Technological advancements and the exponential growth of information are reshaping business practices across various sectors, including government. The volume of government data generated and archived digitally is increasing rapidly, driven by the surge in mobile devices and applications, smart sensors and IoT devices, cloud computing solutions, and citizen-facing portals. As digital information becomes more expansive and complex, so do the challenges of managing, processing, storing, securing, and disposing of it. New tools for capturing, searching, discovering, and analyzing data are enabling organizations to extract valuable insights from unstructured information. The government sector is reaching a critical juncture, recognizing that information is a strategic asset. Governments must now protect, leverage, and analyze both structured and unstructured data to better serve the public and meet mission objectives. As government leaders work to evolve into data-driven organizations, they are building the foundation to correlate dependencies across events, personnel, processes, and information.
High-value government solutions will emerge from integrating the most transformative technologies:
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Mobile devices and applications
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Cloud services
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Social business technologies and networking
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Big Data and analytics
Big Data is a key intelligent industry solution that empowers governments to make better decisions by acting on patterns revealed through the analysis of large volumes of data—whether related or unrelated, structured or unstructured.
However, achieving these goals requires more than just accumulating massive amounts of data. "Making sense of these volumes of Big Data requires cutting-edge tools and technologies that can analyze and extract useful knowledge from vast and diverse streams of information," wrote Tom Kalil and Fen Zhao of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy in a post on the OSTP Blog.
The White House took a significant step toward assisting agencies in finding these technologies by establishing the National Big Data Research and Development Initiative in 2012. This initiative allocated over $200 million to maximize the potential of the Big Data explosion and the tools needed to analyze it.
The challenges posed by Big Data are nearly as formidable as the opportunities it presents. Efficient data storage is a primary concern. With budgets remaining tight, agencies must minimize the cost per megabyte of storage while ensuring data remains easily accessible so users can retrieve it when and how they need it. Backing up vast quantities of data further intensifies this challenge.
Effective data analysis is another major hurdle. Many agencies utilize commercial tools that allow them to sift through mountains of data, identifying trends that enhance operational efficiency. (A recent MeriTalk study found that federal IT executives believe Big Data could help agencies save over $500 billion while also fulfilling mission objectives.)
Custom-developed Big Data tools are also enabling agencies to address their analytical needs. For instance, the Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Computational Data Analytics Group has made its Piranha data analytics system available to other agencies. This system has helped medical researchers identify links that can alert doctors to aortic aneurysms before they occur. It is also used for routine tasks, such as screening resumes to match job candidates with hiring managers.
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