This Is Business: North Dakota’s CIO on Transformation, the Road Ahead

In the 11 months since Kuldip Mohanty joined North Dakota state government as CIO, he has been leveraging three decades of private-sector experience in his approach to state IT.

His experience to this point has shaped his approach to state IT, sharing that he sees North Dakota Information Technology as a business that serves state agency customers. As such, he hopes to make NDIT a trusted agency partner in the mission to better serve constituents, making their interactions with vital state services as frictionless as possible.

“We’re on the cusp of doing some amazing things,” Mohanty stated. “And I just can’t wait to see the magic that we will create in the upcoming years.”
His transition from industry to public service has come with some significant adjustments for the CIO, who noted that budget constraints are a primary concern. When new technologies emerge, Mohanty explained, private-sector organizations can easily make a business case for greater funding and quickly invest. In the public sector, the budget is not only relatively fixed but it also is typically set multiple years in advance, which can pose a challenge.

“Technology doesn’t wait for two years to disrupt — case in point being artificial intelligence,” he said, underlining that emerging technologies lead government to ask the question of how to generate funding. He explained that answering this question is more an art rather than a science.

The sense of urgency around AI is not lost on Mohanty, who likened the technology to a new four-lane freeway nobody has experience driving on, and yet, everyone is licensed to drive there. Nobody was taught how to responsibly use AI, but the tools are already available to adopt.

Where AI regulation is concerned, the CIO credits the state’s tech-savvy governor, Doug Burgum, for a forward-thinking approach to technology and for actively seeking opportunities to automate for better citizen services.

“With that being said, our approach is very simple,” he said, underlining that it starts with a journey to become better educated about AI risks and best practices. “What can we do with artificial intelligence? What are the guardrails around it that we need to be thoughtful about?”

Through an AI workforce screening process, the state has been developing numerous “shovel-ready” use cases. In the meantime, the NDIT staff has been working to develop and document an AI policy. Mohanty expects that policy to be published by the end of the year.

But AI is not the only technology the state is focusing on. Mohanty’s goal is to help solve problems through a customer-centric approach, in which NDIT serves as the broker that ensures that technology implementations are efficient and effective. The process involves journey mapping the customer experience and improving efficiency with technology.

Another major focus area for the state is cybersecurity. Because much of the state is rural, leadership is taking a whole-of-state approach to cybersecurity. This involves a multitude of factors, such as the Joint-Cybersecurity Operations Command Center and a strong understanding of threat detection and incident analysis. In addition, the state is focused on increasing education in this space in partnership with political entities throughout the state.

The final piece of cybersecurity work for the state is a focus on educating the next generation of the cybersecurity workforce, through the PK-20W initiative. Mohanty underlined the state’s focus on the changing needs of the workforce and the role technology disruption will play in reshaping the needs for upskilling and reskilling new talent.