CIOs’ pandemic shifts will benefit states, New Hampshire IT chief says

The elevated profiles that state chief information officers enjoyed during the COVID-19 pandemic is one that could benefit state governments for years to come, New Hampshire CIO Denis Goulet told StateScoop last month.

“If the CIO can speak in terms that resonates with the governor and legislature and influencers int he state, we’ll be able to do a better job,” Goulet said during a video interview at the National Association of State Chief Information Officers annual conference in Seattle. “I love the shift and I think it will be a good thing for states.”

Goulet, who just wrapped up an extended tour as NASCIO’s president, also extolled the emergence of practices like business relationship management, in which IT managers nurture partnerships with customer agencies to deliver tech projects.

“Every agency has a different way of viewing what’s important to them,” he said.

And Goulet offered another endorsement of low-code and no-code software development tools. While he said New Hampshire had been tinkering with them before the pandemic, they were greatly effective in standing up digital services once the crisis began.

“I believe it really delivered the goods for New Hampshire and the country. We didn’t do it in as disciplined a fashion as I would otherwise, but it still delivered the goods,” he said.