Feds go mobile

The federal government is getting turned on to mobile technology, buying off-the-shelf equipment, services and software to handle its growing communications needs, according to an article in Monday's Wall Street Journal.

For the first time, the government is expanding these tools to rank-and-file employees. In the past, only top government executives got the high-end wireless tools like BlackBerrys and smart phones. Now, however, government agencies realize that its employees need off-the-shelf wireless tools to handle their jobs just as much as the top execs do.

Warren M. Suss of Suss Consulting, a company that advises government agencies and companies that supply them, said the largest segment of government spending is on applications. He added that the government must also spend money on encryption and other security to protect sensitive data on mobile devices.

One example of a government agency that saw the benefits of mobile technology is the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, which supports the federal court system. Handheld devices can be used for many tasks. Parole officers can use online programs to find a parolee's house. They can tap a secure FBI database for information about person's criminal record. Data can be stored securely on an officer's hand-held device. All of these tasks are made easier with mobile technology, eliminating the need for paper files or going into an office to file a report.

In another example, the article said the Federal Aviation Administration uses Blackberrys to communicate among its employees, too, cutting down on the time it takes to communicate details of a workday. In the past, it may have seemed like a penny wise and pound foolish policy to dole out Blackberrys to a few elite members of an office, but now the federal government realizes that mobile technology will cut down the need for office space and make government workers more efficient in doing their work, too.

For more on the federal government going mobile:
- check out this Wall Street Journal article