Digital transformation is a driving force in changing the market dynamics and competitive landscape for businesses across all vertical segments.  Businesses can't wait for IT and long budget approvals to get in the game -and neither can local and state governments that must meet the increasing demands of citizens who want quicker and easier access to public services.

While the public sector may not seem like the most progressive when it comes to technology, cities at the state to global levels are leapfrogging into the digital era and raising the bar for public services.

Take Durham County in North Carolina, home of renowned Research Triangle Park, Duke University, and hails as one of the fastest growing counties in the United States serving a diverse population of county residents and businesses. Durham County's mission is to serve its citizens and employees through engagement and collaboration by offering innovative applications and services across public safety, health, social services and administrative functions.

With a Smart City mindset and need for a digital infrastructure foundation, Durham County made its government vision a reality with Cisco's pioneering SDN and data center technology (See related news release: Durham County Upgrades Data Center Network with Cisco ACI to Speed New Services and Applications for County Residents, Businesses, and Employees).  At the heart of it all is Cisco ACI, which enabled the County to build a state-of-the-art, automated application-centric data center.  With Cisco ACI, its Information Services & Technology (IS&T) staff can now spend less time managing the network, and more time creating innovative applications that make its local government more efficient and secure. Now, residents have quicker and easier access to public services, which helps meet the County's accountability goals.  For example, residents can send in photos and documents to the County via a mobile app from marriage licenses to utility bills, saving time, energy and cost and fosters a green environment.

At the Gartner Data Center Summit earlier this month, Durham County took the stage with Cisco showcasing its public sector model leveraging SDN. "We selected ACI because we trusted it would become the brain of our data center," said Seth Price, Sr. Network Manager at Durham County.

Taking it to the next level, Durham County currently has an initiative underway called OpenDurham. County developers and citizens can create applications with openAPIs for residents and businesses, fostering collaboration, engagement and openness in the community.

Price closed Gartner's session with ".....It's an exciting time to be a network engineer, and there is more time to innovate even at the local government level." If a local government can reap the benefits of Cisco ACI, go digital and save taxpayer dollars, think of the potential opportunities for enterprises and big businesses. Learn more about Application Centric Infrastructure (ACI) and How Cisco ACI delivers business outcomes.