, thanks for having the great conversation with me, Stacy. And next year, we will get together. Will see to it.

Well, already peaked. I think the big conference, the annual conference is in New Orleans. So love to go that way.

Awesome. Well, I can't wait to see you in New Orleans.

Thanks for tuning in. If you'd like to sign up for my newsletter, head to Submitable dot com slash newsletter. I send short notices out twice a month on the latest developments in social impact. One topic that wasn't covered at Nassio is the upcoming changes to compliance rules rolled out by the White House's Office of Management and Budget. Recently, Stacy hosted a webinar with David Clark from BDO that went through all the details you need to know about what's changing and how you can prepare. So visit Submittable dot com slash webinars to watch it on demand.

Until next time.