TIPS FOR GOVERNMENT IT MODERNIZATION

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.

For more details visit us @http://www.urssystems.com

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THE WAY FORWARD: IT ADOPTION IN A MAJOR WAY TO MOVE TO A PAPERLESS ENVIRONMENT

Information and Communication Technology has played a crucial role in speeding up the flow of information from the government to citizens, transforming the way the two parties interact and communicate. Government bodies have shifted or are in the process of shifting from a traditional paper-based system to a fully automated set-up, with the aim of enhancing transparency and accountability. Telecom tools are being increasingly used in the governance process, not only to perform key functions, but also to provide information in a structured manner. The most important aspect in this regard is e-governance, an IT-enabled route to achieve good governance, as it integrates people, processes, information and technology to enhance the delivery of basic services. For utilities, IT brings resource efficiency gains by managing information flows and analyzing data. Thus, utilities involved in the water, power, piped gas, liquefied natural gas and waste disposal segments are banking on telecom for the effective delivery of services.

At present, government bodies as well as utilities are looking forward to the adoption of new technologies to achieve business goals more readily and cost effectively. They are focusing on strong broadband networks for supporting advanced applications and communication.  The announcement of the Digital India Initiative by the government reaffirms the government’s commitment to creating an enabling platform for the delivery of education, health care, entertainment and e-commerce services to citizens. Apart from connecting rural India through broadband services, the initiative will work towards building a digital governance framework to equip local governments to ensure improved administrative ability, as well as lend transparency to administrative work.

The telecom networks for the government and utility agencies are generally based on IP-wide area network (WAN) connections. Their triple-play service ability makes them a suitable choice for government agencies and utilities, as they provide access to voice, data and broadband on a single platform. They facilitate information flow, support the use of spatial and geospatial technologies, and facilitate the use of remote sensing satellite images for inventory and mapping of resources. They also support technologies such as geographic information systems (GIS). Of late, government organisations have also started deploying ISDN, IP-VPN, Ethernet WAN and multi-protocol label switching (MPLS) services, aside from IP-WAN.

Further, many web-based applications, along with audio- and videoconferencing, are now being used by organisations. Various utilities depend on technologies like optic fibre cable and radio frequency in order to connect with their end-users. With the enhanced operation complexity of the utilities, the use of IT- and software-based applications has also increased. The most commonly used applications in public sector organisations include enterprise resource planning (ERP), customer relationship management (CRM), supply chain management (SCM) and supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA). 

Organization and government bodies are planning to expand or upgrade their IT infrastructure by investing in hardware and software applications. Many organisations have recently expanded their fleet of desktops and laptops, and many others plan to add to them in the near future. With most government organisations being based on the NIC, their decision to adopt IT is not independent. However, this has its upside, since their dependence on the NIC ensures continuous support from IT experts.

IT enablement helps utilities in the power, gas and water distribution sectors to move to a paperless environment, and ensure improved connectivity and increase operational efficiency.

URS Systems provides solutions that are tailor-made for the needs of manufacturing, distribution, retail, hospitality, and services, including customized business software for a comprehensive range of industries and vertical markets. One size does not fit all, which is why the unique “business layers” approach of URS allows our next-generation business software solutions to support the smallest start-up to the largest multinational, as well as the differing complexities in industries from metal fabricators to automotive distributors to general business services firms and cross-channel retailers. Identifying the need to leverage geographic diversity on both the revenue and cost sides of your business, comprehensive, industry-insightful business software solutions from URS enable you to outpace the competition with more effective operations and world-class customer service. 

For more details visit us @www.urssystems.com

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IT “VERY STRATEGICALLY IMPORTANT” TO THE BUSINESS:

Today’s challenging and hyper-competitive business environment offers CIOs a unique opportunity to assume an expanded role as a strategic technology expert collaborating with the business toward greater success, more revenue and happier customers.

It’s in IT’s hands at the moment, but the window of opportunity is closing as lines of business get tech-savvy, spending more of their budgets on IT projects and re-examining the role that IT plays in advising them. IT can either define a new role for itself which embraces this change, or ignore it and risk becoming increasingly irrelevant to the business.

The survey of 1,300 senior IT leaders worldwide revealed 39% of respondents now see IT as a service broker or consultant to the line of business rather than a full-service provider of all IT services; and 35% of IT spending is occurring outside of the IT department today—and that number is expected to grow to 44% in three years. Other disturbing findings show that just 11% see the role of IT as a developer of new, innovative services and only 14% consider IT as a driver of new business initiatives.

IT should want more than to be the keeper of others’ IT investments, on call to fix problems as they arise. IT leaders should use their knowledge, experience and technology expertise to guide the business toward opportunities that otherwise would not exist if not for IT’s innovation.

There has been some progress for IT, with more than 40% in 2013 (versus 35% in 2011) identifying IT as “very strategically important” to the business, but more must be done to solidify IT as the strategic technology leader within the business. The opportunity is now, and this research report will help IT leaders, including CIOs:

• Understand how their role is changing and how to plan for the future;

• Assess how the organization views IT and its contributions to the business;

• Set strategies for the investments required to re-position the role of IT;

• Use technology to measure, quantify and report on the value IT provides to the business;

• Provide guidance on disruptive technologies to drive competitive advantage;

• Evolve their position from IT support to technology strategist.

We’ll help you verify the functionality of standardized interfaces and identify what you need to do to get your multi-vendor network in the best possible shape. We help consolidate, transform and evolve your service delivery platforms into a strong asset that lets you grow, reduce operating expenditures and offer new end-user services.

For more details visit us @www.urssystems.com

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