A Spectrum Business employee born to help city and state governments — and the citizens they serve

When most kids were at home playing in the backyard, Sean Fleming was at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, distributing brochures for his family’s technology company, which serviced military bases. He still has photos from his first CES – which he attended at the ripe old age of four. Decades later, Sean has put that early experience to good work, helping government agencies solve their technology-related challenges as a regional government sales manager at Spectrum Business.

Sean sat down with us to discuss what drives him, technology trends and how his team is helping government organizations tackle some of their biggest challenges.

What drives you every day?

In government technology sales, we have the unique opportunity of being both on the sales side and customer side as citizens and taxpayers. The solutions we deliver to government agencies impact services we take for granted every day. For instance, public safety and other applications depend on the connectivity we provide.

In serving my government clients, I feel as though I am, in effect, a steward of taxpayer dollars – my own dollars and those of my families, neighbors and friends. I believe I have a responsibility to deliver the greatest value for those dollars, and that drives me to provide the best technology solutions possible for our government partners.

What technology changes have you seen during your time in government sales?

The biggest change has been the appetite for bandwidth. The number of things local governments use bandwidth for has exploded, largely because constituents and employees expect a convenient, “Amazon-like” experience where they can access services any time. Delivering these “always-on” services requires a high-capacity network that can handle the bandwidth requirements.

Cybersecurity is another big change. Ten years ago, ransomware was relatively unheard of. Now, you hear about government agencies paying ransom to unlock their computers. One of my priorities when working with government organizations is to safeguard their networks.

What government technology trends do you see looking ahead to the future?

More and more towns will use technology to provide concierge-level services that give residents an experience on par with what they expect from e-commerce websites. In particular, wireless hotspots running off our fiber networks will be big because they can help deliver services that offer residents convenience like mobile payment options for parking meters and kiosks offering DMV services such as registration and license renewal. Providing these types of high-value services is a big focus for many cities these days because they make more people want to live and work there.

How is Spectrum Business impacting the lives of citizens?

I have many examples, but a lot of the time, we’re impacting the lives of citizens in ways that go completely unnoticed because our fiber infrastructure is so reliable. When no one except maybe the IT staff knows who we are, it means there aren’t any problems — we’ve done a good job.

What's a key challenge you see government organizations grappling with today, and does Spectrum Business help solve it?

One key challenge facing government agencies is their complex budget and procurement process. Our team works exclusively with government clients; each client is assigned an account manager, sales engineer, security specialist and government affairs representative that has a deep working knowledge of the procurement process. We also have dedicated government sales support and legal teams. We use this expertise to help clients work through internal hurdles and move everything along as quickly and seamlessly as possible.

Read how states and localities across the U.S. are using technology to improve safety, help people with disabilities, monitor air quality and more.