Sanjeev Bhagowalia

A suit jacket hangs in the corner of Sanjeev "Sonny" Bhagowalia’s office. He occasionally puts it on, even now. But he wears it over an aloha shirt, part of the transition he’s making from the buttoned-down and necktied life he left behind in Washington, D.C.

But the state’s new chief information officer has brought along with him the better part of his D.C. experience — tuning up information technology (IT) systems — intending to push Hawaii into the current century, from its position somewhere in the final decades of the last one.

"It’s like having a car with 400,000 or 500,000 miles on the transmission," said Bhagowalia, 51. "So even though you may say it’s an old car, that car is keeping you alive right now, getting you from Point A to Point B. But having said that, it can only last so long."

Bhagowalia has been here a month now, with his wife and two school-age children due to join him later this year (the Bhagowalias honeymooned here in 1984). They wouldn’t be seeing much of him these days, in any case. Other than a few brief respites on the golf course, the job right now is demanding some late nights at the office, both his own and the ones of other Cabinet-level officials who are helping with the first task: creating a "transformation" plan to update the state’s creaky IT system.

The initial work will emerge within a month: a survey of the existing hodgepodge of computer systems and file cabinets. That’s being done with the help of a consultant and a $3 million grant from the Hawaii Community Foundation, but ultimately the new Office of Information Management and Technology will find its place in the regular state budget. The boss has big dreams for what it can produce: government work requiring less paper-pushing and offering more public access through Web-based portals, smart-phone apps and the like.

The India-born Bhagowalia has a resume filled with such projects, most recently with the U.S. General Services Administration. But he also handled IT at Boeing before leaving the private sector for the FBI and U.S. Department of the Interior. He seems to like challenges. At the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs, he pretty much had to rebuild its IT system from scratch.

"When you get people around an idea and they collaborate around an idea, it’s amazing what could be done," he said. "And I’m hoping for the same kind of thing in Hawaii."

QUESTION: How did you come to learn about this job?

ANSWER: I got an interesting email that came in — I guess it was one of the recruiters. When I saw the email, it came to my government address over there. I first thought it was a spam, or special malware. … It’s very suspicious when it comes with certain things. It just says, "Hey, come to Hawaii! Why don’t you come and be the CIO!" Sure, right! … I thoroughly checked it out, and it turned out to be legit. … It had the right feel, and I felt good about not only the state but the great people here and how the administration was wanting to get someone with a lot of experience and expertise and bring it to the state. I’ve done industry, and I’ve done federal. I’ve done international — I’ve never done state or local. So I felt like I want to serve.

Q: Do most states have CIOs already?

A: Yes, most states do have CIOs. So now Hawaii has its first official CIO.

Q: Are we the last one?

A: I think we are. But sometimes the best is for last. (Laughs) We had people who were acting in that capacity, but they were doing triple duty. Officially, yes, I’m the first.

Q: Wouldn’t it be easier to manage here, since we’re a relatively small state?

A: Well, I think every state has its own unique challenges and its own unique idiosyncracies.

Q: What are Hawaii’s?

A: I’ve only been here a month, so I’m learning and listening, but I think it’s a great state, a great spirit, a great tradition. Now we’re just trying to figure out how we can find some great technology that goes with it, to support the mission.

Q: How are you going to approach this project, given the economy and budgetary constraints?

A: Well, we’re following best practices. We’re going to do it the right way. That’s what I think first drove me here, is a tremendous leadership commitment right from the top. The governor and the entire leadership team is really committed to changing what has been, in the past, before they took over, some neglect that has caused us to be behind. … It’s about information; information so that it’s available anywhere, anytime, anyplace, securely and reliably. … So we are trying now to find a way not only to find the business processes, find how the information is being delivered and services are being delivered, but also then come up with the technology plan to make that happen. The big thing here is, Hawaii is doing it the right way, and the right way is we’re going to actually have a plan. And the plan is what’s going to inform us, so we can all get on with something of substance, and then go forward.

Q: What are the benefits we’re going to see from all this?

A: Well, I think the main thing is, first, business process re-engineering is really key, and collaboration is very key. First of all, the collaboration is something that all the departments are together, so in fact we’ve talked to all 18 departments. … There are some challenges: Some of the business processes involve a lot of paper, a lot of extra steps. … There’s just a lot of paper that’s pushed and then re-entered into systems. It’s very, it’s behind the times. … They do it in a manual and paper-intensive way, but they’ve had to do that because there was nothing else available. So now our challenge is how do we really bite the bullet, so to speak, and after these many years of neglect, now actually have a way to go forward. This challenge will not be fixed overnight. … But I’m pretty confident that if we all work together we can solve this problem.

Q: Can you give me examples of other states that are on the right path?

A: There are certain states; we’ve looked at different models, not only in the federal government but in state government. Michigan has a transformation plan, Utah has a transformation plan, Colorado has a transformation plan. … We’re looking at what can be adopted or adapted into Hawaii. So we’re looking at all kinds of possibilities. Today, in fact, we’re reading somewhere where some state — I think it was Washington state — has looked at how we can do IT procurement and acquisitions better.

Q: So other states have their plans in place?

A: They’re implementing it. Ours is more formative because we have to write the plan and actually do it. But my recommendations that I’m thinking about, obviously, are that we’re going to write the plan, and that’s the primary focus. But we’re also going to look at some intermediate activities. These are just ideas at this point, but look at what is triage: How can we save patients that are dying on the side of the road, what can we do to keep that going? Are there any low-hanging-fruit kind of short-term projects that we can also do in the meanwhile and see if we can get some things going in the right direction, toward the way it should be done. And then there are some flagship initiatives going forward that we should all look at, and at least make sure that they’re successful for Hawaii.

Q: Are you talking about flagship initiatives elsewhere?

A: No, in Hawaii. For example, there are some thought processes where they’re going to look at education, they’re going to look at health-information exchange projects. We’re looking at broadband and other kinds of things. So these are all things that are technology-based, but they’re good for the state of Hawaii, so clearly the CIO of Hawaii — myself — will be involved in at least trying to make sure that these are successful and achieve the larger vision, which is again, information anywhere, anytime, anyplace. … It’s basically all hands on deck.

Q: Have people asked you, why did you give up the big-league federal projects to come here?

A: Yes, they have asked me this. (Laughs) It’s very interesting. Sometimes people get so mesmerized in D.C. by "My budget is this and your budget is that," we’ve missed the bigger picture. We’ve missed what’s really important here. And what’s really important here is, this is an opportunity to really figure out a way — and it’s a groundbreaking opportunity, I might add — how do we establish a digital environment here, that can provide services that people need, in a much more easy-to-use manner? Can you imagine if we had something where people can deal with the government electronically and digitally? It’s something where we can get more efficient and effective, and yet also have the customer-service angle to things. So these are all things that can be done. … This new world is going to go mobile in about five years, the mobile tablet or mobile smart phone is going to replace the PC. With that, it’s all apps, electronic government. We’re right in the forefront, so that’s what I think is exciting about Hawaii. We’re behind, but we can leapfrog the others.

Q: Are we more behind than you thought we were?

A: Yes. On the one hand I prepared for the worst, but it was a little worse than I expected. … The amount of paper that we (in the state) process is unbelievable. It’s quite amazing. The vintage of some of the technology, I didn’t think I saw that for 10, 15 years, and I saw it. … I saw some software. I’m sure they were good companies back then, but I didn’t realize they were still providing service, or we had tapes, or things like that.

So we have some of that. … On the one hand one can smirk — I can look at it and it’s like, "Wow! What’s this?" — and one does that. On the other hand, I’ve got to figure out, how were they able to get 400,000 miles on that transmission?

Q: So the taxpayer should stand up and cheer?

A: I think so! I really believe so. … I found in the last eight to 10 years or something, there was like 50 percent decimation of resources in some areas, up to 50 percent cuts. That’s significant. … There’s a group that’s done a great job. But having said that, we need to get everyone to the newer world.