How Digital Learning Tools Are Helping Organizations Create Engaging Content in an Ongoing Virtual World

Posted on by Ashley Weston

Transition to Remote Work

It goes without saying that the switch to a predominantly “work from home” scenario has been quite the transition for most and has required much adaptation on both the human and technologic fronts. Many organizations had to scramble to set up the proper infrastructure and distribute the proper hardware to support a remote work environment. Depending on existing technology/structures and available resources, some transitions proved more challenging, while others ran more smoothly. However, even with the digital piece in place, a question remains: how can we keep the human experience intact in an increasingly tech-dominated world?

Factoring in the Human Element

Although we are living in a digital world, not all experiences are created equal, and it’s important to keep the audience in mind when creating content and delivering within any virtual scenario. While we have moved past the initial brunt of the ongoing global pandemic, according to the most recent Facts & Factors research study, “The Global E-learning market was projected at USD 144 Billion in 2019, is estimated to reach USD 374.3 Billion by 2026, and is predicted to increase at a CAGR of 14.6 % through 2026.” As such, trends showing an increased and continued adoption of eLearning overall are strengthened by ongoing remote work necessitated by the pandemic. eLearning has become the norm, and there are so many ways to deliver in that sphere, making it easier for all learning styles to be accommodated and include something for everyone. This can be in the form of a virtual classroom/web conferencing setting, self-paced content or quizzing created through content authoring tools, online activities, or even gamification and social learning. At the end of the day, it’s important to give people a chance to engage in a way that resonates with them.

Gamification for Incentivization

One of the elements that can be incorporated to provide a more expansive digital learning experience is gamification, where users earn points for completing courses or activities. Gamification can foster friendly competition and incentivize learners to engage with available content. Users can see point values increase in real time and track their achievements, giving them bursts of encouragement from seeing their work move them up the virtual scoreboard. Normally, gamification systems are executed through a Learning Management System, used to deliver and track training. Settings can be adjusted accordingly to account for a range of content, activities, and point values.

Social Learning and Non-Traditional Engagement

A large part of training across the government, corporate, and education sphere often involves compliance training and requires concrete proof of completion from an assessment component. While these aspects of eLearning are necessary and important, they can also be complemented by adding more community-based engagement features, such as social learning, which usually entails a forum or social “feed” for users to post, comment, poll, and discuss in custom groups, small or large scope. The concept of social learning adds a friendly side to formal training and offers up another way for users to consume and process content alongside peers. With much of our day-to-day, in-person socialization still restricted within many work environments, options that mimic a more community-like feel have become crucial. Learners who are more engaged and who feel more welcomed in their respective digital environments are more likely to return.

Factors to Consider When Building an eLearning Environment

A few factors to consider when launching a more engaging eLearning experience include scope, training content, and goals, as well as time constraints and accessibility. In terms of the technology involved, usually a content authoring tool, whether it be PDFs, videos, or interactive content, is paired with a Learning Management System to deliver and track training for the full scope. Content can be tailored to appeal to various learning types and be delivered across multiple devices for ease of access. The “one size fits all” approach has shifted to pave the way for more customized education that plays an important role in increasing learn ability.

For more information, view the Adobe webinar series: 8-Part Adobe Digital Learning Webinar Series: Redefine Digital Learning Experiences.

Continuing Digital Transformation Initiatives to Better Serve Constituents and Employees

Posted on by Josh Green

As has been felt and said too many times to count by now, the COVID pandemic has changed the way we live, work, and experience our daily lives. Whether it’s an employee working remotely, or a constituent requiring information or services, digital experiences became our safe, sterile, socially distant means of interacting, and trends that seemed years away, at best, became reality overnight. Agencies across the U.S. began to lay, often in a matter of weeks, the digital foundations necessary to adapt. COVID landing pages, portals for testing and vaccine distribution, labor and health services, and communications with residents were all transformed to provide a sense of certainty in a time without it.

