“… As our political leaders and public health officials continue to remind us, America will beat the virus. But when we will ‘get back to normal,’ especially in our professional lives, remains unknown. There will be a return to the routines that many of us held before, as offices allow workers to return and businesses reopen. However, don’t expect the way most employees operated pre-COVID-19, especially at federal agencies, to default to previous norms. What we are experiencing today is the accelerant to the workplace of the future.”
The Here and Now
“We are still in the eye of this emergency, and the response from agencies has been uneven. Many federal agencies, and scores of state and local offices, are still beholden to on-premise, legacy systems and infrastructure to perform essential functions, such as distributing loans or processing benefits claims. Consequently, some government offices have been absolutely crushed under a surge of demand for critical citizen services.”
“Major media and Washington pundits are increasingly critical of the government’s continued reliance on antiquated technology systems, and there are calls that additional funds be made available to the states to fix these legacy systems once and for all. COBOL programmers find themselves in high demand!”
“In response to constantly surfacing agency technology and service delivery issues, the White House is pushing out new policy at a furious pace. Similarly, the Department of Homeland Security is routinely providing information and guidance to stay ahead of fast-moving cybersecurity threats. And agencies are updating procurement guidance and other COVID related resources on a near-daily basis.”
“Congress, realizing that the current resources at most agencies—especially those pushing the bounds of distributed work—are falling short, recently provided nearly $150 billion in emergency funds to enhance telework capabilities and improve cybersecurity. While helpful, those funds are simply inadequate to keep up with constantly changing missions and, crucially, decades of inadequate investment in critical digital transformation opportunities. This is why, last week, the Alliance for Digital Innovation and five other trade associations urged Congress and the administration to support inclusion of additional technology and cybersecurity funding in upcoming stimulus legislation and tie that spending to specific capabilities that can improve citizen service delivery, enhance secure telework, and modernize legacy systems at the federal, state, and local levels…” Read the full article here.
Source: COVID-19: The Unlikely Accelerant of IT Modernization – By Matthew T. Cornelius, April 24, 2020. Nextgov.
