Accelerating

Government
Transformation
with IT
RESEARCH BRIEF

A C C E L E R A T ING GOV E R NME NT T R A NSFOR MATIO N WITH IT

51 P ER C ENT OF
OU R SUR VEY
R ESP OND ENTS
WA N T IMPR OV ED
C A P T UR E OF
B U SINESS
R EQ UIR EMENT
C A P A BILITIES.
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Accelerating
Government
Transformation
with IT
E

verywhere government looks, budgets

are shrinking. Federal governments
IT spending will be cut by $2.4
billion in 2015. State and local governments
will also suffer decreases in IT and support
service budgets. Contrast that to IT spending in the private sector, which is predicted
to increase to $3.8 trillion as technology
companies continue to offer better services.
But despite their budget differences, we must
remember that the private and the public
sectors still operate in the same universe.
The same customers who can do banking,
buy a TV, or book a vacation online, are also
looking for the same level of service delivery
from government agencies, whether they are
applying for a business permit or doing taxes.
So where does that leave the public sector?
How can the federal government look at
digital innovation? What are the next steps?
These days, more and more government
agencies want to modernize their operational
processes for a variety of reasons: cost reductions, improved service delivery and accelerated mission fulfillment. Digital transformation technologies such as cloud computing,
enterprise mobility, data/analytics and modern business process management (BPM)
solutions can help information technology
departments achieve these goals and deliver
21st-century government services.

But to attain the highest value from IT,

agency leaders must think about emerging
technologies in a cohesive and integrated
way.
Thats why GovLoop has partnered with
Appian, a company that delivers innovative
business applications for smarter decisions
and faster actions, to create this research
brief about digital governance solutions.
Together, we explore the benefits and challenges of adopting digital business processes.
Specifically, this research brief will:
Share results from a survey of 178
public-sector professionals

Identify common hurdles with digital

transformation deployments
Provide a successful case study from
the Defense Information Systems
Agency (DISA)
Include expert commentary from
Chris OConnell, Vice President of
Public-Sector Sales at Appian

Give you insight on how Appian can

help you adopt modern BPM solutions
With better BPM, governments can improve
efficiencies and service delivery. And as our
research found, agencies no longer have a
choice. They must transform their business
processes to meet the complex needs of their
missions because both employees and
citizens demand it.

For instance, 60 percent of respondents to

our survey said they want improved application functionality, and 51 percent want
improved capture of business requirement
capabilities. And although our community
has clearly expressed the desire to modernize, only 4 percent believe their agency is
currently highly successful when it comes
to executing on process and technology
changes.
Although digital transformation is an imperative for agencies, government employees
are frustrated by the inability to adopt new
solutions, our findings show. This is due to
a variety of challenges, including lack of
funding, limited executive support or failure
to link IT to business strategy.
IT modernization is about business transformation, said Chris OConnell, Vice
President of Public-Sector Sales at Appian.
But IT modernization for its own sake is
not valuable; it must be focused on what
youre trying to accomplish from an agency
perspective. What it comes down to is about
changing the agencys business model.
Without focusing on how to transform their
business through effective IT, agencies will
not be able to meet the increasing demands
of citizens and stakeholders.

A C C E L E R A T ING GOV E R NME NT T R A NSFOR MATIO N WITH IT

TH E C A SE F O R D IGIT AL
TR A N S FO R MATI ON

y leveraging emerging IT such as

cloud computing, mobility, data/analytics and BPM tools, public-sector
organizations can save money by reducing
capital expenses and employees can spend
less time on administrative work.
There are many benefits from the efficiency
gained on the workforce side, which allows
government employees to spend their time
on the things that are the most important to
the mission, OConnell said.
Other motives for agencies embracing
new technology for business applications
include improved efficiency (49 percent) and
improved customer experience (30 percent).
(See Figure 1: Primary Reasons for Embracing New Technology.)
Our research also identified the top three
application drivers that are desired for

improved are application functionality (60

percent); improved capture of business requirements (51 percent); and reduced cost of
development (46 percent). (See Figure 2.)
Survey respondents offered various reasons
for why they felt the necessity to transform
their operations digitally:

1. Improved organizational productivity

and efficiency (81 percent).

A more effective utilization of hardware resources leads to more effective

spending of budget resources.

5. Faster dissemination of information

through the organization (46 percent).

