She brings that business sensibility to her work leading the North Carolina Department of Information Technology, where she wants government to move quickly, speeding up traditional approaches to procurement and modernization.
The biggest difference she’s noticed in making the switch to government? Politics.
“While there is always politics in the private sector, this is a whole new realm of politics,” Piccione said, noting that beyond the governor and the state agencies her team supports is the entire population of North Carolina. “Everyone has a voice and they all like to use it,” she said. This broad scope requires a “thoughtful” approach that ties priorities to maximum impact.
There’s a lot of work ahead.
“There’s no shortage of things that need modernizing,” Piccione said in a June interview with Government Technology. Top of mind are improvements at the Division of Motor Vehicles to manage growing demand, the tax system and a current upgrade in progress to the state’s HR system.
But does North Carolina have the IT talent to execute on these high-impact projects?
Piccione is working to lure next-generation talent into the state workforce by capitalizing on disruption in the federal workforce and developing targeted apprenticeships for early career professionals who might previously not have been able to meet steep experience requirements. Bringing those people into the state workforce allows them to gain that experience while working on high-impact projects.
Recently, North Carolina made a significant change to all currently unfilled IT positions that will help support Piccione’s recruitment goals: Every vacant job description was opened up to early career applicants.
“When you look at some of the state positions, it says ‘must have 15 years' experience.’ Well that’s not going to be exciting for a young person because how are they going to have 15 years' experience when they’re just graduating?” Piccione asked.
Minimizing experience requirements widens the applicant pool to include recent graduates.
“That’s a game changer for every single college graduate, every single two-year graduate, to be able to look at it from, ‘Hey, I can apply here, this is applicable to me.’”
When it comes to AI, Piccione sees significant potential for the technology in government, identifying use cases in procurement, fraud detection, cybersecurity and more. A big part of the effort is educating people on what AI can do, overcoming fear-based resistance and helping to foster trust around its capabilities.
“It’s just an exciting time,” Piccione said, outlining the potential she and her team have to make progress for residents and visitors across the state. “Come jump on our highway and let’s start making a difference across all of the U.S.”
