FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Wednesday, September 23, 2020

CONTACT: Brandi Simmons | W: 303.764.6897 | brandi.simmons@state.co.us  

Four Colorado initiatives selected as finalists for prestigious national tech awards

DENVER – Today, the National Association of Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) announced the 2020 finalists for their coveted State IT Recognition Awards and the State of Colorado received honors in four of the 10 categories. The highly competitive annual NASCIO awards recognize projects or initiatives that demonstrate the innovative use of information technology in state government to solve business problems and create opportunities to more easily connect citizens to government services. Recipients were selected by a national panel composed of 60 NASCIO state and corporate members. This year, 30 finalists were selected out of more than 90 nominations submitted by states and territories around the nation.

“Technology and collaboration are two crucial components in providing the services Coloradans want and need,” said Tony Neal-Graves, Interim Chief Information Officer & Executive Director. “It is both gratifying and humbling to be recognized by other states for the work we do every day to enhance the lives of our fellow residents through IT.” 

 

Award winners will be announced on Oct. 13, 2020 during the virtual NASCIO 2020 Annual Conference. One winner will be honored in each of the 10 award categories. Listed below are descriptions of the State of Colorado’s four 2020 State IT Recognition Awards contenders:

 

Business Process Innovations Finalist: Colorado PEAK® Chatbot 

Colorado PEAK® is the online portal where Coloradans can apply for state benefits, including food, cash, or medical assistance, or make changes to existing benefits. Call center agents are available Monday through Friday between 7:30 a.m. and 5:15 p.m. to take calls, respond to email or engage in a live chat with recipients. However, for many in the workforce contacting support services during this timeframe is not an option. It is not feasible to staff the call center 24x7 and this nomination highlights the implementation of the PEAK Chatbot. Through the Chatbot, customers can find scripted answers to frequently asked PEAK technical support questions on-demand 24 hours per day, 7 days per week, 365 days per year, without waiting in a queue for support.

 

Digital Government: Government to Citizen Finalist: myColoradoTM

myColorado™, State of Colorado’s Official Mobile App™, is an example of how digital technology has been used to transform the way residents engage with their state government, providing Coloradans a convenient and secure app to find official state services and resources from their mobile device, anytime and anywhere. myColorado is a collaborative project involving the Governor’s Office, Office of Information Technology (OIT), Department of Revenue (DOR), Division of Motor Vehicles (DMV), and the Colorado Department of Public Safety (CDPS). The Colorado Digital ID is a service within myColorado that enables Coloradans to create a secure electronic version of their driver license or state identification (ID) card that can be displayed on smartphones for proof of identity, age, and address within the state. Colorado is one of the first states to roll out a digital ID.

Digital Government: Government to Business Finalist: MyBizColorado

MyBizColorado was created to help new businesses get up and running efficiently to become part of the Colorado economy. This user-friendly and intuitive website provides a single path for registering new businesses with the State of Colorado, and obtaining necessary licenses from multiple state agencies. MyBizColorado pulls in business owners’ information from the Secretary of State’s application and allows them to register for a sales tax license with the Department of Revenue, a wage withholding account with the Department of Revenue, and an unemployment insurance account with the Department of Labor and Employment. It is especially helpful to emerging small businesses that do not have the resources of larger companies. Spearheaded by the Governor’s Office and the Secretary of State, this project was implemented in collaboration with the Governor’s Office of Information Technology (OIT), the Statewide Internet Portal Authority (Colorado SIPA), the Lieutenant Governor’s Office, and Colorado Interactive. In addition to the project sponsors and team, participating agencies included the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment, Colorado Department of Revenue, Department of Regulatory Agencies, Governor’s Office of Economic Development and International Trade.

Enterprise IT Management Initiatives Finalist: DevSecOps

DevSecOps is a program within the Governor’s Office of Information Technology that brings operations and development together with security functions via an Agile development team. This nomination highlights the program team’s work to remove issues that inhibit improvement processes and implement a toolset that has resulted in repeatable, automated processes that are breaking down silos and improving collaboration, ensuring quality application development and predictable customer outcomes, and increasing timeliness and value of IT deliverables to our customers. Their work has also resulted in better metrics and better utilization of those metrics.

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Find OIT online at Colorado.gov/OIT, and on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

About the Governor’s Office of Information Technology

The Colorado Governor's Office of Information Technology (OIT) is a dynamic organization responsible for the operation and delivery of information and communications technology services and driving innovation across Executive Branch agencies in the State of Colorado. OIT delivers smart technology solutions, provides quality customer service, and supports state agencies whose missions are critical to serving Coloradans. OIT oversees technology initiatives at the state level and recommends strategies to maximize efficiencies and offer cost-effective services through the application of enterprise technology solutions. The Office’s enterprise approach also enables the agile delivery of new applications to state agencies that improve the overall customer experience and citizen access to government services while increasing accountability and transparency.

OIT is also home to the Office of Information Security and the Colorado Broadband Office, and manages the Public Safety Communications Network which includes the Digital Trunked Radio System, a statewide wireless system that enables direct communications between first responders and agencies.