Some of the leading advocates for new technologies are the “old hands.” One such greybeard is Robert Otto, former Chief Information Officer and Chief Technology Officer at the US Postal Service. His former agency is moving some legacy systems to open source. Mr. Otto talks about laying the groundwork for that move, and why other agencies will save money and time by doing the same.

“The person who holds the money, holds the power,” Mr. Otto says, and he suggests several ways the new administration can restructure the agency management teams to bring the CIOs into the decision-making process, rather than just having them running the computer network. Mr. Otto believes technology is driven by people. He has some ideas for not just finding new people, but keeping experienced talent in place to manage the legacy systems that make up over 50% of agency IT spending.

Mr. Otto also has a clear vision of where government technology is headed. He details that vision, and makes some predictions about how you’ll be meeting your mission in two years or less.

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