IAS President Chuck Ramani addresses Japan Conference of Building Administrators |
| IAS president C.P. (Chuck) Ramani addressed delegates at the Japan Conference of Building Administrators (JCBA) in Nara, Japan on November 17, 2017. Mr. Ramani represented the International Code Council (ICC) and gave a talk on Digital Solutions for the 21st Century Building Department Operations. Of the 670 registered delegates, close to 400 attended Ramani's talk.
Ramani mentioned that globally, software technology is experiencing rapid development and concurrent growth. The 2007–2008 recession caused for severe belt-tightening in governmental entities with little or no money left for software. With building departments being asked to do more with less, they moved towards use of digital technology to their best advantage to reduce hiring and increase customer service. Recent improvements in geographic information system (GIS)/relational databases/cellphones/tablets encouraged software developers to innovate new solutions to code enforcement tasks. Newer technologies allow fast electronic transactions, hardware is available to enhance processing speed, data is easy to store and retrieve. Ramani cautioned building departments to approach the new electronic solutions fully prepared as the initial learning curve can be challenging. A strong contract with the IT service provider is essential to ensure it provides the crucial support to department staff during the period immediately following launch. He also mentioned that theoretically, digital solutions initially help to reduce labor costs, but that one has to factor in the hardware/software/maintenance costs that increase each year. Ramani concluded his talk by urging building departments that are looking at digital solutions to take the time to study all proposals in-depth to make sure that it is a perfect match for their needs and that jurisdictional leadership is firmly behind the project. |