Information Technology

The IT department’s chief responsibilities can be broken down into five categories:

Planning - The IT team works with County Department Heads to develop an IT strategy that supports the organization’s business objectives. They customize software and other elements of the IT system to meet the needs of the various departments within the county. The team also ensures that the right level of IT resources are available to meet changing levels of demand.

Network - The IT team develops and operates a network to support effective communication and collaboration. Increasingly, they are deploying the latest Internet Protocol networks with the capability to carry all voice, data, video and Internet traffic on a single network. IP networks enable our organization to replace their legacy telephone systems with an IP-based system, reducing complexity and providing a platform for deploying advanced unified communications tools.

Data - IT teams develop tools and systems to collect, store, manage, secure and distribute data to employees who need access to the latest information to make decisions about strategic, financial and operational issues. They store company information from sources such as customer records, financial records, and inventory data in a single data center.

Security - Information security management is now one of the most important IT functions in any organization. IT teams must protect the IT infrastructure and corporate data against attacks from viruses, cybercriminals and other threats. Attacks on the infrastructure can prevent an organization from carrying out critical business operations with a consequent impact on productivity. Data leaks can lead to loss of confidential corporate and customer data, with the risk of fines by legislators and damage to the organization’s reputation. While IT teams have put stringent security policies in place to minimize the risk and impact of security breaches, they face an increasingly complex IT environment as employees adopt mobile working or use their personal smartphones and tablet computers to work on corporate data.

Support - To enable employees to make the most effective use of IT resources, the IT team provides various forms of user support. After installing new software or network facilities, the team provides training so that employees can quickly make productive use of the new resources. The team also provides ongoing support to users through a helpdesk or self-service facilities on the company intranet.