Jon Siegal, Dell Technologies & Rich Gagnon, City of Amarillo | Dell Technologies World 2024

Summary

In this engaging interview at Dell Technologies World in Las Vegas, Savannah Peterson and Dave Elante discuss the innovative use of AI in city governance with Rich Kangon, Assistant City Manager and CIO of Amarillo, Texas. Rich shares how Amarillo is leveraging generative AI to bridge communication gaps, improve access to municipal services, and enhance resident engagement through a digital human named Emma. The conversation highlights the transformative potential of AI in making city services more inclusive and efficient, with implications for other industries and cities looking to democratize access to information and resources.

Takeaways

• 🎙️ The interview is part of a three-day coverage event at Dell Technologies World held in Las Vegas, Nevada.
• 🤝 Savannah Peterson and Dave Elante are the hosts of the show, interviewing guests about their experiences and roles in technology integration.
• 🏙️ Rich Kangon, Assistant City Manager and CIO of Amarillo, Texas, discusses his role in implementing technology to improve city services.
• 🔄 Rich Kangon shares a transformative vision for using technology to enhance the lives of Amarillo's citizens, including a focus on inclusivity for non-English speakers.
• 🌐 A partnership between Dell and the City of Amarillo has led to the development of a digital human interface, named Emma, to assist residents in accessing municipal services.
• 🤖 Emma is an AI-powered digital assistant designed to make municipal services more accessible through conversational AI, regardless of language barriers.
• 👴 The digital human, Emma, is being further developed to cater to specific demographics, such as seniors, by creating a companion that addresses their unique needs.
• 📈 The City of Amarillo has seen positive responses from residents and employees, with Emma becoming a favorite 'co-worker' and improving service accessibility.
• 💡 The initiative is part of a broader strategy called 'Conversational City', which explores the use of generative AI for societal good and community impact.
• 🛠️ The technology behind Emma involves collaboration with Dell, Nvidia, and third-party partners, utilizing AI infrastructure and services to create the AI interface.
• 💼 The project was funded through existing budgets for website redevelopment and is expected to save costs compared to expanding the call center with human translators.

Q & A

What is the setting of the video script?

The video script is set in Fabulous Las Vegas, Nevada, during the second day of a three-day coverage event on the cube.

Who are the hosts of the video?

Savannah Peterson and Dave Elante are the co-hosts of the video.

What is the role of Rich Kangon in the City of Amarillo?

Rich Kangon is the Assistant City Manager and CIO, responsible for all technology within the city.

What is the partnership between Dell and the City of Amarillo about?

The partnership is focused on using technology, specifically generative AI, to improve the lives of the citizens of Amarillo and make municipal services more accessible.

What was the initial challenge that the City of Amarillo faced with its broadband project?

The initial challenge was that about half of the city was missing broadband access, which they later addressed.

How did the City of Amarillo discover the need for better language support in municipal services?

They discovered that they have more refugees per capita than any city in Texas, with 24% of residents not speaking English at home and one middle school having 62 languages and dialects.

What is the name of the AI digital human on the City of Amarillo's website?

The AI digital human is named Emma.

What was the inspiration behind the name 'Emma' for the AI digital human?

The name Emma was chosen as a result of a dad joke, referencing AI chatbots like Eliza from the 60s, with the last name Rillo added for humor.

How does the AI digital human Emma assist residents on the City of Amarillo's website?

Emma assists residents by having a conversation with them to help them access information and municipal services, making it easier for non-English speakers.

What is the long-term vision for Emma as described by Rich Kangon?

The long-term vision is for Emma to be a brand for the city, with the ability to recognize different languages and dialects, and introduce culturally appropriate avatars to residents during interactions.

What is the underlying technology supporting Emma and the City of Amarillo's AI initiatives?

The technology includes collaboration between Dell and Nvidia, with Dell infrastructure, Nvidia's AI enterprise software, and third-party partners, as well as a vector database provided by Prion.

How does the City of Amarillo ensure the quality of interactions with Emma?

They track thumbs up and thumbs down feedback, anonymize conversations, and have SLAs for directors to ensure questions are answered within 48 hours, improving the conversation quality over time.

