“Why isn’t my staff doing that?”
Keith Nelson remembers asking himself that very question when learning his team at the Transportation Department hadn’t collected any useful feedback on the billions of dollars of grant money it was issuing.
“The reason why is because one grant was handled by the Federal Aviation Administration, another grant by another unit, etc.,” he explains. “The information was all siloed and disconnected across agencies and departments.”
His agency was missing out on tons of crucial data that could help measure grant impact, inform future spending decisions or reinforce accountability across departments. Without it, he and his staff were essentially operating inside a black box.
“It’s information overload,” says Nelson, who currently serves as public sector industry strategist at OpenText™, a provider of information management solutions to government and commercial entities.
In his decades as a government appointee and high-tech consultant, Nelson has witnessed countless missed opportunities to use crucial information. Often, data is too costly and labor intensive to extract. That’s because the classic methods to gather data consist of sorting through mountains of paperwork or contracting a programmer to extract data from existing systems they then use to develop some kind of reporting tool.
Both are incredibly labor- and time-intensive — and it’s frustrating for all involved.
“Fortunately, today's modern implementation allows people to actually do their normal activities and save people from themselves,” he says. What that means specifically: AI-driven automation can extract data from anywhere and stitch it all together so you have the right information where you need it, when you need it, he says.
“This is the magic formula of today,” Nelson adds.
Information should be a source of power, not your Achilles heel. Having an intelligent, connected, secure, scalable and responsible information management system gives government leaders governance over their information. Thoughtful, strategic information management is the key to ensuring agencies work smarter — not harder, according to Nelson.
Introduction
Keith Nelson
Public Sector Industry Strategist, OpenText
It was Nelson’s passion for storytelling that led him to first pursue a career in journalism.
“It was a dream job, and I loved the idea of storytelling and communicating to people in terms they could understand on their level,” he recalls.
He got an undergraduate degree in journalism from the University of Texas at Austin and after graduating, he worked in government handling correspondence for the Texas governor.
“I’m really passionate about government,” he says. “This was my first citizen experience role and a great way to find out what the citizens really cared about.”
After earning a master’s degree in journalism from the University of California, Berkeley, Nelson’s career took a different trajectory.
The excitement of innovation happening in Silicon Valley fueled his desire to reach deeper by getting his MBA. He saw an opportunity to “help move government up in terms of technology.” Realizing government and technology sectors don’t often speak the same language, he decided to take on the role of bridging that gap. He joined the federal government in 2001 and rose to numerous senior executive positions — including as assistant secretary for administration, deputy assistant secretary for research and technology, chief human capital officer, deputy chief financial officer, and deputy chief information officer — at three cabinet departments and agencies. He stepped down from government in 2022, bringing his understanding of government decision-making to the private sector.
“A lot of my job at OpenText is to be that translator for both sides,” he explains.
Translating Needs
Nelson is enthusiastic about the future of information management and what it can do for government missions.
“I'm going to take out a crystal ball and say that artificial intelligence and analytics are going to connect everything,” Nelson says. “It’s going to be incredibly transformative. Service delivery has to be transformed and more akin to private sector initiatives.”
Creating an information advantage means leveraging technology to keep people mission focused. Instead of focusing on menial tasks or data management, government agencies can focus on rewarding innovative thinking, collaboration and teamwork. Essentially, they can do the job they signed up for in the first place — that’s the information advantage.
Looking ahead — but not too far ahead — into 2030, Nelson outlines the benefits agencies can expect from improving information management today:
Preparing for an Information Advantage Future
Work Smarter – Not Harder
OpenText believes technology should start from the employee perspective. “It's all about better productivity and channeling the employees’ time on mission-focused activities,” Nelson says. In fact, Deloitte recently estimated AI automation of mundane tasks can free up to 30% — over 1 day per week — of government workers’ time.
Technology should be easy to use and work with other enterprise systems like Microsoft Office, SAP, ServiceNow and Oracle. Simplicity is key to employee retention and satisfaction.
“People are joining government because they want to improve society not to feel like they’re wasting time,” Nelson says.
Additionally, agencies can use cloud services and automation to safeguard information from the “brain drain.” Critically important information shouldn’t disappear when long-term employees retire. Staff can be encouraged to share information across departments and generations, creating more collaborative learning opportunities.
Banish Data Hoarding across Multi-Generational IT Workforces
Government agencies will be better able to protect, use and monitor their data despite the increasing complexity posed by a hybrid workforce. Machine learning algorithms can quickly identify patterns and relationships between datasets, and make integrations easier. AI’s ability to spot inconsistencies humans might miss is crucial for standardizing and protecting data across different government agencies.
Better data governance starts with a tailored approach customized to your agency’s specific needs and budget. That’s why OpenText embeds compliance, intelligence and security into its solutions.
Broaden Data Governance & Enhance Security
Technology has changed people’s expectations. If Amazon can track packages by the minute, it’s logical people now expect the same real-time info about their tax returns or driver’s license renewals. To maintain citizens’ trust in government, agencies must create a better citizen experience.
Some ways OpenText supports citizen experience:
Improved Citizen Trust and Satisfaction
The leading digital asset management system:
Easily organizes videos, text and images so it's always available in the right format and right version.
Citizen experience platform:
Personalizable web portals designed for laptops and that auto-adjust for phones and tablets.
Omnichannel chatbots:
An AI-based voice system that helps improve citizen satisfaction by analyzing citizens’ sentiments via call centers.
Voice of the customer:
Analyze contact center transcriptions, including tone of voice, while monitoring social media mentions that impact agency reputation.
Successful information management is not about doing everything at once.
“It's smarter to work iteratively and adjust along the way,” Nelson says.
After 20-plus years of bridging government and technology, he’s learned that small, incremental adjustments are the best way to overcome resistance and fear around integrating new technologies.
“This technology is not nascent. It’s not experimental. This is standard practice for a lot of organizations,” he says in urging agencies to take the leap to digital transformation.
His final advice to anyone looking to get control over agency data is to work with a company broad enough and understands the mission of government.
“By starting with a partner that supports your values and understands government-specific dilemmas, your agency will be able to solve many pain points over time,” he says.
Starting with Iterative Improvement
By starting with a partner that supports your values and understands government-specific dilemmas, your agency will be able to solve many pain points over time
Keith Nelson, Public Sector Industry Strategist, OpenText
Learn more about how OpenText can help your agency gain an information advantage and work smarter.
Information advantage is the magic formula of today
Keith Nelson, Public Sector Industry Strategist, OpenText
It's all about better productivity and channeling the employees’ time on mission-focused activities
Keith Nelson, Public Sector Industry Strategist, OpenText
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