“Emerging Tech and Disruptive Technologies” - Recap of CompTIA-PTI Govt. & Tech Leader Summit Part 2

Cryptocurrency, Blockchain and NFTs in State and Local Government

Speakers Andrew Buss (Deputy Chief CIO for Innovation at Philadelphia, PA) and Scott Conger (Mayor of Jackson, TN) discussed their viewpoints on the matter. They highlighted the internal divide in regards to this technology and not much consensus to agree. Government officials are either for or against introducing these forms of digital currency and data into government systems and operations. This divide will only delay any efforts to implement digital currency and data. Regardless of reaching a consensus, they said it would take years before, if ever, government would adopt forms of cryptocurrency, blockchain and NFTs. The belief is also that such an initiative would need to be vendor driven, as their government funding is regulated and local budgets are too small.

Shifting topics toward the end of the conversation, the speakers shared the current top three things that their IT departments are working to implement:

1. A data tool to aggregate public comment and utilize artificial intelligence to provide the results and analysis.
2. Improved device ecosystems (repair, maintenance, upgrade).
3. Meal logistics for food insecure persons. The goal is to develop an app for local restaurants to provide food to those in need, rather than purchasing food from out of town or out of state. This initiative would support local small businesses.

The speakers concluded their conversation with an important note stating: that their greatest challenge in the next three years will be hiring and retaining talent in IT.

Data Governance

The second session focused on Data Governance and featured speakers: David Graham (CIO of Carlsbad, California), Vanetta Pledger (CIO of Alexandria, VA), and Barry Condrey (CIO of Chesterfield County, Virginia).

The discussion focused on the lack of acting on data gathered. They argued state and local governments spend time and money to gather data and then do nothing with it, and they want to be able to take that data and leverage it to help provide guidance and insights for decision makers. Once the data is gathered and inputted into their systems, their plan is to act on analyzing the data to be able to provide it as evidence for new and changing policies, requests, and suggestions.

Some examples provided were in Chesterfield County where they have utilized data to plan where to place various civic infrastructure, and in Carlsbad, CA they have a dedicated citywide group/team to help gather and analyze various data so that it can be acted upon and not stay stagnant in a database.

They view this new data environment as a leadership opportunity for IT departments. Data-driven decisions would lead to a larger staff of data analysts and more collaboration between the CIO, the data division, and the decision makers.

Cybersecurity

The afternoon session concluded with a discussion on cybersecurity. Dr. Brian Gardner (CISO of Dallas, Texas), Gregory Dias (CGCIO of Lawrence County, South Dakota) and Dr. Robert Newell (CGCIO/CIO of Ardmore, Oklahoma) discussed the priorities and challenges their localities are facing with cybersecurity. They all agreed that cybersecurity is of the highest priority for city and county governments and that it is consuming more of their budgets than ever before.

Smaller cities like Ardmore, Oklahoma look forward to receiving grant money from COVID relief bills that they plan to use for their cybersecurity initiatives. However, the city of Ardmore faces a challenge as the State government will decide the distribution of funds, and being a smaller locality they will have to work harder to develop a justification of why they need an allotted amount of funds. It is important to see that no matter how small or large the local government is, cybersecurity is just as important as the threat is just as equal.

While the relief and grant money will be welcome, it is a one-time expense. Cybersecurity needs constant maintenance and support, to upgrade systems, and create new defenses against outside threats as the technology and techniques of would-be external threats changes every day. They emphasized the need to be flexible and agile in this industry as they work toward securing their localities' digital infrastructure.

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The full agenda for the day's summit can be viewed here.

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