State app modernization requires everyone’s help, says CIO | 2024 NASCIO

Virginia is managing a portfolio of more than 2,000 applications. State Chief Information Officer Bob Osmond says many of them need updating, but making that happen requires “change campaigns” to ensure the project has support, from lawmakers, agencies and vendors. “You can have the best idea in the world, but if you don’t work with people and help them understand your idea and why you’re doing it and understand what is your plan, then you’re never going to get off the ground,” he says. Osmond said the effort is important because when applications fail, so does the commonwealth. “They’re in various states. Some of them are very old, some of them are very dated, some of them are brittle and some of them no longer meet the needs [for which] they were designed because there’s a lot of change in government,” he says.
This video was recorded on Oct. 1, 2024, at the National Association of State Chief Information Officers annual conference in New Orleans.