Speaking the same language and having a common understanding of our

work [improves business process].
[Digital transformation provides]
wider dissemination of information to
our customers.

Additionally, we asked participants to pick

their top goals for their agencies. (See Figure
2: Goals for Process Change.)

FIGUR E 1

PR IMARY REASONS FOR EM BRACING NE W T E C HN OLOG Y

5%

4%

Improved decision making

5%

49%

7%

Improved efficiency

Increased business agility

30%

F IG U R E 2

Improved customer experience

G OA LS FOR BU S I N E S S
P R OC E S S C HA N G E

W H A T A R E THE TO P 3 APPLI C ATION DEV ELOP MENT

D R IV E R S AT Y O UR O RGAN I Z ATION?

Desire for improved application functionality

Improve capture of business requirements

81%

46%

Desire for more agile development

39%

Extend applications to mobile devices

38%

An increase in requests for new applications

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72%

51%

Reduce cost of development

W HA T A R E T HE T OP 5 GOA L S F OR B US I N E S S
P ROCE S S CHA N GE A T Y OUR OR GA N I Z A T I ON ?

60%

27%

Improved organizational productivity

and efficiency

Improved customer service

61%

Meet compliance requirements

60%

Reduced operational costs

(e.g. through automation)

46%

3. Ability to meet compliance requirements (61 percent).

4. Reduced operational costs (60 percent).

Government workers recognize the need to

change and adopt more innovative practices.
Unfortunately, a complex set of challenges
that limits their ability to implement changes
is frustrating them.
Many of governments challenges are very
daunting, OConnell said. Theyve got
demands for greater customer service, an
ever-changing set of policies, rules, legislation, evolving missions, and behind all of
that, constrained resources in terms of actual
dollars, resources and the brittle IT infrastructure thats been put in place over the
past number of years.
Our survey confirmed OConnells statement. Thirty-six percent of respondents cited
an inadequate budget as the core challenge
to transforming their business models. (See
Figure 3: Challenges for Digital Transformation.)

Other

Improved employee experience

2. Improved customer service (72 percent).

Faster dissemination of information

throughout organization

Faster, fact-based decision making (43%); Increased citizen engagement (38%);

Increased business agility (27%); Enable early detection of business problems (24%)

They will run out of budget, OConnell

said. If they continue down the current path
or the traditional one for IT delivery, theyll
learn that it is an unsustainable business
model.
Additionally, respondents identified a lack of
IT resources, executive sponsorship and inhouse expertise as obstacles. Other responses
included:

FIGURE 3

CH ALLEN GES FOR DIGITAL TRANS FORM A T I ON

22%

36%

Other

WH IC H STATEM ENT B EST DESC RIB ES YOUR ORGANIZA T I ON S A BI L I T Y T O

RAPIDL Y ROL L OUT AND INTRODUC E NEW T ECH N OL OG I ES ?

Inadequate Budget

47%

11%

No In-House Expertise

14%

17%

Lack of Executive Sponsorship

37%

Our IT organization
has a huge backlog of
development work and as
a result is slow to implement new technologies

Lack of IT Resources

16%

Our IT organization
is highly responsive to
changing business needs
and effective at rapidly delivering new technologies

Our IT organization is
neither slow nor particularly fast when it comes
to implementing new
technologies

H O W C H A L L E NGING W AS IT TO O VE R CO ME THE FOL L OWING STUM B L ING

BL O C K S T O A CHIE VE E FFE CTIVE P R O CE S S AND TEC H NOL OGY C H ANGE?
Very Challenging
100
80

Challenging

Somewhat Challenging

Not Challenging

60
40
20

No clear business
strategy
100
80

Lack of executive
support

Business silos

No clear IT strategy

Insufficient IT
resources

10

60
40
20

IT development/
support complexity

Process and IT teams

do no collaborate
effectively

[We have a] lack of technical knowledge and few relationships to other

non-government entities working with
federal systems.
Many times business models appear
to pertain to much higher levels of the
organization, leaving the lowest levels
out of the picture when it comes to
how the models affect our day-to-day
activities.
[There is a] fear of change.

