In Profile: State’s chief technology officer says innovation is a “people question”

Richard Boes, former head of IT at California's Fresno State University, took over as commissioner of the Department of Information and Innovation in June. VTD/Taylor Dobbs

The top-floor office where the commissioner of the Department of Information and Innovation works is still sparsely decorated. Richard Boes, who took the post in June, has been busy.

Boes now leads the 78-person department responsible for the state’s technology systems, the position formerly held by David Tucker, who now heads the E-911 board for the state.

The Department of Information and Innovation is in the middle of several major multi-million projects that could significantly change — and improve — the inner workings of Vermont’s bureaucracy. The department is reviewing the server system across state government; it has a $5 million upgrade of the Department of Finance and Management computer system on deck; it is overhauling the Department of Motor Vehicles system, and it will shepherd through the $100 million anticipated replacement system for the Agency of Human Services, which dates back to the early 1980s.

Boes doesn’t seem to be daunted by Vermont’s antiquated computer systems or the magnitude of the projects that lie ahead. Vermont’s “old delivery mechanisms,” as Boes describes them, are “not at risk of catastrophic failure.”

“It’s (the DMV system) on a mainframe, but it’s working,” Boes said. “Does it meet everything DMV wants it to do? Does it do what one would expect it to do in this day and age? No. But it continues to function.”

Fast-forwarding the state’s 1980s era computer systems to 21st century technologies will be no small feat, but Boes doesn’t see it as a technological issue. Streamlining the state’s technology systems is, as he puts it, “a people question, not a technology question.” And, after two months of meetings with staff and state departments, he feels certain that the people in his employ are enthusiastic about moving ahead with changes to the systems. “This is an exciting team they’ve got here,” Boes said. “When you have an exciting team, it’s not about me, it’s about us.”

Boes said technology organizations almost always fall prey to assumptions that can create lapses in communication. His job, he says, is to translate ideas and help to bridge those gaps.

Boes said the initial challenge is to figure out “How do we get people to work together? How do we get people to look at (a situation from) different perspectives?”

“That’s the first barrier,” he said. “As long as people want to work together, you can achieve the goals you want to achieve.”

He wants to keep his department and staff, who are dispersed throughout state government, focused on ensuring that technological systems produce the deliverables, or the services, people expect.

“Someone will come and say ‘I want one system to do this,’” said Boes. But really, he said, they want a seamless user interface that allows them to access certain things. Reading into user requests, he said, is key to efficiency. Technological language can mean different things to different people, but as long as the end user gets the service they want, Boes said, the technology behind the system doesn’t matter.

Boes also brings this approach to budget planning.

“When you take a look at technology, if you look at technology projects, then the cost is very peaky,” Boes said. Technological upgrades every few years are very costly, he said, but in off years, the running cost is relatively low.

When service upgrades are spread out, annual costs are more stable, and it’s easier to budget for technological upkeep.

“I’m still finding out things about the state’s infrastructure,” said Boes. “What I’ve found out so far is just a little tiny piece of the equation.”

Technology, Boes said, goes through cycles. Many of the state’s systems are based on centralized mainframe computers and terminals. In the 1990s, the advent of the personal computer led to more dispersed data systems. Now the trend is swinging back toward centralization again, he said.

In the 1980s and 1990s, educational, corporate and government entities developed their own specialized computer systems. Now, with the advent of cloud or “commodity” services offered by Google, Yahoo and other companies, that approach is changing.

Boes said the state will have to grapple with whether it will use those kinds of resources as part of its tech system. Decisions about contracted “commodity” services, he said, will require risk assessments.

Boes said the state’s technology is “largely on the right track,” and that he doesn’t feel the need for a massive overhaul. His immediate goal, he said, is to bring people together and make sure efforts are not being duplicated.

The Michigan native came to Vermont from California State University, Fresno last month to take the post. Before that, he was in charge of Brown University’s “fully immersive” 3D environment laboratory – the first of its type in New England. Boes has a degree in computer science from Michigan Technological University, and started his career programming naval battle simulators.

“What I’ve been amazed at is the similarities [between state government and higher education,]” Boes said.