Analytics

Sustainable Employment: Why Government Needs a New Approach

Unemployment poses big challenges for governments and citizens worldwide. Its negative consequences don’t just stop at economies. In addition to lost wages and tax revenues, unemployment also results in negative societal consequences affecting citizen wellbeing and health. Rising rates of unemployment cited in a recent IBM report highlight the urgency of this issue. According toRead… Read more »

How Gov Can Deliver Better Care

According to the Congressional Budget Office, spending on health accounts for nearly 27 percent of the US federal budget. On the state level, a similarly large portion of budgets is dedicated to Medicaid spending. While those staggering numbers highlight a large expense for government, they also represent a large opportunity to cut costs. And accordingRead… Read more »

Data May be Open, but is it Secure?

“It would be false to say that people are happily sharing their data with us.” That’s how the Department of Defense’s Col. Bob Saxon explained his agency’s efforts to open up government data. For all of its potential benefits, open data also presents security risks to those providing the information. From loss of agency confidentiality,Read… Read more »

Your Data Is Crap, And It Isn’t Your Fault

How many agencies are in the federal government? Seems like a straightforward question, right? Well, it depends on whom you ask. Hudson Hollister, Founder and Executive Director of the Data Transparency Coalition, recalled his days working as a congressional staffer for Rep. Darrell Issa and searching for an answer to that very question. “One dayRead… Read more »

Data Analytics Open a World of Possibilities

Astounding. Amazing. Eye-opening. These are the kind of words that David Kushner, Director of Big Data Analytics and Cyber Practice at ViON, used to describe the current state of the world of analytics at GovLoop’s recent data analytics event. “A new world of possibilities is being opened for us,” he stated. “Today is a very exciting time.” According toRead… Read more »

Choosing the Best Data Analytics Tool for Your Agency

This blog post is an excerpt from GovLoop’s recent guide, the Open Data Playbook for Government. Download the full guide here. What separates good data from bad data? Well, a couple of things: How the data is displayed, its accuracy, and useful context about the data are all key. Whether we know it or not,Read… Read more »

How Small Data Can Improve Your Government’s Fiscal Health and Services

“It comes from everywhere. It knows all. … [It] lives in the cloud. It knows what we do.” That’s how big data is described in a “Dilbert” comic strip. While that might sound funny, it’s true that while everyone talks about big data, many people don’t know what it is or does. But it’s actuallyRead… Read more »