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Around the Old Dominion

Virginia makes a digital leap forward

Virginia Business
September 2004

Geeks, take heed. Virginia is now considered one of the most technologically savvy states in the country, having recently been ranked third by the Center for Digital Government based on the results of its 2004 Digital State Survey. The finish, behind Michigan and Washington, is three spots higher than the last survey in 2002. Before that Virginia foundered in the bottom half of e-government rankings.

“Virginia has taken this survey by storm. They have done more than any other state in the shortest amount of time,” says Cathilea Robinett, executive director for the Center for Digital Government, which bases the survey on best practices, policies and progress made by state governments in their use of technology to improve and streamline services. “It is extremely impressive.”

Gov. Mark Warner credits the IT reform effort he initiated to change the state’s decentralized IT infrastructure into a consolidated centralized agency and change the way government purchases and manages IT. The efforts, Warner says, helped Virginia to not only “achieve significant cost savings but to improve the efficiency of vital services and give taxpayers a higher return on their investment.”

Return to Virginia Business - September 2004