What's in store for government IT in 2012? One expert weighs in.
What's coming in 2012 is so obvious it can hardly be called a prediction: bigger data and smaller budgets. The idea of government agencies making IT investments to contend with the data explosion in a budget environment this tight may seem paradoxical, but it makes more sense than the alternative. So much sense that it just might happen.
First, the 2012 landscape. U.S. government IT spending was $78.9 billion in 2011 and is likely to be flat next year. After that, the numbers get murky; the 2011 Budget Control Act mandates $1.2 trillion in spending reductions in defense, nondefense and Medicare beginning in 2013, all of which will involve cuts to technology programs.
At the same time, data volume is doubling every 18 months and the nature of that data is changing. Before the deluge, most digital information was in the form of structured data. A good example of this is information stored in databases that can be easily sorted, queried and analyzed. Now the growing majority of digital information is in the form of unstructured data -- bits and bytes like emails, files, photos and videos. This kind of data requires sophisticated management and analysis.
Dealing with the data explosion and slashing budgets needn't be mutually exclusive, because intelligent data management is actually cheaper than less efficient approaches. Government agencies already know this. In the fall of 2010, the Technology Chief Executive Officer Council, of which Dell CEO Michael Dell is a member, presented policymakers with a proposal for how the federal government could save $1 trillion over the next decade -- nearly enough to cover the requirements established by the Budget Control Act.
The proposals involved actions like consolidating data centers, eliminating redundant systems and standardizing applications. Former federal Chief Information Officer Vivek Kundra responded with a sweeping 25-point plan for IT reform, much of which has been implemented or will be very soon. For example, some 960 federal data centers will be closed during the next four years, of which 373 have already been shut down or will be over the next 12 months.
How do you manage more data with fewer data centers? By recognizing that not all data is created equal. An email that will never be accessed again after it's created doesn't need to be housed on a fast server. Analytics software can tell the difference between this kind of data and dynamic data that will be viewed repeatedly, and this is where investing in IT can save money during a time of dwindling budgets. Besides intelligent data management, advanced analytics software can reduce errors and fraud and predict outcomes for programs like tax refunds, food stamps and Medicare to the tune of $200 billion in savings.
The remaining issue is that shrinking budgets mean shrinking staff, and the government needs well-trained people to move data into the cloud securely and adopt new technologies. That's why the other investment that makes sense now is "co-sourcing" - outsourcing implementations to technology providers who then train government workers to run the new programs.
That means taking a page from private industry. The willingness of Kundra and his successor, Steven VanRoekel, to take advantage of corporate expertise is reason for optimism. Technology is one of the few areas in which less truly can be more, but efficiency is the product of careful analysis, judicious investment and skillful implementation. Before you conclude that falling short of those goals is inevitable, remember that the U.S. CIOs have done nothing but exceed expectations since the position was created in 2009.
Frank Muehleman is vice president and general manager of Dell's North American public sector business.