In Episode 16 of Acceleration Economy’s Growth Swarm podcast, John Siefert, Bob Evans, Tony Uphoff, and Scott Vaughan continue a series of industry-specific discussions by focusing on public sector innovation, public and private partnerships, the growing impact of sustainability initiatives, and how the cultural impression of public services is already undergoing a massive shift.
Highlights
00:01 — Acceleration Economy Co-Founder and Growth Swarm host John Siefert introduces today’s conversation on innovation and cloud growth in the public sector with 3xCMO Scott Vaughan, 4xCEO Tony Uphoff, and Cloud Wars founder Bob Evans.
01:50 – Scott shares his perspectives on how the private sector is really influencing the public sector, what lessons can be learned, and why silos exists in various levels of government that present obstacles to new innovations. Conversely, citizens have grown to expect “immediacy and digital access;” which Scott emphasizes thinking of citizens as they would customers.
03:54 — John references SAP‘s public sector presentation at Cloud Wars Expo and the “Navy Cloud-First Policy.” Top priorities for the public sector cloud include performance, usability, and data (meaning data quality, access, audit, and compliance). SAP’s S/4HANA has helped transform a more “modern” U.S. Navy.
06:12 — Bob gives context to the underlying challenges that are in both public and private sectors such as, “data is in silos” and “people are in silos.” This lead Bob to the notion that “it’s almost like they’re talking different languages.”
08:19 — The public sector represents the largest employer in the country, thus representing a massive market and opportunity. Tony challenges the frequent negativity associated with the public sector as well as the benefits that the environment provides. Many technological developments in the public sector have a commercial impact later on.
11:23 — Scott details the creative methods that public sector initiatives must take to tap into data talent.
12:40 — The next generation of talent brings new thinking to how the various levels of government can work. John turns the discussion toward sustainability. Google’s Climate Insights initiative works with state and federal governments, leveraging big data, to provide analytics to help prepare for geographical natural disasters.
15:20 — Demand in the public sector is increasing. Further, it will require innovation and transformation to serve the growing volume of citizens reliant on public services.
16:08 — Tony talks about the “big problems” that public and private partnerships can address, citing the development and distribution of Covid-19 vaccines as a prime example.
17:22 — What company wouldn’t want to reduce waste? Bob discusses the potential for further breakthroughs and innovation as private and public sectors embrace partnerships.
18:47 — John references how CISOs Chris Hughes and Rob Wood have shared experience in cybersecurity, but viewing it from the public and private sectors. John then highlighted a CompTIA Public Sector Report where cybersecurity was the biggest issue, the biggest spend, and the biggest motivation facing the public sector.
For the city and county technology budget expectations for 2022:
- 33% said there’s an increase of 5% or more
- 51% said there’s an increase of 1% to 4%
21:22 — The more that public-private partnerships learn from one another, the more each will tap into strong commercial benefits. Resources available through the public university system are “step one.”
23:11 — Bob references negative impressions of the public sector shaped by the previous generation’s experiences with the IRS and DMV, and how younger generations are changing the culture around public sector services.
