States, Innovate in IT or Else

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Out-of-Touch Opponents

I believe these critics are simply out of touch with the new reality. Security breaches of large government IT systems are common due to the ongoing cyberwars taking place between nations. Amazon.com (AMZN) is just as juicy a target, but has a far better history of IT security than most big government agencies. As for my lack of understanding of the problem: In my tech days, I developed several large enterprise systems, and I started two companies that marketed systems development and legacy systems reengineering software.

So I know there is a problem and a relatively simple solution. I also realize the challenges for governments to allocate contracts in a fair and equitable manner. But the disaster I see is if we continue the way we are. And it's a failure beyond the bloated costs, entrenched mainframe systems integrators, and dated computer languages. The greater danger is that, by trapping the public-sector IT architecture in this tired old wrapper, we miss out on huge chances not only to improve system performance but also to reinvent government. The public sector is effectively walled off from the innovation that has made Web 2.0 a rich, contextually relevant environment. In this context, there will be no Netflix (NFLX) Prize, no Google (GOOG) voice-automated transcription engine, and virtually no other true technology innovation.

Many people realize this. Web founder Sir Tim Berners-Lee has just launched a venture for the U.K.government to make public data available online so that entrepreneurs can build technologies to harness this information.Federal Chief Technology Officer Aneesh Chopra also launched an initiative to make federal government data available.And in the wake of my earlier posting, California Chief Technology Officer P.K.Agarwal has launched a crowd-sourcing Web site where he's asking the public to weigh in on how the state might improve its tech strategy.

So there is progress. More states need to make similar moves. We need to open the bidding to new players, loosen opaque requirements written under the false guise of security and compatibility, and retool our way of thinking about IT for the public sector. In the cloud computing era, big government IT doesn't have to be so big. The rest of America has done more with fewer IT dollars for over a decade now. It's time for Uncle Sam and his state and local brothers and sisters to join the parade.

Wadhwa is senior research associate at the Labor & Worklife Program at Harvard Law School and executive in residence at Duke University. He is an entrepreneur who founded two technology companies. His research can be found at www.globalizationresearch.com. Follow him on Twitter "@vwadhwa".

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