Exploring Past the Initial Stage: Effective Governance of Innovation and Data for Achieving Goals Successfully
In a recent roundtable discussion, titled "Delivering the tech that delivers for government," technology leaders from Palantir Technologies (US), Deloitte (international), AWS (US), Accenture (international), Brillient, Future Tech Enterprise, and Northrop Grumman gathered to explore the crucial role of technology in securing the government's supply chain and underlying technologies.
The conversation centred around the importance of combining trusted cloud providers with robust cybersecurity, as this approach was deemed crucial for securing the supply chain and the technologies that underpin it. Centralised compute is becoming increasingly feasible, but operational challenges persist, and the roundtable participants emphasised the need to embrace scalable, secure cloud and lifecycle strategies for federal programs that can span decades.
Data fragmentation across systems is a significant challenge, particularly in long-term government programs. To address this, a lifecycle management lens combined with a modular plug-and-play integration approach can help manage innovation and limit mission risk. Innovation must be intentional, data must be trustworthy, cloud strategies must be secure and scalable, and people must be empowered to lead change for mission success in the modern era.
The importance of the information supply chain and ensuring data integrity and traceability was another key focus of the discussion. Digital tools are enabling collaboration by bringing everybody together and providing visibility, especially with the advent of "shadow AI," where innovation happens outside formal channels. The shift in supply chain concerns is from the physical to the virtual, focusing on understanding digital sources like data and inherited software frameworks.
The need for data provenance is growing, especially for AI-driven decision-making. Hybrid cloud architecture can help bridge the gap for agencies apprehensive about building models outside their data centers. However, secure operations remain a challenge despite advancements in performance and convergence of AI and high-performance computing.
Transformation is only successful when paired with cultural and organisational change, empowering people and fostering collaboration across silos. The roundtable highlighted the need for lifecycle strategies that anticipate future technologies while securing today's infrastructure. Innovation management needs to be purposeful and tracked, governed, and scaled deliberately.
The roundtable discussion is part of a series on IT lifecycle management for government. The four pillars - innovation, data, cloud, and collaboration - are not just trends but imperatives for mission success in the modern era. Integrating data is crucial for both agencies and contractors supporting them, and hybrid cloud, supply chain transparency, and modular platforms are enabling this evolution towards adaptable technology.
The roundtable underscored the importance of embracing technology to drive positive change in government operations, ensuring a secure and efficient future for all.
