Management

Welcome to CapITal

FedTech’s new blog will guide federal IT workers through the business of transformation.

Twitter

Ryan Petersen has worked in publishing for more than two decades, most of it spent creating award-winning content and strategy for CDW’s family of tech magazine brands. As editor-in-chief, he works with his team to develop compelling and useful industry-focused stories to share with the technology world. Outside of work, Ryan enjoys spending time with his children, traveling, online gaming, and following Iowa Hawkeye sports and Cubs baseball.

For the federal government, IT modernization is a challenging process. Some agencies still work with 40- and 50-year-old technology, new equipment costs money that’s not always in the budget, and talented workers are often more attracted to the faster-paced, better-paying private sector.

Even so, the government is still on the cusp of major, transformative change. Agencies work together to break down silos and share ideas about the best path to follow in order to fully bring their IT into the 21st century. Dedicated employees bring imagination and innovation to issues often unique to the federal government.

We recognize that passion, as well as the mission to serve. We know how modern IT can make government more efficient and better serve citizens. And we can help agencies along the way.

That’s the objective of our new CapITal blog — to assist in bridging the existing gaps between agencies and their goals. Change can be tricky to navigate, whether it’s upgrading a system that still runs on COBOL or convincing a reluctant employee the new equipment will make his or her job easier in the long term.

Major government IT trends will be our focus: data center optimization, new cybersecurity strategies, increased mobility, new contract vehicles, data protection, and finding and keeping skilled IT workers.

Agencies Consider IT Modernization a Priority

The topics we’ll cover in this new blog are the outgrowth of major programs driving federal government modernization, including:

The General Services Administration’s Centers of Excellence program, which currently includes the Department of Agriculture and the Housing and Urban Development Department. These agencies are excited to share what they’ve learned about data center optimization, cybersecurity and more.
The initiatives coming from the White House, including the President’s Management Agenda and Cloud Smart, with deadlines designed to keep agencies rolling efficiently toward modernization.
New funding sources such as the Technology Modernization Fund, which has given out nearly $50 million to five agencies to pay for projects that will update applications, improve customer service and replace antiquated equipment.

With $45 billion allocated for civilian agencies and a similar amount for military when it comes to IT spending, the federal government clearly considers technology a priority. As do we — and we hope that CapITal will help agencies better understand the challenges they face.

This article is part of FedTech's CapITal blog series. Please join the discussion on Twitter by using the #FedIT hashtag.