Today's Workshop about Local Government Sponsored by Microsoft

I just "arrived" for today's packed agenda during a Microsoft-sponsored workshop on technology and local government. (It's also sponsored by American City and County magazine, which is where I learned about it). The first speaker, Richard McKinney, a Microsoft guy who used to work for the city of Nashville, just commented that they budgeted $2,500 in training for employees when they consolidated their IT departments. As a city councilman, I can just imagine how tough it was to get training money in a city budget. It was smart of the city to invest in their people.

Someone else just asked, How do you convince a political decision-maker to pay attention to IT? If Microsoft could figure that out and pack the answer in a can, they would make a lot of money! The speaker suggests trying to show decision-makers that they will get more bang for their buck - more return on investment. And that's true. If you do have any money in your budget, your elected officials will want to spend it wisely.