Driving Digital Transformation

The Port of Rotterdam is the largest port in Europe. From all indications, the port is preparing for the future today, focusing on safety, efficiency, and sustainability. To do this successfully, the port is developing its digital twin, providing real-time situational awareness of all things static, moving, human-driven, or autonomous, pulling together all the geographic, sensor, and real-time information to provide port personnel a complete and current view of port activities.

Weekly Roundup: Feb 24-Feb 28, 2020

Michael J. Keegan

VA health record go-live pushed back to July. The Department of Veterans Affairs is delaying a planned initial deployment of its $16 billion electronic health record project by four months, but is promising added functionality at the go-live date.

Evolving Use of Artificial Intelligence in Government

The use of artificial and augmented intelligence (AI) in government is expanding as the application of these tools and techniques continue to evolve. Governments are embracing AI for mission critical services that include identifying insider threats, supporting military deployment planning and scheduling, and answering routine questions about services.

Weekly Roundup: Feb 17 - Feb 21, 2020

Michael J. Keegan

TSA to roll out strategic plan for insider threats next month. Acting Deputy TSA Administrator Patricia Cogswell said that as screening tech has improved, insider threats have become an increasingly attractive attack vector for bad actors.

Weekly Roundup: Feb 10 - Feb 14, 2020

Michael J. Keegan

Modernizing the U.S. Federal Data System

An effective and efficient U.S. federal government requires evidence about where needs are greatest, what works and what does not work, where and how programs could be improved, and how programs of yesterday may no longer be suited for today. Having access to timely, accurate, reliable statistical data enables the federal government to make reasoned and disciplined decisions about where to target resources to get the largest possible return for the American taxpayer. The federal government’s statistical agencies and programs play a vital role in generating that data.

Weekly Roundup: Feb 3 - Feb 7, 2020

Michael J. Keegan

Agencies look to 'low code' to speed development. Increasingly federal agencies are looking to easy-to-use "low code" development techniques to build public-facing apps.

Providing Mission-Support Services Across Government

The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) is working with federal agencies on multiple fronts to save taxpayer dollars and improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the federal government. This unique mission support role ties back to GSA’s founding in 1949 when President Truman sought to create one agency to help the federal government avoid senseless duplication, excess cost, and confusion in handling supplies and providing space.

Managing Enterprise Risk

Federal agencies are hardly immune to the “slings and arrows of outrageous fortune” and uncertainty. Each day federal agency leaders  face risks associated with fulfilling their respective program missions and yet today’s headlines present stories of cyber hacks, abuses of power, extravagant spending, and a host of other risk management failures. In some cases, if leaders had taken the time to foresee and mitigate potential risks, many of these failures could have been either avoided or at least had less of an impact.

Modernizing Government to Meet 21st Century Realities

Margaret Weichert, deputy director for Management, Office of Management and Budget (OMB), joined me on The Business of Government Hour to discuss the Trump administration’s vision for modernizing the U.S. federal government to meet the mission, service, and stewardship realities of the 21st century. This is an excerpt of our conversation.

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Leadership Fellow & Host
IBM Center for The Business of Government
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Michael has two decades of experience with both the private and public sectors encompassing strategic planning, business process redesign, strategic communications and marketing, performance management, change management, executive and team coaching, and risk-financing.

Michael leads the IBM Center for The Business of Government's leadership research. As the Center’s Leadership Fellow, his work is at the nexus of the Center’s mission – connecting research to practice. My work at that the Center complements frontline experience of actual government executives with practical insights from thought leaders who produce Center reports – merging real-world experience with practical scholarship. The purpose is not to offer definitive solutions to the many management challenges facing executives, but to provide a resource from which to draw practical, actionable recommendations on how best to confront such issues. Michael also hosts and produces the IBM Center’s The Business of Government Hour. He has interviewed and profiled hundreds of senior government executives from all levels of government as well as recognized thought leaders focusing on a range of public management issues and trends. Over the last four years, Michael has expanded both the show’s format and reach – now broadcasting informational and educational conversations with dedicated public servants on two radio stations five times a week and anywhere at anytime over the web and at iTunes. Michael is also the managing editor of The Business of Government magazine, with a targeted audience of close to 14,000 government and non-government professionals. Additionally, he manages the Center’s bi-annual proposal review process that awards stipends to independent, third party researchers tackling a wide range of public management issues.

Prior to joining the Center, Michael worked as a senior managing consultant with IBM GBS (Global Business Services) and as a principle consultant with PriceWaterhouseCoopers’ Washington Consulting Practice (WCP). He led projects in the private and federal civilian sectors including the U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, FEMA, and the Veterans Health Administration. Before entering consulting, he worked in the private sector as product development manager at a New York City based risk financing firm.

Since 2003, Mr. Keegan has been a reviewer for Association of Government Accountant’s Certificate of Excellence in Accountability Reporting (CEAR)© program, keeping abreast of the most recent developments in authoritative standards affecting federal accounting, financial reporting and performance measurement. He is also a member of APPAM, the NYU Alumni Association, and the Data Center & Cloud Talent, USA. He holds masters in public administration and management from New York University and was the founder of its DC alumni group as well as previous treasurer of the NYU graduate school’s alumni board.