Page 16 - CARAHSOFT, January/February 2021

Customer-First Mindset
Executive Viewpoint
A conversation with
KRISTEN BALDWIN
KRISTEN BALDWIN
CIO, Federal Aviation Administration
FAA’s CIO discusses how the agency is using technology to adapt to the changing needs of customers and employees
How has the pandemic changed the FAA’s approach to ensuring that employees can be productive and engaged from any location? The FAA has a very robust workforce in the field, outside of the FAA headquarters complex, so we had a solid foundation in place for encouraging our workforce to engage from anywhere.
We saw a change in the volume
of remote traffic on a daily basis. Fortunately, our team had been working to implement a scalable communication platform before the change to maximum telework, so we were able to adapt pretty quickly. With that platform available, our team was able to dedicate resources to ensure we had the bandwidth needed for the increase in remote traffic.
To this end, we nearly tripled our remote access bandwidth, increasing capacity at the FAA’s Trusted Internet Connections. We also increased our remote access capacity by 50% to support 36,000 concurrent connections.
What role does the Office of Information and Technology play in support of the employee experience agency-wide?
In the Office of Information and Technology (AIT), our job is to provide the tools our workforce needs to be productive. It’s our responsibility to ensure our toolset is reflective of our daily needs across the agency and that our employees are aware and comfortable using what is available for them.
We partner with our Office of Communications to make sure productivity tool technology updates are a regular part of employee communications. From daily newsletter communications
to lockscreen messaging to ever-changing content on our intranet site, we use a variety of methods to reach the FAA workforce.
A top priority of the AIT team has been to adapt processes and techniques based on the needs of the workforce. With thousands of FAA employees
In some cases, the online nature of our engagement has allowed us to cast a wider
net and reach a more diverse community.
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