Nelson Gonzalez, Assistant Director of Innovation and Technology and Chief Information Security Officer, City of Coral Gables
Nelson Gonzalez, Assistant Director of Innovation and Technology and Chief Information Security Officer, City of Coral Gables
Nelson Gonzalez is a seasoned professional with two decades of expertise in designing, engineering and supporting network telecommunications and cybersecurity infrastructure. He currently serves as the Assistant Director of Innovation and Technology and Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) for the City of Coral Gables and also serves as the local agency security officer for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE).
Gonzalez is known for his dynamic approach to overseeing the city’s physical and cyber security operations, managing infrastructure-related capital improvement projects, participating in technology assessments of smart city infrastructure deployments, and running compliance programs. He has extensive experience, including involvement in the design and construction of the city’s police and fire headquarters, as well as operating and upgrading the regional emergency operations center using the regional 911 system, demonstrating a comprehensive understanding of city infrastructure and operations.
In an interview with Government CIO Outlook, Gonzalez shared his insights on recent developments in the smart city industry, focusing on technology implementation and cybersecurity measures.
What are the latest developments in the industry over the past 18 to 24 months?
As a city government, we have witnessed notable developments recently. Recently, we were ranked among the top seven smart cities in the world and received several national awards. Our work with peer cities exposes us to multiple approaches to smart city planning. These approaches cover a wide range of infrastructure deployments, introducing various communication modes and redundancy layers, citizen service portals, information kiosks, public Wi-Fi and various sensors to monitor the quality of water, air and other environmental factors and Promote smart policing.
“The critical role of cybersecurity cannot be overstated. It must no longer be an afterthought but become an integral part of the technology implementation process.
Our smart city journey begins with environmental monitoring and public safety policing. In the area of enhancing public safety, we have successfully implemented smart policing initiatives using advanced CCTV cameras and back-end video analytics.
One poignant example that highlights the effectiveness of our efforts was when we used a video analytics suite to quickly locate a missing child during a city event. This highlights the tangible and impactful results our smart city efforts can achieve.
Do you have any advice for fellow professionals about to embark on a similar career?
City managers often encounter common obstacles during technology deployment initiatives, such as obtaining approvals, securing funding, and establishing an effective procurement pipeline. These challenges persist throughout the C-suite, impacting individuals from the CIO to the CISO and CTO.
To successfully address these challenges, a critical first step is to align plans with the organization’s strategic goals and plans. This strategic adjustment increases the likelihood of obtaining management approval and streamlines the procurement process. Strategic collaboration with peers is also critical to overcoming these barriers.
Another noteworthy aspect to consider is that government organizations such as municipalities are often involved in construction activities. Requires that capital improvement projects be integrated into the Public Works Department and actively advocates for technology and safety to be included as an integral part of construction project budgets. This collaborative approach will help position the technology as an indispensable utility and facilitate more streamlined approval, financing and procurement processes.
How do you envision the future of the industry?
The shift to a borderless model in enterprise IT creates challenges, especially when innovation requires cloud integration and enterprise teams are not actively involved. Often, there is a disconnect between the teams responsible for maintaining security measures and implementing new applications on the cloud, leading to potential security breaches.
There is a need to coordinate and integrate different parts of the IT infrastructure, especially when adopting new technologies such as cloud services. Regular communication between different teams within an organization helps prevent silos and ensures everyone is working toward a common goal. Horizontal integration across teams is critical, and cybersecurity is a core part of ensuring a safe transition plan.
Organizations should ensure that their security, enterprise and application teams are involved early in the process of adopting new technologies. This can help identify potential security risks and ensure appropriate security measures are taken.
When transitioning from bounded enterprise systems to a borderless enterprise model with cloud services, extending existing security policies to the cloud is critical. The focus should be on implementing the proxy and improving its authentication, identity management, and API infrastructure.
The critical role of cybersecurity in this evolving environment cannot be overstated. It must stop being an afterthought and become an integral part of the technology implementation process. This shift in approach is necessary to ensure adaptability and effectiveness in modern IT environments, where borderless enterprise IT systems have become the new normal.