What is the future plan for Emma's use cases in the City of Amarillo?

The plan includes extending Emma's use beyond the website, such as greeting visitors at the new city hall, and potentially using her for follow-up questions with residents.

Why is the City of Amarillo considering moving the AI from the cloud to an on-site data center?

It is more cost-effective to move the AI to their data center rather than moving data to the cloud, especially as the number of use cases and data sets grow.

How is the City of Amarillo funding the AI initiatives?

They have allocated funds from other projects and saved costs by implementing AI instead of expanding the call center, which would have been more expensive.

What is the potential impact of Emma on other industries according to John?

John mentions that the digital human capability of Emma could be useful in various industries, including retail, healthcare, and financial services, for improving customer and patient experiences.

Outlines

00:00

🎥 Tech Event Kickoff and Introductions

The script opens with a lively introduction to a tech event in Las Vegas, with Savannah Peterson and Dave Elante as co-hosts. They discuss their previous night's activities and a nostalgic encounter at a bar frequented by former EMC sales staff. The hosts introduce their guests, John and Rich Kango, with John being a returning guest and Rich being a first-timer on the show. Rich's role as Assistant City Manager and CIO for the City of Amarillo is highlighted, emphasizing his responsibility for all city technology.

05:01

🤖 Implementing Generative AI for Municipal Services

This paragraph delves into the partnership between Dell and the City of Amarillo, with Rich Kango sharing his vision of using technology to improve citizens' lives. A year ago, they began working together to close the digital divide in Amarillo, which led to the creation of a digital human named Emma. Emma is designed to provide a conversational interface for accessing municipal services, leveraging AI to translate and interpret various languages, thus democratizing access to information and services for non-English speakers. The development of Emma's website is discussed, along with the community's positive reception and the potential for AI to serve as a community companion, especially for the senior population.

10:04

🛠️ Behind the Scenes: Building the AI Infrastructure

The discussion shifts to the technical aspects of creating Emma, highlighting a collaboration between Dell, Nvidia, and third-party partners. The foundation of the project lies in Dell's infrastructure, including servers and storage, combined with Nvidia's AI enterprise software. The AI Factory concept is introduced, which simplifies the process of creating AI solutions. The script also touches on the use of a vector database provided by Prion, the importance of data sources, and the iterative process of refining the website and AI interactions to improve conversations and resident satisfaction.

15:04

🌐 Future Visions and Financial Implications

Rich Kango outlines the future vision for Emma, which includes expanding her role beyond the website to greet visitors in person at the new city hall. The decision to develop in the cloud and later migrate to an on-site data center is explained, focusing on cost-effectiveness and the growing number of use cases. The script also reveals that the project was funded through existing budgets for website redevelopment and savings from not expanding the call center, showcasing the financial benefits of implementing AI.

20:05

🌟 Expanding AI Applications and Closing Thoughts

The final paragraph discusses the broader implications of the AI project, with other cities expressing interest in the model implemented by Amarillo. Dell announces a generalized solution for digital assistance, based on the collaboration with Amarillo, making it easier for other cities to adopt similar technologies. John, a representative from Dell, shares his hopes for the expansion of AI applications across various industries. The conversation concludes with aspirations for the future impact of AI and the potential for broader community involvement.

📺 Sign Off from The Cube

The script concludes with Savannah Peterson signing off from The Cube, summarizing the event's focus on making AI a reality in enterprise tech and inviting viewers to continue following the event for more insights.

Keywords

💡AI

AI, or Artificial Intelligence, refers to the simulation of human intelligence in machines that are programmed to think like humans and mimic their actions. In the video, AI is central to the theme as it is being used to create a digital human named Emma, which serves as an interface for municipal services, enhancing accessibility and communication for the citizens of Amarillo.

💡Digital Human

A digital human is a virtual representation of a human being, capable of interacting with users in a natural and human-like manner. In the context of the video, Emma is a digital human developed for the City of Amarillo's website, providing a conversational interface for residents to access city services and information.

