I am in conversation with Karthik Viswanathan, the President of Ochyo Inc, a consulting firm that specializes in serving State & Local governments around strategy development, technology enablement and business process optimization

In this part of the conversation, Karthik shares:

Karthik's career path:

• Started in IT after college in Bombay (now Mumbai)
• Worked in tech support for a university in the US
• Joined a research company (GTE Labs, now part of Verizon) focused on telecom technologies
• Transitioned from research to government work focusing on applying technology to improve citizen services

Government vs. Private Sector:

• Government projects can have a larger social impact
• Funding for government projects is based on impact and efficiency, not ROI
• User experience (UX) is becoming increasingly important in government services, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic
• Cloud migration and low-code/no-code development are accelerating innovation in government

Key points about impact in government projects:

• Needs to consider a "long tail" of users with diverse needs
• Focuses on human impact and reducing frustration for citizens
• Must balance efficiency and initial investment costs

Shifting landscape of government technology:

• From building systems for internal needs to user-centered design
• Cloud migration enabling faster and more scalable solutions
• Rise of low-code/no-code development for quicker implementation

Karthik Viswanathan is the President of Ochyo Inc, a consulting firm that

specializes in serving State & Local governments around strategy development, technology enablement and business process optimization.

He was previously the Vice President for Development & Strategy for AIinGov responsible for driving strategic partnerships and relationships to accelerate the time to market and operational efficiencies for AIinGov’s customers. 

Prior to that, Karthik served in senior IT leadership roles in State and Municipal governments. He was the Assistant Secretary for Technology Services & Security to help streamline IT services for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts including CIO roles for Labor & Workforce and Department of Revenue. Karthik has also served as CIO for the City of Somerville.

He holds engineering degrees from the University of Mumbai and Texas A&M University, and an MBA from Northeastern University.

LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kaviswan/