Adding on to that, 47 percent of respondents

said their IT departments have a backlog of
development work and are stretched too thin
to deploy new technology.
Our survey also explored how difficult it is
to overcome common obstacles to effective
process and technology change. Seventy-five
percent of respondents cited insufficient IT
resources; 70 percent said they experience
too much bureaucracy; and 65 percent noted

Slow procurement
process

Too much
bureaucracy

that it was very challenging to overcome IT

development. (See Figure 3.)
Its clear that there are many roadblocks for
adopting new technology so where does
government stand in their attempts to modernize? Survey results were mixed. Thirty-five

Educating the
workforce

percent said their organization was neither

successful nor unsuccessful, while 32 percent
said successful. Remarkably, only 2 percent believed their organization was highly
successful. (See Figure 4: Ability to Support
Process and Technology Changes.)

FIGURE 4

ABIL IT Y T O S U P P OR T P R OC E S S A N D
TECHNOLOG Y C HA N G E S
O VE R ALL, H OW SUC C ESSFUL WOUL D YOU RATE YOUR ORGANIZATIONS
AP P R O AC H TO PROC ESS AND TEC H NOL OGY C H ANGE?

35%

32%

22%

Neither successful nor

unsuccessful

Successful

Unsuccessful

9% 2%
Highly Highly
Unsuccessful Successful

A C C E L E R A T ING GOV E R NME NT T R A NSFOR MATIO N WITH IT

FIGURE 5

IM P A C T OF C LOU D , M OBI LE , D A T A , S OC I A L

Mobile adoption was similar to cloud

results. Currently 79 percent of respondents
believe that 0 to 25 percent of applications
are currently mobile. A quarter of respondents believe that 25 percent to 50 percent
of applications will be mobile-ready in one
year. (See Figure 5: Impact of Cloud, Mobile,
Data, Social.)
In addition, 76 percent of respondents said
they do not have access to key enterprise
data and cannot participate in core business
processes from mobile devices. Employees do
not have access to mobile because of security
concerns (52 percent) and a lack of resources
(43 percent). Only senior management are
authorized access, one participant said.

High Impact

Medium Impact

Low Impact

100
80
60
40
20

Enterprise
Mobility

Social
Collaboration

AP P R O X IM ATEL Y WH AT PERC ENTAGE OF YOUR

BUS INE S S APPL IC ATIONS ARE IN TH E C L OUD?

Percentage of respondents

We also asked respondents to identify what

percentage of business applications are
already in the cloud. Seventy-seven percent
said 0 to 25 percent, and only 2 percent have
75 percent to 100 percent of applications
hosted in the cloud. Participants anticipate a
modest increase to 6 percent in one year.

W HAT IS TH E L EVEL OF IM PAC T TH E FOL L OWING TEC H NOL OGIES H AVE ON A CH I EV I N G

Y O UR B USINESS GOAL S?

15%
0 - 25%

25 - 50%

6%

2%

50 - 75%

75 - 100%

W HAT P E RC ENTAGE OF YOUR B USINESS

AP P LICATIONS DO YOU ANTIC IPATE TO B E IN
THE CLO U D IN ONE YEAR?

58%
25 - 50%

13%

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APPROXIM ATEL Y WH AT PERC E N T A G E OF Y OU R

ENTERPRISE B USINESS APPL IC A T I ON S I S
M OB IL E?

13%
0 - 25%

25 - 50%

7%

1%

50 - 75%

75 - 100%

Percentage of business applications which are mobile

WH AT PERC ENTAGE OF YOUR EN T ERP RI S E

B USINESS APPL IC ATIONS DO Y OU A N T I CI P A T E
TO B E M OB IL E IN ONE YEAR?

50 - 75%

25%

6%
75 - 100%

Percentage of business applications in the cloud

in one year

Data/
Analytics

59%
24%

0 - 25%

Cloud
Computing

79%

77%

Percentage of business applications in the cloud

Percentage of respondents

Although not everyone is sure they can get

new technology going, they still know which
IT solutions they want. Cloud computing,
social collaboration tools, mobility and data
solutions topped the list as the core IT
framework for digital transformation. Additionally, 61 percent of respondents noted that
data is making a high impact on their agency.
The responses in regard to cloud tell a different story, however. Only 21 percent believed
they see cloud as making a high impact, and
23 percent do not see cloud as making any
impact.