Expanding Services Beyond the Foundations

As things begin to come around and a new normal starts to settle, agencies have the opportunity to build upon the foundations they’ve laid. The adoption of new technologies should always bring about an increase in interactions – website visits, application for services, as well as public outreach – that sets the stage for where to move forward. Expanding on these technologies and beneficial services in honest, open, and relevant ways can begin to build back the trust in government that has been declining over the last few decades (Pew Research). Engaging experiences are built on the equal pillars of data, content, and delivery across every touchpoint and channel. Understanding this customer journey and its included bottlenecks can help agencies figure out the best path forward for investment. As Rep. Gerry Connelly (D-VA) recently stated: “The pandemic laid bare the consequences of decades of deferred investment in government information technology, and we must not let the lessons learned during the crisis go to waste…”

Modernizing Experiences for Constituents and Employees

An easy place to begin is understanding that the customer experience does not stop with the residents. Often residents applying for services will require additional information – emails, welcome packets, or phone calls – to finalize the process, and agency employees themselves, who are handling the new customer interactions, have their personal processes to work within. So, workflows and approvals that act as hurdles, errors in manual data entry or forms submissions that add new interactions and time to processes, and the need to further engage and communicate with residents are all areas of opportunity that affect the experiences of both the resident and the agency.

One place to improve on these experiences is an agency’s forms. While the website is often the first point of interaction on a customer’s journey, forms are the point at which the communication becomes a conversation. An ITIF study of the progress of the implementation of the 21st Century IDEA (Integrated Digital Experience Act) shows the achievements agencies have made in modernizing their public forms but also demonstrates there is a large amount of opportunity for improvement. For agencies that have finished modernizing public forms, the opportunity to improve the employee experience can free up their time to spend more energy on resident experiences.

The knowledge gained from the rapid development of COVID landing sites and the expanded outreach for health and safety information applies to other use cases within an agency. Going to the web to find answers to questions has become second nature, and agency intranet portals are often the first source of truth for these answers. Outreach infrastructure can be used to provide employee-specific information along the same channels used by residents. Finally, the data collected from increased usage can be studied and adapted to tailor experiences with the most relevant content specific to the person requesting it.

Political Support

All of these challenges are not left for agencies to overcome alone. Citizen Experience was a major focus in President Donald Trump’s President Management Agenda, and while still awaiting President Biden’s, expectations are his “go big” policy approach and focus on the pandemic will bring increases to these efforts. Policies including the 21st Century IDEA and the IT Modernization Act are still required to be fully implemented, and even new attempts to assist state governments are being introduced in Federal legislation with bills like the State and Local Digital Service Act of 2021, introduced by Sens. Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Patty Murray (D-WA). Agencies need to take the lessons they’ve learned and the momentum they’ve gained during the last few years to continue improving resident and employee experiences and transform themselves into a modern digital enterprise built on trust and transparency.

Watch our on-demand webinar series, Improve Government Services by Reimagining Digital Experiences, to discover how Adobe’s digital government solutions can assist your agency in expanding its reach, propelling innovation, and further driving digital services to be easily accessible, seamless, and available anytime, anywhere, on any device.

The Best of What’s New in Hybrid and Remote Work

Posted on by The Carahsoft Team

When the COVID-19 pandemic struck in March 2020, agencies scrambled to expand secure connectivity and acquire mobile devices, but most state and local CIOs say their organizations transitioned relatively easily to working from home on an emergency basis. Now, with COVID-19 cases in the U.S. dropping dramatically and economies reopening, public agencies face a more complicated issue: figuring out where and how state and local government employees will work going forward. A 2020 CDG national survey found almost 75 percent of respondents anticipate hybrid work — where employees work from home at least on a part-time basis — will be their long-term model. The trend is particularly strong at the state level where just 16 percent of respondents anticipate returning to a fully in-person work environment. Read the latest insights from industry thought leaders in hybrid and remote work in Carahsoft’s Innovation in Government® report.

Modernizing Contact Centers to Enable Remote Work

“To ensure callers have a secure, fluid and reliable customer experience, agencies must maintain diverse channels of communication. Another challenge is ensuring that contact center agents have secure and timely access to their agency’s database, intuitively orchestrated communications and sufficient bandwidth for reliable connectivity. Organizations also need to minimize the learning curve associated with introducing new endpoints such as Bluetooth-enabled headsets, softphones and web real-time communication (WebRTC), which eliminate the need for traditional desk phones and enable workers to use their laptop for voice or digital interactions.”

Read more insights from Genesys’s Senior Solutions Consultant, Ivory Dugar.

The Digital HQ: Flexible, Inclusive and Connected

“What we’ve seen over the past year hasn’t just been about working from home. It’s been working from home during a pandemic. As the pandemic has stretched into its second year, employees are feeling the strain. The data show that even though the work-from-home experience is better than working in the office full time, employee satisfaction with work-life balance has declined and stress and anxiety have increased. A contributing factor to that stress is the pressure to demonstrate productivity. A third of remote workers say they feel pressure to make sure their managers know that they’re working.”

