Kinetic Data’s Post

Speed is of the essence! How do we accelerate while O&M is eating our budgets? How do we attract top talent when our daily digital experiences suck? Is there a way to bring new life to legacy systems, connect them, and deliver an awesome #UX, #DX, and #CX? Check it out: https://lnkd.in/dGpQR-Uj If you find the Kinetic Data approach intriguing, please contact us. Thank you. cc United States Department of Defense, US Army, US Navy, United States Marine Corps, United States Air Force, United States Space Force, U.S. Coast Guard, Defense Intelligence Agency, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency #DoD #devsecops #usmilitary #eitaas #servicedesk #advana #automation #devops #agile #digitaltransformation #dataops #mlops #workflow #datamesh #AI #selfservice #cdao #dodcdao

To maintain and modernize our national defense in an environment of both emerging threats and increased budget scrutiny, the military and federal civilian agencies will need to spend smarter. Fortunately, these agencies and our armed services can benefit from a significant trend in enterprise software pricing models: a shift from per-user license-based pricing to a consumption-based model. With consumption or usage-based pricing, buyers pay based on what they actually use rather than simply the “right to use.” This model provides several advantages: it better aligns costs with value received, increases user access, and scales up and down easily. This white paper explains the differences between these pricing models, the significance of the trend, and the benefits for our government agencies and military. Download it here: https://lnkd.in/gGrBZvYC #military #modernization #SaaS #devsecops cc United States Department of Defense, Defense Information Systems Agency, Savanrith Kong, Leonel Garciga Jane Overslaugh Rathbun

User experience (#UX) has always been at the forefront of our mission. When we first embarked on our technology journey, our primary focus was providing the functionality needed to quickly build complex, scalable, custom systems. But as the digital landscape evolved, so did our users’ expectations. It became clear that to truly excel, we needed to shift our focus from purely functional capabilities to delivering an exceptional UX. In this post, we share our journey because we are seeing similar evolutions across many companies today. The shift towards prioritizing UX over mere functionality is becoming a common theme. We hope to inspire and guide others who are on a similar path, emphasizing the value of creating solutions that are not only powerful but also delightful to use. #UI #digitaltransformation #devops

Improving digital experiences is a top priority for the DoD and service branches. Military-grade security is essential. What’s the ideal approach to this combination? Let’s talk THIS WEEK at AFCEA International #TechNetCyber. Please note our booth number change! We'll be in booth 3263. The Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Officers (CDAOs) across our national defense sector envision a Data Mesh architecture that integrates distributed, decentralized domain-specific data sources to enable decision making at the speed of relevance. While this approach should improve the availability of and access to accurate and up-to-date information, it also increases points of vulnerability to cyber intrusions. Our Digital Experience Platform (DXP) simplifies access to vital information for decision makers while protecting it through a robust Attribute-Based Access Control (ABAC) security model—validated in our recent work with the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) and US Army INSCOM. We’ve proven our value and security over more than a decade of successful solution delivery to the Defense Information Systems Agency, the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), the Missile Defense Agency, the US Navy, the United States Air Force and others. Visit us in booth 3263 at AFCEA International TechNet Cyber 2024, June 25-27 in Baltimore, to learn more about how we can help streamline work and improve the digital user experience rapidly, reliably, and securely. For Kinetic Data customers and partners attending TechNet Cyber, we’ll be following up the event with two days of exclusive hands-on training at the Renaissance Baltimore Harborplace Hotel. Learn more and sign up today here: https://lnkd.in/g-xzjQpN #DevSecOps #CDAO #datamesh #DoD #cyber cc Leonel Garciga, Mark Gorak, Julius Gamble, Nathan Hardy, PMP, RCDD, Vernita D. Harris, Tim Haugh, Brian Hermann, Savanrith Kong, Caroline Kuharske, Robert Landreth, Sean Letona, Chris Paczkowski, Oliver Pandian, MBA, Keri Pasquini-Thompson, MBA, Mark Patrick, CIP, Dustin Pettigrew, Jason Pickart, John K. Porter, CISM, CEH, CFHI, ITIL v3, Security Plus, Christopher Pymm, Juan R. Ramírez, Jane Overslaugh Rathbun, Christopher Redding, Michael Reeder

