Governor McDonnell Applauds Microsoft's Selection of Virginia as the Recipient of the "Real Impact Solutions Award"

Press Release

Virginia's Deputy Secretary of Technology, Aaron Mathes, was recently asked to travel to Redmond, Washington to give a presentation on the Commonwealth's efforts to modernize multiple agencies' business functions away from outdated, costly models that hindered efficient citizen service. Representatives from the Virginia Information Technologies Agency, Northrop Grumman, the governor's office and several state agencies worked together to adapt a shared technological services environment by leveraging Microsoft's CRM Dynamics platform in place of creating custom-developed solutions.

"Virginia government continues its innovative and creative approach to improving customer service and saving taxpayer's dollars in the process," said Governor Bob McDonnell. "This award illustrates that Virginia continues to be recognized for its innovative approaches to streamlining government and reshaping the way our 8 million citizens interact with their state agencies. It is just one more step we are taking to modernize, streamline, and improve accountability in state government."

The Real Impact Solutions Award is awarded during Microsoft's U.S. Public Sector CIO Summit attended by hundreds of IT leaders from across the Unites States. The award, selected through a vote of the summit attendees, is bestowed by industry peers to the most innovative and effective government IT project presented at the conference.

Those agencies now using the solutions, based on Microsoft Dynamics CRM, include several areas of the governor's office, the Secretary of Trade and Commerce, the Secretary of the Commonwealth, and the Secretary of Technology, as well as the State Board of Elections, Department of Historic Resources, and the Department of Education. In all cases the modernized business functions have enabled faster processing of citizen services, inquiries and concerns, retirement of outdated and often unsupported software and hardware systems, and the redeployment of existing staff to other tasks. The bottom line is these agencies are now operating more efficiently and effectively at current staffing and budgetary levels. Both the citizens of Virginia, as well as other state agencies, are the ultimate beneficiaries of these modernized business systems.

"Virginia's IT professionals are quietly revolutionizing and modernizing how the people's business is done in Virginia," said Deputy Secretary Mathes. "Citizens contacting state agencies to address their needs will benefit every day as we continue working to streamline and modernize these processes throughout state government. The governor's office is pleased to use many of these innovative solutions in our secretariats, and we will continue working with VITA and our technology partners to improve other agency processes in the future."

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