Read more insights from Slack’s Future Forum Senior Relationship Manager, Dave Macnee, and Customer Success Leader for Public Sector, Kevin Carter.

Giving Remote Workers Access to Resources They Need

“Centralized IT management and virtualization technology are critical to manage infrastructure and address changes quickly and at massive scale — whether that’s to patch a vulnerability across all user devices, upgrade applications or deploy additional computing resources. IT can make a change once via software and then distribute it to everyone’s device within minutes with minimal downtime. Software can monitor network traffic and resource utilization in aggregate and then automatically allocate resources as needed so organizations don’t have to invest in higher-performance user devices or purchase more hardware. In addition, organizations can isolate workloads and systems for security or other purposes, meaning multiple workloads and operating systems can run on the same device.”

Read more insights from NVIDIA’s Senior Manager of Public Sector, Chip Carr.

Managing Process and Cultural Change

“It’s projected that 30 to 35 percent of the public sector workforce will remain remote. A lot of these workers will probably be younger. To attract and engage the workforce of the future, you have to keep systems, processes and tools up to date. Younger people run their lives on their phone. If you expect them to submit to completely manual paper-driven processes, you’ll probably never get a chance to hire them, much less retain them. You also have to find out what they need to be successful in a remote environment; show them a path to promotion; and demonstrate that remote, hybrid and on-prem teams are aware of and understand their value to the organization.”

Read more insights from SAP Concur’s Senior Director of Public Sector, Jim McClurkin.

Navigating the New Frontier

“Having more flexibility and removing the location barrier opens up real opportunities, especially when it comes to competing for specialties like IT. Some states prohibit hiring out of state, but organizations can still widen the pool to include candidates beyond their local headquarters. They can recruit candidates who want to reside in areas with a lower cost of living or who don’t have the time to commute, for example. This flexibility also helps attract minorities and women, which in IT work, has been a real challenge.”

Read more insights from CDG Senior Fellow, Peter K. Anderson.

Download the full Innovation in Government® report for more insights from these hybrid and remote work thought leaders and additional industry research from GovTech.

Communication and Creativity While Working Remote

Posted on by Gary Reburn

Current Changes in Creative Collaboration

Creatives may each have different styles, but if there’s one idea that team members can agree on, it’s that working together fosters creativity. Whether you’re photographing a business event, redesigning an office interior, or building a mobile application from scratch; a team that works together can accomplish incredible things. Unfortunately, for most creatives in the government and commercial space, the solidarity of working as a team was disrupted by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic about a year ago to this very day. This sudden shift in our daily lives forced many groups to make drastic changes to their routines and work schedules very quickly.

While more modern commercial setups transitioned seamlessly into working remote, the government space needed to adapt while still adhering to security and safety protocols. Many teams have adjusted to their new state, and this past year has proven that apps and tools that focus on collaboration have allowed teams to continue to thrive even in a remote environment. The value of communication and the ability to share working concepts is vital to keeping fresh ideas and revisions rolling in.

Adapting to New Modes of Collaboration

When adapting and transitioning teams to a comfortable situation such as working from home, it’s critical to ensure that avenues for communication beyond the phone are in place. There are many business oriented applications teams use for collaboration such as online messaging apps, which allows teams the freedom to communicate freely and also encourages file sharing and review. These types of applications, despite being used for quite some time, are really coming to the forefront due to the ease at which they allows teams to actively work together. In light of most government teams working remotely, these programs that foster interaction have taken on an almost unprecedented role in how we share our ideas. In many ways the simplicity with which teams can collaborate over such long distances has encouraged more interactions and provides faster turnaround on fresh ideas.

Safe Digital Sharing

Creative assets are the building blocks of any intuitive project. Whether your team is constructing content entirely from scratch or working with premade templates and videos, being able to share the options that a single user has available is an incredible timesaver. A team that can collaborate and share ideas simply and easily will always excel, even from the comfort of their own homes. Many current software offerings have built-in sharing capabilities that allow for internal or external sharing.

Certain features to check for in order to ensure secure sharing may include adherence to certain compliances, as well as government accreditations. Many platforms in the digital marketplace fulfill these security requirements that are often essential in the government space, while allowing users to effectively share ideas online when in-person may not be safe or effective. Working together has always been the backbone of producing incredible content; so explore this and many other features to take your work with others to the next level and thrive despite the distance between us.

