How familiar are you with broadband?
Well – if you’re reading this on your daily commute, from the convenience of your smartphone, then probably very familiar! But it’s not something we think about often. Broadband killed dial-up. It’s faster, with much higher capability, and it’s key to a successful SMART city.
Every city across the United States is frequently researching and working towards a more high-tech work place. Doing so not only increases their public service delivery, but workforces and local economies. All the advanced features that go into SMART cities has to rely on a connection – that’s where the significance of broadband comes into play! Remote education, SMART street lights, transportation systems and many other options are reliant on systems that can capture and analyze data at the speed of light.
As city managers, it’s important that effort is put into broadband projects and initiatives so that these SMART features are a possibility. You can achieve funding through these projects in various ways, including partnerships with local businesses and internet service providers. Strong partnerships create lower costs, better efficiency and overall knowledge of these technical processes.
SOURCE: ITU
These are a few ways ICMA suggests city managers use partnerships to their advantage regarding building broadband:
- Using Partnerships to Power a Smart City: A Toolkit for Local Communities: This toolkit identifies factors to consider when building partnerships for smart community efforts, including what to look for in a partner, how to assess each contribution and guidance on how to structure successful partnership agreements.
- Introduction to Effective Public-Private Partnerships: This resource provides an overview of common broadband partnerships, the components of a successful partnership model and tips and best practices developed from NTIA’s oversight of $4.5 billion in federal broadband grants to projects across the country.
- Public Wi-Fi Supercluster Blueprint: BroadbandUSA partnered with NIST, the National Science Foundation and stakeholders to develop this practical “how-to” guide for deploying a public Wi-Fi system to advance digital inclusion, economic development, and the Internet of Things (IoT) efforts.
SOURCE: ICMA
Partnerships can assist your city in becoming more efficient.
We’re sort of experts in that – we’re CityForce! CityForce is an all-in-one software suite that helps you manage inspections, zoning, permits, payments, and so many other daily tasks all from one place. Our products include INSPECT, IMPACT & CONNECT – each work individually to help you manage and monitor all the tasks and responsibilities you deal with daily. CityForce has been proven to reduce clerical work up to 30%, 50% less reworks and increase inspector field time by 15%. Our clients have averaged up to 8-10 hours per week of free time that they can put back into other projects, the work that matters. Contact us today to find out how you can implement CityForce before the new year and make your city more efficient! Just like broadband, we’re all about increasing access, speed and capability.