March 3, 2009 By Tod Newcombe, Editor
Every public CIO job is demanding. But holding that position in New York City must rank among the most taxing in government. There are more than 7 million customers and Mayor Michael Bloomberg's high expectations for service delivery (you don't build a multibillion dollar company and win two elections in the country's largest city on a reputation of poor service). Paul Cosgrave, who has been CIO since 2006, is in the hot seat.
Despite the pressures that come with the job, Cosgrave has managed to deliver -- both externally to New York citizens and internally to city agencies. In July 2008, Cosgrave told the Center for Digital Government that his Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications (DoITT) was planning or executing five major IT projects, including a broadband wireless network designed to serve police, fire and numerous city agencies -- which will eventually cover the entire city -- and a version of 311 that lets New Yorkers connect with the dozens of community-based organizations that deliver health and human services.
Keeping with the mayor's directive to provide greater transparency, accountability and accessibility, Cosgrave continues to strengthen the city's 311 hot line, which has answered more than 80 million calls in six years of operation.
While new IT projects grab headlines, Cosgrave also took on the less glamorous job of improving the city's IT governance processes, enhancing IT management functions so DoITT can act as central service provider to the city's many small and mid-sized agencies and speeding up the city's lengthy, cumbersome IT procurement cycle.
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Based off of discussions of the Digital Communities Large Jurisdiction Chief Information Officer (CIO) Working Group, this white paper aims to answer the question, "In today's economic, political and business environment, what constitutes a successful relationship between government and industry?" Cause for Optimism identifies and clarifies the issues that separate government and industry, and begins to find an answer to the question necessary for both to enjoy a successful and prosperous future.
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