Federal agencies at all levels are undergoing digital transformations to meet their missions more effectively. However, a large part of being successful on this journey requires people within the organization to interact and adapt to the changes in technology made, Federal IT leaders said at the ServiceNow Federal Forum 2022 on March. 10.
Ensuring that mindset requires a culture that is open to discomfort and willing to change — an idea that is hard to begin with within Federal agencies. Therefore, Federal IT leaders are committed to creating cultures within their agencies that allow for successful digital innovation.
Mark Patterson, chief information officer (CIO) for the Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA), explained that their approach to ensuring successful digital change includes three priority areas: people, processes, and platforms. .
“That’s how we addressed modernization because it’s not just about systems, it’s about the whole organizational change that will require us to digitize,” Patterson said. “The first step is for people to apply the techniques before bringing in platforms because as an agency, we have a wide range of mindsets from those eager to innovate and bring new platforms to those who are hesitant. or completely against the idea. “
To do this, DoDEA created the Champions Program. Ang DoDEA Champions program provides an opportunity for non -IT staff to share feedback, recommendations, and insights with IT staff, IT leadership, and peers. The program directly influences the implementation or launch of technology products and services in the agency.
“With this new initiative, we are developing innovators and pushing our employees to seek that change and be excited about it. The program is slipping a needle from the 20 percent of workers who are willing to go with the technology. towards a larger percentage of the Department jumping on the bandwagon, ”Patterson said.
In addition to the Champions Program, DoDEA has developed training for all platforms they use up to the lowest agency level to ensure more responsive efforts and drive innovation. For example, the agency uses a ServiceNow low-code no-code platform. To fully capture the capabilities of the platform, Patterson explained, DoDEA ensured that training in using the platform was initiated up to district personnel.
“The power of any platform should be pushed to the lowest level. We train our district staff. They can go in and do a particular level of work and automation with ServiceNow and other tools we use. And we push training on that platform down to the lowest level so that we can be more responsive and increase innovation, ”Patterson said.
Ken Rogers, the chief digital strategist for the State Department, agrees with Patterson’s assessment that people are an important part of success in a digital transformation. Especially since people in the digital transformation equation, is the hardest part for the State Department.
The State Department is inherently uncomfortable and sometimes undesirable to change. But in the 21st century, some change is needed; such as moving from an on-prem platform to a cloud platform.
“To make sure people are on board, clear and solid communication about why change is needed and how it will benefit productivity is necessary. The mistake is to assume your entire workforce understands change and the reasons for behind it, ”Rogers said.
For example, using the ServiceNow cloud platform, Rogers presented the platform as a cost-effective solution and cost avoidance. This, he explained, brought in a lot of people, and allowed for easy platform adoption.
Additionally, Rodgers stressed that the State Department needs to learn how to deal with the rapid iteration and evolution of technology in the slow environment of the Federal government’s space adoption. However, “getting it right is key to bringing technology to scale,” Roger said.
Agencies need to learn how to define what technology will drive the mission forward because while technology may evolve, “not all development should be utilized by Federal agencies,” he said. An important step in ensuring this is to develop standards and use those standards to determine which solutions are most appropriate to the agency’s needs.
“It also avoids causing stress to staff trying to catch up with technology adoption, avoids duplicate capabilities, and lowers costs,” he added.