“We talk a lot about systems modernization, but we also need to modernize our data,” said Washington CIO Bill Kehoe at the National Association of State Chief Information Officers Annual Conference this week.
Kehoe described areas of Washington government that are already doing this, like health departments that used data to create models on COVID-19 cases and vaccination rates. And in a video from Washington Technology Solutions (WaTech) released in August, Kehoe also pointed to the state’s GIS program and mapping tools that are helping close the digital divide by visualizing where people still lack broadband connections. He wants to take those models and their momentum and grow them across the enterprise so the state can begin to operationalize the wealth of data it holds.
Building a data analytics platform will ultimately help create a customer-centric mindset in state government, Kehoe explained in August.
“Sharing data across the enterprise is essential to connecting government and making it easier for our residents to receive critical services without having to understand our agency structures in the state of Washington,” he said.
