Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Preparing for the next five years: checklist

In looking forward to 2011-2015, there are some things that most government IT shops should have done by now. Here's a list of some of those:
  • Virtualized 90%+ of all server-based applications
  • Created and implemented a social media policy
  • Reduced physical server counts by upwards of 60-70%
  • Implemented a cloud strategy and begun moving major applications and services to the cloud
  • Developed a plan for supporting mobile platforms - smartphones and pad devices
  • Planned to support virtual desktop environments
  • Developed your first mobile apps and services, along with a mobile version of important websites
  • Consolidated data centers with a strong business continuity plan that supports redundancy for all IT critical applications and services
  • Have a well-established security structure and auditing process in place for online services and transaction-based applications
  • Implemented a first or second phase plan for sharing data on the web (data.gov)
  • Have a structure in place that is capable of implementing cross-agency, enterprise applications and services
  • Shortened development cycles by 50% or more
  • Have processes in place for monitoring and reporting IT performance on a regular basis
  • Incorporated GIS as a critical part of your go-forward strategy
Right now, I'm still pondering some of the key initiatives that will drive the next five years. I'll try to post more on that soon.

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