Florida County Prepares for Hurricane With New Tool

As a likely hurricane roars toward Florida, public officials in Pasco County, along the state’s western coast, are using new software designed to help them better manage flooding, downed trees, broken traffic lights and other problems that come with severe storms.

The county’s Department of Public Works recently deployed enterprise asset management software from government technology supplier CentralSquare Technologies.

This stands as one of the latest examples of software, artificial intelligence, drones and other tools helping public agencies not only anticipate natural disasters but deal with the aftermath.

The CentralSquare product is designed generally “to streamline citizen service requests and work order processes, enhancing the efficiency of the county’s public administration services,” according to the statement announcing the deployment in Pasco County.

Enterprise asset management enables officials and residents to perform such tasks as tracking service requests, and it’s designed to improve the ability of agencies to conduct mandated Federal Emergency Management Agency reporting. The software can integrate with third-party and CRM applications, and gives real-time updates via a dashboard — reflecting another ongoing trend in gov tech.

The product also allows users to move their data and reporting to the cloud, which in turns can boost connectivity among various departments, especially at crucial times such as major storms and attacks from criminals, Justin Murphy, vice president of product at CentralSquare, told Government Technology.

That can all result in reduced response times to citizen requests for service.

“Natural disasters and cyber attacks can happen year-round, and the resiliency of CentralSquare’s EAM ensures we’re always able to maintain access to reporting and tracking capabilities, which is invaluable,” said Pasco County Public Works Operations Support Administrator Gavin Harvey in the statement. “Our ability to quickly respond to service requests such as flooding complaints, road debris removal and more helps ensure increased community safety and peace of mind in times of crisis.”