Leveraging Technology to Improve Service Delivery

Technology offers us the best opportunity to do more with less. We can provide better information to the public, we can automate tedious processes, and we can improve customization and quality of services. Other communities and the private sector have done a great deal to pioneer the use of new technologies to improve services and Newton can benefit from their leadership.

Summary of Proposed Solution

City department heads should be familiar with innovative uses of technology to improve the delivery of services by their counterparts in other communities and should bring the best and most relevant of those innovations to Newton.

Discussion and Implementation Plan

Some new technologies can reduce costs and improve service quality significantly, while others can be expensive distractions. Each department head should keep up with best practices in technology use by their counterparts in other communities, so that they know which innovations are cost-effective and worthy of investment.

For example, the Library Director should know how much an RFID automated book check-in system costs to purchase in install as compared to the savings in labor costs realized in communities that have installed these systems. Similarly, the Public Works Commissioner should have knowledge of automated water-meter reading systems and computerized, sensor-enabled “smart” intersections.

Other technologies worthy of investigation include parking meters that tell parking control officers when they are expired and trash cans that report when they are full. The City may also be able to save money by using less exotic technologies that many Newton residents enjoy at home, such as voice over IP (VOIP) phones that can be used on a network free of charge and solar panels that can heat water and generate electricity, resulting in significant energy savings.

Every year, new technologies that have the potential to improve services and lower costs are developed. The key to a successful technology strategy is having the knowledge and processes in place to determine the return on investment (ROI) associated with these technologies.

These ROI calculations should also take into consideration the availability of grants that can defray or eliminate the cost of adopting new technologies.

All department heads will be asked to report on available cost-savings technologies as part of the annual budget review process starting with the Fiscal Year 2011 budget cycle.