Government Technology Magazine January 2021

Solutions for state and local government.

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2021

v6.0 NEW YEAR, NEW LIST OF MARKET-LEADING COMPANIES HELPING GOVERNMENT FULFILL ITS MISSION.

VOL 34 ISSUE 1 / A PUBLICATION OF e.REPUBLIC / GOVTECH.COM

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Northeast Region Midwest Region West Region

CITIZENS CATEGORY CITIZENS CATEGORY CITIZENS CATEGORY

Chester Housing Authority Metro Waste Authority Cordova Recreation and Park District Building Community Video Series Online Citizen Supplies Ordering Drone-ﬁ lmed Virtual Pool-Building Outreach and Groundbreaking Video Delaware River Port Authority St. Louis County Library Solar Carport System Digital Equity Initiative MCE Public Meetings Live-Streamed Westchester Library System Western DuPage Special via Zoom Senior Services Recreation Association Transformation of Special Needs Orange County Water District Programs During the Pandemic Virtual Outreach Response to COVID-19 OPERATIONS CATEGORY

Brunswick Sewer District OPERATIONS CATEGORY OPERATIONS CATEGORY Technology Investment and Preparation for COVID-19 Metropolitan Airports Commission Bremerton Housing Authority New York Power Authority EOC Data Visualization and the Lunch Telecommuting Implementation and Learn Series COVID-19 Response Mason County Public Utility District No. 1 Philadelphia Parking Authority Ohio Turnpike and Infrastructure Pandemic Response Plan CommissionStrategy Execution Program Safe Work Playbook Placentia Library District WSSC Water Rockford Public Library Virtual Programs and Staff -made Masks Operational Continuity for the Pandemic Laser-cut Face Shields and 3D Printed Ear Guards LEADERSHIP CATEGORY LEADERSHIP CATEGORY LEADERSHIP CATEGORY Los Angeles County Metropolitan Delaware River Port Authority Transportation Authority Great Lakes Water Authority John Hanson, Chief Executive Offi cer Bryan M. Sastokas, Chief Information Jeff rey E. Small, Chief Information Philadelphia Parking Authority and Technology Offi cer Offi cer Richard Dickson, First Deputy Executive Meridian Library District Naperville Park District Director Book Service Delivery Omar Sandoval, Information Technology Western Monmouth Utilities Authority Director Southern Nevada Health District Brian J. Valentino, MPA, CEAS, ICMA-CM, Jason Frame, Chief Information Offi cer Executive Director & Chief Executive Schaumburg Township District Library Offi cer Anita Forte-Scott, President, Board of Trustees

To learn more about the winners’ initiatives and the Special Discticts Program, visit: govtech.com/districts

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Vol 34 | Issue 1 .

COVER STORY SHUTTERSTOCK.COM 14 / Essential The growing and dynamic gov tech market helped government respond to COLUMNS NEWS COVID-19 in myriad critical ways. And they grew their business in the process. 4 Point of View 6 govtech.com/extra GT100 in a time of COVID. Updates from Government Technology’s daily online news service.

ies should be directed to Government Technology, Attn: Circulation Director, 100 Blue Ravine Rd, Folsom, CA 95630, 916-932-1300 Folsom, CA 95630, Rd, 100 Blue Ravine Attn: Circulation Director, ies should be directed to Government Technology, 17 / GT100: The List 7 Becoming Data Smart The pandemic has pushed digital 12 Big Picture services into the spotlight. Facts and fi gures from the 2020 Digital States Survey. 10 Four Questions Chief Innovation Offi cer Brendan Babb 44 CIO Central on the unique challenges of working in Career changes across tech-driven roles 38 / From Novelty Anchorage, Alaska. in state and local government. to Necessity Before COVID-19, a few leading 45 Data Points 48 Spectrum governments were dabbling in chatbot End-to-end verifi cation can help make More research, more science, technology. In 2021, it’s hard to imagine U.S. voting more secure. more technology. government doing the people’s business without them. 50 Cybersecurity Strategies Ten dos and don’ts for cybersecurity leaders. DEPARTMENTS 42 / Shift Change IN OUR NEXT ISSUE: How the incoming administration could move the conversation on cybersecurity. Help Wanted? Unbanked Lingering Legacy Did the pandemic Fulfi lling the promise ERP. MMIS. DMV. help modernize of serving all citizens We look at whether state unemployment where they are. COVID moved the systems? needle on old tech.

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Government Technology (ISSN# 1043-9668) is published monthly EXCEPT FEBRUARY, MAY, AND AUGUST by e.Republic Inc, 100 Blue Ravine Rd, Folsom, CA 95630. Periodical Postage Paid at Folsom, CA and additional offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: Government Technology, Technology, Send address changes to: Government at Folsom, CA and additional offices. POSTMASTER: Paid Postage Periodical Folsom, CA 95630. Rd, Inc, 100 Blue Ravine by e.Republic AND AUGUST MAY, FEBRUARY, (ISSN# 1043-9668) is published monthly EXCEPT Government Technology Inc. All rights reserved. SUBSCRIPTIONS: Subscription inquir Copyright 2021 by e.Republic Folsom, CA 95630. Rd, 100 Blue Ravine www.govtech.com // January/February 2021 3

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Publisher: Alan Cox, [email protected] EDITORIAL Editor: Noelle Knell, [email protected] Managing Editor: Lauren Harrison, [email protected] GT100 in a Web Editor & Photographer: Eyragon Eidam, [email protected] Senior Copy Editor: Kate Albrecht, [email protected] Copy Editor: Kali Tedrow, [email protected] Associate Editor: Zack Quaintance, [email protected] Time of COVID Associate Editor, Data & Business: Ben Miller, [email protected] Staff Writers: Skip Descant, [email protected] s with every facet of our coverage the maturing marketplace captured Jed Pressgrove, [email protected] Lucas Ropek, [email protected] over the past year, our annual in the GT100. The title of our feature Andrew Westrope, [email protected] GT100 list has been aff ected and story for 2021, Essential, should resolve Editorial Assistant: Andi Wong, [email protected] A DESIGN informed by the global pandemic. But any uncertainty on that front. Chief Design Offi cer: Kelly Martinelli, [email protected] similarly, the trends and issues Government 2020 served as a force multiplier for Senior Designer: Crystal Hopson, [email protected] Technology readers care about today digital transformation in state and local Production Director: Stephan Widmaier, [email protected] feature several through lines that pre-date government. Services were migrated online PUBLISHING the pandemic and will also outlive it. by necessity and many government norms Senior Vice Presidents: Shelley Ballard, [email protected] Six years ago, we set out to defi ne a new were turned on their heads. Work-at-home Kim Frame, [email protected] market segment by annually benchmarking capabilities got a massive boost, bringing Sales Directors: Mark Androvich, [email protected] 100 companies that were starting to unlock previous productivity skeptics along for Carmen Besirevic, [email protected] solutions to government problems using the ride. Citizen engagement has never Lynn Gallagher, [email protected] Karen Hardison, [email protected] innovative technology. These aren’t the been more important as residents turned Kristi Leko, [email protected] giant incumbent players that snag the lion’s to trusted local authorities to guide them Lara Roebbelen, [email protected] Kelly Schieding, [email protected] share of large government contracts. They through uncertain times. Companies on Melissa Sellers, [email protected] are newer entrants to the scene that started the GT100 list smartly pivoted to handle Joelle Tell, [email protected] Account Executives: small and have gone on to prove that state dramatic new demands for services online. Rebecca Regrut, [email protected] and local governments do indeed want to The last few years have seen an uptick Bus. Dev. Manager: experiment with new ideas and that it can in government tapping into sentiment- Sheryl Winter, [email protected] in fact be a profi table business model. mining tools to better track trending Inside Sales: Dana Kansa, [email protected] Skepticism on the part of the investment issues and residents’ feelings about them Brittany Hopkins Siebel, [email protected] community has begun to fade as the viability and use social media and other outreach Katrina Wheeler, [email protected] of the gov tech market has increasingly proven tools to respond. GT100 company Sales Administrators: Janaya Day, [email protected] itself. Can companies make a profi t focusing Zencity saw a major increase in local Tara Holm, [email protected] Lien Largent, [email protected] on government? It turns out the answer is government customers due to COVID-19. Jane Mandel, [email protected] yes. Nearly 500 investors in this year’s GT100 The tool helped municipalities track Sharon Penny, [email protected]

companies certainly seem to think so. whether citizens understood things like Chief Customer 2016 was the ﬁ rst year we published the the latest local guidance about masks Success Offi cer: Arlene Boeger, [email protected] Dir. of Content Studio: Jeana Bigham, [email protected] GT100. Venture funding for that inaugural and business operations, allowing them Dir. of Digital Marketing: Zach Presnall, [email protected] group totaled just over $1 billion at the time. to quickly shift communications tactics Subscription Coord.: Eenie Yang, [email protected] The average age of a 2016 GT100 company to combat misinformation gaining CORPORATE CEO: Dennis McKenna, [email protected] was nine years, and the group boasted momentum. And Zencity experienced President: Cathilea Robinett, [email protected] 23 acquisitions to date among them. something many experts on tech use in CAO: Lisa Harney, [email protected] CFO: Paul Harney, [email protected] Fast forward to 2021, version 6.0, government have noted: The extenuating Executive VP: Alan Cox, [email protected] Senior VP of Events: Jack Mortimer, [email protected] which we unveil for the ﬁ rst time in this circumstances of the pandemic led Chief Content Offi cer: Paul W. Taylor, [email protected] issue. Companies on the list have matured many to skip the small pilot project Chief Innovation Offi cer: Dustin Haisler, [email protected] alongside the list itself, now averaging 14 that often precedes a bigger contract.

years old. Other notable numbers have Noting the trajectory of service Government Technology is published by e.Republic Inc. Copyright jumped too: Companies on the 2021 list providers toward the digital, Granicus 2021 by e.Republic Inc. All rights reserved. Government Technology is a registered trademark of e.Republic Inc. Opinions expressed by writers have raised a combined $3.2 billion. And CEO Mark Hynes viewed government are not necessarily those of the publisher or editors. Article submissions another indicator that the gov tech market agencies in the U.S. as being on a similar, should be sent to the attention of the Managing Editor. Subscription Information: Requests for subscriptions may be directed is coming into its own? The number of inevitable path. “It’s really a market to Subscription Coordinator by phone or fax to the numbers below. You acquisitions for the 2021 list is 199, more adoption curve question, and COVID has can also subscribe online at www.govtech.com. 100 Blue Ravine Rd. Folsom, CA 95630 than eight times the total from the 2016 list. bent that adoption curve up dramatically.” Phone: (916) 932-1300 Fax: (916) 932-1470 When planning our editorial Read more about these companies and Printed in the USA. coverage for this issue, we wondered check out the full 2021 GT100, starting on what, if any, impact COVID-19 had on p. 14, and online at govtech.com/100.

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The11 number of companies selected to participate in the 2020 Hyperspace Challenge Slowing Down accelerator program. Transit experts were excited by opportunities to rethink public thoroughfares during the pandemic, giving rise to the “slow streets” movement, repurposing formerly busy roads into safer spaces for bikes, scooters and the like. But this has only been beneﬁ cial to economically advantaged communities, where residents are working from home and driving less. Less wealthy areas still rely heavily on transit and driving to get to work, meaning “slow streets” resources are better used to boost local businesses, like facilitating outdoor dining for restaurants. BIZ BEAT M As news of promising COVID-19 vaccines grows, so too do the 3.9 technologies to help manage their distribution. One option The amount of grant funding awarded to the Chattanooga Area comes from Simplus, part of tech giant Infosys, which touts Regional Transit Authority and an “end to end” solution built on the Salesforce platform that academic partners to develop covers everything from mapping the supply chain to registering machine learning models for transit. citizens and running wellness surveys. Similar solutions are available from Accenture, Qualtrics and Salesforce itself. Making Connections At a November webinar from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, presenters explained how broadband expansion can boost regional economic development if providers foster openness rather than competition. Lauren Mathena with the Mid-Atlantic Broadband Communities Corp. said her organization allows ISPs to connect to its 1,900-mile ﬁ ber backbone, which reduces costs and allows providers to focus on delivering crucial last-mile service. % 33The increase in scooter trips in the Northeast in April 2020 over the WHO SAYS? previous year, according to micromobility company Spin. “I refuse to have the right thing be shot down because of politics.”

govtech.com/quotejanuary2021 MOST READ STORIES ONLINE:

The ‘Most Secure’ U.S. Election Was Not Three Cities Use Smart City Concepts to Without Problems Improve Transportation The Biden Administration Could Be Good for Trump Fires CISA Director Chris Krebs Over M Smart Cities Election Dispute 12.6 The number of property parcels in Approved California Props May Send Ripples Blockchain Voting Debate Heats Up After California coded in software from

SHUTTERSTOCK.COM Through Other States Historic Election Symbium to help homeowners plan and design accessory dwelling units.

