The New Way to Manage Government Data Research Brief
The New Way to Manage Government Data • 1
Executive Summary Government data is a critical resource that can have a positive impact on democracy, civic participation, citizen services, innovation and government efficiency. The ability to not only access but also manage data is vital to government’s mission. Federal agencies are even required by law to properly manage their data as mandated by the 2001 Information Quality Act. The act directs OMB to provide guidelines to help agencies “maximize quality, objectivity, utility and integrity” of the data they collect. Additionally, with the recent Presidential Executive Order to reorganize governmental functions and improve efficiency, agencies are more in need of cost-effective data management than ever before. Data, however, is growing faster than ever before. By the year 2020, about 1.7 megabytes of new information will be created every second for every human being on the planet. As the amount of data created by government continues to grow, agencies are increasingly prioritizing access, storage and backup. But this rapid data growth makes it difficult to implement and upgrade applications and solutions to deliver services efficiently.
To learn more about current trends and challenges in data storage and management, GovLoop partnered with Rubrik to survey 356 publicsector employees. Responses revealed that increasing data volume, lack of virtualization and infrastructure complexity are primary challenges to data management. To shed light on the survey results and understand how government can move past these challenges, GovLoop interviewed experts Rolland Miller, Federal CTO and Steve Alfieris, Vice President & GM of Federal Sector, at Rubrik. Rubrik is a company dedicated to simplifying how organizations keep and use their data. Despite the challenges, there is a solution for government agencies. A comprehensive cloud data management platform can help as it is designed to virtualize and orchestrate mission critical-application data across private and public clouds. Essentially, cloud data management helps agencies deliver better services, recover data quickly and back up their most sensitive data.
In this research brief, you will learn how cloud data management can help address challenges facing government agencies. We’ll also explore the qualities agencies should seek in a data management solution.
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What Government Needs to Know About Data Management Data management is the development and execution of architecture, policies and procedures designed to manage the information lifecycle. Think of the information lifecycle as the flow of an information system’s data and associated metadata. The lifecycle starts from the initial storage to the time when data becomes obsolete and is deleted or retired. Data management is simply the implementation of policies and procedures to better facilitate this information lifecycle. Government data is stored in a variety of formats and systems that support specific programs, department and organizations. Additionally, data management can yield significant benefits to agencies, including improved compliance, enhanced security and ease of use. That’s why data management is increasingly recognized as important for all levels of government. In fact, the National Association of Chief Information Officers recognized the importance of data management in state government with this recent statement by Stu Davis, CIO of Ohio: “Data management is the foundational discipline for ongoing operations with state government. Data and information assets are essential to virtually every operation and every decision within state government. From analyzing health data to determining the effectiveness of programs to evaluating road conditions across the state.”
Figure 1 Is the storage of data and ease of access to that data important to your agency’s mission & success?
90% Yes
But managing data in silos, as it’s often stored in government, becomes a significant challenge. This is especially true when personnel may need to share data among programs or across systems. Federal agencies are increasingly turning to their IT counterparts for creative ways to manage their data. Donna Roy, head of the Information Sharing Environment Office at the Department of Homeland Security, recently stated: “I’ve seen the evolution of conversations in government data. [In the federal government] as soon as you say ‘data management,’ people zone right back out. […] But now when the phone rings and my name’s on the other end, leadership in the department picks up because they understand that [we’ll talk] about the use of data and the value of data.” GovLoop’s survey results support this notion of the increasing importance of data to government’s mission. Approximately 90 percent of respondents think data and ease of access to that data are important to their agency’s mission and success (Figure 1).
By the year 2020, about 1.7 megabytes of new information will be created every second for every human being on the planet. As the amount of data created by government continues to grow, agencies are increasingly prioritizing access, storage and backup.
The New Way to Manage Government Data • 3
But data management does not just comprise storage and ease of access. Proper data management must also address data recovery in case of a cyberattack or loss of information. According to the Identity Theft Resource Center, U.S. companies and government agencies suffered a record 1,093 data breaches in 2016. That is a 40 percent increase from 2015.
Figure 2 Has your agency ever experienced loss of data?
54%
GovLoop’s survey results reflected this growth on this issue. Fifty-four percent of respondents said their agencies have already experienced data loss (Figure 2). For government, it’s especially important to recover data – particularly data pertaining to sensitive information, like citizens’ personally identifiable information. “Data availability is extremely important to government missions,” said Miller. “Take a nurse at Veterans Affairs, for example. What if her applications go down due to a power outage? She doesn’t have access to patients’ medical records but they need their medicine no matter what. So you have to get those applications running back online again or she’ll have to turn to paper processes. But we live in a digital world now.”
