Wixon was tapped to serve as the commissioner of the Bureau of Information and Technology (BIT) in May, a role which encompasses both typical CIO duties and those of a chief digital officer. Shortly after his appointment, Wixon told Government Technology that his priority in the position is to build strong partnerships with state agencies to improve service delivery.
“For government services to be really effective, we need to have strong collaboration across and with the agencies,” Wixon said, emphasizing that 2025’s focus was strengthening agency technology.
The process involved capability modeling, a strategic way to assess each agency’s mission, core services and needs in order to better align technology advancements with organizational values. That ensures technology upgrades “directly support agency goals and their service delivery,” Wixon said, rather than being done simply to modernize.
This cooperative approach allows agencies to adopt technology solutions that will deliver the greatest value, he said, and it supports a risk-based approach to application modernization.
Resilience was the other key priority for officials, specifically in the context of cybersecurity. After conducting a comprehensive assessment, officials created a cybersecurity road map, with a “culture of continuous improvement” built into it.
“Cybersecurity is never going to be a finished project,” the CIO said. By adopting industry standards for security frameworks, with an understanding that the threats are “ever changing,” the state’s approach aims for ongoing advancement.
The state’s concentration on resilience was elevated following a network issue impacting the State Data Center. Technical issues began affecting the South Dakota network Aug. 19, with all systems operating again two days later.
After an incident happens in a data center, Wixon said officials assess what services are critical. This assessment can inform both recovery and modernization by considering resilience throughout the design process for agency road maps and, more broadly, service delivery.
Slightly earlier in the year, Gov. Larry Rhoden established the Governor’s Resilience and Infrastructure Task Force (GRIT) in June, with the intent to build resilience into state modernization efforts, Wixon said.
Another technology area that is constantly evolving is AI. It is a challenge for any state government to determine how to invest in things that are developing at such an accelerated rate, Wixon said, indicating South Dakota’s approach is policy-driven.
BIT worked with the state Bureau of Human Resources and Administration to create an acceptable-use policy for employees to responsibly leverage generative AI. In addition, the state is creating an AI Center of Excellence. Officials are developing its charter with the goal of enacting a statewide framework for AI use. AI technologies, Wixon said, will be a consideration in the process of capability modeling for agency modernization.
The state is actively using AI already, he said. State employees are using Microsoft Copilot within a secure environment, and leaders are offering AI support and training to help increase productivity while protecting sensitive data.
Another key priority is expanding state radio coverage, which connects first responders statewide. Officials are taking steps to improve their network’s resilience by adding capacity, Wixon said — building in redundancy to mitigate a primary system outage with the availability of a secondary system.
Whether it be the radio network, energy, water treatment, fuel or something else entirely, Wixon said officials are looking at preparation and resilience in a holistic way to ensure the state can continue providing critical services to residents.
Modernization will continue in 2026, the CIO said, and with it, an important aspect of his role is to understand long-term goals across state government so that IT can be a strategic partner in achieving them.
Project BISON is among those continuing this year. The initiative, an acronym for Business Information System for Operational Needs, kicked off in 2024 and is slated for a 2027 launch. It entails modernizing the state’s financial processes through an enterprise resource planning system implementation. The state is also modernizing workforce management.
“And then these become multiple-layered strategies,” Wixon said, noting that integrating cybersecurity into application modernization enables security to become stronger as functionality is improved.
Cybersecurity work, too, will carry on, strengthened by GRIT, and focused on improving service delivery and resilience.
And because South Dakota is a balanced-budget state, Wixon said cybersecurity planning is done without accepting federal funds. As such, the CIO said he believes that changes to federal funding will not impact the state’s cybersecurity work.
Whether it is cybersecurity, modernization or the interagency communication powering either of those endeavors, continuous improvement is key, Wixon said.
“It’s kind of like maintenance on your car,” he said. “Once you buy the car, it doesn’t mean you’re done.”
