Yearly Archives: 2013

Five ways to get value out of Big Data in 2013

“Fewer than 15% [of senior finance executives] are confident that they get helpful information for making decisions about the future.” – Corporate Executive Board, March 2012 In addition to the fact that Chief Executives feel as though they lack data for good decision-making, over 40 percent of CFOs rate themselves as ineffective in their questRead… Read more »

GIS in the Cloud

From the private to the public sector, organizations are quickly making the transition to the cloud to streamline processes and reduce costs. The cloud is also becoming increasingly more important for GIS professionals. This is because cloud computing offers an alternative to traditional methods of consuming GIS services, allowing consumers to access GIS maps andRead… Read more »

The Scoop on GSA Schedules

GSA schedules, also referred to as the Federal Supply Schedules (FSS) or Multiple Award Schedules (MAS), are lists of prequalified suppliers in their respective areas of discipline, who will have submitted their price lists and other qualifying information to the government in the form of a GSA proposal. GSA vets companies to provide to theRead… Read more »

Need for Mobile Productivity and Collaboration Driving Federal Cloud Deployments

If you’re in the government sector, new cloud services and products are likely in the plans for 2013. Cloudmomentum continues to build according to InformationWeek Government’s third annual Federal Cloud Computing survey, which showed that half of its agency respondents are currently moving ahead with cloud adoption or are in the early stages of doingRead… Read more »

The Babel Effect

Transmitting what’s in our mind into the consciousness of someone else is tricky at best. Individuals process new information by comparing to what they’ve experienced and know. Think a child asking is ‘this’ like ‘that’ when exposed to something new. We offer examples to help others understand, but since we are unique – no oneRead… Read more »

Have All Presidents Been Inspiring Speakers? 4 Insights from Inaugural Addresses

Margaret Perlis wrote a great piece in Forbes entitled, “8 Public Speaking Lessons From 57 Inaugural Speeches: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.” After reading through every inaugural speech over the past 228 years (and finding that it was “like eating a head of raw broccoli … very substantive, but tough to get through.”),Read… Read more »

Inauguration Bite: 4 things you can do to deal with the transition

Today is Inauguration Day and no amount of prep work can prepare anyone for the tremendous amount of changes that the administration will face in the upcoming months. Cabinet secretaries will be confirmed. Policies will be unveiled. And the new 113 Congress will get down to governing. So what can you do? The career fedRead… Read more »

Across the Threshold: Evolution of the White House “We the People” Open Government Platform

Mark Drapeau (Washington, DC) — Today is inauguration day in Washington, the day when Barack Obama is sworn in as President of the United States for another four years. In 2009, when this happened for the first time, the outgoing George W. Bush administration staffers were in many cases replaced by people with social mediaRead… Read more »

TSP Talk – Weekly Wrap Up

More gains for the stock funds last week as this 5-day chart looks a lot like the prior week’s 5-day chart. Everyone is aware of the upcoming debt ceiling negotiations, yet the market continues to climb the proverbial “wall of worry.” Here are the TSP fund returns for the week of January 14 through JanuaryRead… Read more »

Attending the Emergency Management Institute

Last year a neighboring community applied for a grant to attend a week-long class – E930: Community Specific Integrated Emergency Management Course – at the Emergency Management Institute (EMI) in Emmitsburg, Maryland. After hearing they received the grant, they invited other agencies to attend with them. Fortunately I was one of the people invited andRead… Read more »