October - 20178GOVERNMENT CIO OUTLOOKLeveraging Data and Analytics to Build Smarter CitiesSamir Saini, CIO, City of AtlantaByIN MYOPINIONechnological advancements have led the public to expect access to information and services at their fingertips. While the private sector has already begun to win over the customer by catering to these demands, the government sector is not far behind. An increasing number of municipal bodies within and outside the U.S. are leveraging technologies like cloud, mobile, artificial intelligence (AI) and analytics to serve the public better. This has provided the much-required impetus to digital governance that accords foremost priority to matters of public interest and convenience. While digital or e-governance has certainly helped the citizens in a big way, municipal bodies have witnessed a huge inflow of data, constraining their existing storage infrastructure. Increase in the frequency of data exchange between public and government agencies goes a long way in improving public engagement. Challenges in Implementing e-governanceWhile governments face a mixed bag of challenges in implementing e-governance, they can be grouped into three categories.· Legacy Infrastructure: The lack of adequate infrastructure to handle the massive influx of data into the public sector, and support initiatives like analytics, is conspicuous. Be it the server networks or the end-point devices, such as desktops, legacy infrastructure needs to be replaced with modern and cutting-edge systems. Revamping the security infrastructure for a holistic understanding of the cybersecurity risk profile is crucial. It helps in countering the attacks on high-risk assets and applications owned by local governments. · Rationalization of Applications: Municipal CIOs must understand the requirements of each department and have the applications customized accordingly. The applications should not only simplify the workflow for staff, but also ensure maximum value for serving the public. The applications and the IT infrastructure supporting them must be of low complexity, to reduce costs.· Data Proliferation: Collating all the data flowing into disparate systems and gaining insights that could help the municipal administration as well as the general public, has been the biggest pain TPrioritizing `I'--information, in the abbreviation `CIO' is the key to success
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