Chad Julkowski has observed his share of changes since he came aboard as a part-time employee at Cranberry Township’s information technology department nearly 20 years ago.

Now the department’s director, Julkowski has watched the size of the department essentially double to keep pace with the township’s growing IT needs.

He also has been on hand to see new devices such as dashboard cameras and — coming soon — body cameras work their way into the township police department’s toolbox. He has watched the township go from using employees to manually read water meters every other month to having those meters read remotely by one of two radio-equipped water towers.

“Obviously, our technology has advanced a lot in the last 20 years, and we’ve taken on a lot more,” Julkowski said. “There are different demands and different expectations in the services themselves.

“Twenty years ago, we didn’t have an online bill pay portal, and today that’s a very normal thing to have. Our website has grown significantly. And at the waterpark, our software changed significantly. All those things we touch in some form or fashion.

“When I think back to my first days here, I’m still amazed at how much we do today.”

Essentially, entities such as local government, schools, businesses and nonprofits have two choices when it comes to meeting their IT needs — do it in-house or outsource the work. Butler County has plenty of examples of both.

Cranberry Township now boasts eight in-house IT workers. The changes that have taken place during Julkowski’s tenure include the township’s switch to a software system called ActiveNet, which meant acquiring new hardware as well as training workers on how to use the software. The township’s IT workers were there to help along the way during that transition, to ensure everything worked well and that waterpark employees knew how to do everything correctly on the new system — even down to ringing up a hot dog sale.

“That’s a small example of our ever-changing world,” Julkowski said.

Julkowski said he and his IT colleagues can’t be experts on everything, but they’re expected to support the township’s varied enterprises — utility departments, utility billing, police, fire, and parks and recreation. Essentially, Julkowski said, it takes teamwork between employees of the various departments and the in-house IT department to ensure things run smoothly.

Another Butler County entity that relies on an in-house IT department to service its technology needs and to address any shortcomings in its system is Butler Health System, which is currently in the process of merging with Excela Health.

Roger Lutz, who was chief information officer at Butler Health System before taking on the same role for the newly merged organization, said more than 100 technical professionals work in IT there. He acknowledged that merging the two IT systems is challenging because of the different facets of those systems.

“We’re just beginning the journey of integrating the two health systems from a teaming and technical perspective,” he said. “One of the very first and most important areas of my responsibility is to bring the teams together (and get them) to act as one. Your staff is really where you win or lose in a business as complex and dynamic as health care.”

Lutz said the new entity’s electronic medical records system is an obvious area of importance for its in-house IT department, “but there’s so much more to it.” He said the new organization has the same infrastructural IT platforms that many other large entities have — things such as switches, routers, firewalls and Wi-Fi — but there also are digital imaging systems, messaging and communication systems specific to medical enterprises.

The new organization also manages more than a petabyte of data — the equivalent of roughly 500 billion pages of standard printed text — all of which must be secured from cybercriminals who target health care entities in hopes of accessing highly valuable data.

Lutz characterized targeted cyberthreats as an “absolutely real” concern. “In many ways, these are global threats that stop at our firewall,” he said. “And it’s our professionals and our technology that keep them at bay.”

Other entities, including Butler County Family YMCA, the Butler County Federated Library System, the Jean B. Purvis Community Health Center and the Ellen O’Brien Gaiser Center, outsource all of their IT work.

Kim Reamer, executive director of the health center, said it makes sense for her organization to outsource its IT work.

“The reality for us is we’re a very small organization,” she said. “Not only do we not have the space to house someone internally, but we have learned from experience that outsourcing is a much better, faster and more productive use of our time.”

The health center is one of more than 100 entities that rely on Butler County-based Alliance for Nonprofit Resources to take care of its IT needs.

The health center has outsourced its IT work since its inception in 2008 and has worked with several providers, but Reamer said the center has had the most success working with ANR.

“They’re on call to us all the time whenever we need them,” she said. “I’m not just trying to sing their praises, but for us, it works much better.”

Krista Conway, system manager for the Butler County Federated Library System, said she has worked in situations where an entity had just one in-house IT person, and that person was stretched too thin.

Libraries, while still providing the same services they did for years, have in many cases morphed into tech hubs for their respective communities, offering tools such as scanners and printers as well as access to databases.

The local library system saw firsthand how dicey things can get from a technology standpoint, when it was the victim of a ransomware attack in 2019.

Lori Hinderliter, executive director of the Butler Area Public Library, said the system “basically lost 95% of what we had countywide — equipment, servers, computers. We also lost many files and data. And we recovered very little.”

Hinderliter said the library system had seven servers at the time and only one was saved, as the choice was made not to meet the ransomware demands. “It was like holding your information hostage,” Hinderliter said. “We didn’t know what the amount would be or if they would still keep the information and you’d be out some money. It was one of those questions where you had to weigh the pros and cons. We decided not to even go there.”

At the time, the library system had one in-house IT position, but it was vacant. In the aftermath of the attack, the library system began working with ANR, whose IT arm is known as A-Tech. While Conway works with one specific representative much of the time, others are available if needed, either in-person or remotely. “They’ve been just fantastic,” Conway said of ANR.

ANR’s A-Tech boasts 13 IT employees and has seen its client list double from 50 to more than 100 over the past four years or so, according to Brian Peffer, director of information technology. Peffer said it can be challenging providing IT services to a vast array of clients.

A-Tech will assign a certain person to work with a specific client. “So it’s almost like having your own in-house IT person,” Peffer said.

However, Christopher Lunn, ANR’s executive director, said the A-Tech staff is knowledgeable about most of its clients so that they always have a backup person available. That’s one of the advantages of outsourcing, he said.

“Sometimes if you have an in-house IT person and that person is out, you’re flying blind,” he said.

The YMCA outsources its IT work to Alternative Network Solutions, based in Washington, Pa. Nick Sasala, the YMCA’s membership and marketing director, said that organization has served the YMCA very well, taking care of any issues that might come up with emails, the website and other areas. It also has helped with the purchase of new digital equipment, computers, scanners and software, Sasala said.

“They pay high attention to detail and are really helpful with all the needs we have, and they’re very quick at getting information to us,” Sasala said.

Joe Mahoney, executive director of the Ellen O’Brien Gaiser Center, said having an IT person on staff doesn’t make sense for his operation, which employs just under 50 people.

“One of the main benefits of outsourcing is that we can still get the support and everything we need without having to maintain a full-time person’s salary and benefits when we don’t have a daily need for it,” Mahoney said.

This article was originally published in the March edition of Butler County Business Matters.