At Technicity GTA, ITWC chief information officer (CIO) Jim Love sat down with the CIO of the City of Brampton, Adam Hughes, to discuss the changing role of the CIO and the type of partner collaboration necessary to deliver results for citizens.
The duties of the CIO have ranged from that of a manager who kept things running, a translator between business and information technology (IT), a collaborator/partner, to a strategic differentiator.
Covid-19, in particular, radically changed the role of the CIO, Hughes explained. In the City of Saskatoon, where Hughes previously served as director of IT, the shift to remote work impacted about a third of the workers, and that significantly recalibrated the role of IT within an organization.
“We’re not just a bunch of wire heads or propeller heads. There is a lot that IT can bring to the table, and I think the rest of the corporate world is starting to see that,” said Hughes.
But most importantly, Hughes stated, without collaboration or organizational change management, things will not move forward.
Municipalities are not in competition with each other, rather they collaborate and share their resources, he said. “It’s almost like an innate desire to want to share, in secret hopes that maybe they’ll share something back.”
One tip that Hughes shared for CIOs in the government is that, when navigating limited resources, implement small changes based on the current, most urgent needs of your municipality.
“Are we moving forward? Sure. Maybe we’re not going at the speed that we want, but at least we’re making some progress,” he said.
Watch the full fireside chat here.