The Adobe Government Creativity Awards, the world’s premier creativity and design competition for government professionals, recognizes and celebrates talent and creativity in government and how agencies across the public sector are making an impact through creativity and design.

Check out entries from last year’s competition to get a sense of the projects your peers are submitting, and then take this opportunity to have your work showcased and potentially recognized with an award from Adobe in next year’s competition. To learn more, visit our competition website.

Technology Trends in 2021: Workflow Automation

Posted on by Yasir Saleem and Wayne Byrd

What is Workflow Automation?

Workflow automation can be defined as a set of repeatable activities that lead up to a common output, a complete process. Figuring out what needs to be automated is really a process of understanding the organization’s procedures and automating them. It might be something simple like documents that must go through four or five different layers of approvals. Usually that’s accomplished by having someone send emails with the documents attached to each signer in turn. But, that’s a simple workflow to automate where an email goes to the first approver and then on to the next person in line—without an employee needing to do it manually.

There can be more complex workflows with multiple different systems for sharing, processing, or managing data from one system into another. But workflow automation can ensure that an employee doesn’t have to manually pull data out of a database or connect two different systems. Instead it understands the business process, what the organization does day to day, performs the repeatable steps, and automates the process flow.

Benefits of Workflow Automation

One mundane task that can be automated is filling out forms. It benefits an organization to increase the speed and ease of use for the consumers and employees who need to fill out forms. If you’re dealing with a lot of people, the savings start to scale very quickly. The benefit can be monetary, saving time, reducing labor—or all of the above.

Workflow automation can help prefill the form, whether someone is completing a common form they have filled out previously or a new form that they’re completing for the first time. The user only needs to verify the information. It’s a huge time saver, and everyone loves that user experience.

There are more complicated and creative uses for workflow automation. If you have people creating imagery, videos, or other content for the web, you can centralize it in one place with a digital asset management tool. Workflow automation adds metadata and tags, helps report commonly used items, and aids in searches and the overall performance of retrieving content. Thus, it organizes and centralizes everything.

Benefits and Trends during the Pandemic

Workflow automation has been making life a lot easier during the pandemic. The Air Force, for example, has a lot of airmen who are working from home and aircraft manufacturers that had been on base who must now send forms for aircraft parts online. Also, the Air Force has to recruit new candidates without storefront offices or recruiting conferences where they give presentations.

There’s been a huge expansion in workflow automation for those types of audiences. The Air Force has to envision its candidates as customers who are potentially interested—and now you have to sell to them. A potential airman goes online and wants to see what the Air Force has to offer. Workflow automation allows the system to personalize that experience

Automation personalizes the recruiting experience to keep the candidate interested and moving through the process, even leading up to filling out the candidate form. Furthermore, it generates leads and helps transfer the data to backend databases and systems such as a CRM system for recruiters—who can work through the leads and follow up. Automation can be a key element to ensure their recruiting workflows are generating qualified leads.

Workflow Automation to Keep Documents Moving

With the pandemic, more of the Air Force’s internal processes must be done remotely. They need collaboration, virtual meetings, filling out forms, and other processes at a much greater scale. They must share knowledge internally before even producing external content.

It became even more important to have some workflows that could keep things moving and make data-sharing easier—to create reports or provide content and data intelligence. They’ve been figuring out how they can make better decisions by using the available data. Workflow automation is the underlying foundation to enable that process.

Moving documentation across the Air Force is incredibly important for its policy and publications workflows to function properly. An aircraft part is important to a maintainer and a well-maintained aircraft is important to a pilot. It takes a lot of forms and coordination, with data moving around, to keep airplanes flying. An intensely manual process such as filling out forms for shipping and inspecting parts can now be handled easily on mobile devices.

Air Force Publications

Another example of workflow automation is Air Force publications: policy or governance files that basically define all of the policies around anything and everything Air Force. They have 10,000+ people globally as content creators, authors, editors, and reviewers. When a publication is created, it is worked on by many different people in different organizations—with strict governance because creating a policy means it has to go through multiple levels of approval.

It must be seamless and easy because spending too much time wastes manpower and money. They also have multiple authors for editorial reviews or co-authoring with multiple people on the same publication—as well as issues with managing version control.

They needed to find a simple, intuitive, and easy system to produce these publications. So they set up workflow automation with a content management system and were blown away about what could be automated. They could drastically reduce the number of emails being sent, take care of version management, prevent documents from getting lost, etc.