💡Generative AI

Generative AI refers to artificial intelligence systems that can generate new content, such as text, images, or audio, that is similar to the data they were trained on. The video discusses the use of generative AI in creating Emma, allowing her to have natural conversations with users and provide personalized responses.

💡City of Amarillo

The City of Amarillo is the local government entity for Amarillo, Texas. It is highlighted in the video as a pioneer in using AI to improve citizen services. The city's innovative approach includes the development of Emma, a digital human designed to assist residents in accessing municipal services.

💡Dell

Dell is a multinational technology company that provides a range of products and services, including AI solutions. In the video, Dell collaborates with the City of Amarillo to develop and implement the AI-driven digital human, Emma, showcasing Dell's role in advancing smart city technologies.

💡Nvidia

Nvidia is a technology company known for its graphics processing units (GPUs) and AI enterprise software. The video mentions a collaboration between Dell and Nvidia, indicating that Nvidia's technology is part of the infrastructure supporting the AI solutions being developed for the City of Amarillo.

💡Cube

In the video, 'Cube' refers to a platform or event where tech news and innovations are discussed and showcased. The script mentions 'the cube' as the setting for the interview, indicating that the conversation is taking place within a tech-focused environment.

💡Smart Cities

Smart cities are urban areas that use different types of electronic data collection sensors to supply information which is used to manage assets, resources, and services efficiently. The video discusses the City of Amarillo's efforts to become a smart city through the implementation of AI technologies like Emma.

💡AI Factory

The AI Factory, as mentioned in the video, is a concept or platform that simplifies the process of creating and deploying AI solutions. It is used in the context of the video to describe the collaborative effort between Dell and Nvidia to produce AI-driven interfaces like Emma.

💡Conversational AI

Conversational AI refers to systems that can interact with humans through natural language processing (NLP). The video emphasizes the use of conversational AI in Emma, which can understand and respond to user queries, facilitating a more human-like interaction with city services.

💡Digital Transformation

Digital transformation involves the integration of digital technology into all areas of a business or government, fundamentally changing how one operates and delivers value to customers. The video discusses the City of Amarillo's digital transformation journey, particularly through the creation of Emma, which represents a significant shift in how the city provides services to its residents.

Highlights

Savannah Peterson and Dave Elante host a discussion on the transformative use of technology in the City of Amarillo, Texas.

Rich Kangon, Assistant City Manager and CIO of Amarillo, shares his role in implementing technology across the city.

A partnership between Dell and the City of Amarillo aims to improve citizen life through technology.

The city's Broadband project helped identify a need for improved digital access, particularly for non-English speakers.

Introduction of 'Emma', a digital human interface on the city's website, to assist residents in accessing municipal services.

The use of generative AI to create a conversational interface for the city's website, making services more accessible.

The name 'Emma' for the AI was chosen through a light-hearted dad joke, reflecting a friendly approach to technology.

Senior citizens find companionship in Emma, leading to the idea of a community companion for addressing senior issues.

The city of Amarillo's approach to digital innovation includes a 'digital dignity rights and privacy' agenda to protect residents.

The collaboration between Dell, Nvidia, and third-party partners underpins the AI infrastructure for Emma.

The AI Factory concept by Dell, in partnership with Nvidia, simplifies the process of creating AI solutions for cities.

The city's website is revamped to facilitate better conversations with Emma, improving resident interactions.

Emma's development involved extensive research and feedback from city staff and residents to create a relatable avatar.

Long-term plans for Emma include recognizing different languages and dialects, and presenting culturally appropriate avatars.

The cost-effectiveness of implementing Emma compared to expanding the city's call center with human operators.

Other cities are showing interest in the City of Amarillo's approach to digital assistance with AI.

Dell's new gen solution for digital assistance aims to make AI implementation repeatable and streamlined for cities.

Rich Kangon's vision for the future includes expanding Emma's use beyond city services to support community learning.

John from Dell anticipates the digital human interface's applicability across various industries beyond city governance.