The US Army and United States Air Force plan to consolidate software development and acquisition programs. Here’s why that’s a great idea – and how to make it even better. Reporting for ExecutiveGov, Jane Edwards writes that "U.S. Cyber Command intends to combine some of the software factories of the U.S. Army and U.S. Air Force under the Joint Cyber Warfighting Architecture and establish a new program executive office using new acquisition authorities... "Khoi Nguyen, CISSP-ISSAP, PMP, command acquisition executive and director of the cyber acquisition and technology directorate (J9) at CYBERCOM, said the move to consolidate the platforms of those offices will help reduce duplication and cybersecurity vulnerabilities associated with operating redundant systems." Per Nguyen, the consolidation will enable program offices to use a common tech stack. "In the effort to reduce redundancy, we’re looking to combine or develop a singular platform that then we would GFE [provide as Government-Furnished Equipment] to all the program shops and say, ‘Hey, this is a common platform, [like a] Kubernetes environment, that we’re going to define, and you will just deliver your applications as containers or as virtual machines onto this common platform.'” We enthusiastically support this mission. And using a Digital Experience Platform (DXP) to separate the front-end user experience from the array of back-end systems and data sources would enable the services to develop new applications rapidly, securely, and adaptively, while embracing containerization and modern tech stack. This isn’t our first foray. For more than a decade, we’ve been implementing innovative solutions for the US Army, US Air Force, Army National Guard, US Navy, Missile Defense Agency, Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), Defense Information Systems Agency, and others. See the details at https://lnkd.in/gjXFZAR4 . #kubernetes #k8s #docker #cybercom

Effective incident response is particularly critical in military and national security applications, where cyber threats are far more serious than the theft of credit card data, and downtime can literally be a matter of life and death. Government agencies in general, and the United States Department of Defense (DoD) in particular, face unique constraints compared to the private sector in terms of operational requirements, regulatory compliance, and international cooperation and coordination, among others. Current incident response systems have a number of limitations, from complexity to compliance, speed, and information sharing issues. An ideal solution for government and military applications would address the specific challenges and constraints of these environments in a secure, compliant, flexible, and fiscally responsible manner. This white paper examines the unique incident response challenges faced by federal agencies and the DoD, limitations of installed systems, and a better approach to meeting these needs. Download it here: https://lnkd.in/gFmJ2ChQ #military #modernization #incidentresponse #ITSM #helpdesk

Since taking over as CIO of the US Army last summer, Leonel Garciga "has been on a mission to modernize IT policies that are standing in the way" of more effective software acquisition, management, and development. The latest one is around a continuous ATO (C-ATO). Here's what that means and how the Army can move faster. As Jason Miller recently reported on the Federal News Network, when it comes to software development, the Army is going to stop worrying about the color of money. That’s because as part of its new approach to software modernization, the Army is rethinking what sustainment means. “Margaret Boatner, deputy assistant secretary of the Army for strategy and acquisition reform, said one of the main tenets of the policy signed by Army Secretary Christine Wormuth in March is to reform several legacy processes that are keeping the service from adopting modern software development approaches.” Per Boatner “Right now, our systems and our acquisition programs, once they’re done being developed, they go through a process that we call transition to sustainment...When a system makes that transition, the financial management regulations dictate that they use a certain color of money, operations and maintenance dollars. "With that color of money, we can really only do minor patches, fixes and bug updates. So that’s an example of a legacy process that, when you’re talking about a software system, really tied our arms behind our back. It really prevented us from doing true development over the long term with the software solutions.” Garciga added that by keeping programs under the research, development, test and evaluation (RDT&E) bucket, the Army is recognizing the other changes it needs to complete to make these efforts more successful. “We need to relook at processes like interoperability...How do we change the way we look at that to bring it into this model where we’re developing at speed and scale all the time?...We’ve told folks to do DevSecOps and to bring agile into how they deliver software, so how do we accredit that? How do we certify that? What does that model look like? We’re hyper-focused on building out a framework that we can push out to the entire Army.” One promising approach is Digital Experience Platforms (DXPs), which enable rapid, continuous development and agility by separating the front-end user experience from back-end IT infrastructure complexity. This allows the Army, DoD, and other armed services to move faster, with greater confidence, at less cost. We’ve proven the approach in the real world over more than a decade of implementing solutions for the US Army, Army National Guard, Defense Information Systems Agency, Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), Missile Defense Agency, United States Air Force, US Navy, and more. Learn more about our DXP approach and how it can support these vital initiatives at https://lnkd.in/gP4atGzK. #military #agile #modernization #devsecops #digitaltransformation

