In theory, government managers understand the power of using modern, adaptable IT systems that make key services easy to access. In reality, however, many governments continue to rely on antiquated software that’s difficult to update. That’s partially because making the shift is no simple task.
But legacy systems are no longer a problem in DeKalb County, Ga. Thanks largely to the leadership and persistence of one person, the county’s most important internal systems, including payroll, justice information and human resources, have been successfully transitioned to powerful tools in the cloud.
That person is DeKalb’s Deputy CIO Felecia Alston Green. Now 59, she has worked for the county for 21 years, rising from programmer analyst. Thanks to that nuts-and-bolts background, she’s not only a leader capable of laying out the big-picture vision and strategy but also has the skills to jump in and help code. “She’s right there with the programmers,” something not many deputy directors can do, says interim CIO Scott Shelton.
DeKalb County’s modernization has created plenty of advantages: greater resiliency, with staff able to work remotely; improved cybersecurity; continuous updates; and new capabilities and efficiency. With cloud-based services, new features become quickly available as vendors push out updates — a big advantage over on-premise systems, which IT staff would laboriously update every few years.
To cite just one example, shifting water billing to the cloud has enabled the county to remotely and automatically read residents’ water meters, providing a portal where customers can view usage information updated hourly. This not only spares the county from sending out meter readers but gives residents more timely information to help them spot any leaks.
But getting there was a big process. “Some of these projects take two, three or four years,” says Sam Krishnan, a county IT manager. “Doing multiple of these at the same time is a huge challenge.”
Technical challenges aside, Green also had to convince county leaders and other departments that these investments would pay off. Dianne McNabb, DeKalb’s chief financial officer, says Green built trust by working to understand the finance department’s concerns rather than pushing technology on them, keeping them informed and engaged throughout. When Green said something could not be done, McNabb felt confident she’d thoroughly researched the possibility first.
For her part, Green says she’s learned never to take a “no” personally or necessarily as the final answer. She began pushing to move the HR system to the cloud in 2014, finally winning funding for the project seven years later (and finishing the work in just one year).
DeKalb has now been named as one of the nation’s Top 10 counties of its size in e.Republic’s Digital Counties Survey (published by Governing’s parent company) for nine straight years. Green, who began her career in the private sector, says working for county government was something of an accident. Needing a job, she wanted to avoid having a long commute on Atlanta’s congested roads and she happened to live near the county offices.
“When I first came to public sector, it was a culture shock,” Green recalls. “But after being here and contributing and just seeing the difference that the implementations that we do make in the lives of our employees and our citizens, it’s just really invaluable and very rewarding work.”
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