They leveraged a simple, intuitive user interface, where airmen could have appropriate roles and permissions and define the requirements for the publication so everybody could work on it collaboratively. The result impacts the entire Air Force—and all of its policies and publications. It’s also repeatable across the DoD. Thus, it presents an opportunity for the larger DoD to take what the Air Force is doing and adapt it to save an immense amount of time and money.

Listen to our Podcast to hear our more in-depth conversation about workflow automation, its importance over the last year and what we can expect to see in 2021.

Driving Cloud Computing and Telework Change

Posted on by Ashley Weston

The Coronavirus pandemic has spurred noticeable changes in the way individuals within most organizations collaborate with colleagues, interface with the public, and get their day-to-day business done. Many have transitioned to telework, brought on virtual training platforms, and secured tools for managing or signing documents electronically. While employee safety certainly ramped up efforts to modernize, especially in the government sphere, the underlying push to modernize and adopt more cloud infrastructure continues in full force into the future.

The New Administration Sets IT and Cybersecurity Plans

As is customary to accompany a transfer of power, President Joe Biden announced his planned initiatives, which include making “federal IT modernization and cybersecurity top priorities during the early days of his administration — second only to COVID-19 response, it seems.” Biden’s transition team indicated that the administration “will provide emergency funding to upgrade federal information technology infrastructure and address the recent breaches of federal government data systems,” as “this is an urgent national security issue that cannot wait.” All in all, U.S. cybersecurity capabilities need to be strengthened to prevent breaches and a possible crisis over top of the current pandemic that has affected 25 million Americans thus far (Billy Mitchell).

CISA Recommendations for Remote Work

With no immediate safe end to remote work for those who are able to do so, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency is also warning that poor cyber standards can put an organization at risk for a major attack. As such, an analysis report released on January 13th by CISA outlines security practices. The report indicates, “These types of attacks frequently occurred when victim organizations’ employees worked remotely and used a mixture of corporate laptops and personal devices to access their respective cloud services.” It is therefore recommended that organizations establish a solid baseline for remote work and use platforms that allow for customized security settings (Sara Wilson).

IT Infrastructure Requirements

Major American government agencies are steadily stepping up to modernize, but the requirements for cloud solutions are strict. Platforms must adhere to different compliances, such as SOC, or achieve certain certifications, such as FedRamp, and tech companies are answering the call. In turn, by leveraging VPNs, setting up servers, and accessing cloud services, agencies from the state and local to the federal level are seeing the benefits of these solutions in remote work. Navy Vice Adm. Nancy A. Norton, Defense Information Systems Agency director, says, “The COVID-19 emergency drove us to enhance our telework tools for our workforce” and from here on out, “I think the world has probably recognized the value of telework and the ease at which we can telework.” DISA, which is on the digital frontlines in cyber and information technology, “enabled a more than 1,000% increase in telework connections for joint mission partners around the globe” through VPN functionality (David Vergun).

Modernizing Form Workflows

Aside from the infrastructure changes that remote work entails, it also drives changes to internal and external workflows, particularly those involving forms and signatures. With a large portion of the workforce operating remotely and citizens continuing to require public services, end-to-end solutions that allow for hosting documents, signing electronically, and tracking from start to finish become essential. Agencies are encouraged to secure their internal operations and make their public-facing operations fully digital and accessible across devices. The pandemic has quickened the call to action for government entities to modernize, but the efficiency of telework and the ever-present threat of cyber-attacks indicate that this trend will continue.

From top government organizations ramping up their IT infrastructure, to state and local governments adopting hosted solutions for day-to-day operations, the overall success of remote work that the pandemic necessitated shows that “we have learned how to work with our workforce in ways that we never did before,” says Norton, “and I think this is something that […] is going to continue.”

Looking to accelerate document processes within your agency? Discover how Adobe is paving the way for a digital document revolution in our 8-part webinar series, Integrated Paperless Processes From Start to Finish!

How Facial Recognition Can Keep Flexible Workplaces Safe

Posted on by Joseph Santucci

One emerging solution employs facial recognition software to ensure that COVID-era guidelines are being followed. This low-budget solution takes advantage of existing cameras within the workspace and emerging facial recognition technology that distinguishes individual faces with and without masks, providing users with automated reports and insights on the safety of their workspaces.

Monitor mask compliance

Wearing masks in an office environment is one key to facilitate the safe return to in-person operations, but monitoring and compliance is critical to ensuring the policy is effective, especially in large government buildings. Establishing checkpoints is one way to demonstrate compliance, but that approach isn’t necessarily efficient or effective—it requires manned stations throughout the facility, and employees can still remove their masks once they’ve passed the checkpoint.

