Budgeting is a tricky enough task in the private sector, but in government, where it feels like money needs to spent or could be taken away at a moments notice, it’s a particularly thorny endeavor. Since we sell software to government organizations, we’re keenly aware of how difficult it can be to find funding.
For our healthcare customers, this is why we’ll build a rate of return calculation to show them how much more efficient our automated solutions are than their current manual processes. When a county government is initiating a redaction project, it can be a bit more difficult to get right into the budget because it’s often an expense the county didn’t have previously. While an automated process may be less expensive than a manual one, they’re both more expensive than not undertaking the project at all.
It can be a lot more difficult for people to see the value in a project that prevents a negative from happening versus one that creates a positive. This makes projects like ones that prevent against identity theft or further secure a network a bit harder to feel warm and fuzzy about. Ideally, identities weren’t being stolen before and won’t be stolen after an initiative, so the difference isn’t as pronounced.
The other way these projects get the green light is when people see consequences. While you can’t prevent a hack or public issue that’s already happened, people tend to be much more inclined to prevent the next one.
International cybersecurity expert Dan Lohrmann weighed in for Government Technology on the state of public cybersecurity budgeting with a series of lessons for IT leaders to keep their budgets a high priority. Mr. Lohrmann has a long history working with industry standards groups and in C-level technology positions with the state of Michigan.
He offers practical advice that amounts to good business hygiene for anyone in government looking to get things done. I’d encourage you to read the full text of his suggestions, linked above, but here’s a brief summary:
Understand who gets things done without assuming the org-chart has the correct answer.
Always be prepared to pitch a project because the window of opportunity may be short and unexpected.
Find supportive business leaders across different agencies.
Regularly meet with and share IT cybersecurity progress and challenges with different agencies.
Form a committee to gain input and buy-in from outside just the IT realm.
Get involved with meetings, project planning, etc. Cybersecurity should be a part of everything the government is doing.
Strategically partner with local or federal government agencies that have the experience and relationships to secure grants or other funding for your top priorities.
Lohrmann is advocating for a collaborative approach, but one that involves knowing how to articulate your priorities at a moment’s notice while otherwise being sure that your colleagues are aware of, and invested in, what you’re trying to accomplish.
We look forward to the future of cybersecurity in the government space and are excited to see what leaders, many in newly created positions, are able to accomplish.
If your agency has documents with sensitive information that needs redacting, or you have a flow of documents you need automatically indexed, please reach out to Extract, and we’d be happy to show you how our secure software can automate your data and document workflow needs.
About the Author: Chris Mack
Chris is a Marketing Manager at Extract with experience in product development, data analysis, and both traditional and digital marketing. Chris received his bachelor’s degree in English from Bucknell University and has an MBA from the University of Notre Dame. A passionate marketer, Chris strives to make complex ideas more accessible to those around him in a compelling way.