Originally posted on http://www.vmware.com by VMware Industry News

VMware celebrates alongside customers being named winners in the 2022 StateScoop 50 Awards. The following innovators were recognized: 

• Doug Harvey, VP and GM, US State and Local Government & Education, VMware, was honored for “Industry Leadership of the Year,” for his dedication to helping customers prioritize multi-cloud migration. 
• Matt Van Syckle, Montana CTO and VMware customer was recognized for leading the charge to digitize 100% of state government business processes and building defenses with improved cybersecurity.
• Mark Combs, Vermont CTO and VMware customer was honored for accelerating a new strategy to build modern applications with dedicated teams and the right software for each cloud platform.

Now in its ninth year, the StateScoop 50 Awards honors influential technology leaders in the state government community and some of the most innovative projects improving the lives of residents. This year’s winners represent 23 states and 13 private-sector companies working on crucial initiatives such as centralizing state government IT, ramping up cybersecurity measures, and expanding connectivity for homes, schools, and businesses. 

“The pandemic brought significant change to how vendors interact with their customers,” said Harvey. “We had to ask the question of what problems are we solving and having that conversation and that shift in approach with our clients and customers. For VMware, prioritizing multi-cloud migration, the move to flexible and remote work is going to be a big driver of change. The train has left the station. We’re never going back to 90% back in the office.”

Here’s more on the VMware customers who are exceptional leaders focused on driving innovative projects and setting the stage for even more transformation in government.

Montana leads the “work from anywhere” revolution with increased digitization and improved cybersecurity postures

Montana CTO Matt Van Syckle is leading the charge in ‘big sky country’ to digitize 100% of state government business processes while also improving cybersecurity. The move to a modern, digital-first government has helped bolster Montana’s “work from anywhere” policy, which is meant to encourage employees not simply to work from home, but to work from different state government buildings, with different teams, and have seamless access to the apps they need. 

Van Syckle and his team plan to continue to automate Montana’s cybersecurity processes and instate zero-trust architecture “all the way out to applications, desktops, service-delivery and to users,” ensuring the “work from anywhere” revolution is secure from today’s threats.

Vermont tech leaders simplify operations with modern applications 

Vermont CTO, Mark Combs, is building modern applications across state agencies — a journey that has accelerated in recent years thanks to a new strategy that maps out development and assigns dedicated teams and the right software for each cloud platform. Rather than unifying around a series of monolithic applications, Vermont officials developed “capability tiers,” a system for deploying what they consider to be the best pieces of cloud software for each task and standardizing them across the enterprise.

Vermont is also using IT operations management software from VMware to improve and consolidate monitoring of IT budgets and compliance to keep pace with a modern IT budgeting lifecycle in which cloud services are constantly monitored to ensure they are sized correctly.

VMware helps the public sector navigate the multi-cloud era 

For more customer stories and information on how VMware is helping the public sector accelerate digital transformation, please visit our federal government and state and local government resources.