In information technology, “non-interoperable” is bad. You don’t want THAT system.

Proprietary is okay if it meets a need. But, too many independent systems in a place where collaboration is important leads to unnecessary problems.

BusinessWeek has an article up about President Obama’s technology put in place to help make government more efficient. From what I’ve read, they’re doing what should be done with information systems and doing it with high quality management. The one challenge that all IT/IS teams face when trying to implement such a large scale change is culture. An ingrained culture of “we do things this way” or “it’s never been done before” can stall and even derail changes that are meant to have a positive effect. To everyone working in government agencies that are about to experience this change, from what I’ve read, you have a great team leading the way that is ready to listen to you and build a system that helps you to do your job more efficiently- serving America.

Here is a link to the article.

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/09_49/b4158044764871.htm