Wyoming is first state to adopt use of well-known technology

Wyoming decided to “Google it” as it became the first state to use Google as a communication and collaboration platform across the state Gov. Matt Mead announced June 22, at a news conference at the capitol. 

Google President of Enterprise David Girouard speaks as Wyoming Chief Informtion Officer Flint Waters and Governor Matt Mead listen during a news conference Wednesday morning in Cheyenne. (Photo: Seneca Flowers)

The legislative branch of the state of Wyoming now officially uses Google web applications as a means of communication, document sharing and collaboration, Mead said. “Wyoming is moving forward in technology.” 

Mead said he wanted to change the way Wyoming communicates, including the way state employees communicate with one another and the public.                          

Wyoming Chief Information Officer Flint Waters said the estimated cost of integrating Google into the legislative branch was $5 million but that the cost may fall much below that mark. Waters said the cost was minimal in comparison to how much the state could save each year, which a conservative estimate placed as roughly $1 million a year. With the communication aspect of the Google programs, interoffice mail would be cut and Waters said the mail was just the beginning of the savings. With 10,000 state employees on Google apps, a larger document storage capacity, the ability to share documents and increased security, Waters said Google was a good investment for the state.

Vice President and Chief Information Officer for the Information Technology at the University of Wyoming Robert Aylward said he thought the state made “absolutely the right decision, just from the efficiency stand point.” 

He added that in addition to efficiency, the economic value was extremely cost effective for the state. He said he thought Waters and Gov. Mead made the right decision to transition toward Google for their computing solutions.

The university will also transition to a cloud-based service for email in the future, Aylward said. “I think we will in all probability transfer the student email to cloud-based Microsoft 365.”  

Aylward said he thought the Microsoft cloud-based system was currently a better fit for the university than Google. He added, “Our objective is to provide the best service as possible.”

At the conference a promotional video shown, the list of “firsts” for Wyoming was given. The list included, the first state to allow women to vote and the first state to have a national park. Another speaker at the conference, Google President of Enterprise David Girouard, said Wyoming “likes to be first.” Girouard said some cities have moved local government activity to Google, but Wyoming is the first state.

The governor’s office was the first to implement Google apps Girouard said. “That was a critical sign of success,” he said. 

He said Google wanted partners who were willing to blaze a trail with new technology and new uses of technology.

The idea behind the Google apps is called “cloud computing” in which the team works together and interacts to get a job done, not splitting up the work but allowing more collaboration, Girouard said. Microsoft 365 uses similar technology. 

Aylward said he thought cloud computing will become the standard for many large government organizations in the days to come. 

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