0 - 25%

25 - 50%

10%
50 - 75%

5%
75 - 100%

Percentage of business applications which are mobile

in one year

FIGURE 6

S UCC E S S FA C T OR S
The survey also analyzed success factors to
achieving effective process and technology change. The top three success factors
were strong executive support, clear link to
business strategy and user-friendly technology. Meanwhile, only 2 percent said speed
of technology delivery was not an important
factor to success. (See Figure 6: Success
Factors.)
Also interesting to note is where the actual
process of innovation takes place. Forty-four
percent believe that innovation is occurring
within their IT department, and 32 percent
believe its coming from individual business
units. Innovation is occurring within our individual business units [but] our technology
team takes too long to do anything, a survey
participant said.
Although the public sector is faced with
challenges to deploying digital solutions,
there are success stories as well. Some agencies, such as Defense Information Systems
Agency (DISA) have excelled in making the
leap into 21st Century government.
DO EM P L O Y E E S HA V E T H E ABILITY TO ACCE S S
K EY EN T E RP RI S E D A T A A N D P AR TICIP ATE IN
COR E B U S I NE S S P RO C E S S E S FR O M MO BILE
DEV I CES ?

24%

YES

HO W IMPORTANT WERE TH E FOL L OWING SUC C ESS FAC TORS TO AC H IEVING

E FFE CTIVE PROC ESS AND TEC H NOL OGY C H ANGE AT YOUR AGENC Y?
Very Important
100

Important

Somewhat Important

Well-defined and
efficient processes

IT and process teams

collaborated effectively

Strong executive
support

Business users engaged throughout the

process

80

Not Important

60
40
20

100
80

Technology was simple and intuitive

Clear link to business

strategy

60
40
20

Speed of technology
delivery

User-friendly technology

FIGURE 7

WHER E D I G I T A L T R A N S FOR M A T I ON S T A R T S
W HICH DEPARTM ENTS ARE DRIVING PROC ESS INNOVATION? (SEL EC T AL L TH A T A P P L Y )

44%
IT

32%

Individual business
units

28%

Business operations

28%

Customer service

16%
Other

7%

C-Suite

76%

NO

A C C E L E R A T ING GOV E R NME NT T R A NSFOR MATIO N WITH IT

CA S E S T UD Y

DEF EN SE I NFO R MATION

S Y S T EMS AGE NC Y:
INCR EA SED C O L L A BO RA T I O N THR O UGH DIGITIZ E D S E R VICE S

ISA provides advanced information

technology and immediate communications support to the President, Vice President, Secretary of Defense,
military services, and combatant commands.
From its Ft. Meade, Md., headquarters and
through worldwide field activities, DISA
offers solutions and enhanced capabilities that enable customers to make rapid
decisions, using real-time information, and
to turn these decisions into critical strategic,
operational, and tactical actions.
DISA needed to improve efficiency, drive
automation, and replace disparate and aging
legacy systems that supported the DISA
procurement processes. The agency wanted
increased collaboration through a single
web-based system for customers, contracting,
vendors, and administrators, to manage all
pre-award, award, and post-award activities. To meet their objectives, DISA had to
overcome a procurement process hampered
by separate manual paper checklists, separate
logins to all subsystems and contract documents that had to be manually edited and
filed by the contracting staff.
Using the Appian BPM platform, DISA
created the Integrated Defense Enterprise
Acquisition System (IDEAS). IDEAS is
an end-to-end solution that perfectly fits
DISAs unique procurement processes, while
connecting procurement operations, systems,
and DISA personnel in a collaborative,
process-driven procurement framework
that meets DoD standards. The new system
benefits from single sign-on, the elimination
of separate checklists (a problem alleviated
by well-tailored processes), automated rout-

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ing of actions to the appropriate personnel,

auto-generated documents from standards
based system data (eliminating document
errors and poor data translation), and dramatically reduced sustainment costs.
The IDEAS solution supports both comprehensive telecommunication acquisition
functionality as well as providing DISA with
a traditional contracting platform to replace
their use of the DoD Standard Procurement System (SPS). The IDEAS solution
is a FAR/DFARS compliant system backed
by the DPAP Procurement Data Standard
(PDS). The flexibility of the Appian solution allowed DISA to account for agency
uniqueness while maintaining government
compliance. For example, DISA telecommunication acquisition includes process and
data requirements unique from standard
acquisition practices, including location data
attributes; numbering exceptions; unique
pricing structures to account for monthly
recurring and non-recurring charges; complex proration; tariff management; and the
use of telecom specific government forms for
solicitations, awards, and modifications. Traditional solutions would have required DISA
to use workarounds or costly customizations
to meet the agencys requirements, while
IDEAS is able to account for these unique
challenges without compromise.
The Appian BPM solution has allowed
DISA to drive improvements in productivity
and work quality by automating complex
agency processes and providing real-time
access to critical government information
and applications. The new system includes
the following productivity enhancements:

