Guest Blogger: Shilpa Kholhatkar, Senior Business Development Manager, IoT Systems Group

Shilpa is responsible for driving the growth of Cisco's IoT products across major verticals such as Manufacturing, Energy, Transportation and Public Sector. She has a unique profile that spans product and solution development, business operations and business development. She is a technologist at heart, and as a working-mother, passionate about building and using technology to achieve work-life integration. In her previous role, Shilpa was Manager of the Collaboration Alpha and Field Trials team. Subsequently, Business Development Manager responsible for developing several programs to accelerate Collaboration adoption. She believes diversity is key for innovation, and has led several programs within and outside Cisco to support this cause. Shilpa earned a B.S in Computer Science, and an M.B.A. from SJSU. She loves to teach, and in her spare time is a yoga instructor, enjoys music and hiking.

It was wonderful to see the excitement at the California Public Sector CIO Conference in Sacramento on March 1st. The purpose of this invitation-only event was to foster discussion and dialogue on what it means to be a successful CIO in the public sector and how executives and policy makers can use technology to transform Local and State Government. Goes without saying that Internet of Things was top of mind for everyone in attendance. I was invited to be on one of the sessions, to talk about using IoT to help governments reduce costs, improve use of resources, and accelerate economic development. At the conference, I heard from City and State Officials including the Deputy Director and CIO of California Department of Transportation (Caltrans), CIO of California Department of Education, and Chief Analyst of CalPERS. They spoke about current challenges, areas where transformation is required and where investments will be made, in order to provide a robust and future-proof statewide infrastructure. They are excited about transformation through IoT and Digitization, while highlighting security, privacy, regulations and standardization as top priorities.

Consider some of the basic services: clean water, roads, schools, firefighters and police, that we take for granted. Yet, at some point or another, we have faced issues with traffic congestion or water situations extremes- either a drought or flooding (here in CA!). IoT and a sensor network across public infrastructure will help governments improve efficiencies, as well as improve citizen experiences. That is to say, IoT will help improve our daily lives, and at the same time have a greater impact on how government delivers services and becomes more efficient.

Why is government taking this opportunity seriously? A recent report from Navigant research suggests that Smart city revenue from services is expected to grow from$36.8 billion in 2016 to$88.7 billion by 2025! What is a Smart City and what kind of services are we talking about? You can define Smart City as a safe, eco-friendly and innovative city with an infrastructure that uses sensor data, that then gets used to create actions for the best use of resources (water, power, roads, parking spaces, lighting). For example, Cisco's smart parking solution alleviates traffic congestion by showing drivers location of open spots, thus, decreasing the amount of time wasted circling blocks. The ultimate goals of smart cities are power management, pollution and waste management, public safety and offering improved services to residents.

Government can play a crucial role by not only embracing IoT, but also promoting IoT, and making rules and policies that will accelerate adoption, while addressing privacy and security concerns.

To read more about the conference, please checkout the event coverage at http://www.govtech.com/The-Internet-of-Things-Needs-Standardization-Heres-Why.html?flipboard=yes&