IT Consolidation – What’s Next for Government and Education Modernization Initiatives?

IT consolidation has been a high-priority government and education initiative for many years. While many state and education organizations are already on board, or boarding quickly, the move may be born of a different catalyst than you may expect, certainly different than federal agencies.

Federal agencies are consolidating IT efforts largely in response to federal mandates such as the Data Center Optimization Initiative (DCOI) and the Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act (FITARA). For state and local government and education, however, consolidation is coming far more from a need to create a unified IT approach as well as a need to enhance value.

Organizations that have already made significant IT consolidation progress are experiencing lower costs, more efficiency, greater availability, and enhanced security. These organizations are also experiencing greater effectiveness in managing data. Cloud services, for example, can provide elastic computing, shared storage, and shared services, which combine to help scale computing power and resources without scaling personnel.