Single sign-on using CAC

Automated checks and filing for

System for Award Management (SAM
CCR, EPLS, ORCA), Federal
Procurement Data System (FPDSNG), Federal Business Opportunities
(FBO), and Electronic Document
Access (EDA)
Single system for receiving requisitions, creating solicitations, and issuing
awards
Automatic routing based on procurement characteristics (e.g., contract,
location)

Standardized processes across distributed DISA offices

Automated reporting of financial impacts to legacy DISA finance system

Integration of 12 systems into the new

application as part of the implementation, with Appian providing a front
end to all of them, greatly simplifying
work for hundreds of procurement
officers and specialists
DISA now has the flexibility to easily adapt
to meet changing requirements. Built on the
Appian BPM Suite, Appians federal procurement solution provides fully integrated
process, knowledge, and analytics functionality to drive quantifiable return on investment
(ROI) for the agency. For example, DISA
estimates that its operating and maintenance
(O&M) costs have been reduced to one fifth
of prior-year budget allocations.

H O W APPI AN SU P PORT S GOVERNM EN T

T R A N S FO R MATI ON

ppian is the global innovator in enterprise and on-demand BPM. The

company provides the fastest way to
deploy robust processes, collapsing time to
value for new process initiatives. Businesses
and governments worldwide use Appian to
accelerate process improvement and drive
business performance. Appian empowers
more than 3.5 million users at businesses
ranging from large Fortune 100 companies
to mid-market and small businesses.
Appian is a modern interfacing technology
that has been developed to deliver services
intuitively, in the way that people use their
consumer technology at home, OConnell
said. There shouldnt be a vast delta between
how they interact with technology for government systems and how they interact with
technology when theyre at home.
This research report shows that to meet the
complex demands of public-sector missions,
organizations must explore new business
models. This will allow them to be more
efficient and effective in public-sector service
delivery. For many government agencies, the
reality is if they arent using cloud, mobile
or modern BPM, their solutions are already
legacy.
Digital transformation through IT will be
imperative for agencies to not only meet
their missions, but to also transform the
business of government.

THERE SHOULDNT BE
A VAST DELTA BETWEEN
HOW THEY INTERACT
WITH TECHNOLOGY FOR
GOVERNMENT SYSTEMS
AND HOW THEY INTERACT
WITH TECHNOLOG Y WHEN
THEYRE AT HOME.
CHRIS OCONNELL
VICE PRESIDENT OF PUBLIC-SECTOR SALES, APPIAN

A C C E L E R A T ING GOV E R NME NT T R A NSFOR MATIO N WITH IT

A B O U T APPI AN

ABOUT GOVLOOP

s the market leader in modern Business Process Management (BPM) software, Appian delivers an enterprise application platform that unites users with all their data, processes, and collaborations in one environment, on any mobile device,
through a simple social interface. On-premise and in the cloud,
Appian is the fastest way to deliver innovative business applications.
For more information, please contact info@appian.com.
Appian
11955 Democracy Drive, Suite 1700
Reston, VA 20190
Phone: (703) 442-8844
www.appian.com/government
Twitter: @Appian

ovLoops mission is to connect government to improve

government. We aim to inspire public-sector professionals
by serving as the knowledge network for government. GovLoop connects more than 150,000 members, fostering cross-government collaboration, solving common problems and advancing
government careers. GovLoop is headquartered in Washington,
D.C., with a team of dedicated professionals who share a commitment to connect and improve government.
For more information about this report, please reach out to
info@govloop.com.
GovLoop
1101 15th St NW, Suite 900
Washington, DC 20005
Phone: (202) 407-7421
Fax: (202) 407-7501
www.govloop.com
Twitter: @GovLoop

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NOTES

A C C E L E R A T ING GOV E R NME NT T R A NSFOR MATIO N WITH IT

10

GovLoop

1101 15th St NW, Suite 900

Washington, DC 20005

Phone: (202) 407-7421 | Fax: (202) 407-7501

www.govloop.com

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