Yes
Figure 3 How important is recovery of data in case of an outage or disaster to your agency? Rank on a scale of 1-5, 1 being not important at all, and 5 being very important.
1
True to Miller’s statement, 88 percent of survey respondents ranked recovery of data in case of outage or disaster as important or very important to their agencies (Figure 3). “With data loss and recovery, it really takes a village,” said Alfieris. “Data loss completely changes the priorities of an organization. You have to reallocate resources to projects that weren’t planned, and this can be very disruptive. Plus, it takes a lot of time, effort and money to recover from data breaches.” But while the importance of data management has become indisputable, there are several issues that still challenge data management in government today.
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2%
2
2%
3
8%
5
74%
4
14%
Challenges to Data Storage and Management Many challenges affect government’s ability to properly manage and store data. These include rapid data growth and volume, lack of virtual platforms and infrastructure complexity – where multiple vendors and platforms make it more difficult to keep track of an agency’s data.
Challenge #1: Increasing Data Volumes The federal government has recently seen an explosion of data at its disposal. While such data can be advantageous in helping drive important analytics for mission requirements – like better citizen services – the high volumes of data can easily overwhelm agency personnel.
Figure 4 Select the following statement that is truest for your agency. Due to our projected data growth, it is difficult to…
A recent report of 150 federal IT cybersecurity decision-makers revealed that the greatest cited challenge in data analytics was the overwhelming amount of data to sift through. Federal employees estimate that as much as 40 percent of their data goes unanalyzed because there is simply too much information to process. This leads to other challenges, like inefficiency and lack of productivity, because agencies do not have the systems or tools needed to gather information in a timely manner. GovLoop’s survey results also supported this general sentiment in government: Agencies are simply overwhelmed by increasing data volumes. Staffs find it increasingly difficult to manage their agency infrastructures’ applications while working in an efficient manner. Employees cited a number of difficulties, with the top two being difficulty implementing and upgrading applications and delivering services quickly and efficiently (Figure 4). Alfieris agreed that failure to manage the incoming data deluge could be attributed to older on-premise infrastructures. These structures force personnel to manually sort through much of the data. “With archaic structures left in place, it puts more strain on personnel and IT systems,” Miller said. “You can’t create an efficient feedback loop.”
Implement and upgrade applications 34% Deliver services quickly and efficiently 25% Scale our environment to keep up 18% Keep maintenance costs down 15% Other 8%
The New Way to Manage Government Data • 5
Challenge #2: Lack of Virtualization Humans alone cannot handle such massive datasets. That’s why federal government encourages the use of virtualization through cloud and machine analytics to help process the data.
Figure 5 What is your agency’s cloud strategy for your data?
Government has long prioritized the electronic use of data. The 2012 Presidential Memorandum – Managing Government Records called for a digital transition in government. Some of the targets included having federal agencies manage all permanent electronic records in electronic format by 2019. Additionally, the memorandum called for research on the use of automated technologies to “reduce the burden of records management responsibilities.” “The machine does the work for you in the speed of electrons to understand what’s going on so you have the ability to react,” David Bray, Former Federal Communications Commission CIO, recently said. “There’s no way we can respond to whatever the issues are in the ecosystems if you’re trying to do it manually.”
44%
No cloud/data on premise only
Without virtualized platforms like cloud to manage data, agencies can struggle processing data and navigating their applications and solutions. “If you think about the commercial space, most infrastructures are moving toward cloud,” Miller said. “Those technologies provide well-documented cost savings and efficiencies. With cloud, you don’t have to build new data centers.”
13%
Hybrid cloud
Despite the clear benefits of cloud and virtualization, as well as the provisions from the memorandum, GovLoop’s survey showed that many public-sector organizations have yet to apply virtualization to their data management and storage solutions. According to the results, 44 percent of GovLoop survey respondents don’t use cloud solutions for their data and only have on-premise solutions (Figure 5), and 52 percent of respondents have less than 50 percent of their data virtualized (Figure 6).
31%
Private cloud
12%
Public cloud
Figure 6 What percent of your data is virtualized?
above 75%
28%
1-25%
29%
“The machine does the work for you in the speed of electrons to understand what’s going on so you have the ability to react. There’s no way we can respond to whatever the issues are in the ecosystems if you’re trying to do it manually.” - David Bray, Former Federal Communications Commission CIO
50-75% 20%
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25-50%
23%
Challenge #3: Infrastructure Complexity Figure 7 Does your agency use multiple vendors and/or architectures for data management?
Figure 8 Does this use of multiple vendors complicate your data management?
