The GovBrief

Today's government agencies are undergoing a large-scale transformation. Evolving needs, driven by the COVID-19 pandemic — and a laundry list of other national and global events — have put more pressure on agencies to modernize their IT. Today, cloud has become a tool that empowers transformation and innovation, especially as agencies optimize their hybrid workspaces in a post-COVID world. But what will this cloud-driven future actually look like?

Introducing the Federal Cloud Forecast, a podcast produced by GovExec in collaboration with VMware and Presidio Federal, where we take a look at how cloud will impact the government of the future.

Here, host Camille Tuutti sits down with Robert Riegle, senior director of solutions engineering and sales at VMware to discuss cloud adoption, to discuss IT modernization and the changing hybrid workforce. Together, they delve into how agencies can overcome hurdles to cloud adoption and what tools and services can help them do so.

The first priority of the President’s Management Agenda challenges government agencies to become a model employer, hiring a workforce that reflects the nation’s diversity and providing employees the support they need to succeed. Recruiting and retaining the best and brightest requires tools and services that are modern, intuitive, mobile and similar to those they use outside of the workplace.

James Hanson, group publisher for Federal and Technology Markets at GovExec, delves into these requirements and what it takes to bring them to life on the second episode of the Transforming Government Experience podcast. Joining him to talk through the first priority is ServiceNow’s Principal Digital Strategist for DoD & the Intelligence Community and Senior Principal Product Success Manager for Employee Workflows, Kevin Hall.

It’s no secret that cyber threats are on the rise. As the government becomes more digital, combatting those threats becomes even more critical to the U.S. government’s ability to thrive and serve constituents. The Cybersecurity Executive Order, released in May 2021, seeks to help agencies pave the way to more secure systems.

To help agencies understand how to meet the requirements of the executive order — and why it’s crucial to do so — host James Hanson, group publisher for Federal and Technology Markets at GovExec, speaks with two of ServiceNow’s experts: Vice President of Business Development Robert Walker and Lead for SecOps Federal Sales Jeff Lacorte.

Like any organization, government only works well when people and parts are aligned. The larger the organization, the more difficult this is to achieve, which is one of the many reasons why the government has struggled with information silos for years. On the contrary, a common operating picture can help agencies reduce friction, improve accountability, and meet the requirements laid out in the President’s Management Agenda.

On this episode of Transforming Government Experience, host James Hanson, group publisher for Federal and Technology Markets at GovExec, is joined by ServiceNow’s Global Head of State, Local and Regional Government Solutions Tom Yeatts and Enterprise Architect John Spirko to discuss what it takes to improve the business of government — and the tools needed to help streamline project management.

The federal government interacts with millions of people each day, providing vital services during some of the most critical moments in people’s lives. Too often, however, people must navigate a tangled web of government websites, offices and phone numbers to access the services they depend on.

Recent guidance from the federal government aims to change that. The Biden administration’s Management Agenda Vision and the Executive Order on Transforming Federal Customer Experience — both launched in late 2021 — aim to improve how government agencies interact with citizens. On this episode of Transforming Government Experience, James Hanson, group publisher for Federal and Technology Markets at GovExec, is joined by ServiceNow’s Field Chief Technical Officer for State and Local Government Chris Dilley and Federal CTO Jonathan Alboum to discuss what it takes to improve the citizen experience and the extraordinary impact it can have.

The New York State Department of Labor recently launched an Excluded Workers Program with the aim to bring financial relief to thousands of workers across the state who lost income during the pandemic and did not qualify for government-issued COVID-19 benefits.

In an amazing effort, the NYDOL set up a new eligibility program in just 12 weeks and approved over $850 million in benefits for distribution in the first month. But new programs also mean new challenges, and the NYDOL needed to not just ensure that funds were being distributed, but that they were reaching the right people.

How did they do it? With the help of Artificial Intelligence. By tapping technologies from Google Cloud and data science software Quantiphi, the NYDOL was able to launch a cloud-based user-friendly and streamlined application program that helped to ensure benefit integrity.