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In the Spotlight Fourth, many cities quickly began Five ways COVID-19 pushed digital services toward a starring using data to manage infection risk. This role in government. includes using data to monitor risk by neighborhood or business, as well as implementing contactless government to ocal government continues to and visualizations, not just for problem minimize in-person contact. Many local struggle against the compounding management and solution services, but governments quickly digitized services, L forces of collapsing revenues and also for creating shared narratives that as well as off ered expanded digital sharply escalating demands for more powered community solutions. Whether payment options to decrease physical services, especially as residents face the maps are global, such as the Johns touchpoints. One example of the latter is small business losses, poverty or illness. Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Map, or Austin’s parking payment initiative that Over the last year — and in the face local like those used by Cobb County, allows drivers to pay for parking through of these challenges — digital services Ga., to crowdsource grocery inventory, multiple apps, including Google Maps. emerged from their half-decade of the ability of maps to frame a narrative Finally, one other major area of growing pains, a struggle that mostly and help a mayor or governor rally accomplishment involved using digital occurred in the shadows, to become a public opinion became crystal clear. tools to monitor and manage equity key player in municipal solutions. Third was the rapid deployment of across a variety of areas. The Anchor The following fi ve broad areas of solutions in a manner that was previously Collaborative consortium, which includes accomplishment are a tribute to the unimaginable. One such eff ort, an the NAACP, uses layered data and maps to skills and hard work of those involved, initiative between NYC and the software improve Census response rates and voter but are also a road map for future company Unqork, was a New York City- registration. As Betsy Gardner explained improvements in governance. based no-code software project that in a story for Data-Smart City Solutions: First is the increasing recognition of automated the delivery of food to high- By visualizing, tracking and sharing data as a valuable asset in and of itself. Kelly need families and individuals. By creating data on Census responses, voter registration Jin, chief analytics offi cer and director of food delivery routes that utilized out-of- and voter suppression, the Anchor the New York City Mayor’s Offi ce of Data work taxi drivers to connect distribution Collaborative is intent on revealing and Analytics, quickly found herself at the center centers with those needing supplies, repairing the racist power structures of escalating requests from city agencies the city was able to meet an urgent that have disenfranchised millions of and external organizations, who off ered need in weeks, not months or years. Americans of color, while best directing assistance in the form of information and Additionally, companies like Contrace their limited funding in a data-driven way. data, in addition to supplies. Jin, who also recruited 300,000 Americans interested Over the past year, many cities have chairs the Harvard Kennedy School’s chief and ready to serve as COVID-19 contact focused on equity through the lens of data offi cers leadership group, the Civic tracers and then partnered with staffi ng/ access, an especially important area as Analytics Network, quickly consulting fi rms across the country to many schools moved to distance learning rapidly deploy them. Tracers were assigned and many workplaces shifted to remote Stephen Goldsmith is produced the NYC Recovery a professor at Harvard Data Partnership. A similar to teams across the U.S. and were quickly work. In Philadelphia, a project to increase Kennedy School and reliable high-speed Internet access was director of the Innova- eff ort in D.C., according to trained on digital tools in order to fulfi ll tions in Government the district’s Chief Data their mission of tracking and alerting a critical part of this year’s governance. Program and Data- This list is clear, as are the principles. Smart City Solutions. Offi cer Barney Krucoff , was a exposure to the coronavirus. A group of The former mayor high-quality and easy-to-use adjoining cities in Pennsylvania (Allentown, When supplies become limited and needs of Indianapolis, his unlimited, data can help city offi cials direct latest book is A New COVID data coordination, Bethlehem, Wilkes-Barre and York) City O/S: The Power fl ow and cataloging project. combined to use Esri’s GIS cloud-based services where they will make the biggest of Open, Collabora- tools and data analytics platform to help impact and chart risk in ways that instigate tive and Distributed The second area is the Governance. mainstreaming of GIS data organize and deploy the contact tracers. a necessary recalibration of government.

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It may seem like a tall order, but modernization pays off when it comes to helping government organizations make the most of smaller budgets.

he COVID-19 pandemic exposed the need for (SaaS) into mission-critical layers of their IT infrastructures. governments to provide effective digital experiences Organizations that accomplish this will create a foundation for for citizens and enable remote work. At the same time, modernization that will enable them to operate more efficiently. T massive revenue loss means governments have fewer For example, moving on-premises applications into cloud resources to work with. It’s estimated that the current environments can help agencies automate and thereby reduce or recession will cost states and localities up to $500B through eliminate many IT maintenance functions. FY 2022.¹ Meanwhile, federal orders like increases to UI benefits “Pushing day-to-day maintenance functions onto a cloud put more fiscal pressure on government organizations. service also means you pay for them through an operating budget Addressing these two critical issues — the need to modernize that’s more predictable and manageable,” says Nevins. “That also and reduced budgets — simultaneously is challenging but doable. allows you to scale your services up and down when you have Success will require organizations to strike a delicate balance. sharp spikes or valleys in usage.” Migrating to cloud also provides the foundation government Modernizing on a Budget organizations need to: Legacy IT applications continue to pose a major challenge • Improve the user experience and create new digital to state UI, Medicaid and other programs. When the pandemic experiences to serve citizens struck, some states and localities successfully implemented • Address workforce issues such as managing and running quick technology solutions to fill the gaps. But longer term, projects long-term, which is especially critical for employees government organizations need to make broader changes that that continue to work remotely will prepare them for years of higher service demands paired • Enable more flexibility so agencies are better prepared to with lower budgets. face new challenges and move employees to remote work “Budget reductions are going to be a shock to the system. environments quickly and easily if needed Government organizations might be experiencing some of that already, but it’s going to hit really hard in the next couple Five Places to Begin of budget cycles,” says Bob Nevins, director of state and While migrating to cloud comes with a cost, there are smaller local government strategy at Oracle. “That’s going to force investments state and local governments can make that will help agencies to assess their most critical functions, prioritize, and them move toward greater modernization. then figure out how to deliver those services as efficiently and effectively as possible.” 1. Reconsider Disaster Recovery. On-premises disaster To address these longer-term needs, government recovery (DR) solutions can be expensive, requiring recurring organizations need to shore up supporting IT infrastructure capital investments and maintenance, management and IT and accelerate adoption of cloud and software-as-a-service support costs. These solutions also limit scalability and do not

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offer any guaranteed up-time. Moving DR to the cloud allows an tools allows you to help citizens faster and identify pain points agency to reduce or eliminate onsite hardware building costs, pay before they happen. Who are the frequent callers who have similar only for what they use, back up data more consistently and scale needs across different agencies? Where might we consolidate or easily as needed. share resources? The only way to get those types of insights is to “COVID-19 expanded the traditional definition of disaster garner data and analyze it.” recovery,” says Matt Fullerton, senior director for Oracle’s North However, today’s analytics tools are easy for even non-technical America Public Sector Channel Sales. “Everyone has been asked people to use to gather insights that can reduce costs and to deploy resources, protect people and spin up systems in an improve efficiencies across the organization. environment that may appear to be eerily normal.” 5. Take Care of Your People. Without people, technology 2. Tackle Development Environments. When agencies develop simply does not work. During the pandemic, leaders recognized new applications, such as citizen self-service apps, they typically the importance of keeping their teams healthy and safe while create a separate development environment. Most agencies maintaining business continuity. mirror those environments for testing, so they can do so using the “For decades, we’ve talked about protecting data, but now, we same platform they will use when they move to production. But need to think about protecting our most important resource — our this is expensive. people,” says Fullerton. “And that goes beyond government teams.” “It’s effectively like having three production environments,” says Nevins. Tough Choices Ahead Moving development and test environments to the cloud, Reduced budgets will be a challenge but investing in even if the agency doesn’t ultimately launch the production modernization has the potential to help ease some of the pain. environment in the cloud, reduces costs. “Ultimately, you cut more wood by taking some time out to sharpen your saw,” says Nevins. 3. Work on the Edge. Legacy systems that fail under the weight That doesn’t mean there won’t be tough choices ahead. of sudden demand — like some state UI systems when COVID-19 “In the end, various divisions within an agency are going to have hit — can cause huge headaches. And while shifting entire to sit down and make some critical decisions about how budget is systems to the cloud might not be feasible now, agencies can spent,” says Nevins. “There may be situations where you need to consider cloud or SaaS-based systems that work on the edge borrow from a non-IT area to enable you to move toward a more to do things like facilitate customer service. For example, many modern and streamlined approach that ultimately will improve the states implemented chatbots in their call centers to handle basic overall agency.” citizen inquires during the first stages of the pandemic. This helped reduce call wait times for citizens and allowed employees This piece was writt en and produced by the Center for Digital to focus on more complex inquires. Government Content Studio, with information and input from Oracle.

4. Use Analytics to Get More Out of Data. Modernization also helps agencies leverage analytics to get ahead of problems and Footnote: operate more cost effectively. Next Federal Relief Act Needs $500B to Avert Big State, City “There are mounds of data available to agencies today, both Layoff s, Florida Politics, June 24, 2020, htt ps://fl oridapolitics.com/ their own data and external data that impacts the citizens they archives/343590-moodys-report-next-federal-relief-act-needs- serve,” says Nevins. “Harnessing that data and using analytics 500b-to-avert-big-state-city-layoff s

Produced by: For:

Government Technology is about solving problems in state For more information visit www.oracle.com/stateandlocal or and local government through the smart use of technology. www.govtech.com/oracle360/partners Government Technology is a division of e.Republic, the nation’s only media and research company focused exclusively on state and local government and education. www.govtech.com

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What are some of the advantages of doing innovation work in a unique 3city like Anchorage? Anchorage is about 41 percent of the population of Alaska. It’s similar to New York City, which I believe is about 42 percent of New York, but we don’t have a borough above us. We’re a municipality and then above us is the state. If we make something better than is available at the state level, one out of two people will be in Anchorage, and it will ben- eﬁ t them. There’s a unique capability there.

How have you seen innovation and civic tech work evolve during 4your tenure with Anchorage? I’ve Brendan Babb been here a little over four years as Chief Innovation Officer, Anchorage, Alaska the innovation offi cer, and we’ve had a Bloomberg Innovation Team since about Brendan Babb has been the chief innovation officer in Anchorage, Alaska, for more six months after I got here. It’s been than four years, coming to the city after being part of a local civic tech group. For the majority interesting. We’ve used a lot of human- of his time there, Anchorage received a Bloomberg Innovation Teams grant, which has given centered design, and we’ve worked with Babb a team of four to work with, as well as access to bleeding-edge civic tech trends. GT behavioral insights. One change is that caught up with Babb in November to discuss innovation work during COVID-19, the singular here in Anchorage people are thinking nature of Anchorage and trends he’s seen during his time in the role. more about how to use a service. Everyone has good intentions when they get into What innovation opportunities has had experience with N95 masks. We started government. They want to help people, but COVID-19 brought to Anchorage? experimenting with diff erent masks andwere after they’ve been there a while, they know 1Early in the pandemic, we were able to eventually make 250 for medical things so well that they don’t understand worried about personal protective professionals. I was just kind of a fi gurehead what it would be like to, for example, fi le for equipment (PPE) and having enough N95 in it, but it was amazing to see volunteers property tax extensions for the fi rst time. We masks. All cities were worried about that, quickly iterate on 10 diff erent designs. did a behavioral insights project with that. but Anchorage is farther away so things One thing I’d like to do a better job take longer to get here. Our supply chan- Has the crisis changed circumstances with in civic tech — and I’ve seen other nels are more complicated. Our municipal for innovation work at all? One thing cities do this — is list what types of prob- manager was interested in innovative 2that has been benefi cial is that because lems we’re trying to solve with our open ways we could come up with PPE. I asked of emergency operation centers and everyone data. The early phase was open data for people on Facebook if they had a 3D just pulling together — people from diff erent the sake of open data, which was good, printer and whether they would be willing departments being in the same room col- but now I see an evolution where hack- to help make medical equipment with it. laborating, as well as working with the health athons are targeted around data sets We had about 50 people sign up. department and the state of Alaska — we’ve and a specifi c direction, like addressing Then a doctor got in contact with me. He been able to do things that might have been COVID solutions or achieving equity. had experience with 3D printing and he more challenging or taken longer in the past. — Zack Quaintance, Associate Editor

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This year, in partnership with Google Cloud, we’re recognizing ﬁ ve state and local government agencies that demonstrated what it means to be Future Ready by leveraging innovative technologies, processes and leadership.

This month, we’re The city of Lynchburg aligned its IT strategic plan to recognizing the city the citywide master plan to ensure people, processes and technologies were focused on the same objectives. of Lynchburg, Va., as a 2020 Future The city of Lynchburg engaged collaboratively Ready Award Winner. with the school district and state agencies on new A few highlights applications and cloud infrastructure to increase overall resilience. for how Lynchburg prepared for the The city of Lynchburg is continuously adapting future: by identifying and utilizing emerging technologies to solve mission-critical problems. For example, it is using artiﬁ cial intelligence and machine learning to monitor rainfall and water levels to avoid ﬂ ooding.

Read more about all the 2020 Future Ready Award winners at govtech.com/futureready/awards

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2020 Digital States Survey Data: IT Efforts at a Glance A lot has changed since the last Digital States Survey, the biennial review of state technology practices from Government Technology’s research arm, the Center for Digital Government. Below are some insights on spending, strategy and the overall status of IT in the states in 2020. For our full editorial coverage, including state-specific analyses of current plans and programs, visit govtech.com/DigitalStates2020.

“A” States IT Spending Breakdown

Georgia Utah Michigan 13% SOFTWARE (LICENSES, 9% PURCHASES) Ohio A- 11 states TELECOMMUNICATIONS 8% B+ 14 states HARDWARE B 13 states (LEASED, Missouri B- 4 states PURCHASED) C+ 2 states C 1 state 10% Top of the List: % IT CONTRACTED 15 STAFF State IT Priorities IT SERVICES (CONTRACT SOLUTIONS DEVELOPMENT) 1 Cybersecurity 2 Budget and Cost Control

Citizen Engagement/ % 3 Experience 27% 11 IT INTERNAL STAFF IT SERVICES Cloud Computing (CLOUD, 4 INFRASTRUCTURE SERVICES) Increased Agency/ 5 Department IT Collaboration

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98% 98% 95% 90% 80%

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Cloud Bound Here are their top candidates 90% for cloud migration: of states report using telemedicine, 56% ✓ Health and Human Services and the remaining 10 percent say of states say less than 10 percent of their ✓ Finance/Administration it’s on the way. systems and applications are in the cloud today, ✓ Application Development but 46 percent say more than 50 percent of their and Testing systems and applications could eventually be ✓ Human Resources migrated to the cloud. ✓ Transportation 32% of states have established infrastructure Biggest COVID-19 Response Challenges to support autonomous/connected vehicles, and another 49 percent say it’s on the agenda in the next 12-18 months. Access to supplies (IT hardware/equipment) 88% Remote workforce management 71% Technology access for employees 71% Impact on revenues 22% 68% of states benefitted from pro bono help Cybersecurity in responding to COVID-19. 63%

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BY BEN MILLER AND ANDREW WESTROPE ESSENTIAL

The growing and dynamic gov tech market helped government respond to COVID-19 in myriad critical ways. And they grew their business in the process.

