This discussion honed in on how commercial organizations have implemented practices to remain globally competitive that have also provided a significant return on investment – and how those practices could easily transfer to government organizations. 

President Obama has made private sector innovation a centerpiece of the Administration’s agenda for growth and job creation.  This is a subject that has broad support across the spectrum:  citizens, businesses and governments all look to commercial activity as an economic engine; new technologies play a key role in this pursuit.  The Nation’s Chief Technology Officer, Aneesh Chopra, has been a very visible leader of this activity, with frequent and recent blogs through the White House and media web sites (

Improving the cost, quality, and performance of financial management operations and systems is one of the Obama’s administration’s top management priorities. While the financial management community has made significant progress over the years, it continues to face challenges in meeting some of the basic standards for accounting and reporting.

Angela Carrington, a Partner in IBM Global Business Services, is focused on IBM Public Sector Financial Management system implementations. She has more than 23 years experience in the areas of project management, financial management, procurement and contracts management, budgeting, and accounting. Ms. Carrington leads the Public Sector Finance Management Service Area.

Learn more about The IBM Center for The Business of Government through this short video overview. The IBM Center for The Business of Government connects public management research with practice. Since 1998, we have helped public sector executives improve the effectiveness of government with practical ideas and original thinking. We sponsor independent research by top minds in academe and the non-profit sector, and we create opportunities for dialogue on a broad range of public management topics.

The IBM Center for The Business of Government will be hosting many guest bloggers to contribute their thoughts to this blog.  Below, you'll find our guests' biographies in order of appearance. David Abel is Vice President and Partner with IBM Global Business Services for Public Sector Systems Integration. In this role, he leads an organization which develops solutions and systems addressing client needs across the Federal government, State & Local government, healthcare and education industries.

The largest technology companies in the country believe that that the Federal government can save $1 trillion over the next ten years through the aggressive adoption of seven specific initiatives based on commercial best practices (see http://www.techceocouncil.org/

Let’s put that savings number in perspective.  The Federal Government spends about $4 trillion every year.  To save $1 trillion over ten years, the Federal government needs to reduce its spending by $100 billion each year, which is 2.5 percent percent of its total spending.  That does not strike us a particularly high hurdle to jump.

Frank B. Strickland is a Senior Fellow Emeritus with the IBM Center for The Business of Government.

Mr. Gram is a Partner in IBM’s Global Business Services and leads the Public Sector Financial Management Practice Area. During his 24 years with both public and private sector organizations, he has led advisory services focused in the area of accounting, finance, process reengineering, outsourcing and technology infusion. Mr. Gram is responsible for several large projects in the defense and education industries.