Cloud Computing is revolutionizing business processes in organizations large and small by increasing efficiencies and decreasing expenses. The capabilities of the cloud have proven useful in many areas, including human resources. Many organizations purchase and use the majority of recruiting and hiring technologies separately. This practice results in higher costs of resources and time, as well as a greater chance of error by the Human Resources staff. Cloud computing software now works to solve this by integrating services together and allowing organizations to more efficiently research and select the best performing recruits and employees. Using the cloud as a platform for talent acquisition also improves security, data sharing, and flexibility of the Human Resources systems.

The Senate looks to go its own way on a cybersecurity bill, Cyber Information Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA), which just passed overwhelmingly in the House. However , a compromise bill may be the way for the federal government to finally do something about cybersecurity.

Space tourism is close to being reality. Tickets to go into outer-space are reportedly going on sale soon, but there are a few problems that need to be resolved first. The first issue is the fact that there is no destination for tourists to travel to. NASA’s lunar base is far from production, and traveling past the moon would require warp drive, which is far from a reality. This barrier would mean that any tourism in the near future would consist of an orbital trip of Earth. One would think this is an easy solution, yet there is still a problem that arises: radiation from the Sun can cause health concerns to any potential space tourists. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has purchased a high-performance micro-modular data center from Elliptical Mobile Solutions (EMS) and Nor-Tech, in hopes that this will be a solution. This miniature data center will be able to detect how much radiation a potential customer would absorb during a journey outside the Earth’s protective ozone layer. Ideally, this technology will help the FAA decide how much protection is required for tourists, and to make space tourism that much closer to becoming a reality.

Since assuming the position of federal Chief Information Officer one year ago, Steven VanRoekel has already saved the government $300 million and plans to expand those savings to $2.5 billion by 2015. His PortfolioStat program includes a multifaceted approach beginning with an examination of how federal agencies utilize IT commodities. The program is designed to later consolidate and improve the efficiency of data centers and in doing so empower agency-level CIOs. A new plan put forth by VanRoekel and acting Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Jeffrey Zients highlights the need to lower the costs and power footprints of federal agencies. By determining the agencies’ IT needs and not solely focusing on closing ‘non-core data centers’, the program can substantially improve the efficiency of IT services consumed by federal agencies.

The upcoming government furloughs will put many hard-working employees out of work. In his letter to OPM director John Berry, Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) proposes to eliminate employees that aren’t doing jobs necessary to their agency’s mission. This would cut out any employees who are considered AWOL, non-mission critical, on standby, or are waiting for their security clearances. From 2001 to 2007, the employees that were AWOL from 18 agencies, missed 19.6 million hours. Employees who perform work unrelated to their agencies missions accounted for $155 million for their 3.4 million hours of work. Coburn also wrote that some 1,800 employees on standby received about $13 million between 2010 and 2011. On top of all this, around 20% of government contractors received a salary while they were waiting for their security clearances. These contractors could cost the government as much as $1.8 billion a month, while they were not doing the work stated in their contracts. Coburn believes that if these areas are focused on for the job cuts, then the employees performing critical jobs will be protected.