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Archived Government Notes
Published in 2020
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2020 Puts Cloud Computing in Government to the Test
by adam stone
State and local public-sector agencies have long been making a move toward “cloud first” and now “cloud smart” strategies. COVID-19 gave them the change to prove whether those investments paid off.
The COVID-19 crisis demonstrated state and local government’s ability to shift on the fly. While work-from-home arrangements were sporadic pre-pandemic, government technology leaders quickly and effectively adapted to the new requirements. In Tennessee, more than half of all government employees were teleworking this spring, and in Massachusetts over 90 percent of back-office staff were working remotely.
Cloud played a key role in empowering the rapid transition to new modes of work. Microsoft, for instance, announced in March that use of its cloud-based messaging and collaboration tools had jumped 37 percent in one week, at one point logging 900 million meeting and call minutes a week.
In the COVID-19 crisis, cloud and software-as-a-service proved their utility, their versatility and their scalability. Government and private-sector technology executives say this practical demonstration will accelerate the adoption of cloud and SaaS going forward.
Read full story at GovTech…
first published week of: 09/14/2020
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3 Benefits of Effective Government Cloud Management
by StateTech Staff
Cloud sprawl is a common problem for state and local IT teams and solving it delivers significant benefits.
It’s not at all uncommon for a state or local government’s cloud environment to fall into chaos. In fact, in some ways, cloud sprawl is the inevitable — or, at least, likely — result of an IT model that doesn’t require departments or agencies to invest in physical infrastructure to scale resources.
While some governments, like Arizona or Texas, have enacted a top-down approach to cloud, it’s understandable that many government agencies adopted cloud services as they became available, rather than as part of a preplanned strategy. And it’s also understandable that inefficient manual management processes have persisted as cloud environments have grown, because that’s how most governments have always done things, and many stakeholders weren’t aware of a better way.
Now that cloud environments have begun to mature, however, the failure to rein in sprawl and institute effective management practices represents an enormous missed opportunity. While it can be difficult to step away from the day-to-day challenges that inevitably pop up in IT, it is essential for government IT teams to take the time to map out a comprehensive cloud strategy, explore tools that will ease management burdens and implement effective policies and practices. By investing time — and, perhaps, money — now, governments can limit problems and see benefits far into the future.
In particular, effective cloud management can help organizations achieve the following:
Read full story at StateTech…
first published week of: 01/27/2020
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3 Benefits of Effective Government Cloud Management
by state tech staff
Cloud sprawl is a common problem for state and local IT teams and solving it delivers significant benefits.
It’s not at all uncommon for a state or local government’s cloud environment to fall into chaos. In fact, in some ways, cloud sprawl is the inevitable — or, at least, likely — result of an IT model that doesn’t require departments or agencies to invest in physical infrastructure to scale resources.
While some governments, like Arizona or Texas, have enacted a top-down approach to cloud, it’s understandable that many government agencies adopted cloud services as they became available, rather than as part of a preplanned strategy. And it’s also understandable that inefficient manual management processes have persisted as cloud environments have grown, because that’s how most governments have always done things, and many stakeholders weren’t aware of a better way.
Read full story at StateTech…
first published week of: 04/06/2020
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3 Steps to Bridge the Gap Between Central IT and State Agencies
by Bill Hirsch
IT teams need to embrace strategies and technologies that encourage and support both collaborative efforts and autonomous operations.
Here’s a riddle: How do you bring two completely disparate teams with the same objective together, yet still keep them completely separate?
For central IT and agency IT administrators, this isn’t a trick question; it’s a real challenge. Both groups want to provide citizens with better services more quickly, and they depend on each other to deliver upon this objective.
Unfortunately, from an agency perspective, that dependence can also be a hindrance if it takes six months to procure new functionality from central IT. This can lead agencies to seek out their own solutions, which may or may not comply with central IT’s policies.
A better approach is for central IT and agency IT administrators to adopt methodologies, strategies and technologies that encourage and support both collaborative efforts and autonomous operations. Here are three steps to make this happen — as I learned firsthand working with one state who accepted the challenge to build a more efficient application platform.
Read full story at StateTech…
first published week of: 06/01/2020
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4 Considerations for Building Public Wi-Fi Networks
by mike chapple
Addictive Tips
Cities should contemplate these factors when establishing public wireless access.
