Barriers to Adopting New Technologies In Government
Federal CIO, Vivek Kundra, describes the inefficient use of technology of federal government at a recent speech. Inefficiencies such as forms that are entered online, printed out, passed around in manila folders, and then rekeyed into another computer system. This is nothing new and federal employees are quite aware of these inefficiencies. So, why don’t the agencies just adopt new technologies?
It can be summed up as the agencies are more comfortable with the devil they know then a possible devil they don’t know. A fascinating study on why rural hospitals don’t readily adopt new technologies describes six barriers to adoption. Understanding and confronting these barriers can help overcome inefficiencies.
The first barrier, cost, is an obvious one and quite relevant to current state of the federal budget. Legality, the second barrier is also a well-understood cause. President Obama’s policy of Open Government addresses and overcomes these barriers. But the remaining four barriers may be more difficult because they are tied into the culture of government.
Time is a barrier because implementing and learning a new technology may take longer to realize than an impatient public is willing to give. Political appointees also like to see immediate results and may not have the patience for a new technology. Allied with time are the barriers of inefficiency and complexity. Poorly implemented new technology solutions will provide “proof” that the old system may be ineffective but not as bad as the new “ineffeciency.”
The above barriers all feed into the fundamental barrier – the fear of change. Technologies and processes are embedded in the culture of the organization. Technology adoption is not plug-n-play where you can easily swap one process for another. Adopting new technologies takes time, trust, and the willingness to tolerate failure as the employees learn to use the new technologies. Again, change is not about technology but about people.
UPDATE: Firoze Lafeer makes an insightful comment that government should require contractors to set aside funds for developing Plan B innovations while creating the Plan A innovation.
March 6th, 2010 at 10:17 PM
I don’t know if it’s fear of change, so much as it is the inability to spread risk. In the private sector, new technologies come and go, not all are successful. But there are mechanisms in place to fund new ideas. In the government very often only one idea gets that chance, and the rational choice is the safest (read oldest) idea. I’ve been thinking about this problem this week also: http://techrudite.com/2010/set-asides-for-innovation-in-government-it/
March 6th, 2010 at 10:42 PM
Hello Firoze:
I still think it is fear of change but your point about the “inability to spread risk” is quite insightful. Thanks.
March 6th, 2010 at 11:17 PM
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March 7th, 2010 at 10:31 PM
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