It seem like everyone in government is either talking about the saving virtues of mobility or the death of security. Bring your own device or protect your networks.
Either way, there’s a lot of talk going on but not a lot of actual solutions.
So when Chris Dorobek moderated the AFFIRM Panel on Mobility he set out to get some detailed solutions the government is working on.
The All Star panel included: Sean Carroll, Chief Operating Officer, USAID. Dr. Emma Garrison-Alexander, Chief Information Officer, TSA. Lloyd Griffiths, Dean, Volgenau School of Engineering, George Mason University. Avi Bender, Chief Technology Officer, U.S. Census Bureau. Phew, that’s a lot of mobility power.
Listen to what the panel had to say.
AFFIRM Mobility Panel by cdorobek
Some big takeaways:
- Avi says the current mobile technology has the power to fundamentally change the business world, not just the individual device, but the way agencies acquire products and services for the government is fundamentally changing too. He says the Census Bureau conducts a lot of expensive surveys, but the power of the internet and mobile technology is making it more affordable.
- Sean says USAID has 10,000 employees working in 100 countries around the world — a very mobile workforce. But Sean says they are not as mobile as they should be. His vision for the future — every staff person has all information at all time from anywhere.
- Emma says, most TSA employees are not the traditional federal worker sitting in an office at a computer. She says most of their workforce is physically on the move. The TSA’s mobility mission is to not work to support technology but the other way around.
- Loyd says his role is more about educating the workforce. He has helped change George Masson’s curriculum to get students more involved with internships in their junior year. The real advantage is students are able to bring back knowledge to the university to help make the program stronger.
GovLoop has been buzzing about mobility in the past couple of weeks too. Check out some of these great posts: