As the fiscal year draws to a close, the United States’ government agencies are apparently taking the Office of Management and Budget’s new cloud-first guidelines to heart. Over the last several days, agencies have been rushing to award contracts with their remaining budgets in an effort to avoid returning the excess to the Treasury. NextGovRead… Read more »
In a move to help increase the pace and effectiveness of federal technology acquisition, Representative Darrell Issa (R-California) is proposing that Chief Information Officers within government agencies be allowed long-sought authority over their agencies’ technology budgets. “At a time we are facing record deficits and our national debt has exceeded [our gross domestic product], itRead… Read more »
U.S. federal agencies are continuing their expansion into cloud-based services, with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announcing a deal with Microsoft to transition e-mail and other services to the cloud. InformationWeek reports that the deal is expected to save the agency approximately $12 million over four years and will cost $9.8 million to deploy. TheRead… Read more »
United States government agencies haven’t exactly made much positive fiscal publicity for themselves over the last several years, but that may soon change for the better. Under direction from the Obama administration, agencies are adopting better business processes, most particularly through usage of expense management and invoice management solutions. Most recently, the U.S. National ParkRead… Read more »
Hurricane Sandy. The Alabama tornados. Japan’s tsunami. On and on, natural disasters seem to come at a greater clip than ever, and some besieged emergency managers are shifting from reactive to proactive by re-envisioning disaster recovery as supply chain management. Charlotte Franklin, deputy coordinator of emergency management for Arlington County, Va., wrote recently on theRead… Read more »
Riot gear goes missing from a large city police department and a team of detectives is put on the case to track down both the missing equipment and the culprit. Sounds like the start of a movie plot, right? It wasn’t quite so entertaining when it happened to police officers in Victoria, British Columbia, whoRead… Read more »
Jackie Apodaca, an assistant professor at Southern Oregon University, writes in BACKSTAGE, “The Role of the Actor in Society Should Not Be Underestimated.” Theatre is a fine art and that is how she talks about it. I want to show how theatre (acting in particular) embodies some similar charactistics, applies as a practical art–and training–trainersRead… Read more »
Training can be misinterpreted by managers. It can be looked upon erroneously as the solution for a host of business productivity problems, and time or credit given reluctantly for attendance. Some managers see training as a way of moving forward. Some see cross training employees and enhancing professional skills of value only in times ofRead… Read more »
Attention Amazon Kindle users! Don’t miss out on a great opportunity from NCDD organizational member, CivilSay! Today and tomorrow, you can download a free copy of The Moment of OH! by John Blakinger and Greg Ranstrom on to your Kindle e-Book reader. Not a Kindle user? Well, you can still order a copy of theirRead… Read more »
Is your organization adopting a new technology? Of course you are! Unfortunately, the all-too-common experience is that the anticipated benefits never materialize. MB&A Academy Instructor, Bob Daniel, discusses the motivations driving the adoption of new technologies, the factors that disrupt adoption, and what you really need to do to be successful. You’ll leave with aRead… Read more »