Building a Foundation for an AI Future

Posted on by Mike Adams

It might seem like agencies are hesitant to adopt artificial intelligence. But really, it is quite the opposite. As Lori Wade, the Intelligence Community’s chief data officer, put it: “It is no longer just about the volume of data, it is about who can collect, access, exploit and gain actionable insight the fastest.” The realization is clear: Humans alone cannot keep pace. They need AI so they can make decisions based on the most relevant and most current information — and make those decisions in a timely manner. It is really as simple as that. Download the guide, “Building the Foundation for Your AI Future,” to pick up pointers on data management and AI, plus take a glimpse at the latest technology developments, tips for best practices and an explanation of the early value that AI is delivering to agencies across government.

How to Revolutionize Government Translation with Generative AI

“In situations where accurate and timely translations are crucial, the shortage of qualified and vetted linguists poses significant challenges. Equally, non-linguist analysts are not equipped with secure, at-desk tools to translate foreign language material at the speed of relevance. For example, during the ongoing war in Ukraine, there has been a scarcity of linguists available to provide real-time updates on the ground. This shortage not only has affected the ability to gather vital intelligence but also hindered the timely dissemination of information to national security and defense agencies in the U.S. and abroad.”

Read more insights from Jesse Rosenbaum, Vice President of Business Development and National Security at Lilt.

How Graph Databases Drive a Paradigm Shift in Data Platform Technology

“Federal agencies are awash in data. With recent modernization efforts, including the wide-scale adoption of cloud platforms and applications, it is easier than ever for agencies to receive streaming data on everything from logistics to finances to cybersecurity. But that volume of data requires new solutions to process and analyze it. Older methods like SQL and NoSQL simply are not up to the task of analyzing all of the connections between the government’s many massive databases. That is where the new graph paradigm of data platform technology comes in.”

Read more insights from Michael Moore, Principal for Partner Solutions and Technology at Neo4j.

How Agencies Can Upskill in AI to Achieve a Data Mesh Model

“Data mesh behavior actually goes a step further. AI has become so easy to use, business owners can actually join in the development alongside the data scientists. Therein lies the challenge: Upskilling subject matter experts across an entire organization is a big lift. The way it works best is to start with a center of excellence, a small group of people who begin working with business owners across the enterprise, office by office. They can then prove the value and evangelize it, and then the agency can move to a hub-and-spoke model, where the data scientists are co-developing alongside business owners. As successes pile up, the data scientists can take a step back and allow frontline workers to do the development, governing the new data products on their own.”

Read more insights from Doug Bryan, Field Chief Data Officer at Dataiku.

How Agencies Can Build a Data Foundation for Generative AI

“Generative artificial intelligence tools are making waves in the technology world, most famously ChatGPT. Although the code of these tools is significant, their real power stems from the data they are trained on. Gathering and correctly formatting the data, then transforming it to yield accurate predictions, often represents the most challenging aspect of developing these tools. Federal agencies that want to start leveraging generative AI already have massive amounts of data on which to train the technology. But to successfully implement these tools, they need to ensure the quality of their data before trusting any decisions they might make.”

Read more insights from Nasheb Ismaily, Principal Solutions Engineer at Cloudera.

How to Democratize Data as a Catalyst for Effective Decision-Making

“One of the key best practices in the Office of Management and Budget’s Federal Data Strategy calls for using data to guide decision-making. But that is easier said than done when the ability to analyze the data, much less access it, is limited to an agency’s often overworked and understaffed data science specialists. But now that every line of federal business has their own data silo and a mandate to use that data to guide decisions, agencies need a way to democratize access to that data and empower every federal employee to become an analyst.”

Read more insights from Kevin Woo, Director of Federal Sales at Alteryx.

Download the full Expert Edition for more insights from these artificial intelligence leaders, additional government interviews, historical perspectives and industry research.

People Plus Technology: Building a Resilient Federal Cyber Workforce

Posted on by Alex Whitworth

Filling cyber jobs in Federal agencies is complicated – it requires competing with industry salaries, retaining existing talent and navigating the Federal hiring process. It’s a far-reaching challenge that affects every agency – the administration knows that, the Office of Personnel Management knows that, and agency technology and human resources leaders know that. And federal C suite leaders realize how the government recruits, hires and retains people for cyber jobs has to change. In partnership with FNN, our Federal Cyber Workforce guide takes a look at what the government is doing to tackle this problem on a sweeping federal level and also on a more agency-specific level. We also get industry perspective on the technologies that affect cyber workforce resiliency. We hope it provides some guidance and help as your agency works to beef up its cybersecurity, both through investments in people and technology.