56%
73%
Yes
56%
Yes
Government tends to manage data in silos. This means data lives in multiple locations and multiple formats, making it more difficult to sort through. While many federal agencies are slowly making their way to better data integration – advanced stages of data management – many are still struggling with standardization. Data integration means agencies are able to seamlessly connect data sources while capturing the most important information. In contrast, standardization means an agency is just beginning to define its data and how to use it through policies and frameworks. A recent GAO report noted that “agencies still face challenges related to systems integration issues, lack of resources and evolving and complex reporting requirements.” Additionally, while cloud adoption has increased exponentially over the years, cloud has yet to be perfected in government. Using multiple cloud vendors and platforms without fully understanding their services and provisions is still a common mistake in government. Often, agencies can fall into the trap of assuming that all cloud providers are the same, which results in using solutions they don’t necessarily know how to implement properly. That misuse can seriously complicate the data management process. Although every cloud solution offers virtual machines and different types of raw storage, there are differences in feature details, billing models and higher-level applications and network services to consider. GovLoop’s community supported this notion that multiple vendors and platforms often complicate their data infrastructures and data management processes. Fifty-six percent of respondents use multiple vendors and platforms (Figure 7). When asked if this complicated their data management, 73 percent said “yes” (Figure 8).
Figure 9 Would you prefer a single vendor for all of your data management needs?
Yes
While agencies are applying solutions to wrangle their data, they often find these solutions difficult to use. Only 34 percent of respondents ranked their data management solutions as easy to use (Figure 10). Alfieris and Miller stressed the importance of simplifying data management through fewer cloud vendors and platforms and easier-to-use solutions. “It is imperative that agencies find a way forward, otherwise users will find another way, which is often deployed under shadow IT,” Alfieris said. Shadow IT are systems and solutions deployed by internal users or IT professionals without explicit organizational approval. These systems can create serious cyber vulnerabilities within an organization because they often don’t apply the required security controls that agencies use.
Figure 10 How easy to use is your current data management solution? Rank on a scale of 1-5, 1 being difficult to use, 5 being very easy to use.
5
1
4
2
13%
21%
Fifty-six percent of respondents said they would in fact prefer a single vendor for all of their data management needs (Figure 9). The New Way to Manage Government Data • 7
10%
21%
3
35%
How Cloud Data Management Can Help So how can federal agencies navigate the challenges of mounting data volumes, lack of virtualization and complex infrastructures? The answer lies in cloud data management. “Cloud data management is the ability to manage and protect data wherever it lives,” Miller said. “Whether data was created on-premises or in the cloud, users need a flexible platform to capture, protect, migrate and recover. A single platform for on-premises and in-cloud workloads makes the data portable and recoverable whenever needed.” Users often search for these features when looking for data management solutions: speed, manageability, search, recovery and cost effectiveness. Cloud data management can help better address all of these areas.
Speed
Manageability
Search
In a digital world, the longer it takes to protect data, the longer it takes to physically recover that same data. Cloud management must be speedy in both protection and recovery capabilities, as these are paramount to operations.
When data is easier to manage, you can simplify operations and help staffs make fewer mistakes. Automation and virtualization in the cloud helps agencies achieve both these objectives.
Agencies often have a number of data repositories but it’s critical to be able to easily search and find data needed to perform certain tasks – without having to dig around for hours. Cloud data management and storage enables speedy and accurate search capabilities.
Recovery
Cost effectiveness
With the rise of cyberattacks, data breaches are almost inevitable. Having a backup to agency data is imperative. With recovery in the cloud, agencies ensure the integrity of data even in the event of a national crisis or breach.
Often, agency leaders don’t realize how much they are spending just to maintain legacy infrastructure. Migrating to a single cloud platform can save costs in the short term and long term.
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“Just a hardware refresh for something 5 years old can be as much as $2.5 million. But a single cloud data management solution can provide the same capabilities for less than half the costs.” - Steve Alfieris, Vice President & GM of Federal Sector, at Rubrik The GovLoop survey results demonstrated the importance of these areas in data management. When asked about the particular issues respondents were experiencing with data infrastructure, they similarly cited their top three challenges as (Figure 11):
Figure 11 With your current data infrastructure, are you experiencing issues with any of the following? (Select all that apply) #1: Speed (52%) #2: Manageability (50%) #3: Search (43%)
Speed
Manageability
Search
52%
50%
43%
Resource constraints are well known to be a major hindrance to technology innovation in government. Approximately 50 percent of respondents said that budgets for converged backup and recovery solutions are currently unavailable (Figure 12). That’s not surprising, said Miller. “Agencies often find that costs are rising the more their data grows,” he said. “So they keep spending on maintaining legacy architecture but for the same price you could re-provision and create a new solution.”
