In the previous article in this two-part series, we questioned if state and local government entities should aim to provide retail-like experiences for civilians and civil servants. These experiences include and are not limited to:

• Making appointments and more through a mobile app
• Locating on-premise assets or receiving real-time directions (also through an app)
• Ensuring fast, reliable network and internet connectivity
• Working remotely with the same ease and security as working onsite
• Track assets in real time

The business and productivity benefits give a resounding “yes.” You can read the full article here.

But how do agencies produce these types of experiences when

• Networks are complex and time-consuming to manage without these added experiences
• It can take hours to days to identify why applications or the Wi-Fi is not working
• IT staff are expensive, especially during a staffing shortage
• Budgets are constrained

Here are three stories of how state and local governments are using artificial intelligence (AI) and other innovative technology to transform the IT network and create a retail-like experience.

City of Philadelphia Supports 30,000 Staff with Four Full-Time IT Employees

Employees in police, fire, public health, tax and other departments access critical data and applications over the city’s network. The enterprise network also supports digital services such as 311 for municipal information and reporting, high-definition video surveillance, gunshot detection, and prison inmate location and management.

The demand on the city’s network doesn’t stop there. Philadelphia is also launching smarty city services, including 100,000 smart LED streetlights to support safer neighborhoods while shrinking energy expenses.

City of Philadelphia turned to AI and is now able to:

• Deliver network services to 30,000 city workers across dozens of departments and agencies with sustained 99.99% availability
• Empower city workers and visitors with superior network user experiences from any device
• Enable key staff working from home to connect seamlessly to their applications and data as if they were sitting in their offices
• Build the foundation for smart city services for a safer, more sustainable city

Read the full story here.

California Natural Resources Agency Sees $1M in Operation Cost Savings

A state mandate to enhance business resilience led a major network transformation for the California Natural Resources Agency, the state agency that stewards California’s natural environment.

The project included the creation of a new Level 3 data center in Northern California and coincided with the development of a 20-story building in downtown Sacramento. The new location would become the home to the Natural Resources Agency, Parks and Recreation, Fish and Wildlife, Water Resources, California Conservation Corps and others.

These two massive projects were underway when the state issued strict stay-at-home orders to protect against the initial spread of COVID-19.

• More than $1M saved in network operating expenses in building a shared network infrastructure for its many agency tenants
• 36 California Natural Resources Agency entities are supported by the new data center, which include 2500 business applications, 6000 servers, and 13 petabytes of data
• 80% increase in data center network capacity
• 1 day to refresh IP fabric across data center and headquarters network

You can read the full story here.

Oklahoma Assures Operational Continuity During Pandemic with 10x Network Expansion

When COVID-19 first swept the nation, providing reliable and secure connectivity to staff and residents was the top priority for Oklahoma’s IT leadership. This included maintaining services for applications ranging from administrative and collaborative apps for finance and human resources to specialized apps like public safety, case management and licensing for agencies and boards.

How would the state meet these demands with 30,000 state workers suddenly working from home?

The Office of Management and Enterprise Services (OMES), the technology arm of the State of Oklahoma, accelerated its digital transformation plans.

This required the design and execution of a tenfold capacity increase for its statewide network along with a secondary data center in Texas to strengthen business continuity and disaster recovery readiness. The results included:

• <3 months to complete statewide network refresh
• 10x network capacity increase to support operational continuity
• 2.6 million gigabytes of data secured
• 30,000 staff working from home securely

What did this look like for the Oklahoma staff and civilian experience?

• The Oklahoma Employment Security Commission went from handling 500 unemployment calls a day to 50,000—a 1000% increase.
• Oklahoma civilians can incorporate a business, get a fishing license, or renew a driver’s license without having to go to the Department of Motor Vehicles.

State Chief Information Officer Jerry Moore credits partners like Juniper Networks for making the transformation possible.

You can read the full story here.

How Are These Stories Possible?

IT network leaders and staff know from experience that creating results like the stories mentioned aren’t possible with legacy networks. That’s why government entities – like retail enterprises – are turning to innovative technology that helps IT staff manage and assure more capabilities (in record time) with less complexity.

For example, Juniper’s AI automates key tasks and proactively addresses networking issues before they impact service levels. IT staff have detailed insight into user, device, traffic, and application behavior and traffic patterns. This helps reduce the mean time to repair when tracing endpoint problems.

Technologies like this AI are how even the most modest government agency IT teams are creating networking experiences on par with the world’s largest retailers.

Next Steps

Interested in seeing this in action? Contact Juniper’s state and local government team for a personalized demo.