One of the key components of that strategy — the county’s shift to a floating data center docked in the Port of Stockton — was outlined by county Chief Information Officer Chris Cruz, who led a virtual meeting Thursday of SJC RISE, the San Joaquin Regional Innovation for Sustained Excellence initiative. (Cruz spoke in detail about the barge in a Techwire story that ran Wednesday.)
Cruz said SJC RISE is expecting to finalize its draft plan toward the end of October. For the strategic plan, the county engaged Folsom-based Continuity Consulting.
Other takeaways from Thursday’s briefing:
- The county’s strategic plan for technology will address 5G network technology (wired and wireless); computing and big data; sensors and a sensing platform; governance systems (to include permitting and citizen engagement, among other things); and a policy framework.
- Two areas of special interest to the IT industry are the plan’s focus on modernizing and leveraging the county’s enterprise solutions and its cybersecurity posture.
- The county's priorities include closing the digital divide among those who have high-speed internet and those who don't. Closing that divide, Cruz said, is key to expanding "citizen-centric" technology so residents can more easily access automated government services.
- San Joaquin County and the cities of Stockton, Manteca and Lodi, among others, have begun discussing ways to collaborate or share technology as a way of saving costs and increasing efficiency. They’re also discussing whether contracts and procurement vehicles could be pooled as a way to save each entity time and money.
- Two members of the San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors, Chuck Winn and Bob Elliott, voiced full support for technology-sharing discussions among the county and its seven cities. Winn also proposed an inventory of the county’s IT assets.
- The county’s Assistant County Administrator Jerry Becker was lauded by Cruz, Winn and Elliott for his service as he leaves that role and takes a position as the director of IT strategic planning with the California Department of Transportation. Becker had been the longtime county CIO before Cruz came on board a little under two years ago, and it was under Becker’s tenure that the barge and other technological initiatives got underway.
