Austin Transit Partnership IT Director: Building IT Services in a New Organization

As part of Industry Insider — Texas’ ongoing efforts to educate readers on state and local government, their IT plans and initiatives, here’s the latest in our periodic series of interviews with departmental IT leaders.

Bruce Hermes is the director of information technology for the Austin Transit Partnership (ATP). The former Texas Department of Agriculture CIO has over 20 years of private- and public-sector IT experience, including working for the Texas Education Agency, the Texas Office of Court Administration and the city of Austin.

Hermes holds a bachelor’s degree in English and Spanish and a master’s degree in public administration, all from Texas State University.

Industry Insider — Texas: As the director of IT for your organization, how do you describe your role? How have the role and responsibilities changed in recent years? 

Hermes: A large part of my role is to educate my colleagues about the organization’s IT requirements, and work with them to find solutions for any shared challenges. In many ways, the general principles of IT have not changed, but IT tools have. Companies are moving away from on-prem servers and software development and utilizing fully developed cloud resources. In the past, many organizations purchased a capability and used it, at times, beyond its appropriate lifetime. Now, people who create IT budgets are learning that new cloud services must be budgeted for and paid for annually. There’s no longer the possibility of deferring the costs and many of these expenses should be in the operating budget rather than the capital budget. The IT leader now manages a larger portfolio of ongoing, active services provided by external resources, instead of a team of experts that maintain and enhance the technology internally.

This challenges how IT leaders and staff think about their identities. For IT leaders who truly embrace this new paradigm, a whole new slate of economies of scale become available to them. Major cloud providers have, for example, much greater bench strength for security than many IT leaders can have in-house, and such changes in the economics appear throughout the IT organization.

IITX: In your tenure in this position, which project or achievement are you most proud of?

Hermes: Austin Transit Partnership is a relatively new organization created following a November 2020 election to implement new transit options to include Austin Light Rail. Along with several business services, ATP had to recruit IT leadership and implement a strategy to service a new organization with a unique mission. During the first four months of my employment with Austin Transit Partnership, my team, along with the aid of our managed service provider, established a completely independent set of IT services, which had been previously provided by another governmental entity. I have had the opportunity to pull from a range of experience in my prior roles in this industry to bring the resources to the team, while also focusing on solving new problems that come with new organizations. I believe this profession offers rich opportunity for someone who is curious and customer service driven. But having a clean canvas of problems to solve with curiosity, energy and customer service has been a rewarding achievement.

IITX: What big initiatives or projects are coming up? What sorts of developing opportunities and RFPs should we be watching for in the next six to 12 months? 

Hermes: ATP is evaluating our current and future business needs as it relates to an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system.

Along with that, we are planning to lock in an information architecture and governance that will assist in standardizing and integrating the core business technologies that will specifically help ATP build light rail.

IITX: How do you define “digital transformation”? How far along is your organization in that process, and how will you know when it's finished? 

Hermes: ATP is three years old — a near greenfield situation, so I think less about transformation than about maturing friction-free workflows for the major work ahead of building light rail.

IITX: How often do you update your organization’s enterprise catalog?

Hermes: ATP is at a stage of examining options and making choices that ATP will use for years to come. Some aspects of our work are very active, even at this early time, and we are updating our technology catalog several times per year with appropriate deliberation on each new addition.

IITX: What do you read to stay abreast of developments in the government technology/SLED sector?

Hermes: I use myriad resources to stay up to date on the developments of government technology. I learn a great deal from speaking with various technology vendors, then I research the topic to clarify, validate and expand upon what I’ve learned. When I participate in conferences, I do a better job of disengaging from the interrupt-driven workday and learn and think a bit more strategically.

IITX: What do you think is the greatest technology challenge in Texas?

Hermes: In Texas, the great technological challenge is to provide IT services that are both timely and secure.

IITX: What advice would you give to someone who would like to lead an IT department?

Hermes: The prospective IT leader needs to be curious about technology and business, and who has a broad multidisciplinary acumen. They must have a desire to lead people and not just manage. When someone joins a new organization, they need to jump in and start learning about that particular business domain. Just as important, they need to be focused on building strong working relationships. Even as they move among organizations, their habit and reputation of working constructively with others will follow them.

IITX: If you could change one thing about IT procurement, what would it be? 

Hermes: One thing that makes procurement harder than it needs to be, is the ever-changing names of products and services. It’s also laborious to learn the core offerings of each SKU and what is and isn’t included. The vendors could use more concise language to convey their catalogs.

I’d like more neutral opportunities to learn about what’s currently possible. We always want to keep the procurement process fair and open to all vendors.

IITX: How do you prefer to be contacted by vendors, including via social media such as LinkedIn?

Hermes: Rather than emails and phone calls, I prefer to explore and view demos at conference booths.

IITX: How might vendors best educate themselves before meeting with you?

Hermes: We are a unique organization with a unique purpose. We’re working with our partners to build a generational transportation project for Austin. It would be important for a vendor to educate themselves about ATP and the needs of an organization uniquely positioned to deliver light rail.

IITX: What professional or affinity groups do you belong to? Do you volunteer and would you like to share that experience with readers?

Hermes: Having recently transitioned from employment with state government, I am regrouping now. I find it best to be involved in an IT association or adjunct that is related to the industry that you’re in. There are organizations for those interested in transit and transportation.

IITX: What conferences do you attend?

Hermes: I attend many of the local IT conferences that are oriented toward government. Since ATP is located in Austin, the state capital, there are several IT conferences, including those organized by e.Republic*.

IITX: What are you reading or listening to for fun? What do you do to unplug in your downtime?

Hermes: I call myself a “recovering English major.” I prefer to read literary and historical fiction. I’m a fan of a local Austin author Elizabeth Crook, who has written several novels set in 1800s Texas. I’m reading one of her novels now.

*Note: e.Republic is the parent company of Industry Insider — Texas.

This article has been corrected to reflect Hermes' position as director of IT.