Instead, workplaces can turn to cutting-edge facial recognition software—which, in the time of COVID, has been adapted to recognize masks as objects and can differentiate individuals both with and without masks. This technology can extract valuable information from the video feeds of existing cameras and can operate around the clock without the need for additional personnel.

Such software enables users to compile reports on mask-wearing within the workplace, pinpoint areas or situations where employees are more likely to remove their masks, and identify individuals who repeatedly remove their face coverings. These insights allow organizations to shape and strengthen their mask-wearing policies and demonstrates compliance within the workplace.

Ensure social distancing

Another key COVID-era workplace policy is social distancing, which presents its own challenges in bustling hallways, conference rooms, and other communal areas. Proper distancing can be especially hard to enforce in situations where employees are moving about or passing through.

Software automation can be used to identify infractions and bottlenecks by analyzing the camera feeds for reoccurring instances of congregating. Workplaces can use this insight to pinpoint areas where social distancing is hard to maintain and implement changes to reduce bottlenecks or manage the number of people in one part of the facility.

Identify remote workers

While state and federal organizations are working towards bringing more of the workforce back into the office, flexible and remote work will continue to be critical for keeping employees safe and healthy. Most organizations have implemented telework policies including a VPN and secure authentication, but facial recognition software can ensure that only the authorized individual is sitting at the terminal for the duration of the session.

While a user is logged into a secure session, the software can use the computer’s camera to send regular images of the user to the server for automated monitoring. If the user steps away from the computer and there is no face detected in the images, the software can automatically terminate the session. Similarly, if the user steps away and another person takes their place, the software can identify the switch and end the session as well, ensuring that only the authorized user has access to the VPN.

Like many organizations, government agencies have had to pivot their operations to keep employees safe during COVID. As workplaces start figuring out how safely bring more employees back into the office, policies and compliance must work in tandem to reduce the spread of COVID as much as possible. Facial recognition software is an easy way to use existing infrastructure to assess just how safe the workplace is—whether it’s in office or remote—and adjust policies if needed.

Software company piXlogic has adapted its facial recognition technology to overcome the challenge of detecting masked faces and can identify individuals, with or without masks, at a high degree of reliability and accuracy. piXlogic has structured its software to seamlessly count masked and unmasked individuals and provide reports on compliance with COVID precautions within the workplace.

Learn more about how piXlogic is helping organizations return to work safely.

Providing a Secure Environment for a Remote Federal Workforce

Posted on by Jim Hansen

Security was once a simpler endeavor. Today, legions of workers telecommute. Government workers regularly log in to their work accounts outside the office and may use unsecured public Wi-Fi networks, such as those in coffee shops and libraries (but with a mask and hand sanitizer, of course). They may also use insecure personal devices over which many agencies have no real oversight—devices potentially riddled with spyware or worse.

A secure perimeter was once an essential component of secure computing and a secure architecture. This essential component, however, has become seemingly irrelevant. What good is a secure perimeter when those who need the extra protection are so often outside it?

This is the current challenge facing so many federal IT pros during our massive shift to remote work. How can a federal IT pro secure a remote environment? Specifically, what can a federal IT pro do to improve endpoint security in a more effective way?

The answer is simpler than you might expect, and it’s likely something federal IT pros can do today:

Implement zero-trust policies
Develop security policies capable of scaling with risk
Consider the user experience

Implement Zero Trust Policies

When government employees were working within government facilities, the secure perimeter model worked—it trusted users within the perimeter and distrusted users outside it. By contrast, a zero-trust model treats all users with mistrust, as the model assumes threat actors may be operating both outside the perimeter and within it. Zero trust means all actions require authentication, regardless of whether the employee is working onsite or from a remote location.

To make zero trust work in the real world without prompting employees to resent endless authentication requests, make sure users are only prompted for additional credentials if they appear to be using an unknown or unexpected machine or are requesting an unexpected resource.

If you’re looking for products to use in this scenario, be sure to choose one capable of determining whether traffic or requests are normal or anomalous. In the latter case, anomalous behavior may require additional authentication steps to ensure a user’s identity.

Develop Security Policies Capable of Scaling With Risk

Just as it can be difficult to convince users to take an extra step and enter additional credentials, implementing additional security policies and procedures can be difficult as well—sometimes, it can even be detrimental. For example, if security policies prevent employees from getting their jobs done, they’ll look for workarounds in the form of outside emails, thumb drives, cloud drives, and other risky behaviors.

