Jonathan Behnke, who’s been San Diego’s CIO since July 2014, said his vision for the city is “to be a national municipal leader and strategic business partner for innovative technology solutions.”
The nuts and bolts, according to Behnke: The city Department of Technology supports 14,000 laptop and desktop computers, uses three data centers (including co-location), and supports 380 different applications and 24 networks.
“We’re highly virtualized,” he said, with more than 80 percent of the city’s applications virtualized. “We are moving toward hyperconverged infrastructure. ... Our current infrastructure is nearing end of life in the next year or two, so we’ll continue refresh activities in our data centers. That’ll be a big push in the next couple of years.”
Looking at the city’s current initiatives, Behnke cited these:
- Single sign-on for city applications and mobile access
- SAP Ariba to optimize procurement and contract oversight
- Infrastructure asset management project
- Accela project for electronic permitting and code enforcement
- PCI compliance
- Network services transition
- PC replacement and Windows 10/Office 2016
- Mountaintop communications tower addition
Looking forward, Behnke listed several major IT projects that are in the planning stages:
- Single sign-on portal for residents (i.e., to pay utilities, make parks reservations) and businesses (permitting, etc.)
- Digital signature solution
- Data center modernization — hyper-converged infrastructure
- Network infrastructure modernization
- 311 service expansion
- Fire-Rescue air support video and communications
- IT services RFPs
Ultimately, Behnke’s vision for San Diego’s digital future is clear.
“Long-range, our vision is providing a 24/7 model of access to government services to city residents and businesses ... to provide ease of use. ... I really see a lot of opportunities out there,” he added.
Collaborating and sharing information with other cities benefits the public sector in California, Behnke noted, citing such organizations as the Municipal Information Systems Association of California (MISAC) as being especially valuable.
Behnke provided several pages of information as part of his slide show about how vendors can do business with the city, what the parameters are for different types and amounts of procurements, and where vendors may target their pitches.
One particular area of interest for vendors was Behnke’s outlook for network and data center infrastructure modernization.
“We expect some big investments on both sides there, so we would anticipate there’ll be some RFP activities surrounding those.”
As with many other government entities, San Diego’s IT spending breakdown has been generally moving in recent years away from hardware/software and toward more services.
“I think the trending is toward services. ... We see more ‘anything as a service.’” He noted that even with more cloud services and virtualization, though, the city will still be spending significantly on hardware, as the city’s tech assets reach the end of their lives.
Although San Diego is a natural geographic draw for many job-seekers, “We have seen challenges competing with the private sector and a low unemployment rate in IT,” Behnke said.
“Although we don’t have the ability to offer bonuses like the private sector, we really try to provide a work environment that can help them develop their careers and keep their skills current in their fields of expertise.” He said he jokes with his staff about waiting until January or February to recruit job candidates from the Northeast, so that San Diego’s mild winters serve as an additional incentive.
“We get a lot of response from Boston and New York around January and February.”
On the topic of vendor relations, Behnke’s message was upbeat and welcoming.
“We really see the vendor community as a strategic partner in what we do in providing IT services. Some of the things that are really helpful for us are when ... vendors can provide efficiencies and abilities for innovation.” The best thing vendors can do, he said, is to talk with the city, find out its needs and wants, and align their pitches and proposals accordingly.
The biggest challenge Behnke’s department faces is an ongoing and growing need for project managers and business analysts to wrangle all the different upgrades and new solutions the city is using.
Behnke encouraged any vendors interested in doing business with the city to go through the website or to email him.
View the slides with audio of the presentation here.