Infrastructure Maintenance
Backup & Recovery
33%
32%
Scalability
Replication
23%
18%
Figure 12 If your agency has had discussions about implementing a converged backup and recovery solution in order to improve your data approach, which of the following statements is the most true? “We have discussed budget and...
“What often happens is that software [like open source] is free, but what isn’t free is the hardware it runs on,” Alfieris said. “Just a hardware refresh for something 5 years old can be as much as $2.5 million. But a single cloud data management solution can provide the same capabilities for less than half the costs.” What’s key to improving data management in speed, manageability, search, recovery and cost effectiveness is a single vendor and service. For effective data management within cloud environments, a dedicated management service is necessary. A single-solution provider should be robust and comprehensive, enabling oversight of an agency’s database servers and related solutions. It’s important to look for vendors that offer a modern cloud data management platform that unifies backup, instant recovery, replication, search, analytics, archives, compliance and copy data management. Additionally, all of these capabilities can be accessed in a secure data center within a cloud environment.
Budget is available for this solution 11% We are allocating budget 7% We need pricing information 14% We are planning annual budgets now 18% Budget is not available now, but maybe in the future 50%
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A single platform, like Rubrik’s, manages all the data, simplifying infrastructure, manageability and processes. Additionally, Rubrik’s cloud data management allows agencies to: • Recover faster. Access data instantly for recovery, testing and development or analytics. Locate data quickly with search features, whether on-premise or in the cloud. • Save time. Cut tedious daily backup management down to two to three minutes per day instead of hours by automating protection. • Secure data. Avoid data breaches and ransomware with backups. Encrypt data at rest or in transit and assign permissions accordingly.
Edge at remote locations to back up locally, replicate to a central data center and archive to the cloud with an easy-to-use interface. Additionally, Edge is: • Quick to deploy: Install Edge as a software appliance on virtualized and physical servers. • Easy to manage: Increase employee productivity and agility with a simple management interface. • Faster recovery: Quickly recover failed or lost files with predictive search. “Ultimately, we aim to make data portable and accessible wherever it may live by reducing complexity and cost,” Alfieris said.
With teleworking and remote offices on the rise in government, Rubrik recently released a new cloud data management product in its suite called Edge. This is a software appliance that extends data protection and management to virtual and physical environments in remote and branch offices. Agencies can deploy products like Rubrik
Using cloud data management can help government agencies better manage their data with speed and quick recovery and do so in a secure manner. It can also help staffs easily manage data and storage needs to help them deliver better services, whether internally or to citizens.
Conclusion Government data is a critical resource
But cloud can help by simplifying data
that can be used to improve operations,
management into one vendor and one
drive innovation, deliver better services to
suite of solutions. Additionally, cloud
citizens and improve civic democracy. But
data management can enhance cost
without the proper virtualization strategies
effectiveness by saving in the short term on
and tools to manage that data, agencies
costs to maintain legacy infrastructure and
can quickly become overwhelmed.
in the long term by using easily upgradable
Rapid data growth, lack of virtualization
software in the cloud.
and complex infrastructures can leave
With the right cloud data management
agencies feeling swamped with their
solution, government leaders and staffs can
massive datasets and frustrated with
worry less about navigating complicated
solutions that are not user-friendly.
data solutions. Instead, they can spend
Additionally, without the right backup
more time focusing on delivering the
and recovery, data is especially vulnerable
important work that government must do.
to impending cyberthreats in the current digital environment. Research Brief • 10
About Rubrik
About GovLoop
Rubrik provides the industry’s leading Cloud Data Management platform to accelerate how enterprises protect, manage, and secure data everywhere. Fortune 500 companies trust Rubrik’s single platform to deliver data protection, search and analytics, archiving and compliance, and copy data management to deliver instant data access, cut TCO in half, and slash daily management time down to minutes.
GovLoop’s mission is to “connect government to improve government.” We aim to inspire public-sector professionals by serving as the knowledge network for government. GovLoop connects more than 250,000 members, fostering cross-government collaboration, solving common problems and advancing government careers. GovLoop is headquartered in Washington, D.C., with a team of dedicated professionals who share a commitment to connect and improve government.
Learn more at: rubrik.com/industries/government
For more information about this report, please reach out to info@govloop.com. www.govloop.com | @GovLoop
The New Way to Manage Government Data • 11
1152 15th St. NW Suite 800 Washington, DC 20005 P: (202) 407-7421 | F: (202) 407-7501 www.govloop.com @GovLoop
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