Member Spotlight: Michael Blanchard, Augusta, GA, IT Department
Print this Article | Send to Colleague
GMIS member since 2002
Number of IT staff: 42
Population: 200,000
IT budget: $5.5 million (operating)
What has been a significant technology achievement for you or your organization?
Moving to our purpose-built IT Building in May of 2015 has been a major achievement of our IT organization and the result of years of planning and hard work. The new building has a computer center with hot aisle containment, a large training lab, two meeting rooms, an equipment warehouse, and a drive-in garage for supporting MDTs and radios.
What future initiatives are you hoping to accomplish in the next year?
One of the major projects planned for 2015-2016 is Forms Management. The intent of this project is to eliminate as many paper workflows from the government as possible. The project will involve Laserfiche software and will impact every department in the city government.
Best advice you could offer your fellow members is ...
Prove your value every day. This means getting out of the IT Department and getting out among your customers to see what their real needs are as well as being prepared to present new ideas to them. Our last election cycle introduced a number of new elected officials to our government, and we suddenly went from having officials who were content with (or apprehensive of) existing technology to having officials who wanted to push the envelope.
We all know GMIS membership is worth its weight in gold, but what do you feel is the best benefit you get out of GMIS?
Without a doubt, the ability to learn from peers, kick around ideas, and find out the facts from people who have "been there and done that" in regard to different types of technology. Whether they are in a large or small government, everyone brings something of value to the table.
