Hawaii makes ‘steady progress’ in IT modernization

HONOLULU, Hawaii – The State of Hawaii’s progress in better serving citizens and streamlining operations through technology was recognized this week with a B+ grade in e.Republic’s Center for Digital Government’s (CDG) biennial Digital States Survey. The grade is an improvement from a B- in 2012.

CDG cites Hawaii’s steady progress in replacing outdated infrastructure and modernizing technology systems, the appointment of the state’s first chief information officer (CIO) in 2011, and the release of a 12-year information technology (IT) transformation plan centered on developing IT governance policies and deploying new shared services.

“There is clear momentum now that we have begun the implementation phase of Hawaii’s IT transformation plan,” said Hawaii CIO Keone Kali. “We can expect accelerated progress as implementation continues. The eight states that scored above a B+ had between five and 10 years head start in terms of commitment, consolidation and resources. Our progress thus far is a testament to the hard work of state personnel across 18 departments and our partners.”

There were only 18 other states with a B+ or higher grade. Of the 50 states surveyed, 21 improved their grade since 2012, 17 states remained the same, and 12 states saw a drop.

“States have made thoughtful, and for the most part, wise decisions on where they invested over the last couple years in particular,” said CDG Executive Director Todd Sander. “They needed to because financial resources were scarce and the competition in the enterprise was high. We’re starting to see that really pay off now.”

In 2012, the Hawaii Office of Information Technology published its award-winning “Business and Information Technology/Information Resource Management (IT/IRM) Transformation Plan.” Since then, highly visible changes include the launch of two state government Web portals in 2013:

Hawaii.gov, a comprehensive update to the state’s main Web portal launched in conjunction with upgrades to webpages across all state departments and agencies, enhanced mobile, touch and speech capability, increased consistency, and improved accessibility; and

Data.hawaii.gov, the state’s new data portal for access to state government information, in turn leading to increased transparency, driving civic innovation, and engaging participants in a more collaborative form of government.

In addition to its improved CDG score, Hawaii was recently one of six states (Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, New York, Oklahoma and Utah) to receive a perfect score in this year’s State Open Data Policies and Portals report by the Center for Data Innovation. Hawaii also earned a 2013 Federal 100 award from Federal Computer Week magazine (the only state government in the nation to receive such an award that year) and the 2014 Government Innovator of the Year award from the Government Technology Research Alliance.