CLARK COUNTY
“ In the end , all of our strategies and approaches have the essential and ultimate goal of improving the lives of the people in our community .”
BOB LEEK CIO , CLARK COUNTY
These public services include fire services , law enforcement , roads and bridges , sewers , parks and recreational planning , permitting and business licensing – services that cities would typically provide .
Bob Leek is a department head amongst 38 departments at Clark County .
“ I work with my peers on how they deliver services to the public , and we divide that up into two main objectives ,” he says . “ The first is to keep all of the information technology , resources and assets , such as uptime and availability , network , devices and operating systems – everything that people would typically associate with traditional IT related roles – running and humming .”
“ But the other objective , which is rapidly growing in local government , is to consider and plan for the future ,” he says , “ and that means working closely with all departments to identify and understand how they want to improve the delivery of services to the public , and how that can be enabled by technology .”
According to Leek , these objectives are carried out with the underlying intent to create “ a great place to work ”.
Motivated and fulfilled staff translate into the effective provision of services to Clark County ’ s public . This recognition is crucial . It belongs to the growing trend of recent years : applying a holistic approach to synthesising the macro and micro ecosystems of wellbeing , as well as the intimate relationship between the wellbeing of the providers of public services with that of the public , who are its ultimate recipients .
Digital transformation in the light of diversity and inclusion The public in question is composed of a tremendously diverse population , composed of approximately 40 % Caucasian , 30 % Latino , 12 % African American , and 10 % Asian , with the full balance of the population covering Native and Indigenous populations , too . “ It ’ s important , therefore , that we support and provide help to this very diverse demographic ,” asserts Leek .
Digital transformation at Clark County takes an intergenerational view , having its eye focused firmly on both its present state , as well as the inevitable future composition of the public demographic .
According to Leek , there are five generations – and “ a rapidly growing sixth ” – of people that live in the county . There ' s also a general expectation that “ in most people ' s lives , the ability to interact is done digitally ”. But ‘ most ’, of course , does not encompass the entire picture , and Leek is highly aware of this fact .
In the grand global push for the digitalisation of almost every aspect of our lives , many organisations – whether private or public – are prone to overlooking the potential adverse repercussions of such a sweeping overhaul if not approached with equanimity and foresight .
What Leek and Clark County have grasped is the transparent , yet often disregarded point that the move towards digitalisation is one that , in the end , is meant to be fundamentally
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