“We ... see digital transformation as a continuous process of improvement. Importantly, we take a human-centered-design perspective. It focuses on accessibility and takes many forms of customer feedback to direct our improvements. In this way, all new city digital services are built for and by city residents,” says Linda Gerull, chief information officer and executive director of San Francisco’s Department of Technology.
“We have the technology road map, where we want to go, how we want to invest in the technology, how it will reduce our technical debt, how it will help improve and make some consistent business processes and programs. A lot of these things are part of the digital transformation aspect – but I need that culture change,” says Rob Peterson, agency information officer at the California Department of Food and Agriculture.
Techwire is pleased to welcome Ministry of Velocity to the Techwire family. Ministry of Velocity collaborates with government entities to help them reach digital transformation via human-centered design, equitable software development and good stewardship. An engineering consultancy, its diverse team embraces democratic principles and believes great software experiences derive from focusing on the users. Its areas of particular expertise include custom software development, telepresence and live video streaming development; user experience and service design, training services, DevOps on-prem or Amazon Web Services (AWS); and code audits. For more information, visit ministryofvelocity.com or contact Doc Ritezel.
“With different events every week and our big event, the California State Fair, every July, my role as IT manager is closely tied to the operation of our events. I don’t think my role differs all that much from a CIO’s role in that I am given the opportunity to play a big part in strategic planning,” says Pat Conner, IT manager for the California Exposition and State Fair.
This Northern California county doubled down on moving to the cloud, kept cybersecurity policies updated and maintained lines of communication during the COVID-19 pandemic – all of which helped it land in the winners’ circle in the 19th annual Digital Counties Survey from the Center for Digital Government.
Led by e.Republic market experts Dustin Haisler and Joe Morris, this virtual midyear overview provides intelligence to help align your marketing and sales strategies to strongly close out the year.
The county IT department is managing the transition to a new $20.5 million civic center and will also replace its 30-year-old public safety radio system in 2021-2022.
“We tried the cloud five years ago and it just wasn’t there yet. It was too expensive and too slow; there were too many limitations. But I think it’s ready now and my big commitment here for the county is, I want to take our business continuity plan to a whole other level,” says Jim Smith, chief information officer for Riverside County.
The Emerging IT Leaders Boot Camp is open to members of the public-sector workforce who are currently serving in entry-level IT supervisory or managerial positions that wish to strengthen their leadership skills.
Techwire is pleased to welcome Cask to the Techwire family. Cask Public Sector helps the state of California modernize legacy processes and systems for governments, education and nonprofits to improve the quality of life, increase engagement efficiencies and reduce costs for their citizens and their employees. Cask designs, enables and sustains digital transformation platform for enterprise clients across both the private and public sectors. Cask’s portfolio includes strategy, implementation, modernization, digital transformation and managed services that enable clients to execute an end-to-end digital vision. “We’ll provide support and education for ServiceNow implementation and management,” the company says. For more information, visit casknx.com or contact Tammie Lopez.
The virtual briefing will be presented by Alan Cox, executive vice president of e.Republic and publisher of Techwire; and Joe Morris, e.Republic’s deputy chief innovation officer.
“My role acts as oversight of the department’s internal IT governance process and I also coordinate with the AIO, other CIOs within CalEPA and CDT as needed,” says Michael Wanser, CIO and assistant director at the California Department of Pesticide Regulation.
Techwire is pleased to welcome Workato to the Techwire family. Workato offers a broad portfolio of workplace management tools, including automations for hiring and onboarding, lead management and routing, and a network operations center. The company’s offerings handle functions including human resources, sales, marketing, finance, higher education, IT and support; and it works well with Jira, Marketo, NetSuite, Oracle EBS and Oracle Database, SAP ERP, Salesforce and ServiceNow. Its products include robotic process automation and bots designed for a variety of platforms and tools. For more information, visit Workato.com or contact Bharath Yadla or Alessio Lisi.
Techwire is pleased to welcome Hyperscience to the Techwire family. New York-based Hyperscience helps governments and organizations worldwide modernize vital processes and operations, in part by redefining enterprise-level automation. For government, its cloud-based platform enables process automation and data extraction across a variety of formats and disparate systems, streamlining everything from health-care claims to background checks, unemployment verifications to voter registrations. The results shrink workflow steps and citizen response times by managing volume and backlog. Hyperscience minimizes risk by letting clients set accuracy targets and maintain complete control of their data. For more information, visit hyperscience.com or contact Bradley Fischer.
