For all the progress federal agencies have made toward mobile technology, CIOs still long for industry innovation that leads to a secure, virtual solution for devices other than BlackBerries.
The sentiment came through at a panel discussion Tuesday moderated by Rick Holgate at the Telework Exchange’s Fall 2012 Town Hall Meeting in Washington, D.C. Holgate is chief information officer at the Bureau of Alchohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Keep reading →
Data is often compared to water: people talk about data purity, data flow, and of course, data leaks.
One of the ways that companies try to avoid data leaks is through keeping tight control over the pipelines through which data moves, but when most (or all) of an organization’s employees carry smartphones through which they access data, it’s like having a spigot in every pocket. Organizations then face a choice: limit the functionality of devices by restricting their access to data, install technological filters on the devices to minimize the chance of a leak, or trust their employees to safeguard their devices and the data that they either hold or can access, or some combination of the latter two.
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This is the second in a five-part series examining the issues that governments and organizations need to address in the absence of a BYOD policy, originally published by the IBM Center for the Business of Government. For more news and insights on innovations at work in government, please sign up for the AOL Gov newsletter. For the quickest updates, like us on Facebook.
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The race to meet a series of milestones for advancing federal mobility continues to encounter differing expectations and the underlying need for better methods for managing data, according to a group of federal IT leaders in the throes of delivering the Obama Administration’s Digital Government Strategy.
In a White House report issued last month, Administration officials listed a variety of accomplishments in the first 90 days of a year-long set of initiatives, declaring “agencies are making great strides towards putting a solid foundation for a 21st Century Digital Government in place.” Keep reading →
New college graduates entering the workforce this year may have gotten their first iPhone in high school and their first email address in middle school. While the class of 2007 used laptops for research in their dorm rooms, this year’s graduates could fact-check.
Surely, these new hires will have different expectations for the technology employers will provide and how it will be used. Keep reading →
The new computing generation has burst on the federal scene in a big way. The latest manifestation is solicitations coming from two cabinet agencies.
“Seat”, as people called it, meant a contractor would supply to federal agencies a PC and all of the required software and services, charging a per-user, per-month fee.
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This article originally appeared on FedInsider.com. For more news and insights on innovations at work in government, please sign up for the AOL Gov newsletter. For the quickest updates, like us on Facebook.
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Seat management, touted as the biggest thing since computers, went over like a lead balloon. But it turns out, the concept might have simply been ahead of its time.
Today, agencies one by one are putting their productivity applications in the cloud. Separately, they are providing mobile devices or letting employees bring their own under BYOD plans.
Marry cloud and BYOD and you have the 21st century version of seat management. The difference today is the seat can be in someone’s car or kitchen, at the beach or in an airplane.
About those two new request proposals demonstrating what is going on: Keep reading →
Research in Motion’s BlackBerry phones have historically been the device of choice for secure mobile communication in the government market. BlackBerries offered unique business-oriented capabilities but lacked sex appeal to draw consumers to its products. Yet for government agencies that needed to supply their workers with a robust, secure cell phone, the business features won out over giving users a device that was “magical.”
Now with the rise of BYOD (“bring you own device”) in government agencies, RIM is suddenly no longer an appealing option for consumers who are now asked to buy their own device and bring it to work.
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This article originally appeared as a blog on “The New Information Economy.” For more news and insights on innovations at work in government, please sign up for the AOL Gov newsletter. For the quickest updates, like us on Facebook.
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Government technology officials are working urgently to enable federal employees to work using their own mobile devices. That’s in spite of a thicket of management issues and security concerns that continue to hamper their efforts.
Though the path to adoption is proving cumbersome, the rationale is simple: Bring your own device (BYOD) programs are seen as a unique opportunity to reduce agency information technology costs. Keep reading →
In an increasing era of mobile technology and BYOD, federal workers are often juggling work, personal and “classified” lives throughout their days. This can mean several devices with differing degrees of security coming into the government landscape.
While single devices are being configured to address mobile data needs, the cog in that wheel is the individual using the technology, experts say. Keep reading →
Last week I read about a research team at Harvard led by George Church that encoded Church’s next book into the molecules of DNA. As the write-up in the Harvard Medical School web page, said:
“Although George Church’s next book doesn’t hit the shelves until Oct. 2, it has already passed an enviable benchmark: 70 billion copies-roughly triple the sum of the top 100 books of all time.” Keep reading →
The explosion of mobile devices and technologies can be overwhelming to many organizations, especially federal agencies concerned with saving money through increased efficiency while maintaining network security.
A newly released desktop virtualization system focused on the government sector seeks to resolve these issues by providing a scalable, secure, end-to-end capability that can allow organizations to manage a variety of devices across networks. Keep reading →