Transcripts

good morning Dell fans and welcome back

to Fabulous Las Vegas Nevada we're

Midway through day two of our three days

of coverage here on the cube my name is

Savannah Peterson joined by my co-host

and laptop fumbler Dave elante hey how's

it how's it going steady hands

aftert late night yeah hey we were we

were pretty behaved last night for Vegas

in particular although I went by the

what used to be we used to call it the

circle bar oh yeah and of course back in

back in the day EMC world it was the

circle bar and of course all the former

EMC sales guys were there so I was

trying to sneak to my room but I I

couldn't get by them was fun good little

reunion it's it's it's it's always worth

having a big reion being reunions we've

got cube veterans on the show John se

thankk you so much for being here

pleasure as always it's it's a joy

you've got your big smiles you always

bring us a fantastic customer story and

I'm very excited for a cube first timer

I believe second second time oh second

repeat visitor sorry first time with me

then we we'll cut that in rich kangon

thank you so much for being here happy

too uh you have a very unique role we

don't always get to have government Pros

on the show with us tell us a little bit

about your role at the City of Amarillo

just to get us started sure so I'm the

assistant city manager and CIO

responsible for all technology in our

city casual just all the technology

within within a municipality some pretty

exciting stuff so John talk to me I know

you were really excited to bring Rich on

what's going on here what's the

partnership look I mean about a year ago

actually we started working together uh

dell uh in the City of Amarillo and uh

and Rich will share but it is he is got

a transformative Vision um for how to

take technology and apply it to good

right and and so what you're going to

see here is uh and I'll let him talk

more about it but it it it's really

about um making life better for the

citizens of his of his uh of his city um

and not only that but he's also

advocating to do the same and we're now

working with him to do the same and make

it more repeatable for other cities

around the country right so how did you

end up meeting each other did you reach

out to De yeah what is what does this

look like if I'm a city and I want to

partner with a power player like Del

sure so it started actually after our

Broadband project we had about half of

our city that was missing sense right so

we closed that Gap and in doing that

what what I discovered honestly about my

own city is we have more refugees per

capita than any city in Texas 24% of our

residents don't speak English at home we

have one Middle School speaking 62

languages and dialects in the same

school so oh my gosh I I'm a nerd I

started with hugging face here you're

amongst nerd started playing with models

and I was really impressed with the

abilities uh to translate and thought

hey this there's something here um

reached out to Dell and said hey I have

this crazy idea what if we use

generative AI on our website and made

that an interface into services so

instead of having to know English or

typing you could just have a

conversation and get access to

information and Municipal

services that is so important we talk a

lot you know and we joke about it a

little bit there's a lot of Buzz around

democratizing Ai and what that really

means and I think there's a lot

of a lot of lip service in that space a

little bit sometimes but the real

practical application is how is it going

to how does it democratize access to

even resources and tools and information

which is exactly what you're doing you

have a for us don't you I did I could

show you would you mind pulling that up

we'd love to see it so this is actually

our our website in in development right

now it's it'll go live in October and it

is a digital human that resides on our

website that allows residents to connect

to the website she'll come up and ask

you know what services you need access

to we do it in text for those that are

that are hearing challenged and then you

just ask a question so how do I pay my

water bill and then she will tell you

how to do that and then navigate you to

the site uh to the place to pay your

water bill and this is Emma this is Emma

now how'd you come up with the name I

you know crowd strike has Charlotte IBM

in the 60s had a thing called Eliza

which was like the original AI chat bot

how didd you come up with Emma Watson to

be to be transparent it was the result

of a dad joke we were looking at the

names and Emma was one of them and I

said well if she's Emma her last name

has to be rillo and everybody laughed we

were like okay that's a thing so

wow that is just very good two daughters

yeah that was that was great how old are

your daughters 30 I have three

grandchildren now so they're grown

awesome what what do your grandchildren

or your children think of Emma they

adore her like yes what a lovely thing

to say about an AI they they actually do

and it was really funny when when we

first started testing her um my head of

innovation Kristen showed her kids and

her daughter said you know that's the

sixth grade teacher everybody wants to

have and I knew we were in the gold

right that's the response that we wanted

this is interesting you your reaction

because I mentioned Eliza yeah Eliza in

the literally in the 60s I think it was

late 60s they would put Eliza in front

of folks that they felt had

