Vivek Kundra Furnishes Original Technology Proposals to Obama Organization
Sunday, January 31st, 2010Appointed by President Obama as the first Federal Chief Information Officer in the land, Vivek Kundra is trying to revolutionize IT in the public sector. His earlier efforts in Information Technology gained him acknowledgment from InfoWorld as the 2008 IT Executive of the Year and he was recently named Chief of the Year by Information Week. With previous experience as Chief Technology Officer for the District of Columbia, Vivek Kundra has the know how to cope with the IT challenges that are put before him.
In his role as CTO in Washington D.C. Vivek Kundra sought out ways to use technology to make systems and services run more effective. He initiated numerous tax-saving technology endeavors. One rare project resulted in more than 4.5 million digitized employee files for that particular school system. He also updated the software that government used for spreadsheets and e-mails to the Google version. He even originated a developer contest to choose the best technology applications for the Washington D.C. web site. As well, he led efforts to increase the availability of government info to the public while decreasing the price of offering this information.
He considers cloud-based services an attractive alternative. Cloud-based services can promptly create and supply development platforms. They are also ideal for sharing data, including sharing photographs and videos. He feels the Federal government needs an effective platform such as this, and that the Federal government should be able to host space online. This is so United States citizens can engage in negotiation with one another for solutions to social problems.
It seems as though for Vivek Kundra, the time is now for executing innovative IT initiatives. His hope is to get more information to the public and to facilitate active communication between government authorities. He is leading a Federal government technology strategy that is employing cloud computing, open source, and other ways to assist the Federal government achieve its challenging Web 2.0 goals.