1 new opportunities 2 using it? 3 effectiveness

What would make IT in government more effective?

The highest rated priorities to make Government IT more effective were: a) comman secure digital platform, b) tools for digitial collection of knowledge, c) on-line community to access information across all agencies, and d) a common approach to cyber security.

A major theme across all responses was a need for standardization of technology to increase opportunties for digital sharing and potentially decrease implementation costs.

Suggestions for the New CIO

People were asked, “If You Could Give Just One Piece of Advice to the New Federal CIO, What Would It Be?” Here is some of what they had to say:

  • Understand that the Federal Enterprise Architecture is not just an IT tool; rather, it is a method by which all key processes can be documented, linked, communicated, and improved.
  • Make IT systems compatible with one another so they can connect and communicate with one another Institute commonality
  • Develop a cost effective and user friendly service for federal agencies to collaborate with external partners.
  • Look for what scientific-based and empirical-studies demonstrate success (vs. the "vaporware" pitches of salespeople) in the Web 2.0 and collective intelligence areas.
  • Be transparent. People know that all news is not good news. When agencies control the information that comes out of them, actively denying that they are involved in anything negative, the general population just thinks that they have something to hide.
  • Find ways for military agencies to securely use Web 2.0 for information sharing and gathering. Even within a single agency, information sharing would be so beneficial.

    • Recommendations

  • If one of the goals of the new administration is to use the best ideas and best practices across federal agencies; a common platform would allow that.
  • APQC recommendations exploration of that option, and a special look at the inherent cyber security concerns.
  • Develop appropriate measures and benchmarks for federal IT services.

    • Resources

  • APQC Best Practice Report - Expertise Location and Social Networking Report (APQC Members Only)
  • APQC's IT Benchmarks for Government