Federal IT Needs A Culture Shift

May 22, 2019 by Leave a comment

Tom O'Keefe

By Tom O’Keefe, Consultant

At many of the events I’ve been attending around the beltway lately, a common theme in federal IT keeps coming up – culture as an impediment to change. Many of the CXOs I hear speaking all mention that to modernize outdated federal systems, the culture within an agency and around its technology has got to change.

That’s not to say that agencies are dismissive of their workforce, or that they don’t value their employees – on the contrary, many leaders recognize that their teams are the most valuable resource they have. But to transform federal IT, to unlock the value of data and to fully embrace the move to the cloud, agency IT leaders know they need to drag their workforce kicking and screaming into the 21st century.

At AFCEA Bethesda’s Law Enforcement and Public Safety Technology Forum, Sonny Bhagowalia, Deputy Assistant Commissioner, Office of Information Technology at Customs and Border Protection, highlighted the five things that federal IT leaders need to take into consideration: Read more of this post

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Government Health IT and the Promise of AI

May 9, 2019 by Leave a comment

Lloyd McCoy Jr.

By Lloyd McCoy, Market Intelligence Manager

The government’s health agencies want you to know that they need your help proving out use cases and applications for artificial intelligence and machine learning. That was one of the main takeaways from last week’s Federal Healthcare Day where the Department of Veterans Affairs and National Institutes of Health convened with industry partners to talk about advancements and opportunities.

Artificial intelligence adoption in government has the potential to spread faster than in the private sector. Because of the government’s scale, spend (about $1 billion will be spent on health-related artificial intelligence research this year) and breadth, a success story in one agency can spread rapidly to other areas.

There are three main areas where government hopes to take advantage of artificial intelligence:

I. Managing the Data Tsunami

‘Data tsunami’ is a term you may have heard before within the context of big data. The healthcare sector is probably a close second to the military in terms of data generation and consumption. NIH funds hundreds of thousands of researchers, each with their unique computing and storage needs. Making sense of large data sets in hybrid cloud environments is a massive undertaking and NIH wants to leverage AI so that the data and insights are accessible, interoperable and reusable. Given the fluid nature of both the research and clinical side of health, it’s hard to model what the demand is going to be. If you’re in the analytics space, note that the health agencies want to partner with vendors who are in it for the long haul. Show that you can handle uncertainty in storage and data consumption.

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DOD Space Organizations: What IT Companies Need to Know

May 1, 2019 by Leave a comment

Stephanie Meloni

By Stephanie Meloni, Market Intelligence Manager

DOD has made it clear: the space domain is a huge modernization priority. Concern over peer adversaries’ capabilities and adverse effects are a concern in every domain—sea, land, air, cyber—and space.

So many critical U.S. assets are hosted in space, and an attack on them would be potentially devastating. Because satellites are so vital to the technology we use in daily life, lawmakers and DOD leadership want to ensure that their ability to operate is better protected. As such, DOD has requested a 17% increase to the portfolio of space programs, bringing the total to $14B for the FY2020 budget request.

What DOD has not made quite clear–because there are still so many details to be worked out, many of them dependent on lawmakers–is exactly how its proposed and existing space organizations will align to support the goal of advancing U.S. space capabilities. Here’s an overview and status of the organizations DOD is looking at to strengthen the space domain. Read more of this post

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Smart Cities to Watch Part 2: Denver and Richmond

April 24, 2019 by Leave a comment

By Rachel Eckert, SLED Manager

In my last blog post, I looked at smart cities initiatives in Boston and Atlanta. This time, we’ll take a look at what’s happening in two more forward-thinking cities: Denver and Richmond.

Before we do that, however, it’s worthwhile to revisit the three things you’ll need to keep in mind as you build an ongoing relationship with decision-makers in those cities:

Align your solutions to each city’s goals. To become a long-term service provider in the smart cities landscape, you need to show that your technology can help provide better, more efficient services.

Tie your technology to the delivery of citizen services. Technology doesn’t exist in a vacuum. Make sure that you can explain how your technology can improve services to citizens and the value it brings to the city.

Strategic partnerships are key. Smart cities need to technologies to integrate with other platforms and applications. Partnering with vendors that provide complementary applications and platforms will offer an integrated solution that city decision-makers will find compelling. Read more of this post

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Data Centricity: The Heart of Federal IT

April 17, 2019 by Leave a comment

Tom O'Keefe

By Tom O’Keefe, Consultant

If there’s been a common theme I’ve been hearing lately, it’s data centricity.

It’s a fundamental shift in federal IT that’s been building for a few years that could have broad implications for the types of technology investments agencies will look to make in the future. Federal agencies are beginning to realize that not only is data their core asset, they know they need to make start making investments in the stewardship and utilization of that data. It’s not enough to just have data or protect data, that data needs to be operationalized and transformed from data to knowledge to action – and support the execution of the mission.

At an AFCEA Bethesda breakfast I attended in March, speakers from the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security affirmed the increasing understanding within their agency of the value of the data they capture throughout the course of their operations. It’s fair to note here that agencies have been talking about making better use of their data for years, but much like we’ve seen the slow and steady progression to cloud adoption, I believe we’re seeing a steady progression toward realizing the importance of data and turning it into actionable intelligence to enable the mission. Read more of this post

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Smart Cities to Watch Part 1: Boston and Atlanta

April 10, 2019 by Leave a comment

By Rachel Eckert, SLED Manager

According to IDC, U.S. spending on smart cities initiatives may reach $26 billion by 2022. That spending will encompass a combination of services and assets, with support from software and connectivity.

When entering this market, here are three things to consider:

Focus on the city’s goals and align your solution accordingly. Cities are trying to deliver better, more efficient services. Focusing on delivering that improved service goes a long way to show your desire to be the city’s long-term solution partner.

Develop strategic partnerships. For long-term success, smart cities applications and pilots need to be integrated with other platforms and applications. Seek out partners working on complementary applications and platforms and present the city with an integrated solution.

Align your technology to the delivery of services to citizens. Smart cities technologies need to deliver improved services to the citizen. Ensure that your technology delivers that outcome.

With that said, here’s what’s happening in two leading smart cities: Boston and Atlanta. Read more of this post

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Accelerating Growth in a New Era of Government Procurement

April 8, 2019 by Leave a comment

By Tim Larkins, Senior Director, Market Intelligence and Corporate Development

Government is evolving both in how it does business and in its approach towards technology. It’s changing procurement strategies, changing the way it pays for IT capabilities and changing the types of technology it buys.

Government’s focus has shifted from technology for its own sake to optimizing performance – making sure that its business and operations are functional and efficient. Customers are looking to develop integrated solutions that help them accomplish their missions – a much more business-oriented engagement.

Procurement now has a much stronger emphasis on flexibility and consumption-based models. The mandate of the Lowest Price Technically Acceptable (LPTA) as the primary procurement strategy is shifting to one of mission effectiveness through of best-of-breed technology. LPTA ultimately led to a “race to the bottom” approach from industry, as companies were forced to commoditize their products, resulting in government buying what’s cheap – not what’s best.

In light of the ever-evolving technology procurement landscape, immixGroup wants to ensure that our suppliers and partners are positioned in a way that they can adequately service their public sector customers – not just today, but well into the foreseeable future. Read more of this post

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