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That’s not what happened. rose dramatically. The number of U.S. local SOURCE: CRUNCHBASE Instead, government offi ces governments using the company’s product at every level found ways to doubled to about 170. quickly change the way they “It was, I think, a Friday or Saturday confi ned to their houses, it was a much more did business — often leaning where we just saw usage data across our signifi cant matter. A city manager found heavily on technology they customers on the West Coast spike. As you that aspect of the project being challenged either weren’t using before know, the fi rst high number of cases was through Zencity and took the matter to the or were using very little. So starting to come in from Washington state, local government, who changed the timeline many government agencies in that area, and we just saw unprecedented to soften the impact. have stories of setting up daily and hourly usage of our platform,” said Another change Feder-Levy noted: fewer remote work capabilities for Eyal Feder-Levy, the company’s CEO. “And pilot projects. As many a gov tech startup thousands of workers at once, that was the moment where it hit us that, OK, can attest, early business often involves pilot or adopting digital signatures something is very diff erent.” projects that turn into contracts. Zencity over a weekend, or deploying Much changed. Public servants who used was no stranger to that game, but during the an entirely new service far faster to check Zencity to identify conversation pandemic many more prospective clients than they used to. trends in their jurisdictions once or twice were skipping that step and heading straight For six years now, the a week started hopping on every day — to the dotted line. GovTech 100 list has presented including weekends. Customers started Will they still have need for it after the companies that were helping signing contracts much more quickly, pandemic? government to pull itself looking for a fast way to start measuring “A lot of cities and counties overnight forward. They’ve introduced new whether their outreach on topics such as became much more data-driven,” Feder- ideas, they’ve found better ways mask mandates and business closures was Levy said. “They review a report every to handle business, and they’ve registering with their communities. week of case numbers and changes and set the stage for government to “Because of the immediate need, we got people in quarantine. Those types of prove people wrong when they calls from cities over a weekend saying, ‘Hey, processes … they’re just great management snicker about ineffi ciency and the mayor wants this in the EOC by Monday processes and great engagement processes ineptitude. morning’ — things like that we don’t see very that hopefully will stay with us after the Before the pandemic, it was often. [Usually clients] tend to be slower to pandemic. The question is will these hard to see just how well the contract,” Feder-Levy said. platforms know how to adapt to these stage had been set. But many, The product helped governments get a new realities after COVID, and are these many government agencies handle on the myriad unforeseeable ways changes really being embedded, and are have found themselves doing a far-reaching event like a pandemic could local governments feeling the value beyond things they didn’t expect to do change daily life, he said. An example: just closing a hole for them? And I’m super for years, if ever. One customer was in the midst of a major optimistic about this, and I see that in our These are the stories of four business district renovation involving usage. All these governments who bought of the companies at the center replacing infrastructure. That would mean us for COVID-19 purposes use us today of the gov tech response to the shutting off water to a neighborhood for a for other purposes — for public safety, for pandemic. while. In normal times, that might’ve been transportation, for sales tax [and] other fi ne. But during the pandemic, with people things that it’s important to get input on.”

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120WaterAudit Automotus Cartegraph 120WaterAudit off ers cloud-based water Automotus uses video technology to Cartegraph off ers mobile-enabled asset management software. improve urban curb management and and operations management software to cities Est. 2016 / 120wateraudit.com reduce traffi c congestion. and counties. Est. 2017 / automotus.co Est. 1994 / cartegraph.com 3AM Innovations Fast Fact: Automotus reports it has improved its 3AM’s FLARE technology helps improve customers’ parking turnover by 25 percent. Casebook PBC fi refi ghters’ situational awareness and safety Casebook PBC provides software to help during emergencies. Avenu Insights and Analytics health and human services staff track workfl ow Est. 2015 / 3aminnovations.com Avenu provides fi nance and consulting services and clients. for government agencies. Est. 2017 / casebook.net Accela Est. 1989 / avenuinsights.com Accela software helps government CentralSquare Technologies agencies automate transactions and Axon CentralSquare’s platform supports service delivery in land management, Axon creates Taser weapons, as well as body- public safety, administration and asset management, licensing, and public worn cameras and software for public safety health-care agencies. health and safety. customers. Est. 1979 / centralsquare.com Est. 1981 / accela.com Est. 1993 / axon.com Citibot Acivilate Balancing Act Citibot allows citizens to directly message Acivilate off ers software to help government Balancing Act is a suite of tools to help their governments via text or chatbot to report and law enforcement reduce recidivism. government engage citizens on budget priorities issues and ask questions. Est. 2014 / acivilate.com and fi nancial issues. Product of Engaged Public. Est. 2016 / citibot.io Est. 1998 / abalancingact.com Airspace Link CityGrows Airspace Link helps local governments Bang the Table CityGrows' software automates government manage drone use. Bang the Table off ers an online citizen workfl ow processes like permitting and payment Est. 2018 / airspacelink.com engagement platform for local government. processing. Fast Fact: Airspace Link processes risk data Est. 2007 / bangthetable.com Est. 2015 / citygro.ws for both ground and air to map “highways in Fast Fact: CityGrows' fi rst government partner was the sky.” Binti Santa Monica, Calif. Binti’s software streamlines the approval ArchiveSocial process for prospective foster parents. CityLife ArchiveSocial provides cloud-based Est. 2014 / binti.com CityLife provides an end-to-end platform social media archiving for records for developing city- and agency-specifi c management, regulatory compliance and Biobot Analytics mobile apps. e-discovery. Biobot Analytics analyzes city sewage to help Est. 2009 / appcitylife.com Est. 2011 / archivesocial.com understand more about public health. Est. 2017 / biobot.io Citymart Aurigo Software Citymart helps cities solve problems by connecting Aurigo makes software for managing capital BondLink them with new ideas through open challenges projects from planning to maintenance. BondLink provides tools to modernize municipal that engage entrepreneurs and citizens. Est. 2003 / aurigo.com bonds and connect cities with investors. Est. 2011 / citymart.com Fast Fact: Aurigo’s name comes from Auriga, Est. 2016 / bondlink.com a constellation in the Northern Hemisphere that means “the charioteer” in Latin. Cardinality.ai Total number of Cardinality.ai is an AI-based case management acquisitions by the platform for health and human services. 2021 GovTech 100: 199 Est. 2017 / cardinality.ai SOURCE: CRUNCHBASE

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______Designer ______Creative Dir. 100 Blue Ravine Road Folsom, CA 95630 916-932-1300 ______Editorial ______Prepress www.erepublic.com CMY grey T1 T2 T3 5 25 50 75 95 100 5 25 50 75 95 100 5 25 50 75 95 100 5 25 50 75 95 100 Page # ______Other ______OK to go BLACK YELLOW MAGENTA CYAN Founded: 1999 Founders: Javier Muniz, Scott Burns, Tom Spengler, Zach Stabenow which wound up processing close to 60,000 Granicus Headquarters: Denver, Colo. claims a week, compared to the 1,500 for Even before the events of 2020 accelerated Top investors: JMI Equity traditional unemployment before COVID-19. the transition from in-person to digital Total funding to date: $10.3 million* Hynes said that as with the digitization services, that change was heralded by of shopping, banking and other tasks in SOURCE: CRUNCHBASE Granicus. Formerly focused on software people’s day-to-day lives, there was an for managing government meetings, * The fi rm that owns Granicus, Vista Equity Partners, has inevitability about moving these services documents and citizen engagement, the invested an unspecifi ed amount in this company that far online, especially with advances in cloud exceeds this number. company acquired the U.K.-based Firmstep and software development. But where in April 2019 and used its technology to digital automation or modernization of launch govService, Granicus’ digital services services used to be a second or third priority platform, later that year. CEO Mark Hynes through a growing storm of misinformation. for Granicus customers, Hynes said, it has said he thought the shift to online services The company also started pre-packaging become a fi rst priority. With this in mind, was inevitable in the U.S., based on what was information about the virus for governments Granicus in October acquired another digital happening across the pond. to share according to Web traffi c and what services company, Calytera, for its expertise “The U.K. is probably six to seven or more citizens seemed most interested in. in best practices in the space. Competitors years ahead of the United States as it relates Hynes said among the company’s invested heavily in digital services in 2020, to digital transformation,” he said. “If you 4,200 federal, state and local customers, too: CivicPlus announced a low-code tool in were to go to a website of a local government websites saw hundreds to thousands of May for standing up digital services, Accela in the U.K., virtually 90 percent of the times more traffi c than usual as public partnered with OpenCities in September on services that you would typically go to a city information offi ces were fl ooded with a no-code tool to stand up digital services, hall or another government offi ce for today in questions about safety measures, medical and Salesforce announced its fi rst purpose- the United States — all your permits, licenses, vulnerabilities and policies. built licensing and permitting applications. transactions, where you grab a form, fi ll it “What we were fi nding is that “Virtually every other service provider out, staple a check and hand it to an attendant governments were the backstops of relationship has been digitized, and — 90 to 100 percent of those services are all truth, the one source you can trust in government will get there,” Hynes said. “It’s delivered online in the U.K.” these moments to get accurate and vital really a market adoption curve question, It turned out to be a fortuitous new information,” he said. and COVID has bent that adoption curve up direction for Granicus. When COVID-19 Granicus saw use cases around the world dramatically. It probably accelerated it by hit, Hynes said three tasks emerged for for its new digital services. Hynes said the three, four, maybe even fi ve years, and what their customers: to create direct channels demands of speed and fl exibility favored a it says to Granicus is, we need to move faster of reliable information, to keep government platform that could build applications for as a company.” operating and serving people even with digital services, rather than coming with The other lesson Hynes took from remote staff , and to enable governing separate, ready-made point solutions for the last several months was the value of bodies like city councils to make policy every workfl ow. In Oklahoma, it took about collaboration. Whether it was connecting decisions even with chambers shuttered. a weekend for the company to help the government customers to share best For the fi rst task, Granicus gave customers state build an online portal for a specialized practices with each other, as Granicus did free access to its software tools for emails, program that didn’t exist only months before with Oklahoma and New York, or acquiring texts and social media management to cut — Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, innovations from competitors, he saw more positive transformation in the gov tech space in a short amount of time than in many other industries. “The ability to pull together communicators from the federal governments, state, local, the U.K. even, in a way that they could share best practices, in a high-velocity situation … was massive,” he said. “We made massive innovation leaps because we collaborated as an industry that I think are incredibly unique to us as a group … In our product road maps, we are now building capabilities for collaboration and sharing around best practices.” SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

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CivicActions (Disclosure: The parent company of Granicus CivicActions uses open source tools and Government Technology is an investor in Granicus provides cloud-based technology agile methodologies to help government develop EasyVote through e.Republic Ventures.) solutions for creating, managing and distributing digital platforms and large-scale software Est. 2013 / easyvotesolutions.com live and on-demand streaming media content. deployments. Est. 1999 / granicus.com Est. 2004 / civicactions.com Edmunds GovTech Edmunds GovTech provides ERP solutions for GTY Technology Holdings CivicPlus local government. GTY Holdings is a gov tech acquisitions company CivicPlus builds custom websites for city Est. 1972 / edmundsgovtech.com comprising a number of smaller startups. and county governments. Fast Fact: Originally called Edmunds and Est. 2016 / gtytechnology.com Est. 1994 / civicplus.com Associates, the company initially focused on programming work for the Department of gWorks Civix Defense. gWorks’ software solutions include platforms for Civix is a software and consulting fi rm whose municipal asset management, GIS and payroll. major government clients include secretaries of Esri Est. 1999 / gworks.com state and airports. Esri provides a geospatial platform and related Fast Fact: gWorks is headquartered in Est. 1979 / gocivix.com tools for public agencies. Omaha, Neb. Est. 1969 / esri.com Clear Ballot Group HAAS Alert Clear Ballot provides a suite of transparent The Exemption Project HAAS uses mobile data to alert drivers (and voting system solutions. The Exemption Project helps maintain property cyclists) of approaching emergency vehicles Est. 2009 / clearballot.com tax rolls by identifying unclaimed and unqualifi ed through vehicle-to-vehicle notifi cations. homesteading exemptions. Est. 2015 / haasalert.com ClearGov Est. 2018 / exemptionproject.com ClearGov aggregates city fi nancial data to Fast Fact: While counties typically check for Hayden AI help citizens and local offi cials understand unclaimed and unqualifi ed properties every three Hayden AI puts cameras on city vehicles to and visualize how tax dollars are being spent to six years, The Exemption Project’s software gather data and spot traffi c violations. compared to other jurisdictions. uses AI to proactively monitor data. Est. 2019 / hayden.ai Est. 2015 / cleargov.com Fast Fact: Former U.S. Transportation Secretary Forensic Logic Anthony Foxx serves on Hayden AI’s board of Coord Forensic Logic’s COPLINK platform allows law directors. Coord’s solutions include apps for curb enforcement agencies to search, analyze and management, transit and ride-sharing. share data. IPS Group Est. 2016 / coord.co Est. 2003 / forensiclogic.com IPS Group globally delivers smart city tech within an Internet of Things framework. coUrbanize GovPilot Est. 1995 / ipsgroupinc.com coUrbanize provides an online marketplace for GovPilot is a Web-based management platform undervalued and abandoned urban real estate. developed exclusively for local government. Itron Est. 2013 / courbanize.com Est. 2014 / govpilot.com Itron off ers technology and services focused on measuring and controlling energy and Cubic Corporation GovQA water use. Technology from Cubic Corporation modernizes GovQA’s software replaces paper-based Est. 1977 / itron.com fare payment for transit systems, and also serves rulemaking processes in legislatures and the global defense market. government regulatory agencies. Kofi le Est. 1951 / cubic.com Est. 2000 / govqa.com Kofi le digitizes government services so information is secure, accessible and scalable. EasyVote Solutions Est. 2009 / kofi le.com EasyVote Solutions delivers a software-as-a- Fast Fact: Kofi le acquired longtime GT100 service platform to city, county and state election Total funding raised company SeamlessDocs in October 2020. offi ces to help manage the election process. by 2021 GovTech 100 companies: $3.2B SOURCE: CRUNCHBASE

