| | AUGUST - 202319CIOReviewcontributors. It is also important to let people take some risks and learn from their mistakes. Good leaders know when to observe and when it is time to step in and course correct.Can you share the challenges you have noticed in deploying IT technologies in the public sector?From my personal experience, it is quite challenging to make technological changes within the public sector. Due to the high level of customization of existing, long-standing legacy systems, it is difficult to find new applications that meet every department's needs. For me, the greatest challenge is building consensus across all executive stakeholders. There must be trust in the process and in leadership that functional gaps will be addressed in subsequent phases of any implementation. Can you give a piece of advice to your fellow peers?I think one of the greatest pieces of advice I could give is to get out of the office and interact with business partners. It is important to not only understand their current needs but also in anticipating future needs and changes within the organization, community, and constituencies. Having a better understanding of trends and developments within the community helps us get out in front of problems. Building relationships with fellow leadership professionals is also essential in building consensus and trust. With these relationships, it may be possible to implement a system that meets 80 percent of the organization's needs, with the understanding that the remaining 15-20 percent can be addressed in the following months/years. How do you envision the future of the public sector with the implementation of new technologies?Our organization, like many government entities, is a little behind in terms of technology, making it a bit difficult to talk about future technologies. We are currently working on transitioning from legacy on-premise applications to a cloud-based system to catch up to current standards. One of the main things I like to focus on is using AI, specifically in cybersecurity. It is imperative to have tools to study lateral movement throughout the environment and understand out of the ordinary traffic patterns that might represent a risk. Implementing new technology (that meets everyone's needs) is exceedingly challenging in an environment that supports 40 different County departments and it requires a significant amount of time to build consensus and align on scope and functionality
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