DIGITAL STATES SURVEY RANKS HAWAII FIRST IN EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES

News Release from Hawaii Office of Enterprise Technology Services, October 2, 2018

HONOLULU – Hawaii is ranked first among fifty states in emerging technologies/innovation, according to the Center for Digital Government’s 2018 Digital States Survey. It also ranked second for its exemplary work in support of collaboration.

In addition to those rankings, Hawaii received an overall grade of B+ in the Digital States Survey, up from B in 2016. Under the Digital States criteria, a grade of B reflects states that are trending up. These states show results in many survey categories, and their leaders use modernization to change entrenched practices to prepare for more sustainable operations. Incentives for collaboration are in place, and performance measures are used in key areas.

The Center believes that letter grades are an effective way to reflect the work of states in this important area. Moreover, letter grades provide a way of assessing progress over time within individual states – all with the end goal of improving performance, state by state.

“I’m proud of the progress we’ve made in technology and innovation,” said Gov. David Ige. “Modernizing government has been my one of my top priorities since becoming governor.”

“Although there is still much work to be done, I am pleased with this achievement and look forward to improving our overall grade,” said Todd Nacapuy, chief information officer. “I congratulate all our team members for their hard work in helping us earn this recognition.”

Since its inception 21 years ago, this biennial e-survey has helped benchmark state government use of digital technologies to improve service delivery, increase capacity, and reach policy goals.

In addition, the survey was designed to highlight best and emerging practices that can be shared across borders – success in one state can help fuel progress in others. The survey recognizes these achievements and provides a common reference for all 50 states in the ongoing work of finding better ways to do the public’s business. To those ends, the Center for Digital Government awarded a letter grade to each of the 50 states.

A national overview of all 50 states and their grades can be viewed at: www.centerdigitalgov.com.

To see the awards article and the 50-state summaries, visit http://www.govtech.com/computing/Digital-States-2018.html.

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2018 Digital States Survey Grades

A Georgia, Michigan, Missouri, Ohio, and Utah

A- California, Indiana, Minnesota, New York, North Dakota, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin

B+ Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee 

B Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, Texas and West Virginia.

B- Alabama, Kansas, South Dakota, and Vermont

C+ Nevada, New Hampshire, and Wyoming

C Alaska, New Jersey, and Rhode Island

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Hawaii

2018: B+

2016: B

Chief Innovation Officer: Todd Nacapuy

The state of Hawaii returned to a B+ ranking with a collaborative attitude toward solving its unique challenges, under the leadership of tech-forward Gov. David Ige and a responsive Legislature. Since coming to the state in 2015, CIO Todd Nacapuy has worked with the Legislature and the state IT workforce to enact legislation that would serve as the foundation for the consolidated Office of Enterprise Technology Services (ETS). Those same statutes also put in place an IT governance process requiring departments to develop multiyear IT strategic plans.

Legislators and the executive branch worked together on policies and best practices with Act 37, which took effect in 2017, pushing out the benefits of independent IT project verification and validation to the Department of Education and the University of Hawaii. Officials partnered on data-driven government, standing up a Department Dashboard aggregating IT projects around the state. Powered by the SharpCloud data visualization solution, it lets ETS present initiatives in a visually compelling way, categorized by metrics including cost and organizational importance.

The state prioritized residents in a series of innovative emerging tech solutions, with its health department implanting air quality sensors at strategic locations including those with the potential for deadly volcanic lava fumes. Hawaii’s emergency management agency has installed statewide wireless and satellite-based alert warning systems and water level monitors; and its highways agency tracks movement via "smart" road monitors, cameras, traffic controls and messaging systems.

Hawaii has done considerable heavy lifting to enhance its ability to recruit IT staff, piloting the migration of existing employees from a seniority-based to a broadbanding system that simplifies the classification of positions and is more flexible in recognition of and compensation for professional growth and development. In 2016, the state piloted a collaboration with LinkedIn to raise the visibility of ETS job openings, filling a significantly higher percentage.