How AI Is Helping Government Companies in San Bernardino Cut Costs and Improve Efficiency

San Bernardino County is turning AI and data into practical tools for California residents - a Digital Counties award winner whose CIO Lynn Fyhrlund has pushed a modern stack that includes a new Business Relationship Management division and upgraded CRM analytics with Microsoft Dynamics 365 to streamline services (San Bernardino Digital Counties profile - Government Technology); developer teams now use GitHub Copilot (cutting project timelines by about 30% and reducing code errors), Wordly provides real-time translation at board meetings, and an Esri enterprise agreement plus the San Bernardino International Airport UAS Center support drone and GIS programs that even power GIS-enabled point-in-time homelessness counts to target outreach and volunteer efforts.

Collaborative projects like Cal Poly's DxHub bring aerial imagery, object detection and citizen-reporting tools to tackle illegal dumping, while an expanded Threat Intelligence team strengthens county cybersecurity.

For those wanting workplace-ready AI skills to support local government modernization, consider practical training like Nucamp's AI Essentials for Work (Nucamp AI Essentials for Work bootcamp registration).

Attribute	Information
Description	Gain practical AI skills for any workplace; use AI tools, write prompts, apply AI across business functions.
Length	15 Weeks
Courses included	AI at Work: Foundations; Writing AI Prompts; Job Based Practical AI Skills
Cost	$3,582 (early bird); $3,942 afterwards - 18 monthly payments available
Registration	Register for Nucamp AI Essentials for Work (15-week bootcamp)

San Bernardino County's move toward AI and modernization wasn't tech for tech's sake but a practical response to real fiscal and operational pressures: elected leaders and staff framed the challenge around multi‑billion budgets and the need to “use data to guide decisions” during recent budget presentations, while watchdogs and analysts point to dramatic budget growth and pension strains that squeeze discretionary dollars - for example, the county budget more than tripled from $2.3 billion to $7.85 billion between 2007 and 2022, placing long‑term obligations front and center (San Bernardino County Adopted Budget and Finance pages; Analysis of San Bernardino budget growth and pension pressures).

With roughly 16% of positions vacant and forecasts warning of economic uncertainty, leaders adopted automation, better CRM and GIS workflows to speed service delivery, reduce manual backlog, and target scarce resources where they matter most - a practical, data‑first strategy to protect core services while trimming costly inefficiencies (San Bernardino budget presentation and priorities (March 2025)).

The Chairman of the Board of Supervisors shall be the general executive agent of the Board. It shall be his duty, subject to regulation and control by the Board, to exercise general supervision over the official conduct of all County officers and officers of all districts and other subdivisions of the County charged with the assessment, collection, safekeeping, management, or disbursement of public revenue; also over all County institutions, buildings and property….

San Bernardino County's developer teams have leaned into GitHub Copilot to shave time off delivery cycles and move more features from backlog into production, with the AI acting as an always‑ready pair programmer that autocompletes code, translates plain‑English prompts into snippets, generates unit tests and even drafts commit messages to speed reviews; Copilot plugs into IDEs like VS Code and can summarize pull requests or tailor answers from internal docs in enterprise deployments, which helps keep audits and accountability intact (Comparison of Microsoft Copilot and GitHub Copilot by Agile IT).

The practical payoff is straightforward: when routine boilerplate and boring debugging are handled by the tool, engineers spend more time on integration, security and citizen-facing features - so residents see improvements sooner - while county IT leaders can pair tool adoption with training and governance outlined in practical local guides (Guide to Using AI in San Bernardino Government 2025).

San Bernardino County has beefed up citizen-facing services by building analytics on Microsoft Dynamics 365 - part of a wider push that created a Business Relationship Management division to turn CRM data into faster case handling and clearer service queues (GovTech profile of San Bernardino County Dynamics 365 and AI-enabled services).

The county is staffing up for that work - hiring Senior Dynamics 365 architects and developers to design cross‑departmental solutions, integrate CRM with ERP and Azure, and put Power Platform tools (Power Apps, Power Automate, Power BI) to work so case routing, knowledge‑base lookups and automated workflows actually reduce manual handoffs (San Bernardino Senior Dynamics 365 Architect/Developer job posting).

Related Microsoft Dynamics projects in the San Bernardino ecosystem show concrete gains too: a Dynamics 365 migration cut 1,800 GL accounts to 300 and shrank data import time from months to seconds, illustrating how modern Microsoft platforms can free staff to focus on residents rather than paperwork (SBCERA Dynamics GP to Dynamics 365 Business Central case study).

