Technology is often thought of as a saving grace. If an organization purchases a new software package, all the woes will go away. The truth is, any system is made up of three components: people, process, and technology. Unfortunately, people and process are often ignored. It is not surprising when technology is unable to meet the expectations of the folks who authorized the purchase of it.
Software is often purchased to solve individual business needs of an organization without respect to shared business needs. This results in so-called "silo solutions" where multiple solutions meet similar needs at a higher cost (both in the initial purchase and in on-going maintenance). It's like if you're accounting department has the need to create spreadsheets and another department has a need to develop spreadsheets - and IT buys two different spreadsheet programs from two different vendors.
The City of St. Cloud is behind the technology curve. Our current budget situation has definitely exacerbated the situation. There is also a tremendous opportunity with that. I advocate the city look at solutions that can re-purposed or used to address common business needs. This would reduce overall costs and on-going costs while meeting core needs. It would also require that departments discuss with each other their common business needs and problems.
To me, this is how smart investment in technology begins.
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