Page 40 - FCW, January/February 2020

WHAT
TO WATCH IN
2O
Rather than make a series of buzzword-filled predictions about federal technology in the coming year, I looked at the fiscal 2020 federal IT budget to discern a number of trends that we can interpret as sign- posts for what to expect in 2020. I’ve outlined a few below.
2O
1. IT organizations will shift their
focus to modernizing programs.
The Office of Management and Budget has updated major IT policy guidance and focused on the Cloud Smart Strategy, and the CIO role is shifting from running the infrastructure to identifying how technolo- gies benefit mission performance. Consequently, this will be the year when IT governance practices drive a new wave of mission benefits beyond better control over IT infrastructure spending.
This will be the year when IT
governance moves beyond
2. Modernization will not overtake operations and maintenance as the primary
The result: Agencies will gain and share understanding on how to smartly use cloud computing — for example, by taking advantage of rapid advances in serverless computing and low-code/no-code applica- tion development tools. Although technology business management
is a necessity, the primary improvement driver will be OMB’s M-19-23 evidence-based decision-making initiatives, which call on agencies to use tools such as machine learning, data analytics and third-party/Com- merce Department data sources.
OUT
ensuring better control over IT spending focus in 2020.
The federal IT budget is changing very slowly. Based on what I read spending to drive a new wave in the 2020 appropriations acts, this will be a year of experimentation,
of mission benefits
BY MARK A. FORMAN
plan development, incremental modernization efforts and cybersecurity improvement. Overall IT spending should go up slightly because the roughly 4% increase in federal program budgets always pull in more
IT support. But no civilian agency received anything near $1 billion for modernization.
40 January/February 2020 FCW.COM
The Technology Modernization Fund’s $25 million in 2020 appropria- tions reflects congressional skepticism that agencies will be able to pay back the borrowed funds. That skepticism is warranted because the return on digital technology is now due to productivity and cybersecuri- ty gains, not IT infrastructure savings. The recent Unisys Cloud Success Barometer survey of 1,000 commercial and government executives found that government security gains from moving to the cloud were
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