Schaumburg Places Third in Digital Cities Survey

The Village of Schaumburg is pleased to announce it has placed third in the 2020 Digital Cities Survey, which recognized cities using technology to tackle social challenges, enhance cybersecurity, improve transparency and much more. Schaumburg is the only Illinois community ranked in the top 10 of its population category.

"Technology is at the core of the village's efforts to provide the best possible services in the most financially responsible manner," said Peter Schaak, director of Information Technology. "The staff of the Information Technology department takes tremendous pride in the quality of the systems and applications they provide. I am honored to have the department's hard work recognized. It is a team effort and every member of the department shares in this recognition."

Open to all U.S. cities, the survey honors cities in five population classifications: 500,000 or more, 250,000 to 499,999; 125,000 to 249,999; 75,000 to 124,999 and fewer than 75,000. Schaumburg was ranked third in cities with a population fewer than 75,000.

The village completed several technology initiatives in 2020 to increase efficiency and safety during the COVID-19 pandemic including:

• A planned upgrade to the village's firewall hardware was accelerated bringing enhanced security and expanded remote (VPN) capabilities to allow all village employees to connect concurrently.

• The village's virtual desktop infrastructure was expanded beyond its planned capacity to allow additional remote workers, while backend server hardware was upgraded and virtual resources were reconfigured to allow for expanded use.

• Zoom video conferencing was expanded across the village including adoption for use in public committees, commissions and board meetings.

• Credit card processing equipment was updated and reconfigured to allow for touchless transactions.

The department also continued its multi-year plan to implement a security camera system across key village facilities in 2020. Phase three included the installation of 47 cameras at 11 facilities allowing village staff to monitor the operations and security of these critical pieces of infrastructure. The expansion brought the total number of cameras to 190 and allowed for centralized administration of the system.

"I commend the village's Information Technology Department for providing innovative solutions to village operations during the pandemic, which enhanced safety for our employees and enabled the organization to continue providing critical services to our residents and businesses," said village Manager Brian Townsend.

The Center for Digital Government is a national research and advisory institute on information technology policies and best practices in state and local government. The center is a division of e.Republic, the nation's only media and research company focused exclusively on state and local government and education.

For more information on the survey and its winners, visit the Center of Digital Government's website at https://bit.ly/32DNMV4.