Government Business

NASCIO and Accenture Initiative Supports State Government Cloud Adoption

Accenture | October 12, 2021

A new biennial study by the National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) and Accenture (NYSE:ACN) focuses on increased interest and use of cloud technologies in state governments and provides an assessment tool to help guide advancements in states’ use of cloud

The 2021 Accenture and NASCIO Cloud Study notes that cloud first appeared on NASCIO’s State CIO Top Ten priorities list in 2010. Even with considerable uptake of cloud in many state governments over the past decade, CIOs point to major barriers slowing their move to cloud, including considerations around financial management and budgets, cybersecurity, procurement, and workforce capabilities.

“We found state CIOs widely acknowledge benefits from shifting to the cloud, including potential cost savings, system flexibility, scalability, security and improved citizen experiences. And many of them want to more aggressively address perceived barriers that stand in the way of tapping more cloud power to advance digital and operational capabilities, so we offer this new report as a resource.”

Doug Robinson, NASCIO executive director

Some of the key findings from the NASCIO/Accenture study include:

  • Many states still reliant on CapEx spending – 54% of CIOs reported that their state budget office prefers the best-suited funding model for cloud budgeting, OpEx (operating expenditure); however, 24% report a state budget preference for CapEx (capital expenditure budgeting), generally not conducive to effectively budgeting for cloud.
  • Continued heavy reliance on mainframe computers – 89% still have a mainframe computer, and 71% have not moved any mainframe applications to the cloud, a key step in enterprise cloud implementation.
  • Desired cloud offerings – CIOs flagged certain functionalities they would like to see more of in vendors’ cloud offerings, with integration, pricing and transparency topping the wish list.

“There is inevitably going to be continued strong uptake of cloud by state governments intent on making best use of their people and budgets and better serving their citizens,” said Ryan Oakes, who leads Accenture’s global public sector work. “With many states still early in their cloud journey, there are abundant opportunities for them to move forward in a more systematic and disciplined manner.”

The NASCIO/Accenture cloud study will be conducted on a biennial basis.

Accenture’s Public Service industry group helps public-sector organizations embrace innovation and transform quickly to operate smarter, achieve more and improve services.

About the Research
The study was based on in-depth interviews, NASCIO workshops and panels, and an online survey of state chief information officers conducted in May 2021.

About Accenture
Accenture is a global professional services company with leading capabilities in digital, cloud and security. Combining unmatched experience and specialized skills across more than 40 industries, we offer Strategy and Consulting, Interactive, Technology and Operations services — all powered by the world’s largest network of Advanced Technology and Intelligent Operations centers. Our 624,000 people deliver on the promise of technology and human ingenuity every day, serving clients in more than 120 countries. We embrace the power of change to create value and shared success for our clients, people, shareholders, partners and communities.

About NASCIO
Founded in 1969, the National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) represents state chief information officers (CIOs) and information technology (IT) executives and managers from the states, territories and District of Columbia. NASCIO’s mission is to foster government excellence through quality business practices, information management and technology policy. NASCIO provides state CIOs and state members with products and services designed to support the challenging role of the state CIO, stimulate the exchange of information and promote the adoption of IT best practices and innovations. From national conferences to peer networking, research and publications, briefings and government affairs, NASCIO is the premier network and resource for state CIOs.

