“Suppose you bought a Ferrari…you wouldn’t drive it down a bumpy, unpaved dirt road, would you?”
“That’s the analogy that comes to mind for Department of Health and Services CIO Beth Killoran when technology vendors try to sell her office on their latest shiny tech, or when her staff wants a buzzy application or device they saw elsewhere….”
“The reality is…that federal agencies such as hers have no place buying the latest technology until a modern infrastructure to support it is set in place….”
“…That wisdom has directed Killoran’s modernization efforts at HHS, which include moving to the cloud, driving precision medicine and adopting shared services across the department’s operating division, among others.”
“To the vendors in the room, she pointed to this as an opportunity do business with the department. “We have to talk about how your technology is going to work within that existing environment, or how can that capability help to build that environment up…”
Source: Sports cars, cow paths and IT infrastructure — HHS’s modernization dilemma – Billy Mitchell, January 17, 2018. FedScoop. Read the full article here.
