Page 183 - Reference framework for integrated management of an SSC - A U4SSC deliverable on city platforms

8.3.2 Technological leadership & ICT governance

As in the strategic formulation of the city, technological leadership and ICT governance play a
primary role. In many cities, much of the administrative systems are legacy and their replacement
in the short term is generally economically unapproachable.

Technological leadership and ICT governance are complementary elements to strategic governance
since both have a high technical component and their management should be in the hands of
professionals with a very high level of specialization. In many cases, this area of management should
fall to technology departments or external companies.

With the information contained in Chapter 3 “City & ICT Governance”, the city would be able
to understand and prioritize projects and investments, in addition to establishing a path for the
migration of legacy systems, taking advantage of the synergies offered by city platforms.

In Figure 60 a reference to the Smart City Offices has been included, which although they would
be an element of the strategic management of the city, should act as an element of union with the
internal ICT areas to:

• Cooperate or coordinate in ICT projects related to the territory and georeferencing.
• Develop methodologies and work regulations related to the introduction of ICT in public
services.

• Direct and coordinate the integration and functional compatibility of projects with computer
systems and Smart City technologies.

Finally, ICT governance needs to consider the IT processes and procedures that must necessarily
be redefined and adapted to new needs, especially those related to administrative processes (e.g.,
electronic office, payments, electronic registration).

8.3.3 Reference ICT technological architecture

Once the environment and best practices have been identified, it is time to draw the long-term
reference technological architecture model, connectivity, the IT ecosystem, and finally the business
components and applications.

The connectivity of a smart community has been discussed in Chapter 5, where different solutions
that may be of interest to the city in the field of personal communications, infrastructures and IoT
devices are discussed. At this point, availability, costs, coverage, and the regulatory environment
play a major role.

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