CIOReview | | 9 NOVEMBER 2022At the heart of good digital strategy is identifying the few pivotal objectives that, if achieved, would be game changing for your government or business that they provide to the public. So, an effective, tech-savvy workforce will directly result in better digital services for the public. At the City of Los Angeles, we have prioritized concrete actions to improve the digital IQ of our government workforce. This includes: upgrading our existing Google Suite (aka Google Workspace) to empower employees with a full suite of digital tools (e.g. Google Drive, Forms, Sites, ability to host webinars, etc) and providing virtual training in these tools, preparing supervisors with "Best Practices for Supervising Teleworkers", and connecting 6,000 more City employees with smartphones while eliminating their landlines. Known as the "Mobile Worker Program", we began the switch to smartphones in 2018, saving money, empowering employees to access information anytime/anywhere, helping the recruitment of younger workers, and improving disaster resilience (as evidenced by thousands of City of Los Angeles employees simply taking their smartphones home when they needed to telework due to the COVID-19 pandemic).Second, the quality and availability of government digital services provided to the public must be improved during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. The 13 key technologies that the City of Los Angeles has found as pivotal are the following:Digitizing Paper-Based Processes1. Digitizing Services Through Modern Websites2. Next-Level Service with Case Management & CRM Systems 3. Contactless Contracts Through Electronic Signatures4. Public Engagement via Virtual Meetings, Counters & Hearings.5. Paying Bills Online with the Online Payment PortalMaximizing User Experience6. Easy Access to Apps Using a Unified Digital ID7. Improving User Experience Using Net Promoter Score 8. Engaging Stakeholders with Effective Social MediaImproving Department Capacity and Efficiency9. Establishing a Holistic Culture of Digital Thinking10. Improving Government Services through Google Workspace11. Transforming Call Centers with Interactive Voice Response (IVR) 12. Building Better Apps with APIs & Micro Services13. Scaling Up with Cloud ComputingBuilding a "New Better", Not a "New Normal"Through good digital strategy, governments can position themselves to recover into a "new better" and not just a "new normal." Leveraging our experience in digital transformation over the last five years and the urgency of COVID-19, City of Los Angeles departments are now strategically using the technologies listed above to realize our vision of a digital and connected Los Angeles. But, this is only our journey. Other governments have identified their own pivotal objectives and technologies that will transform their services for decades to come. The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a lot of pain, loss, and economic distress in our nation... if there is something to be gained from this terrible event, it is our responsibility to do so. Let's use the pandemic as a catalyst for better government services that future generations can take full advantage of. Ted Ross is CIO for the City of Los Angeles and General Manager of the Information Technology Agency (ITA). His department of 455 employees delivers enterprise IT services to 48,000 employees across 45 City departments and digital services to over 4 million residents. Appointed by Mayor Eric Garcetti in 2015, Ted has over 23 years of private and public sector technology experience, earning various awards along the way, including #1 Digital City, Top 25 Doer & Dreamer, and CIO of the Year according to LA Business Journal. Ted has been featured in Fortune Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, and The Economist, as well as, a presenter at many global technology conferences.
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