The State of Michigan has become a pioneer in how to make IT work better and be more economically viable for its citizens. They focused on consolidating IT into one state agency, and then developing a strategic plan and an enterprise architecture to support the plan.
In 2001, the entire IT organization across the State of Michigan merged into the Michigan Department of Information Technology (MDIT), under the direction of Ken Theis. MDIT's 1,700 employees support 19 other state agencies. These agencies have a combined annual budget of $434 million, 800 business-critical applications, 55,000 desktops, and 1,300 telecom locations.
The consolidation reduced overall IT expenditures in Michigan by 34 percent, taking more than $100 million off the state budget. Some of these strategic moves included closing 23 data centers and creating three main data centers, reducing the number of email servers from 700 to 70, and centralizing one petabyte of data storage. Meanwhile, MDIT also addressed errors in programs, such as Food Stamps.
In this podcast, Ken talks about the agency's overall IT strategy, the components that comprise the enterprise architecture, the initiatives that are bringing smaller and more efficient government to the people of Michigan, and the challenge of managing IT investments.
Theis says, "If you can't measure it, you shouldn't be doing it. We continue to strive for returns on our IT investments. Sometimes the returns can be financial, and other times they might be services that benefit citizens. We're always looking to improve how we can increase the returns on our IT investments, especially in a tight economy."
Bio
Ken Theis is the director for the Michigan Department of Information Technology, where he reports directly to Governor Jennifer M. Granholm. He also serves in her cabinet. He was the deputy CIO for the Michigan Family Independence Agency (FIA), where he carried out a statewide child support enforcement system enabling the State to recover substantial federal penalties.
He previously worked for General Motors Corporation where he held several key business and technology leadership positions. While he was at General Motors, Theis received the GM Chairman's Honors Award and GM CIO Award.
He was recently named to Computerworld's Premier 100 list of top IT leaders in the country. He received his B.S. at Ferris State University and M.B.A. at Northwood University.
Resources
The Michigan IT Consolidation Journal
Production Credits
Elizabeth Ferrarini, Executive Producer
Tom Parish, Host and Audio Producer
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