IOT CISO and SEAL IT Program among honorees in StateScoop 50 awards
IOT Chief Information Security Officer Hemant Jain and the IOT State Earn and Learn (SEAL) IT program received commendations in the 2023 StateScoop 50 awards. The annual accolades recognize the best and the brightest who make state government more efficient and effective.
Jain is an honoree in the State Leadership award, the public sector principal helping government implement new technologies, strategies and IT programs. Jain and his security team work with agency partners, the Indiana Executive Council on Cybersecurity and other elected official offices, taking Indiana cyber protection to the Next Level.
Jain was named a State Cybersecurity Leader of the Year in 2019 by StateScoop.
The SEAL IT Program is an honoree in the State IT Innovation category - the cutting-edge state IT approach to cross-agency or intra-agency technology that embraces innovation.
What is the SEAL program?
IOT's SEAL program provides its associates with practical skills and certifications to support public-sector IT while putting Hoosiers to work in a highly needed, highly meaningful area of growing economic value.
SEAL participants can come from all walks of life, including those who are seeking a mid-career skill shift. Once hired, they engage in a hybrid schedule that provides candidates with industry-valued certifications and actual work-based experience within an IOT team.
The SEAL IT Program received the State IT Innovation 2022 StateScoop 50 award too, and the program continued growing over the next year: https://statescoop.com/list/announcing-the-2022-statescoop-50-awards-winners/
For more information about the awards and to find all of the winners, visit: https://statescoop.com/statescoop50/vote/.
Third APM Day a success
IOT partnered with Cisco to showcase AppDynamics, ThousandEyes, and SecureApp in last week's third Application Performance Management event at the State Government Center to discuss how implementing Full Stack Observability (FSO) has improved agency applications.
IOT Application Performance Manager Brad Welsh (pictured) highlighted the FSO tools and ways they have improved state apps to a crowd of more than 60.
Several agencies showcased their successes with FSO, including the Professional Licensing Agency's MyLicense application.
There will be another APM Day in the fall.
Learn more about APM: https://www.in.gov/iot/policies-procedures-and-standards/applications-standards/#AppDynamics
2023 Community Listening Tour: Summer meetings scheduled
After a 92-county tour in 2022, the Indiana Office of Technology (IOT) is back on the road with its expanded 2023 statewide Community Listening Tour, talking to local units of government and finding how we can work together to better protect against growing cybersecurity threats and attacks.
The tour will continue to make stops in regional areas of the state; Lawrenceburg, Fort Wayne, Hammond and Richmond have been meeting locations so far.
Next Stops:
- Evansville (May 16)
- Terre Haute (June 22)
- Kokomo (July 21)
- Bloomington (August 17)
State legislators and other federal government representatives may be in attendance at these meetings as well.
IOT is seeking feedback on needed additional state resources and how the state should deploy the State and Local Cybersecurity Grant Program (https://www.in.gov/iot/slcgp-committee/) funding.
Local governments across Indiana are partnering with IOT as a resource for free cybersecurity training, web hosting and access to cost-saving technology and equipment.
Learn more about the upcoming dates and what else IOT can offer local units of government here: https://www.in.gov/iot/local-government-services/.
Serving up data
Management Performance Hub's (MPH) Data Day returned last month, where attendees celebrated the collaborative and innovative approach to fostering a culture of data-driven decision making between state agencies and key trusted partners.
The event is focused on learning more about how data continues to play an increasingly important role in state government.
Along with GIS, there were many other state agencies featured at the event, showcasing their data successes in breakout sessions.
The Department of Child Services (DCS) held a breakout session about using Tableau to create interactive visuals on Child Welfare metrics (https://www.in.gov/dcs/data/).
The Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) held a session about the fixed-station monitoring program at IDEM that provides a consistent analysis of long-term water-quality trends at 57 sites across Indiana.
The Indiana Family & Social Services Administration (FSSA) presented the Indiana Pregnancy Promise Program that provides enhanced case management services for pregnant and postpartum Medicaid beneficiaries with opioid use disorder. Their journey map illustrates the process for identifying, contacting, enrolling, and serving individuals who are participating in the program.
For more information about Data Day, visit https://www.in.gov/mph/mph-data-day/.
Behind the Tech: Patrick Dixon
Patrick Dixon is a Senior PeopleSoft Security Administrator on the IOT GMIS team.
What does an average day look like for him?
"I’m not sure I have an average day, which makes my job challenging but exciting! Most days consist of many questions/suggestions about problem solving, and delegating tickets/tasks throughout GMIS and the Security Team."
Patrick's favorite thing about his job is about building relationships.
"It's the satisfaction of resolving everything in a timely manner when assigned, plus teaching."
Patrick hopes to continue to grow as a leader and resolve and assist as many issues as possible at IOT.
"I hope to continue to make suggestions to improve collectively throughout IOT."