Government’s Blueprint for Disaster Recovery in the Cloud

The demand for integrated, easy-to-access government services has never been higher. While state and local governments have strived to meet this growing demand, agency silos continue to make the goal of a common and intuitive digital government experience difficult to achieve.

Driven by changing global norms and evolving public expectations, today’s Modern Government defines itself by the impact it can have on key Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) issues. While their capability to address these issues is nothing new, a combination of growing international uncertainty, rising costs, and social mandates has shifted action from obligation to responsibility, and as the world continues to press for change, it’s essential that those working to meet expectations do their best to deliver. In the first part of our series, leaders will explore key trends and priorities in the ESG landscape, benefits of a forward thinking ESG policy, and best practices for public sector officials as they take action on ESG issues.

State and local governments have access to a wealth of data, yet many agencies are still starved for valuable insights. Gaining insights from data can be a lengthy process – it requires a thorough understanding of and speedy access to data, the ability to analyze data and a method to present findings for further consumption. This process has been coined as ‘time to insight.’ As more agencies seek to leverage data, many are aiming to reduce the time this process takes. By treating data like software – ensuring it’s discoverable, accessible through an API, accretive and explainable – with cloud computing, agencies can make the data fast and gain faster insights to make better-informed decisions.

Since 2016, courts and government contractors have grappled with the implications of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Universal Health Services, Inc. United States ex rel. Escobar regarding the interpretation of the False Claims Act (FCA). Simultaneously, the Department of Justice has released several different, sometimes contradictory memoranda regarding the enforcement of the FCA, while continuing to collect billions of dollars each year from settlements with government contractors who violate the FCA.