Tech

IT Solutions with Speed, Savings

When I meet with agency customers, I hear about the struggles we face to get IT acquisitions done efficiently and smoothly. Most government agencies–federal, state or local—face similar acquisition problems: How do we acquire IT faster? How can we continue to find savings? Can you make it easier to acquire mission-critical IT solutions? Can youRead… Read more »

7 Ideas for the U.S. Digital Service

This week it was announced that the U.S. federal government is creating a U.S. Digital Service team led by Mikey Dickerson with a goal to “improve and simplify the digital experience that people and businesses have with their government.” Personally, it’s exciting to hear about the announcement of this division (with some decent staffing fromRead… Read more »

Does Gov Need an Exit Strategy for Facebook?

You want every selfie and status update to get attention from your friends. But are all your friends seeing your posts? If they are, are you engaging them? Government organizations face this same challenge. Given Facebook and Twitter’s popularity in the last few years, federal, state and local organizations have worked to engage people onRead… Read more »

How to Bake in Security

The Federal Information Security Management Act of 2002 (FISMA) mandates very detailed security practices. The National Institute of Standards and Technology has an entire division focused on creating security guidance documents. As security becomes more of a focus the nomenclature of these documents seeps into your daily lingo. FIPS 199 and 200 describe the levelsRead… Read more »

Strategizing for Transformational Change

In response to the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) began a strategic transformation from a law-enforcement to a threat-focused intelligence agency. A case study1 of the progress in the transformation at the FBI shows how strategic resources propelled by inertia, along with theRead… Read more »

How to Start Your New IT Journey

Government needs a way to think holistically about IT, not letting solutions fall into separate silos Technology has connected government to citizens in meaningful ways. With an ability to reach people through a variety of social channels and aggregate more information than ever before, agencies are using data as a means to identify new waysRead… Read more »

Catching Tax Frauds, Innovation

Security clearances were granted or approved for roughly 83,000 Department of Defense (DOD) and employee contractors who together owe more than $730 million in federal tax debt, according to a report by the Government Accountability Office. This bewildered many to learn that the tax cheats were working underneath the government’s own roof. One agency isRead… Read more »

Why We Need More Chief Data Officers

Big data is driving game-changing innovations in both the private and public sector. With the emergence of the Internet of Things (IoT), the shared economy, and advances in robotics, our society is being fundamentally changed by technology and the data generated from that technology. These developments are powering changes in the ways organizations collect, storeRead… Read more »