That’s what host James Hanson, Group Publisher for Federal and Technology Markets at GovExec will be digging into on this episode of AI: Gov Reimagined. James will be speaking with Denise Winkler, strategic business executive for Global Public Sector at Google Cloud and Taylor Cyr, managing director of Public Sector/Higher Education at Quantiphi. We’ll be discussing how Quantiphi is helping the NYDOL spot fraud and abuse in the Excluded Workers Program — and how agencies can use cloud-based AI tools to help safeguard constituent benefits.

Check out what they have to say by listening to the full episode

There’s a mass exodus happening among today’s workforce. According to a report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, a record 4.3 million Americans left their jobs in August 2021.

The “Great Resignation” — or the “Big Quit” as some are calling it — has shaken nearly every industry, including public sector. The average time to hire federal employees is around 100 days, and contributing to the delay is legacy systems. In the era of COVID-19 and the expansion of remote work, employee experience is an essential mode of operation.

Introducing "The Talent Imperative,” a podcast from GovExec in partnership with Salesforce, where we dig into the ways government leaders can attract and retain employees during this turbulent time.

Here, host and President of GovExec Constance Sayers sits down with Casey Coleman, senior vice president of Global Public Sector Digital Transformation at Salesforce, to discuss how agencies can leverage tools and best practices to enhance the employee experience.

Check it out.

As the need for unemployment insurance swept the nation, benefits agencies across the country stepped in to provide aid to those in need. Meanwhile, new legislation and inefficient legacy systems created a perfect storm for errors or fraud, meaning many benefits didn’t reach those who truly needed it.

To reduce improper payments and streamline the system, agencies need a way to analyze applications and identify potential errors. Modern AI solutions can offer an answer.

To help wade through and analyze applications, the Oklahoma Employment Security Commission tapped an AI-based solution from data analytics company SpringML. Making use of Google Cloud tools, the solution uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to uncover suspicious patterns, detect fraud and improve verification.

So, how did the OESC make use of AI and ML to improve benefit integrity? On this episode of the AI: Gov Reimagined podcast, James Hanson, group publisher for Federal and Technology Markets at GovExec, catches up with Denise Winkler, strategic business executive for Global Public Sector at Google Cloud; Arun Natarajan, director of Cloud & Platform Partners for SpringML; and Shelley Zumwalt, CEO and Executive Director at OESC. Check it out!

Innovative ideas on their own are just that. It takes thoughtful, influential leaders to consistently connect innovators with the funding and resources they need to grow their ideas into high-impact products.

Jennifer Shieh, chief scientist and program manager for the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Office of Investment and Innovation, is one such leader. Shieh focuses on connecting startups and small businesses with funding agencies and resource vehicles across the country, with the aim to transform high-risk, high-impact technologies into marketable products and services that solve problems.

On this episode of The Federal Innovator podcast, a podcast for and about the innovators taking on the biggest challenges in the federal government — and making change that is more human, simple and enduring — hosts Tim Irvine, managing director and Accenture Federal Studio lead, and Stephanie Wander, acting director at the Atlantic Council’s GeoTech Center speak with Dr. Shieh about her role, the importance of small businesses in the U.S. and what it takes to build an effective innovation pipeline.

Understanding obstacles to the COVID-19 vaccination is key for public sector leaders looking to run an effective vaccination program. With the aim to better understand these obstacles and redistribute resources more effectively, the State of California is tapping into the wide array of public sector feedback.

With Google Cloud’s enterprise sentiment analytics approach, in partnership with Syntasa, the California Office of Digital Innovation is tapping into these data sources and organized constituent sentiment in a way that could support a number of vaccine distribution stakeholders, from the Office of Emergency Services’ ability to plan mobile vaccination sites, to the Department of Public Health’s ability to run effective social media campaigns, among others.

In this episode of AI: Gov Reimagined, host James Hanson, group publisher for Federal and Technology Markets at GovExec speaks with two innovators at the California Office of Digital Innovation, JP Petrucione, deputy director of communications and insights, and Jeffrey Marino, the agency’s insight’s product lead as well as Google Cloud’s Public Sector Head of Customer Analytics Quinn Chasan about the California ODI’s efforts to better understand constituent sentiment with the support of Google Cloud technologies.