Nextgov/FCW - Authors - Tom Simmons

Work: It's what you do, not where you do it

Tom Simmons, FCW — Fri, 07 Feb 2014 11:34:00 -0500

With budget restrictions remaining a harsh reality, government agencies are continuing their quest to stretch dollars as far as possible. In the process, some are taking a hard look at their work environments and rethinking their approach to office space.

In particular, we're seeing a growing adoption of flexible, communal workspaces that in many cases permanently eliminate assigned offices and instead give employees the ability to work from anywhere at any time. Those new environments make work a thing you do, not just a place you go -- a concept that is already gaining traction in companies around the world.

Flexible workspaces free employees from enclosed office walls, an assigned desk or a single location. Instead, those environments enable employees to work at the office, at home or while traveling. Such workspaces provide, on average, seven desks for every 10 office workers, according to a study Citrix Systems conducted last year. The survey of 1,900 senior IT decision-makers across industries found that organizations expect to reduce office space by 7 percent in the next two years and 16 percent by 2020.

And if the private sector's success foreshadows the impact of flexible work environments in the public sector, agencies can expect to see a quick and beneficial financial return as a result of reduced real estate and supply costs. Further, flexible workspaces can help agencies consolidate their data centers, cut energy use and, above all, promote mobile work -- all critical areas of focus for the public sector.

Flexible workspaces have also been shown to foster creativity, encourage collaboration and improve morale. In a survey of more than 550 employees worldwide conducted by the nonprofit WorldatWork association, 64 percent of those who use a flexible work program said the programs have a positive effect on engagement and 65 percent said they have a positive effect on motivation.

Flexible workspaces can help agencies consolidate their data centers, cut energy use and promote mobile work.

Government agencies are beginning to embrace flexible workspaces, as evidenced by the General Services Administration's recently redesigned office that focuses on fostering collaboration. However, to achieve flexible workspaces, agencies must also deploy the technology and policies to make flexible work and mobile work successful and to ensure a top-of-the-line experience for all employees.

In addition, security remains a serious concern. As agencies diversify their work environments, the number of smartphones, laptop computers and tablet PCs connecting to networks will continue to grow, so it is imperative that IT leaders take the necessary precautions to ensure that the networks and devices are secure.

Desktop virtualization is the key to enabling access. Also important is a mobility management solution that empowers employees to use their own devices and access applications, email and data from anywhere and at any time. Many IT professionals and analysts are turning to enterprise mobility management -- which covers mobile devices, applications and data -- to enable connectivity while meeting security requirements. Through the use of powerful analytics, EMM enables administrators to audit devices, applications and network access so that IT teams can maintain full control of devices, regardless of an employee's location. If a user's device is broken or misplaced, the IT team can automatically and quickly wipe the device to ensure the safety of the data.

Jobs are no longer defined by four walls but instead enable employees to work, collaborate and meet in a variety of locations and settings. Flexible workspaces offer an enticing win-win opportunity for public-sector organizations by providing the ability to reduce operational costs while giving employees more flexibility.

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Commentary: Mobility is key to transforming federal operations for a more austere future

Tom Simmons — Fri, 21 Dec 2012 16:03:43 -0500

Over the past 10 years, federal technology has evolved remarkably swiftly. We can attribute much of that change to The E-Government Act of 2002, which focused on making the government more transparent, accountable, accessible, and efficient through the use of technology, specifically the Internet.

Agencies have made many important strides that have expanded information sharing and participation in government processes, and improved efficiency. As a sampling, citizens can conveniently file taxes online; review information and begin the process of filing for benefits online; and quickly access millions of federal documents. In addition, individuals, businesses and state and local governments can participate in federal regulatory rule making by providing online comments and conveniently research and file for grants via a centralized portal. Furthermore, the law has made it easier for businesses of all sizes to understand the requirements for operating outside the United States.

The law’s 10-year anniversary presents a good opportunity to consider the next 10 years. Looking forward, mobility will, without question, be center stage in helping agencies achieve their missions of providing high-value customer service and enhanced accessibility, while empowering federal employees to do more with less. We’ve seen some progress in teleworking initiatives, as formalized by The Telework Enhancement Act of 2010, and a handful of pilot bring your own device programs, but these initiatives have yet to go mainstream. Recent statistics illuminate the challenges that remain: only 3 percent of federal employees use agency-issued tablets at work and only 13 percent of agencies say they’re implementing a device-agnostic, flexible work environment.

Telework stands to deliver a 200-to-1,500 percent return on the initial information technology investment after adopting a telework system -- factoring in increased productivity, reduced absenteeism, lower real estate costs, and reduced recruitment and retention needs, according to the General Services Administration. We are making progress. Yet, despite the mandate, we continue to encounter management fear, uncertainty and doubt, as well as significant cultural barriers to change as evidenced by the fact that only 32 percent of federal employees are eligible to telework. The government must support the movement to a more mobile working environment by showcasing telework success stories and sharing best practices to achieve success and address challenges.

