Bureau of Technology
Mission
The Bureau of Technology (BOT) plans, develops and maintains enterprise technology services according to its guiding principles: lifecycle management, cloud-first, shared-first, sustainability, transparency, continuity, Countywide standardization and reuse before buy and buy before build. BOT provides cost-effective and easy-to-use services for residents and County employees.
About Technology at Cook County
Cook County is the second-largest county in the country and is structured somewhat differently from many other counties. Residents vote for a 17-member Board of Commissioners, an at-large Board President, an Assessor, a Clerk of the Court, a County Clerk, 250+ Judges, a Sheriff, a State’s Attorney, a three-member Board of Review and a Treasurer. The County also has other separate offices, such as the Health and Hospitals System, the Forest Preserve District and the Public Defender, which are under the President but have varying degrees of separate IT.
All County government offices share wide area network, telecom, data centers and multiple enterprise contracts. BOT is the central office that handles enterprise technology as well as handling all technology needs for Offices Under the President.
Cook County's technology team took home multiple National Association of Counties Achievement Awards in 2024.
For five years in a row, the Center for Digital Government (CDG) named Cook County one of America's Top 10 Digital Counties.
The Center for Digital Government ranked Cook County third in Government Experience in 2024.
Tom Lynch
Tom Lynch serves as the Chief Information Officer and leads the Bureau of Technology, which is an Office Under the County Board President. Lynch leads the entire portfolio of Cook County's application projects in alignment with the County's technology strategy.