“A CIO’s role is to ensure that the appropriate technology is being delivered to meet the needs of not just the department but the customer who’s relying on those services. I think it’s important that you’re in tune with what’s going on with the business,” says Steve Nash, chief information officer for the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing.
Techwire is taking a brief break over the long July Fourth holiday weekend. After today’s edition, publication of the daily newsletter will resume Wednesday. The Techwire team wishes our friends and readers a safe and meaningful holiday celebration.
“In the context of cybersecurity, we apply the 3-2-1 rule. 3 backups, in 2 different places, 1 in the cloud,” writes San Mateo IT Director Peter Owen. “But what about the video conferenced presentation you are doing for your board, council, client or team? Same idea.”
“Now, a year into the pandemic, our department has relied on more cloud solutions and remote work (AKA telecommute or telework) as the recent adoption during the emergency pandemic. For me, the risk focus has changed from a traditional office to that of a virtual one,” says Ernest Shih, agency information security officer at the California Department of Veterans Affairs.
“The CIO must be a broker of collaboration, bringing people together so that technology can provide intended value. I make critical technology decisions, but those decisions cannot be made with blinders on,” says Marc Shorr, chief information officer at Contra Costa County.
The Northern California technology leader had been chief information officer for more than eight years, and the county will mount a search for his permanent replacement.
Amanda Daflos, the chief innovation officer for the city of Los Angeles, has stepped down from her post to accept an executive position at the Bloomberg Center for Public Innovation at Johns Hopkins University.
Techwire is pleased to welcome EY to the Techwire family. EY helps governments obtain better insight into what is needed from them, develop new strategies enabling them to drive lasting improvement and implement transformational solutions to drive efficiency and effectiveness. EY provides assistance across five focus areas to help governments face their biggest challenges: finance, operations and technology; health and human services; education; infrastructure and transit; and public safety and justice. It offers transformation by design, helps agencies redesign their digital public experience and digital services, and delivers a layered view of threats and mitigation strategies. For more information, visit ey.com or contact Angela Basi.
Techwire is pleased to welcome iboss to the Techwire family. iboss, a leader in cloud security, offers organizations fast, secure Internet access on any device anywhere – in the cloud. Its SASE cloud platform, used by more than 4,000 enterprises around the world, delivers network security as a service, in the cloud, as a complete software-as-a-service offering, eliminating the need for traditional network security apparatus like firewalls and web gateway proxies. With a purpose-built cloud architecture grounded by more than 230 issued and pending patents and more than 100 global points of presence, iboss processes more than 100 billion transactions and blocks nearly 4 billion malware threats a day. For more information, visit iboss.com or contact Lee Parkinson.
“Working with vendors to discuss emerging technologies and services will be valuable in my role at DSS. I look forward to leveraging those vendor partner relationships to bring future innovation and efficiency to DSS,” said Richard Gillespie.
“Digital transformation will never be finished. In my mind, it’s aligning people and process and technology to enable government to deliver new services in new ways. Including digital of course, taking advantage of those emerging technologies that continue to come out. And that’s why it’s never going to be over,” says Lea Eriksen, chief information officer at the city of Long Beach.
“Technology is a part of everything that we do personally and in our day jobs. The role of the CIO has changed from a technologist to really understanding and collaborating (with) our program areas,” said Cheryl Larson, chief information officer for California Correctional Health Care Services.
Techwire is pleased to welcome Info-Tech Research Group to the Techwire family. One of the fastest-growing information technology research and advisory companies, Info-Tech Research Group offers the unbiased, highly relevant research that CIOs and IT leaders need to form strategic, timely decisions. The company’s public-sector government team features sales and delivery resources in both Northern and Southern California — and a lengthy history of collaborating with California government. Its staff works closely with IT teams to meet their needs on everything from actionable tools to analyst guidance, ensuring they’re able to deliver measurable results. Info-Tech Research Group gives its more than 30,000 clients access to more than 450 do-it-yourself project and process blueprints developed by industry experts, with efficiency baked in to solve the most significant IT initiatives. For more information, visit infotech.com or contact Hannes Scheidegger.
The gov tech market has experienced rapid growth and acceleration, driven by a perfect storm of market dynamics. Join e.Republic and CivStart on June 15-16 for “State of GovTech 2021,” a new virtual event that convenes government and industry leaders, investors and entrepreneurs to better understand what opportunities lie ahead in 2021.
“At the end of the day, I would categorize my job as a risk manager. It’s my job to help the organization make good risk-based decisions that minimize or mitigate adverse impacts to our business,” says Nadean Shavor, chief security officer for the California Franchise Tax Board.
