New computer system has brought ‘transformational’ change to Manatee school district
I’m a former public school teacher. I’m a parent and a grandparent. And I have more than four decades of experience in information technology. I’m also on the Ciber Global team that worked over the last two years to transform the technology infrastructure in the Manatee County School District. I’m extremely proud of the work we’ve done, and the impacts of this project will benefit Manatee County in a myriad of ways.
Month after month, I’ve read the reports in the Bradenton Herald about this project. And while I understand there were bumps in the road, what the paper did not underscore were the transformational changes and positive impacts of this project, which impact the school district, its employees, the families it serves and the taxpayers who funded it.
Last month, we completed the project. We submitted the final progress report and handed the keys of this machine over to the district staff.
Often, in the IT world, we talk of ERPs and modules and other words and phrases that don’t translate into everyday life. So, what does this multimillion-dollar project mean to you and your family? Let’s drill down.
It means we’ve transformed a technology system that was 25 years old. Consider where technology was in 1995. Some – though not many – of us used dial up internet. We sent emails, we visited online chatrooms and we accessed an online encyclopedia for answers to every day questions.
Today, with the help of smartphones, we expect to access everything – from friends, to photos, to directions, to “why is the sky blue” – at our fingertips. The investment by the Manatee County School District into its IT upgrade brought its systems from then to now, a leap of 25 years.
The simplest of tasks are now automated and integrated, including personal information, contract information, timesheets, payroll, taxes and benefits. For a school district that employs more than 7,000 people, these increased efficiencies will generate significant cost-savings for Manatee County taxpayers. The dollars saved by the county can be used to better serve you.
Students, too, are benefitting from these technological upgrades. These days, teachers are responsible for a lot – school safety, student behavior and education. By improving the systems they use, the teachers can spend more time on their most important task: education. Less time inputting data into an outdated database and duplicating efforts across multiple systems means they have more time for teaching, mentoring and preparing the more than 49,500 students across the 60 campuses that make up Manatee County schools.
Finally, these technological upgrades we’ve made in partnership with Manatee County Schools are better protecting your private information. Second only to California, Florida is home to the greatest number of victims of personal identity theft. Your personal information is used by many entities – your business, your school, your healthcare providers, your retailers and your local government. And those entities must do everything they can to protect you and your personal information from fraud.
The Oracle systems we’ve installed in the school district are designed to protect your private information against information breaches and scam artists. What’s more, the new systems are dynamic, allowing them to evolve over time to address emerging threats to your personal information. In a recent report published by Florida Trend Magazine, Royal Caribbean Cruise line acknowledged their systems are subject to one million cyber-attacks per day. To fend off these attacks, the company spends up to $100 million per year on cyber security. In comparison, the Manatee County School Board’s investment is just a fraction of the cost with many more, long-lasting benefits.
The Manatee County School Board’s investment in transforming its technology after 25 years is going have a significant impact on this community and the families it serves. While there were road bumps in the implementation process, the importance of such a project and the value to its community cannot be ignored.
We are grateful for the opportunity to be a part of something with such wide-ranging impacts.
George Surdu is the Chief Strategy Officer for HTC, Inc., which oversees Ciber Global.
This story was originally published March 22, 2019 at 7:00 AM.