Word to the PREZ - information technology policy - Brief Article

Chief Executive, The, May, 2001 by Sonja Sherwood

BOARDROOM PUNDITS like to pay tribute to President Bush's card-carrying MBA status by calling him "America's CEO," but it seems he still has a lesson to learn from the business world when it comes to technology. Specifically, Bush's plan to designate a central federal CIO to preside over the government's tech endeavors has been criticized as "misguided" by consultants at Forrester Research of Cambridge, MA.

The consultants recommend Bush heed trends in the public sector, where companies are decentralizing IT talent to meet customer needs. The job is too big for one person, they argue, and the budgetary issues too complex. Bush ought to instead create cross-agency work groups that encourage specialized G2C, G2B, and G2G strategies.