Local Government in a Digital World / The Emergence of Digital Local Government of the broader local government workforce. Phil Bertolini, CIO and deputy county executive for Oakland County, Mich., notes, “Engaging n the past few years, we’ve seen a remarkable increase in the in the practice of innovation has created an environment where quantity, sophistication and usefulness of mobile and Web local governments can work across government lines to leverage Ie-government apps at the local level. We’ve also seen rapid growth technology dollars with many localities. Intergovernmental collabora- of investments in “civic tech” and the resulting burst of local govern- tion has become the standard for lowering technology costs while ment application startups, entrepreneurs and electronically engaged embracing partnerships.” citizens. It’s worth noting this has happened in spite of — or perhaps because of — an economic downturn that slowed IT spending at Localities that successfully implemented these strategies have reaped all levels of government. There is evidence that rather than hunker- the dual benefits of freeing up resources for reinvestment in innovative down, leading local governments have decided to double-down on new services and citizen-engagement tools, as well as creating a base their commitments to digital government initiatives, with the purpose of integrated data to fuel the interaction. The residual benefits of cross- of reducing service costs and increasing citizen engagement and boundary collaborations have kept the fires stoked. satisfaction. To provide citizen-facing applications, local governments are increas- “The good news is that public sector organizations have largely ingly leveraging outside resources, including established companies followed the commercial sector, and are now operating within the with robust local government platforms, entrepreneurial startups, digital world. Public sector organizations are encouraging their citizens nonprofit civic tech advocacy organizations, open source applications, and customers to submit vehicle registrations, report noisy neighbors, philanthropic local technology businesses and talented citizens. We file tax returns and complete other tasks online,” says David Moody, are starting to see the emergence of local government digital ecosys- vice president and global practice leader of the government and tems, based on both loose and tight collaboration among a variety of public sector group for Verint. “Some of this encouragement is driven actors, each doing what they uniquely do best. The result is improved by government austerity measures, but regardless of the reasons why, traditional local services, and a flurry of new digital interactions and this digital shift undoubtedly gives citizens and customers what they services for governments of all sizes. want and expect in today’s digital world.” Interest in moving in this new direction is driven by several Often lacking the in-house resources to maintain IT infrastructure and factors, including: core platforms while simultaneously building citizen-facing applica- • Abundant evidence that a majority of individuals and businesses tions, leading localities have focused on driving down IT costs (such prefer to interact with government online if possible as through virtualization, collaboration and cloud computing) and • Recognition that smartphones are the device of choice enhancing their core systems and networks for increased productivity (particularly among Millennials) and that this channel helps “Engaging in the practice of innovation has created an environment where local governments can work across government lines to leverage technology dollars with many localities. Intergovernmental collaboration has become the standard for lowering technology costs while embracing partnerships.” Phil Bertolini, CIO and Deputy County Executive, Oakland County, Mich. DAIDO MACK DAIDO 2 close the digital divide (many citizens without access to broadband have and use smartphones) / Narrowing in on • Acknowledgement that technology, smartly applied, is a boon to Public Safety’s Perspective open government Digital transformation has significant impact on public safety • Awareness that mobile technologies and new ways of thinking at the local level given the complexity and volume of data about citizenship (digital citizens) open opportunities that weren’t being made available in communities. Given the environment previously envisioned, such as public-private partnerships around that public safety jurisdictions need to operate in today, it is open data important to recognize that a ‘one size fits all’ approach is a • A new generation of tech-savvy leaders who grew up in the digital non-starter. “Public safety solutions should be designed to be age and are convinced digital government is key to economic modular and expandable to conform to customers’ budgets and development requirements, while at the same time being built upon common • Breached barriers to entry due to the lower costs of technology platforms, standards and interfaces,” says Tom Miller, director coupled with the expanded skillsets of industry resources of intelligence-led public safety solutions for Motorola. “Taking this approach means those systems purchased today, with It’s only natural that this type of innovation would be strong at the today’s needs and budgets in mind, can grow over time to meet local level where government operates closest to the citizenry, and new demands, and take advantage of new funding sources as where services literally hit the road and individual initiatives can have they arise, without requiring ‘forklift upgrades’ or significant the most influence on government actions. Aspiring “Smart Cities”1 change-out of the solution-base integration technology.” are making the most of their rich assets and the creative ideas around how a future digital government could look. Local government leaders sit on a treasure trove of data, and they have constituencies, civic tech- back to the citizen and then present its overall performance data. In nology advocates and non-traditional application developers that are fact, not having that back-end, straight-through processing capability beginning to exhibit a mentality of self-reliance and innovation. behind a citizen-facing service app may simply further the notion that government doesn’t listen and isn’t responsive to its citizenry. Is this simply a unique moment in time, or are we witnessing a “Process automation isn’t just an added bonus for busy government disruptive change? What will ultimately be the impact of this trend: Is it employees, it has become a necessity. Automation tools play a key a harbinger of a new age of digital citizenship and open government, role in ensuring citizen requests are addressed efficiently,” says Katie as well as a fundamentally new way for government and the citizenry Burke, government program strategist at Laserfiche. “Ultimately, auto- to interact? Time will tell, but all signs point to something that is new, mation allows staff to stop pushing papers and focus on what really exciting and here to stay. matters — providing excellent service.” / Local Government Services and Citizen Expectations The dependency on foundational systems is driving localities to Local governments offer a complex set of services, many delivered on modernize and integrate core systems and data, and to consider new the front lines, and all supported by an array of IT infrastructure and ways of developing and maintaining core applications beyond the applications. This paper focuses on the latest types of these appli- expensive and challenging build-and-run-your-own approach. cations, which serve and engage citizens digitally and foster virtual local government. “Today’s digital government initiatives will actually Those new ways include clear trends toward: increase the importance of government employees. They are critical • Cloud and “as-a-service” offerings from multiple third-party in providing the support customers and citizens need to be able to providers to both modernize IT infrastructure and re-align staff complete more tasks online,” Moody says. “This places even more resources to other necessary duties demand on solutions, such as live chat, Web page co-browsing, video, • Commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) civic government platforms from workforce optimization, social engagement and others, to empower vendors that specialize in local government operations agents to provide the quality of service citizens deserve and expect.” • Shared services and collaboration with other jurisdictions These applications and citizen interactions will play an important role • Open source and reusable local government solutions made in determining the future vitality and competitiveness of individual available by peers and civic technology groups, such as Code for cities and counties, particularly those that aspire to become Smart America and sharing sites like GitHub Cities and talent-enticing innovation centers. • New, more agile and modular development methodologies • Open data, including GIS data and APIs, that encourage and Many of these new types of applications are dependent on a solid enable entrepreneurial citizen developers foundation of infrastructure, reliable data and core business appli- cations. For example, Web and mobile apps that enable citizens to Resource constraints have limited the new things that governments report 311-type complaints or file permit applications may not seem at