GOVERNMENT EXECUTIVES ENCOURAGE AGENCIES TO DOCUMENT ENTERPRISE-WIDE IT STRATEGIES IN ADVANCE OF NEW 2009 ADMINISTRATION

CGI-GMU Initiative for Collaborative Government Event Highlights Key Factors for Maximizing Mission Value from Enterprise-wide IT

Fairfax, VA, June 23, 2008 — In a recent meeting sponsored by the CGI-GMU Initiative for Collaborative Government, a joint public policy initiative by CGI and George Mason University, senior executives from across the federal government and industry leaders outlined the success factors for the successful consolidation of IT services and encouraged other federal leaders to act now to document their enterprise-wide IT management strategy in advance of the next Administration.

To kick-off the meeting, featured guest speaker John Kost, Group Vice-President, Gartner CIO Research Worldwide, presented a "Checklist for Success" for IT consolidation that emphasized the importance of active governance and leadership engagement, as well as the need to define a clear motive, scope and end vision for enterprise-wide IT initiatives. Following Mr. Kost, Molly O'Neill, Chief Information Officer, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Henry Chao, Chief Technology Officer, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services shared approaches that their agencies have taken to successfully optimize agency-wide use of IT in support of mission activities.

Government executives at the CGI-GMU seminar stressed the importance of documenting agencies' enterprise-wide IT strategies in advance of January 2009. They recommended focusing IT strategies on defining the mission results that you want to achieve, with IT investments described in the context of how they support the mission outcome. The federal executives also highlighted the need to educate leaders throughout the agency on the benefits of managing IT across the agency, and how business decisions can affect the IT infrastructure.

"Every consolidation decision made impacts the technology infrastructure, and without education of senior management, you won't get to where you to need to be when you try to consolidate the agency's IT infrastructure", said O'Neill. "You need to have direct, honest explanations to promote understanding and trust". Chao added that it is important to determine the exact processes that are being consolidated and determine the end result desired before starting to reduce the IT infrastructure.