Attribute	Detail
Platform	Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM (Power Platform, Azure, SQL Server)
Example role & salary	Senior Dynamics 365 Architect/Developer - $43.52–$59.95/hr ($90,522–$124,696/yr)
Benefit example	SBCERA: GL accounts 1,800 → 300; data import time months → seconds

“Our current system software (Dynamics GP) was 20 years old. It was very clunky and buggy. Dynamics GP could not accommodate all the integrations our pension administration system can do.” - Amy McInerny, CFO, SBCERA

To make Board meetings and emergency briefings genuinely accessible, San Bernardino County has integrated real‑time AI translation tools like Wordly so non‑English speakers can follow proceedings as they happen - reading captions, listening to translated audio, and receiving automated transcripts and summaries that speed note‑taking and decision follow‑up; Wordly's meeting translation platform supports dozens of languages, works for in‑person and virtual events, and sets up in seconds, while simple UX tricks (scan a QR code, put on headphones, and listen in your language) remove barriers to participation.

In fast‑moving emergencies, this live translation model has proven its value - Los Angeles County used Wordly during wildfires to cut through misinformation and deliver timely, translated updates to diverse communities, illustrating how inclusive communication can protect residents and build trust (case study on Wordly use during wildfires in Los Angeles County).

For San Bernardino, that means clearer public input, fairer access to hearings, and better outcomes when every resident can hear and be heard.

San Bernardino's mix of ArcGIS capabilities, drone flights from the San Bernardino International Airport UAS Center, and partner projects that fuse aerial imagery with object detection have turned once‑siloed maps into operational tools that find where help is needed most - from GIS‑enabled point‑in‑time homelessness counts to spotting illegal dumping through Cal Poly's DxHub workflows - and then push those insights straight into casework and field crews; by using an Esri enterprise agreement the county can scale imagery, 3D GIS and remote‑sensing tools across departments with predictable budgeting and built‑in training, while lighter, programmatic EAs make it simpler for municipal teams to provision user types and service credits without a long procurement dance (Esri enterprise agreement overview - enterprise GIS licensing and benefits, Programmatic Esri enterprise agreement for local governments - streamlined procurement).

Drones and IoT are changing routine inspections too, letting technicians and outreach volunteers trade weeks of walking for targeted sorties that deliver high‑resolution photos and automated detections to analysts - so county teams spend less time hunting and more time helping residents (How sensors and drones are transforming routine inspections and public-sector workflows).

Attribute	Example from Esri EA
Key capabilities	Mapping, Analytics, Imagery & Remote Sensing, 3D GIS, Field Operations
Procurement advantage	Multiyear agreements, fixed annual pricing, simplified licensing
Workforce support	Unlimited e‑learning, technical support, discounted instructor‑led training

San Bernardino's point‑in‑time work shows how practical data and simple AI-enabled tools turn a one‑night census into targeted help: volunteers used Esri's Survey123 to collect GPS‑tagged survey forms that feed live maps and help outreach teams prioritize routes and referrals, while county dashboards translate those patterns into casework for HOPE teams and shelter partners (Esri smart surveys for homelessness in San Bernardino).

The approach is already producing results in cities like Redlands - its 2025 PITC found 146 people, down 31% from 2024 - and the county reports a flattening trend overall even as unsheltered counts remain a challenge, so leaders pair these surveys with funded programs, rapid rehousing and coordinated outreach to turn maps into housing placements (Redlands 2025 point-in-time count results, San Bernardino County PITC overview and analysis).

More than 500 trained volunteers and GPS‑enabled forms mean fewer guesswork routes and faster connections to shelter beds and services - small digital shifts that can speed help to individuals in minutes rather than weeks.

Metric	Figure / Note
Redlands PITC (Jan 23, 2025)	146 people - down 31% year over year
San Bernardino County PITC (Jan 25, 2024)	4,237 total (≈ +1% vs prior year); unsheltered +2.6%
Data tool	Esri Survey123 for ArcGIS - GPS capture and digital forms
Volunteer support	500+ volunteers for county PIT operations

“This data shows a flattening of our homeless numbers, which is a promising sign that we are heading in the right direction.” - Curt Hagman, 4th District Supervisor

San Bernardino County has hardened its digital frontline by combining a dedicated Threat Intelligence team and progressive tools like NetBrain automation to turn sprawling network complexity into live, actionable maps - so IT leaders can spot emerging issues across more than 40 departments and respond before outages ripple into citizen services; the county's expanded Countywide Information Security Program and phishing simulations reflect cybersecurity as a top, sustained priority in the 2025 Digital Counties findings (GovTech profile of San Bernardino County, 2025 Digital Counties Survey overview), while the official NetBrain rollout promises real‑time, dynamic network mapping to detect threats, automate troubleshooting, and keep services running for a population of over 2.2 million residents (San Bernardino County NetBrain announcement).

