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July 2022 Newsletter



IOT continues customer success with bi-annual survey

IOT recently concluded its bi-annual Customer Satisfaction Survey sent to those who have communicated with IOT in the last seven months by opening a customer service ticket.

Surveys went out asking to describe the staff at IOT, how helpful the support team was in resolving issues and the satisfaction customers had with their interaction with IOT.

Results show that customer satisfaction with IOT was at 96.95% this year. 

Additionally, the IOT staff received a 99% for friendliness, a 98% on their depth of IT knowledge and a 96% for professionalism. 

Why it matters: Our goal is to be the gold-standard of customer service and to provide an experience that exceeds the customer’s expectations. We will continue to provide next level customer service, and we appreciate choosing to use IOT as your technology vendor.

We thank you for your participation in the survey and will continue to help you resolve any issues you have!



AWS workspaces replaces Microsoft virtual desktop

When the pandemic made remote work the normal, IOT quickly responded by setting up Azure Virtual Desktops (AVD), so staff could securely access work materials from afar.

AVD was a solution designed around a single use case to provide state workers access to on-premise resources. Over the past year, IOT has been gathering feedback and looking to improve the state offering of a virtual desktop to agencies.

IOT researched several solutions and has settled on transitioning to Amazon Web Services (AWS) Workspaces for the State’s remote desktop solution. You can download the AWS from the Software Center and use it instead of AVD now. 

Who does this apply to? 

Anyone currently using AVD today will need to download the Amazon Workspaces app from Software Center.

How do I access the new AWS environment?

Please see the instructions here and here for how to access the AWS environment. After reading the instructions, submit a support ticket if you still have any issues gaining access.

What are the key features of AWS?

Workspaces provide the performance, security, and flexibility to meet the State’s requirements. Benefits of AWS Workspaces include:

  • Easily replicate the State’s desktop image allowing IOT to manage virtual desktops similarly to other end-user computers.
  • Increased performance compared with Azure AVD
  • Integrated persistent storage to maintain applications, user documents and settings
  • Simplify desktop delivery – do you have a project that 50 or 500 developers need desktops? No problem! AWS workspaces take as little as 20 minutes to deploy.
  • Pay as-you-go model ‑ by default, the AWS Workspaces go into standby when not in use for more than an hour, which reduces the cost.
  • The agency bill codes used today for AVD will be the same for AWS Workspaces. Please open a ticket with IOT billing if this needs to be updated.
  • The Windows Operating System and Office 365 licenses are covered as part of the End User Rate applied to every state end user.

Save the Date: Upcoming Events

The Indiana Office of Technology has a few exciting events coming this fall!

  • The Indiana Information Sharing and Analysis Center (IN-ISAC) will be hosting the next Cyber Town Hall in September.  
    • After a great turnout from the first five events, the IN-ISAC team will continue to reach out to local governments each month to continue hosting town halls with new topics.  
      Why it matters: The state is working more closely with local government to protect all Hoosier data.
      Get connected: These meetings can benefit state employees; email Taylor Hollenbeck thollenbeck@iot.in.gov if you are interested in receiving details about the IN-ISAC meetings.
  • The Digital Government Summit will be Thursday, October 6, 2022 at Marriott North.  
    • Government Technology's passion is promoting best practices and spurring innovation in the public sector – more important than ever in challenging times like these. Please join us for a powerful series of sessions that provide inspiration, participation, education, and thought-provocation! Learn more here: https://events.govtech.com/indiana-digital-government-summit.html
  • The Annual GIS Day will be November, 15, 2022 at the Indiana Government Center in Indianapolis. Stay tuned for abstract submissions, agenda, and registration details!

Reskilling citizens into new IT careers: IT SEAL program

Is your agency struggling to find IT talent? The Indiana Office of Technology and its partner Brooksource, has created an award-winning State Earn and Learn (SEAL) IT Program, and we can help you!

The SEAL IT Program reskills a diverse population of adult citizens from many different occupations into public-sector IT professionals.

For more information reach out to SEAL Director Jon Rogers at jrogers1@iot.in.gov.

What is a SEAL associate?

During their experience in SEAL IT, associates earn industry-valued certifications while training hands-on and alongside IOT professionals over the course of a standard workweek.

Associates receive highly engaged, customized coaching and mentoring from workplace supervisors, a program director, and a vendor partner (Brooksource). As they take on responsibilities reflecting entry-level experience at IOT, associates receive paid-study opportunities built upon a successful preparation curriculum model that is tailored to each certification.

Since its inception, IOT has successfully hired two full-time IOT employees and now have over 30 associates that support 11 business areas and many skillsets across the agency.


Microsoft Teams audio conferencing available to all state employees

The Indiana Office of Technology has turned on audio conferencing for nearly all state employees.

Each employee should have received an email from Microsoft announcing the new feature. The subject line is:

"You now have Audio Conferencing for Microsoft Teams or Skype for Business Online – Here is your dial-in information and PIN"

The sender is maccount@microsoft.com. (see picture)

You will then see your conference phone number and PIN. The new conference number will be included when you create a Teams meeting moving forward.

How does this benefit me? From now on there will be a phone number included if an attendee needs to call in rather than be on a Teams call


Cybertech Midwest: Local Government

Cybertech Midwest returned to Indianapolis for their second annual conference - the first back in 2019. IOT Chief Information Officer Tracy Barnes moderated a panel  at the even dedicated to the Cyber Challenges from the Local Government Perspective.

Panelists included Chetrice Mosley- Romero, Indiana's Cybersecurity Program Director, Dan Elliot, CEO & Chief Software Architect, Intelli-Leap, Joseph Daniels, CIO, Illinois State Treasurer, Tad Stahl, IN-ISAC Executive Director nd Kent Kroft, Tippecanoe County IT Director.

Indiana local governments are on the frontline of serving Hoosiers every day, and that’s a huge responsibility. But unfortunately, what we hear from local government officials is they are stretched thin, resources are tight, and their systems are aging.

Because of this, the Indiana Office of Technology has begun offering services to Local Governments across the state.

Our full menu of modernization services helps local governments to easily and affordably modernize their technology operations. Many of our services are free, easy to access and implement, and they help reduce the burdens that come with the massive responsibility local governments face.

Our services enable counties, towns, cities and support units to centralize so much of their tech, making it more cohesive and secure. That enables them to deliver government services more effectively and efficiently – and that saves time and money for the higher priority projects.

Find all of IOT’s provided services here: https://www.in.gov/iot/local-government-services/


First Application Innovation Summit is a success

Microsoft and the Indiana Office of Technology co-hosted Indiana's first Innovation Application Summit in June.

Breakout sessions hosted by Microsoft specialists and architects featured information on cloud computing, Azure, Microsoft's Power Platform and the GitHub community.

Microsoft Coordinator Holly Najafi said she enjoyed spending the day with the 150 individuals across 36 state agencies.

"It was energizing to really dig in to application innovation and brainstorm how we can leverage solutions to really make an impact at our partner agencies and I look forward to keeping the collaboration going," she said. 

Multiple agencies in the State are already creating impactful solutions like simplifying project management, communicating with the public, meeting compliance requirements with the Power Platform and so much more!

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