New desktops won’t close real tech gap

By Peter Butler

Vice President of Technology and Telecommunications

A top Obama Administration official recently claimed “federal workers having better computers at home than in the office” has led to a technology gap between the public and private sectors that nets “billions of dollars in waste.” Unfortunately, the comments fell short of addressing the real crisis for America’s CIOs.

The Hill reported the comments made by Office of Management and Budget Director Peter Orszag in a statement last week before a technology summit between Obama and dozens of corporate CEOs. While it’s probably fair to say government offices need technical upgrades, swapping out screens won’t solve the real issue. If only the solution were that simple.

The problem lies more with how government tracks and monitors the dollars it is allotted to support today’s most complex problems.   Government could gain greater efficiencies through the enterprise deployment of asset management systems and project portfolio management systems.   With an asset management system, government can track how its resources are being utilized.   Also, they can determine whether the technology resources are up to date and being used in compliance with regulatory demands.   With project portfolio management, government officials can better understand what they are spending our money on and, most importantly, why we are spending on that category.  It’s imperative for our government leadership to have a real-time, birds-eye view into where their people, processes and technology are focused.   

  

These are tough choices. And neither will come cheap.

Peter Butler is the vice president of the technology practice of NSI. In this capacity, Mr. Butler manages the day-to-day operations of the technology practice, leading efforts for new client acquisition, client management and P&L responsibility. Prior to NSI, Mr. Butler was an account director for Mainline Information Systems, CA, and Idea Integration. In 1998, Mr. Butler left the public sector to launch Homes.com as the vice president of Product Development. The site grew quickly, launching branded realtor and broker sites, and remains one of the leading portals today for online real estate. Mr. Butler also served as spokesperson for Florida Governor Bob Martinez in 1989 before changing his focus to internet communications. After launching the web strategies for Florida’s Leon County and the City of Tallahassee, Mr. Butler turned his attention to the State of Florida’s internet launch, and was project director for the State of Florida’s award winning web team under Governor Lawton Chiles.