By Mary Velan
Gov1
Just as businesses are always looking for a way to get ahead of competitors, state and local governments are also working to outshine and outperform other nearby communities. Faster, more efficient strategies to integrate smart technologies into state and local governments will increase efficiency and economic growth.
Adoption of IoT
At a recent event, Hardik, Bhatt, the former CIO for the City of Chicago, discussed the value of smart technologies for state and local governments. Bhatt developed a process to accelerate state adoption of the Internet of Things (IoT) technologies into state governments, which will then trickle down to the local level.
In Illinois, Bhatt launched an initiative to integrate working group collaborations among 80 state agencies to build one enterprise platform for a variety of functions. Bhatt also worked to get all governmental applications on mobile broadband platforms, on integrated cloud environments and partnering with private cloud services. The overall goal of these moves was to make Illinois the most efficient, flexible and competitive state in terms of quality life and economic development, Broadband Breakfast reported.
Under Bhatt’s system, state and local governments should adopt a more customer-centric, demand focus when selecting information technology vendors. He encouraged constant collaboration with private sector companies and the creation of statewide forums to increase access to resources and expertise. Furthermore, Bhatt is a strong proponent of fostering future technology talent locally through partnerships with colleges and universities, Broadband Breakfast reported.
The C-Title
A state or local government can spend countless hours and taxpayer dollars on the latest technological innovations but may see no real returns without the right talent managing and optimizing the resources. One major component of an effective and evidence-based government is a data expert also known as the chief research officer, according to Katharine Lusk, Executive Director of the Boston University Initiative on Cities.
In a piece for Governing, Lusk explained state and local governments are drowning in data that provides both insight and headaches to public departments. A chief research officer would be in charge of putting this data to work y:
- Setting a research agenda
- Marshalling resources to carry out initiatives
- Providing a politically durable hub for knowledge of what works
The chief research officer would be a combination of expert researcher, manager and grants administrator wrapped into one. The chief research officer’s team would provide both public and private stakeholders with a liaison for accessing and analyzing data to support decision making. If a city or state government were to add a chief research officer, it would better address some common disparities:
- Without a bridge between private sector expertise and public agency decision making, cities and states are losing out on opportunities to combat problems with effective, innovative solutions
- Public sector data is often siloed across different departments or institutions - not centralized - making it difficult to analyze, utilize or share with different groups
- State and local governments have embraced big data collection, but have not yet mastered the analysis component which places the numbers in a community context so others can understand and make use of the information
- Government agencies do not typically have a marketing team in place to ensure the public knows of the different data resources available, or how to use them properly
- States and cities need to use available data and research to showcase what programs are being offered and the positive outcomes in the community
- Election cycles often diminish institutional knowledge, thus states and cities must provide constant sources of accurate, up-to-date information for the public to digest
In addition, chief research officers will be tasked with not only managing the technologies and data currently in use but also staying abreast of the latest trends and innovations on the market, Lusk explained.