As we begin to see restrictions lift and the CDC recommendations loosen for vaccinated citizens, we are beginning to adjust to a new normal that will continue to see remote work from home as the de facto preference. No crisis has tested the emergency preparedness of all state and local governments—simultaneously—like the COVID-19 pandemic. In a technology- and data-driven world, weaknesses in business continuity plans for state and local governments have the potential to unravel communities. Budgets and workforces were (and, in some cases, still are) stretched to the limit, and many government agencies may still be struggling to support employees as they work from home to continue delivering the crucial services that citizens depend on. The mission and the mandate have always remained the same regardless of the circumstances of the day.
Being unable to adapt to work from home (WFH) requirements, to unlock data silos for critical decision making, and to deliver continuous citizen and safety services can put the health and welfare of citizens at risk and threaten economic disruption. The time has come for state and local governments to develop long-term plans to securely support ongoing management of WFH platforms and systems that enable collaboration across agencies, share and draw on citizen data to guide informed policy decisions, and maintain business continuity for critical services. They must invest in technologies that do all of this while managing uncertain budgets, tax revenue shortfalls, and security risks.
Fortunately, [Client] has been working with state and local governments for over 25 years. In that time, they’ve helped to develop innovative data management solutions to respond to crises such as 9/11, the Great Recession, and Hurricane Katrina. Crises challenge state and local governments to respond to the needs of their citizens in new and unique ways, and [Client] offers solutions and services to help you deploy the highly secure and scalable infrastructure you need to address immediate requirements while preparing for a sustainable future. They can help you drive better application performance and lower costs while meeting security and data accessibility requirements across on-premises and cloud environments.
Working from home certainly took most state and local government organizations and agencies by surprise. Many were forced to rush deployment of computers, telephony, video, and numerous IT services to end users to support business operations remotely. Although cloud services enable rapid deployment and burst capabilities to support changing demand, increased cost of public cloud services can put additional strain on already deteriorating budgets. Performance issues can reduce productivity and the ability to deliver critical services in a timely manner, and some WFH solutions can increase vulnerability to cyberattacks and ransomware.
As you adjust and plan to support this new normal, [Client] enables you to scale your WFH requirements up or down within a secure, cost-effective architecture that brings immediate improvements and long-term sustainability. This gives agencies the flexibility and freedom of choice on how best to respond to the requirements of the day. By assessing your current environment, including your security posture, [Client] can make recommendations for how you can support WFH in the most secure and cost-effective manner. On-premise and cloud-based virtual desktop solutions can help you optimize your current platforms with improved performance and lower costs at scale. In a time where we are seeing some of the largest and most far-reaching cyberattacks, breaches and ransomware attacks, [Client] keeps your data secure, private, and recoverable wherever it resides.
State and local governments now need to use historical and current datasets to correlate citizen information across systems, agencies, and technologies to enable new services, such as contact tracing and virus testing. It is also fair to assume that there will be new and emerging requirements for new data-driven services, and in order to meet increased data accessibility demands for applications supported by the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and more, many states and local government organizations and agencies have deployed applications in the cloud. This often leads to siloed systems with closed data management structures and a lack of integration capabilities prevent agencies from sharing and accessing relevant data to make well-informed decisions. Many simply cannot share information across systems because of security requirements, integration challenges, incompatible protocols, and legislative requirements.