After over 50 years of IT operations and six years of a consolidated structure (see chronology below), Michigan's IT has advanced to a point where both 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 where 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 IT operations of an entire state government, especially a plan that seeks to stretch the boundaries and the capabilities of the systems and processes that are currently in place. The pages that follow articulate how the plan will be carried out both today and in the future and, just as importantly, how that plan will be measured and adjusted as appropriate over time.

Technology Solutions

Research and development of technology solutions are an important way in which Michigan's IT Strategic Plan is enabled and implemented. The IT strategic planning process for the state has consistently included an evaluation and review of the full range of current and emerging technologies feasible and appropriate for implementation. For the 2008-2012 period, areas of technology focus were selected based on a thorough assessment of state department and Michigan citizen needs and was informed by objective analysis of experts like Gartner, Inc. and Forrester Research, Inc.

Technology Focus Areas: 2008-2012

Focus areas for the next five years are highlighted on the next two pages of this document. They are also detailed in Appendix N "Michigan's Technology Future." The areas include:

• Streamlined Citizen Transaction and Self-Service
• Citizen Engagement Tools
• Shared Technology Infrastructure
• Information Collaboration and e-Discovery
• Enterprise Mobility
• Greening of IT
  

Over the next five years, Michigan's IT 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 and solutions: Consumerization, green IT, Really Simple Syndication (RSS) and social software
• Business trends and solutions: Business process modeling, centers of excellence, Web 2.0 business models and workplace technologies, software as a service and whole of government enterprise architecture
• Technology trends and solutions: Enterprise instant messaging , location-aware applications, mashups, open source, service-oriented architecture, radio frequency identification (RFI), social network analysis, unified communications, VoIP convergence, Web 2.0 and wikis.