The city of San Jose is using its “technology debt” to look more carefully at how the city’s IT assets are positioned.
CIO Rob Lloyd told Government Technology, Techwire's sister publication, that while San Jose isn’t any different from most cities that weathered the 2008 economic recession, its technology gaps are being used to look more carefully at how the municipality positions itself for the future.
“The strategies we take are exactly those things: Where can we do something smarter or a different way, where do we need to invest in our people so that we can say yes and take on the challenges we need them to take on, and where do we need to do some direct investments in solutions so that we can give people the tools they need to be successful,” Lloyd said.
Lloyd was the subject of a Techwire virtual briefing in June, in which he asserted that San Jose's budget limitations require the city's IT leaders to be innovative in how they serve the cultural and political center of Silicon Valley. San Jose has more than 6,000 government employees and a total budget of $3.2 billion.
In Lloyd's video interview last week with Government Technology, he continues on the theme, noting that the city's IT spend is influencing how it moves toward becoming a "smart city." Lloyd's interview with GT assistant news editor Eyragon Eidam can be seen here.
