The director of North Dakota’s Information Technology Department said he continues to work on ways to use technology to save money and make things more uniform across state government.
Shawn Riley said some state agencies have been resistant – citing concerns about keeping their independence.
"What we're trying to do is say, technology is a commodity structure," Riley said. "It doesn't have to be done independently for everyone. And it just costs more if you do it that way."
Riley said the more you can do across the entirety of government, the cheaper it is, the more effective it is and the more uniform it is. He said it makes a better experience for all the citizens of North Dakota.
Riley said state government could become more efficient and effective, if it thought of itself as a single entity, rather than a number of different entities – from a software standpoint.
Riley cited an instance where 60 contracts over 57 state agencies were reduced to 13 contracts.
"It saved us $1.1 million a year, and we were able to triple the amount of licensing we had," Riley said. "That's just one simple way of turning licensing on its head."
Riley said another priority is continued upgrades to cyber-security efforts. He said it remains a big challenge for the state. But he said so far, the state is doing okay when it comes to fighting off cyber attacks.
"We've been able to avoid any major ransomware attacks," Riley said. "We're not without bruises and bumps."
Riley said the state is constantly defending itself, working breaches and incidents "all the time, every day."
"We've been able to vastly minimize them compared to where we were four years ago," Riley said.
Riley said when it comes to cyber-security, the less you hear about it in the public, the better you’re doing when it comes to protection.
"But there is the other side, where people may not be hearing about it at all because they're ignoring it," Riley said. "There is a balance, and we want people to know there are threats."
Riley said if they don't know about this issue at all, they're likely getting breached.
"We want them to think about cyber," Riley said. "But we don't want them to have to worry about cyber."
