Improving services and saving money for Oklahoma citizens

The state of Oklahoma will improve services to citizens and save about $15 million over the next five years by adopting new data analytics and delivery models, according to IBM. The company is helping the state analyze business processes and consolidate IT projects to achieve savings in software licensing and technology maintenance costs.

Alex Pettit, CIO for Oklahoma, says, “At a time when we all have to learn to do more with less money, IBM has been instrumental in identifying and prioritizing IT consolidation projects for the state, at the same time allowing us to invest in new services for our residents. IBM brought not only its extensive public sector services experience to help create the initial business case for this project, but also worked with participating agencies to verify that the new technology environment would improve mainframe service and reduce costs.”

IBM reports that it helped the state understand the challenges of providing IT services to various agencies with different requirements for data management and federal reporting. It worked with the state on a detailed analysis of the IT infrastructure and opportunities to consolidate computing capacity, storage, network, backup and disaster recovery capabilities. The plan included development of a target architecture, establishment of a high-level roadmap and creation of a services delivery schedule between the office responsible for operating the consolidated environments and each state agency.

Bruce Ross, general manager of IBM Global Technology Services, North America, says, “Successful governments are finding ways to reorient their structures, information technology and policies to address the needs of their citizens and businesses.”

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