There have been a few letters to the Phoenix expressing support for allowing certain town functions to be conducted over the Internet. I thought I would write to offer my thoughts on what this might mean.
I’ve operated a few small companies over the past 30 years that sell specialty software packages and host various Internet sites. Based on that experience, I believe that Bristol voters’ concerns for any proposed automation effort should fall into three general categories: Security, Operations, and Cost/Benefits.

Security: The most important concern I have for exposing our data online relates to data security. Facebook, Yahoo, and other international providers have suffered one well-publicized black eye after another due to large-scale security breaches.

This gives rise to several questions concerning the Town’s data: Where will our online data be stored? On a server running at a vendor’s data center(s)?  Are these data centers secure? What steps will be taken in the event there is a data breach? Have those who propose exposing our data online developed a security plan? If so, is this plan available somewhere online so voters can review it?

Operations: Our company’s most successful product had approximately 10,000 users, all of whom were individual homeowners. No matter how well designed software is, and no matter how bug free, when any type of automation is implemented for thousands of users, calls for technical support will be received. (E.g., “I’m using a Chrome browser, my machine runs Windows XP, and I can’t see anywhere on the Dog License screen where I should click. Can you please help me?”).

Even if we believe such support is a software vendor’s responsibility, the Town of Bristol needs to be prepared to be the first line of contact. Does the Town have an IT department? I don’t recall seeing funding for IT staff in the Town budgets I’ve reviewed in the past. Is someone at Town Hall prepared to receive such calls for user support?

Costs/Benefits: I keep reading about a need for online licensing support for the 500 to 1,000 dog owners who live in Bristol. I have yet to see a proposal, however, concerning how the deployment of this automation will be paid for.

Please don’t misunderstand my concerns. I am extremely well aware of the benefits of automating a manual process. I also know, however, that money spent on technology is wasted if the underlying process itself needs to be redesigned and/or if the deployment itself is not thought through.

Any automation plan should include a detailed cost/benefit analysis, a security plan, an ongoing operations/tech support strategy, and, frankly, a plan for how it all gets funded.

I have not seen anything like this in all the discussion concerning Bristol “providing online services. “ Who’s going to pay for it?  Where’s the plan?
Taking my concerns for security and costs together, I’ll note that if Portsmouth, Warren, and Barrington have automated some of their services, well, good for them. A strong argument might be made that Bristol should let other towns work the kinks out of the systems, button down any security issues, and, frankly, gain experience that the Town of Bristol can leverage later on.

A time will come when the software vendors’ businesses mature. These vendors might be willing to add the Town of Bristol as a client at an incremental cost that makes sense for all. We don’t need to be the ones paying the “pioneer penalty” right now, particularly when it comes to worldwide access to our data.
Our data is just that: It’s ours. It doesn’t need to be out there for professional data agglomerators to comb through. We all get enough “pinpoint” telemarketing calls based on our household data profiles as it is.

The Town Clerk needs to be a prudent steward of Bristol’s records and assets, which include our electronic data. Tending toward the side of thoroughness and caution is not the same as being outdated.

Steven J.  Serenska

Bristol