Free public Wi-Fi networking is no longer a luxury; it’s a basic expectation of consumers in a wide variety of venues. People expect coffee shops, libraries, airports and hotels to offer reliable, high-speed network access with minimal barriers. Those expectations are now evolving, with people beginning to expect free Wi-Fi access in public spaces. Cities around the world are stepping up to meet this need through the deployment of open municipal wireless networks.
Major cities certainly lead the way, with deployments in New York, Indianapolis and Pittsburgh, but many smaller cities are also getting in on the game. South Bend, Ind., Akron, Ohio, and Statesville, N.C., are just a few of the dozens of cities supporting open wireless networking projects. Many more cities are in various stages of considering or deploying new networks.
Read full story at StateTech…
first published week of: 04/13/2020
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7 Traits of Tech in the New Work Reality
by roberto torres
Technology shapes the changes in work processes, serving as a backbone for contact tracing apps, remote work and the migration of in-person processes to the digital space.
The plans executives designed at the start of the year now look different for the rest of 2020. Next year, too, is uncertain as coronavirus spikes spark questions about when some normalcy will return.
In determining new priorities, tech executives seek alignment with business goals. IT budgets are set to grow for 56% of companies, according to data from Xerox. On executives' shopping lists is the technology that can move operations forward, including cloud-based systems and collaboration tools.
"Digital transformation is no longer a luxury, it's a necessity," said Nancy Coblenz, CEO at Rebel Role Model, speaking Thursday at a Women in Tech Virtual Summit session.
Read full story at CIO Dive…
first published week of: 07/27/2020
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8 Tips for Government on Working from Home and Staying Sane
by Dustin Haisler
Dustin Haisler's work-at-home desk
( Dustin Haisler
)
For the past decade, my physical office has been split between Austin, Texas, and an airplane flying above the U.S. My public-sector background taught me a lot about remote and distributed work. Here are my top strategies.
1. Keep the morning routine
Keep your normal morning routine just like you are planning on going to your office, including wearing what you would normally wear. There are many conveniences of working from home but keeping your normal routine and dressing for the occasion will help you stay mentally focused on your tasks for the day.
2. Overcommunicate
We’re used to being able to reply to emails or other communication "in-person" when we walk by an office or see someone at a different meeting, but now it’s important to more effectively communicate virtually. This doesn’t mean you should overwhelm someone’s inbox with simple "OK" replies, but for example, if someone requested something from you and you need more time to work on it, reply and say: “Received, will have to you by end-of-day tomorrow.” …
Read all eight tips at GovTech…
first published week of: 04/06/2020
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A Cyber Thread Runs Through Government Future Assessments
by Robert K. Ackerman
The office tasked with keeping Congress abreast of advances sees innovation emerging from several areas.
The future of U.S. technology, if the federal government has its way, likely will be cyber-heavy with innovative breakthroughs erupting from several areas, according to the office charged by Congress with assessing things to come.
These areas include seemingly mundane concerns such as telecommunications and digital ledger capabilities, along with more advanced issues such as artificial intelligence and quantum systems.
Many of these disruptive technologies have policy ramifications either in their development or their implementation. The federal government must consider aspects such as regulatory issues, privacy, economic competitiveness and security requirements.
Read full story at Signal…
first published week of: 11/02/2020
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Advancing Drone Technology Innovation in Government
by joe mariani and peter liu
These best practices can help drone technologies ‘spin on’ and go from government to industry and back again.
For decades, government led the way on the development and use of new technologies. Everything from high-performance jet engines to GPS were spin-offs from the government into the commercial world.
Today, there is a similar emphasis on government “spinning in” commercial technologies to improve its own operations. However, the transformational benefits of new technologies may not come solely from either a spin-in or spin-off alone.
Rather, “spinning on” may be the key — that is, adopting technologies that initially emerged from government before being refined and expanded in commercial industry and then brought back into government use.
Read full story at FedTech…
first published week of: 10/05/2020
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Amazon Asks Court to Pause Microsoft's Work on Pentagon's JEDI Contract
by Jeffrey Dastin, Reuters
Amazon.com Inc said on Wednesday it filed a motion in court to pause the U.S. Department of Defense and Microsoft Corp from carrying out an up to $10 billion cloud computing deal until a court rules on its protest of the contract award.
Amazon, originally considered to be the favorite to win the award, had indicated last week that it would file a temporary restraining order to require the Pentagon and Microsoft to hold off beyond initial activities for the contract.
Read full story at Reuters…
first published week of: 01/27/2020