How Can CIOs Meet High-Volume IT Demand Post-Pandemic?
Delaware CIO Jason Clarke explains that the challenge of having done so much high-quality tech work for state agencies early in the COVID-19 pandemic is continuing to meet those expectations with the same staff.
A common refrain among CIOs at the NASCIO Annual Conference last week was how impressed they were by how their IT staff stepped up in 2020 to get unprecedented amounts of work done in record time, particularly as state employees moved to remote work. But, as Delaware CIO Jason Clarke explained, there’s a downside to that: State agencies now know how much can get done, and want IT to maintain those same levels of productivity.
Of course one obvious solution to increased demand on Delaware's Department of Technology and Information's (DTI) services is to grow their workforce.
Clarke said Delaware is re-evaluating how it classifies IT jobs to make them not only easier to find on a job search platform like LinkedIn, but also ensure they’re modern roles with reasonable expectations for experience and training. DTI is also leaning on relationships with organizations that offer tech certification programs to try to bring in people who may be new to state IT work. The combination of newly defined positions and easier paths to grow within the state will serve DTI’s workforce in the long run.
Lauren Kinkade is the managing editor for Government Technology magazine. She has a degree in English from the University of California, Berkeley, and more than 15 years’ experience in book and magazine publishing.
Noelle Knell is the executive editor for e.Republic, responsible for setting the overall direction for e.Republic’s editorial platforms, including <i>Government Technology</i>, <i>Governing</i>, <i>Industry Insider, Emergency Management</i> and the Center for Digital Education. She has been with e.Republic since 2011, and has decades of writing, editing and leadership experience. A California native, Noelle has worked in both state and local government, and is a graduate of the University of California, Davis, with majors in political science and American history.
