IT Modernization: The Be-all-and-End-all of the Government Sector

Behzad Zamanian, Chief Information Officer at Washoe County

Behzad Zamanian, Chief Information Officer at Washoe County

Behzad Zamanian is the CIO at Washoe County in Nevada. Having more than a decade of experience in the various aspects of IT, Zamanian is now helping Washoe County develop and guide information management as a strategic asset.

Please tell our readers about your experience.

I have a Bachelor of Science in Computer Information Systems from California State Polytechnic University and did my executive MBA at the University of California. My first full-time job out of college was in the development side of the house, the creative part of IT. Still, throughout my career, I was exposed to all aspects of IT, from Operations to Infrastructure to Development and Cybersecurity. What I learned is that what truly matters is when IT brings business value, this is something that gets lost in the day-to-day operation of IT. The only way to accomplish this is through strategic business partnerships at all levels of the organization, from partnering with departments to collaborating with businesses and the community.

What are some of the leading trends and challenges you've observed in the marketplace today?

The public sector faces multiple challenges today. The primary one revolves around achieving organizational excellence and implementing an IT governance structure.

Post-pandemic, every IT organization must rebuild its technology plans from scratch. The Covid-19 pandemic changed organizations' priorities; therefore, building a new Tech Plan is very important. While doing that, we must keep a keen eye on the growing cyber security threats, given that the threat landscape has rapidly shifted in the past few years. Bad actors today have access to cutting-edge tools to penetrate every network.

This is why, at Washoe County, we have set the mission to strengthen our cybersecurity posture. We are also making great strides to improve and enhance citizens' experience.

Could you give me some insight into some of the project initiatives you've been a part of?

Last year, I built a comprehensive Technology Plan demonstrating how IT goals align with the County's strategic objectives. This was an opportunity to re-establish our priorities for the next three years. We identified a series of projects to address citizens' Experience, Infrastructure Modernization, Cybersecurity and Business Continuity, Digital Transformation, Business Partnership, and Organizational Excellence. An example is the implementation of broadband in Northern Nevada to provide high speed connectivity to unserved and underserved communities which falls under Citizens Experience or implementing digital wayfinding and kiosks so whenever people visit a county facility, they can communicate with employees without breaking a sweat—no matter whether employees are working remotely or from the office.

What, according to you, are the changes that will affect the government sector in the foreseeable future?

There is no way to deny that the pandemic has led the government sector into a bout of turmoil. But there is a silver lining to it – Covid-19 has taught us to be more resilient in the face of adversities.

"The public sector faces multiple challenges today. The primary one revolves around aligning IT goals with the organization's strategic objectives and achieving organizational excellence through proper IT Governance"

At Washoe County, we have decided to shift to the cloud wherever feasible, allowing our employees to work on the necessary documents from anywhere and anytime seamlessly. This is how we ensured frictionless employee collaboration—a key step toward streamlining everyday operations and the keep the wheel rolling. The important thing to keep in mind is suring-up the infrastructure for the newly adopted changes during the pandemic.

Cloud has become an integral part of every IT infrastructure today. However, in the past, public sector agencies were skeptical about adopting public or hybrid cloud platforms due to the stringent compliance requirements. Such digital transformation efforts can lead to internal resistance, considering that employees are often reluctant to change their age-old operational style. In such a scenario, it is essential to rightly deal with internal and external changes to drive projects toward success.

In the next 12 to 18 months in the IT sector, we will see more technology modernization, and we have to ensure that technology is user-driven. A lot of agencies wholly depended on IT to run technology operations for them, but the pandemic changed that mentality as the departments saw the need to step up and be at the forefront of technology with the support of central IT. As a result, we will see more business units and departments spearheading technology initiatives and the coordination and proper structure with central IT is crucial.

When it comes to the future of work, our motto is we want to empower employees so they can do their best whether they are at work or at home; hybrid work is here to stay!