Spotlight

Spotlight

Related News

Emerging Technology, Cybersecurity

IMB Partners Has Made a Strategic Investment in GovCon Provider eTelligent Group

PR Newswire | July 24, 2023

IMB Partners ("IMB"), a leading middle market private equity firm specializing in utility, industrial, and government contracting services ("GovCon"), today announced its strategic investment in eTelligent Group ("eTel"), a premier provider of emerging technologies and program management solutions to the U.S. Government. Founded in 2005, eTel has been leading the enterprise-wide transformation of critical business systems by managing the implementation and engineering of emerging technologies. Today, the company delivers digital transformation services primarily to the Internal Revenue Service ("IRS"), utilizing capabilities that include agile software development, DevSecOps, IT Program Management Office (PMO), cybersecurity, web services, and big data. eTel has become a principal thought leader and solutions evangelist to the IRS, now positioned as the second-most active prime contractor on the IRS IT-EPMSS BPA contract vehicle. "We are excited to hit the ground running with the highly-skilled and experienced team of professionals at eTel," says Norman Yu, Director at IMB Partners. "The eTel team has laid some very impressive groundwork, and IMB sees a great opportunity to grow, diversify, and strengthen the business both inside and outside of the IRS. eTel is the partner we have been looking for, and we are ready to roll up our sleeves with eTel and further our commitment to serving the GovCon sector." With IMB's investment, eTel will be able to dedicate additional resources to professionally scale the overall organizational infrastructure and capabilities to undertake larger contracts. Additionally, this partnership will propel eTel to explore potential acquisitions to help diversify the customer base and build upon existing capabilities to best serve the U.S. Government. "Over the past 18 years, we have built a high performing team of industry leading professionals that are committed to our core company values of serving with excellence," says Ritesh Bansal, Managing Partner of eTel. "The proof is in our customer feedback: we're nimble, more efficient, and more responsive in delivering exceptional service. And now, with this partnership with IMB, we will have the means to extend the same exceptional service to more customers across new categories and invest significantly in building our strategic and operational framework," says Rohit Aggarwal, Managing Partner of eTel. About eTelligent Group eTel provides a proven team of talented IT professionals that provide reliable solutions for business & information technology management and services. eTel delivers IT services, agile and DevOps development, big data services, IT program management, and cyber security services. Working as a trusted partner of the Federal Government, eTel holds itself to the highest industry standards, including CMMI Level 3 and PMBOK. Learn more at etelligent-group.com. About IMB Partners Founded in 2010, IMB is a private equity sponsor focused on investing and partnering with management teams to grow lower middle market companies serving government agencies and electric and gas utilities. IMB believes that diversity is an asset and takes an entrepreneurial approach to building companies of scale. IMB seeks platform investment targets with $10-$250 million in revenue. Learn more at imbpartners.com or connect with us on LinkedIn.

Read More

Emerging Technology

BRP Group, Inc. Introduces Government Contracting Center of Excellence

Businesswire | July 28, 2023

BRP Group, Inc. today announced the establishment of its newest national Center of Excellence (“COE”) — Government Contracting (“GovCon”) – to join the firm’s expanding portfolio of specialty practices. The new practice launch is part of BRP Group’s intentional strategy of leveraging the deep expertise of its national network of risk management and insurance partnerships, and their experts and specialists, to make a greater difference for their clients’ business needs regardless of geographic location. BRP Group’s GovCon COE team is comprised of knowledgeable insurance experts with broad experience advising clients who operate in the government contracting space. This COE is specifically structured to support federal contracting clients with property and casualty, employee benefits and retirement insurance solutions, GovCon M&A due diligence and in-house compliance specialists. “Our new Government Contracting (GovCon) Center of Excellence (COE) is an expansion of BRP Group’s specialized solutions and capabilities that work to meet the unique needs of current and prospective clients. By combining the expertise from our two partner firms, Armfield, Harrison & Thomas (AHT) and The Capital Group, we are excited to bring this additional practice to the marketplace,” said Dan Galbraith, BRP Group’s Chief Operating Officer. “Not only do government contractors encounter typical risk management and insurance issues, they also navigate unique challenges associated with conducting business within a rapidly-evolving, highly-regulated environment. With more than 25 years of experience and a proven track record of designing specialized insurance coverage for these complex business and regulatory conditions, our dedicated colleagues, led by BRP Group’s Senior Director of Sales Kevin FitzPatrick, keep clients protected, in compliance and proactively prepared to mitigate risk and manage costs.” The GovCon COE focuses on addressing the unique needs and challenges of clients in the hyper- competitive federal contracting space that are best solved by a unified team approach. The GovCon COE helps federal contractors navigate these mission critical areas: Controlling fringe expenses to keep competitive Wrap Rates GovCon Employee Benefits Benchmarking - designing programs that help improve employee attraction and retention. Risk Management Strategy Defense Base Act (DBA) Coverage International Coverage Cyber Liability Insurance Service Contract Act (SCA) Compliance and Strategy 401K plan development and administration In addition, the GovCon COE has integrated two key programs: GovTech™: The Government Technology Insurance Company offers robust commercial insurance policies that flow down the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) and Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) framework and provides easy access to GovCon insurance subject matter experts at premiums that accurately reflect the exposures. GovConHealth: Provides go-to-market strategies to federal contractors to help them control employee benefits expenses. The initiative is powered by a unique and proprietary consortium-funded stop-loss arrangement that bands together high-performing federal contractors to safely and conservatively partially self-fund their employer-based healthcare. ABOUT BRP GROUP BRP Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: BRP) is an independent insurance distribution firm delivering tailored insurance and risk management insights and solutions that give our Clients the peace of mind to pursue their purpose, passion and dreams. We are innovating the industry by taking a holistic and tailored approach to risk management, insurance, and employee benefits, and support our Clients, Colleagues, Insurance Company Partners and communities through the deployment of vanguard resources and capital to drive our growth. BRP Group represents over 1.3 million clients across the United States and internationally. For more information, please visit www.baldwinriskpartners.com.

