In July 2005, the Office of Enterprise Technology (OTE) was formally established as a cabinet-level agency, and was led by the State Chief Information Officer. In 2011, OET's enabling statute was amended to consolidate the management of all information technology systems, budgets, services, and resources, which significantly increased OET's responsibilities. Soon after, in April 2012, OET announced a name change to Minnesota IT (MN.IT) Services. Their press release indicated that the new name provided "additional clarity on roles and relationships among MN.IT offices and staff, and helps to describe the organization in a clear and consistent way."
The Legislature established the Department of Information Technology Services in 2021, which changed the MN.IT Services office to a formally recognized department in Minn. Stat. 15.01, and made a few other changes to its structure (see Laws of Minn. 2021, chap. 31, art. 2).