Utah isn't alone in its goal to drive efficiencies through better organizational structure, namely moving from a decentralized model to a centralized one with a single CIO calling the shots. "Historically in most state governments, IT has not been centralized, and that's been expensive and frustrating for both the customers and the managers," says John Kost, managing vice president for government research at Gartner Inc. and former CIO of Michigan. "The trend has been toward centralization. You're seeing the emergence of stronger CIOs."

Not that state CIOs who work in a centralized model answer to no one. They still have to deal with a dizzying array of bosses and clients, such as governors, legislatures, civil service employees and citizens. In fact, the centralized CIO has much more accountability. "The biggest challenge is trying to communicate our message to all our different stakeholders and to try to address all their different needs," Fletcher says. "Their objectives are not all the same: The Legislature wants us to move this along, [but] the agencies are saying you're going to break stuff and that you have to go slower. Balancing those is sometimes difficult."