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COVID-19 was shed in stool, and it wasn’t SHUTTERSTOCK.COM three passed a certain threshold. a leap for her to assume local governments For Biobot, COVID-19 was a marketing would soon want ways to detect it and that to have 100 communities sending them opportunity to put its technology and Biobot could do so. weekly samples, so they could learn how data out there, but it was also a learning Partnering with research collaborators the virus behaves in wastewater, what data experience. Specifi cally, wastewater is at the Massachusetts Institute of it could provide and if that could be helpful a leading indicator of COVID, and rapid Technology and the Harvard School of to decision-making. Quickly overwhelmed turnaround time is what makes the data Public Health to develop testing methods with interest, the campaign ran through the useful. On June 1, the company started for COVID-19, Biobot Analytics was the end of May and wound up with more than charging for its service, which allowed fi rst team in the U.S. to successfully detect 400 sampling locations across the U.S. from them to invest and improve their product the virus in wastewater, Ghaeli said. about half that many agencies. to a point where Ghaeli anticipates the “That’s when we knew that this data By plotting concentrations of the virus in ability to produce same-day results soon. could potentially be very valuable to wastewater over time, Ghaeli said her team “As an organization, we have now communities,” she said. “We didn’t know realized the data tended to foreshadow understood how important it was, both for sure, and that’s why we decided to put clinical cases. for us as a business but also just for together a pro bono campaign to be able to “We saw that pretty consistently, a spike the communities, that we were able to test this hypothesis.” in wastewater data would be followed by respond quickly. We’re aware that this In March, Biobot began shipping a spike in clinical cases, and that lead time might happen again. In two years’ time, sampling kits and instructions at cost — ranged anywhere from fi ve to 15 days,” she something might emerge that overnight about $120 — to wastewater treatment said. “We were able to learn a lot as well becomes the priority, and we always want facilities that fi ll out an application, from working with communities and what to be responsive as a company, no matter recommending that they take a couple was important to them during that time.” how big we get,” she said. “So we’ve samples a week and mail them back for Customers found diff erent uses for the internally put organizational practices and analysis. Their target at the time was data. In New Castle County, Del., because processes in place to ensure that we never lose that dynamism that usually just small startups have.” Besides the necessity of rapid results, Biobot Co-founder Ghaeli said Biobot learned some of its Newsha Ghaeli most valuable collaborators, the ones saw the potential whose insights lead to the most useful for her company’s improvements, are its own customers. wastewater data “We’ve learned the value and the need collection solution to really listen to our customers and work to track COVID-19 in an iterative fashion, where we want spread. to get data and information and product into the hands of people on front lines of whatever the problem is … and then hear from them what’s working, what’s not working,” she said. “For something as critical and dynamic as human health, I think that feedback loop will always be important.”

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LiveStories Nextdoor Passport LiveStories provides an integrated hub Nextdoor is a neighborhood-specifi c Passport specializes in enterprise business to discover, analyze and publish civic data. social network. applications and payments for parking and Est. 2013 / livestories.com Est. 2010 / nextdoor.com transportation. Est. 2010 / passportinc.com LotaData NextRequest LotaData uses an AI platform to locate mobile NextRequest provides user-friendly FOIA and PayIt users, enhance customer profi les and study geo- public records processing software for PayIt simplifi es doing business with behaviors to help improve citizen service off erings. governments. federal, state and local governments Est. 2015 / lotadata.com Est. 2015 / nextrequest.com through its mobile transaction and payment platform. Mark43 NIC Est. 2013 / payitgov.com Mark43 software allows police to collect, NIC develops and operates offi cial government manage, analyze and share information. websites, mobile apps and secure payment Periscope Holdings Est. 2012 / mark43.com processing for public-sector clients. Periscope provides procurement services to Est. 1991 / egov.com government. Maximus Est. 2001 / periscopeholdings.com Maximus software and services help Numetric governments administer health, child, family and An analytics company focused on transportation data, Pondera Solutions community development programs. Numetric works with departments of transportation to Pondera helps public agencies use analytics to Est. 1975 / maximus.com put data sources to work for safer roads. identify and remediate fraud, waste and abuse in Est. 2015 / numetric.com large government programs. Motorola Solutions Est. 2011 / ponderasolutions.com Motorola Solutions provides equipment for data One Concern communications and telecommunications. One Concern uses AI to complete risk PrimeGov Est. 2011 / motorolasolutions.com assessments and damage and loss PrimeGov’s software streamlines legislative estimations. management and facilitates collaboration. Munetrix Est. 2015 / oneconcern.com Est. 2014 / primegov.com Munetrix provides tools for visualizing and using fi nancial information from municipal OpenCities ProudCity governments. OpenCities helps make government websites more ProudCity’s software provides cities with Est. 2010 / munetrix.com user-friendly. websites and online government services. Est. 2008 / opencities.com Est. 2016 / proudcity.com Municode Fast Fact: OpenCities is based in Melbourne, Municode off ers legal, editorial and publishing Australia, and also has an offi ce in San Francisco. Qucit services for managing city codes. Qucit uses artifi cial intelligence for urban Est. 1951 / municode.com OpenGov development and mobility planning. OpenGov software allows interested parties to Est. 2014 / qucit.com NEOGOV access, explore and share fi nance and budget Fast Fact: The name Qucit is short for NEOGOV provides on-demand human resources information held by government. “quantifi ed cities.” software to automate the hiring, onboarding and Est. 2012 / opengov.com performance evaluation process. Quicket Solutions Est. 1999 / neogov.com OpenLattice Quicket provides a cloud-based data OpenLattice is a data integration platform to help management and operational intelligence public agencies make more informed decisions. platform for public safety, code enforcement Est. 2017 / openlattice.com and justice agencies. Average Fast Fact: OpenLattice reports its services have Est. 2013 / quicketsolutions.com number of helped more than 13 million citizens nationwide. founders of a 2021 GovTech100 company: 3 SOURCE: CRUNCHBASE

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Driver’s licenses. Utility payments. Pet a demand spike. And it can often be Average age registration. Birth certifi cates. Property simpler and faster to implement, so of a 2021 taxes. There are endless reasons a person governments could move those various GovTech 100 14 might need to step into a government permitting, licensing, payment and form company: Years offi ce. And in late March 2020, many of processes online quickly. SOURCE: CRUNCHBASE them closed their doors. “We were putting new services into Overnight, digital services went from the cloud in hours for our clients during being a luxury to a necessity for many. the pandemic because the offi ces were The companies that help government shut down, and they needed to get those RanMarine USA agencies put their services online — and services online,” he said. “If you’ve got RanMarine USA uses drones for waterway there are many, ranging from NIC to sort of old, custom tech that’s on-prem or cleanup and data collection. ProudCity — suddenly found themselves you’ve just moved it to your cloud and you Est. 2019 / wasteshark.com responding to agencies who needed to have to go deploy and it takes months to do Fast Fact: RanMarine’s WasteShark drone move services online immediately. that, you’re just in a diff erent place to be can remove 1,000 pounds of trash from One such company was PayIt, whose able to serve your clients in this market.” water per day. CEO John Thomson watched as demand for Thomson said being cloud-native — customers’ existing digital services spiked. his company was founded in 2013 — RapidDeploy “When the pandemic hit and everyone also helped the company onboard RapidDeploy off ers a cloud-based went home, I think, you know, the cloud is new customers and deploy their computer-aided dispatch system. always on. Our platform is always on. So services quickly. Est. 2013 / rapiddeploy.com we kept the lights on for our clients, and One somewhat unresolved question is then we saw a big shift, or acceleration in how much of it will last. That is, should RapidSOS the shift from walk-in, call-in or mail-in society get more or less “back to normal,” RapidSOS uses technology to rethink interactions with government to digital,” will the governments that suddenly emergency communications and is Thomson said. “And we saw clients — just adopted digital services keep using them working on a platform to predict three states without naming names — in at the same rate, or will they revert to the emergencies before they occur. April, one client [whose] digital revenue old ways? Est. 2012 / rapidsos.com collection was up 54 percent year-over- On that front, Thomson is optimistic. year. Another was up 55 percent, and “I think [the pandemic] really just put Remix another was up 125 percent.” a fi ner point on the need to embrace the Remix allows city transit planners to see Thomson underscored that the cloud cloud and cloud-native platforms and the cost, demographic and fi scal impact has made things like this much simpler. kind of this move to Netfl ix away from of proposed route changes. It was built with sudden scaling up and Blockbuster, in a really oversimplifi ed Est. 2014 / remix.com down in mind, so it could handle such explanation,” he said. Ride Report Ride Report gives cities micromobility data from private companies like scooter shares. Est. 2015 / ridereport.com Fast Fact: Ride Report works with more Founded: 2013 than 70 cities across the globe. Founders: John Thomson, Michael Plunkett RoadBotics RoadBotics uses AI to monitor the status Headquarters: Kansas City, Mo. of road conditions before emergency Top investors: Insight Partners, crews are needed for repairs. Advantage Capital, Royal Street Est. 2016 / roadbotics.com Ventures, Weatherford Capital, Missouri Technology Corporation Rock Solid Technologies Rock Solid Technologies is a software Total funding to date: $104.5 million research and development company. SOURCE: CRUNCHBASE Est. 1994 / rocksolid.com

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Sagitec Solutions SST UrbanLeap Sagitec provides custom pension, provident SST develops ShotSpotter gunshot detection and UrbanLeap off ers software that helps fund, unemployment insurance, health-care location technology to help reduce gun violence governments run pilot projects to test new and life sciences software. in cities. technologies. Est. 2004 / sagitec.com Est. 1996 / shotspotter.com Est. 2017 / urbanleap.io

SimpliGov StreetLight Data Utilis Inc. SimpliGov automates government workfl ows StreetLight Data delivers geospatial business Utilis uses satellite imagery to monitor to help agencies work more effi ciently. intelligence to support critical decisions and underground water systems and detect leaks. Est. 2018 / simpligov.com improve return on investment. Est. 2013 / utiliscorp.com Fast Fact: SimpliGov estimates $12.2 million Est. 2010 / streetlightdata.com in savings annually for customers using its Varuna software. Swiftly Varuna’s dashboards gather water utility data Swiftly works with cities and transit agencies to and make predictions and recommendations for Smarking harness real-time data to optimize services. improvement. Smarking lets clients own or manage a Est. 2014 / goswift.ly Est. 2018 / varunaiot.com holistic view of their parking assets and data through a variety of technology systems. Symbium Verra Mobility Est. 2014 / smarking.com Symbium’s interactive mapping platform helps Verra Mobility off ers smart transportation solutions property owners understand whether they can build like tolls and traffi c cameras. SOMA Global accessory dwelling units. Est. 1988 / verramobility.com SOMA Global off ers a public-safety-as-a- Est. 2018 / symbium.com Fast Fact: Verra Mobility has clients in 15 countries. service platform for systems like computer- Fast Fact: Symbium was founded by an attorney aided dispatch and agency interoperability. who recognized the diffi culty citizens had working VertexOne Est. 2017 / somaglobal.com with municipal regulations and wanted to help VertexOne provides on-premise and cloud-based Fast Fact: SOMA Global works with fellow California’s housing crisis. customer management software for utilities. GT100 companies OpenGov, Esri and RapidSOS. Est. 1996 / vertexone.net Tyler Technologies Fast Fact: VertexOne estimates its software reaches Spatial Data Logic Tyler is a provider of end-to-end information 5.6 million end users. Spatial Data Logic’s municipal management management solutions and services for local platform automates government workfl ows. governments. Visionary Integration Professionals Est. 1997 / spatialdatalogic.com Est. 1966 / tylertech.com VIP makes business strategy software for Fast Fact: Spatial Data Logic reports it has governments and corporations. completed more than 1.7 million inspections. Ubicquia Est. 1996 / trustvip.com Ubicquia makes hardware and software for smart SPIDR Tech streetlights. Waycare SPIDR Tech off ers a community engagement Est. 2014 / ubicquia.com Waycare helps cities manage their roads by platform that helps police departments serve Fast Fact: In September 2020, Ubicquia announced harnessing municipal traffi c data. their communities. $30 million in new funding from Fuel Venture Capital Est. 2016 / waycaretech.com Est. 2015 / spidrtech.com and other investors. Whyline Springbrook Software UrbanFootprint Whyline off ers software to help government Springbrook Software supports local UrbanFootprint compiles municipal data and uses agencies virtually manage customer wait times. government fi nancial systems, including AI to help developers make informed decisions. Est. 2015 / whyline.com budgeting and utility payments. Est. 2014 / urbanfootprint.com Fast Fact: Whyline’s app crowdsources data so Est. 1985 / springbrooksoftware.com Fast Fact: UrbanFootprint works with NASA as part users can see how long lines are in real time. Fast Fact: From 2015 until 2020, Springbrook of a team developing a 3D urban airspace map. Software was a subsidiary of Accela. Zencity Zencity's platform aggregates and analyzes citizen Total investors feedback for local government. in GovTech 100 Est. 2015 / zencity.io companies: 470 SOURCE: CRUNCHBASE www.govtech.com // January/February 2021 23

