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The state and local leaders of the US, making bold pronouncements about plans to transform their governments through technological improvements, overlook the way they measure technology performance. A sample of technology performance measures from several jurisdictions is illustrated.

Thomas R. Davies expresses his views on the need for policy debates about the use of new technology. Davies believes that there are people those who believe technology is being used for unintended purposes, such as raising revenues, while others see it contributing to the core mission of government providing for the health, welfare and safety of the community.

Policies are decided, strategies are laid down and performance levels are set, but budgetary constraints are a major issue in this path. The liability of budget generally separates the technology budget and program budget, thus technology budget is not merged with service delivery.

Wireless technology is expected to get a commercial facelift and Government has placed a crucial role in bringing Wi-Fi to the mainstream. However, the real credit for this success rests with the pioneers in the political, fiscal, technological, and business areas.

Internet and growing technology has made an immeasurable contribution to state and local government and led to significant improvements with an expectation to bring a revolution in government performance. However, the e-gov could not contribute to the growing strategies of the government since it never brought any growing change in the performance of the government.

The participation of former federal, state and local officials in a multinational forum on 'Emerging Technologies for First Response and Home-land Security Organizations' is described. The forum was hosted by the United Kingdom's Police Information Technology Organization, a global leader in the application of advanced information and communications technologies that strives to get the best value for the police on the goods and services it buys.

CIOs are leaders of their own technology departments, have cabinet-level status, and often are the highest-paid state officials. CIOs are leaving in some states and there is an indication that the CIO management model in state and local government is breaking down.

The technology leaders point out the need of fund for new projects to help government respond to fiscal pressures or to secure the enterprise against cybersecurity threats. The technology industry employs large numbers of highly educated people and is also very active in the political process.

One of the big private sector management trends for reducing technology costs is a political issue in the states. Offshore has enormous potential for controlling costs and the impact on jobs and the risks involved should be considered.

The state governments always expect good results from the new coming IT professionals. So the top performers in the field always concentrate on the management practices of private sectors to achieve results.

State and local governments have huge market in information technology (IT) industry for IT goods and services in United States. It is also expected that the state and local agencies need to influence research and development and bring new products in the market that will increase performance standards.

The government leaders are tackling the challengers of failing schools, rising health care costs and finding money for homeland security before taking on information-sharing an imaginary monster. A study concludes that the exchange of information between individuals on a team and across functional and organizational boundaries is one of the critical information values that senior executives need to instill in their organization.

The states are now at a risk of losing the special attention and the additional resources they received from the technology industry in the US. In order for state and local government to continue to be attractive IT market and to collect the best resources from IT companies, changes are needed.

Information technology trends are discussed as states are expected to loose more revenue. Consolidation and restructuring are both expected to increase.

States and localities are encountering more challenges in making enterprise-wide IT outsourcing deals successful. The article discusses the various barriers that prevent these types of deals from working out.

Report-card style grades can be useful in suggesting areas of improvement for IT management. To measure results successfully, five areas should be measured: IT spending, benefits from IT investment, IT capabilities for personnel, quickness of technology purchases, and effectivness of information reporting.

Columnist Thomas R. Davies mourns the missed opportunities of e-government. He encourages innovations in e-government in order to preserve and improve a promising system.

Thomas R. Davies discusses the ways in which IT investments can benefit municipalities.

When new information technology innovations drive local and state governments to invest millions of dollars to purchase them, there are five conditions that are key in the decision. Operating in real-time, deeming external information important, industrial strength networks and information systems required, interdependence and providing the front line with tools and information are necessary functions that must be included.

Issues concerning ways in which governments can becomes more technologically apt are discussed. Particular attention is given to the importance of using electronic programs in order to liaise with the public and let the public see the government's efficiency.

Issues are presented concerning the difficulties faced by state governments in raising the revenue which is required for investment in the infrastructure of information technology (IT). The benefits of IT are discussed.

Issues are presented concerning the establishment and management of online services by state and local governments. The techniques used to finance the costs associated with the opening of Internet sites are discussed.

Issues concerning the influence of the Internet over the local and states governments in the United States are discussed. It is emphasized that the Internet has helped advance inter-governmental relations and homogenize information systems between governments.

Issues concerning the involvement of the United States government in the electronic markets are discussed. It is emphasized that several legal aspects of the business-to-government markets need to be solved before the markets can prosper.

Examines the capability of states to support its technology leaders in the U.S. Role of the National Governors' Association Center for Best Practices in information dissemination on state innovations; Objectives of the Public Technology Inc. non-profit organization; Challenges to IT management in states.

Discusses the role of the CIO of state governments. Advantages and disadvantages of the ties between state CIO and governors; Significance of the relations of the CIO to their governors; Reason that the challenge of being a CIO in state government should not be underestimated.

Discusses the possible changes in how governments of the U.S. manage information technology (IT). Signs that an era of IT is emerging in the states; Role of policy in shaping the IT agenda in the states; Discussion on the need of state officials for CIO.