5 modernizations transforming government for a lasting legacy

Data analytics is growing at an incredibly rapid pace. Every company is at a different point in its data maturity journey. With that in mind, one of the first things an organization can do is conduct an assessment that can inform where it is today, and gaps that needs to be addressed to get where they would like to be. Revisit primary goals and missions, and consider how data could help guide the organization deliver on those services for constituents. 

Organizations that don’t believe they are ready or prepared to fully embrace data analytics still need to begin the process. Transformation is a word that is often overused, but in the case of data analytics, it seems to be a good descriptor of what’s happening. GenAI could change how organizations across every industry functionally operate. It’s a new paradigm and now is the time to learn what it can do. 

For government leaders, it’s a guarantee that employees are using the latest GenAI technology. The only way to really understand what these tools do well and what their limitations are is to experiment with them. Use them to solve personal tasks like building an itinerary for a trip or buying a car before moving into work-related jobs. The only limits are an individual’s creativity and imagination. From an organizational perspective, leaders have a responsibility to conduct proper vetting on new technology before moving to incorporate it into their operating model.  

As this process is advancing, it’s important to have the right level of stakeholder engagement, especially when it comes to executive sponsorship. Team leaders who are doing an assessment and want it to be more meaningful than a PowerPoint deck that is never seen again need a champion who can be an advocate for the new technology once it’s been vetted. Without that supporter, assessment can be very introspective, but unlikely to lead to tangible, meaningful change. 

Advocates do not need to be department heads or people who have high-level leadership roles in the organization. It’s actually more important to have a cross-section of people to serve these roles, a mix of leaders and people on the front lines who can speak to how different tools impact the customer experience. 

One of the things people tend to misread about the importance of being a data-driven organization is the fact that people are going to be more important than ever in the new world order. For an organization to have any hope of leveraging capabilities of tools like ChatGPT, they are going to need to have an AI-ready data estate. Their entire ecosystem has to be prepared because if their data isn’t accurate or has sampling bias or algorithms that are not tested, that organization won’t get meaningful, valid results. 

At the same time, the rise of data analytics will open the door to new opportunities for worker of all types. Instead of spending hours, days and weeks compiling data and research for reports that then allow them to work toward helping the clients they serve, tools like GenAI will be able to provide those reports in an instant, providing more time and more bandwidth to serve those clients directly.  

Every profession will be impacted by the transformation of data analytics. Now is the time to learn how systems work and become data literate. Those who wait will only be further behind as the transformation picks up speed.

The confluence of agendas and events of 2019–2021 has created a new, more urgent vision for infrastructure in the United States.  Agencies have inherited a greater responsibility to address economic recovery, climate and resilience, equity, and the ubiquity of technologies like broadband and electric vehicle (EV) charging. In this segment, we’ll focus on two infrastructure areas that will require generational modernization: transportation and water.

The level of investment in grant programs is unprecedented, creating an opportunity to improve the way grant funding is administered and analyzed to drive decision-making. Grant programs have existed for decades, and grants are now the single-largest method of procurement in the federal government.

A number of public initiatives have specifically lent themselves toward being addressed by grant funding, including the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the Inflation Reduction Act. Both of these pieces of legislation have components designed to become projects, and be managed from a performance perspective on a long-term basis, which is the fundamental construct of grants.

Add in climate change and sustainability, as well as social and digital equity initiatives, all of which target government entities that are familiar with grant making and grant management, and it becomes easier to see how grants have emerged as a significant method of moving funding and producing public impact for a variety of programs.

The growth of grant funding has created a dynamic in which some entities are more practiced than others at identifying, applying for and receiving grant funding. These applicants have become trusted partners because they know how to fill out the forms, answer the right questions from the grantor and successfully report on their progress, building confidence in their stewardship of public funds. While the current system works well for these organizations, it poses a challenge to those who aren’t as experienced at applying for grants.

