ELC

Best Of 2011: Future Of Mobile Technology Takes Shape – As A Cube

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This is one in a series of articles highlighting Breaking Gov’s best stories of the past year. As we reflected on our 2011 coverage of innovation, technology and management amongst the federal agencies and workforce, this was among the stories that stood out as delivering key insight into the top issues facing today’s government community.

The past year has seen significant buzz with regard to how technology can change the business of government. Mobile technology, in particular, appears to hold significant promise for increased efficiency and a more enabled mobile workforce. Keep reading →

 /  Published December 27, 2011 at 7:00 AM

‘A Thousand Cuts’ – The Administation’s Campaign To Cut Waste

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Government Executive magazine’s cover story, “A Thousand Cuts,” by Joseph Marks, paints a graphic picture of what it is like to be in government today. Here’s a list of the various directives that direct many of these cuts.

President Obama’s Campaign to Cut Waste was launched in June 2011, but it started earlier than that. It was presaged in his 2011 State of the Union address, when he said the government needed to be reorganized. While that hasn’t happened yet, there are a number of initiatives federal managers have been inundated with to develop plans and implement. Keep reading →

 /  Published November 21, 2011 at 8:58 AM

GSA Initiates New Telework Policy; Lessons In Hoteling and Hot Desking

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The General Services Administration instituted a new governmentwide telework policy Monday that essentially flips the managerial presumption that employees cannot telecommute to one that presumes they can. It also sets a new benchmark in detailing the government’s mobility and telework guidelines for federal employees and supervisors.

“Work is what we do, not where we are,” the GSA policy states, and a phrase that GSA Administrator Martha Johnson often repeats in her public remarks. Keep reading →

 /  Published November 1, 2011 at 1:51 PM

Federal Workforce Faces More Mobile Future But Less Office Space

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The concept of telework and mobility in the federal workplace will go far beyond having just laptops as agencies plan for the future, said General Services Administration CIO Casey Coleman at a panel discussion on mobility at the Executive Leadership Conference in Williamsburg, Va.

“For us, the business case for mobility is not about just the [return on investment] on the IT investments; it’s really about the ROI on the initiative of the business of the whole agency,” Coleman said. Her remarks were captured in a story reported by Federal Computer News. Keep reading →

 /  Published October 27, 2011 at 3:31 PM

People Will Power Technology Innovation In Government

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Technology holds massive cost-saving potential, but the bleak budget outlook means engaging stakeholders and building solid relationships along with high-level leadership will be the most important factors in achieving innovation in government.

Technology innovation discussions at this week’s Executive Leadership Conference touched on the usual suspects — data center consolidation and the cloud – and the anticipated cost savings. Keep reading →

 /  Published October 27, 2011 at 8:00 AM

DHS To Introduce Bundled ‘Workplace As a Service’

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The Homeland Defense Department will begin testing a new way of provisioning desktop and mobile computing services to employees, using DHS’s private cloud computing services, DHS Chief Information Officer Richard Spires said Tuesday.

The new service will enable employees to order “a virtual desktop capability, with a series of mobile devices–tablets, smartphones–bundled where you pay a fee per user for month,” he said. Keep reading →

 /  Published October 26, 2011 at 9:36 AM

Government Innovation Can Happen On Any Budget

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Whether it’s building a workforce, expanding health IT or integrating ideas to achieve common goals across defense agencies, the need for results-oriented programs on rapid timelines will drive innovation despite dwindling finances.

To do so, however, may mean thinking far beyond the best practices government typically lives by. Keep reading →

 /  Published October 25, 2011 at 12:30 PM

Future Of Mobile Technology Takes Shape – As A Cube

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In the next four years, wireless carriers will need to find a way to transmit more than 30 times the volume of data than their networks carry today.

How they’ll succeed in meeting that demand, given the world’s rapidly increasing dependence on wireless communications and the limits of available spectrum, represents one of the great challenges for engineers. It’s also a central question for business and government executives planning for a more enabled mobile workforce. Keep reading →

 /  Published October 25, 2011 at 11:34 AM

Reflections At ELC: Why Klososky’s Keynote Missed The Mark

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COMMENTARY:
It is always a pleasure to attend the Executive Leadership Conference (ELC) in Williamsburg, VA, sponsored by ACT-IAC, and this year has been no exception. It gives me the opportunity to mingle with many people I have gotten to know and enjoy interacting with over the years; to enjoy the interesting historical settings of Williamsburg, Jamestown, and Yorktown; and of course, and to learn about new issues.

One of those opportunities was Sunday evening’s keynote speech by Scott Klososky, a founder of a number of companies, and currently an Advisory Board Member, for Critical Technologies. Klososky’s talk highlighted a few technology issues facing the federal government and associated conversations. Keep reading →

 /  Published October 25, 2011 at 6:02 AM

Government Agencies Need To Move To The Front Of Mobility Wave

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Federal agencies trying to plot their path toward a mobile future need to be willing to say “yes” to pilot programs even if the outcomes are hard to predict, said Veterans Affairs CIO Roger Baker today in a panel discussion at the Executive Leadership Conference.

But even if agencies move forward to embrace mobile technologies, they must also resolve,” How do we work around interagency silos to share these services,” said Gwynne Kostin, director mobile, GSA Office of Citizen Services and Innovative Technologies. Keep reading →

 /  Published October 24, 2011 at 11:42 AM