The big government CIO challenge: people… The most critical technology: Web 2.0

There has been a change at the top of the list of issues facing government IT executives — security has dropped to number two in the latest AFFIRM’s 13th annual CIO challenges survey. The big issue: Hiring and retaining skilled professionals.

The big issue facing CIOs — people.

The survey recipients were asked to select five items from a list of 25 challenges that they consider the most important to the federalCIO in performing the CIO function. The “top ten” (there are 11 actual challenges in the top ten due to a tie at #10) out of 25 survey challenges in descending order of importance are:

• Hiring and retaining skilled professionals
• Balancing information sharing and security/privacy requirements
• Obtaining adequate funding for IT programs and projects
• Simplifying business processes to maximize the benefit of technology
• Aligning IT and organizational mission goals
• Managing or replacing legacy systems
• Developing agency-wide IT accountability
• Consolidating common IT business/mission functions
• Creating data interoperability across agencies
• Building effective relationships in support of IT initiatives with agency senior executives (agency head, CFO, etc.) (tie)
• Formulating or implementing an enterprise architecture (EA) (tie)

There is much more detail in the report itself, which you can find here… or below.

The other interesting part of the survey is the critical technologies that people are watching. This year’s winner didn’t even make the list last year — Web 2.0/collaborative technologies. From the report:

The survey recipients were asked to select five items from a list of 30 critical technologies and solutions that they considered the most important to performing the federalCIO function.  The “top ten” selected critical technologies and solutions in descending order of importance
were:

1. Web 2.0/Collaborative technologies
2. Information sharing
3. Knowledge management
4. Service-oriented architecture (SOA)
5. Wireless technology (tie)
5. Identity management/HSPD12 (smart cards, biometrics, etc.) (tie)
7. Security applications (tie)
7. Workflow (tie)
9. Security infrastructure (tie)
9. Executive information and decision support systems (tie)

I’ve posted the full report here…

View this document on Scribd

You can also find it here.

A video walking tour of Federal News Radio 1500 AM’s new studio

Federal News Radio’s Francis Rose has a new video camera that he is just thrilled with… and, given that Federal News Radio 1500 AM has moved into our new studio — I posted photos yesterday — Rose posted video of the new studio… yes, taken during the Daily Debrief with Chris Dorobek and Amy Morris yesterday.

Check out the new digs.

More photos here.

They are very nice.

A happy birthday to… Joanne Connelly and Lisa Schlosser

ConnellyWorks' Joanne Connelly

A very happy birthday to Joanne Connelly, the head of ConnellyWorks PR firm… and to Lisa Schlosser, the CIO of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, at least until tomorrow when she will join the EPA. Coincidentally, both of the birthday women were at AFCEA’s Bethesda, MD’s chapter session this morning… where I am not this morning.

Lisa and Joanne share their birthday with… Brad Pitt… Stephen Spielberg, wrestler Stone Cold Steve Austin, and Keith Richards — who is only 65… and from history… Ty Cobb, and Joseph Stalin. How’s that for a range of people?

In 1892 Peter Tchaikovsky’s “The Nutcracker Suite” premiered in St. Petersburg, Russia.

And, in 1865, the 13th Amendment to the Constitution went into effect ending slavery in the United States.

Also born on this date… Robert Moses, the American public servant who supervised the construction of many New York landmarks, including the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts and Shea Stadium , was born. Read his NYT obit from July 29, 1981 here.

After the break, read more events from history… and happy birthday to Joanne Connelly…