Commentaries

Commentaries are contributed, non-commercial and educational articles that subject matter experts write for American City & County. If you would like to submit an exclusive commentary, click here to view our guidelines.

Highlights

Smart cities: What really makes them smart?

Recently, I had the pleasure of taking part in the Intelligent Transport Systems World Congress...

Why should social services be excited about automation? Hint: an end to mundane, repetitive work

The importance of protecting children and ensuring their growth into healthy adults is an...

After the cloud, is a software-defined data center in your future?

All roads lead to the cloud. In fact, a recent survey revealed that a majority of state IT...

Commentary

How 5G can improve emergency response efforts during extreme weather

“People didn’t die from the smoke. People didn’t die from the fire. People died because they didn’t know something was coming,” said Joseph Solis, former 911 dispatch employee and police officer, on the 2017 California wildfires. The increasing need for disaster response is down to one simple and depressing fact — these instances are becoming […]

Commentary

Smart cities: What really makes them smart?

Recently, I had the pleasure of taking part in the Intelligent Transport Systems World Congress in Singapore, where leaders from around the world gathered to discuss the future of mobility. My presentation – Emerging Mobility Solutions and Smart Cities – was among many that explored vital mobility topics, from technology innovation to data management to sustainability […]

Commentary

Ransomware attacks: Why it should be illegal to pay the ransom

When it comes to ransomware attacks on municipalities, paying hackers isn’t the right solution. First, there’s no guarantee hackers will return sensitive data. Second, there’s no guarantee cybercriminals won’t leverage and monetize the data anyway, returned or not. To effectively fight back, we need to make ransomware payments illegal, and develop a strong industry of […]

Commentary

Succession and the aging workforce in government

There’s a strong case to be made that public sector is the industry most impacted by the aging workforce in the United States and changes in workforce demographics. Changes in the workforce are making two major impacts on state and local governments and quasi-governments. The first is the need to fund pension plan obligations for […]

Commentary

Government as a Service: Maximizing enterprise content management solutions for civic innovation

From reduced operating budgets to election hacking to community planning issues, state and local entities are faced with more and more challenges in their day-to-day operations. At the same time, changes in technology and the expectations of both employees and constituents have made it more important for governments to make sure communications are streamlined, processes […]

Commentary

Closing the gap: How a facilities master plan can help your city

Cities and counties across America face the same predicament: unrelenting demand for limited resources. Without enough funding to go around, elected officials and city staff must make high-stakes decisions about public spending on a number of things, such as facilities and services. With so much to choose from and pressure being applied from all sides, […]

Using a mobile phone and computer at the same time

Commentary

The convenience of mobile voting makes it a prime target for hackers

According to the United States Elections Project, approximately 138 million Americans voted in the 2016 presidential election, only accounting for 58.1% of the eligible population. With the 2020 election season ramping up, officials are considering new ways to drive voter participation, including exploring mobile voting. When it comes to participation, mobile voting pilots to date […]

Commentary

Public housing authorities nationwide benefit from job order contracting

Public Housing Authorities (PHAs) are tasked with the responsibility of providing one of the most crucial human needs to some of the nation’s most vulnerable citizens. More than one million households live in public housing units, managed by over three thousand PHAs across the United States. Meeting the never-ending needs of public housing residents – […]

Commentary

Active shooter preparation: Don’t cross the line of traumatization

Active shooter incidents in communities, workplaces and public venues erupt, too regularly, as shocking reminders of the vulnerability to violence. Through the first nine months of 2019, a 50 percent increase in mass shootings have been reported, with at least 21 this year compared to 14 in the corresponding period in 2018. Across the country, […]

Commentary

Fund your resiliency efforts with energy savings

Connecting needs and resources can feel like the proverbial walk to school – uphill both ways. Despite increasing complexity in building consensus and procuring funding, communities are finding ways to meet growing needs with an expert eye on energy and operational spending. Energy projects aren’t just cutting costs and keeping up with aging infrastructure, they’re […]

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Commentaries

Commentaries are contributed, non-commercial and educational articles that subject matter experts write for American City & County. If you would like to submit an exclusive commentary, click here to view our guidelines.

Highlights

Smart cities: What really makes them smart?

Why should social services be excited about automation? Hint: an end to mundane, repetitive work

After the cloud, is a software-defined data center in your future?

Commentary

How 5G can improve emergency response efforts during extreme weather

Commentary

Smart cities: What really makes them smart?

Commentary

Ransomware attacks: Why it should be illegal to pay the ransom

Commentary

Succession and the aging workforce in government

Commentary

Government as a Service: Maximizing enterprise content management solutions for civic innovation

Commentary

Closing the gap: How a facilities master plan can help your city

Commentary

The convenience of mobile voting makes it a prime target for hackers

Commentary

Public housing authorities nationwide benefit from job order contracting

Commentary

Active shooter preparation: Don’t cross the line of traumatization

Commentary

Fund your resiliency efforts with energy savings

White Papers

The Top Five Must-Have Capabilities for Critical Mass Notification

The State of Electronic Communications in Government

The Top Seven Things You Need to Know About IPAWS

Events

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Join us on Feb. 26 for the "Buying Software as a Service: 5 Things Procurement Professionals Need to Know" webinar… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

What's something important that all cities should do? Practice participatory budgeting. Keep reading to learn why g… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

The "Active Shooter -- Are You Prepared?" webinar starts in 10 minutes. There's still time to register. Even if you… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

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Oakland, #California, has selected @MotoSolutions’ new cloud-based “Disaster Recovery as a Service” (DRaaS) solutio… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

Get ready for the "Active Shooter -- Are You Prepared?" webinar happening at 2 PM EST. There's still time to regist… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

Last chance to register for the "Active Shooter -- Are you Prepared?" webinar tomorrow at 2 PM EST. Even if you can… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…