The City of Roanoke, TX, needed to explore options for modernizing IT for all city agencies and employees. A security incident pointed to the need for robust security solutions; meanwhile, employees didn’t have access to easy collaboration capabilities for a seamless workflow. Newly engaged IT manager Blake Gore had recently helped the City of Longview, TX, with similar issues and proposed a transition to Google Workspace.
Google Workspace’s collaboration capabilities bring cost savings
City agencies operated a collection of patchwork solutions to get around the file-sharing limitations of their fully on-prem IT, each with an associated cost and license. Yet they didn’t have instant messaging, had to email files back and forth, and were limited as to who could host a video conference.
After the Google Workspace implementation, the city was able to eliminate or reduce most of these add-ons. They have instant messaging and secure file sharing, and all employees can host video conferencing through Google Meet. They can also easily share documents with the public.
Security and Criminal Justice Information Systems (CJIS) compliance
To maintain CJIS compliance, the Roanoke police department had previously set up an entirely separate intranet server so they could securely encrypt case-related communications and evidence. Not only was it an additional cost, but it was another silo. An encryption solution executed within Google Workspace met compliance regulations and eliminated the need for a separate server.
The city’s original fully on-prem systems mandated that the IT department install monthly manufacturer-issued security patches to close recently discovered vulnerabilities. Moving everything to the cloud was a big improvement for overall security and time management.
With greatly improved security, new collaboration capabilities, and cost savings, the City of Roanoke is well-positioned for future success—whatever unknowns come next.
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