Comment -- Apps.gov
5 steps to making the cloud a reality
How much creative destruction are agencies willing to embrace?
- By Mark Forman
- Oct 14, 2009
The Obama administration recently launched a cloud computing initiative that could be a game changer for the federal information technology community.
Keep in mind what drives federal IT leaders: figuring out how to best use information and technology to help their agencies run better. Historically, agencies have developed their own technology applications. Yet most successful business models now take advantage of a shared-services approach that uses repeatable, scalable and market-proven applications.
The administration’s strategy could take shared services to another level. The promise of the cloud is that the federal government could obtain higher-quality, more secure and lower-cost applications, which could have an impact on the federal IT community similar to what economist and political scientist Joseph Schumpeter called creative destruction.
Here are five principles that could get the federal cloud initiative moving in the right direction.
1. Show the benefits. Cloud computing advances the concept of “buy once, use many” and could eliminate much of the redundant spending that results when agencies own and operate similar applications. But agencies will need to see the value, so the savings, security, reliability and other benefits agencies can expect should be spelled out.
2. Create a vibrant broker organization. For security and other considerations, a governmentwide broker function should negotiate cloud contracts, including assembling service-level requirements, identifying agency needs and integrating standards. The broker should be given incentives to acquire applications as shared services that achieve clear benefits for agencies. It should also have expertise in performance-based services contracting.
3. Identify and define enterprisewide services. Success also depends on having a governmentwide IT leader, such as the e-government administrator or CIO Council, identify standards for security, identity management, access controls, data architecture and other elements needed to use Web services in a secure, scalable manner.
4. Let the market decide. Agencies that insist on sticking with the old model should be given a chance to make their case – in the marketplace. If they want to keep a customized application, they should be required to make it available for sale to other agencies so the market can decide whether it performs better and costs less than a similar application available online.
5. Have leaders drive adoption. The fiscal 2011 budget process is vital to the success of the cloud initiative, as Office of Management and Budget Director Peter Orszag highlighted in guidance he issued in June. Next year’s budget should clearly signal that the old days are over and priority will be given to secure, scalable cloud computing applications.
Questions remain. How much creative destruction is the government willing to accept? And what’s the best way to take advantage of cloud computing while managing the disruption it will inevitably cause?
Although cloud applications can be made more secure than many of today’s government applications, there are legitimate concerns about data security. But let’s not lose sight of the payoff: Lower costs and better performance are bottom-line benefits every federal IT manager can embrace.
About the Author
Mark Forman is an accomplished Executive with more than 29 years of government management reform experience, including a Presidential appointment to be the first U.S. Administrator for E-Government and Information Technology, the Federal Government’s Chief Information Officer. Mr. Forman is currently the CEO of Government Transaction Services, Inc. which was established in 2010 to be the leading provider of cloud-based business process and transaction services supporting organizations that do business with the federal government. Government Transaction Services’ products reduce administrative burdens and simplify interactions with government, as well provide on-line practitioner communities. Mr. Forman retired as a partner at KPMG LLP in January 2011, where was the Practice Leader of KPMG’s Federal Performance and Technology Advisory Practice. Prior to joining KPMG, he was an Executive Vice President and co-founder of Cassatt Corp. From 2001 through 2003, he oversaw the federal government’s $60 Billion of IT spending, led 30 major initiatives to create a more productive, citizen-centric government, and was responsible for the development and implementation of IT policies, including security and privacy. He has also held global leadership positions at Unisys and IBM, and from 1990-97 was a senior staff member in the U.S. Senate Governmental Affairs Committee where he was responsible for major reforms of government-wide management laws.
Mr. Forman is a fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration, a member of the CloudCorp Advisory Board, and CIO Sage. He received the GCN Hall of Fame Lifetime Achievement award, the FCW Eagle award, and the Industry Advisory Council Executive Chairman’s Award. Mr. Forman served on the Board of Directors for Corio Inc. and the Advisory Board for PureEdge prior to their acquisition by IBM. He has given well over 100 speeches on federal IT management, E-Government, business transformation and information technology to a wide variety of industry groups and government officials from around the world. Mr. Forman has testified frequently before the U.S. Congress and California State Senate on information policy and management reform issues.