“I run on the pace of enterprise, not on the pace of presidency,” Teena Piccione, North Carolina’s newly confirmed chief info officer, advised StateScoop in a current interview.
Piccione stepped into the position in January, after Jim Weaver stepped down after 4 years to pursue alternatives within the non-public sector, and was confirmed final Could. She stated she realized so much throughout her first six months heading the Division of Info Know-how, like how the division generally is a higher accomplice to state agencies.
“I’ve to verify I can perceive Division of Transportation, all of our environmental high quality points, the prisons, our Veterans Affairs, as a result of with the intention to serve them effectively, I’ve to grasp what they do,” she stated.
One in every of her first initiatives concerned utilizing Starlink, the satellite tv for pc web service operated by Elon Musk’s SpaceX, to strengthen communications networks for catastrophe response. She stated the venture appeared particularly vital after Hurricane Helene. Although North Carolina’s next-generation 911 system remained operational via the storm, Piccione stated she wished to supply “a industrial grade response.”
“God forbid, if we have now one other hurricane that hits the mountains or snow that hits our nice coast, that we’re prepared, and we’re capable of present know-how that may allow that connection again for all the nice folks throughout our state. Entry to know-how that can work within the occasion of any sort of hurricane, climate associated, or any catastrophe or trauma that comes,” she stated.
She stated she additionally looked for areas of IT governance and digital companies that may very well be improved and seemed to introduce instruments like generative synthetic intelligence to assist maximize the state’s assets.
“There may be at all times going to be a niche between how many individuals we have now and the way many individuals we want,” Piccione stated. “So how can we make the most of AI to assist be that hole filler and to have the ability to make sure that we’re capable of nonetheless meet the wants whereas we’re hiring folks into the state? Utilizing know-how to our benefit.”
Piccione stated she expects Gov. Josh Stein to problem an govt order within the coming weeks establishing an AI council, tasked with exploring the state’s finest makes use of of generative AI, equivalent to shortening the procurement course of, strengthening cybersecurity and making a companies portal.
Public belief can also be a key precedence for Piccione, who acknowledged that religion in authorities is eroding. In line with a recent study by the Pew Analysis Middle, solely 22% of People say they belief the federal authorities to do what is true “nearly at all times” or “more often than not.”
For Piccione, meaning specializing in the subsequent technology, creating apprenticeship applications via state and neighborhood schools that assist domesticate the subsequent wave of public servants.
“We’re not doing our accountability when we have now an ageing workforce within the authorities,” she stated. “We have to guarantee that we have now a plan, identical to we do for next-gen 911, we have now that next-gen plan for a way we’re going to make sure our company final survives and thrives.”