On the BYOD front, each holiday season brings a plethora of shiny new devices to the hands of consumers (including federal employees) and an expanded opportunity for agencies to seize the BYOD opportunity as a way to make the most of its increasingly precious IT dollars. The Obama administration acknowledged the benefits of BYOD programs earlier this year, launching a BYOD toolkit and issuing a memorandum on advancing mobility. The toolkit outlines key considerations, highlights successful case studies and includes examples of agency mobile device policies that others can use as a model. And we’ve seen some forward-thinking agencies implement BYOD pilot programs, but wide scale adoption remains elusive as agencies wait for others to take the plunge in earnest. Earlier this year, for example, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission dealt with a 15 percent budget cut in its IT spending base by implementing a BYOD pilot program.

While federal agencies have made great strides in the last decade in using IT to improve efficiency and transparency, their work on this front is far from complete. The focus is now moving to how mobility can drive the next generation of transformation. The good news is that we have the technology and many of the policies and models in place to set the stage for success. The time is right to capitalize on those technologies and policies.

Tom Simmons is area vice president for the public sector at Citrix Systems, Inc.

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The E-Gov Act at 10 years

Tom Simmons, FCW — Tue, 11 Dec 2012 13:53:39 -0500

This month marks the 10-year anniversary of the E-Government Act of 2002, a landmark initiative that helped usher in a new era of connected government. The act focused on making the federal government more transparent, accountable, accessible and efficient by exploiting technology, specifically the Internet. Like all major pieces of legislation, it has had an ample supply of critics and cheerleaders.

Politics aside, however, nearly everyone can agree that the legislation, which was approved unanimously by the House and Senate, has transformed the way in which Americans interact with the federal government. For example, today:

People can go to Benefits.gov to complete a free and anonymous survey that will provide them with a list of the benefit programs for which they are eligible. More than 48 million citizens have used Benefits.gov, which has saved the government significant costs by reducing agency call-center traffic and redundancies.
Victims of natural disasters can apply online for government assistance. In fiscal 2011’s fourth quarter (i.e., the height of disaster activity), there were 745,768 visits to DisasterAssistance.gov and 102,951 applications for disaster assistance submitted via the portal, of which 4,095 were submitted using smart phones.
Taxpayers can use the IRS Free File portal for free online tax preparation and electronic tax-filing services, which reduces the burden and costs for taxpayers. Since the program’s inception in 2003, citizens have filed more than 33 million returns via the portal.

Our journey, however, is far from over. Indeed, the foundation that e-government built has created a platform for many important current and future initiatives. The focus today and for the foreseeable future is on doing more with less while continuing to improve transparency, expand access and provide federal employees with the technology needed to conduct the nation’s business. Mobility — whether through teleworking or bring-your-own-device (BYOD) initiatives — will factor heavily into operations for the next 10 years.

References

"Not Holding Their Own: BYOD in the Federal Work Place” survey of 262 Federal Managers, Government Business Council, February 2012

Telework Boosts Productivity, Decreases Carbon Footprint, Federal Times, October 31, 2010.

United States Office of Personnel 2012 Status of Telework in the Federal Government Report, June 2012.

There is much work to be done given that only 3 percent of federal employees are using agency-issued tablet PCs at work and only 13 percent of agencies have a device-agnostic, flexible work environment, according to a survey of federal managers by the Government Business Council in February.

The General Services Administration said telework stands to deliver a 200 to 1,500 percent return on the initial IT investment as a result of increased productivity, reduced absenteeism, lower real estate costs, and reduced recruitment and retention needs. We are making progress, yet despite the federal mandate, only 32 percent of federal employees are deemed eligible to telework, according to the Office of Personnel Management’s 2012 report to Congress on the status of telework.

In addition, we continue to encounter management fear, uncertainty and doubt, and significant cultural barriers to telework. The government must showcase its telework success stories, share best practices to achieve success and address related issues, and support an overarching movement to a more mobile work environment.

Each holiday season brings a plethora of shiny new devices and expanded opportunities for the federal government to seize the BYOD opportunity as a way to make the most of its increasingly precious IT dollars. We’ve seen some forward-thinking agencies implement BYOD pilot programs, but wide-scale adoption lags as agencies wait for others to take the plunge in earnest. Earlier this year, for example, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission dealt with a 15 percent budget cut in its IT spending base by implementing a BYOD pilot program. The agency reduced costs by allowing employees the option of substituting personal devices for agency-owned ones and has benefited greatly as a result.

The Obama administration has acknowledged the benefits of BYOD programs and earlier this year launched a BYOD toolkit and issued a memorandum on advancing mobility. The toolkit outlines key considerations, highlights successful case studies and includes examples of agency mobile device policies that others can use as a model. The key to adoption will be to move beyond the mobile device management mind-set to adoption of an enterprise mobility management strategy. The latter approach focuses on protecting the underlying government applications and confidential data regardless of device ownership, while enabling access to existing Web- and Windows-based applications from any device.

The E-Government Act was a great starting point for transforming citizen/government interaction and boosting efficiency and productivity in the federal sector. It’s critical that we continue the momentum as we prepare to tackle the mobility challenge. For the federal government, it is not a matter of if but when we will change where and how we work, widely enable the use of various types of devices to securely access agency infrastructures, and support the use of personal and professional devices in the workplace.

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