3 Key Rallying Points for a Resilient Cybersecurity Team

“Agencies are currently operating in a high-threat environment, but that doesn’t mean they can’t implement a reasonable amount of information assurance. It may not be perfect, but it doesn’t have to be. The idea is to make it so that adversaries have to work extremely hard to penetrate the infrastructure. The adversaries are good, but agencies can be better with a resilient cybersecurity team, said Mark Bowling, chief risk, security and information security officer for ExtraHop. The key to achieving this is to have a risk reduction perspective.”

Read more insights from Mark Bowling, Chief Risk, Security and Information Security Officer at ExtraHop.

Do not Wait for a Breach: Why to Adopt Proactive Approach to Cyber Resilience

“When most people talk about cyber resilience, they’re referring to post-breach recovery — the means, methods and speed with which an organization can get its systems and services back online after a cyber incident. But Felipe Fernandez, federal chief technology officer at Fortinet, views resiliency more holistically. His advice? Agencies need to take a proactive stance on cyber resilience and include not only recovery from breaches but also when their planning for non-malicious threats and other operational disruptions, including those associated with cloud-based services.”

Read more insights from Felipe Fernandez, Federal Chief Technology Officer at Fortinet.

Proactively Improve Digital Employee Experience Though Automation

“Digital modernization and the adoption of collaboration tools is supposed to make work easier, especially in a hybrid environment. Employees want the flexibility to be productive in whatever manner best suits them. Unresolved technology issues can impede productivity. In its latest survey of industry employees and IT professionals, Ivanti found that 49% of employees are frustrated with the tools they use and 26% are considering leaving their jobs because of that. Employee experience is a top priority in government right now, and employees are internal customers of an agency’s IT services. By improving their experience your agency can realize gains in productivity and retention.”

Read more insights from Mareike Fondufe, Product Marketing Director at Ivanti.

Download the full Expert Edition for more insights from these cyber workforce leaders and additional government interviews, historical perspectives and industry research.

Why AppExchange Use Offers Agencies Untapped Opportunity

Posted on by Bethany Blackwell

In our first Insider’s Guide, we’re pulling back the curtain on the world’s largest cloud app marketplace, the Salesforce AppExchange, to offer a look at what it is, how it works and how it can provide value to agencies in extending their investment in the Salesforce platform. With the government’s increased focus on improving service delivery — particularly public-facing services per the presidential administration executive order on customer service — taking advantage of possible software-as-a-service integrations with the Salesforce customer relationship management platform makes logical sense. Download the guide to learn how AppExchange helps organizations increase productivity, eliminate risk and save time.

Nintex DocGen for Document Creation, Automation and Management

“A great example would be voter registration cards. Every year, you need to update it. We make it really easy to go out and maintain it with our solution and not have to go into code to make updates. It becomes easy to create, easy to maintain going forward and not having to spend budget on development cycles or development resources to build these solutions. The alternative is to write and maintain custom Apex code, which requires an advanced skill set and takes more time. This is a faster way to develop it and an easier way to maintain it.”

Read more insights from Steve Witt, Director of Public Sector at Nintex.

FormAssembly for Secure Online Forms

“Specifically, we’re the most secure and compliant platform in the entire marketplace. That is how we go to market, that’s what we pride ourselves on: being good stewards of our data, being thought leaders in that space. Government organizations should use us because, doubling down on the security and compliancy, we’re tailored for highly sensitive data. We’re built for that. We hold the distinction of being the only FedRAMP-ready platform on the marketplace in this category. We also hold SOC 2, ISO 27001, PCI DSS and GDPR compliance. And really, what that means for our customers and partners is that we’re experts in this space, and that will mitigate any risk and collecting data for your organization, whether it’s here in the United States or abroad.”

Read more insights from Paul Lazatin, Director of Partnerships at FormAssembly.

WalkMe for No-Code Digital Adoption

“What makes us unique is that we have the ability to overlay on any enterprise application in the tech stack, commercial off-the-shelf (COTS), government off-the-shelf (GOTS) or custom-built. By doing so, we’re able to create better user experiences, drive employee productivity and monitor digital adoption on any enterprise application that’s being deployed out to the federal government, whether those applications are internal to employees or externally facing for taxpayers and constituents.”

Read more insights from Carl Wright, Director of Public Sector of Federal Sales at WalkMe.

Odaseva for Enterprise Data Protection

“Many federal and state organizations have questions that need answers when it comes to managing their Salesforce data. How do Salesforce users archive data that is no longer needed? How do they comply with regulations such as those from the National Institute of Standards and Technology or in the California Consumer Privacy Act? That’s why we at Odaseva consider the data management lifecycle. Odaseva helps organizations comply with the strictest data regulations and guard against data failure — all with precise control on a field-tested platform to scale with ease. And we deliver this with the strongest data security features that exceed the requirements of even the most complex, highly regulated businesses in the world.”