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2 Filling the Gaps New technology tools can help 4 Managing Cyber Exposure agencies take on a growing list in Law Enforcement of challenges. 6 Using Blockchain Analysis to Fight Crime 8 Supporঞ ng the Law Enforcement Community During COVID-19 and Beyond 10 Cloud: The IT Force Mulঞ plier 12 Technology is Key to More EL cient and E@ ecঞ ve Law Enforcement

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ant to see the future of law leaders approved funding to purchase four agencies since the Great Recession of 2008.3 enforcement? You might start drones that will be used to respond to 911 The newspaper cited a survey of 258 police by looking at the small town calls and other emergencies.2 Brookhaven departments conducted by the non-partisan of Linn, Wis. police say the project will give officers Police Executive Research Forum, which WWith about 2,200 residents scattered across more flexibility, availability and information, showed almost half of the responding agencies 34 square miles, the town may seem an unlikely while limiting in-person contact amid the either expected or had already experienced location for cutting-edge policing. But the Linn coronavirus pandemic. funding cuts, mostly in the range of five to Police Department has used drones for the “It’s literally a game changer,” said 10 percent. past five years to locate missing persons, track Brookhaven Police Lt. Abrem Ayana during Few agencies are being spared, according fleeing crime suspects and perform a variety of a recent city council meeting. to the research. Deep reductions have been other law enforcement duties. ordered or proposed in big-city departments The unmanned flying vehicles act as Bracing for Bleak Budgets in Los Angeles and New York, as well as small a force multiplier for local police. Within For police departments facing growing towns like Eureka, Calif. months of purchasing its first drone in 2015, demands and tightening budgets, using the department used the technology to locate technology to increase the impact of Filling Resource Gaps a drowning victim in Lake Geneva, which existing staff and resources is a big part Against this backdrop, agencies must bisects the town. The mission, which typically of the future. find technologies that can help them fill would have required hours of effort from “This is not a situation that agencies the gaps. multiple officers, was accomplished in about will be able to hire their way out of,” says Clearly, autonomous vehicles like drones two minutes of flight time, Police Chief James Morgan Wright, a senior fellow with the can augment human workforces, in some Bushey told Government Technology.1 Center for Digital Government (CDG) cases doing the work of multiple officers. By contrast, Bushey pointed to the recent who spent 18 years in state and local law These devices also can improve officer safety. recovery of another Lake Geneva drowning enforcement. “The tax base is dropping and In 2016, Dallas police used a robot armed victim which was handled by other agencies everybody’s going to take a hit.” with explosives to end a standoff with a sniper that declined to use a drone. That operation In July, USA Today reported that the suspected of killing five police officers. took five hours and involved a team of 13 combination of pandemic-induced economic “We saw no other option but to use agencies from Wisconsin and Illinois, he says. woes and the national movement to our bomb robot and place a device on its The city of Brookhaven, Ga., intends to take “defund the police” could lead to the extension for it to detonate where the the concept a step further. In November, city biggest budget cuts for law enforcement suspect was,” Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings told

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reporters after the incident, which is thought “[The technology is] able to be in various transparency — particularly as agencies expand to be the first time U.S. police have used areas that we just don’t have the resources camera networks and leverage new tools like a robot in a show of lethal force.4 “Other and time to be able to be in all the time,” facial recognition. options would have exposed our officers to Wichita Police Lt. Casey Slaughter told Already, a handful of cities have limited or grave danger.” Government Technology.6 “We can’t have banned government use of facial recognition Autonomous technologies are continuing an officer standing next to an intersection technologies due to privacy concerns. CDG’s to evolve. For example, a Colorado-based looking at and writing down tags as they go Wright says the antidote to these objections is company recently released a “throwable” by. This will do it in an automated and very community engagement. robot designed to provide situational efficient fashion.” “Departments need to get their communities awareness to police and other first Advances in analytics are helping involved in the drafting of policies around responders in dangerous situations. The departments examine data they collect from these technologies,” he says. “They need to one-pound device — equipped with a cameras and other information sources to be transparent about the information they will high-resolution video camera, microphone anticipate crime or disruptive events and collect, how it will be collected, how it will be and a slew of other sensors — is designed proactively address them. Thirty percent of used and how long it will be retained — and to be tossed into risky environments and respondents in CDG’s 2020 Digital Cities then they need to follow through on that.” then stream conditions back to users’ Survey said they are already using predictive In some cases, Wright adds, technology smartphones.5 analytics in public safety. itself may help departments strengthen their Better connectivity and lighter, more bonds with citizens. capable mobile devices are another part The Power of Transparency “I think that’s where we need more real-time of the equation. Officers are gaining more As police departments enter a future analysis of crime trends, so departments can access to real-time video and other timely marked by funding and resource constraints, do a better job of preempting that activity and information in the field that enables them technologies like these will be increasingly collaborating with the public to make them to make better decisions, which ultimately important to their success. However, growing aware of it,” he says. “They should be engaging improves effectiveness. use of advanced technologies must be with citizens around the trends they’re seeing The FirstNet dedicated wireless network accompanied by responsible use policies and and how they can protect themselves.” for first responders — a national initiative led by the federal government — is helping local law enforcement agencies deliver richer and Force Multipliers for Local Public Safety in Use Now more relevant information to officers in the Predictive Analytics field. And today’s officers are more likely to City receive this information on lighter, consumer- 30% County grade smartphones and tablets instead of 17% bulky ruggedized equipment. Biometrics (including facial recognition) Finally, sophisticated photo and video surveillance and analytics are other important 57% force multipliers. These initiatives take 61% various forms, but all of them extend the FirstNet reach of human officers. 28% For example, the Wichita, Kan., Police 42% Department recently began deploying license Fixed Surveillance (video, audio, etc.) plate readers on traffic signals and other city infrastructure to reduce drive-by shootings 52% and other violent crime in the city. The 62% solar-powered devices can be easily moved Mobile Surveillance (drones, body cams) from one part of the city to another as crime 58% patterns change. The city had installed readers 52% in about 35 locations as of early November. Source: 2020 Digital Cities and Counties surveys

1 Drones Have Earned Their Place in Small-Town Wisconsin. Government Technology. https://www.govtech.com/products/Drones-Have-Earned-Their-Place-in-Small-Town-Wisconsin.html 2 Unmanned Drones to Respond to 911 Calls in Georgia Town. Government Technology. https://www.govtech.com/public-safety/Unmanned-Drones-to-Respond-to-911-Calls-in-Georgia-Town.html 3 ‘Perfect storm’: Defund the police, COVID-19 lead to biggest police budget cuts in decade. USA Today. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2020/07/31/defund-police-covid-19-force-deepest-cop-budget- cuts-decade/5538397002/ 4 Dallas Police Used Robot With Bomb to Kill Ambush Suspect: Mayor. NBC News. https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/dallas-police-ambush/dallas-police-used-robot-bomb-kill-ambush-suspect-mayor-n605896 5 Company Six Unveils ‘Throwable’ Robot for First Responders. Government Technology. https://www.govtech.com/biz/Company-Six-Unveils-Throwable-Robot-for-First-Responders.html 6 Wichita, Kan., Police Adopt Stationary License Plate Readers. Government Technology. https://www.govtech.com/public-safety/Wichita-Kan-Police-Adopt-Stationary-License-Plate-Readers.html

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Managing Cyber Exposure in Law Enforcement

As IT plays an increasingly critical expertise, which in many cases is not on What best practices do you role in crime-ﬁ ghting and public the agency’s priority list or in its budget. As recommend in terms of risk and safety, law enforcement agencies a result, these agencies become even more vulnerability management? are facing new cybersecurity susceptible to attack. Because the security environment is in challenges. Michael Rothschild, constant flux and new vulnerabilities Senior Director of Marketing What is cyber exposure management regularly arise, we recommend ongoing for Tenable, shares advice for and how can it help law enforcement assessments that can find new weak protecting data and resources agencies protect their systems and data? points before they are exploited. We even as the cybercrime landscape Whether it is CJIS, digital fingerprinting, also recommend a “triaged” approach expands and evolves. NCIC lookups, e-tickets or e-reports, paper to deal with these alarms or concerns, is a thing of the past. Technology is making because it is impossible to meaningfully What trends are you seeing around these departments more efficient and handle multiple alarms at the same time. threats and vulnerabilities within effective in carrying out their missions, Taking a risk-based view and having the law enforcement agencies? but it can also add exposure from a cyber system assign a vulnerability priority We are seeing more ransomware attacks, risk perspective. Therefore, it is important rating (VPR) score that is specific to the where hackers use an unaddressed that law enforcement agencies roll out threat in your unique environment will vulnerability to gain entry and then lock their new technology with security built help you meaningfully address threats law enforcement files until payment is in instead of adding it as an afterthought. in an appropriate order to keep your made. These demanded payments are It is also important to regularly assess agency safe. cleverly set at an amount that makes the security policies and technologies to attack worthwhile for the hacker but cost- detect vulnerabilities and threats before With looming budget cuts, how effective enough that the municipality will an attack occurs. Doing so will help ensure can law enforcement agencies agree to pay to get its data back. successful alignment with the agency’s invest strategically to transform core mission without introducing potential cybersecurity? What are the biggest cybersecurity threats and attack vectors. No single product can definitively and challenges for law enforcement magically deliver security. Instead, agencies? How can organizations best protect security requires different best-in-class A law enforcement agency can face a data that is accessed or shared from products to deliver solutions to specific variety of issues. It may need to address mobile devices? challenges. As mentioned before, issues related to who has access to There is much in the way of security these solutions include encryption, what information based on their role. It technology that helps accomplish this. vulnerability management, access may need to segment its network — for Some of the base systems are spelled out control and more. The magic happens example, to separate CJIS lookups from in compliance regulations. The technologies when these products work together other areas that are open to the public. include encryption, access control, physical to deliver a security-in-depth solution Law enforcement organizations may security and more. Agencies should work where the combined and fully integrated also be connected to other municipal with partners that have expertise in both solution working together delivers departments such as the Department of technology and law enforcement to ensure more than the sum of its parts. This Public Works or even other departments they are compliant, secured and compatible yields a strong security posture with a outside the municipality. Addressing these with new regulations and threats both now compelling ROI that moves the needle potential attack vectors requires security and in the future. without bankrupting the budget.

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Learn more at tenable.com

Using Blockchain Analysis to Fight Crime

Criminals and rogue nations transact with each other on these public be compromised if they’re not properly may believe they can hide ledgers. For example, we can show that configured. Having said that, stolen funds behind cryptocurrency and a given transaction took place between can be traced. You literally can see where blockchain transactions, two different cryptocurrency exchanges or funds go on the blockchain, because but blockchain analysis between a cryptocurrency exchange and everything is open. makes that more difﬁ cult. an illicit entity, such as one conducted by a Don Spies, Director of sanctioned individual or organization. With What should organizations look for in a Market Development for blockchain analysis tools and exchanges' blockchain analysis solution? Chainalysis, discusses how know your customer (KYC) information, It comes down to having the right data law enforcement agencies law enforcement can gain transparency and making it actionable. Specifically, can use this cutting-edge into blockchain activity in ways that aren’t law enforcement should be interested in technology to ﬁ ght crime. possible in traditional finance. a partner with data attributing services, which attribute addresses to the clusters Discuss the use of blockchain analysis — that is, the entities — that control What opportunities do blockchains in other areas of the justice system. them. In this case, that would be clusters present for law enforcement agencies? It’s a burgeoning field, and use cases are associated with criminal activity and their Cryptocurrency offers an unprecedented still being discovered. The unique nature cashout points. opportunity to quantify and investigate of this is that blockchains are completely The historical data behind this financial crime. Cryptocurrencies are the open. Anyone can go to a blockchain capability is an important differentiator. first global payment system outside of ledger website and see all the data Chainalysis is the only company that has any single organization’s control, and their that’s there. Depending on the scenario systematically collected information that blockchains create permanent public records, and the blockchain analysis tools used, links real-world entities to blockchain or ledgers, of illicit activity. Although crime organizations can follow the money on transactions since 2014. This allows the makes up a small subset of a much larger the blockchain, monitor transactions software to accurately distinguish different cryptocurrency market — one percent for suspicious activity and anti-money clusters of entities and attribute more data — it remains significant. For example, laundering compliance, and obtain profiles than can be seen on the blockchain. cryptocurrency is used for money laundering, of cryptocurrency businesses. Information terrorist financing, darknet markets, child gleaned from blockchain analysis can be What is the biggest misconception abuse material, ransomware, scams and more. used in a court of law. about cryptocurrency? Fortunately, the transparency afforded by Cryptocurrency’s decentralized, semi- blockchains helps law enforcement weed Are there hacking or other security autonomous nature makes it uniquely out bad actors. This will help build trust in issues associated with blockchains and appealing to criminals, and their embrace blockchains and pave the way for mainstream cryptocurrency? of the technology has helped shape its uses of cryptocurrencies. To my knowledge, no one has ever hacked overall reputation. But in fact, unlike the major coins, such as Bitcoin. Hacking cash and other traditional forms of value What is blockchain analysis and how the technology underlying cryptocurrency, transfer, cryptocurrency is inherently are law enforcement agencies using it? which is the blockchain, would require an transparent and easier to trace. Every Blockchain analysis helps people interpret amount of computing that doesn’t exist transaction is recorded in a publicly the public blockchain ledgers. With right now. What’s important to understand visible ledger. With the right tools, we Chainalysis tools, government agencies is there are on-ramps and off-ramps in can see how much of all cryptocurrency can understand which real-world entities coin infrastructures like exchanges that can activity is associated with illicit activity.

