New Report Shows How the Role of CIO Is Growing in Government

Agency chief information officers (CIOs) face many critical challenges in 2015: cybersecurity breaches, new IT governance laws, tighter budgets and the potential for hiring freezes. A new survey released by Grant Thornton and the Professional Services Council identifies the most pressing of these challenges and offers strategic guidance for CIOs when it comes to innovating and leading on federal IT projects.

Protecting information and keeping it secure remains the top priority for today’s CIOs. 90 percent of respondents say they saw an increase in cyber attacks since 2014, ranging from socially engineered spam to phishing, spyware and other external threats from cyber criminals, nation states and rogue actors. Additionally, half of CIOs surveyed (49 percent) say they have increased cybersecurity spending by as much as 10 percent within the last year. This increased funding is being used to sustain best practices, such as continuous monitoring and continuous diagnostics and mitigation (CDM) that automate the monitoring and management of data.

In addition to security, CIOs are challenged by the constant push for innovation. One way CIOs are integrating innovation into the daily workflow is through Agile. 91 percent of those surveyed use some form of Agile development to manage projects, and with Agile methodology and principles, CIOs are able to emphasize the process of communication, demonstration, feedback and iteration across IT services.

Innovation is also how CIOs approach the cloud. With a cloud strategy in place, agencies are making use of DevOps to build new apps and model enterprise IT architecture. Most survey respondents say their agency has adopted or is planning to adopt a cloud-based solution to achieve technology, security and efficiency goals, but only 8 percent say their cloud strategy is where they want it to be right now. The biggest hurdle, according to most CIOs, is building a cloud strategy that is secure and operates in real-time, giving agencies the power to analyze data and make informed decisions.

Not all of the challenges cited in the survey are technology-focused — budgetary and workforce constraints are also top-of-mind for today’s CIOs. In addition, CIOs are being asked to drive value in Federal IT investments and expand digital services. The recent passage of the Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act (FITARA) greatly expanded the role of the CIO, and survey respondents say the new law is helping them to move beyond an infrastructure and operations capacity into a position with more strategic decision-making power. They’re focused on things like building transparency and cost management into the federal acquisition process, and they also want to empower a future-ready workforce, which is likely to face hiring freezes and the retirement drop-off. The goal is to attract forward-thinking talent who can begin specializing in areas such as applications, infrastructure, cybersecurity, systems engineering and project management.

While CIOs outlined a number of challenges still ahead in the federal IT space, survey respondents say they’re excited about the digital and mobile strategies being used in government today. CIOs expect their roles to continue to grow —not only in supporting mission critical functions, but also in applying innovation to further improve mission effectiveness.

To learn more, view the full report, which includes more survey findings and interviews with 67 government leaders from 45 organizations. For more information on this report, contact George DelPrete (George.DelPrete@us.gt.com), who leads Grant Thornton’s public sector information technology practice.

This content is made possible by Grant Thornton. The editorial staff of Nextgov was not involved in its preparation.