In police work, the county already has a sophisticated crime data warehouse it developed with IBM, said Petisco, and the IT group is building an analytical model and working on predictive analytics both for crime and for transportation.

FORBES: Miami-Dade's IBM Smarter Cities Program - Great Promise For The Future

He also analyzes prices and fundamental data going as far back as 1982 and has developed a stock-picking system based on which analytical tools work and which don't, depending on country, region or industry group.

FORBES: One ratio does not fit all