Think about the interview that inspired this blog post and how that content reaches its government audience. That’s the second driver of modern government, the flexibilities afforded by the wide-scale adoption of commercial cloud services, which link the physical world to our virtual environments. Part of the reason we were able to move so quickly was because we had embraced cloud computing early by investing in modern network architecture using GSA’s Networx contract. Our teams adapted quickly to full-time telework, enabling us to rapidly turn around and help other agencies do the same. GSA invested in an efficient mobile workforce long before COVID hit, and that investment paid off. The pandemic hammered home the value of flexibility and collaboration. In terms of the federal technology market, we are once again seeing two big technological trends that are radically transforming how we all operate: the shift to telework and cloud adoption. So, while I still have a desk at GSA’s central office, I haven’t had a desk phone in almost a decade or a desktop computer in two decades - today, I work from a laptop and a mobile phone. Then of course the iPhone came in 2007 and has since changed everything. All of a sudden you could access your email on the go and connect to your headset wirelessly through Bluetooth.

Now think back to when you got your first Blackberry.

Most everyone in government was tied to their office because of the technology at the time - desktop computers and desk phones. In 2002 your work revolved around your office building and your desk. It was an interesting conversation, and so I’d like to share my thoughts with you. This year marks the 20th anniversary of the enactment of the eGov Act, and I was recently asked in an interview what I felt had changed the most in the federal technology market and what had stayed the same.

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