1. Sustainability Issue: Safety and Health. Currently there is no strong centralized team of IT experts to support State agencies and the public in Connecticut. In addition there is public demand for up-to-date technology especially in schools and hospitals. Technology has become a central need that we have seen especially through the aftermath of COVID-19.
2. Name of technology solution: Through a press release in March of 2021 Governor Lamont of CT announced a plan to build a new information technology organization within the state government to deliver modern IT solutions to support state agencies and the public.
   • It is being formed in order to improve cybersecurity, create new professional opportunities for residents, allow the state to use technology and update it sustainably and allow gaps in service quicker so that we can figure out how to provide more advancements in the future within the current infrastructure.
   • The new IT Senior Policy Advisor to the Secretary position will involve that individual to be responsible for an IT Capital Investment program currently at 516 million dollars.
   • The opportunity aims to have more collaboration on new projects for employees and create a central hub for professional development and the ability to work with many other agencies.
   • Sources: https://portal.ct.gov/Office-of-the-Governor/News/Press-Releases/2021/03-2021/Governor-Lamont-Announces-Launch-of-Information-Technology-Optimization-Process
     • https://ctbythenumbers.news/ctnews/lamont-launches-technology-optimization-initiative-across-state-government
3. Stakeholders who will be using this technology:
   • Government agencies, IT professionals supporting this new infrastructure, professionals that will need to manage this hardware, security, networks and storage. Agencies that will need to migrate their systems as a result of this plan, state-based collaboration to serve these enterprise platforms, the residents of Connecticut who will be a part of this change and hopefully benefit as a result of this economic and job growth. The state data center security is a priority.
4. According to the articles related to this plan – this will be a year long process to build this new iT hub for state agencies. Once this is built the process to centralize will lead to the required collaboration with IT professionals, and the appropriate training to the professionals dedicating their services to work on a common platform that will communicate across State agencies instead of individual agency by agency processes. Third step will involve the training, roll-out and maintenance for this. The funding will also need to be allocated towards where the needs are. I’m also curious to see how this impacts low-income areas in Connecticut and school systems?

Another thing we have to consider is, will this proposal actually make the services for residents and employees more accessible and digital? Will this investment allow for quicker services at places that need it to the most like the DMV or voter registration? How will the follow-up be for this – how will it be measured, and will ordinary residents see the effects of this in their day-to-day lives?