Gov 2.0 solutions from Microsoft
In the InformationWeek's Government IT blog, J. Nicholas Hoover recently blogged (ref: Microsoft Woos Obama Administration) that Microsoft wants to help the President Obama's administration in its mission to increase transparency in government and is trying hard for it. Quoting the blog post: " ... Among other initiatives, Microsoft says it has been selling various government agencies (and Obama's team) on the idea that Microsoft Office SharePoint and FAST Search technologies could be used to find, organize, and share the masses of information tied up today in disparate, often disconnected repositories across the federal government, and that SharePoint Online, the SAAS version of the collaboration and content management suite, could be used for public-facing initiatives.... "
I am not sure about how far the new administration will go, but what's certain is that the White House itself needs lot of work on technology as The Washington Post reported - Staff Finds White House in the Technological Dark Ages. Some positive signs for Microsoft:
- whitehouse.gov website has been re-architected on asp.net. Technical details here: whitehouse.gov Website Code (thanks to Sam Allen for the detailed analysis)
- Microsoft Silverlight was selected by Presidential Inaugural Committee to enable Online Video streaming of inauguration events. Read the Microsoft press release here and the CIO.com article here
What Gov 2.0 solution are currently available from Microsoft?
Microsoft's Gov 2.0 guide lists following Gov 2.0 solutions (Office 2007 and SharePoint 2007 power many of them):
- Microsoft Citizen Service Platform
- Microsoft Single View Platform
- Grants Management
- Microsoft Unified Communications
- Telework
- Business Intelligence
- Microsoft Dynamics RecruitMAP
- Desktop Optimization
- Federal Desktop Core Configuration (FDCC)
Microsoft launched FutureFed – The Microsoft Federal Blog in Dec 2008 to communicate it's view points on Gov 2.0 in Web 2.0 style. Susie Adams (Microsoft Federal Civilian and IGO Chief Technology Officer) has been blogging about Gov 2.0
Microsoft Government State News and Announcements website has also been busy lately on Gov 2.0 positioning
- Microsoft solutions for a new administration
- Is your organization Government 2.0 Ready?
- Microsoft Guide to Government 2.0
- Gov 2.0: 9 tips to get you started
For those interested in Gov 2.0 solutions on Microsoft platform, there is lot of material available in above links.
FAST also has a set of solutions for Government users which help bring disparate data sources together in a secure fashion and present a single unified view across all data.
- FAST ESP - Enterprise search platform
- FAST Unity - Search federation
- Search on Structured Data
Citizen Service Platform
Microsoft Citizen Service Platform (CSP) is a solution set that helps local governments solve their unique business challenges. Check the CSP website for platform details, case studies and partners.
Citizen Service Platform - Solution Accelerators is the CodePlex site for CSP. These solution accelerators built upon the Microsoft platform using SharePoint, Dynamics CRM and the Windows Live platform that can be used to help show how Local and Regional Governments can meet the needs of their Citizens.
A CSP team member, James Brown blogs on general eGov topics as well as CSP related information.
Some Web 2.0 Tips
For readers at the start of learning curve on Web 2.0, here are some Web 2.0 marketing tips from The Wall Street Journal: The Secrets of Marketing in a Web 2.0 World .
Also check Dion Hinchcliffe's Enterprise Web 2.0 blog.
Happy Solutioning!