State Finance Tech Leader on Cloud, Cybersecurity

As component of Marketplace Insider — California’s ongoing endeavours to teach visitors on point out businesses, their IT designs and initiatives, here’s the most up-to-date in our periodic collection of interviews with departmental IT leaders.

Wesley Main is chief facts officer for the California Office of Finance (DOF), a purpose he has held due to the fact 2008. Important is a veteran state staff of 33 many years, getting arrive onboard in 1989 as a correctional educator at Mule Creek Point out Prison, for the California Section of Corrections and Rehabilitation. He joined DOF in 1994 as an associate facts units analyst – a section Microsoft desktop teacher – then went on to come to be DOF’s initially webmaster as a team details devices analyst in 1995. He was promoted to info processing manager, DPM II, and then to DPM III in 2000 prior to starting to be CIO.

Key retains an associate degree in sociology from Los Rios Neighborhood Faculty and a bachelor’s degree from the Higher education of Instruction at California Condition College, Sacramento, where he graduated magna cum laude.

Business Insider — California: As CIO of your corporation, how do you explain your function? How have the role and responsibilities of the CIO transformed in modern many years?

Major: As the chief facts officer (CIO) for the Division of Finance, I am accountable for providing leadership and plan path for the department’s interior computing infrastructure, software portfolio, security, catastrophe recovery, network infrastructure, software enhancement and consumer assist. I take care of all phases of the eBudget technique development and deployment, which is a internet-centered presentation of the Governor’s Finances and Spending plan Summary. I characterize the section through statewide meetings (biannual point out CIO conferences) pertaining to the evolution of IT inside condition government. More duties involve managing IT company architecture infrastructure and purposes that are critical to conference the department’s mission. Supplementary roles include things like handling and doing the job with the department’s details safety officer (ISO), serving as the department’s technologies restoration coordinator, managing the Technological know-how Recovery System, and submitting once-a-year IT experiences to the condition ISO and California Section of Technologies on behalf of the division. The part and duty of the CIO has altered in that there is an amplified demand to retain up and keep abreast of know-how (which proceeds to change at an exponential rate), delivery of cloud-dependent products and services, enhanced aim on security, and facts reduction prevention. These kinds of improvements can present difficulties as it pertains to taking care of existing sources, assembly a lot more stringent deadlines, streamlining the shipping and delivery of techniques/applications on time to fulfill business needs, and preserving and securing the organization architecture from cybersecurity assaults. Provided that, the superior information is these variations are manageable as lengthy as the CIO maintains a dynamic, not static strategy to manage and embrace transform.

Industry Insider — California: Does your firm have a strategic strategy, and may we hyperlink to it? How large a role do you individually perform in crafting that strategic program?

Key: The Office of Finance has a strategic strategy and it is situated on Finance’s public web site. The strategic strategy is now in the procedure of becoming updated having said that, you can connection to our present system which can be identified at the bottom of the “Fast Backlinks” landing page. The development of the strategic approach consisted of a workforce of supervisors symbolizing a cross section of Finance’s business enterprise parts. I performed an integral, active and equal position in giving technological know-how-associated suggestions, tips and editing, as it pertained to developing the various sections.

Business Insider — California: How usually do you update your organization’s enterprise catalog?

Main: Though I/we do not have an official enterprise catalog, our facts is managed and documented, all source spots are recognised, business proprietors and the roles they participate in is documented resource allocations are updated on an as-wanted foundation, and data is shared throughout several systems. As with most things, there’s generally space for applying instruments that will increase organization procedures.

Industry Insider — California: What big initiatives or projects are coming up? What types of creating chances and RFPs must we be watching for in the future 6 to 12 months?

Significant: My primary focus at this time is escalating our cloud-dependent companies footprint to host apps in the cloud that we produce in-house along with regularly growing our cybersecurity posture. This is my concentration for the foreseeable long run.

Field Insider — California: How do you define “electronic transformation?” How significantly alongside is your group in that system, and how will you know when it truly is finished?

Big: Electronic transformation is the capability to modify current and/or legacy business processes that are out-of-date by revamping, mapping and altering the way information is stored and accessed and transform mentioned procedures to be much more successful in which information is managed much more correctly, close consumers are more successful and processes are no more time cumbersome. About 85 % of legacy business procedures have been digitally remodeled.

Field Insider — California: What is your estimated IT funds, and how several staff members do you have? What is the all round budget?

Key: Total IT workforce – 45. In general department finances – $92,422,000. Current calendar year believed price of 45 IT employees – $8,224,000. Current calendar year approximated IT costs, excluding staff expenditures – $2,504,000.

Business Insider — California: How do you like to be contacted by vendors, including through social media this kind of as LinkedIn? How might distributors very best teach by themselves in advance of conference with you?

Significant: The finest way to call me is through electronic mail. I propose suppliers teach them selves by perusing our public internet site as there is a plethora of info about what we do.

Sector Insider — California: In your tenure in this position, which undertaking or accomplishment are you most proud of?

Important: There are pair of a lot of that I’m happy of. The California Finances (eBudget) program which hosts the Governor’s Proposed Finances, May well Revision and Enacted Funds. This procedure was produced below strain when applied in 2008 and in a short period of time of time. It has long gone by means of numerous iterations and enhancements with the latest getting moved into the Azure cloud. The hottest achievement is relevant to the COVID-19 pandemic facts hosted on our public internet site. In reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic, the federal government handed laws providing funding to states to help their reaction and recovery from this unparalleled community wellness unexpected emergency. The Department of Finance was tasked with monitoring federal funding by software and fund. These projects were extremely important with restricted deadlines, uncertain and typically shifting necessities, and provided coordination among multiple teams and departments. We created the Federal Coronavirus Funding Tracking (FCFT), Coronavirus Aid Funding (CRF), and Condition and Local Fiscal Restoration Money (SFRF) units in partnership with the small business facet of the household topic make any difference authorities and the company and specific enhancement IT groups in help of tracking federal funding by method and fund.

Field Insider — California: If you could adjust one particular detail about IT procurement, what would it be?

Key: CalNet contracts and the negotiated products and services choices. The contracts can be baffling, and some have confined procurement solutions and product or service giving alternatives. Furthermore, some agreement negotiations appear to tumble brief or do not go significantly sufficient in offering enough choices when procuring companies and products. A comprehensive evaluation and examination of current CalNet contracts to ascertain wherever they fall short and classes realized can/ought to be the driving drive when renewing present and pursuing new contracts.

Marketplace Insider — California: What do you browse to keep abreast of developments in the govtech/SLED sector?

Important: IT-associated legislative costs, GovTech* Now article content, Microsoft posts, Flipboard Information Engineering news, new solution announcements from IT sellers, and a host of IT content received by way of e-mail and IT discussion boards.

Industry Insider — California: What are your hobbies and what do you take pleasure in reading through?

Main: Driving my Harley-Davidson touring motorcycle, which I’ve ridden to the Pacific Northwest, Southwest, Southeast, the heartland that consisted of states this sort of as Florida, Louisiana, Georgia, Washington, Missouri, Tennessee, Alabama, Kentucky, the Smoky Mountains Tail of the Dragon at Bargains Gap (common desired destination for riders) to title a few, and a host of other states. I get pleasure from fishing, striving to play golfing (the jury is nevertheless out on that), executing residence advancement initiatives, functioning on my cars, reading through and finding out the Bible, looking at about historical functions and recent situations, and perusing via the books in my dwelling library.

*Federal government Technology magazine is a publication of e.Republic, which also produces Sector Insider — California.

Editor’s note: This interview has been lightly edited for design and style and brevity.