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Supporঞ ng the Law Enforcement Community During COVID-19 and Beyond

The COVID-19 pandemic are available to level the playing field by cases for greater integration of video spurred big changes throughout aggregating and analyzing social media for into investigative work. When used the public sector, and law investigations. These solutions can also responsibly, these technologies can help enforcement is no exception. present evidence during the prosecution, apprehend suspects quicker and correct for Lacey Wean, Director of which aids jurors' understanding of the case. misidentifications. the Law Enforcement Team at Carahsoft, walks through How is COVID-19 impacting police What does the increasing sophistication how the agencies that form the departments? of autonomous devices mean for the criminal justice system adapted COVID-19 created an unprecedented urgency future of law enforcement? to meet these challenges. for state, county and municipal workers to Autonomous devices such as unmanned operate remotely whenever possible. This aerial vehicles are in the early stages of caught many agencies by surprise. Although adoption by law enforcement agencies. What are the most important trends in these organizations moved with commendable Drones are an effective tool for scene law enforcement today? speed to equip staff to work from home, the reconstruction, search and rescue, and Some of the biggest trends include demands needs of the public only increased. critical incident response for a fraction of for police reforms and the need for technology Law enforcement agencies had to quickly the cost of a helicopter. to address these issues. Although they may adapt to the dangers of a pandemic amid AI and robotic process automation have seem independent, these issues often are highly calls for police reforms. These officials had benefitted many federal agencies, and could intertwined, and many have been accelerated to balance protecting the public, themselves be adapted to law enforcement use cases, by the COVID-19 pandemic. and their colleagues in an ever-changing such as automating routine 911 calls and Citizens want transparency in their police environment. Many departments have come court processes to free up human resources. departments. Recently, agencies have to appreciate how technology enabled them Finally, security in the law enforcement adopted analytics to address ethical concerns to address these critical priorities. community is a fight on two fronts: Law — including monitoring officer conduct — and enforcement agencies must apprehend they're earning citizens' trust with public- How is the prevalence of video impacting law perpetrators of cybercrime and also facing dashboards for greater transparency. enforcement? How will this evolve? protect themselves from cybercriminals. In addition, the COVID-19 pandemic has Video is instrumental in solving crimes The number of local government agencies encouraged a surge in cybercrime, which and increasing transparency in policing. that experience ransomware attacks presents challenges to law enforcement. However, the volume of video collected continues to rise. Every law enforcement Inter-agency cooperation and advanced tools in recent years has increased the need executive must take steps to ensure their allow investigators to reveal the identities of for storage, evidence tagging and chain critical infrastructure is protected. malicious actors and tie illicit digital currency of custody solutions. The proliferation of Carahsoft offers solutions on both fronts to their crimes. Internet of Things devices in the home and — tools to forensically investigate crime Social networking also offers digital workplace has expanded the number of across digital and real-world environments, avenues for criminal activity. Traditionally, sources for video evidence dramatically. as well as solutions and partnerships with law enforcement has been a step behind Facial recognition and artificial intelligence vendors and integrators to protect law actors who use social media to obfuscate (AI), which can assist in identification enforcement agencies from cyber attacks their activities, but new purpose-built tools and redaction, are just two of the use and secure their critical data.

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Carahsoft’s strong relationships with leading law enforcement partners and our deep understanding of the law enforcement landscape provides customers with the confidence they need to accurately match project requirements with supporting technologies.

The Law Enforcement portfolio at Carahsoft brings together industry-leading software and hardware solutions to support Federal, State and Local law enforcement agencies. Carahsoft offers proven solutions to support the mission of progressive law enforcement agencies ranging from citizen facing applications to dark web investigative tools.

SolutionsSolutions areare availableavailable on CCarahsoft’sarahsoft’s GGSASA SSchedulechedule 7070, NANASPOSPO VaValuePoint,luePoint NCPA, OMNIA Partners, and numerous state and local contracts. Learn more at: www.carahsoft.com/law-enforcement

Cloud: The IT Force Multiplier

In this Q&A, Ryan Reynolds, compliance with legally mandated retention infrastructure, applications will continue to Public Safety Strategy Leader for policies. Without a sound digital evidence function to meet public safety needs. Amazon Web Services (AWS), management solution and automated life explains how the cloud can be cycle retention solutions, data management How can agencies prepare for the adoption a force multiplier by enabling is nearly impossible. Finally, because data of data analytics and media analytics? law enforcement agencies to is produced in multiple systems, integrating Data and media analytics can help law streamline processes and deploy and normalizing that data so it can be enforcement personnel make better and crime-ﬁ ghting tools faster. searched, analyzed and shared is challenging. faster decisions. Because of the volume Without a strong data management of data and the amount of computing What trends are you seeing in terms of approach and systems, agencies must access required, these analytics are very difficult law enforcement’s use of technology? multiple systems to discover data that is in and expensive to host on premises. Having We’re seeing two main trends. The first different formats, making it very difficult your data in the cloud enables access to is a fundamental change in how agencies to integrate and gain insights from that resources and tools that aren’t available consume mission-critical applications. information. in house. For example, the cloud provides These applications traditionally operated tools to help control the cost of storing and on premises, but software-as-a-service What can agencies do in the cloud that they analyzing massive data volumes. (SaaS) has now become the predominant couldn’t do as well — or at all — on premises? approach for using records management The cloud enables effective, efficient How can technology facilitate collaboration systems, computer-aided dispatch systems, management of data. Storage in the cloud among law enforcement agencies, district body worn cameras and other applications. can scale infinitely, so agencies don’t have attorneys, the courts, detention centers The second trend is the increasing necessity to worry about running out of space or over- and other justice system stakeholders? for highly available systems. The accepted buying hardware. In addition, automated The cloud enables secure and efficient availability standard for emergency data life cycle policies and tiered storage sharing of information. Previously, sharing of response systems is 99.999 percent, or enable cost optimization. The cloud’s evidence or sensitive information required five nines; that’s about five minutes and 15 scalability also makes sure computing thumb drives, CDs or paper. Because the seconds of downtime per year. Five nines resources for mission-critical applications cloud offers shared infrastructure with availability requires geographic distribution like computer-aided dispatch and records highly robust access controls and auditing of multiple data centers and a level of management systems are always available, capabilities, collaborating and sharing data redundancy that can be too costly and regardless of time or volume of demand. can be much more efficient. complex for most law enforcement agencies Security is another important benefit. to achieve in house. Because cloud service providers (CSPs) Given the budget cuts ahead, how can work with customers across verticals and agencies invest so their dollars have the What data challenges do law industries that have stringent security and most impact? enforcement agencies face as they compliance requirements, CSPs have the Spending efficiently and strategically will be embrace digital technology? assets to employ top experts and develop critical for municipalities that face reduced Storing, managing and effectively using tools and resources that help organizations budgets in the coming months and years. an ever-increasing volume of digital data optimize security and compliance. Investing in cloud infrastructure and services presents multiple challenges. Buying and Finally, the cloud enables that high can help agencies take advantage of the maintaining hardware for data storage availability we discussed earlier. Instead of economies of scale the cloud provides. For is expensive and challenging and diverts applications existing in a single data center, agencies that are due for hardware refreshes, resources from the core mission of public availability zones make sure that applications the cloud enables them to avoid large safety. Then, agencies must manage stored are redundant across geographies. This upfront capital expenditures and spread the data so it is discoverable, retrievable and in means even with a massive outage or loss of cost over time as resources are consumed.

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ISSUES TO WATCH

Morgan Wright: Technology is Key to More Efficient and Effecঞ ve Law Enforcement

organ Wright is an street, we need to identify technologies potentially be exposed to COVID-19, or to internationally recognized that can increase the capabilities of each reserve their exposure time for things that expert on cybersecurity officer — solutions that improve access to are a matter of life or death. The impact strategy, cyberterrorism, information and enable them to make better of that is reduced revenue generation. Midentity theft and privacy. Wright was a decisions faster. Used well, technology COVID-19 also impacted morale. More senior adviser in the U.S. State Department can be a force multiplier in that respect. law enforcement personnel have died Antiterrorism Assistance Program and from COVID-19 this year than have died senior law enforcement adviser for the Which types of technologies can benefit in the line of duty. That impacts a police 2012 Republican National Convention. In law enforcement the most right now? department and its morale — people work addition to 18 years in state and local law Mobility is critical. Officers need the ability longer shifts, and health often suffers. enforcement as a state trooper and detective, to access data from anywhere on devices We need more efficient ways to get the Wright has developed solutions in defense, that are easy to carry. Access to video and results we need. COVID-19 also changed justice and intelligence for some of the information sharing capabilities are especially crime patterns — some types of crimes largest technology companies in the world. important. The more law enforcement have gone up; other types have gone Government Technology recently spoke personnel know, the more effective they down. Again, that’s where analytics comes with Wright about how technology can are and the safer everyone can be. 5G in. Analytics can help law enforcement help law enforcement agencies manage will enable many of those capabilities. understand shifts in criminal behavior challenges created by the COVID-19 Analytics is also important. The more real- and patterns of crime, and then change pandemic and other recent events. time analysis an officer has, the better he or staffing levels or tactics in response. she can preempt dangerous activities and How can technology help law collaborate with the public to enhance safety. What else should law enforcement enforcement agencies address some agencies keep in mind about technology? of their biggest challenges? How has COVID-19 impacted police Don’t forget about cybersecurity. Implementing Law enforcement departments are facing departments, and how might technology technology is great, but you have to keep severe budget pressure. At the same help address those impacts? it secure. time, crime continues to increase in The pandemic decreased proactive activities. Nobody wants to call 911 and get a busy some of our major cities. Homicides in There are fewer cases where an officer signal because the system has been taken Minneapolis are up 86 percent year over might stop you for speeding 10 mph over down by ransomware. As departments year, for example. Technology can help the speed limit, for example. Departments become more reliant on technology, police departments provide services more have to weigh whether it’s worth the risk they’re going to have to get smarter about efficiently. With fewer officers on the to stop a car to issue a traffic ticket and the cybersecurity aspects of it, too.

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WHAT’S IN IT FOR YOU AND YOUR COUNTY • A rich community of interaction with other county IT professionals Great opportunity here to • An online library of technology policies, job descriptions, request interconnect all of the Counties for proposals, best practices as well as toolkits across the US to the resources • Monthly IT newsletters we need access to! • Technology webinars presented by speakers from the federal, state, local and corporate communities - Phillip Walter, MS, Chief Information Oﬃcer, • Valuable external resources that county IT staff can leverage to Adams County, PA improve their county IT infrastructure •Surveys garnering county feedback on technology opportunities such as technology software and services aggregate agreements I really love the way the Tech Xchange is coming along. Good work!

- Christopher Nchopa-Ayafor, CIO, Tarrant County, Texas For more information, please contact:

Rita D Reynolds Chief Technology Ofﬁcer [email protected]

Ashley Gallagher Technology Programs Specialist [email protected]

he 2020 Center for Digital And while the data on chatbot use Government Surveys,* which shouldn’t be treated as a nationally repre- collected responses from sentative sample, it does provide a picture of public offi cials in states, cities the general state of chatbots in government. andT counties across the country, provided tangible evidence that several emerging HOW THEY WORK technologies were gaining momentum. Most jurisdictions that use bots have a Responses came in before and during the defi nite list of questions they are capable COVID-19 pandemic, an event that has of answering — in other words, we aren’t pushed many governments to rapidly talking about Asimov-style intelligences adopt technologies they either had little that can learn to solve new problems interest in or were eyeing for future use. and answer new questions on their own. That includes chatbots, which govern- Rather, the IT department might spend ments have used to help handle a massive time confi guring the chatbot before it infl ux of questions from the public. goes live in order to work on how the bot The idea is that chatbots, which typi- recognizes and responds to questions. cally use some form of AI algorithm, They are often structured for triage, the can handle common questions and leave weeding out of people whose questions less common or more complicated ques- can be answered easily so that call-takers tions for human staff to answer. can focus on people whose questions will

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40% 39% 39% 37% 36% 35% 35% Chatbot 30% Use in 25% Government 20% 20% 17% 15% 15% 13% Yes, but no plans to upgrade in the next 12-18 months 10% Yes, with plans to upgrade in the next 12-18 months 5% 5% No, but plan to in the next 12-18 months 0% 0% No, and no plans to use them Counties Cities States

take more eff ort. That’s especially impor- calling for a professional nurse had frequently asked questions, again letting tant during the pandemic because, as many coronavirus-like symptoms and which employees focus on more complex issues. vendors and governments have docu- didn’t. The county estimated that the mented, people have been turning to the chatbot saved 35 percent of the time MANY PURPOSES government a lot more than usual for things nurses had been spending speaking to A lot of the jurisdictions surveyed like health testing, unemployment benefi ts people without those symptoms. used their chatbots for COVID-19-related and other kinds of assistance. Records And in states across the country, chat- purposes. Connecticut’s COVID chatbot, have been set all over the country for visits bots served a vital role in augmenting the for example, built using technology from to .gov websites, as in-person offi ce visits capabilities of human staff members to deal IBM Watson, logged nearly 40,000 interac- became restricted, placing new emphasis with unrelenting waves of questions from tions in a four-month period beginning last on all citizen engagement channels. applicants of unemployment programs. March. The state estimates that it did the In King County, Wash., for example, The Texas Workforce Commission, for work of four full-time employees during a chatbot helped identify which people example, relied upon chatbots to fi eld that time. But chatbots often proved useful well beyond COVID-19 needs as well. Placer County, Calif., for example, has a bot called Ask Placer capable of answering more than 375 questions. IT agencies in San Joaquin County, Calif., and Fairfax County, Va., both worked with other departments to fi gure out what their needs were and what their most frequent questions were so that they could build those into their chatbots. Minnesota has a similar approach, leaning on its IBM Watson chatbot to help address general inquiries. Iowa’s chatbot dates back to late 2018, and capabilities continue to be added as new needs arise. Seventeen agencies now use it, and so does King County, Wash., reports its chatbot saved 35 percent of the time nurses the public. In May 2020, the state’s chatbot would have spent talking to callers without COVID-19 symptoms.

