If you really want to want to see how IT can make a difference in peoples' lives, you may want to think about becoming a public sector CIO. That's what Nicole Fontayne did when she left her post at a major insurance company and became CIO for the City of Detroit. She quickly earned a reputation for not only improving operations, but creating award-winning initiatives.

In 1999, Fontayne took a big leap by becoming CIO of Broward County, the second largest county in Florida and the 15th most populous county in the U.S. Her key charter consists of overseeing a technology agency to support the Broward Board of Commissioners' agenda to improve services and to bring new services to 1.6 million citizens. She transformed Broward's once outdated IT services organization into a leading provider of e-government services. Organizations such as Gartner Group, the National Association of Counties, and CIO magazine have recognized Fontayne's ability to translate IT into  business value and into solid return on investment.

Recently, Enterpriseleadership.org spoke with Fontayne about her responsibilities as CIO of Broward County. Here's what she had to say:

EL: Can you describe how your group is organized and what types of  responsibilities it has?

NF: I'm responsible for setting the overall strategic direction for IT in Broward County, Florida. I work with two policy councils to make sure IT aligns with the Board of County Commissioners' goals and objectives.

We have a federated IT structure. The central IT organization has 200 people who handle applications development and maintenance, and enterprise systems maintenance. Our core competency focuses on developing small- to medium-size Web applications. We also have about 120 people who work in seven of our 83 agencies.

We provide contract support when necessary; our network infrastructure includes all county-wide communications. However, we have a dotted line to overseeing communications for traffic engineering, aviation, and Port Everglades, and we're responsible for ensuring that public meetings are broadcast or Webcast.

Our project management office monitors and participates in the legislative arena. We have full responsibility to approve our $24 million operating budget, and we have a $75 million capital budget.

EL: What is your governance structure like?

NF: The IT policy committee sits at the top. It consists of the CEO, the purpose heads, and the administrator, which is me. I bring policy issues and major initiatives to the group. We meet quarterly to talk about county-wide policies, and we have other meetings about how IT is supporting the business. For example, recent topics have included reviewing IT initiatives for licensing and permitting, and looking at how the Board of County Commissioners can continue to expand its vision for one stop, e-commerce services.

Below the IT policy committee, we have several advisory groups. For example, our budget advisory group receives all of the capital IT requests and makes recommendations to the policy council for funding of those requests. We've been using a portfolio that has public outreach, transformation, and then foundation type of projects. That has been very effective. We meet when we first receive the budget requests and then later when we have Board direction for how to spend capital outlay. Next, the IT policy council reviews the recommendations, makes any adjustments, and then funds them without any change once the budget runs through the legislative process.

EL: You've spent most of your IT career in the private sector. What are some of the reasons a corporate CIO might want to seek a career in the public sector?

NF: You can really see how your work contributes to the community at large, as well as to the local economy. For example, we play a very large role in supporting first responders during an emergency. We have to make sure our disaster recovery and business continuity programs really work. As a result, we can really make a difference.

EL: What are some of the challenges of being a public sector  CIO?

NF: I'm fortunate to have a very supportive Board that looks for major e-commerce initiatives. We've had consistent budget goals over the years, and if we have any budget reduction, it will be one across the board to reduce the general tax levy.

On the other hand, things here can move more slowly than what we've come to enjoy in the private sector. The Board's due diligence at times can go further than necessary, because it has to balance taxes and other public funds. But, this is a large jurisdiction, and I always have a plate full of interesting projects to engage in. So, I don't mind if some projects move a little slower through the political process.

EL: When you took the job, what changes did you have to make  immediately to the infrastructure?

NF: We began a basic upgrade and replacement of key communications equipment, such as servers. We made sure we had standard systems, and current release levels for all of systems software. Many employees' IT skills had fallen short, causing an uptime problem, so we had to invest in a lot of formal training for them. We also took measures to stabilize the environment. For example, we replaced power supplies that cannot be interrupted in many of our buildings.

We needed to establish better disaster recovery plans, and we contracted with SunGard to help us with them. We now have extensive DR plans in IT, as well as in the business. We also put business continuity plans in place. We exercise all of these plans twice a year -- good thing we do. In 2005, Hurricane Wilma hit Broward County very hard. Because we remained operational, we could support many of the cities, as well as support FEMA, the Department of Emergency Management, and others needing to respond to citizens.

EL: In 2006, you received a CIO magazine 100 award for your leadership skills. Can you talk about how some of the initiatives you've spearheaded have benefited Broward County?

NF: The CIO magazine award involved our ability to improve and to increase licensing for hazardous types of materials. In Broward County, we have a lot of regulations concerning the Everglades. The system we put in place has enabled the county to increase licensing revenues, to expedite permits for local businesses, and to aggregate permit violations. Looking at it another way, the system has played a key role in preserving the environment and supporting economic development.

We've been responsible for all the online financial systems to collect monies and to follow up. We're now processing in excess of $200 million a year. We've been able to increase our ability to manage and to process real estate property transactions by going to digital processing. While we've had a 40 percent increase in these transactions, we didn’t need to increase staff.

Most jurisdictions require some type of a system for small and disadvantaged businesses, but we didn't have a system for this. The system we developed is completely integrated into our financials and purchasing. It has increased the registration and the certification by 400 percent. This system has enabled the Board to meet its goal of building and certifying small to medium-size businesses in this community.

EL: Any other initiatives you've been involved with?

NF: When problems come up, we have to support the various supervisors. For example, several years ago, we had to help the supervisor of elections with the process of opening, managing, and closing the polls. After several smaller storms, we realized that we didn't have an effective damage assessment program. That's another system we developed. All of these programs have received awards from various entities.

EL: What new technologies are you considering?

NF: We've been introducing wireless technology for county government, as well as for citizens. We have a couple of hotspots in Fort Lauderdale, at the Hollywood airport, and downtown, and our installation of a fiber WAN in the country will enable us to widen the cloud. We might be able to expand the free wireless services across the county.

We've put in VoIP for new buildings or where we needed to replace obsolete equipment, and we've seen a $500,000 improvement in our telecom costs. The fiber WAN will drive down our telecom costs even further. By working with the Broward School Board and some other entities, we can provide our schools with advanced technology services, such as video cameras in school buses and on mass transit buses. We've equipped county inspectors and social workers with hand-held devices, so they don't have to go the office every day.

EL: What formal best practices do you have in place or are  considering?

NF: We're using a Rational unified process for applications development, and Microsoft has recognized our Active Directory migration as a national benchmark for infrastructure management.

We're following the IT Infrastructure Library's service support framework for our help desk, change management, and configuration management. ITIL seemed to be easier to adapt than going with CobIT. Several people in our agencies have either been exposed to ITIL or are foundation certified in ITIL. That's another reason why we liked it.

EL: Are you involved in any professional IT  organizations?

NF: I'm on the advisory council of a local organization called IT Women. We focus on developing women within IT by placing emphasis on career building, team building, leadership skills, and building and maintaining a budget. We have monthly meetings with speakers who are experts in the areas I've mentioned. We also mentor female students who are considering careers in IT.

--

Elizabeth M. Ferrarini is a writer from Boston,  Massachusetts. Reach her at elizabethferrarini@yahoo.com.