LANSING ? Teri Takai, Michigan?s chief technology officer, said she plans to use the Internet to deliver even more state services to Michigan?s citizens and technology to make the government run more efficiently.
Takai said her philosophy is reflected in the latest version of the state?s web site ? Michigan.Gov ? which went live a few weeks ago. The site is divided into eight functional areas.
?We had a growing realization that citizens of Michigan don?t need things organized by department, but want us to come in by their terms and look for services and have us do the work to find them the right department,?? Takai said. ?I?m really excited about the progress we?ve made, but I?m more excited about the programs we have moving forward.?
Takai said she?d like to make similar modifications in each department?s web site to make them more customer friendly.
Creating Wi-Fi wireless Internet access at the state?s rest stops, public docks and welcome stations ? that connects to Michigan.Gov and not yet to Michigan.Org, where Travel Michigan can be found ? is another part of her strategy to make government services accessible to an increasingly Internet savvy and mobile public.
?We?re expecting, based on feedback we have received, that there will be individuals that will want to use the web site for business purposes,?? Takai said. ?We?ll use Wi-Fi at rest stops to do other kinds of business. We?re not expecting a totally tourist crowd to use Wi-Fi access.?
Takai manages a large state computer empire. Nearly 1,700 employees, 55,000 desktop computers and 2,300 servers.
