Top government IT leaders, including several federal CIOs, recently gathered for the 5th annual FedTalks to discuss how emerging technologies are increasing effectiveness and efficiencies in government. As 2015 comes to a close, we are highlighting some of the major events and milestones that federal CIOs shared during the event.
EPA Shifts Its Culture
Ann Dunkin: EPA’s Chief Information Officer
“We wanted to instill a culture where people are willing to take risks. Now we’re not asking people to go do things that are crazy, but to really take thoughtful risks in terms of progressing a project forward and do something interesting. Talk to people, make sure they have support and go forward and do that. And {we want} the management team behind that change, and behind that risk. We also wanted to create more creativity and generally a culture where we’re thinking about doing things very differently than the past.” Dunkin said the biggest challenge is disbelief that a government agency can change its culture to one of innovation. “Nobody actually believed that we could do this.” But EPA had a mission, started by changing perceptions of internal audiences and then moved to their customers. This will be an agency to watch as it continues to transforms in 2016.
A Call to Action for Cyber Security
Tony Scott: U.S. CIO, Executive Office of The President
“Many of you know we had a cyber security sprint this summer, and we actually made dramatic progress compared to where we had been. And we called it a “sprint” initially because it had a beginning, middle and end, and lasted 6-8 weeks long. But as I’ve said elsewhere, the sprint was just a warm-up exercise for the marathon that we really have to be on. The journey that we’re on in terms of cyber really never ends.”
FCC Shifts to the Cloud
Christine Calvosa: Deputy CIO of Resiliency, FCC
“Operation ‘server lift’ truly was a vital step forward for us during which we continued our culture change and shifted all-in to cloud. We’ve started with modernizing our FCC website and used the updated electronic comment filing system reach out to internal and external stakeholders to get their feedback, which we will use to improve customer experience. We’ve also launched The Connect to Health & Public Safety Service Desk all on cloud.”
Upgrading Archaic Systems
Frank Baitman: CIO of US Department of Health and Human Services
When Frank Baitman looks back, he focuses specifically on upgrading old systems. He told the crowd at FedTalks, “I have been amazed at how archaic our systems are in various areas of our government! It’s no different for some enterprises, so we shouldn’t beat ourselves up too much. However, the cloud gives us the opportunity to offer our users and the American public new technology.”
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