Today in government, gencies are transforming the way they work by investing in digital technologies. Beyond just automating processes, digital transformation agencies are working with cloud, data analytics, and the Internet of Things, improved customer experiences and the security necessary to protect it all from attackers.
But although digital transformation uses cutting-edge technology, it is not primarily about the technology; rather, it’s about using technology to drive fundamental changes in business processes to achieve ambitious goals. And one of the bases of achieving those goals? Making sure you have the network that can handle the digital transformation needed.
That was the topic of the talk by Chris Dedicoat, Cisco’s Executive Vice President, Worldwide Sales and Field Operations, at GovLoop’s recent event, The Power of Collaboration in Government. As Dedicoat pointed out, private and public sector organizations globally are seeing enormous changes for two reasons: one, the economic model of cloud. The second? “The principle that technology has become cheaper and cheaper and the amount that is available in open source and microservices will rapidly change the pace in which innovation will take place,” Dedicoat said.
Another driver? The coming of the Internet of Things. “The Internet of Things is upon us,” Dedicoat said. “In the third quarter of 2016, for the first time in history, connected things outnumbered mobile phones or computers or tablets being connected to the internet.”
These things cover every single industry and are being added at a fast pace, Dedicoat said. “They’re there to provide information and to do things that were historically done differently with different processes before. And Cisco’s prediction is that 500 billion devices will be connected in the next 10 years.”
The Internet of Things continues to enable digital transformation for cities, counties and states across America. As a result, residents are reaping a variety of benefits such as improved parking and traffic, enhanced safety due to lighting and cameras, and shortened emergency response times thanks to connected vehicles and video triage systems. Looking in from the outside, it’s easy to see the connectivity, collaboration and creativity in action. But it’s what you don’t see that makes these solutions a viable reality for the public sector. Because behind the scenes of every smart, connected innovation, there is a stable – and secure – network with the ability to efficiently analyze the immense amount of data being collected and processed.
“These 500 billion connected things won’t have a lot of compute power or storage because they must be so simple and thin,” Dedicoat said. “So the network must be the one that provides that power and intelligence.”
That’s where Cisco can come in. Dedicoat noted that regardless of how government walks down their path toward digital acceleration, they must have develop a reliable, secure network. Just as you build a home first by building a strong foundation, you must also create smart communities, states, and countries with the critical network architecture to support it; one that encompasses security everywhere.
Dedicoat said that a digital-ready infrastructure has 4 attributes—it’s secure, automated, simple, and intelligent. Cisco makes things simple by providing cloud-ready products and services with flexible consumption models. Their infrastructure solutions provide intelligence at the edge and help unlock the value of data so government can make faster, better decisions. Cisco also provides efficiency and agility through its automated services. Finally, their solutions also secure your infrastructure from end to end, enabling the trust that’s essential for fueling collaboration and innovation.
Once you have security, automation, simplicity, and intelligence built into your foundation, government will truly be ready to take on digital challenges and deliver better services to citizens, Dedicoat said.
This blog post is a recap of GovLoop’s recent event in partnership with Cisco, The Power of Collaboration in Government. For more recaps, click here.
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