StateScoop: Coronavirus tests states' cybersecurity, IT supply chains

"You typically don't anticipate there's going to be 100 percent of your workforce that's going to be teleworking for an extended period of time," said John Evans, chief technology adviser at IT services integrator World Wide Technology. "You don't think about something at this scale and for this long."

by Benjamin Freed, StateScoop

State governments emptying out their offices amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic is sure to raise pressure on chief information officers responsible for making sure technology-dependent operations continue relatively seamlessly, even as government workforces adapt to the unusual circumstances.

Already, tens of thousands of employees in multiple states have been told they can work remotely to reduce the risk of spreading the virus, with more governors expected to grant those permissions this week, including possibly California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who leads a statewide payroll of 233,000 workers.

But a sudden surge in the number of government workers reporting from home is almost guaranteed to strain IT resources, and will require CIOs to think strategically about how operations will continue as close to normally as possible, said John Evans, a former chief information security officer for the state of Maryland and chief technology adviser at IT services integrator World Wide Technology.