Posts By Spencer MacDonald

Cut Red Tape With Strong DevOps

A common frustration among government agencies is the long and complex process in which new data and software is developed. Development and operations, or DevOps, is a phrase used to describe the agile relationship between Development and IT Operations efforts. The goal of DevOps is to change and improve the relationship by advocating better communicationRead… Read more »

Making the Leap from Good to Great Customer Service

This is an excerpt from the recent Customer Service Playbook for Government. In the guide, we detail six plays to help you transform the way your agency serves its citizen users. Customer service in government is not exactly stellar right now. Today, citizens expect seamless experiences similar to what they demand of the private sectorRead… Read more »

Empowering The Data You Already Have

  State and local governments are obligated to protect the vast amounts of data coming in from a variety of digital sources. As the nation’s record-keepers, these governments must decide how to combine, store, search, and analyze this data. That’s easier said than done. At GovLoop’s State and Local Tech Trends Virtual Training, we broughtRead… Read more »

Challenges At All Levels

Shrinking budgets, and aging workforces, and cyber threats, oh my! State and local governments face these obstacles and more while trying serve the community. In the effort to better tool government to face these challenges, GovLoop brought together a virtual training of experts to show how advanced technology and innovative practices can help public servantsRead… Read more »

The Three Steps to Securing Your Data

It is more important than ever for government agencies to get on board with protecting the data they are entrusted with. Unfortunately, this is a classic example of a task that’s easier said than done. Combined with the speed at which we share data and the increasing amount of data being stored, it is becomingRead… Read more »

Securing the Perimeter Before A Cyber Attack

“There are two kinds of CIOs: ones who have been hacked and know it, and those that have been hacked and don’t realize it yet. But the reality is, you’ve been hacked.” This is a startling statement from Tony Scott, the CIO of the Office of Management and Budget, that emphasizes the massive cyberthreat toRead… Read more »

Gov Masters of Social Media Storytelling

During the Second Annual State and Local Government Innovators Virtual Summit, keynote speaker Akash Karia delivered a thought-provoking presentation on how to improve your communication skills to be as effectively as a TED talk presenter. Karia identified storytelling as the key for government agencies, and any public entity, to better deliver their agency’s messages andRead… Read more »

Using Real Estate Logic to Choose Your Cloud System

Choosing between a public cloud and a private cloud can be a confusing task at first. But thankfully, GovLoop’s recent online training discussed how best to incorporate cloud computing into an overall IT strategy and how to choose the best cloud system for your agency. Let’s think about your goals and relate them to somethingRead… Read more »