Like many Americans, I am enjoying the 3-day holiday weekend. I’m taking advantage of Labor Day promotional sales, watching college football games, and relaxing with family and good food on the BBQ.
On this Labor Day, jobs are critically important to government leaders at all levels:
National government with President Obama’s Jobs Council Listening and Action sessions in Portland and Dallas in advance speech coming later this week
State goverment such as in California where the jobless rate is currently at 12%
Although federal agencies have made tremendous progress in reversing a sustained decline in telework participation, the objective of creating a more productive, inclusive, sustainable, and resilient federal workforce remains a work in progress.
The U.S. Telework Enhancement Act of 2010 dramatically improved the odds of success by creating Telework Managing Officers (TMOs) responsible for telework policy development and implementation in every agency. The first cadre of TMOs faces an exciting-and daunting-opportunity to create lasting impact in their agencies. They should interpret their roles broadly, to include not only the promotion of traditional telework arrangements, but also the development of mobility strategies that contribute meaningfully to agency business objectives such as productivity, inclusion, resilience, and sustainability.
Doing so will require engaging agency leadership on a range of different topics to develop an integrated plan.
VMWorld 2011 comes to an end and four days of meetings, keynotes and exhibits and parties are behind us. It was certainly an eye-opening experience and also a reafirmation that virtualization and Cloud are having a positive impact in the industry and our customers.
We were lucky to talk to many customers at the Cisco booth and demonstrate our latest technologies, including the UCS, our orchestration and automation products, VDI, etc.
It’s hard to summarize the whole show, but some of the higlights of the show include:
VDI Deployments with more than 100,000 clients are a reality
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As our country continues to face budget woes, it seems especially imperative for state and local governments to implement TechAmerica’s IT policy recommendations, covered last week by Sarah Rich of Government Technology. The first priority listed was for the public sector to, “Implement policies and actions that will increase collaboration and communication between the private sector and state and local government in all areas of technology acquisition, deployment and service delivery.”
We have already seen rapid adoption of innovative programs, like telepresence technology, being implemented by some government agencies, as it is critical for enhancing collaboration among agencies and departments and increasing efficiencies. The role of technology is changing – it is no longer a support role but a driving force to save costs, increase performance and enrich the workplace. With telepresence, high definition video and audio allow reduce travel-related costs, productivity, costs of downtime, all while creating a more collaborative environment that encourages innovation. The Department of Transportation in Alabama is a great example of how telepresence can increase productivity and reduce expenses, using the technology for everything from new hire trainings to external meetings. The Federal government is also adopting this innovative technology to help keep the Department of Defense running smoothly amidst the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) initiative, ensuring federal workers are still able to communicate in real time with the Pentagon offices. Read More »
As you can see from some of the other posts here, at the request of the US Conference of Mayors, I’ve been focusing on an economic development strategy that will work in the future. As a result of that work, I’ve been presenting my ideas in many places and before many audiences, generally including mayors or other senior officials of local government.
Without going into the whole line of reasoning, I discuss the combined effects of (1) a future with ubiquitous high quality communications and (2) the shift of the labor force to providing ideas and other intangible services. One implication of these trends is the disaggregation of the monolithic big company that would concentrate jobs in a city and, as an alternative, the empowerment of fluid teams of individuals.
To drive the point home, I argue that the true measure of the economic success of a city is the sum (or the median?) of the income and wealth of its residents — and not the total sales of companies that might have a local postal address there. Read More »
As Telework policy initiatives expand globally the number of events, articles and forums has grown exponentially. Intersections are everywhere… and sometimes where you least expect them. As an example, Australia’s National Broadband Network (NBN) initiative, industry and goverment Cloud events - “Telework” is a common thread.
How should government agencies be investing in the cloud for their “Mobile Workforce?” How do policies need to change to address cybersecurity threats? What technologies best align with both government mandates? All of these were explored in detail. But, there’s a critical element that was strangely missing from many of the dialogues.
Technology and policy alone do not guarantee a successful “Telework” program. We the people – you and me – do! We are the final and third component of any successful Telework program – where the mix and balance of policy, technology, and people create the desired outcome – workforce efficiency. But how do you identify and hire the right people? How do you track workforce performance? How do you hire for success? According to a recent research study, “Top 5 personality traits of successful web workers,” there are personality traits to help guide your selection and retention of the workforce.
Personally speaking I was not surprised to learn that extroverts make for great web-workers (teleworkers) – being one myself ;0). What about you?
VMworld 2011 will take place next week in Las Vegas and it will be an incredible opportunity to review the joint solutions between Cisco and VMware and how the network can scale to deliver secure clouds.
The partnership with VMware makes virtualization and Cloud applications more powerful and help simplify Cloud operations.
Cisco’s participation will include several speaking sessions and demonstrations focused on virtualization, Unified Computing and the latest on Cloud security products.
