Optimizing Processes and Systems in Washington State

Washington CIO Jim Weaver is taking a sort of back-to-basics approach to IT in the state. While he has an eye out for emerging technologies that may be on the horizon, his first six months on the job have been spent focusing on evaluating what services Washington Technology Solutions currently has to offer agencies, what can be streamlined and optimized, and what is ready to drop off the roster.

At the National Association of State Chief Information Officers Midyear conference earlier this month, Weaver described the importance of focusing on good governance and efficiency. “We need to focus on repeatable processes that can be executed routinely,” he said, adding that a migration of email to Microsoft Office 365 is a first step toward better IT. If new technology doesn’t bring value to agencies to help them better serve citizens, he’s not interested.

"We talk about people, process and technology,” Weaver said, “We have the people, now we need to get to executable processes so we can bring a technology solution to bring it all together.”