The executive order requiring most federal employees to return to the office full time has agencies weighing the costs of IT platforms that can scale accordingly against their potential for disruption.
Agencies need platforms that integrate well with legacy, on-premises solutions while complying with the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program and Federal Information Security Modernization Act.
Most of these agencies will see their budgets cut, which is why the General Services Administration in April announced its OneGov Strategy, granting them easier access to IT tools with standardized terms and pricing. Discounted OneGov agreements have already been struck with Oracle, OpenAI for ChatGPT Enterprise, Amazon Web Services and Google for “Gemini for Government.”
Vendors are clearly pricing solutions to grab market share and test agencies’ breaking points, but the resulting enterprise license agreements are still massive, multiyear commitments to platforms that will need to be retrofitted to work with legacy systems. For instance, because the intelligence community requires highly secure platforms, it has had to test and validate Microsoft Teams and request fixes to comply with its protocols.
CDW Government excels at designing solutions that integrate cloud platforms such as Teams with, say, Cisco’s call control platform or other partners’ scheduling and videoconferencing products for a streamlined digital experience.
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CDW Government’s Solution Engineering Approach to Modernization
Many agencies are looking to use Teams, but the platform doesn’t always play nice with the nearly decade-old telephones and videoconferencing units some have on hand.
Budgets may be tight, but CDW Government can get platforms operational while developing a six- to 12-month roadmap for handing them over to the agency.
While it’s easy to sell a one-off replacement product, CDW Government’s solution engineering approach allows federal IT employees to focus on their day jobs while new technologies are aligned with the agency’s mission and identified use cases such as remote meetings, secure messaging or document collaboration. CDW Government builds the system or application and trains employees to take over.
When it comes to integrations, turning federal employees into subject matter experts on both legacy systems and new technologies is an important aspect of change management that ensures everything is operational from day one.
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Procurement Expertise Is Essential in an Industry Partner
A cloud-first approach doesn’t mean cloud-only: CDW Government can help agencies embrace hybrid cloud. Hybrid licensing pools allow agencies to mix licenses for cost efficiency and flexibility in a hybrid cloud environment.
CDW Government rightsizes licensing per user or department to meet agencies’ needs, and we understand the ins and outs of federal procurement, from requests for proposals to who to look to for sign-offs within an organization.
Some agencies occupy high-rises in D.C. with a dozen large conference rooms, when their staff only requires five-person meeting rooms. Instead of a $2 million refresh of the largest rooms, such agencies can save money focusing on the small ones.
CDW Government also makes a point to deploy solutions with a security mindset. The team not only is familiar with the leading products but also makes a point of learning about the customer’s security portfolio, potential vulnerabilities and accreditation required when implementing solutions. We’ll deploy a new phone system and include a voice firewall to protect the agency from toll bypass or fraud.
The next time a vendor offers its platform at a great discount, just remember the security still needs to be tested to ensure it meets your agency’s compliance requirements.
This article is part of FedTech’s CapITal blog series.
