CITY OF TUCSON

COLLIN BOYCE , CHIEF INFORMATION OFFICER AT CITY OF TUCSON

have internet connectivity ring our offices , and this overwhelms our phone systems . Providing access to our website allows for better communication and helps our citizens to get updates in real-time , especially on vital information such as the vaccine rollouts .”

Boyce is now looking to increase awareness for the project with an advertising strategy to connect with grassroots organisations in a bid to spread the word .

“ We can provide service to 32,000 homes , but so far , we only have 1,000 homes that are connected , so we have to get the word out there . Once they say they are interested , we will then deploy a device to their house , and we will transmit it out , and it will convert it into something that is usable for the citizen - very similar to a radio wave ,” said Boyce .

‘ Data is the capital of this century ’ Commenting on The City of Tucson ’ s digital journey , Boyce said the hard part of any innovative project is it doesn ’ t always have a clear beginning , middle or end . “ When we started on the project to get our citizens connected , we had a vision of what we wanted to do , but all of the steps to get there weren ' t well-defined , so we literally built the bridge while we were walking along it .

“ It is a fun project , despite having to make a few adjustments along the way , as we march towards our vision . We even had to navigate Native American burial grounds . It was probably the most exciting project that I ' ve done in the sense that it was a lot of learning and impacted citizens in a meaningful way . It was also a risk , but taking a risk is an important part of leadership ,” said Boyce .

“ Data is the capital of this century . We use our data in a way that ' s meaningful . We don ' t want to use it in a way that makes our citizens uncomfortable , but we want to use data to drive smart decisions . Where a lot of people see smart cities as highly technical , we see a smart city a little bit different . We are more focused on using the data to help drive the decisions and being able to connect citizens to the resources that we have .

“ Our most precious resource in the City of Tucson is our citizens and being able to crowdsource what they ' re feeling , what their problems are and using that to drive our decisions . We are pushing on those fronts in order to better connect with our citizens and to be a smart city .”

Phased approach for employees Boyce said when the pandemic struck , the City had to initially categorise more than 6,000 employees and identify whose role was critical to that department - deploying 800 laptops in phase one .

“ Our priority was to get them home and keep our employees safe . But we were surprised how many people did not have computer access at home . If they did not have a mobile device , we quickly got them one , and they were able to function .

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