Experts recommend that cities that introduce smart technology into their services plan carefully and consider starting small.
“We’ve definitely seen some cases where claims have arisen and the city is well protected,” and others where it is not protected and they have suffered losses they did not plan for because of issues with vendors and cyber coverage, said Lisa Marsalis, San Antonio, Texas-based senior underwriting manager with OneBeacon Insurance Group’s government risk group. “They just didn’t anticipate something could happen to them,” she said.
Public entities need to evaluate risks and determine how to mitigate or potentially eliminate them, said Jeff Norton, Chicago-based senior vice president of technology and cyber for Brit Global Specialty USA, a unit of Brit Ltd.
California’s San Mateo County, which encompasses 20 cities and a large, unincorporated area, has approached the issue by setting up small pilot programs, said Ulysses Ron Vinson Jr., Redwood City, California-based director, SMC Labs, a unit of the county, which launched its smart city initiative in 2018.
One of the projects involves monitoring the impact of wildfires on air quality, he said. Another monitors electric car parking availability in (public) parking structures. “We want to start with the easy stuff,” Mr. Vinson said.
