Federal Chief Information Officer Steven VanRoekel this month announced a strategy toward seizing the mobile opportunity, citing increased adoption by the American people and government agencies and indicating areas that need mobile development to improve productivity. The announcement prompted response from industry, with Deloitte heralding the company’s own mobile roadmap via Twitter. As federal government and private industry develop smart mobile technology, Californians may wonder: where does our state stand at adopting a mobile strategy?
The question of a mobile revolution is not a new one. The Pew Internet & American Life Project, through a national telephone survey, found that an estimated 35% of American adults own smart phones, with the majority of these owners regularly taking pictures, accessing the Internet, sending photos and videos, using email and downloading mobile applications.
The state of California has not ignored the numbers. State agencies have worked both in-house and with private sector partners to develop mobile technology in an effort to cut costs, improve productivity and make the customer experience better. Government and businesses alike will share their innovative solutions at the Feb. 8 Government Mobility conference at the Sacramento Convention Center.
The event will offer three areas of focus, with an executive track for state and local government and education executives, education sessions for IT staff who manage and support the implementation of technology, and a development lab for staff who create the technology, according to the event organizer who is working closely with a number of state and local agencies.
California Technology Agency Secretary Carlos Ramos will speak about mobile technology and its impact on government. The agency will also present current mobile projects.
"As we in government try to figure out ways of using technology to make government more accessible and responsive to its constituents, we’re having to come to terms with the fact that more and more of the public is using mobile devices&hellipso we’re recognizing that it’s a platform that needs to be addressed," Ramos said in December.
Other departments have addressed the changing technology. In a December interview about his first year as chief information officer for the California Department of Health Care Services, Chris Cruz told Techwire.net that the DHCS has implemented mobile strategies including cell phone use and eventually replacing laptops with iPads.
"We also implemented a smart phone analysis for DHCS employees," Cruz said. "We now have close to 100 staff utilizing smart phones, iPhones or Androids, which is a cost-cutting initiative. When the Governor issued his executive order at the beginning of the year to reduce cell phone usage, we took it even a step further, and folks volunteered to use their own personal phones to further reduce costs to the state. Today these 100 users are currently on their own personal phones to get their email, and they voluntarily turned in their Blackberries."
The February conference will offer government and industry to present platforms in the event’s "Solution Center." Attendees will vote on the best solutions presented by government agencies, with awards presented for coolest, most innovative, most valuable program, and best of show, according to the event organizer. Businesses will showcase solutions in a separate solution center.
Presenters will include the California Department of Motor Vehicles, which developed the DMV Now application for iPhone and Android using in-house staff that had enough knowledge about mobile applications to create the product, according to department CIO Bernard Soriano, who will speak with DMV Director George Valverde on a panel about government mobility. The DMV will highlight the application as well the department’s new kiosks that offer quick service for customers waiting in DMV locations in the solutions center.
A mobile application that helps veterans connect with health, education, housing, employment and other resources will also be on display at the solutions center, according to Christie Borchin, CIO for the Department of Veterans Affairs. The application, for iPhone and Adroid devices, provides resources using GPS and connects veterans with some of the 1800 providers listed in the database. Veterans can also fill out reentry forms, connecting them with a contact in the department who can help find the necessary resources.
Borchin said developing an application that could reach the young demographic of veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan as well as older veterans who have started adopting smart phone technology was an important project that received top-down support.
"We have a really forward thinking organization&hellipIt wasn’t even a question that it was the right thing to do," said Borchin, who noted that downloads of the application have continued at a steady rate since its launch on Veterans Day 2011.
Also at the conference, Sprint will showcase an outfitted ProTransport-1 ambulance in their 20×20 space. The connected vehicle, featuring a Feeney supply device and a Sprint modem, serves as an example of vehicles outfitted for public organizations such as the San Jose Police Department. At the conference, Sprint will present at least five solutions demonstrating Machine-to-Machine solutions for the public sector in the transportation arena, according to company officials.
"We want to be more of a solution consultant for our customers than just a network provider," said Reid Allen, Sprint West region M2M Solution sales manager. "[This] really puts us above and beyond what our competition is doing when it comes to this Machine to Machine space."