"The (DoD's) software pathway...requires us to use modern software practices. We have to use agile, lean DevSecOps, continuous integration and continuous delivery," per Army deputy AS Margaret Boatner. Here's an innovative way to support that. Reporting in Federal News Network, Jared Serbu noted that although "It’s been four years since the Defense Department created six new acquisition pathways — including one specifically intended to speed up software acquisition," actual implementation is off to a slow start. But new efforts are being made to speed adoption. According to Cara Abercrombie, assistant secretary of Defense for acquisition, program managers throughout the military services "love it. They want to use it more expansively. But...there’s a little bit of risk aversion in the system, a little bit of worry, because it moves fast, it doesn’t have to check all the same boxes as the other acquisition pathways.” In another recent interview, as Serbu reports, the Army’s Boatner “said the service has only used the pathway for 11 programs so far, but officials have seen clear benefits.” Kinetic Data’s Digital Experience Platform (DXP) provides an ideal approach to achieve this mission. By separating the front-end user interface from the complexity of back-end IT infrastructure, it enables operational process owners to rapidly develop, expand, and improve built-for-purpose applications—with expensive and risky customization of enterprise software suites. It’s an approach that’s battle-tested and proven. We’ve spent more than a decade developing solutions for the US Army, Army National Guard, Defense Information Systems Agency, Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), Missile Defense Agency, United States Air Force, US Navy, and more. Learn more about what we do and how we help our United States Department of Defense and armed services at KineticData.com. #military #software #DoD #devsecops #digitaltransformation

The price of Salesforce shares plunged 20% following its first quarter earnings report, the stock’s worst trading day in 20 years. Is it just slowing demand, or might there be other reasons? Stocks Tumble as Salesforce Suffers Worst Day in Two Decades Amid Inflation Concerns: https://lnkd.in/gWwqtg4p According to CNBC , analysts from Citi "said broader macroeconomic challenges 'returned with a vengeance' during Salesforce’s first quarter. They noted that the period has also been weaker for other software companies, but that execution issues and changes to Salesforce’s go-to-market strategy also impacted the company’s performance." We feel for the folks there (it is, after all, our philosophy to “hug the bear”: https://lnkd.in/gZhB9s-y ) but couldn’t help wondering what’s behind this. It may simply be economic challenges. But it may also be related to the federal government and military’s push to improve digital experiences for users. As reported by Federal News Network: "Changes mandated by the bold and encompassing executive order to transform federal customer experience and service delivery in the U.S. are becoming more visible...By improving the processes, policies and technology behind government operations and by prioritizing human-centric design and technological streamlining, the hope is that the actual experiences of people, whom government is meant to serve, improve." Those mandates may favor a Digital Experience Platform (DXP) approach over reliance on legacy software interfaces. You can learn more about ours here: https://lnkd.in/gP4atGzK It may also reflect the emerging preference for consumption or usage-based pricing models over traditional enterprise software pricing based on user licenses. Consumption-based pricing better reflects actual value delivered. You can read more about our thoughts (and those of former ServiceNow CEO Frank Slootman) here: https://lnkd.in/gesP25Mm What happens next? Time will tell. But times are changing. #SaaS #DevSecOps #digitaltransformation #modernization #DXP

So true. Customizing big enterprise systems is hard. But customizing the front-end UI using an integrated Digital Experience Platform (DXP) is much easier, faster, less costly, and more adaptable. It also future-proofs your IT infrastructure and eliminates vendor lock-in.