Driesse addresses state IT streamlining

Centralization and a better quality of service delivery are vital in streamlining the state’s computer systems, Louisiana chief information officer Ed Driesse told members of the Louisiana Technology Council today at the first CIO/CIT Forum. Driesse fiercely defended a $100 million planned computer upgrade to the same system last month when an advisory group of the Commission on Streamlining Government suggested the project be delayed because of budget cuts. “When times are bad, that’s when you invest in IT,” he says. “Why? Because IT is normally one of the few productivity tools in town.” The state’s computer structure is decentralized with 2,100 IT employees and a $119 million operating budget. Each state agency maintains a separate IT department and services. Driesse has recommended that the streamlining commission consider a consolidated IT infrastructure with statewide e-mail. “This is not something I’m going to be able to sell to everybody,” he says. “The times are right to make a fundamental change like this.” Driesse is currently establishing a baseline to determine how the system’s resources are allocated to each department. That study should be complete by the end of the first quarter. “We have to change the mentality of ‘if we don’t need it, we don’t get it’ as opposed to having it just in case,” he says.—Emma James