As summer rolls into fall, my kids are heading back to school. It’s always an interesting transition but this year even more so with my daughter going away to college for the first time. This has brought back a flood of memories from my own college education experiences.
I have always had a passion for education and have a strong belief in continous learning.
Today, so much is available on the web, through social media websites, and online video.
In the world of technology and government, there is so much more to learn every day. New technologies: cloud, cybersecurity and virtualization, new delivery methods: virtual classrooms, online video, and collaboration, and new government requirements and certifications.
The Cisco vision of the mobile network of the future is one that continuously adapts, enabling people to connect and communicate how, when, and where they need to, without relying on pre-defined fixed infrastructure. This is exemplified by the Cisco Mobile Ready Net solution architecture.
In a split-second world where the stakes can be extremely high, mobile users are working beyond the boundaries of traditional networks. People who perform vital functions like police officers, first responders and firefighters, defense and military personnel managing disaster recovery or running planes, trains or ships must be able to connect, collaborate and share information in any format, from anywhere at anytime with no stopping to set-up a network.
The 5900 Series Embedded Services Routers fit perfectly into this solution by providing highly secure data, voice, and video communications to stationary and mobile network nodes across wired and wireless links. That is why it is a pleasure to announce updates to the 5940 Embedded Services Router and the launch of the 5915 Embedded Services Router today!
Watch below as Brad Boston, senior vice president, Cisco Global Government Solutions Group discusses the enhancements and launch and be sure to visit http://www.cisco.com/go/5900 for additional information!
Summer Fridays for many of us is the start of the long awaited weekend, the drive to the shore, or an evening BBQ with family and friends. But for those of us who live and work in the Washington, DC metro area our weekend plans are put on hold more often than not, and this Friday’s commute may prove to be another challenging drive according to an alert from the Virginia State Police: “On Friday afternoon (Aug 19), major traffic delays are expected on the Dulles Toll Road, Dulles Airport Access Highway, I-66 East and the Beltway due to a 9/11 memorial motorcycle ride, according to the Virginia State Police. Commuters should expect very significant traffic delays in the afternoon, especially during rush hour.”
This sort of an announcement would make me cringe if I didn’t work for a company that supports Telework. But fortunately, I do – so, I have the traffic gods under control! Remember work is what I do. Not a place. So I am working from my home office, avoiding the grid lock, with no impact on my productivity thanks to Cisco’s Telework / Mobile Workforce policy.
So it go me thinking… Why don’t more public and private sector organizations have Telework / Workforce Mobility policies, especially for “America’s 50 Worst Commutes.”
Summer Fridays. I love them!… No longer fear them. But, what about you?
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We’re having a great time in Baltimore this week at the Defense Information Systems Agency’s Customer and Industry Forum 2011 (DISA). We’ve had the opportunity to discuss telepresence with people from all across the defense industry, and we’ve learned a great deal about their innovative and enterprising communications practices.
All of these discussions of enhancing information exchange for better command and control of military operations and improving communication throughout the Defense Department highlighted, for me, the profound impact a wide video collaboration deployment can have on an agency. With telepresence connections available to all employees, business retains continuity during disruptions, teleworkers stay fully connected, and agencies fulfill their commitments to environmental sustainability, among other benefits. Read More »
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When emergency strikes, people want answers. What’s going on, what is the safety threat, and perhaps most importantly, who’s in charge?
That last question can lead to some complicated answers when an incident occurs under multiple law enforcement jurisdictions. For example, take the pipe bomb scare in March 2010 at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California. As Corey McKenna of Emergency Management explains, several units responded—campus police, a regional bomb squad, and the local police and fire departments—but these units did not have much history of working together. A fair bit of miscommunication and chaos ensued.
Thankfully, the above scenario proved to be nothing more than a suspicious empty suitcase. But the confusion among responding parties characterizes emergency response all too often. McKenna reports that problems with multijurisdictional response include “time and grind”—hammering out the details without the guidance of capable leadership—and “relationships”—knowing the people with whom you’re working. Read More »
DISA’s Customer & Industry Forum 2011 provides a valuable opportunity to see and hear how the latest technologies can help the Department of Defense better achieve its mission while introducing greater efficiencies at lower cost. Read More »
I read an article recently discussing the advantages and disadvantages of smartcards. I know that there have been quite a few distributed, but it seems to me that the adoption rate and the length of time they have been available are a bit out of sync. I would have thought that we would have many more smartcards, used in more places, being as they werer actually invented in 1968, and were widely used in French pay phones starting in 1983.
Like many Americans, I am enjoying the 3-day holiday weekend. I’m taking advantage of Labor Day promotional sales, watching college football games, and relaxing with family and good food on the BBQ. 
s year even more so with my daughter going away to college for the first time. This has brought back a flood of memories from my own college education experiences. 
