Deputy Director of Digital Technology at Mayor's Office of Santiago de Cali

Although it may sound cliché, the role of technology in problem-solving and meeting organizational needs is becoming increasingly relevant. The rapid development and practical and productive applicability of disruptive technological solutions, such as artificial intelligence, in corporate frameworks compound this.

From a technology enthusiast's standpoint, this trend reflects the growing awareness among companies regarding the importance of information technologies for managing their internal and external processes and responding to their needs.

However, the haphazard implementation of technological tools in organizations without a clear vision or a strategic framework for information technologies can lead to serious problems within companies, potentially more severe than those attempting to be addressed using technology.

This issue becomes even more critical in large organizations where the lack of centralized technology purchases allows each department to execute budgets for acquiring software and hardware components to streamline internal processes.

"The rapid development and practical and productive applicability of disruptive technological solutions, such as artificial intelligence, in corporate frameworks compound this."

An example of a complex organization facing such challenges is the Mayor's Office of Santiago de Cali in Colombia. This entity comprises 32 agencies, including secretariats and departments, each with an allocated budget and the ability to purchase hardware and software technological components using those budgets. Due to this organizational and financial framework, the entity oversees more than 250 active information systems to address the city's diverse needs.

The Mayor's Office of Santiago de Cali implemented an information technology governance framework to overcome this challenge by formally defining supportive and strategic processes. Cross-cutting and mandatory processes seek to prevent chaos without bureaucratizing or slowing down internal processes within the organization.

A cross-cutting support process for the administration of information and communication technologies, including managing technological components, was established. Procedures for purchasing and contracting technological components were defined, with validation and central authorization by the Administrative Department of Information and Communication Technologies. Standard methodological guidelines were also developed for developing and deploying information systems, ensuring the centralization of documentation and applied methodologies.

Likewise, a strategic process for analytics and data exploitation was designed to provide overall guidance on using data analytics tools throughout the entity. Governance of these tools was centralized in the Department of Information and Communication Technologies but extended for widespread use across all municipal offices.

It is important to highlight that both processes considered the governance of internal technological services within the Mayor's Office and the agility to execute them without generating delays in the entity's developments.

The main goal was to establish transversal governance criteria throughout the Mayor's Office of Santiago de Cali to reduce the risk of disordered and strategically unguided growth using disruptive data analysis tools such as Big Data and artificial intelligence.

In conclusion, as an engineer, I can say that at the same time, we may sometimes struggle to document the processes in which we participate; the formal definition of these processes within our organizations focuses on the formalization, dissemination, and transversal use of information technology guidelines, which becomes a useful and necessary tool for IT governance. This really helps avoid technological disorder and anarchy.