Survey Names Top 25 Most Digitally Advanced States

Michigan has the most digitally advanced state government in the nation, according to the 2004 Digital States Survey, a biennial study by the Center for Digital Government that looks at best practices, policies and progress made by state governments in their use of digital technologies to serve their citizens and streamline operations.

The survey, which named the top 25 digital state governments, also cited, in order, Washington, Virginia, Indiana, Arizona, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Arkansas, Colorado and North Carolina (tied for 10th), Massachusetts, Illinois and Kentucky (tied for 12th), Maine, Montana, Maryland, Mississippi, Minnesota, Wyoming, Kansas, Florida, North Dakota, Nebraska, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

"We're basically helping state and local governments utilize technology to better serve their citizens," Rhonda Wilson, communications director at the Center for Digital Government, a Folsom, Calif.-based research advisory institute, told GovernmentVAR.

Digital States is the nation's original survey of state governments' use of technology in serving the citizen. The 2004 Digital States Survey provides a benchmark for the next generation of digital-service delivery and reflects citizens' expectations and the technologies used to meet them.

In March, the Center invited all state governors and their CIOs to participate in the revised 2004 Digital States Survey that included more than 60 measurements in four areas: service delivery, architecture and infrastructure, collaboration and leadership. In all, 43 states participated, according to Wilson.

"Information technology is one of the most powerful tools used by state governments to serve their citizens," Cathilea Robinett, executive director of the Center, was quoted as saying. "In the hands of some incredibly talented and knowledgeable leaders, states have advanced to an entirely new level of digital government."

Michigan's win was the first for the state, which ranked 11th in 2000, ninth in 2001 and second in 2002.

"Michigan has changed the citizen and business experience through a broad suite of real-time transactional services, powered by an increasingly shared and robust infrastructure, [and] designed around a coherent statewide architecture and supported by a collaborative planning process," according to Paul W. Taylor, Ph.D., chief strategy officer at the Center.

Sponsored by Microsoft and Hewlett-Packard, the 2004 Digital States Survey is one of a series of national studies conducted by the center that examines best practices and IT innovations in government. For more information about the survey, go to www.centerdigitalgov.com.