U.S. goverment behind in technological advancement
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A research done several months ago by a leading american research institure, Brookings, shows the the rate of technological advancement has been speeding up in the past several year, which poses a substantial challenge to any goverment ranking. “Bring Your Own Device” (BYOD) and “The Internet of Things” (IoT) are two new trends that completely changed the way business is done in the U.S., and authorities must adjust to them.
The BYOD trend allows employees to bring their personal computer, smartphone or tablet and plug it into the company’s internal network. This method, where each emplyee is allowed to use their own personal computer inside work saves companies permitting this a lot of money. A research done by Cisco a few years ago shows that 95% of all commercial companies in the U.S. allow their employees to work this way, on some level, and that the company can save up to $3,150 on each emplyee. One of the opinions regarding this states that by 2017, BYOD will be mandatory in half of the companies active in the U.S.
BYOD has several problems that can arise from using this method, including that companies’ expanses can actually be higher due to the fact they can no longer get volume discount and due to the cost of installation and security which will become more expensive. On the other, applying this system also has positive aspects. For example, VMware company, which applied this work system in a complete way in 2011 saved $2 million a year in phone call expenses by employees. IBM is another example of a successful integration of BYOD: The company’s report shows that most of its online users are accessing it through their personal device (80,000 out of the general 120,000 users).
As mentioned, the second trend sweeping the business world by storm is the IoT – the Internet of Things. In it, all “things” (any electronic device being used for everyday life such as cars, pacemakers and thermostats) are connected to the internet. A study by PEW research institute shows that 83% of experts claim that by 2025, the internet of things will be one of the most common trends in lives.
Due to the fact that these two trends are of the most present in the daily lives of U.S. citizens, thus affecting greatly the country’s economy, Brookings institute decided to checl how each federal agency plans to addressing them and facing them. From a review of said agencies, it seems that all of the goverment authorities, save one, are completely ignoring these trends and failing to address them properly. Not only that, but the research claims that authorities are failing to understand the advantages of applying the BYOD system, which can save a lot of money as the employees’ productivity will rise immeasurably.
If one can understand this first trend being ignored due to a sensitivity for security of information, it becomes harder to justify the complete disregard for IoT. Connecting the “things” that carry out quality control for a variety of real estate goverment properties to the internet, after adjusting security measures obviously, can surely account for costs of maintenance and improve the authorities management capabilities. Another use can be connecting city infrastructures to the IoT so traffic lights can recognise through sensors the heavy traffic hours and synchronize accordingly to reduce traffic.
In conclusion, this research claims it makes no sense that in the middle ground between management and workers, goverment officials are oblivious to the many uses that can be made using these technological trends. However, applying these trends must be made through a decision of higher-up management, It seems, then, that the goverment authorities in the U.S. are in the middle of the process of applying it, and at the moment the intermediate-level employees are trying to persuade the high-level officials, and once that’s done the work methods will probably be applied to the lower level ranks. All that’s left to do is wait.
