At the heart of many government digital transformation initiatives is a simple concept – automation. Effectively, the more simple, redundant, and time-consuming tasks that can be automated, the more time that the government’s resource-strapped agencies and organizations have to focus on the bigger picture – accomplishing the mission, keeping Americans safe, and providing services to constituents.
For example, the siren’s song of automation has led to the embrace of Artificial Intelligence (AI) for use in constituent service.
Applications such as CLEO, a conversational AI that answers citizen questions for the Clerk of the Superior Court in Maricopa County, are designed to improve the constituent experience. But they also automate the responses to basic constituent concerns so that government employees can focus on other tasks, and address larger, more complicated citizen requests.
The desire to automate operations and processes extends well beyond conversational AI and constituent service. It can also be found within government application development teams, where there is an incredible demand to make functions and processes, such as application deployment, as simple and automated as possible.
“…the government needs to identify the tools and solutions that work for them and give them the automated processes they need. Then, they need to demand that systems integrators utilize these solutions…”
Unfortunately, the application development platforms and tools that can enable automation often don’t find their way to these teams. And there is a very good reason why.
What’s good for you isn’t good for me
Many large government projects and programs of note are spearheaded by systems integrators (SI). There is a massive ecosystem of these companies, but many have one thing in common – they exist to implement large, complex IT systems and solutions for government agencies and the branches of the military. However, not all SIs are attached to the legacy ways of doing things – there are some that are doing their due diligence to search in the massive IT landscape for the best of breed solutions. To do this, they need to have a pulse into the latest research and trends that are changing the market.
We are currently having discussions with several large defense integrators that are taking the stance of integrating fast and delivering exceptional quality to their clients quickly – without being afraid to fail in order to reach that success. We are looking forward to this joint journey with like-minded companies and system integrators.
An SI serves an important role in government programs and projects. They bring deep technical knowledge and expertise to these programs. While its best-practice for an SI to be vendor agnostic, integrating multiple, best-of-breed technologies together to solve some of the government’s most complex problems, the reality is that many employees bring their own vendor bias of programs and partnerships they have historically had in the past. This can make it hard for new and innovative software companies to break in with these companies that may have certain biases.
Also, many integrators are not incentivized to help the government automate processes. In fact, in some cases, it’s the direct opposite.
An SI makes money on the technologies that it sells to the government. But it makes more money on the services that they sell to the government. And the longer the service tail on any of the technologies or solutions that it sells to an agency or a military organization, the more profitable that engagement is for them.
For example, if a systems integrator is developing the tooling for a military organization’s application development team, it behooves them to utilize platforms that don’t automate processes. If development, testing, deployment and other parts of the SDLC are automated and simple, there’s no need for the SI to stick around and hold the hands of the development team as they work to get the tooling to function and meet their requirements.
“…automation is very infrequently what the government and military get from their system integrators. That could be because they’re not ready to embrace new, innovative tools and technologies that have automation at their core…it could also be because automating processes for the government and military cuts into the services they’re able to sell…”
In cases such as these, automation is what the government wants. It will make the SDLC faster and easier, while eliminating the need for developers to perform redundant, manual, time-consuming tasks. Instead, developers would be free to do what they’re paid to do – develop and deliver mission-critical applications and capabilities to the warfighters and government employees that need them. Automation would also improve the productivity levels of already understaffed government organization developer teams.
Unfortunately, automation is very infrequently what the government and military get from their system integrators. That could be because they’re not ready to embrace new, innovative tools and technologies that have automation at their core – eschewing them from the legacy solutions they know. It could also be because automating processes for the government and military cuts into the services they’re able to sell, which has a direct impact on bottom-line financials.
So how does the government overcome this conflict of interest within its system integrator ecosystem and embrace automation?
Look for and demand innovation
It may seem like a relatively simplistic answer, but the government needs to identify the tools and solutions that work for them and give them the automated processes they need. Then, they need to demand that systems integrators utilize these solutions in their projects and programs.
While systems integrators are often relied upon for their deep technical knowledge and expertise, the government also has smart, experienced technologists and IT professionals managing its large IT programs and software factories. These individuals know their organization’s requirements and have the ability to explore the more nimble, entrepreneurial, and innovative solution providers that may be doing things differently from larger, more established brands.
The mantra that, “no one ever got fired for buying IBM,” is a dying concept, as organizations in the public and private sectors have realized the power of innovative startups and the open source community.
These government IT and application development leaders may find that these more innovative solution providers bring new ideas and capabilities to the table. Many of these companies are simply looking for an opportunity to demonstrate the impact of their technology and would welcome a chance to be vetted. Many, including my firm, D2iQ, are willing to have their solutions put to the test to solve real-world government problems as a way to showcase their capabilities.
“The mantra that, ‘no one ever got fired for buying IBM,’ is a dying concept, as organizations in the public and private sector have realized the power of innovative startups and the open source community.”
This is exactly what happened when the former Chief Software Office of the U.S. Air Force, Nicolas Chaillan, tasked D2iQ with creating a solution that would enable 80,000 men and women to work from home at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. The company delivered a solution in 48 hours and – in doing so – illustrated the D2iQ Kubernetes Platform’s ability to automate much of the SDLC and expedite application development.
By identifying exciting new technologies and solution providers, and putting them to the test, the government and military can identify the tools and solutions that will meet their automation requirements. Once those tools and solutions are identified, it’s on the systems integrators to step up and make the best choices for their client’s needs.
Systems integrators may make more money by using solutions and tools that don’t enable automation, allowing them to sell more services. But they won’t want to lose a large government IT program or project to one of their competitors because they were unwilling to meet program requirements that call for the use of a specific solution or tool. The government and military can realize the benefits of modern automation. They just need to identify the solutions that make automation possible, and require systems integrators to use them.
To learn more about how the U.S. Air Force moved 80,000 personnel to hybrid work in just 48 hours using DKP, click HERE to download the case study, “The U.S. Air Force Accelerates the Scope and Scale of Remote Collaboration with Kubernetes.”
