Patti Zullo, Senior Director of Smart Solutions for Spectrum Enterprise, shares her thoughts on how cities of all sizes can take steps to become ‘smarter’.

With over 20 years of enterprise leadership experience in the areas of Internet of Things (IoT), analytics, cloud, internet security, and mobile communications, Patti has extensive experience launching new technology into new markets. She is responsible for defining and executing the Spectrum Smart City go-to-market strategy.

Q: Connectivity is, of course, fundamental to smart initiatives. But beyond that, what do you see as a basic requirement for a city to be considered ‘smart’?

A: Cities of all sizes can benefit from smart technology. While the industry does not have a universal definition of what constitutes a smart city, we see that there are three main components – a robust, ubiquitous network, devices and sensors deployed throughout the city to collect data, and a data analytics platform to analyze and leverage the data to the betterment of the city, its citizens and visitors.

Combining reliable and secure network connectivity with IoT sensors and tools that not only collect data but provide for real-time – or near real-time – analysis can help a city optimize its transportation network, support cleaner air initiatives, improve infrastructure and safeguard its citizens, as just a few examples.

Q: What steps would you advise city leaders to take when considering ‘smart’ initiatives?

A: Spectrum Enterprise partners with cities to help them through the process of deploying innovative technology to help better their communities. We suggest the following steps:

1. Define the problem: Defining what the city wants to solve is the first step. For instance, if improving parking downtown is the goal, does the city know enough about how the current parking is being utilized? Could parking issues be caused by the timing of the traffic signals, directional signage or lack of awareness of where free and metered parking is located? We work with the city to understand and define the problem to build a plan to address it.
2. Assemble a team: One of the key findings from multiple successful smart city implementations is don’t go on the journey alone. Tapping internal city resources, getting the stakeholders to communicate their challenges and visions, bringing in a citizen group, and reaching out to key technology partners are all great ways to form a proper team to forge a path forward.
3. Create and share the vision: Socialize the smart city vision with other city leaders as well as the community.
4. Build a plan: Get buy-in from all the stakeholders and prioritize the technology and the areas where you want to start the deployment of smart technology. Give yourself time for the deployment and to gather insightful results before moving on to the next initiative.
5. Implement the plan: Come to an agreement on milestones and metrics for success to stay focused on the goals of the project. Don’t forget to socialize the achievements to show key stakeholders, citizens, and nearby cities the success.

Q: What do you think might hold back a city from making their ‘smart’ vision a reality?

A: Any city can become a smart city; there’s no perfect size, use case or geographical location. However, some cities may not be sure what is possible or may not fully understand how to leverage connectivity, sensors and data analytics. This can make it difficult for them to simply get started. There are multiple components in implementing smart cities, and every city is unique in its initiatives and deployments. Bringing in a partner that can provide guidance can help city leaders understand where to start and what’s possible with the data.

Q: How can cities embrace the disruption that often comes from smart city projects?

A: Technology is the best disruptor a city can embrace as the opportunities for deployment are limitless. Our goal is to help organizations discover the art of the possible. A lot of cities have an interest in becoming a smart city, but don’t necessarily have a clear definition of what that means to them or are unsure about the disruption it will cause and outcomes. When we engage with a city, the first activities we lead are discovery sessions to help cities uncover and define key initiatives and use cases they are interested in implementing. We engage city leaders and department heads and facilitate open discussions to gather requirements to better define and select the key initiatives that will bring their vision to life.

It is also important to help people share what success will look like – this moves the conversation from the technical aspect of how the data might be collected to how the information will be used. For example, IoT sensor technology enables the delivery of real-time data to provide leaders with additional insights, improved efficiencies and the ability to make informed decisions more quickly.

We have found smart cities that are most successful in driving disruption and change within their cities have common characteristics including dedicated resources to drive smart projects, partnerships with various stakeholders within the city and defined projects that start small with realistic timelines.

Q: What are some examples of smart city projects you have worked on?

A: Two recent smart city collaborations we had with the cities of Lima, Ohio and St. Petersburg, Florida have been particularly rewarding to work on as they are positively impacting safety in the communities.

The city of Lima, Ohio was faced with a multi-faceted traffic challenge where multiple railroad tracks cut the city in quadrants. With a combination of vehicle traffic waiting for trains, and private, unpublished train schedules, the city frequently found itself in a gridlock, for unknown durations. In partnership with US Ignite, DriveOhio and the city of Lima, Spectrum Enterprise accepted the challenge to research, develop and implement a proof of concept to help mitigate the traffic issues – capturing data about train operations, developing predictive analytics and providing train metrics. Overall, this ‘Smart Train Crossings” initiative is making it easier for first responders and emergency staff to travel more efficiently.

The University of South Florida at St. Petersburg (USFSP) was challenged to address pedestrian and bicyclist safety at a busy intersection. In partnership with the University, US Ignite and the city of St. Petersburg, Florida, Spectrum Enterprise implemented a solution to obtain more detailed data. We installed fiber connectivity, smart light poles, safety cameras, environmental sensors and expanded WiFi coverage at the targeted intersection. Near real-time insights led to enhanced data-driven planning and design decisions for a safer intersection.

Q: What are you most excited about on the horizon?

A: I’m looking forward to the expanded use of artificial intelligence (AI), augmented reality (AR) and machine learning (ML) as it is applied to all ‘smart’ initiatives, particularly for safety. The improvements in response time, AI, and ML provide more and more information to responders with the intent of making them safer and more informed. When big data and powerful algorithms converge, city managers can make faster and more informed safety decisions. From enhanced law enforcement practices and public safety outcomes to potential efficiency gains from smarter waste and water management and cleaner air, there is so much potential to create great places to live.

Based on the Internet of Things (IoT) and the smart city movement, we’ve already started to see an exponential increase in the number of data points we can collect and the opportunity to build on the smart city journey is just beginning.