Over the decades, agencies'
application environments have evolved into daunting sets of complex and often
interrelated combinations of commercial-off-the-shelf software and homegrown
applications, along with terabytes of data. While these complex, siloed
environments may initially inspire a "rip-and-replace" mentality,
below are five simple tips that can guide government IT leaders on a path to
cost-efficient and incremental IT modernization wins.
1. Know what you have in place by establishing an IT and
enterprise architecture (EA) governance model.
Modernization considerations should begin with an understanding of what's
currently in place within your IT environment. As agencies continue to
consolidate, document, and clean up their data centers, proper governance can
ensure that IT continues to meet the needs of stakeholders well into the
future. Establishing a governance framework can ensure all IT changes are
coordinated and communicated, requests for duplicate services are eliminated,
licensing requirements are met, and solid architecture principles are followed.
It is important to evolve enterprise architecture guidelines with change in
mind. Proper EA tools will help with further audit ability and historical
record-keeping to understand who changed what, when, and why.
2. Prove technology fast and efficiently.
Proving out a new technology that the agency is considering should not take
long. A vendor that suggests more than six weeks for its technology to
demonstrate value within the agency's environment should raise a red flag and
questions. A prove-out period should to be as efficient as possible, so
planning ahead is a must, as well as ensuring that you know what metrics the
"prove-out" will be tracked against. As an organization gains
experience in the process of managing vendor proving phases, taking on bigger
projects becomes easier.
3. Start small.
A greater number of government executives have grown weary of making
significant IT investments before the target solution is proven out in their
own environment with their own data. Agencies should not need to spend millions
of dollars to get started. Most new technologies are great at scaling, so starting
small makes more sense, not only to make sure things work in the agency's
environment, but to set a strong foundation to scale up from there. By starting
with one small project, organizations can tackle larger and more projects as
lessons are learned.
4. Leverage subject-matter expertise from vendors.
There are many great integrators and resellers in the community, and they have
important roles in the ecosystem. But vendors can also bring subject-matter
experts who have been on the front lines of implementations that have and
haven't been successful. These lessons learned are valuable intelligence that
can help your agency adopt best practices. The key is to build a good level of
trust with your vendor partners and demand integrity. Let it be known that
everyone must stay committed to the success they agreed to at the start of any
project.
5. Remember security.
Understanding the security requirements for every component in the agency's
infrastructure is no longer just wishful thinking -- it's critical. Components
with high security requirements should not be combined with low-security
components. Ideally, agencies shouldn't stop at tracking network requirements;
they should include storage encryption requirements, facility-location and ITAR considerations,
and audit ability. Utilizing solid EA tools to plan the lifecycle of
components, ensuring all elements are within current support from OEMs, will
ensure a safe foundation for modernization initiatives. Weak links within an
environment can have a ripple effect on cyber security.
With budget constraints and continuous change being the new
norm for government IT leaders, many are taking action by embracing new and
more productive ways of helping their agencies achieve their respective
missions. By following these five steps, government organizations are sure to
be on the path to fostering long-term value and growth.
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