The Public Sector Show by TechTables

#239: The AI Bill Nobody Can Budget For | Broward County, NC Courts & Dell Technologies

The Public Sector Show by TechTables

Show Notes

Broward County has 31 cities, 67+ lines of business, and 14 IT managers that CIO Domenic DiLullo has to keep in sync - while a property tax measure heading to the ballot could reshape his entire budget. Glenn Mack just took over as CTO of the North Carolina courts: 100 counties, 105 courthouses, from Murphy to Manteo. He walked in from 17 years in public safety and found the AI policy was… non-existent. And Jon Minshew spent 30 years in North Carolina state government - CIO for the governor's office, and later the state's first Chief Customer Officer - before crossing over to Dell Technologies, where he now advises the same CIOs he used to sit alongside. We put all three on one recording, and the conversation went somewhere most AI conversations never go: the invoice. At one point I said I was hoping market forces would bring AI prices down over time. Dom cut me off mid-sentence: "I disagree. I wholeheartedly disagree." When a county CIO pushes back that hard on air, you listen to why.

Guests Domenic DiLullo CIO, Broward County, Florida Glenn Mack CTO, North Carolina Administrative Office of the Courts Jon Minshew Chief Strategist, Dell Technologies

Timestamps (03:38) NC Courts overview: 100 counties, 105 courthouses, Odyssey eCourts (05:05) Broward overview: 31 cities, 67–70 lines of business, AI investment (08:43) Courts' AI readiness: "the policy was there was none" (11:50) Legislative pressure, "just do AI" (12:39) Broward's data foundation + two-year CAP policy, 30 use cases (15:00) Token uncertainty vs budgets: "nobody wants that surprise bill (18:54) The cab with no meter (23:41) $40K server now $75K; no relief until 2030 (28:24) Jon's advising playbook: outcome-first workshops, quick wins (30:31) Buy-in: directors, CFOs, chief justices - and lobbying for funding (31:19) The skill-set gap; vendors working themselves out of a job (36:36) "You can buy the car - but can you afford the car?"

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