Read More

Emerging Technology, Cybersecurity

Dropsuite Builds on its Cloud Backup Solutions to Deliver Enhanced Security with GovCloud Backup and Archiving (US)

Prweb | June 27, 2023

Dropsuite, a leading cloud data backup and archiving platform, announced its new GovCloud solution enabling Microsoft 365 public sector users to easily backup and restore their data in the cloud. Dropsuite’s GovCloud allows US-based partners to safeguard their government and public sector clients’ data and comply with FedRAMP moderate data security requirements. Dropsuite's M365 backup and archiving solutions can now be stored in Amazon Web Services (AWS) GovCloud (US), ensuring your data is stored in a separate cloud with heightened security. This creates critical redundancy and protects your data from accidental deletion, system crashes, cyber-attacks, and other causes of data loss. This solution bridges M365 Government plans (for organizations requiring higher security and compliance features hosted in a government-only cloud environment) and AWS GovCloud (US) (for US government and public sector customers to architect secure cloud environments that meet those strict security and compliance requirements). Dropsuite's Chief Product Officer, Mark Kirstein says, "Our partners know Dropsuite's commitment to secure, quality backup products, and we have brought the same discipline and partner input to our GovCloud offering. We are thrilled to provide our MSP partners and their clients with this FedRAMP moderate compliant solution that boasts the same easy-to-use technology they already know and love." Dropsuite’s GovCloud is built upon its award-winning backup and archiving technology used by over a million users. It provides essential features for most government organizations and contractors, including automated incremental backup, one-click data restore, and regulatory-compliant email archiving features. Managed Service Provider (MSP) partners can administer solutions for their clients from a single-pane-of-glass interface, allowing the implementation of custom retention rules, third-party auditor access roles, and internal user roles and permissions. Dropsuite’s easy-to-use platform has been named Gold Medalist in SoftwareReviews’ Email Backup Solutions Awards three years in a row. Key benefits of using Dropsuite’s GovCloud solution: Uphold FedRAMP moderate requirements and compliance. Safeguard sensitive data in a separate and secure government-only cloud environment. Ensure data preservation, integrity, security, traceability, searchability, scale, and cost-effectiveness. Secure each record from being modified, overwritten, or deleted until the retention period has expired, including a click box that activates write-once-read-many (WORM) storage. Swift setup enables users to run backups in a matter of minutes upon account creation. Maintain peace of mind and know exactly what you are paying for with transparent, upfront pricing. ABOUT DROPSUITE Dropsuite is an award-winning cloud software platform enabling businesses and organizations globally to easily backup, recover and protect their important business information. Dropsuite’s commitment to advanced, secure, and scalable cloud technologies keeps them at the forefront of the industry and makes them the preferred choice of leading IT Administrators and Managed Service Providers globally. https://dropsuite.com

Read More