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______Designer ______Creative Dir. 100 Blue Ravine Road Folsom, CA 95630 916-932-1300 ______Editorial ______Prepress www.erepublic.com CMY grey T1 T2 T3 5 25 50 75 95 100 5 25 50 75 95 100 5 25 50 75 95 100 5 25 50 75 95 100 Page # ______Other ______OK to go BLACK YELLOW MAGENTA CYAN tools, combined with its live chat function, saved an estimated 1,700 hours of staff time that would have been spent addressing those same inquiries using traditional tools. Cabarrus County, N.C.’s chatbot was integrated with Laserfi che technology in order to help people use digital services. The chatbot is capable of pulling in information from other systems in order to help the user. Missouri’s Department of Revenue worked with Accenture on a virtual agent named DORA, which answered 100,000 resident questions in its fi rst three months since its debut in November 2019. Agency goals were to help fi eld questions on taxes, driver’s licenses and motor vehicles, though the tool has also proven useful in addressing pandemic and unemployment- related inquiries. Since digital services have become a necessity for many government agencies that have found themselves transitioning to telework during the pandemic, tools to help citizens use digital services make a lot of sense. Caroline, South Carolina’s chatbot launched in early 2020, made it that much easier for the state to stand FLEXIBILITY up a COVID-specifi c chatbot later in the year. A key feature of chatbots is that they’re designed to answer a growing number of questions over time. Kansas City’s Facebook chatbot was born several years ago out of a the bots with their voices — a practice desire to make it easier for citizens to navi- also gaining ground in government. gate and use its open data portal. The eff ort San Joaquin County also built its bot at the time got a lot of grassroots help from smoothed the way in mid-2020 for Axel, a to work in three languages, with more the local Code for America Brigade, and city chatbot feature incorporated into the state’s planned for the future. This tactic, too, offi cials considered the chatbot an experi- COVID-19 recovery portal, accelerateSC. is spreading across government as juris- ment of sorts, to better understand how the Chatbots can also take inputs in many dictions seek to develop tools that are as technology could be used more broadly. diff erent forms, which gives them the useful as possible to the specifi c needs Many governments use data analysis unique ability to serve citizens across of their community. Bellevue, Wash., for tools to follow the kinds of questions citi- multiple channels. Several jurisdictions got instance, has a chatbot off ering COVID- zens ask — as well as the ways they ask into chatbots by fi rst making them avail- related information in seven languages. them — so that they can add answers to able via text, a more ubiquitous option a those questions over time, and so bots can few years ago when the technology was THE FUTURE learn how to respond to variations. San fi rst taking off . This was the case in North Survey results and the trends of govern- Jose, Calif., for example, has a chatbot on Charleston, S.C., as well as Williams- ment technology during the pandemic its 311 page, SJ311, which gathers feed- burg, Va., which this year has added Web point to a time of growth for government back to fuel continuous improvement. functionality, greatly increasing citizen chatbots. Especially if they can help make South Carolina’s fi rst foray into chat- use of the chatbot. Washington County, digital services, emergency operations and bots was Caroline, developed with its Ark., too, is working on a bot that works telework more workable for local govern- partner NIC and launched in early 2020 to with texting, while Placer and King coun- ments, their usefulness might make them provide a simple path to information for ties integrated with Google Assistant and hard for many jurisdictions to ignore. site visitors. The deployment undoubtedly Amazon Alexa so residents could access Editor Noelle Knell contributed to this story.

*The Center for Digital Government is part of e.Republic, Government Technology’s parent company. www.govtech.com // January/February 2021 41

GT01_44.indd 41 12/14/20 9:31 AM

s the Joe Biden presidential itself as America’s top advisory agency, While it’s undeniable that the outgoing transition picks up speed, many playing a big role in boosting state, local, president left a mark in the space, he A have wondered just how the tribal and territorial (SLTT) election has also made some decisions that new administration will address the security, while also providing a variety called into question his commitment myriad threats that lurk in cyberspace. of services to the private sector. to a robust cybersecurity agenda and If cyber hasn’t exactly languished Trump also proved amenable to seemed to lack an identiﬁ able strategy. under the Trump administration, it cyber-related legislation, signing a bevy In particular, Trump eliminated hasn’t quite blossomed either. of federal policies over the past four some critical positions, like the national To be sure, Trump presided over years, including bills to crack down on cybersecurity coordinator role, that some big changes — most notably, the hackers, to strengthen the federal cyber- would’ve arguably helped keep America’s 2018 creation of the Cybersecurity and workforce, protect critical infrastructure cyberstrategy front and center. Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). CISA and federal networks, and to establish At the same time, despite repeated has proven to be a real leader, establishing security principles for space systems. attempts by congressional homeland

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Atlanta CIO Steps Down Yessica Jones Atlanta CIO Gary Brantley stepped down from the job. In his place, Chief Technology Offi cer Tye Hayes was named interim CIO. Brantley served with the city for about two years, playing a key role in the recovery from a debilitating ransomware attack. Brantley noted on Twitter that he is taking a C-suite position in the private sector, but did not specify where. DAVID KIDD DAVID

Arkansas CIO Departs for Private Sector Yessica Jones left her role as Arkansas’ IT leader — a position she was named to permanently in 2017 — for the private sector. Jones’ offi cial title with the state was chief technology offi cer and Division of Information Technology director. She ﬁ rst joined state government as a liaison to Gov. Asa Hutchinson’s offi ce. Jones was replaced by Gary Brantley Jonathan Atkins, who was previously with private ﬁ rm Acxiom and also served on Arkansas’ Data Transparency Commission. KIDD DAVID Pittsburgh CIO Returns New York State Names New CIO to South Bend, Ind. Angelo Riddick, formerly chief information offi cer for the U.S. Virgin Roughly two years ago, Santiago Garces Islands from 2016 to 2019, was named CIO of New York. The state left his role as the CIO of South Bend, had been without a permanent tech chief since Robert Samson Ind., for the same position with retired in August 2019. Pittsburgh. Now, Garces has returned to South Bend, taking a new job as San Francisco CDO Departs Santiago Garces executive director of community Chief Data Offi cer Jason Lally announced via Twitter he would investment for the city. In the wake of leave city service after seven years with San Francisco. He had Garces’ departure, Heidi Norman, formerly Pittsburgh’s served as CDO since February 2020. At press time, a replacement deputy director of innovation and performance since had not yet been named. 2017, was named acting CIO.

CISA Director Fired Over Election Dispute President Trump removed Chris Krebs as director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency after he disputed Trump’s claims of widespread voter fraud. Krebs had been with the Department of Homeland Security since 2017, and under his lead, CISA grew to become the federal government’s top cybersecurity watchdog. Chris Krebs APIMAGES.COM

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Verifying Votes While claims of fraud in the 2020 election were unfounded, end-to-end veriﬁ cation can help make U.S. voting more secure.

n the days following the election, recent years. Previously, most voters could the results of an election, ensuring that President Trump and his surrogates not check whether election offi cials had all ballots are counted as cast, while still Imade allegations of widespread voter received their mail-in ballots. As of the protecting voters’ privacy. E2E enables this fraud, claiming this was the reason he 2020 presidential election, 45 states and feature using homomorphic encryption lost his campaign for re-election. And the District of Columbia had some form of — a special type of encryption that allows Trump’s team was not the only one mail-in ballot tracking, so voters could see people to perform certain mathematical claiming malfeasance at the polls — if (and when) their local election offi ce had operations, such as addition, on encrypted multiple candidates across the country sent or received their absentee ballots. data without fi rst decrypting it. who lost decisively still refused to The problem for voters is that ballot Perhaps the best part of E2E is that concede their races on the grounds that tracking only solves part of the problem. it is a concept, not a single product, and they were victims of election fraud. Voters may still question whether anyone multiple companies, researchers and Though unsubstantiated, these claims has tampered with their ballots, whether election offi cials have devised E2E voting had an impact on voters: A week before anyone has stuff ed the ballot box and systems. And some even have substantial the election, 68 percent of Republicans whether the ballots have been correctly backing — Microsoft, for example, reported that they trusted U.S. elections tallied. To be clear, election offi cials have released a free, open source software “a lot” or “some,” on par with Democrats, multiple processes and procedures in place development kit that developers can use to but a week after the election, following an to mitigate these threats, such as physical integrate E2E into their voting systems. endless stream of accusations of election security controls to prevent election Trust in elections is crucial to a fraud, trust in U.S. elections among offi cials from introducing fraudulent healthy democracy. As election offi cials Republicans had dropped to 34 percent. ballots, election observers to witness any know, the purpose of elections isn’t to While there is no evidence to support ballot tampering and post-election audits convince people who won, but who lost. the notion that voters or election offi cials to uncover any tabulation errors. But voters E2E is not a silver bullet, and conspiracy have tampered with the results, this does who distrust the system need more. theories and misinformation may still not mean that conversations about how One solution to this problem is to take hold among some segments of to make elections more secure should be introduce end-to-end (E2E) verifi ability society no matter how free and fair an off the table. On the contrary, as state and in elections. E2E allows voters to know election may be. But this should not deter local election offi cials look that not only have election offi cials state and local offi cials from continuing toward future elections that received their ballot, but also that no to innovate in elections to make them Daniel Castro is the vice president may similarly be marked one has tampered with it along the way. more secure and trustworthy. of the Information with voters deeply divided E2E makes this possible by creating Technology and Innovation Foundation along partisan lines, it will be a unique tracking number that is (ITIF) and director of more important than ever for cryptographically linked to how they the Center for Data Innovation. Before them to strengthen election cast their vote, ensuring that any attempt joining ITIF, he worked security so that voters have to alter their ballot could be detected. at the Government Accountability Office confi dence in election results. Moreover, E2E allows everyone — news where he audited Many states have already media, political parties, candidates, voters IT security and management controls. made some progress in and outside observers — to fully audit

www.govtech.com // January/February 2021 45

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Trial by Fire: Inside the Eventful First Year of Anh Selissen, CIO Texas DOT

imilar to most things in the Lone Star State, the Texas Department of Transportation (TX DOT) is big. With an annual budget of just over $30 billion,1 TX DOT maintains 80,455 centerline miles of roadways, along Anh Selissen Swith 6,500 traff ic signals and nearly 36,000 vehicular bridges. The agency also oversees aviation and rail transportation, as well as public transit systems throughout the state, which handle some 29 million rides a year.2 Managing the technology needs of the department—and its employees, which include 12,500 full-time workers plus another 7,000 or so contractors—is a big job too. Anh Selissen began serving as the CIO of TX DOT in September 2019. Selissen had been in off ice for six months when the coronavirus pandemic hit, followed soon aft er by a malware attack that shut down her agency’s entire network. “Anh’s dynamic leadership has been critical in helping TX DOT navigate the events of 2020,” says Brian Troup, Vice President – State, Local and Education for AT&T Public Sector. “It’s leadership like Anh’s that will play a vital role in reimagining the transportation systems of the future.” Government Technology spoke with Selissen and George Spencer, Sales Center Vice President – State of Texas, AT&T Public Sector, about the pandemic, the cyberattack and what other states can learn from Selissen’s approach to leadership.

You had a historic first year That facilitated us bringing in the right when it comes to things like laptops, our on the job. Tell us what stands people to address some of our security videoconferencing and collaboration tools, out most? needs and looking at rearchitecting and and VPN capabilities. Some of the eff orts we Selissen: I started in September 2019 by modernizing our network. Then the made prior to the pandemic to increase our assessing where we were as an agency in pandemic hit. network bandwidth really helped with some of terms of our people and our contracts with the challenges of shift ing to remote work. vendors. We did a major staff reorganization Given the pandemic, how in October, and then we reassessed the well did your team pivot to Tell us what surprised you the vendor pool. At TX DOT, we have been remote work? most about the transition? highly outsourced since 2013. I took the Selissen: We worked hard to make the Selissen: Honestly, there was so much opportunity to see whether the delivery transition to virtual work seamless for our change in the first six months of my tenure of the contracts we had met my level of employees. We definitely had your normal that when we did go through the pandemic, expectation, and I made some modifications challenges in terms of connectivity. But overall, I think I was already prepared for at least to vendor support. I think the agency has transitioned very well knowing the lay of the land.

