When 911 calls require a mental health response

With the number of 911 calls related to mental health on the rise, a pilot in Durham, North Carolina, looks to integrate mental health case management into the city’s computer-aided dispatch system.

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How a Virginia county wooed Amazon and Boeing

Happenstance had nothing to do with Amazon’s selection of Arlington, Virginia, for its second headquarters in 2018 or Boeing’s announcement last week that it will relocate its headquarters there. County government departments play an important role in attracting major technology companies by offering tax incentives, access to dark fiber and deep talent pools. The underlying reason for the effort is the betterment of all stakeholders, experts say.

“We talk a lot about public/private partnerships. It’s really not that. We’re orchestrating an ecosystem, where, basically, government and private, government, commercial, education, higher ed are all collaborating in a way that benefits one another,” said Jack Belcher, chief information officer for Arlington County. “It’s really determining how each of us can develop win-win situations.”

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Why data centers call Virginia home

Northern Virginia is home to the largest data center market in the world, with a significant percentage of global internet traffic running through Loudoun County alone. The key to this success is two-fold, experts say.

First is history. Vinay Nagpal, president of InterGlobix, a consultancy and advisory firm focused on the convergence of data centers and subsea and terrestrial fiber, points to AOL’s establishment of its headquarters in Dulles in 1996, although the company’s founders set up the company, initially called Quantum Computer Services, in the region 11 years earlier.

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DC luxury hotel managers optimistic about post-pandemic future

Luxury hotel managers in the nation’s capital are optimistic that the hospitality industry here will rebound quickly as restrictions put in place to slow the spread of COVID-19 are lifted.

Right now, most businesses in D.C. are no longer operating under any constraints, a welcome change for hotels that saw occupancy levels — and revenues — drop by as much as 80% in 2020. And then there are the 27 hotels that closed for a portion of last year and the nine that closed permanently, according to Destination DC, the District’s official tourism marketing organization. That included some big names such as the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel.

Two main themes emerged as managers discussed plans for making a comeback. One is innovation and the other is improving the leisure experience.

See more at washdiplomat.com

Pandemic response surfaces security gaps

The changes to government security practices wrought by the COVID-19 pandemic are unlikely to dissipate when the virus does, current and former government officials said during a recent webinar.

“Public safety and in particular the intelligence community has access to more data … than they ever had,” former FBI Assistant Director Kevin Brock said. “The question becomes should they collect it and can they collect it constitutionally.”

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Smart tourism sets the bar for cities' tech future

Tourism is a major revenue source for many cities, whether they attract visitors because of theme parks, historic or natural sites, or sporting events. Recently, something else has been drawing tourists to some places: technology.

Home to Walt Disney World, Universal Studios and SeaWorld, Orlando, Fla., has little trouble bringing in visitors -- a record 75 million of them in 2018, to be exact -- but Mayor Buddy Dyer wants to make sure their experience in the city, not just the parks, is top-notch.

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Chatbots vs. RPA vs. Virtual Assistants

Improving customer service is an imperative for governments at all levels as evidenced by the goals of the President’s Management Agenda and the National Association of State Chief Information Officer’s top 10 priorities list for 2019. To do it, more agencies are turning to emerging tools such as chatbots, virtual assistants and robotic process automation (RPA).

So what's the difference and how are agencies using the new technologies?

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