Government Bits

Tracking how technology is transforming interaction between governments and citizens.

This weekend was, of course, a huge event–so if you didn’t hear, the groundhog predicted an early spring this year!

(No one asks the squirrels what they think of the weather…)

But there was also another big event this weekend as well that you may have watched with several billion of your closest friends. Whatever team you rooted for (and whatever you thought of the game’s outcome), it had some lessons that we can all learn from. Here are a few:

Mobile technology is no longer an optional luxury. Research shows that in 2011 more smartphones shipped than personal computers. Therefore, a truly effective Digital Government requires a strategy that moves beyond merely porting traditional web content to mobile devices. This post will explore why agencies must think about designing mobile service experiences from the citizen in, rather than from the system out; delivering personalized content and applications that are optimized for how citizens expect to use their devices.

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The following article, written by my colleague Garrick Beil, was recently featured in the August 2012 edition of “Policy and Practice,” the magazine of the American Public Human Services Association (APHSA).

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As more parts of our lives “go digital”, the collection of data related to our transactions, interests, and other preferences continues to grow exponentially.

Many commercial enterprises have demonstrated that the ability to manage and even monetize such data provides a powerful competitive advantage. In fact, it’s that principle of Digital Marketing which allows for the delivery of unique personalized experiences for consumers online.  Our health data is no exception.

The health care industry has been criticized for being a laggard when it comes to tapping the wealth of information that’s often locked away in terabytes of stored data, both structured and unstructured, compounding with every insurance claim or provider interaction.  That’s changing, however, as innovative solutions that have modernized industries like travel, financial services, and others are gradually being leveraged throughout the healthcare ecosystem.
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Recently, at the Adobe-sponsored State Healthcare IT Connect Summit, I met with executives from state and federal agencies as well as leaders of private sector health organizations to explore the key role of IT in identifying trends, cutting costs, and saving lives.

Three recurring use cases for transforming this accumulating data into actionable knowledge emerged during our meetings:

Adobe PhoneGap (recently acquired with Nitobi) and its open source counterpart, Apache Cordova, are tools for developing cross platform mobile applications utilizing HyperText Markup Language (HTML), JavaScript (JS) and Cascading Style Sheets (CSS).

What exactly is a cross platform mobile application? A cross platform mobile application is identical to a native application except it utilizes one code base to deploy the application to multiple different platforms. Why does this matter? It matters because it allows for a significant reduction in the amount of time and effort required to develop an application by not having to write it in the native language of each platform. It also allows for the use of the widely available and more cost effective skill sets of HTML, JS, and CSS for development of applications.

Adobe PhoneGap supports the following platforms:

• iOS
• Android
• BlackBerry
• WebOS
• Windows
• Symbian
• Bada

Last week, we sponsored a seminar in Washington, DC presented by Federal Computer Week on the “Intersection of Security and Information Sharing: How to Improve Government Efficiency in a Security-Conscious World”.

The seminar brought together government professionals, senior government officials, technology and security leaders, and industry executives to discuss security and the role of authentication in delivering information assurance and increasing business process efficiency for the federal government.

Aaron Lippold, senior technical advisor and computer scientist with DISA, spoke on “Forge.mil – Information Sharing and Secure Collaboration”. Our own John Landwehr, senior director of Enterprise Security Solutions, discussed “The Role of Forms Process Security in Ensuring Secure Information Flow”. And Steve LeSueur, contributing editor with 1105 Government Information Group, moderated a panel with Aaron and John on “How to Improve Government Efficiency in a Security-Conscious World”.

Late last week, we hosted an event, along with Carahsoft and Blue Beacon Consulting, focused on the use of social media in the U.S. Department of Defense.

The event – Transitioning from “Social Media” to “Mission Media”: Using Social Media to Achieve DoD Missions – included a great keynote by Maxine Teller (@mixtmedia) and informative panel including our own Rob Pinkerton and:

• Dana Clark (@PAODanaClark), social media manager, public affairs specialist, Army Corps of Engineers
• Dr. Joseph Boutte, strategic advisor, Strategies, New Media and Collaboration, TASC Inc.
• Dan Wade, social media and new technology chief for strategic communication, USSOCOM
• Christopher Zember, deputy director, Information Analysis Centers, OASD(R&E), DTIC
• Bill Annibell @billannibell), chief technology officer, Sapient Government Services (Moderator)

We had a chance to catch some time on camera with Maxine, Dana and Rob to capture their thoughts on the topics of discussion and the event. Check it out:

As always, we’re interested in your thoughts. Keep in touch with us here, on Twitter @AdobeGov ,and on Facebook, where we’ve posted some pictures from the event.

