Efficiency Is Key for Harford County IT

When Justus Eapen was approved as Director of the Office of Information and Communication Technology at July's  meeting, it was clear that he had already proved his worth.

“Three years ago, Harford County was at the bottom of the third of all the counties in the state in regard to its capability in information technology,” said Councilman James McMahan, reading from a prepared statement before the vote at the meeting. He said he and Councilwoman Mary Ann Lisanti did their own investigation into Harford County’s Information Technology issues and proclaimed them “dire.”

“[But] under Mr. Eapen, the department was streamlined and efficiency enhanced and we are truly doing more with less,” McMahan said. “Mr. Eapen has saved Harford County several million dollars in the less than a year that he’s been acting director, while upgrading the system significantly.”

A father of three boys and a Harford County resident since 1992, Eapen was made acting director of the county’s information systems department last year. This month the department was elevated to cabinet level, opening the door for Eapen's appointment.

Eapen is originally from India and received his master’s degree in the United Kingdom at the Edinburgh School of Business. When he was first brought aboard, he said it was with the idea that his department would help people use their computers. But he said most people are quite familiar with that kind of technology. What Harford County needed was someone to look at its computer systems and make them run more smoothly.

“Any time you spend a dollar on it, we should have a plan to get that dollar back in terms of efficiency,” Eapen said. In other words, time is money. He said he wants to make sure the county is investing wisely in technology by using systems that are user-friendly and fiscally smart.

Eapen said one of his first projects was getting rid of the expensive and sophisticated equipment the county used to use to store data.

“No one knew how to use it properly,” he said. “If we don’t know how to use it, it becomes cost-prohibitive.”

Eapen said he and his office have two big projects they hope will make life easier for Harford County residents. The first is a county-wide system called ERP, or Enterprise Resource Planning. This would help all the county’s departments to communicate with each other, eliminating redundancies and mistakes.

He said they are also working on a countywide Internet network that would support the government, school system, libraries, , and private homes and businesses in the three municipalities.

It's important that the county build its own network, Eapen said, instead of relying on an outside company like Comcast or Verizon. He said not only would going to one of those companies be more expensive, but they do not reach certain areas of the county, so some residents would be excluded.

The project is budgeted to cost about $8 million—but Eapen said it’s worth it. He said that if the county wants to attract high-wage earners, such as BRAC workers, they must provide them with the proper Internet infrastructure.

“If we spend half a million or a milllion [dollars], we must make sure we can get a million dollars back—even if technology changes. If we get a million and a half back, then three years later, we won’t have a problem investing again.”

He wants residents to be aware of what he is doing, and know that he is just as concerned about money as them.

“People should know what we are doing and feel good about it,” he said. “We are being prudent with their money.”