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TX DOT is huge. Because I hadn’t been there for that long, I was surprised at just how supportive and inclusive the agency “ With Anh, we know we’re not was, from IT to construction to engineering going to just come together and to maintenance. For such a large agency, talk about something; we’re everyone was able to pull together and going to come together and do support each other to get to a good place. something.” On May 14, in the middle of George Spencer the pandemic, TX DOT was hit by another crisis: a crippling ransomware attack. How did that impact your team, and how were you able to manage through it? Selissen: Within a five-hour period, we multi-billion-dollar companies at the ready to What leadership qualities had to shut down all our networks. It was aid TX DOT and work toward a rapid recovery. do you rely on most in very disruptive. We had to scan our entire Selissen: I’m a CIO who takes a really active challenging times? environment before we could open anything role. I was involved in every single meeting Selissen: I want to be a leader who’s back up to the internet. And then we had to look until we were fully recovered. You have to considered thoughtful. I want people to at how to recover our servers from backups. own it; you can’t hand it off to someone else. understand that I’m leading with the mission The team did a wonderful job executing Spencer: I’ve been supporting and serving of this agency and the state as a whole. But our business continuity plan to get us the State of Texas for a long time. Being also, I’m a people-leader: I care about this recovered in an expeditious manner—and available 24/7 is an expectation of my role. agency, but I also care about the people that I putting together a game plan to make sure we But in this particular case—the energy and lead. People will follow along with you when were not re-compromised. engagement were constant, even on early- they know you care and clearly understand Spencer: Anh communicated very early on morning and late-night crisis calls. Anh united your focus, strategy, mission and objectives. that the internal and external stakeholders everyone in a positive way around a shared needed to work together as a single team to mission. It was bigger than our individual What makes Anh such a stand- get TX DOT operations back online quickly roles. It was a personal commitment. The out leader, that other CIOs can and safely. There were a lot of moving parts, environment Anh created had our team look to for guidance? but that was the clear, stated goal. enjoying the long days and hard work Spencer: Leadership is acting without Selissen: There needs to be a single leader between the calls. Our team was energized always having perfect information or the who’s in charge. Because TX DOT is so and “all in” for this one-team approach. obvious answer. You have to be willing to outsourced, you have a lot of vendors in the And although this eff ort required a lot of act, and she does that. Anh builds the team mix, so you need a very clear game plan. Once hours and hard work, it also had meaning. With around her, gathers data and quickly makes everyone is aligned on where they’re going, the COVID-19 crisis and the cyberattack, Anh informed decisions. This approach is what the recovery process is a lot quicker. was the absolute best person to lead the eff ort. allowed TX DOT to perform so well under Spencer: We all met at least twice a day— such challenging conditions. sometimes more—with the goal of getting In this ‘new reality,’ what are She’s action- and progress-oriented. With everyone together to measure progress you planning to focus on in the Anh, we know we’re not going to just come against our agreed upon benchmarks and months ahead? together and talk about something; we’re clear obstacles any team player may be Selissen: It’s very clear from that going to come together and do something. facing. Sometimes those calls were at six in ransomware event that we’ve got to bring Endnotes: the morning; sometimes they were at 10 at certain core services back in and have 1. https://www.statesman.com/news/20200730/txdot-asks-for- night or later. that in-sourced. This next year is going to slim-cuts-to-budget-despite-grim-predictions 2. http://ft p.dot.state.tx.us/pub/txdot-info/gpa/pocket_facts.pdf be about looking at the balance between How did TX DOT’s response outsourced and in-sourced. Let’s look at that to the attack diff er from past criteria and the risk-benefit when we make experiences? each one of those decisions. Spencer: Anh established a single-team In year two, I won’t still be trying to figure approach at the onset, which created the out my team. We’ve got a really good team in rapid cooperative environment needed to place, and we know TX DOT. We know what manage an event of this magnitude. With her our expectation is. So this year is going to be transparent and unifying leadership style, she about, how do we improve our services for was able to have the resources from several the rest of the agency and the state?

GT20 CASE STUDY AT&T_TX.indd 3 12/14/20 4:59 PM

UNDERGROUND: The thought of earthworms over 1 foot long is troubling, to be sure, but what if $810M those worms were robotic? That’s the idea behind a project underway at Cornell In late November, University, which aims to make robotic “worms” that can traverse soil and analyze the General Services its density, moisture and temperature. Fiber-optic cameras built into the agriculture Administration bots will take pictures of plants’ roots and measure microorganism activity. SOURCE: NEW ATLAS ﬁ nalized a ﬁ ve-year contract worth up to $810 million with Uber and Lyft that will provide rides for 4 million federal workers for offi cial travel. SOURCE: GIZMODO

TRANSITION TEAM: Twitter and Facebook both announced they will transition all offi cial presidential accounts from the Trump administration to Biden’s on Inauguration Day, Jan. 20, 2021. As both social platforms did in early No Smoking 2017 at the end of Barack Obama’s second term, relevant accounts like Twitter’s @whitehouse, @FLOTUS and @VP will have all past When the Netherlands made smoking at posts archived and access will be given to Joe Biden’s team. railways illegal last year, railroad owner

SOURCE: THE VERGE ProRail removed hundreds of six-foot “smoke poles” that were used as ashtrays from stations. Now, thanks to a company called Lightwell, the smoke poles have had their ashtray centers removed, but 90 to 95 percent of the original design maintained, and have been refurbished into e-bike chargers. The chargers are free to use and can host two bikes at a time. So far, two have been installed as part of a pilot test. SOURCE: FAST COMPANY SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

Send Spectrum ideas to Managing Editor Lauren Harrison, [email protected]

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What piece of public Can the dead send infrastructure has text messages? become ‘smart’? Answer: They can now. Answer: The public bench. Australia-based Memories is using tech to The smart tech revolution has come to the make sure we can all have the last word in our classic public bench. While very useful for giving lives. It’s newest feature, Future Messages, people a place to rest, the average public bench allows you to send messages to your loved doesn’t really serve any other useful function. ones after you’ve passed. That is, unless said public bench happens to be Unlike Facebook birthday well-wishes or from Croatian startup Include, which recently LinkedIn job anniversary reminders, which The Memories platform, founded in announced three new versions of its Steroa smart often still get sent out from the accounts of 2014, gives its users a virtual place to bench. First up is the Steora Classic, the cheapest the deceased, the Future Messages tech- remember their loved ones who have of the three, which sports a seating surface cooling nology was designed specifically with the passed. Users can create digital memorial system and pressure, temperature and humidity user’s death in mind. Users can deposit pages for a person, sort of like a headstone sensors. It’s powered by a Li-ion battery, which in things like pre-recorded videos, photos and in a virtual cemetery. Users can share turn gets its power from a city’s power grid or solar other digital messages, along with instruc- memories on a person’s digital memorial, panels in the seat. It also comes with additional tions of when to share them and with whom like stories or photos, and send virtual optional features including a seat heater, USB after said user has passed. condolences with things like digital flowers. chargers, a GPS locator, a Wi-Fi hot spot and air quality and noise sensors. The two higher-tier options are the Steora City, which comes with additional sensors, LCD Where are humans replacing robot workers? displays, and an AI camera that can gather data Answer: Walmart stores. on passersby; and the Steora Cyclo, geared toward users of electric micro-mobility options It’s a refreshing change from the usual story of robots being brought in to do the jobs of like e-scooters and e-bikes and offering charging human workers. stations, hand tools and a built-in air compressor, Walmart has officially given the axe to a slew of robots that were employed in its stores turning the bench into a handy self-service station. to monitor inventory. The bots, provided through a contract with Bossa Nova Robotics, would autonomously roam the aisles of Walmart stores and scan the shelves to check that items hadn’t run out. However, since the pandemic has seen most shoppers transition to conducting their business online, Walmart found that its human workers were perusing the shelves to collect items for online orders as often as the robots were. The workers, therefore, could easily monitor inventory on the shelves as they were putting together online orders, eliminating the need for robots to do so. The robots were reportedly in use in about 500 Walmart shopping centers across the U.S. “We will continue testing new technologies and investing in our own processes and apps to best understand and track our inventory and help move products to our shelves as quickly as we can,” a Walmart spokesperson told the Wall Street Journal.

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GT01_54.indd 49 12/11/20 8:42 AM

10 Do’s and Don’ts for Government Cyberleaders In an everchanging threat landscape, keep in mind best practices for eff ective security management.

ff ective leadership is never easy. If your team is having diffi culty coming everything is fi ne on the security front. But for government cyberleaders up with workable options, do more “No data breaches here!” This is often Ein the 2020s, the challenge is perhaps research or talk with similar governments overconfi dence in their team’s abilities, more daunting than ever before. From in other parts of the country about how or perhaps the fruits of a job well done. keeping track of exploding cyberthreats to they implemented similar solutions. Instead, stay humble and vigilant. Even acquiring and retaining talented pros for 2. Don’t stop communicating. Poor if you have been able to successfully your public-sector team to championing communication is listed as the top navigate your leadership challenges so the importance of cybersecurity to hindrance for organizations globally. far, you never know what tomorrow will managing budget priorities in tough Many security leaders start off well, bring. Bad actors are trying harder than economic times, the list of responsibilities but fail to communicate 360 degrees ever to overcome your cyberdefenses. and expectations is growing steadily. in an ongoing manner via a variety 5. Don’t forget to celebrate success. Add the remote working changes in of channels. Instead, security leaders Since securing the enterprise is people, processes and technology that must constantly be providing timely never complete, some never stop enterprises faced in 2020, along with updates and cyberawareness to internal to enjoy project success. Be sure to other pandemic pressures, and it is and external clients. Consider regular thank your staff . Throw a party when amazing that security leaders keep coming security “road shows” to customers key milestones are complete. back each day. So how can cyberchiefs to articulate threats, describe actions traverse this hectic landscape? required and show the value that your And here are fi ve more things you Here are 10 best practices that come security organization is providing. should do: from a list of security industry resources, 3. Don’t stay inward-focused. One 1. Do meet with business leaders fi ve do’s and fi ve don’ts for new and tendency for gov tech leaders is to regularly. Do lunch, and not just veteran government cyberleaders. just focus on internal audit fi ndings, with technology or security pros. Even if you’ve heard some of these data breaches or other incidents. Discuss their unique business tips before, ask a trusted colleague to The immediate problems may be so requirements and goals, not just your help assess how you are doing in each overwhelming that it seems there is no team’s strengths and weaknesses. area. I’ll start with what not to do: time to look outside your organization 2. Do have a plan. Cyberstrategies that 1. Don’t be “Doctor No.” Security to get help or give help. Instead, build work together with wider technology professionals are infamous for shooting lasting partnerships. “Security on an goals are a must. If you are struggling down whatever ideas or island” will fail. You don’t know what you to plan, review peer strategies from Daniel J. Lohrmann new technologies business don’t know, so get involved with groups government leaders you trust and respect. is the chief security areas propose to improve. like the MS-ISAC for collaboration. Also, 3. Do practice. Partner with other officer and chief strategist at Security Typical answer: “Can’t do consider the security committees for governments, criminal justice agencies, Mentor. He is an that! Not secure!” Instead, the National Governors Association, the nonprofi ts and others on tabletop exercises internationally recognized cybersecurity get to “yes” on projects. Be Public Technology Institute, the National surrounding security incident response. leader, technologist known as an enabler of new Association of State Chief Information 4. Do fi nd and/or be a mentor. and author. From 2002 to 2014, technologies. Off er alternative Offi cers and vendor partners with helpful The MS-ISAC mentoring program Lohrmann led solutions that can work at case studies addressing your cyberissues. is a great place to start. Michigan’s award- winning technology diff erent price points with 4. Don’t become overconfi dent. 5. Do persevere. Become a resilient and cybersecurity varying levels of risk that are Surprisingly, a signifi cant number of team. You can do this, and there are programs, serving as CSO, CTO and CISO. understood by the business. government security leaders report that many people eager to help.

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In this interview, Thomas Luparello, What are some of the primary fraudulent claims from being paid so more people public sector strategic advisor for Q reasons state UI systems struggled that legitimately need help can get it. unemployment insurance (UI) at when the pandemic hit in March? NTT DATA, discusses how states can In some cases, there were system architecture Some states implemented chatbots begin to build more modern, flexible defi ciencies that stemmed back decades. State UI Q and other technologies to fill UI systems that can stand up to systems were primarily developed on mainframes. immediate gaps during the pandemic. citizen demand in the future. Some systems that have since been modernized While those solutions helped, why is still rely on legacy architecture. Those systems it important to keep longer-term may be hosted in the cloud, but in many cases solutions in mind? they were behind fi rewalls and couldn’t scale. Many of those solutions were stop-gap measures, They are also fairly rigid, so it was challenging for or reactions to core system overloads. During states to accommodate changes handed down the last recession we saw a similar situation: from the federal government. Finally, all these systems were overloaded; additional programs issues came at a time when staffi ng was at a were deployed; and states were not able to historic low because of low unemployment rates accommodate them. In this case when systems before the pandemic. became overloaded some citizens were pushed into other support channels. That was necessary, Thomas Luparello is a public sector The pandemic prompted new federal but it didn’t always translate to getting benefi ts strategic advisor, unemployment Q legislation around unemployment into citizens’ hands faster or positive citizen insurance, at NTT DATA. He has more benefits, some of which is temporary. experiences. Addressing those issues is critical than 25 years of executive business Why does that make it critical for states to going forward and requires longer-term solutions. management and relevant industry use more flexible technologies? experience. Prior to joining The old adage is true: The only constant is change. What does real progress look like NTT DATA, Luparello served as Legislative changes happen all the time, though Q when it comes to UI systems? CIO, and subsequently executive admittedly not on the scale we have seen during the A system that has proven itself reliable under director, at the District of Columbia pandemic. Regardless, being able to accommodate strain. The pandemic was an acid test for intelligent Department of Employment change is a critical component of UI systems and design, fl exible business rules and a proven cloud Services. At NTT DATA he supports something they have historically lacked. architecture. States need a system that’s not just state workforce agency initiatives. deployed on cloud virtual machines, but one that Luparello has also served in a Citizens depend on government safety is architected to take advantage of the scalability a variety of technology-focused Q net services during tough times. cloud-hosted solution off ers. A quick modernization positions including president How can tools like analytics help states strategy is also critical. These are large projects. A and CEO of a leading provider of better meet citizen needs? solution that can be deployed quickly and where real software solutions to unemployment Many states saw rises in fraudulent claims during the value can be realized in the short term is vital to all insurance agencies. early stages of the pandemic. Modern technologies unemployment insurance agencies so they can fulfi ll can be used to analyze data and potentially stop their missions and obligations to their citizens.

NTT DATA Services partners with clients to navigate and simplify the modern complexities of government and technology, delivering the insights, solutions and outcomes that matter most. As the largest division of NTT DATA, a top 10 global business and IT services provider, we combine deep industry expertise with a comprehensive portfolio of consulting, application, infrastructure and business process services. For more information, visit www.nttdataservices.com

GT20 Q&A NTT Data.indd 2 12/3/20 8:28 AM