Making sure your employees are trained and up to date on the latest IT developments is a crucial part of ensuring your agency runs at maximum efficiency. With the constant development of new technologies, it can be hard to stay up to date. In addition, educating your employees on the latest technology can be complicated and expensive, leaving underfunded managers with no room to budget proper training for their employees. How can your agency educate employees without burning a hole in your budget?

Windows XP’s days are numbered. Microsoft will be terminating all support for the operating system, as well as support for Microsoft Word 2003, on April 8, 2014. This includes all security updates and fixes, leaving those with Windows XP vulnerable to security threats. Many organizations are now faced with the task of migrating to a modern desktop on Windows 7 or 8. While it may seem daunting, organizations should view migrating as an opportunity, not a burden. For starters, Windows 7 features substantial enhancements over XP and Vista in multiple areas including performance, security, user access PC management and support. Tests have shown that Windows 7 runs JavaScript significantly faster than XP or Vista. Other advantages of migrating lie with the process itself. Migrating will give your organization a chance to correct operating inefficiencies and automate processes and standards.

Providing an exceptional customer service experience is a key element of running any organization, from large corporations to non-profits to government agencies. Government agencies have to deal with issues raised by the public every day and be able to respond to constituents in an efficient manner. While seemingly a straightforward task, customer relations is a constantly evolving field. Many people now expect a personalized experience through whatever channel they prefer, whether it is by phone, email, web or social networks. By using the most current technology to optimize the customer service experience, organizations can not only improve the way they respond to their constituents needs but also improve their own organizational efficiency and reduce costs.

The use of mobile devices is increasing rapidly and forever changing the way in which we conduct not only our personal lives, but the way government agencies conduct business. In fact, mobile strategies have recently been promoted at the highest levels of government. In May 2012, the Obama Administration launched the Digital Government Strategy. At that point, only 35% of adults owned a mobile device, but today that number is nearly 50%. Additionally, Nielsen reported an 89% increase in mobile data usage between 2010 and 2011. However, only 25% of government agencies have a mobile strategy in place.

Accelerating a new employee’s productivity rate is a goal that every agency strives to achieve. The onboarding process involves many time consuming elements. Everything from preparing new-hire paperwork, to ensuring equipment is ready on time, and reducing the onboarding cycle from days to minutes can help your agency save millions of dollars and increase productivity rates for new employees. How can you enable new hire productivity across every level of your organization? Here are some tips to ensure your new employees can hit the ground running.

After HP and Lockheed Martin both issued cloud security authorizations by the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP), a dispute between Amazon Web services and IBM came about over a CIA cloud infrastructure contract. In addition to this, the recent release of Dell’s Cloud for U.S. Government makes it plain to see that the future of computing lies in the cloud.