Tech

It’s a bird, it’s a plane – it’s Superman!…nope, even better: it’s NASA

It’s a bird, it’s a plane – it’s Superman!…nope, even better: it’s NASA. NASA has eyes in the skies, helping to monitor and protect us. Each day, NASA satellites collect and transmit valuable data about environmental conditions on earth, including climate change and the impact of natural disasters. But this information is useless without theRead… Read more »

Digital DIY: Penny Wise and Pound Foolish?

For a host of reasons, many organizations have been taking a Digital DIY (Do It Yourself) approach to pursuing technology initiatives, both externally and internally. Though the motivations for these approaches are understandable and seem logical on the surface, more often than not they are suboptimal strategies that aren’t in an organization’s best interests. ARead… Read more »

The Weakest Link & What To Do About Them

A chain is no stronger than its weakest link, and life is after all a chain. William James To information security professionals, having a strong chain of policy, practice and architecture is indeed, life. The human factor is always the weakest link in any information security program. Why is that? People are our greatest asset!Read… Read more »

Is Strategic Sourcing Money in the Bank for Agencies?

Did you know that one of the biggest procurement programs underway is happening at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)? “The Professional and Technical Support Services Contract Vehicle (also known as Pro-Tech) will be awarded next year for a five-year, $5 billion program. It will deliver a wide array of specialty services in theRead… Read more »

Announcing the Accela App Challenge

At Accela, we’re committed to finding ways to leverage the talents and ideas of civic entrepreneurs and open data hackers to benefit the governments we serve. That’s why we’re excited to announce the Accela App Challenge. The App Challenge offers a total of $25,000 in cash prizes to developers that build a new civic appRead… Read more »

Don’t run your R&D Program in a Vacuum: Establishing a stakeholder input process

[This is the 3rd blog in the series on ‘Exploring Government R&D Program Fundamentals’. Visit Blog 1: Keys to a Successful R&D Program and Blog 2: Setting R&D Program Goals & Principles] Want to know a sure-fire way of shooting your R&D program in the proverbial foot? Fail to engage stakeholders creatively and consistently. It’sRead… Read more »

Before We Turn to Big Data, Have We Made the Most of Small Data?

It seems like everywhere we look, we see big data calling our name. The profession of “data scientist” has been deemed the next hot job. Big data promises to solve all kinds of problems, from business logistics to tracking and treating diseases. These promises seem to have cropped up almost overnight. Think back to fiveRead… Read more »

Cyber Breaches: Hacking into Your Company, Your Home

In 2013 alone, there were 253 cyber breaches of major organizations and over 552 million identities were exposed. 2013: it quickly became known as the year of the Mega Breach. Earlier this week, GovLoop hosted an online training with leaders in the cybertech industry to discuss today’s cyberthreat environment. Kevin Haley, director of security responseRead… Read more »

10 Steps to Create More Resilient Communities

Often when we think about government, we think of a slow, bureaucratic system that cannot adopt quickly to change. But many government organizations have fought through these stereotypes and transformed their agencies into lean and agile institutions, able to meet the complex demands of public sector service delivery. How? Transformative organizations understand that the keyRead… Read more »

Innovations that Matter: The Future of Public Sector IT Consumption [New GovLoop Guide]

It’s hard to believe that, just a few years ago, most government employees could only access email from their primary desktop computers. Even those with the ability to access their enterprise e-mail accounts from other devices could only view new messages; archives were stored locally on their desktops. Now it is possible to check emailRead… Read more »