The best way to prevent this is to create security policies capable of scaling with risk. For example, a large funds withdrawal is a greater security concern for financial services than a balance inquiry; an unknown system is a greater security concern than a known system; and personnel records require more stringent controls than a system containing only publicly available information. Tailor security policies—and the automated systems supporting them—to recognize increased risk and enhance authentication in these situations.

Consider the User Experience

At the end of the day, it’s important to remember one of the most critical components of this enhanced security equation: users. Zero-trust policies and policies capable of scaling with risk both require user buy-in for success. It’s not enough to keep the bad actors at bay—you also need to ensure the security policies and systems federal employees use aren’t a hindrance to getting their jobs done.

Consider the user experience before implementing dramatic changes. Forcing endless credential queries and password resets may prompt users to use visible sticky notes for passwords, which introduces a new vulnerability. Remember, security measures must be user-friendly if they’re to be adopted successfully.

Looking Beyond Perimeter Security

Nobody knows how long we’ll be working from home or if our working model will change for good. Regardless, perimeter security is no longer an achievable goal for many agencies. A zero-trust environment can ensure authentication challenges support security needs, and security policies capable of scaling with risk can ensure security is applied precisely where and when it’s needed. But remember, adopting these security measures requires taking the end user into account.

As perimeter security wanes as a goal, securing endpoints with minimal adverse impact on employee productivity should be the next goal—and the logical replacement.

Download our whitepaper to discover a broad range of offerings designed to support remote users and their work experiences.

CIO Perspectives: A New Vision for the Government Workplace

Posted on by The Carahsoft Team

In the early days of the COVID-19 crisis, most government chief information officers (CIOs) focused on fundamental questions related to transitioning to remote work and virtual environments while still maintaining services and meeting citizens’ needs. Over time, however, they realized that in responding to the crisis, agencies were crafting a new model for agency operations. In many cases, it was indeed possible to carry out the business of agencies in a virtual environment. Employees could stay engaged, work processes often were streamlined and digital services proved their worth. In part, the goal of this new model is to improve operational resiliency for the next crisis, but the new model also is geared toward transformation — helping agencies adopt more efficient and effective processes that deliver better services. Read more from CIOs within both Federal and state government on the lessons learned from the transition to telework and their goals for the future in “CIO Perspectives: A New Vision for the Government Workplace,” a guide created by GovLoop and Carahsoft featuring insights from the following technology leaders.

Creating a Roadmap to Resilience

“Resiliency means having the ability to rapidly resume delivery of services after a disruptive event and to continue operating in that new environment as long as needed. True resiliency goes beyond simply creating redundant capabilities that can ensure the availability of data and systems. It’s about taking a holistic approach to the people, processes, and systems involved in delivering services and ensuring that all three aspects are addressed as part of a continuity strategy. The ServiceNow platform is designed to help agencies create digital workflows that connect people, processes and systems. The platform is supported by a single data model and common application logic that makes it easy to automate processes and update those processes when requirements change.”

Read more insights from ServiceNow’s Chief Technology Officer of Global Government, Bob Osborn.

The Virtual Environment’s Key Attributes

“For many government employees, one of the biggest challenges of the remote work situation has been to continue effectively delivering on their mission critical operations. Virtual environments have become mainstream and indispensable for a variety of use cases, whether it’s large virtual gatherings, training sessions or meetings. It has been a paradigm shift, and if agencies can get it right, virtual environments could play a bigger role than ever even after the current crisis, reducing the need for travel, costs of large physical events, and providing more flexibility and reach… Whatever the situation, remote work has demonstrated that a virtual environment is not just a fallback plan, but a valuable option for agencies even in normal working conditions.”

Read more insights from Adobe Connect’s Senior Enablement Manager, Alistair Lee, and Product Evangelist, Peter Ryce.

Seeing Clearly With Network Visibility

“Government IT networks are increasingly difficult to manage. Citizens want digital services that are equal to the private sector’s. Cybersecurity risks, meanwhile, are multiplying daily. And the volume of data is growing faster than ever. The COVID-19 pandemic complicated this situation further for federal agencies. Whether they’re civilian or defense, these networks have been under unprecedented strain as most government employees have been working from home. Network visibility can help agencies see all these challenges clearly and solve them. Using the right tools, agencies can continuously monitor their networks’ performances and security.”

Read more insights from Gigamon’s Vice President of Public Sector, Dennis Reiley.

