Take your digital transformation assessment.

Focus on reducing the strain on IT staff and help them focus resources on achieving the mission-driven goals such as operations performance and continuity. Keep your sights and efforts focused on amplifying IT management with new platforms and vendor expertise to increase efficiency, performance, and security.

Specifically:

• Network:
  Evolve networks to a hybrid public/private network, which increases visibility into network performance, security, applications, and end points.
• Security: Implement network and endpoint monitoring with on-premises security information events management (SIEM) which helps progress toward a more manageable, unified security posture.
  
  Professional services are engaged to identify key assets and the associated risks and vulnerabilities as well as a prioritization of how to address these identified areas.
• Communications and connectivity: Adopt scalable, commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) solutions that adapt as needs change.
  
  Software-as-a-service, Voice-over IP (VOIP), and collaboration platforms, enable automatic updates and reduce the need for manual service.
• Services: Initiate professional services to help assess, recommend, and execute programs that align to transformation goals.
  
  Consider managed services to augment workforce gaps at critical functions such as security. Doing so closes gaps in your workforce’s skill base and provides immediate vendor expertise and productivity without significant headcount expenses.

To elevate the role of IT it is important to move to smarter, more dynamic management systems. Smarter means more automation, making you more efficient and secure.

Specifically:

• Network:
  Implement network virtualization to improve utilization and efficiency. Shift more core applications to SaaS or platform-as-a-service (PaaS) vendors.
• Security:
  The need here is to strengthen your security and resilience, including application of Zero Trust Architecture (ZTA) and National Institute of Standards and Technology guidelines. Convergence of network and security is recommended. Explore SASE as a framework for broader security. On-premises SIEM evolves to Endpoint Detection and Response to Managed Detection and Response.
• Communications and connectivity:
  Adoption of communications and connectivity that can help improve constituents' experience, optimize budget and costs, and improve operational agility is recommended.
• Services:
  As continuous modernization efforts become more advanced, it may be useful to transition management of high-value functions, such as network and security management, to a qualified partner. This can help enable your organization to focus on core applications and developing expertise within the agency. Professional services can also help identify areas of risk or compliance.

With network virtualization and automation established, organizations like yours should push toward advanced responsiveness to enable real-time data capture and decision-making.

Specifically:

• Network: Move to a managed network: 90% of workloads are in a cloud-based environment with a mix of hybrid and on-premises backup
  
  Implement a combination of wireless and wired.
• Security: Improve visibility, detection, and control to respond to issues, incidents, and outages. Increase reliance on third-party managed security and dynamic security protocols and alerts. MDM and MTD in place with unified vision for all endpoints.
• Communications and connectivity: Deploy SaaS and PaaS that enables real-time analytics and decision-making. This includes capturing real-time data from daily operations and leveraging those insights in decision-making. Move from ERP systems to microservices connected by application programming interfaces (APIs) that can be updated without impacting the overall ecosystem. Increase adoption of low code enabling more users to create and modify applications rather than requiring a developer.
• Services: As continuous modernization efforts become more advanced it may be useful to transition management of high-value functions, such as managing network and security, to a qualified partner. Utilize more managed services and shift IT resources from network operations centers (NOC) and security operations centers (SOC) to apps and service desks. Professional services can also help identify areas of risk or compliance.

This is an enviable stage, and leadership and vision have contributed to getting to this position. The opportunity moving forward is about enabling very advanced use cases such as robotics, artificial intelligence, and autonomous vehicles. Having managed services is critical and is an opportunity to completely offload many functions to third parties.

Specifically:

• Network:
  Hybrid cloud accounts for 100% of workloads. The network is virtualized. Use of advanced networking technology can help usher in next-gen use cases. You’ve offloaded all or parts of the network management, per agency policy and oversight requirements, to enable greater focus on other transformation goals.
• Security:
  Lean on third parties to build, manage, and monitor security. As more is digitized, data privacy increases in importance. Security stands alone and reports to the most senior executive. Openness of the network to partners and suppliers also requires better compliance requirements. Implement TIC 3.0, Zero-Trust Architecture.
• Communications and connectivity:
  Increase visibility into assets and analytics and enable real-time analytics to be predictive instead of reactive. Automate applications, security updates, and other core services.
• Services:
  As IT becomes a strategic advantage and differentiator, managed services can be used to deploy the IT team to develop and support advanced use cases and experiences. Managing and auditing of vendors help. Professional services can also help identify areas of risk or compliance.