A Holistic Approach to Cloud

In the federal government, choosing a vendor takes a series of extensive steps. We follow procurement, acquisition, and regulations. Since our work revolves mostly around small business, we prefer choosing them for our partners as well. For instance, while moving to the cloud, I ensured that no new hardware was installed in our data center; instead of just doing a lift and shift and going for infrastructure as a service, we were looking for software as a service solution.

Furthermore, it is paramount to understand that the entire mission is more than just technology implementation; instead, it should fit into the broader benefit of the agency. These aspects are all interconnected in a way where business operation depends on how well you handle the existing technology and incorporate new ones. It is also our responsibility to look after the workforce, making sure they are trained well and are in sync with the technology.

Elaborate on any recent projects that you are involved in and how do you define its scope and benefits.

Initially, SBA lacked a good view of its customers. We didn't understand how our customers interact with the agency. The customers have to go to one program office for a loan, another for counseling, and a different one for certification. Our organization lacked the 360-degree view and life cycle for the customer. So one of the big things that we have been working on right now is the foundational elements of getting to know our customers, and understand what the customer life cycles are like, and how they interact with us.

So currently, this is one of the big projects that we as an organization is engaging in because when we look at the amount of data we are dealing with, it is humungous. We collect more than 40 million small businesses’ across the United States. So understanding the touchpoints starting from those small businesses to the SBA is important to meet the market expectations efficiently.

What is the piece of advice you would like to give to a colleague or someone who aspires to be in your position or plans to take a similar career trajectory?

Firstly, for projects, when you are looking at RPA, machine learning, and other innovations, you should start small. For instance, try to set up short pilots and goals, execute them, and if they work, then learn from them. How could you improve them further? Because the smallest steps have a significant impact on the bigger picture and if it works, you can go ahead and implement it on a larger scale.
Secondly, from a CIO perspective, I always advise people to bring in more interaction among partners because that establishes a strong partnership. We are still going to need more ideas, more innovations, and meaningful discussions, which these communities can help you with immensely. Always give your employees and co-workers the space to try new things. I think it is crucial to keep the conversation flowing, it doesn't necessarily be right or useful, but it is always significant. We try new technologies, learn if we make mistakes, and move on. It helps a company figure out more unique out-of-the-box ideas because we focus on making them work. Finally, I firmly believe that technology is going to drive the right kind of innovation into your organization if you find the right balance of technology and the market expertise.