FederalBiz Newsletter July-August 2007

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Connected Government in Action

Video Podcast

Everywhere you go, you see the leadership of government agencies talking about the need to share information....But, at the same time, we need to have information that is protected, in terms of privacy, and information that is secure, in terms of your systems. So we’re getting the leadership engaged [and] you just have to ask the question Why isn’t this working? Why aren’t we as connected as we should be?”
—Judith Carr, Vice President of Public Sector Governance and Sourcing for IDG Government Insights
(PODCAST – 36 mins) More

Unified Communications: Why It’s Better on an
Intelligent Network

Where did that PBX go? In more and more federal agencies, application functions that used to run on servers have been absorbed into the network. That’s the case with Cisco Unified Communications applications, which take advantage of the intelligent services in the Cisco Service Oriented Network Architecture (SONA). Using the SONA for Unified Communications gives employees access to the agency’s voice services from anywhere, at any time. It adds powerful capabilities such as presence and security. And its use of open standards makes it easier for the agency to integrate its voice system with other applications to create powerful new capabilities in government. More

The State of Unified Communications, 2007

Last spring, Cisco commissioned Market Connections, a market-research firm, to interview 201 federal managers in defense and civilian agencies to find out about their Unified Communications deployments and plans. How prevalent is Unified Communications in federal government? Do defense and civilian agencies diverge in the way they use communications tools? Does Unified Communications have real value for continuity of operations (COOP) planning and mobility strategies? Read a summary of the survey results. More

Secure Information Sharing Architecture: Monitoring
Security-Policy Compliance and Stopping Violations

When agencies within a community of trust share information, they need assurance that their resources will be used in accordance with their security policies. The Secure Information Sharing Architecture (SISA) meets this need with its “watchdog services,” which monitor and respond to security violations such as an employee’s attempt to copy files onto a USB drive. But how can an agency know for certain that its network hasn’t slipped out of compliance with federal regulations? The Cisco solution continuously monitors the network for deviations from Security Technical Implementation Guidelines (STIG), IPv6, and Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA), and automatically generates compliance reports that often take months to compile manually. More

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Helping Maximize Your Cisco Routers and Switches

Introducing Turn It On—a program created to help you get the most from the powerful features already residing on your Cisco routers and switches. With this information and your expertise, you can maximize the return on investment (ROI) in your existing Cisco equipment. Don't wait. Learn more, and then “Turn It On!"More

Shared Services: New Study Reports on Actual Experiences in Federal Government

Does it pay for different departments to share service organizations, such as finance or IT, rather than staffing and maintaining their own organizations? This notion, called shared services, has been catching on in the public and private sectors for several years. Now the results are in. A new study, Shared Services in Government 2: Building a Platform for Better Public Services at Lower Cost, conducted by A.T. Kearney with sponsorship from Cisco®, reports on major service improvements and cost reductions of 15 to 50 percent when governments share services. The study, developed through 25 in-depth interviews with government managers, also highlights lessons learned for implementing shared services. “We have found that although cost reduction remains the most significant factor leading government organizations to combine and share back- and front-office functions, improving services to citizens is becoming increasingly important,” notes Ian Morton, principal consultant and project leader at A.T. Kearney. “In addition, the business case is much better than previously thought, with benefits being targeted in the 15 percent to 25 percent range.” More

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