New Brunswick has a reputation for being a technology leader. The Canadian province uses the Adobe Web Experience Management solution to elevate the quality of its diverse websites to provide citizens with engaging web experiences. For the government’s inventive Communications team, Adobe solutions became the cornerstone for a web revitalization project to enable technical and non-technical users across departments to quickly create and publish online content. Already, New Brunswick has adopted the more streamlined web content workflows to accelerate updating over half of its 22 department websites.

Government managers across teams and disciplines are pleased with their newfound ability to better manage and publish digital assets. To make it even easier for staff, New Brunswick is using standardized templates created with Adobe’s WEM solution to help ensure a consistent, branded feel to its website.  

The Adobe solution not only quickly delivers relevant content to key audiences, but is also stable and easy to use. With enhanced citizen services, government managers anticipate they will draw more traffic and encourage visitors to spend more time on the site. To reach as vast an audience as possible, New Brunswick plans to integrate social media and mobile capabilities for improved communication with citizens.

To learn more about how New Brunswick is transforming the look and feel of its website, read the case study on the Government Technology site here.

As we’ve posted about several times in the recent past (including here and here), the Adobe Gov UK team has been holding a series of webinars focused on the public sector.

The importance of open standards to the future of public sector ICT was the latest topic, for an event that took place on August 31. The event covered whether open standards finally allow the public sector to join up service delivery, what standards are key, and how will they be decided.

The panel included:

• Bill McCluggage, Deputy Government CIO and Director of ICT Strategy & Policy at the Cabinet Office
• Mark Brett, Policy & Programme Manager at Socitm
• Marc Straat, Adobe’s European Head of Standards
• Helen Olsen, Managing Editor, UKauthorITy and IT in Use magazine

An on-demand version of the webinar is now available here; we encourage you to check it out. And to participate in future webinars in the series see the ITU Live registration site here.

As always, keep in touch with the AdobeGov team on Twitter @AdobeGov.

Last week I had the opportunity to hear Linda Cureton (@curetonl), NASA CIO, at FedScoop’s 3^rd Annual Lowering the Cost of Government with IT Summit in Washington DC, an event at which I also spoke (see the brief video we shot below). Linda was the first speaker of the morning and her presentation really resonated with me and the way we at Adobe are trying to help agencies lower the cost of government. She grabbed my attention early on, admittedly after a tough morning at the house, with her admonition “don’t eat your young”.  She made many other great points such as: Don’t be penny-wise and pound foolish; and Measure twice, cut once. However, it was her “don’t eat your young” statement that I want to concentrate on for this post.     

Linda made the point to urge her peers to view innovation as critical for survival. I couldn’t agree more during these times of budget cuts, budget deficits, and the necessity of having to do more with less. As IT leaders, this is the time to innovate. History teaches us that we have always come out of crisis periods stronger and this will be no different.  As government IT leaders, we’ve got to change our way of thinking and Linda drove this point home for me and the audience. Innovation comes from every part of the organization, young, old or just plain-old middle aged like me. As Linda noted, we must encourage new money-saving ideas to continue to provide the services our citizens need.

There’s been much written as of late regarding the consumerization of IT, especially in regards to consolidation and virtualization of our data centers and infrastructures. As Linda noted in her presentation, the low-hanging fruit has been picked. I agree. Government agencies I speak to regularly have all standardized on commodity technologies like virtualization, storage, and networking. We’ve got to move up the stack now and focus on the application layer and how we can consumerize that and make it easier for citizens to engage with their governments on their terms (in person, on the phone, or online) and device (PC, Mac, tablet, mobile). If you’re a government IT leader and you’re looking for ways to save money, look no further. Driving citizen interactions online and off of the phone or a piece of paper will save you money. However, it does take thought and measurement.

That’s what we’re focused on at Adobe, trying to help government agencies move more and more of their interactions online. To drive that online adoption you’ve got to simplify and make that online experience engaging and intuitive. If it’s too hard to figure out online, I know what I personally do. I either skip to another site (not an option for citizens) or I hop on the phone (an expensive option for agencies). At Adobe, we help governments create rich online content with the world’s best digital editing tools. We help move this content online and streamline business processes with best of breed enterprise solutions like the Adobe Digital Enterprise Platform, which helps you leverage the current investments you’ve made in ERP and document management systems. After you’ve moved content and business processes online you need to ensure people like me aren’t abandoning your site because it’s too hard or complicated. We help ensure that doesn’t happen with our Online Marketing Suite. As Linda might say we help you measure twice and cut once, be penny wise, and also help keep your young safe and sound…