The 5 Elements of Government Digital Transformation

“Advanced operations through competencies such as Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) is about looking at transformation from an operational perspective. How well does a new digital service meet enterprise requirements for performance, reliability and security? …organizations should establish an enterprise-level minimum viable product (MVP) that lays out key requirements that all products must meet. In advising agencies going through an open transformation, Red Hat is not pushing a solution. Instead, these five elements are designed to help agencies think about the key decision areas they must address.”

Read more insights from Red Hat’s Digital Transformations Architect (DoD/IC), Dmitry Didovicher.

Unified Endpoint Security: Bringing Order to Chaos

“In cybersecurity, organizations create chaos with the best of intentions. Their goal is to make incremental gains in security by implementing new solutions that make up for the deficits of older ones and adding new controls to compensate for the limits of existing ones. To make matters worse, the IT environment itself has grown more complex, creating new attack vectors that malicious actors can exploit. Clearly, agencies need to reduce the chaos and improve security. But they also need to ensure their cyber strategy does not hinder employee productivity. Those competing needs were more apparent than ever when gubernatorial mandates in response to the COVID-19 crisis required thousands of employees to begin working from home, some using their own devices. How could agencies protect applications and data without creating new obstacles for employees? “

Read more insights from Blackberry’s Senior Vice President and Chief Information Security Officer, John McClurg.

Identity Access Management in the Telework Era

“Nationwide, agencies have embraced telework during the COVID-19 pandemic. While most agencies have rapidly transitioned to remote work, it hasn’t been without challenges. Many agencies couldn’t provide remote access to systems except email when the crisis first hit and as a result, workers couldn’t access many of the systems they use daily. At the same time, threat actors haven’t been sitting still, and attacks such as phishing and spear phishing are on the rise. Now, traditional network-oriented security isn’t sufficient with users accessing resources from more locations and devices than before. That is why identity and access management (IAM) is critical to helping agencies navigate this new normal. IAM covers the policies and tools ensuring the correct people have the appropriate access to organizational resources. “

Read more insights from Okta’s Senior Marketing Manager, Kelsey Nelson.

Election Security Is About More Than Voting Machines

“Conversations around election cybersecurity have gone mainstream. Much of those discussions focus largely on voting machines and known security flaws that hackers can use to compromise the technology. But that’s only a fraction of the larger issue…Today, as a pandemic rages across the globe, government agencies are exploring alternatives to in-person voting to promote social distancing. Even still, cybersecurity must remain an integral part of the conversation. “

Read more insights from Rapid7’s Research Director, Tod Beardsley.

How to Meet the IT Management Challenges of Remote Work

“Throughout the COVID-19 crisis, government agencies have learned two basic lessons about remote work. First, the experience has diminished doubts about whether employees could work effectively and efficiently outside the office. Second, it’s made IT leaders aware they need a better strategy for managing this remote environment… More than anything, the experience of remote work has taught IT managers to think in new ways about the enterprise.”

Read more insights from SolarWind’s Vice President of Product Strategy, Brandon Shopp.

Download the full GovLoop Guide for more insights from these telework and cybersecurity thought leaders and additional interviews and perspectives from government CIOs at FDIC, GSA, NRC, NSF, and the states of Colorado and Delaware.

Transition to Remote Work

Factoring in the Human Element

Gamification for Incentivization

Social Learning and Non-Traditional Engagement

Factors to Consider When Building an eLearning Environment

Expanding Services Beyond the Foundations

Modernizing Experiences for Constituents and Employees

Political Support

Current Changes in Creative Collaboration

Adapting to New Modes of Collaboration

Safe Digital Sharing

The New Administration Sets IT and Cybersecurity Plans

CISA Recommendations for Remote Work

IT Infrastructure Requirements

Modernizing Form Workflows

1) IT TRENDS IN GOVERNMENT: The Cloud and Electronic Signatures

2) How Federal Agencies Can Achieve Section 508 Compliance

3) Tips and Tricks to Establishing a Successful Telework Environment

4) Evolving Kubernetes into an Enterprise Container Platform

5) Start Your Agency Off on the Best Cybersecurity Foot With Federal Frameworks

6) 3 Reasons Federal Healthcare Agencies Need Cloud Computing

7) How AI is Helping Government Agencies Deliver on their Missions

8) Creating Modern IDEA Compliant Citizen Experiences

9) How Facial Recognition Can Keep Flexible Workplaces Safe

10) Leaders In Innovation: Identity and Access Management