Moving Michigan Ahead

After more than 50 years of operation and eight years of a consolidated structure (see the chronology below), Michigan's ICT has advanced to a point where existing commitments and some of the historical structural challenges facing the state can now be addressed. Required next steps range from continuing to provide core services to identifying, assessing and implementing solutions and technologies with transformational potential. The state has reached a unique juncture at which government technology is maturing from operational consolidation to working with agency and external partners to drive and enable shared services, collaboration and innovation. It takes more than a clear vision of action to carry out a strategic plan for the ICT operations of an entire state government, especially a plan that seeks to stretch the boundaries and capabilities of systems and processes currently in place. The pages that follow articulate how DTMB will carry out the plan both today and in the future and, just as importantly, how that plan will be measured and adjusted as appropriate over time.

Technology and Business Solutions

Research and development of technology solutions are an important way in which Michigan's ICT Strategic Plan is enabled and implemented. The planning process has consistently included an evaluation and review of the full range of current and emerging technologies feasible and appropriate for implementation. For the 2010 to 2014 period, selection of areas of technology focus were based on a thorough assessment of state department requirements and Michigan citizen needs and was formed by objective analysis by experts such as Gartner Inc. and Forrester Research Inc.

Technology Focus Areas: 2010-2014

Focus areas for the next five years are highlighted in the previous goals pages. They are also detailed in Appendix C "Technology Solutions," as follows:

• Streamlined Citizen Transaction and Self-Service
• Citizen Engagement Tools
• Shared Technology Infrastructure
• Information Collaboration and e-Discovery
• Enterprise Mobility
• Cloud Computing (Appendix K)

Over the next five years, Michigan's ICT decision makers, in concert with the Michigan Information Technology Executive Council (MITEC) and other stakeholders, will determine the specific technologies to adopt for implementation. Some of the technology adoption will occur in the short range (less than two years) while others are further out (two to five years). The emphasis is on solutions with the highest or most transformational impact. Across the board, they fall into the following categories: Social trends: Consumerization, green ICT, Really Simple Syndication (RSS) and social computing and networking Business trends: Business process modeling, centers of excellence, Web 2.0 business models and workplace technologies, software as a service, externalization and enterprise architecture Technology trends: Enterprise instant messaging, location-aware applications, mashups, open source, service-oriented architecture, radio frequency identification (RFI), social network analysis, unified communications, VoIP convergence, enterprise information management, advanced analytics, smart computing, business intelligence and virtualization.