A Tale of Two Cities
Monday, March 8th, 2010In the government market research study Market Connections released today at the GITEC Summit, Federal IT decision-makers liken their agencies’ speed of technology adoption to that of a Model T. But those cars belonged to another era, and were driven in a city none of us live in anymore. As the pace of change continues to gather speed, the digital divide between government and the rest of the country will only grow, to the detriment of Federal agencies’ relevance, authority and ability to protect the nation’s information and citizens. We need to look strategically at this issue, and soon.
There is an irony to life in the Washington DC region: We are home to the most technologically advanced workforce this side of Silicon Valley. This wealth of knowledge, paired with a highly competitive culture, has long fueled a relentless and highly successful drive to stay ahead of the technology curve. It has made our region’s high-tech firms the envy of much of the world, and the DC Metro area itself an ever stronger magnet for Fortune 500s looking to tap into this energy and expertise. And yet this success stands in stark contrast to the seeming inability of the area’s oldest residents – the federal agencies – to adopt new technology solutions at anything close to the same pace.
It’s tempting to point to the all-too-familiar culprits of bureaucracy, red tape and inconsistent funding in an effort to possibly explain why nearly half of the Federal IT decision-makers in our government market research study (available at www.marketconnectionsinc.com/gitec) lament the backwardness of their agencies compared to the private sector. To be sure, upgrading systems and implementing new solutions is a massive undertaking that takes sustained long-term funding and ongoing training and coordination within and across agencies, as well as between agencies and the (often more advanced) private sector.
But rather than seeing new information technology as a cost, the thinking must shift to it being an investment in greater efficiency and competitiveness that will lead to cost savings down the road. This is surely how the private sector views it. Moreover, in an era where cyber threats to businesses and infrastructure increasingly tie the fortunes of government and commercial organizations together – to say nothing of the safety and security of the general public – the need for a coordinated IT adoption strategy rises to far more than a mere financial calculation.
One way forward is for government strategists to take advantage of the world class expertise headquartered in the same city, and consult with the private sector on adoption of new IT solutions within a comprehensive framework. In a city famous for summits, an IT summit aiming at these goals is long past due.
