The Defense Department Cloud Computing Strategy, Homeland Security Iris Scans, and More

Here is today’s federal cybersecurity and information technology news: The Department of Defense has released its Cloud Computing Strategy for transitioning to cloud services. More here. The Department of Homeland Security is exploring biometrics such as iris and facial scans for uses from law enforcement to the Trusted Traveler Program. More here. The Department ofRead… Read more »

How Public Hearings Can Distort Decision Making and How Online Forums Can Mitigate this Distorting Influence

Public hearings are often the most influential channel for feedback to government decision makers. Therefore it’s problematic that this influence is frequently distorted by public hearing feedback that is not representative of the views of the majority of a community. This distorted influence is caused by three dynamics: (1) a spectrum of impediments to civicRead… Read more »

DISA Cloud Computing Panel & HP Intel POD Tour

HP’s Rob Owen provides a tour of the HP Intel POD (Performance Optimized Datacenter) at DISA 2012. Cloud Computing Panel at DISA 2012, hosted by GovLoop’s Steve Ressler, featuring HP’s Jeff Bergeron, Microsoft’s Susie Adams, and VMWare’s William Rowan Panel summary with GovLoop’s Steve Ressler and HP’s Jeff Bergeron Cloud Computing Panel at DISA 2012Read… Read more »

Seeing the Building Wave: Using Challenges to Spark Innovation in Government

By Joseph Semsar, Associate Consultant Last week, I had the pleasure of listening in on a joint conference call between the National Association of State Chief Administrators (NASCA) and the National Association of State Procurement Officials (NASPO). The call marked the first time these national organizations — which both work to make state governments moreRead… Read more »

Oklahoma’s First CIO Speaks to Procurement and its Effect on Innovation

With even greater attention focused on government expenditures, the need to acquire services for the lowest cost is increasingly in the spotlight. Innovation in information technology, however, may be suffering as a result of the procurement process. In this interview, Alex Pettit, the current Chief Information Officer for the state of Oklahoma, discusses with ChrisRead… Read more »

Crowdfunding

Crowdfunding is a technique commonly utilized by software designers and programmers to amass enough financial support to create a new application or tool. However, in its most essential form, crowdfunding combines the spirit of collaborative innovation with the economic muscle to produce tangible results, and therefore can be applied to other industries and pursuits withRead… Read more »

Balancing Innovation and Cost-Cutting

Why are workers keen to cut costs? In an economy when many companies have abandoned hiring, those who still have jobs find themselves overworked, but keen to keep their paychecks. As a result, many companies have begun using innovation management software to pick the brains of their employees to come up with ways to shortenRead… Read more »

WIC Program Announces Key Opportunity for Software Enhancement Services

Greetings! The U.S. Department of Agriculture Women, Infants and Children (WIC) IT program will soon be releasing a Request for Proposal (RFP) to provide software enhancement services to the Successful Partners in Reaching Innovative Technology (SPIRIT) IT system, which administers benefits to nearly half a million WIC participants around the country. Additionally, an “Industry Day”Read… Read more »

States See New Model For Project Planning, Purchasing

How do you make sure that every project in your state or organization is working towards an overall mission in the most efficient and cost effective way? Alex Pettit, CIO of the State of Oklahoma, talks with Chris Dorobek of the DorobekINSIDER about the need for enterprise architecture when strategically planning the high level goalsRead… Read more »

New Delhi Traffic Police Benefit from Facebook Collaboration

Software that is accessible by a large number of people often produces unexpected benefits due to its inherently collaborative nature. In New Delhi, overburdened traffic police have gained an incredibly cost-effective method of catching traffic violators. Thanks to New Delhi drivers who snap pictures of offenders and post them to the traffic police’s official FacebookRead… Read more »