“WASHINGTON TECHNOLOGY” By Ryan Nelson
“How federal agencies and government contractors must align data, operations and culture to succeed in the ‘Insight Age.’
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“The public sector is entering what speaker and author Joel Neeb calls “The Insight Age,” a period where both private companies and public sector agencies are incorporating artificial intelligence to create a better user and stakeholder experience, streamline operations and even make substantive changes to the procurement process.
But deriving benefits from The Insight Age requires a three-pronged approach to transformation.
Neeb was the recent keynote speaker at immixGroup’s Government IT Sales Summit 2024.He is the founder of The Insight Age and helps lead transformations to prepare large enterprise organizations for AI.
“AI can’t just be bolted onto the organization,” Neeb said. Because AI has the power to transform everything an agency does, he noted, it must be reflected across the agency structure, specifically:
Data and tools,
The operating model, and
The culture
Transformation follows these phases. “An organization can’t change just one and be successful. We must validate and clean up what we call our data debt, then our operational debt and then our cultural debt, in that order,” Neeb said.
Data and tools: Breaking the silo habit
In terms of data and tools, Neeb noted that federal agencies often face the challenge of siloed data across departments. Some agencies are actively working to correct this. For instance, he said, the Department of Defense’s Joint All-Domain Command and Control (JADC2) initiative aims to connect sensors from all military branches to a single network.
That philosophy is reflected in a change in procurement attitudes across most agencies, Neeb said. People aren’t just buying point solutions or features any longer; they’re buying outcomes.
That’s a much more distant goal line, and it requires that data be cleaned up and incorporated in common tool sets, with consolidated platforms rather than using bespoke tools. The right data must be used as inputs, effectively creating an insight factory.
Understanding organizational misalignment
In terms of organizational structure, it’s important to note that agencies may have leadership models that don’t work in this new AI environment. In mapping goals and strategy across the organization models and tools for objective and key results must be used.
That can be challenging for organizations where operations are entrenched in silos rather than establishing goals across all lines of business. It’s important for agency leaders to understand such possible areas of organization misalignment, and how correcting them relates to the insights available from data. To fully embrace AI, an organization must be fluid, continually shifting the target and enabling teams to successfully pursue those shifting targets.
Neeb added that, compared with the private sector, federal agencies face additional operational challenges because of their unique procurement processes and compliance requirements. The principles of clearly mapped objectives and key results, however, are just as crucial in the public sector for successful AI implementation.
AI transformation is a cultural issue
According to Neeb, the final aspect of AI transformation focuses on cultural changes. Imagine a world without cognitive biases, where you’re not just focused on the last fire you put out. Instead, you get all your updates of where you’re winning, where you’re losing and then you get the insights about how you can adjust your strategy. AI can absorb data to provide clear insights with predictive power for the future.
You can’t get there, however, without acknowledging that your corporate culture needs to change.
For federal agencies, cultural transformation might involve not only internal changes but also shifts in how those agencies interact with contractors and other stakeholders. This could mean new ways of collaborating on AI projects or sharing data securely across agencies.
AI tools could be used in the federal sector to streamline the complex RFP response process, helping contractors quickly identify and address specific agency needs while ensuring compliance with federal regulations.
As Neeb said, As federal agencies and contractors prepare for the AI era, understanding and implementing these transformation strategies will be crucial for successful modernization efforts and improved service delivery to citizens.”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Ryan Nelson is market intelligence manager for immixGroup, the public sector business of Arrow Electronics.
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