A proven Department of Energy (DOE) prime contractor, Criterion is committed to protecting and securing our nation’s resources and national security interests through innovative cybersecurity and IT solutions.
IT’s response to the pandemic has highlighted the technologies, strategies and culture necessary to drive success going forward. The health crisis has dramatically changed the way IT departments provide services to their organizations. That includes supporting the massive shift to a work-from-home model that few could have fathomed a few months ago. But the crisis has also highlighted the importance of investing in modernization and the need for Agencies to develop, update, improve and implement their IT modernization plans. In June 2020, Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., sent letters to 10 major federal agencies asking what each is doing to modernize aging IT systems, as issues with legacy systems have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 crisis. This panel will share some lessons learned and discuss some of the challenges and promised benefits of IT modernization.
Criterion’s Agile IT modernization approach is designed to modernize agency infrastructure in a repeatable, scalable manner based on best practices identified by industry and internal government stakeholders. Using our two-speed approach, Criterion focuses its efforts on quickly fixing/updating customer-facing applications while taking a slower and more measured approach to updating backend systems. This allows very quick iterations on the frontend without incurring the concurrent cost and risk that goes along with updating supporting systems at the same time. Backend technology is updated at a more moderate pace, which ensures that technology transformation occurs without putting the organization at substantial risk.