IT Revolutionizing Smart City Solutions
By Scott Cardenas, CIO, City and County of Denver
Scott Cardenas, CIO, City and County of Denver
Challenges
Within the City and County of Denver we support over 54 unique lines of business. The volume of projects and the need for innovation is ongoing and staying in front of that curve is a constant challenge. At the same time we value our employees and are constantly investing in our team to make sure we “work hard and play hard”. > With that said, I continue to look at technology partners to transition support services, such that our team can focus on what makes the city better, and drive or facilitate innovation for city agencies and departments. I know there are a plethora of providers in this space; we’ll need to determine the best way to balance our capex and opex funding. Impact of Data Integration as Competitive Edge For the City of Denver, we’re focused on the “customer experience” for our residents. So we’re focused on the data around residents who do business with us by walking up to a counter, utilizing our website or mobile web app, and calling our 311 contact center. Irrespective of how they engage, we work to integrate this data in order to improve how people experience their local government. We continue to enhance our mobility offerings and leverage automation tools to drive operational efficiency. Pain-Points Our ability to stay ahead of our customers’ needs, keeps me up at night. A constant scrub of our strategic plan and verifying our tactical plan will correctly position us to reach our goals. Technical debt is another challenge that will change a best-laid plan in a heartbeat. Significant IT Trends Smart City technologies are driving us to vet big data, IOT, cloud and mobility offerings. We’re spending time understanding the technology and how that will specifically solve problems.Our ability to understand that line of business and bring technology, process and project management skills to the table is a necessity
