IT Briefcase Exclusive Interview: Hottest Trends for Government IT Leaders in 2016

Across the board, consumers expect a reliable and simple online experience – whether shopping online or accessing a government website. Similar to the manner in which consumers purchase goods and services online, government agencies are taking a like approach to offer a more streamlined, personalized experience for services such as obtaining a business license, renewing a passport or a securing a parking permit.

To ensure a comparable digital experience, it is vital for government agencies building out customized services to meet and anticipate citizen needs. Agencies must also ensure a seamless user experience that is flexible for current demands, as well as adaptable to the needs of citizens over time. Laying strategic foundational IT infrastructure is critical for success in the short-term and over the long haul.

• Q. What changes do you foresee in 2016 that will influence government IT in the short term?

A. More and more government agencies are moving to a digital model, in which all data and public services are provided via online access as opposed to visiting a physical location. As demand increases for these services, it becomes more and more challenging for organizations to provide consistent user experiences and uptime, without the additional investment in infrastructure to support it. In turn, government agencies are looking for ways to deal with the increased demand and enable better user experience at a cost basis inline with existing infrastructure.

• Q. When do you expect the changes to make a difference?

A. The change is happening now and demand is increasing exponentially. This shift was spurred by the need for government agencies to begin streamlining the expenses of providing public services. In contrast, private businesses are investing heavily in infrastructure for online services, which has raised the bar and increased user expectations around service levels and responsiveness. That said, in order for government IT organizations to be successful, they need to provide similar user experience and resiliency.

• Q. How will these changes impact the industry?

A. The industry is looking for more cost effective solutions that can handle huge increases in demand, while providing a user experience similar to private organizations. Government IT organizations want next generation solutions on premise, which can provide the speed to deal with huge increases in demand and consistent user experience, while at the same time provide the intelligence and efficiency necessary to deliver reliable services within budget. Organizations are finding all-flash solutions that utilize data reduction technology fit the bill for these requirements. While having dramatic impact on end user experience, all-flash solutions help organizations deliver a more green IT infrastructure with lower datacenter space, power and cooling requirements.

• Q. What does this mean for the IT team?

A. With budgets flat or cut, simplicity is a requirement. IT staff no longer scales as demand increases. The ideal scenario for an IT professional is to have access to the most reliable hardware, running extremely intuitive software that requires minimal touch and administration. IT pros no longer focus on infrastructure, they now focus on the end user experience and success of the business. Downtime is no longer an option in this digital world, so the system must be updated and reconfigured while running workloads without interruption to public services during business hours. We are seeing organizations deploy all-flash solutions with highly intelligent software as they deliver on these requirements.

Government agencies are making a concerted effort to meet the public’s demand for a rich digital experience. For many agencies, it’s still very early in the process. Now is the time to consider advanced technologies such as flash storage to ensure a reliable, efficient experience that is cost-effective and scalable to meet future demands.

About Chadd Kenney

Chadd Kenney serves as the Chief Technical Officer of the Americas at Pure Storage, where he is a senior technical advisor to engineering, product management, sales, marketing and presales leadership in the field. Chadd joined Pure Storage in 2012 as a founding member of the technical sales staff, assisting in the development of the go-to-market strategy and creation of the sales force to disrupt the storage industry.

Previously, Chadd was the Field Chief Technical Officer and Divisional Systems Engineering Director at EMC Corporation. Chadd has a Bachelors of Science in Computer Information Systems and Accounting from San Francisco State University, College of Business.