Initiative	Purpose / Key data
NetBrain automation	Real-time network mapping, faster detection & troubleshooting; supports >40 departments
Threat Intelligence & phishing simulations	Expanded Countywide Information Security Program to counter evolving threats
Scope	Population served >2.2 million; >23,000 public service professionals supported

“Our network is as diverse and complex as the geography of San Bernardino County. With NetBrain, we will be able to access real-time maps and signals that show exactly where our resources are needed, helping us to respond proactively and keep our services running smoothly, no matter where the need arises.” - Lynn Fyhrlund

San Bernardino County's AI and modernization push is already producing concrete operational wins: a sixth‑place finish in the Digital Counties awards reflects measurable progress across service delivery, while developer teams using GitHub Copilot report roughly a 30% reduction in project timelines and fewer code errors so new features reach residents faster; upgraded Microsoft Dynamics 365 analytics are streamlining case work and routing to reduce manual handoffs, and programmatic Esri access plus drone workflows speed field inspections and target outreach more efficiently.

Security improvements - an expanded Countywide Information Security Program and a new Threat Intelligence team - are turning detection into action before outages affect services, and even a headquarters move to Colton signals a strategic bet on better access to tech talent.

Together these pieces translate into fewer backlog bottlenecks, faster citizen-facing updates, and a clearer path from pilot to scaled operations, as summarized in the GovTech Digital Counties profile and practical local guides for safe rollout (GovTech Digital Counties 2025 profile of San Bernardino County AI initiatives, Practical roadmap for scaled, safe AI services in San Bernardino).

Metric	Reported outcome
Digital Counties award	Sixth place in largest population category (Digital Counties 2025)
GitHub Copilot	~30% reduction in project timelines; fewer code errors
CRM & analytics	Microsoft Dynamics 365 driving faster case handling and analytics
Security	Expanded Countywide Information Security Program and Threat Intelligence team
Facilities strategy	County headquarters moved to Colton to improve access to tech talent

San Bernardino's experience offers clear lessons for other California counties and newcomers: start small with high‑impact pilots, pair experiments with strong governance, and invest in people as much as platforms.

Practical first steps include identifying one routine pain point (311 chatbots or procurement helpers are common choices), running a measured pilot to prove value, and building policies for transparency, human oversight and risk management as outlined in the Artificial Intelligence Handbook for Local Government - digital government resource (Artificial Intelligence Handbook for Local Government).

Make the benefits tangible - Boston's procurement chatbot and the message that

“you want your firefighters not to be focused on buying gear, but on fighting fires”

show how one successful use case can win broad buy‑in (Strategies for spreading AI throughout local government - Bloomberg Cities report).

Grow capability by training staff, naming internal champions or “AI ambassadors” like Boise did (raising estimated AI use tenfold), and leaning on cross‑sector partnerships and short workshops such as AI‑101 events to scale knowledge quickly (Harnessing AI for Smarter Local Governance - Georgia Tech CEDR).

With clear goals, small wins, and ethical guardrails, counties can cut costs, speed services, and make AI a practical tool - not just a buzzword.

San Bernardino County's early wins - like a sixth‑place finish in the Digital Counties awards - signal a future where practical AI becomes core operations: developer teams running GitHub Copilot (cutting project timelines by roughly 30%), Dynamics 365 analytics tightening citizen casework, Wordly making meetings accessible in real time, and Esri plus UAS programs turning maps and drones into targeted outreach tools; with statewide momentum behind workforce programs and industry partnerships, the county can scale pilots into repeatable services while protecting privacy and resilience (Digital Counties profile of San Bernardino County leveraging AI and data).

California's push to train students and workers through partnerships with Google, Adobe, IBM and Microsoft creates a pipeline of talent that local governments can tap as they move from prototypes to routine delivery (California AI workforce partnerships with leading technology companies), and practical short courses - like Nucamp's AI Essentials for Work - offer a fast, job‑focused way for county staff and local technologists to pick up promptcraft, tool governance, and hands‑on workflows that translate pilots into citizen benefits (Register for Nucamp AI Essentials for Work).

Attribute	Information
Description	Gain practical AI skills for any workplace; learn AI tools, prompt writing, and real‑world applications without a technical background.
Length	15 Weeks
Courses included	AI at Work: Foundations; Writing AI Prompts; Job Based Practical AI Skills
Cost	$3,582 (early bird); $3,942 afterwards - 18 monthly payments available
Registration	Register for Nucamp AI Essentials for Work

“AI is the future - and we must stay ahead of the game by ensuring our students and workforce are prepared to lead the way. We are preparing tomorrow's innovators, today.” - Governor Gavin Newsom