Government executives encourage agencies to document enterprise-wide IT strategies in advance of new 2009 administration
June 30 2008 - 11:02AM
PR Newswire (US)
Stock Market Symbols GIB.A (TSX) GIB (NYSE) FAIRFAX, VA, June 30
/PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- In a recent meeting sponsored by the
CGI-GMU Initiative for Collaborative Government, a joint public
policy initiative by CGI (TSX: GIB.A; NYSE: GIB) and George Mason
University, senior executives from across the federal government
and industry leaders outlined the success factors for the
consolidation of IT services and encouraged other federal leaders
to act now to document their enterprise-wide IT management strategy
in advance of the next Administration. To kick-off the meeting,
featured guest speaker John Kost, Group Vice-President, Gartner CIO
Research Worldwide, presented a "Checklist for Success" for IT
consolidation that emphasized the importance of active governance
and leadership engagement, as well as the need to define a clear
motive, scope and end vision for enterprise-wide IT initiatives.
Following Mr. Kost, Molly O'Neil, Chief Information Officer, U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Henry Chao, Chief
Technical Officer, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services,
shared approaches that their agencies have taken to successfully
optimize agency-wide use of IT in support of mission activities.
Government executives at the CGI-GMU seminar stressed the
importance of documenting agencies' enterprise-wide IT strategies
in advance of January 2009. They recommended focusing IT strategies
on defining the mission results to be achieved, with IT investments
described in the context of how they support the mission outcome.
The federal executives also highlighted the need to educate leaders
throughout the agency on the benefits of managing IT across the
agency, and how business decisions can affect the IT
infrastructure. "Every consolidation decision impacts the
technology infrastructure, and without education of senior
management, you won't get to where you need to be when you try to
consolidate the agency's IT infrastructure," said EPA's O'Neil.
"You need to have direct, honest explanations to promote
understanding and trust." Chao added that it is important to
determine the exact processes that are being consolidated and
determine the end result desired before starting to reduce the IT
infrastructure. About the CGI-GMU Initiative for Collaborative
Government Created in January of 2008 by CGI Federal and George
Mason University, the mission of the CGI-GMU Initiative for
Collaborative Government is to analyze models of collaboration
between government and the private and non-profit sectors, and how
the government can best leverage these models to maximize mission
results. For more information about the Initiative for
Collaborative Government, please visit the Initiative at
http://www.collaborativegov.org/. About CGI Federal CGI Federal
(http://www.cgi.com/usfederal) is a wholly-owned U.S. operating
subsidiary of CGI Group Inc., dedicated to providing effective IT
solutions for federal government agencies by combining over 30
years of government experience and technology skills. Founded in
1976, CGI Group Inc. is one of the largest independent information
technology and business process services firms in the world. CGI
and its affiliated companies employ approximately 27,000
professionals. CGI provides end-to-end IT and business process
services to clients worldwide from offices in Canada, the United
States, Europe, Asia Pacific as well as from centers of excellence
in North America, Europe and India. CGI's annual revenue run rate
stands at $3.8 billion and at March 31st, 2008, CGI's order backlog
was $12.04 billion. CGI shares are listed on the TSX (GIB.A) and
the NYSE (GIB) and are included in the S&P/TSX Composite Index
as well as the S&P/TSX Capped Information Technology and MidCap
Indices. Website: http://www.cgi.com/. DATASOURCE: CGI GROUP INC.
CONTACT: Peter Cutler, Director, Communications, (703) 227-6933,
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