Jay Wiegmann, Chief Information Officer |
Foundations & Perspectives caught up with Jay Wiegmann, AOC’s new Chief Information Officer (CIO), and discussed how he plans to use his experience with complex companies like AT&T, and mission-critical operations such as those he managed as CIO for Intelligence and Counterintelligence at the Department of Energy, to help the AOC rapidly advance to a new era in technology.
F&P: First, what is a CIO and what does it do?
Jay: A CIO is often known as the “IT” guy, but it is a lot more than that. The most important role for a CIO is to listen to his customers and help them find the best technology solution for their needs. It is also equally important that he helps prevent bad technology from being purchased, especially to match a bad business solution.
What brought you to the AOC?
New challenges. I had been the CIO at the Department of Energy for seven years and had taken it as far as it could go. I was also excited about the opportunity to work for the AOC with its unique mission.
What most surprised you when you arrived?
I spent 20 years at AT&T, a very large company comprised of competing business units each with unique customers and cultures. I was surprised to find the same challenge here within an agency this small. But I am quickly learning the unique features of each of the AOC jurisdictions, and how they serve their customers.
What most excites you about this opportunity?
Coffee - kidding of course. For me it is the immediacy of the impact the changes we make can have. There is opportunity for the improvements we make to have an almost instant effect for our customers.
What is your first priority?
When I started and realized how old some of our technology is here at AOC, I laughed and said they needed a curator, not a CIO. So my first priority is to update our equipment and software, much of which is more than 10 years old. The standard lifecycle in technology is three to four years maximum. Technology doesn’t stand still.
What are your other priorities?
We need to bring technology tools to the user – not users to the technology. AOC is a highly mobile workforce, and we need to enable them to have the technology in their hand. In the near future it would not be surprising to have a front line employee have more capability in their smartphone than a supervisor has sitting at a desk. I have really ambitious ideas for the agency of what we can do to exploit mobile devices. We can become much less paper dependent. We can bring email, work orders and other tools to the employee as they meet with their customer.
What is your greatest challenge?
ITD employees need to get beyond the Ford Building and get to know what everyone around the campus is doing. We need to get outside our internal business of ITD and really understand all the business of AOC – not just the IT business.
How can ITD catch up and then keep pace with the rapid change in technology?
We need to move very quickly. We are not breaking new ground here. This [mobile] technology is already being exploited by government and businesses all over the place. We can rapidly get tools like iPhones and iPads into the hands of employees and have already begun a pilot project. In the next couple of years you are going to see a huge transformation across the AOC where these tools are not for playing games but bringing value to the customer and improving customer service. Imagine a building inspector being able to snap a geo-coded picture on her iPhone and immediately start the work order process. Meanwhile across campus a visitor assistant is able to confirm a CVC tour reservation--regardless of their location. Then imagine an employee broadcasting a live video feed to his boss, who quickly pulls up historical data from TMA [AOC’s work order system] — all from an iPhone, all in real-time and all just a tap away. You are going to be amazed by the transformation.
Do you think AOC employees will have a challenge adapting to the new technology?
I think all of our employees are sophisticated users of technology already. They use it in their personal lives to talk to their kids, watch videos and do their banking. No one needed to teach them or show them how to do it.
What do you do for fun?
As sad and pathetic as it sounds – I love to program and I like to think of myself as a “recovering” computer programmer, having done it for many, many years. But I also love to cook, especially baking, and have a few recipes I am known for. I also love to woodwork, especially building furniture and restoring old furniture. For example, I found a table someone threw out and I stripped it down and restored it – it is a beautiful piece.
What else is important for people to know about your role?
I need your help. I believe strongly in the value of crowdsourcing. All of you know the business of AOC – I will never know every aspect of the business as well as you do. I need your ideas on how we can use technology to help you. Send your ideas and thoughts to me at cio@aoc.gov.
What do you want employees to know most about you?
I am very enthusiastic about the mission. At the end of the day I want to serve and help my customers better serve their customers. It is an important mission and I look forward to supporting it. Look, I love being here. I’d do this for free. Don’t mention that last part to Mr. Ayers. Okay?
