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City and County of San Francisco Department of Technology honored with 2012 CIO 100 Award

The City and County of San Francisco was one of 100 companies and government agencies to receive a 2012 CIO 100 Award for projects exemplifying strategic partnerships between IT and business. The winners were profiled in the August 1, 2012 issue of CIO Magazine.

For the award, the Department of Technology was recognized for developing mobile applications that increase government transparency by giving the public anytime, anywhere access to video and audio streaming of legislative meetings, mayoral speeches and other city government programs. Users can access the same quality of streams through SFGov mobile apps and a mobile site.

"The award is an honor," said Jon Walton, City of San Francisco chief information officer. "It recognizes the hard work of the department staff and Mayor [Edwin] Lee’s commitment to exploring new ways to connect with citizens and visitors through technology."

Currently six months into the project, the department is on its second release of the mobile app. The third release prototype is currently in development and is planned to release around the end of the calendar year. The forth release, which is in planning, should follow six months after that, according to Walton.

There are now roughly 1,500 users of the mobile app on the Android and Apple iOS platforms. To date, the department has over one million views of its mobile-enhanced website from smart devices.

The city is studying how consumers engage in business with the government—using mobile devices as a focus for service delivery strategies.

According to the profile in CIO Magazine, mobile access to city government information and services significantly lowers the cost of their interactions with the government. Relying on a common code foundation for SFGov Mobile also helps the city cut down development time and costs by 60 percent.

In addition to the CIO 100 placement, the Department of Technology has received a Hermes Creative Award, Horizon Bronze Award, PTI Solutions Award and a Sunny Award for Transparency for the SFGov Mobile app.

"This is not a one-off project," Walton said. "We have a vision and a plan to see how well this works and we will build around it."

Three other city governments also received 2012 CIO 100 Awards: Boston and Melrose, Mass. and New Berlin, Wis.

For more information on the SFGov Mobile app, go to http://www6.sfgov.org/index.aspx?page=168.