Security top priority for US state CIOs

Security, consolidation and cloud services continue to top the list of US state CIOs’ priorities heading into 2016, according to a new survey.

The annual State CIO Top Ten survey from the National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) found that security and risk management remained the top priority for the third consecutive year.

The category includes issues ranging from governance and data protection to training and awareness, insider threats and third-party security practices as IT departments continue to increase their use of outsourcing.

Centralising and consolidating services while optimising operations, resources and infrastructure came second, followed by cloud-related matters including strategy, governance, service management and data ownership.

Budget and cost control ranked fourth, followed by replacing or enhancing legacy platforms and applications, then enterprise IT policy, planning and overall governance.

Other top priorities include data management and analytics, agile and incremental software delivery and improving broadband or wireless connectivity.

“The survey results show a strong alignment between strategic plans and technology investment,” NASCIO president and Connecticut CIO Mark Raymond said.

“Data management, cloud solutions and certainly security are demanding our attention. Consolidation and sharing of services will drive needs to improve identity management, governance and optimisation.”