The CIO Academy's Hall of Fame 2018 inductee Carlos Ramos served as California's state CIO for five years. Ramos has since retired from state service and is working to bring innovative solutions to the public sector. Techwire sat down with him to find out what it's like to "be your own boss."
Techwire: Tell me about your decision to retire.
Ramos: I had planned to retire and get back out into the private sector before I went back into the state. I was doing a consulting firm and I really liked that. You get to a certain point in your career where you feel like you’ve done what you can do, and you get to the point where you say, "I can either keep going and not really be that fond of the job as I was at the beginning," or you can move over and make room for folks that are still on the way up. I was in the job for five years; the average tenure of a CIO is a little over two, so I felt like I’d put in my time.
You get into the job thinking, "All right, I’m going to come in and do innovative things for the government, change the way we do things, really serve the constituents." And you get to that, but only 20 percent of the time. The other 80 percent is dealing with prices, dealing with bureaucracy that’s entrenched, dealing with HR issues or just keeping the lights on. It gets tiring after a while. I remember having experiences where there are so many stakeholders and decision-makers, it’s like pushing a wet noodle uphill.
Techwire: What kind of consulting are you doing?
Ramos: The way I describe it is, I’m getting to do what I wanted to do from a different perspective, which is to bring innovation through technology into the public sector. I’m doing some work directly, primarily with local government, partnering with what I think are visionary CIOs, finding technologies that work for them and partnering with companies in Silicon Valley that can drive their agenda forward.
I’m also working with companies that I think are really innovative on their own. They either have a really good technology or innovation that they can take and bring to the public market. In that case, I primarily advise them, help them develop good market strategies, help them identify who the likely candidates are for their solutions. Then help them navigate government, everything from the procurement process to who you go talk to.
The third space is I’m working with a couple of startups, companies that I think have a really good business or solutions that just haven’t looked at the public sector. I think, you guys could really have a good impact if you take what you do and do it for government.
Techwire: Who can you talk about?
Ramos: Some of them I can and some of them I cannot. Not a startup, but Google. Google is moving quickly back into the public sector space, so they're looking for information from folks that have been in the government space to see where does Google fit. Another one is a company called Mobile Smart Cities; their focus is bringing public sector into the digital age. They’ve done some really interesting solutions.
Techwire: And local governments?
Ramos: I’m doing some stuff with the city of Palo Alto. They’re looking at how they make their parking more effective, friendly and digital. We’re replacing their kiosks with something you can do over the phone. Since it works based on an app, geocoding and location, when the meter maids come around, they can just scan your license plate. They can easily call out a truck to put a boot on it, or you can pay a citation on the phone. In partnership with local businesses, you pull up your app to pay, and it can come up with "You can get a dollar off coffee" (at a coffee shop). It drives compliance, it drives digital revenue, it works with local business.
Techwire: What are you excited about in this new role?
Ramos: One, you get to be your own boss. There are many fewer decision-makers. Everyone has good intentions, but when you have 75 people to answer to, that gets old and difficult to do anything. And now I’m getting to pick and choose innovations and I get to drive them. I think it’s interesting. I find that people listen a lot more when you’re on the outside, especially if you’re on the outside and have experience on the inside. Whereas before I was spending only 20 percent of my time doing innovation, I'd say it’s completely flipped now. I’d say 80 percent of my time is finding innovative solutions an technologies and going out and evangelizing. What can I do to connect government agencies that want to be innovative to solutions that make them that way?
One of the nice parts about being CIO was, there’s always something different to do; every day is different. But a lot of the time that you’re in the office, it feels like I could be doing more by getting out and meeting with a department. Next week, I’m going to Southern California. The locals are doing a cybersecurity summit. I’m helping to put it on by helping with the planning, but I can also bring companies I work with to directly connect. You can start to identify: These guys are really movers and shakers, or these guys really have a problem that needs to be solved.
Techwire: And now that you’re out of government, what’s the dream?
Ramos: I think I like what I’m doing enough to keep doing it for a while, and when I stop, I’d like to stop working. And with that free time, I’d like to do more of my hobbies. This year one of my resolutions is to learn to sail.
Techwire: What are you reading?
Ramos: I’m reading The Winds of War. It’s historical fiction about the runup to World War II. I’m a little bit of a World War II buff. In fact, later this spring we’re going to France and Germany; we’re going to tour some of the sites.