depression because yeah and so it

companionship yes and so you think about

AI it's much better than sitting on a

phone and you know a call center right

so actually you know that's something

that we're having to deal with so when

we did our initial testing um what we

discovered with our senior population is

exactly that our initial testers they

won't stop talking to her so I came back

and you know two and a half later hours

later they're talking about their

grandchildren it's so instead of

fighting that we're trying to embrace

that and work with some of the

nonprofits and actually work with our

our senior community so that we could we

could have a community companion if you

will that addresses senior issues it's a

weird dynamic do you when you use chat

GPT do you don't you do you say please

and thank you I I do I do sometimes just

in case the machines come after us so

but Emma L is one of the versions right

so did you tell Emma L is a is a another

version if you will iteration of Emma

for the senior community yeah so we're

working with nonprofit profits to figure

out okay how do we fund a companion for

our seniors and let the seniors Define

you know what issues do they want to

talk about what personality will she

have and I think in the long run prous

we're going to start to see that we're

going to see it with our homeless

Community we'll see it in education so

we're really making a study we call it

conversational City we're doing a study

around what does what does generative AI

for good look like in a city in a

community and kind of in society at

large how do we use that to make impact

how I'm I'm so I'm real glad we're

having this conversation this is a great

one what when you're communicating with

your you know we we all live in a tech

bubble we're talking to fellow nerds all

the time we all have our great opinions

and and and dreams for this new

technological Revolution how are the

citizens of the City of Amarillo

embracing this what's the response been

like as you do some of this user

feedback you know it's been really

interesting in the beginning you know

anytime you innovate whether that's in a

corporate setting you you have to create

a a safe space right to innovate in when

you're in government that safe space has

to extend out to your residents so we

really didn't hide from that we hit that

on the front end we passed what we call

our digital dignity rights and privacy

agenda so it's a framework by which

which we can ingest new technology and

protect the rights and privacy of our

residents we're very transparent so we

wanted to address the fear on the front

end that's been incredibly helpful and

now that they there's a a level of

comfort that okay the city's doing the

right things and I can see that uh now

theyve they' they've embraced the

technology and it's really fun actually

to introduce her to different groups

because until you see her you know it's

just a concept but you know I have I

have employees that tell me that she's

her you know their favorite coworker

amaz so the vision here is to bridge

that Communications Gap that's it

amongst the citizens but what's that

this obviously wasn't eight years in

development I mean just very rapid time

to development time to Market what's the

tech underneath this whole thing so a

lot of the so first of all this is a

collaboration between Dell and Nvidia

and some of our third third party

Partners as well and part of our open

ecosystem in fact this is a a great

example of the Dell AI Factory with

Nvidia in action really more than

anything else right we've been talking a

l about the factory um you know and and

underneath it if you will is is Dell

infrastructure right so you can imagine

uh whether it's our servers and our

storage um but also working with Nvidia

around their AI enterprise software um

and their infrastructure as well uh and

frankly a lot of this is also our

services I mean this is was really

critical here and and the early going

and frankly still ongoing basis is

helping the community figure out what

are the right data sources how to

integrate those data sources into the

model picking the model picking the use

cases um implementing the platform

integrating it with some other third

party software that we're using and in

addition to Nvidia uh and Dell uh to

create that AI Avatar interface uh

that's so unique and so conversational

and really I think what's changing the

game here so you know underneath the

covers to your point is is Dell and

Nvidia infrastructure as well as some

software but what we're really doing

from a Dell perspective is providing

that what the AI Factory is is that easy

button right so uh that's what everybody

wants these days that's what they want

so but yeah under the covers look

there's a lot of complexity where you

know for sure uh but we're hoping that

we're providing that great simplifier

that allows them to turn all their great

data train it optimize it and create

these outcomes that about it's a rag are

you like vectorizing the ex exactly and

and the the vector database is is a

well-known Vector database an open

source or is it an integrated um it is

it's actually it's it's actually prion

that's providing the vector database

services for us um we made the decision

early you know you've got to think about

where your data sources are um we

actually all of her her data comes from

our website which has been really

interesting to me because it's forced us

