Does Mobility Matter? Is Implementing the Digital Gov’t Strategy Possible? 4 CIOs weigh in

Mobility is one of the major cornerstones of the Digital Government Strategy. And a new poll shows that 22% of people own at least one tablet device. So clearly the move to mobile is here and here to stay.

And the role of mobility is even more challenging for federal CIOs. They’re being asked to select a MDM/MAS, establish a BYOD policy (or not), make their programs ubiquitious, secure, and have the right people in the right jobs.

So how do they do it? The Federal Mobile Computing Summit brought together four federal CIOs who are working on it.

• Lisa Schlosser, Deputy Federal CIO
• Margie Graves, Deputy CIO at DHS
• Dave Peter, Deputy CIO for Product Development at VA
• Dr. Rick Holgate, CIO at DHS

Federal CIO Steven Van Roekel has set out a three part agenda for implementing the Digital Government Strategy.

1. Promote Innovation
2. Maximize resources by cutting out duplicative programs, waste fraud and abuse
3. Cybersecurity

Schlosser: We have to think about how to innovate with less. 5 years ago we weren’t even talking about cloud computing or mobility like this. The DGS is very forward thinking. It pushes for innovation GSA has opened the Digital Innovation Center. That’s really a great first step. We also put out BYOD guidance. But we have to continue to think about security. It’s essential.

Graves: The real story here is mobile security. We’ve come out with 10.2 plan to accelerate security and 9.1 to adopt basic architecture for security. DHS, DOD, GSA, NIST and other agencies have teamed up to establish a mobile security baseline. MDM, device management, data encryption. We are only at a beginning. But it’s a start. Now that we are six months in we are getting down to a more granular level. We need to make the business case for mobility.

Holgate: I’ve been working at ATF to really adopt the principles of the DGS. The key is collaboration, and not just collaboration with other agencies but collaboration within the DOJ. Collaboration is not instinctive for the DOJ since many of the departments get funding from individual appropriation bills. But we are really working to leverage the collective buying power and take a much broader look at the problem and solutions.

Peter: We have set up a Joint Governance Board where all of our apps filter though. So an app can be created on any platform in any way and we still get the same usability and security because it goes through the board. It’s also how we’ve been able to cut down dramatically on the life-cycle process. Many more agile products.