Yvonne Maffia

Data analytics played a pivotal role in state, local, and education (SLED) governments’ response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the emphasis on the importance of data has only continued to magnify over the last couple of years. Data analytics and related technology tools provide a host of benefits ranging from real-time data analysis, increased transparency and accountability, streamlined citizen facing services, better decision making and savings in both costs and time.

This is part of a podcast series where the Market Insights team provides insights and analysis on IT opportunities across the public sector. This episode features Yvonne Maffia, Senior Market Insights Analyst at TD SYNNEX Public Sector where she discusses how to leverage SLED Fiscal Year End Sales Opportunities. Listen to this podcast episode now.

Welcome to 2023 — an era of modernization where public sector information technology (IT) market growth is dominated by technologies that can create operational efficiencies and enhance the delivery of citizen-facing services. IT leaders are approaching municipality and jurisdictional operations from the lens of optimization, and there is only room for "smart" solutions.

Cloud services continue to be a top priority for state chief information officers (CIOs), but the focus has accelerated due to the emergence of digital government and disruptions brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic. Over the last few years, we’ve seen cloud services quickly become a “must-have” for state, local and education (SLED) customers, emphasizing cost savings, scalability, agility, and flexibility.

2022 was a noteworthy year for the technology sector, particularly as it relates to cybersecurity. The post-pandemic era of modernization exposed the fragility of U.S. public sector technology infrastructure and systems, widening attack surfaces and posing additional challenges for state, local and education leaders. We have witnessed the whole gamut of continually evolving security threats, ranging from election security breaches, nation-state actors, threats to critical infrastructure, ransomware attacks, hacktivism and more.

2022 is ending, and it is time for U.S. public sector leaders to reflect on lessons learned while planning for the upcoming state and local government fiscal year-end. This year’s NASCIO Annual Conference highlighted the post-pandemic technology trends and challenges that are defining 2023 policy agendas and the future of technology acquisitions. The conference referenced the State Chief Information Officer Survey which assessed state CIOs’ thoughts on a wide array of topics that affect their roles as public sector technology and business leaders in today’s modern world.

This year’s EDUCAUSE Annual Conference highlighted trends and challenges currently dictating not only policy agendas but also information technology (IT) acquisitions for years to come. In particular, the conference referenced the EDUCAUSE Horizon Report, which addressed key technology trends and priorities impacting IT buying decisions and more generally, the future of teaching and learning. FY23 Top Priorities

The U.S. electric grid is critical infrastructure consisting of an ecosystem of communities, stakeholders, governments and economies. Most of the grid infrastructure was built decades ago and is unreliable. Bad actors know it. In 2015, Russian hackers carried out the first successful cyberattack on the nation's electricity grid, which was just one of an ongoing series of security breaches and attacks on US infrastructure and utilities.

The 2022 fiscal year-end is drawing near for 46 states, which means the time to leverage last-minute opportunities is coming to an end as state, local and education (SLED) organizations set their sights on next year’s budget and priorities. With FY23 just around the corner, SLED organizations will start executing on budget plans and drafting request for proposals (RFPs).

If you have been looking for the right time to sell your technology product or service to the state, local and education (SLED) market, now is the time to act. With thirty-six states beginning their fiscal year on July 1st, now is the time to position yourself to take advantage of a confluence of once-in-a-lifetime conditions that have left the SLED market booming with opportunity. Here are some of the factors driving that opportunity: New Leadership

On December 8, 2021, the National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) released its 2022 annual top 10 priorities list identifying the most pressing technology and policy issues that state CIOs are prioritizing for the upcoming year.

Adhering closely to the U.S. federal government’s top legislative priorities for 2022, state chief information officers (CIO’s) have once again ranked cybersecurity as their top priority for 2022, following an already established decade-long trend in this direction.