to relook at the way we we inter

interface with our residents period so

it didn't take very long for departments

to realize hey we don't do this very

well like it doesn't facilitate a

conversation and if it doesn't

facilitate a conversation for Emma it's

clearly not answering the questions that

our residents really have so we've gone

Department by department and revamped

our entire website you could just bolt a

digital human on your existing website

it won't work you won't have you'll have

garbage conversations so Department by

Department we've engaged with our

residents and asked what do you want to

know about water what do you want to

know about finance and we've defined

those conversations that builds the

website and now as we learn more we just

update the website that gets ingested U

into into the vector database and we use

Rag and it keeps us updated if you

notice on the demo there's a thumbs up

thumbs down we actually track those we

track every conversation now we're

anonymized I don't know who's having it

but I can see if it was good or bad I

can tell if Emma could or couldn't

answer it and now we have slas for our

directors so they see okay here's

questions we need to get answered in the

next 48 hours so the conversation

improves every day as we go forward yeah

I'm sure we've saw this with our QB eye

we had way more thumbs

Downs you know and you have to respond

to them and you have to you know

continue to iterate are you using um

multiple llms are you playing around

with them what are you finding there

well the website's just our first use

case I have like a two-year road map

right um and for that is that is one llm

but we're building a new city hall when

you walk in Emma will greet you in the

front door and tell you where to go that

can be a much smaller language model so

the the Persona will be the same but the

use cases will will will Define what llm

that we use what H so she's obviously a

a humanoid looking robot or a digital

human right how did you decide on her

form factor that was like nine weeks

worth of worth of research uh you know

we worked with unique who actually built

her we had our internal call call center

staff actually involved and then we had

residents involved and we went through

iteration after iteration she'll end up

being Emma is the brand for the city but

our long-term vision is you know now

with the with uh Speech DET you know

speech DET text you can actually

recognize languages and dialects we want

to get to the point where when you

interface with us Emma can recognize

okay that may be a Somalian man and then

introduce a different Avatar that is

culturally appropriate to that person so

ideally when we're all said and done no

matter who you are when you interface

with our city you'll speak to someone

that looks and feels like you seems like

a little thing it's not but it's a

really big thing it makes people feel

like okay they they they really care

about us this is running in your data

center it's not right now right now so

we took kind of an old school approach

we're developing in the cloud I did not

want to wait right I this gave me a year

of development while Dell got their

their infrastructure pieces ready and

now we'll migrate it on site okay so why

don't you just keep it in the cloud why

are you going to migrate it back on site

because of the number of use cases that

I've already formed and it's cheaper to

move the AI to my data than my data to

the and why is it cheaper it's just that

the the what it cost to just run tokens

in the cloud yeah well and the data sets

right so we have some use cases where

we're working on something now you know

you think about a conversation that's

two-way right now a resident asks a

question and Emma gives an answer but

we're making some progress on follow-up

questions from Emma so now we can ask a

question Emma could ask ask a question

and residents could give an answer so a

simple example is we're giving updates

for count for the first time this week

from Emma so she'll tell residents

here's what happened in Council yeah I

can ask what did you think about that

and now my residents give answers we're

using Insight software that typically

you see in commercial operations to

gather that now I have a sentiment

engine for my entire city that's

updating on every topic so you could see

where that would get expensive as data

sets start to grow and did did you how'd

you pay for this was it was it

incremental budget

did you have to steal from other budgets

no actually I've been plotting this for

a few years so we had some funds for

redeveloping our website and we sat on

those and added to them and I kept

telling our our Communications

Department we're not spending it yet

because this generative AI thing is

going to be something and then when we

ran the numbers for expanding our call

center uh in order to meet the need we

would have to spend about 1.8 million a

year in additional salary to have all

the languages and translators and we're

doing it for a frac action of that so

not only did we we had the money through

other through other projects but but it

actually saves us and uh show the value

ad which is ex John I'm curious are

other cities like this reaching out to

you absolutely absolutely so uh as I

mentioned at the outset Rich has been uh

advocating as well and we've been he's

actually been speaking to other

customers uh with us in our on our

behalf uh there's there's a tremendous

