The Council meeting was led by Council Chair Gail M. Roper, CIO for Kansas City, Missouri, and Council Vice-Chair David Behen, director of support services for Washtenaw County, Mich.
While meeting participants spent some time sharing technology best practices, much of the discussion focused on identifying the biggest challenges that member CIOs will face over the next 18 months. The challenges that were identified, according to a release from PTI, were broken down into three key areas:
- In the area of organizational/institutional challenges, information technology governance and portfolio and project management were identified as top priorities. In addition, the CIOs identified the dilemma of resource constraints -- declining local government budgets for IT and lack of staff -- as a major concern. This issue then spurred a discussion on the need for CIOs to transform the organization in tough budget times, as well as the need for CIOs to keep the IT organization strategically focused while developing sound IT financial strategies as keys to success.
- The CIOs also identified relationship management -- the need to create and maintain sustaining partnerships with other agencies in the local government enterprise while demonstrating the value of the IT function throughout the organization, as well as managing relationships with outside partners, vendors, and contractors -- as a priority.
- When the discussion turned to the technical and infrastructure issues that CIOs will be focusing on, activities cited included developing effective broadband management strategies, public safety communications and data-sharing, information technology security, better coordination of GIS development, and the continued implementation of interactive citizen services via telephone (including CRM/3-1-1 service delivery), Web and e-government services, and developing services to meet the needs of the growing number of wireless and mobile customers who could potentially tap into government.
