It’s 2026, and the future is bright! We are all ready for new beginnings, new challenges and new wins this year.

ITS has gone through a number of changes over the past two plus years, including a leadership reorganization and the launch of the dedicated agency/shared services model. ITS has been called an agency “on the rise” as these changes transform how New York State approaches technology and cybersecurity, leveraging operational excellence to create innovative solutions.

On today’s episode, Chief Information Officer and Director of ITS Dru Rai will talk about how these changes have shaped New York’s future, as well as how this agency on the rise makes government work better for all New Yorkers.

Thank you for listening to the IT’S a Tech Podcast. For more information about ITS, visit our website at its.ny.gov. Follow us on X, LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook.

2025 is drawing to a close, and at this time of year, many of us are reflecting on how we got to this moment in time. What did we set out to do? What have we accomplished? What does the future hold?

In the spirit of reflection, on this special episode of the IT’S a Tech Podcast, we will look back at some of our favorite moments from the first 10 episodes. We are all busy, and finding time to watch or listen to a favorite show can be challenging, so if you’ve missed an episode or two, then we have you covered! Some may call it a clip show; I call it a curated retrospective. Kind of like the Criterion collection, but for our podcast.

Thank you for listening to the IT’S a Tech Podcast. For more information about ITS, visit our website at its.ny.gov. Follow us on X, LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook.

Professional development. Upskilling. Training. Mentorship. Whatever you call it, it all adds up to growing the abilities of workers and investing in a talented workforce, which in turn means investing in your business or organization.

We all seem to agree it’s important, so why can it be so challenging to make it a priority? According to Pew Research, in 2024, only 51% of employed adults polled said they have taken a class or gotten extra training in the past year. At ITS, we recognize this challenge and address it by focusing on developing skills and fostering collaboration through a variety of outlets and avenues.

One exceptional example of training and skill building includes a dedicated mentorship program, which pairs an employee at an earlier stage of their career with someone who has been with the industry or the organization for a longer period of time.

On today’s episode, Director of Training Ariel Shatsoff and Training Specialist Heather Cook talk about the importance of training, as well as how the ITS Mentorship Program has helped an agency on the rise prepare its workforce for the future.

Thank you for listening to the IT’S a Tech Podcast. For more information about ITS, visit our website at its.ny.gov. Follow us on X, LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook.

It's no secret that successful businesses are crucial to a thriving state economy. New York has a variety of programs designed to encourage and support small businesses (for example, the “Taste of NY” program).

Through collaboration and ingenuity, this principle led to the creation of the New York Business Express: a central online hub for entrepreneurs to start and run a business in New York State. This platform can be found at businessexpress.ny.gov.

The New York Business Express website is a one-stop-shop for a variety of resources, including licensing requirements, available government incentives, and a step-by-step Business Wizard that clarifies what new owners need get their ventures up and running. Simplifying this process not only helps small business owners make their dreams a reality but also streamlines processes for State agencies.

Anton Dreslin, Deputy Commissioner for Technology, and Randi Harris, Manager of Information Technology Services, share the story of this crucial program: the initial idea, the challenge of bringing the idea to life, and the bright future ahead for New York Business Express 2.0.

Thank you for listening to the IT’S a Tech Podcast. For more information about ITS, visit our website at its.ny.gov. Follow us on X, LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook.

Real New Yorkers know that the Great New York State Fair isn’t all deep-fried treats and concerts! For almost 200 years, the fair has showcased the best that New York has to offer, from farm-fresh products to educational and artistic exhibits.

As part of the aforementioned “best of New York”, ITS was at this year’s fair to showcase all the cool things our agency does, from geospatial mapping to cybersecurity to supporting state agencies. Fairgoers were also able to learn about career opportunities at ITS, as well as easy ways to protect personal data and stay safe online.

On this episode, Equal Opportunity Specialist Nicole Messina and Cybersecurity Awareness and Training Manager Jessica Smith share their tales from the State Fair.

Come one, come all, and hear how ITS made an impression at the biggest event in New York State!

Thank you for listening to the IT’S a Tech Podcast. For more information about ITS, visit our website at its.ny.gov. Follow us on X, LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook.

Gone are the days of rooms filled with dusty legal tomes and yellowing binders.

Like most industries, the legal profession has gone digital, streamlining tasks and making information sharing easier than ever.

From floppy disks to AI, legal technology solutions have exponentially evolved, especially in recent years.

On this episode of the IT’S a Tech Podcast, Scott Geer, Deputy Chief Legal Technology Officer at ITS, and Lauren Holupko, Director of eDiscovery, talk about this rapidly growing toolset that is geared specifically to the legal profession.

Scott and Lauren shed light on how these ever-evolving software tools are empowering both state agencies and New York residents, as well as sharing how these cool tools make legal challenges at ITS much less challenging and much more efficient.

Thank you for listening to the IT’S a Tech Podcast. For more information about ITS, visit our website at its.ny.gov. Follow us on X, LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook.

On July 19, 2024, a faulty software update by cybersecurity company Crowdstrike took down millions of Microsoft Windows operating systems all over the world.

It caused computers to crash and lock, displaying the so-called “blue screen of death.”

The outage led to widespread disruption across multiple sectors of the global economy, including airlines, banks, hospitals, businesses and even governments like ours in New York State.

Dubbed the “largest IT outage in history,” it caused more than $10 Billion in financial losses, impacting some businesses for weeks or even months.

By contrast, ITS worked round the clock to bring critical New York State systems back online within 24 hours. The State’s IT provider swiftly remediated tens of thousands of blue screens – by hand and at hundreds of different locations across the State – so agency employees could get back to work and New Yorkers could continue to access the services they needed.

This is the story of how a large government agency worked as a team to mitigate the impact of this worldwide outage.

It’s a story of neighbor helping neighbor, of employees from every department, even the non-technical ones, being deputized as technicians to lend a hand, resulting in a highly coordinated and massive response effort the likes of which we have never seen.

This is the story of skill, leadership and determination, of going the extra mile to get the job done.

This is OUR story of New York’s response to the Global IT outage: one year later.

Thank you for listening to the IT’S a Tech Podcast. For more information about ITS, visit our website at its.ny.gov. Follow us on X, LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook.

All indicators show that cybercrime is definitely on the rise. People spend more time online than ever before, and new technologies and techniques are creating more possibilities for criminals to target and exploit unsuspecting victims.

On this episode of the IT’S A Tech Podcast, Ben McFarland, NYSOC Shift Lead and Anthony Mosher, CIRT Incident Response Analyst share insights about how the Blue Team keeps NYS systems secure, what our guests learned at the recent NYS Cybersecurity Conference, and how you can also be a cybersecurity hero.

Thank you for listening to the IT’S a Tech Podcast. For more information about ITS, visit our website at its.ny.gov. Follow us on X, LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook.