2018 Editorial Calendar

GUIDE ABSTRACTS

2017 guides 

Guide: IT Modernization

IT modernization has revolutionized efficiency, convenience and effectiveness for all users. That’s why agencies within federal, state and local government are eager to take advantage of all that modernization efforts can offer. IT modernization for government is more than a hot topic; it’s a must. GovLoop’s recent playbook, “Your Roadmap to IT Modernization” helps you define the types of IT modernization projects out there and steps to plan and implement your agency’s own. Armed with these plays and with a new fiscal year ahead, what are agencies doing to further their various modernization efforts? This guide, IT Modernization: How Governments Do IT, will highlight practical case studies demonstrating the types of IT modernization projects agencies are undertaking and how they achieved success.

Close Date: 1/12/18

Launch Date: 1/26/18

Guide: Cybersecurity

While IT professionals continue to play a leading role in securing government information, cybersecurity depends on every agency employee today. Frontline employees must secure their devices, follow cyber hygiene protocols, and help identify potential insider threats in real-time. Agency leaders must create and enforce robust cyber policies that tackle threats holistically — coordinating across technological, organizational and cultural aspects. This playbook, How to Engrain Cyber Across Your Organization, explores different ways to create an agency-wide culture of cybersecurity. We present effective ways to train employees on best practices, improve cybersecurity awareness throughout your agency and how to take advantage of public-private partnerships to address cybersecurity failures or weaknesses.

Close Date: 2/9/18

Launch Date: 2/23/18

Guide: Digital Transformation

Digital transformation is the next big thing in government. Ranging from analytics to IoT to IT modernization, there are so many different ways your agency can do digital. But digital transformation is more than just keeping up with the latest technology trends and gadgets. For government, it requires serious cultural change within organizations and strong leadership to help workforces adapt to new processes and technologies. In GovLoop’s guide, The Components of Digital Transformation, we’ll explore how agencies can better manage the people, processes and technology involved in digital transformation. We’ll identify specific ways to help your agency’s people adapt to new technologies and processes and include case studies of agencies that are incorporating all aspects of digital transformation into their projects.

Close Date: 3/2/18

Launch Date: 3/16/18

Guide: Innovations Emerging Tech

We live in an age when each day seems to usher in fresh technology. Whether it’s a new application or the latest smartphone generation, our lives are constantly touched by innovation — more frequently, in fact, than at any other point in human history. With all these forward steps, it can be difficult to predict the technologies looming on the horizon. In “Gov Tech: What’s Next?” we’ll break down the government technology climate and report on the day’s most relevant innovations on the horizon. We’ll examine potential advancements in the Internet of Things, GIS mapping and blockchain, to name a few. After all, these are the innovations that will change the way we live and, in some cases, literally save lives. These emerging trends deserve attention.

Close Date: 3/16/18

Launch Date: 3/30/18

Guide: State and Local

IT optimization is a big buzzword among state and local agencies. Many are in the midst of consolidating people, processes and technology as part of a larger plan to optimize their operations. This is no small feat. It requires a well-thought-out approach to change management and a willingness to embrace modern technologies. In this GovLoop guide, The State of Government IT: State and Local Edition, we take a deep dive into the key IT Optimization priorities for state and local governments. The guide will focus on three distinct areas of IT optimization: people, procurement and technology.

Close Date: 3/30/18

Launch Date: 4/13/18

Guide: Analytics

So much data, so little time. That’s why, for a growing number of government agencies, data analytics has become a crucial tool for day-to-day operations and intelligent decision-making. Using analytics, organizations are able to understand the numbers in context. Data analytics allows agencies to glean important insights from massive amounts of data in real time and apply this information to detect fraud, respond to cyber threats or design better services and products for a particular audience. For newcomers, however, actually implementing data analytics can be a confusing undertaking. This GovLoop playbook, How to Effectively Utilize Data Analytics, helps break down the process of introducing data analytics to your organization. This guide will delve into the wide range of tools and technologies available for data collection and analysis, provide suggestions for how best to utilize analytics at all levels of your organization and explain ways to present the data in a coherent and compelling way (e.g. through data visualization and mapping).

Close Date: 4/13/18

Launch Date: 4/27/18

Guide: Cloud

The cloud has fundamentally changed the way government works. It has revolutionized the way agencies store and access data, increase their computing power and create and utilize software. The potential real-world applications of cloud adoption, with its various services and capabilities, are endless. Today, government agencies at the federal, state and local level are increasingly turning to cloud technologies to provide a wide range of services to their communities. This guide, Innovative Ways to Apply Cloud Technologies, offers examples of how organizations across the country are coming up with creative solutions and taking their use of the cloud to the next level. These case studies exemplify the flexibility offered by the cloud and demonstrate how agencies can use the cloud to innovate and advance their missions.

Close Date: 4/27/18

Launch Date: 5/11/18

Guide: Citizen Engagement

Customer service is often discussed in the context of private companies, but government agencies have a huge role to play in meeting the needs of everyday citizens. Whether it’s processing benefits or providing digital resources, citizens expect government to provide services in a timely, efficient and secure manner. Part of the challenge is connecting with citizens in the way that best meets their needs and earning their trust in the process. To better understand how agencies are prioritizing CX and where things are heading, we highlight compelling case studies in our new GovLoop guide, The State of CX in Government. In this guide we explore several examples of how government agencies are improving CX and the technology they’re using to do it, such as self-service options online, social media and artificial intelligence.

Close Date: 5/11/18

Launch Date: 5/25/18

Guide: HR

Human resources is a people-centered endeavor. Nevertheless, technology has a critical role to play in the future of public sector HR. As agencies’ workforces retire and budgets shrink, HR professionals will need robust tools to make them more effective and efficient at hiring the next wave of top-talent public servants. This guide, The Technology of Human Resources, explores the role technology can play in improving government recruitment, onboarding and retention. We’ll identity specific solutions sets that are enabling HR departments to do their job better, and include case studies of agencies that are putting HR best practices in action with technology.

Close Date: 6/15/18

Launch Date: 6/29/18

Guide: Internet of Things

When we hear “The Internet of Things” (IoT), our minds immediately drift to cars driving themselves, refrigerators telling us the milk is running low or smart devices monitoring our fitness goals. But IoT is really so much more. For the public sector, this technology is creating opportunities in everything from public transportation to workplace automation to public safety efforts. Yet, despite the fact that more and more agencies are past the point of asking what IoT is, many questions still linger as to what this technology can do for government. Is IoT really safe? What’s the biggest risk associated with IoT? What would best accelerate the benefits? How can policy help address IoT in the public sector? This guide, “Your FAQ to IoT in Government” will help address all these questions and more.

Close Date: 6/29/18

Launch Date: 7/13/18

Guide: IT Modernization

To help government agencies in their modernization efforts, the House passed the IT Modernization Act in May of 2017, which would provide for a $3.1 billion IT Modernization Fund to help agencies kickstart their modernization efforts. A year later and – with IT modernization being such a top priority for agencies across the federal, state and local level – where does government stand now? In this guide, “State of the Union: IT Modernization,” we’ll discuss the IT Modernization Act, what has happened in current events since its passage and how agencies are doing in their IT modernization efforts. Additionally, we’ll forecast what’s next for government and IT with trends and tips to help you leverage the future of modernization.

Close Date: 7/13/18

Launch Date: 7/27/18

Guide: Cybersecurity

Organizations throughout the country have been undergoing processes of digital transformation in order to keep up with changing customer demands and expectations. A significant part of transformation considerations today involves how to ward off cyberattacks. Cyberattacks are becoming more prevalent and more complex, and no agency is immune to attacks, whether internal or external. This is why governments are increasingly taking a proactive, agency-wide approach to cybersecurity, adopting a number of new security policies and investing in cybersecurity technologies. Cybersecurity Trends to Watch in Government will take a look at current cyber trends, innovations and best practices. We look at how organizations across the country are making cybersecurity a priority and examine the creative ways agencies are balancing operational needs with the implementation of new strategies, protocols and tools.

