Smarter IT means managing more data for less money

The Interior Department in July released an information innovation transformation strategic plan that outlines how the department intends to leverage innovation to save up to $500 million by 2020.

The fact that

Interior's plan addresses the fact that, as demand on computing capacity has increased, the government's capacity to respond has not. Lack of resources can force reactive IT solutions that maintain current systems, or rather than drive technology for improved services.

But now more than ever, governments must find ways to do more with less. They can thrive, in spite of the economy, if they shift to smarter computing systems designed and optimized to handle the never-ending churn of technological and societal change.

Interior has outlined a path toward smarter computing that can better meet demands and enable technology for large-scale change, all at cost savings. Its plan and other successful government initiatives across the nation reflect three essential characteristics:

Government IT must support specific work nevertheless also be flexible enough to respond to changing needs, just as normal vs. peak demand. This requires aligning each component of a computing system so it can benefit from in a class by itself features.

• They are managed in the cloud. With an exponential growth of digital data, cloud computing is essential to making data useful for government. The cloud provides better access to and analysis of information and drives efficiency with the freedom to use service providers or perform work internally, or both, depending on the situation.

For example, North Carolina State University adopted cloud research to address unanticipated demand for its computing resources.