In some cases, these are smaller entities that don’t have the same resources to build effective grant application mechanisms. However, it’s that smaller stature that often makes their need for grant funding even more critical. These organizations don’t have a lot of overhead, which means they don’t have personnel dedicated to researching and applying for grants. They typically have lean budgets and what they lack in administrative capacity, they make up for in persistence, determination and direct connectivity to the communities they serve. Small, local organizations can use grant funding to make a more tangible, specific impact on issues meaningful to their communities.

Impact must be the North Star for any grant-making organization. How does this grant empower the recipient, and give them the tools to make a difference through their work? What goals can be achieved through grant funding? The ability of grant-making organizations to work backward and design modernization efforts around impact can then inform decisions made throughout the modernization journey.

Technology upgrades often begin with automation, which provides two benefits to grant-making organizations. It creates an opportunity to streamline the application process for organizations who routinely apply for grants and can do it without much help. It then allows those resources to be redirected to applicants who aren’t as experienced or who are new to the process and need more guidance. It’s not changing the rules. Rather, it’s changing the process to give more organizations a chance to secure needed grant funding.

Modernization can give organizations more visibility into their grant-making efforts. It’s about defining impact, proving the impact through data-driven measurables and sharing the story of the impact with both internal and external stakeholders. It’s using technology to build a platform that can gather data and support workflows in a simple, clean and traceable manner.

Grant-making organizations that can define their data model, establish meaningful key performance indicators and create a program that aligns with the goals and objective of their grant program will create a structure that is more usable and more reachable for organizations that can benefit from grant funding.

There will be challenges in the transition. Grant-making organizations are under a lot of scrutiny to account for every dollar and justify the value being provided. Watchdog groups are always on the lookout for inconsistencies in how organizations use their funds. Those spending money on modernization have to be able to draw a straight line to the value of that modernization.

This is where data is pivotal. Organizations that are skilled at using data to tell stories of the impact of grant funding should be able to do the same to illustrate the value of a more modern, data-driven operating model. 

The key is leveraging the value of technology and automation and maximizing the opportunity to strengthen human support and connectivity. Automation can eliminate time-wasting churn and bureaucracy in favor of teaching, coaching and support to those who are new to the grant space. As the volume of grant applications continues to grow, organizations need a better way to manage the process. Automation and technology provide that alternative.

When considering an employment opportunity, job seekers look for optionality in developing their careers. They want to be part of a rich and diverse team with a strong sense of purpose and to make a positive difference through their work. Many HR organizations have job architectures that are inflexible and often fail to demonstrate a connection to the mission and purpose of the organization. 

In addition to this market disconnect, HR leaders have been encountering disconnects between HR and the rest of their organization that have emerged since the pandemic. Part of this can be tied back to alignment between people, processes and technologies, but the expectations around the mission of HR have broadened beyond those traditionally identified with the function.  

For example, in the current climate, while chief human resource officers (CHROs) focus on the “front door” challenges many remain concerned about succession planning, which in some cases has morphed into concern regarding business continuity, and the development of risk mitigation strategies for a potential mass retirement. The CHRO now needs to broaden their traditional role to embrace, perhaps for the first time, enterprise risk management.  

These are just some of the problems that often must be addressed before CHROs can advance their initiatives. 

The world has changed in many significant ways since the start of the pandemic. It can often be challenging to get a good read on what’s happening more broadly when you are consumed daily by operational demands. External consultants often play an important role in helping leaders re-envision their HR function. Outsiders offer a fresh perspective and insights gained from working across the breadth of their sector. The key is to establish a solid working relationship based on trust and value between the HR leader, whose expert knowledge of their organization blends with the consultant’s sector insights and familiarity with key trends. 

Should an organization’s leadership conclude that nothing short of a complete transformation of the HR function is in order, we advocate establishing and maintaining a focus on the employee experience throughout, thinking like entrepreneurs as you mentally deconstruct your organization into functional units and consider how each one could be reassembled in a new synergistic model designed to achieve strategic objectives. In a transformation, the amount of work that can, and should, be undertaken prior to engaging with an enterprise resource planning vendor is considerable and often makes the difference between a profound victory and a heavily qualified “success.” It is only when those elements of inspired and purposeful design come together to deliver more than the sum of their parts that real transformation is achieved.