Leadership

Welcome to CITizen

StateTech's new blog will help IT leaders succeed in a rapidly changing technology landscape.

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Ryan Petersen has worked in publishing for more than two decades, most of it spent creating award-winning content and strategy for CDW’s family of tech magazine brands. As editor-in-chief, he works with his team to develop compelling and useful industry-focused stories to share with the technology world. Outside of work, Ryan enjoys spending time with his children, traveling, online gaming, and following Iowa Hawkeye sports and Cubs baseball.

Technology is transforming state and local government in ways earlier generations could scarcely have imagined. Immediate access to information and the ability to interact with public officials bring new meaning to government by and for the people. Advances in computing power, speed and infrastructure translate to better, more efficient services for agencies and constituents alike. Cloud computing offers unprecedented flexibility while delivering significant cost savings.

At the center of this large-scale change are state and local IT professionals, who have the skills, knowledge and experience to turn technology vision into game-changing reality.

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A Commitment to Timely and Relevant Tech Info

We understand the transformative power of IT for communities. That is what drives us to provide the knowledge that will help IT teams deliver exceptional services.

It's also the reason behind the name of our new blog, CITizen. We believe that, ultimately, public-sector IT is not about machines and software, but about how that technology can be employed to enrich the lives of our friends, our neighbors, our families.

Our mission with CITizen is to drill down on specific topics that are both timely and relevant at the state and local level. Our experts will call on their years of experience and ear-to-the-ground mindset to bring news and insights that will keep IT leaders at the top of their field.

We'll cover subjects that run the gamut of what's on the agendas of today's technology teams. For example:

The Internet of Things continues to expand, but questions over security remain, possibly hampering rollouts of the technology. Creating methods to protect data and personal information will be a key to winning support for IoT.
Wi-Fi and broadband internet access are integral to being an active and engaged citizen in today's world. But these technologies often are deployed in downtowns or affluent city centers while less economically developed areas are left behind. To close this gap, several cities have launched projects that take advantage of upgrades to citywide infrastructure to outfit all parts of a region with Wi-Fi availability.
Autonomous cars make headlines every day, but one element of the trend that remains under the radar is the infrastructure needed to support this burgeoning technology. Investments in roadside equipment, and roads themselves, will need to be substantial to promote widespread adoption of driverless vehicles.

A View to the Future of State and Local IT

These developments illustrate a fact of life for IT leaders: They face the difficult task of envisioning a future that incorporates technologies that are still in their infancy, or even have yet to be invented. That takes a mix of insight, planning, imagination and no small amount of courage.

Each day brings new challenges and rising citizen expectations, as well as opportunities to shape life in the 21st century. Think of CITizen as a friendly guide, here to offer strategies and enlightenment along the way.

This article is part of StateTech's CITizen blog series. Please join the discussion on Twitter by using the #StateLocalIT hashtag.