amount of Interest so really what we

announced yesterday was the Dell gen

solution for digital assistance which

actually be in demo right behind us

right now

uh and um it really is we've taken all

the learnings that rich that rich just

shared with you uh and we've simplified

it made it a repeatable solution so that

other cities can actually streamline the

process what what we did with Rich As I

said started a year ago strong

partnership he's is uh a much a partner

as a customer really at the end of the

day uh but but we've taken those

learnings and now I think we've really

streamlined it and uh you know it's now

the ability to we still need the

services component to help customers

figure out the data sources and

everything else but we've packaged a

solution in such a way where now it's

going to be easier to deploy including

on Prem or at the edge because based on

what You Know Rich described uh there's

a lot of advantage to that whether

that's privacy or security or or cost uh

so we're making that now simpler than

ever to deploy on Prem you've obviously

built up an application portfolio over

the the years as you get experience with

Technologies like this how are you

thinking about the your portfolio in

other words what areas of the portfolio

do you feel like hm

what I was doing there I can now do

differently for one tenth the cost all

of them everything everything with so we

actually restructured even we re we've

reorganized around the the change that's

coming like we all see it this wave of

change coming in and I had two concerns

I was really concerned with our change

management process and how we how we

innovate so we restructured I moved

communication Innovation and our pmo

into the same office so now we're

actually going through our entire

application set I'll give you a simple

example um illegal dumping was an issue

that we really struggled with we put

that in the Innovation department they

did a they did an engagement with our

residents and we found out that we

didn't never solve the problem because

it's actually six different problems you

know we getting we engaging with

residents they told us exactly what the

problems were we're doing the same thing

with applications well the outcome of

that is uh we now use we have we we use

machine learning we've got dump sites

we've dropped our our fuel cost by

$480,000 this year and that's trash that

is applying just a little bit of AI in

our and you know to to solid waste and

we're seeing that across every

department so I think fundamentally

we're changing the way that we look at

how we do business oh your budget

director must be happy very well and

you're getting teams out of silos I mean

I think that's a big thing theme that we

hear a lot and even within the partner

ecosystem that Dell has and everyone

else it used to be this kind of Silicon

Valley secret whisper whisper whisper

we're doing doing these things or

whatever is happening or this team is

fighting for this budget and I really do

feel we've talked about a lot on the

show that this water level is rising

together as we all collaborate to design

the future of our lives and our family's

lives and and everything else all right

gentlemen last question for you since

you're both Cube veterans and I'm sure

we'll have you back what do you hope to

be able to say on this stage with Dave

and I next time you're here that you

can't say

today that we're having two a

conversations and that Emma has been has

been extended beyond the walls of the

city and is helping our little

Guatemalan children in Pampa learn

English so I I think we're going to see

her applied more broadly across our

community love that we can't wait to

celebrate that with you what about you

John I hope we have another hundred

examples of what rich just went through

yes yes um and look not just not just in

uh in city government and in smart

cities as is really building here but

one of the things we didn't talk about

is the same exact capability this this

uh digital human capability and

interface

is useful in several Industries uh we're

seeing interest not just in the cities

which I mentioned earlier because Rich

has been helping but in retail such as

online as well as physical stores

actually even more so uh we're getting

interest in healthcare to really help

bridge the the the care teams with the

patients whether it's you know when they

when they first visit or when they when

they leave or actually during their

their stay um and so and financial

services another one so I'm I also hope

that in addition to the hund of those we

have a hundred of other other uh

Industries um examples as well so this

is this is taken off and again the we we

are so grateful to Rich and his

collaboration here and we hope to uh

help to continue to grow his uh his

community as well well we look forward

to hearing this the story evolves and

we'll have all hundred of those City

municipalities up on this stage one big

cozy little happy family on our next

podcast yeah sounds great Deltech World

2025 can't wait to see it Dave thanks so

much for another fabulous interview

thank both of you for coming to hang out

this is a real fun one that I think

applies to a lot of people we're making

AI real here on the cube folks and thank

you for tuning in from home we're Midway

through day two of Deltech World here in

beautiful Las Vegas Nevada my name is

Savannah Peterson you're watching the

cube the leading source for Enterprise

Tech news