Read more insights from Matt Carstensen, Senior Solutions Engineer at Odaseva.

Conga Apps for Contract and Workflow Management

“Conga offers a flexible platform and set of solutions built natively on top of Salesforce that address a broad set of needs for federal, state and local government entities. Our products include Composer, the number one downloaded application on Salesforce’s AppExchange. Conga Composer allows public sector customers to automate document generation to get work done faster and easier in Salesforce. Users can create documents with dynamic data from Salesforce in the correct template, then send it, store it and trigger the next business process. Conga Sign is a modern and highly secure e-signature solution. We now offer a FedRAMP-certified version of our e-signature solution, which is getting quite a bit of attention.”

Read more insights from Eric Daggett, Vice President of Sales for Public Sector at Conga.

Download the full Insider’s Guide for more insights from these AppExchange leaders and additional interviews, research and infographics.

How to Achieve your Agency’s Customer Experience Goals

Posted on by Tiffany Goddard

Customer experience pervades every aspect of what the government does — and some might argue, why it exists. What’s more, it has become profoundly clear that everyone is a customer. There are the obvious customers, people across the nation. But then there are current and former federal employees, businesses large and small, the government’s contracting community, other agencies and even other nations. Likely, there are more. Unlike a private company, a federal agency often has no competitor for its services. That fact has created a lag in the evolution of federal CX and digital services — relative to what businesses and nongovernment organizations typically provide today and what people now expect. Agencies are on it now though. The presidential executive order on customer experience of December 2021 targets the need to evolve CX and points up the destructive affect that poor service delivery has on public trust. Download the guide to learn how to meet the expectations of the public, as well as the many other customers agencies serve, with a multipronged strategy that focuses on culture, processes and technology.

Want to Enhance Customer Experience? Here’s Where to Start

“The key to the success of Farmers.gov is its simplicity, Bremby said. USDA has put all the information farmers need in a single place and made it easy for them to complete the necessary processes to receive services. USDA consolidated seven digital systems and 150 web resources into one intelligent platform that follows a user’s progress. And that, Bremby noted, is the biggest metric for success in customer experience: Did the customer complete the transaction? Or did they drop off somewhere in the middle of the process, like abandoning a cart while shopping online?”

Read more insights from Rod Bremby, Regional Vice President for Global Public Sector at Salesforce.

Meaningful Communication Creates the Foundation for Good Customer Experience

“Agencies are familiar with traditional communications media. They engage with public relations firms and the news media to promote stories. They conduct public awareness campaigns across every available platform, from bus stop advertisements to social media, and they tend to be pretty good at driving broad awareness. Where they fall short though, Peterson said, is more granular, personalized messaging.”

Read more insights from Angy Peterson, Vice President at Granicus.

How Federal Agencies can Pivot to Experience-driven Government

“People who rely on government services are usually accessing them at critical junctures in their lives, often moments of profound need. They’re looking for relief in the aftermath of a natural disaster, for public health data during an epidemic, for financial stability in retirement, and for ways to prepare for growth or cope with losses affecting their families and businesses. That’s why agencies need to pivot to experience-driven government, meeting citizens where they’re at in their journeys and connecting them with the right services at the right time.”

Read more insights from James Hanson, Head of Industry Strategy for the Public Sector at Adobe.

Don’t Let a Cyber Staff Shortage Weaken Your Defenses

“Federal agencies are taking note and have started making significant strides toward digital transformation, driven in no small part by recent directives, including the president’s executive order on customer experience. While competitive pressures often motivate private sector enterprises to invest in innovation, the government’s greatest competition is usually the status quo. Agencies have been delivering services in the same way for so long that impacting change requires redirecting institutional inertia — to say nothing of overcoming budgetary obstacles. One way for agencies to get started on this journey is to begin digitizing agreements.”

Read more insights from Michael “MJ” Jackson, Vice President and Global Head of Industries at DocuSign.

Here are 3 Phases to Begin Modernizing Customer Experience Right Away

“For years, agencies have been researching, modernizing and overhauling how customers experience doing business with the federal government. Over the course of several presidential administrations, with the help of Office of Management and Budget mandates, presidential executive orders and an influx of customer experience talent, there has been a noticeable shift toward organizational CX management approaches. Agencies have an opportunity to take full advantage of technological advances to improve customer experience management capacity at scale. Advances in cloud technology, data analytics and new communications channels have opened up new avenues to improve an agency’s capability to design and deliver services for both customers and federal employees.”

Read more insights from Matt Chong, Vice President of Federal at Qualtrics.

Download the full Expert Edition for more insights from these customer experience leaders and additional government interviews, historical perspectives and industry research.

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