Close Date: 8/3/18

Launch Date: 8/17/18

Guide: Gov Productivity

Agile, DevOps, scrum, waterfall. The list of project management styles continues to grow. At the same time, the demands on government projects are growing. Shrinking budgets, a smaller workforce, and an influx of regulations means that projects must be executed more strategically, at lower cost, and with fewer people. But, how do you know which management approach is best for your project, department or agency? In “Your Guide to Government Project Management”, we examine the various project management approaches prevalent in the public sector today. We will outline the benefits and considerations for each strategy, as well as tactics to improve efficacy. We’ll also identify resources within and outside government that public servants can use to enhance their own project management strategies.

Close Date: 8/17/18

Launch Date: 8/31/18

Guide: Analytics

Many of the decisions that government agencies make on a day-to-day basis have lasting impacts on the way we live, work and play. Because some of these decisions also have national security implications, agency leaders can’t afford to play guessing games on their effects. This is where the power of data analytics comes in. With analytics, agencies are able collect and examine valuable insights that birth more accurate predictions in a number of areas, including fraud detection, cyberthreat detection and drug overdose hotspots, to name just a few. Given the far-reaching potential of data analytics, some agencies are further along in implementation than others. In this GovLoop guide, “Analytics Now: Effective Use of Government Data Today,” we spotlight several case studies that show innovative applications of data analytics across the country. In each, we explore the project objective, solution implementation, any challenges addressed, resources requirements and measurable results.

Close Date: 9/14/18

Launch Date: 9/28/18

Guide: Communications Best Practices

Conversations about customer service usually revolve around efforts to improve experiences for citizens, whether in-person or virtually. But equally as important is how agencies serve their internal customers: employees. One of the keys to better CX across the workforce is to improve internal communications across the organization. In this GovLoop playbook, Improving the Customer Experience for Employees, we discuss specific plays or steps agencies can use to improve the overall work experience for employees through better internal communications. We also review how technology improves CX by supporting strong employee-manager communications and empowering employees to do their jobs better. When employees are informed, engaged and equipped with the right tools, productivity and CX for external customers improves too.

Close Date: 10/5/18

Launch Date: 10/19/2018

Guide: HR

In early 2018, the federal government began tracking progress on agencies’ attempts to reduce workforce sizes and increase productivity. At the same time, state and local human resources groups have been working to do more with less – recruiting and retaining top talent, even as budgets decline. How are these efforts going? Where are we seeing success and where can more be done? In this guide, The State of the Government Workforce, we examine the tactics and strategies agencies are using to recruit, onboard and retain needed talent. We’ll investigate what progress has been made toward efficiency and productivity goals, and what tools are helping HR personnel get their job done.

Close Date: 10/19/18

Launch Date: 11/2/18

Guide: State and Local

Technology plays an integral part in the way government agencies operate today. Investments in technologies such as cloud computing and automated cybersecurity solutions have quickly become key mission-enablers for city, state and local governments. Emerging technologies like blockchain and artificial intelligence are also taking shape through pilot projects and, in some cases, larger scale implementations. In this GovLoop guide, 7 State and Local Tech Trends to Watch, we review some of the key tech initiatives underway at the state and local levels. You’ll read about technology projects in various stages, including how the technology is being used, what issue it’s solving and what the technology can and will be used to do in the future.

Close Date: 11/2/18

Launch Date: 11/16/18

Guide: Innovations That Matter

In government work, not all publicity is good publicity. No doubt, scandals and budget overruns are the kinds of PR disasters agencies look to avoid seeing in the press. But there are plenty of good things going on in government that do deserve attention. Advancements in medicine, mapping and transit are saving lives, after all. We want people to know about them. In this end of year GovLoop guide, “The 30 Most Important Government Innovations,” we will explore 30 government agencies and programs that are changing the way government works. We’ll explore areas like cybersecurity, the Internet of Things, human resources and so much more. The government is full of innovative ideas and employees, and in this guide we will bring them forward like the front page news they should be!

Close Date: 11/16/18

Launch Date: 12/7/18