Digital transformation primarily involves the modernization of IT infrastructures to promote information sharing and set the stage for the adoption of new cost effective technologies that increase capabilities through faster delivery of intuitive IT systems, enhance data mining & analytics, increase enterprise mobility, and ensure improved defense against cyber threats and vulnerabilities.
To accomplish this, it involves the use of open architectures to promote interoperability, open source components to maximize reusability, open standards to foster cohesive development, open communities to invite sharing and innovation, and open data to make information more available to users.
Digital transformation also compels business activities to shift and become faster and virtual resulting in work processes undergo significant transformations as new technology allows information to be created, exchanged, secured, and processed in very different ways.
On-demand engagement, heightened user experience, remote data access, and cloud based analytics are the new capability standards which organizations must begin to transform their workforce and operations into to become effective digital workplaces. Therefore, increased education and promotion of career-broadening opportunities must be added to sustain this new workforce. Workforce analysis and investment are essential to meet evolving intelligence mission requirements and the IC must assess existing programmatic and technical expertise, and attract, hire, and grow an agile, high performance workforce that understands the depth and breadth of the intelligence mission to more effectively identify and implement seamless, secure enterprise solutions to mission requirements.
The IC ITE strategy is a game changing technology investment and a paradigm shift of legacy operating models. As the IC moves toward implementing new digital capabilities to better enable intelligence discovery and data sharing, leaders within the Community must accelerate the establishment of open architectures and standards to allow technologists to apply leading edge and transformational capabilities. For data to be shared and accessed across intelligence agencies, the Community will also need to rethink how it defines and executes its data security and access control in a virtualized, cloud-enabled delivery architecture.
Technological advancement and innovation in IT is being led at great speed by the private sector. Leveraging these advancements has the potential to accelerate the DNI’s strategic intent for information sharing across agencies, intelligence disciplines and mission sets. In order to manage these historic changes in operations and the supporting cultural shift to enable sharing data across the IC, leaders will also need to restructure coordination, synchronization, and governance from control within stovepipes to one that fully leverages innovation across the enterprise. Information sharing and the quality of analytics and operations are critical. Data sharing can help stakeholders make better decisions using advanced analytics. With this, the IC has the opportunity to collaborate and help turn big data into enriched data, providing decision makers, operatives, and warfighters the right data at the right time and place to make the most informed decisions.
