The Challenge: Ineffective Networks

This blog post is an excerpt from our recent report, Maximizing State and Local Government Services With a Modern Network, published in partnership with Cisco Meraki. To read the full report, head here.

One of the greatest challenges that state and local government IT teams face is managing and securing outdated technology. Currently, governments generally lack the coverage and capacity to keep pace with rising bandwidth demands as new apps, devices and users are added to the network. In addition, IT departments often lack budgetary resources but are still expected to improve network reliability, all while staying on top of maintenance requirements.

Without a modern network, it’s nearly impossible for state and local governments to meet growing citizen expectations, security standards, maintenance requirements and more.

Matthew Schaner, Product Sales Specialist at Cisco Meraki, noted that many challenges come from the fact that government IT resources are limited and inconsistent. This not only makes managing isolated on-premises network hardware and software challenging, it also makes manually finding and updating solutions on a regular basis nearly impossible.

“These traditional networks are difficult to secure and troubleshoot, and they increase the likelihood of downtime, leaving them vulnerable to cyberattacks,” Schaner said. “There are just too many things to have to manage and update.”

Cybersecurity is a major concern for government agencies because of the sensitive data and systems they maintain, but staying secure can be difficult with traditional networking infrastructure. Agencies are often unaware of how vulnerable their systems are, and most don’t know where to start to solve the problem.

“Most of the customers that we talk to today are often surprised at how old some of their equipment is, how outdated some of the firmware and software is and how vulnerable they are to security threats,” Schaner said. “It’s difficult to upgrade this old equipment, and most agencies don’t get around to doing it.”

Combined, these challenges make it difficult for governments to provide secure and reliable digital services to citizens.

In our new report, we explore how a cloud-managed network can overcome these challenges, best practices for implementation and how New Castle County revamped its network to improve citizen services. To read the full report, head here.