There have been several recent examples of IT infrastructure struggling to meet demand, leading to widespread system failure. These challenges often serve as an alarm for businesses and entities with aging technology — and it’s even more pressing for the public sector.

For decades, federal agencies have had a mixed track record when it comes to modernization. Government infrastructure has traditionally relied on a patchwork of systems, installed at various times, that weren’t inherently designed to work together. Without the funding, time or approval to conduct full assessments of what is and isn’t working, adoption of system-wide, interconnected solutions is often rare…

As someone who has both worked for the federal government and helped government agencies transform their operations, I’ve observed the many challenges agencies face from multiple angles. Here are a few things I’ve seen the most often.

First, federal systems and data are extremely fragmented. While individual agencies may successfully implement a new program, most struggle to build services that cut across programs and agencies. For example, in the U.S., there are dozens of loan programs across multiple government agencies. These programs are rarely connected on the backend, meaning that if someone wants to apply for more than one type of loan, they need to re-enter their information separately for each application. That’s far from a great user experience. Why not use the information from one application to populate as much information as possible on the next application?… Read the full article here.