I recently read an article about how Google is advertising the fact that “60% of the U.S. state governments have gone Google.” What Google is saying with this statement is that many states have decided to begin using Google’s inexpensive enterprise software solutions that are largely web-based: Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Docs, etc.
The general public’s first reaction to this fact might be fear of the amount of risk this may place on sensitivity of personal information. Think about the quantity of private data the government possesses on individuals. Would hosting it with one company (Google or otherwise), especially a company that bases its business on the transparency and retrievable nature of content (Google’s core business as an Internet search engine) put this content at an unusually high level of risk?
The blog post on SearchEngineRoundtable.com about this topic helps clarify the numbers for us.
It is possible that some small government offices have switched to Google Apps for email or document management. But to house sensitive intelligence on a hosted Google owned server? That has not happened…
A top government official said that while many governments use Google for everyday use, the most sensitive information is stored on government built and maintained hardware and software…
Of course, some U.S. offices might receive sensitive information in their Google hosted applications. And the risk of that increases daily as more data is sent back and forth and more offices “go Google.” But this all needs to be kept in perspective.
So, as many governments adopt the use of Google’s products, they are utilizing enterprise solutions for both collaboration and document/content management from other companies as well.
IBM recently announced that its portal software and Web content management enhancements have helped accelerate government service delivery for many public agencies.
The new features make it make it easier for non-technical users to develop and update their Web portal content and improve interaction with citizens and employees. A government Web portal helps present information from diverse sources in a unified way and delivers other services, such as e-mail and news.
The features focus on usability, ease-of-use. Think about government structure and the quantity of departments, teams and functions at the state level. Making the tools easier to use allows governments to cut down a bit on red-tape as well as avoid funneling all web content update requests through one web-site team or agency and instead achieve faster speed to market because they can quickly and easily update their own content on the company portal. Team members can upload their own documents and graphics to share with the desired audience within the organization and collaborate on projects more easily online. As communication is enhanced, efficiencies are achieved.
In a recent post, Mike Porter, our Principal of Portal Solutions, wrote about some of the benefits of this recent release by IBM of Websphere Portal V6.1.5. Two of his comments make it clear to me not only why governments are embracing this technology, but more importantly how companies like IBM are adapting to meet their needs.
They have out of the box blog, comment, and wiki templates. Those templates are easy to access from the new page builder so you can consume or create these things almost on the fly.
They have a new simplified theme that looks pretty good and is very easy to use when building new portal pages.
I have never been able to file my taxes online with my state except via third party tools, but given that I spend most of each day online, I’ve been waiting for the day that my state will provide this capability. IBM’s recent release announces that “Government agencies can quickly set up and manage business portals to help ensure efficient delivery of services to citizens, such as on-line tax information and local emergency and disaster updates.”
You can read more about Los Angeles County and how they are embracing the use of Web portals to improve their service to citizens, and you can also browse a full list of IBM’s recent enhancements.
I am fascinated whenever I see that the government is adopting any type of enterprise or emerging technology. I feel it is often a symbol of mass adoption or maturity for that technology and it also means that suppliers begin to adapt and evolve the technology to suit its needs. When Google, IBM, Oracle, Microsoft and others begin to focus on public agencies, we all benefit because we all use the systems or processes handed down to us by our state or local governments, and we don’t have any choices beyond those once they are selected and implemented.
I only continue to hope that whatever is adopted for use by any government entity will continue to speed up processes, reduce costs and drive efficiencies, because reduced costs have the propensity to save citizens money (beyond simple conveniences such as filing my taxes online) in the long run.
