Governments should select the right team when buying technology—and that includes experts who can fight off cyber-threats
Choosing the right people is a key part of technology procurement, says Noel Hara, vice president & chief technology officer, public sector, at NTT DATA Services, a provider of IT and business services including cloud, data and applications that helps clients, including those in the public sector, transform through consulting, industry solutions, business process services, IT modernization and managed services.
“When buying a new technology, government agencies should first define the desired outcome of the new technology and build their tech-buying team around achieving that goal,” he says, explaining that the tech-buying team should include those engaged with the business side of the agency as well as the IT services staff and those on the enterprise architecture team. Hara believes this will help to ensure that everyone is aligned with the overall goals of the agency.
He notes that precise alignment is crucial: “This is important because those without knowledge of the ideal goals of the program may put parameters on what they’re looking for a vendor to produce. As vendors model their solutions to fit the minimum criteria outlined by the tech-buying team, this can unintentionally stifle innovation and prevent the agency from purchasing a more innovative technology that may be better suited to the needs of the mission.”
Hara adds that agencies should keep IT protection staffers in the loop. “Cybersecurity can often be a roadblock as new solutions are deployed. A member of the cybersecurity staff should work alongside the tech-buying team to ensure that newer, innovative technologies can be considered and brought into the fold while also maintaining the security of government data.”
What’s the first step in an agency’s technology buy? “As a starting point, local governments should build an enterprise architecture that anticipates the different technologies needed to provide services to its various agencies,” Hara tells Co-op Solutions. He says the main question is not what to buy. Rather, agency personnel should ask themselves the following key questions:
• Why is the agency buying the system?
• What services is the technology going to provide your agency?
• How will the system improve citizen experience?
• How does the technology fit into the enterprise architecture?
He adds that, when possible, it is a good practice to first work on a prototype or proof of concept before committing to the full solution. “This will help to confirm that the new solution is aligned with the answers to your key questions outlined above.”
The NTT DATA Services executive offers this view: “When updating IT systems, cities and counties need to fully understand the technology in order to be able to select and deploy those applications appropriately.” Hara points out that there are many solutions to choose from when migrating to the cloud. These include Software as a Service (SaaS), public and private cloud, as well as GovCloud. “But if you’re unsure of the differences in the technology, you won’t be able to choose the method that will most efficiently fulfill the needs of your agency.”
Hara offers this conclusion: “Whoever is funding the purchase should also understand the technology, to ensure that they understand the pricing models for a specific technology or service to avoid overpaying or blocking a new innovation based on funding bottlenecks.”
Hara says local governments need to be certain that an adequate budget is allocated to both technology and connectivity in infrastructure improvement projects. “For example, I met recently with a CIO for a municipality that used federal infrastructure dollars to replace streetlamps across the city. In the process, they installed smart lights and public safety cameras. However, city officials did not allocate monies to provide for the network to connect the lights and cameras. This resulted, for the time being, in the new smart lights not being used to their fullest capabilities. In this situation, city officials aren’t able to take advantage of all of the system’s modern features.” The following link takes you to several NTT DATA Services case studies.
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Michael Keating is senior editor for American City & County. Contact him at [email protected].