As public sector leaders continue to navigate the rapidly evolving technological landscape, a particular focus has emerged on the potential of automation and modern data management tools. In a new FedScoop interview, Manuel Medrano, office director for the Office of Cyber Monitoring and Operations at the Department of State, and Andrew Davidson, senior vice president of products at MongoDB, discuss how these technologies can improve agency outcomes.

Medrano highlights the significance of data in contemporary cybersecurity operations, emphasizing the need to automate routine tasks to enhance both efficiency and security. “Data is a buzzword,” says Medrano. “As we look into the future, the increasing complexity and volume of IT activities demand that we embrace automation.” He also underscores the importance of balancing automation with the human element, ensuring that personnel are upskilled and integrated into the automated processes.

In addition, Medrano touches upon the adoption of agile development practices within the State Department, noting the challenges and benefits of this approach. “Agility, especially in today’s world, is essential,” he says. “Using agile practices allows us to deliver solutions incrementally and respond quickly to geopolitical events and operational challenges.”

Davidson added onto Medrano’s sentiments, discussing the critical role of modern data management tools in facilitating agile development and operational efficiency. “We are very much in a software-defined government,” says Davidson. He pointed out that legacy components often hinder progress, so modernizing these systems can significantly reduce complexity and improve governance.

The discussion also delves into the migration to cloud services, with Drano differentiating between mere “lift and shift” migrations and true cloud-native transformations. “Migrating a service to the cloud involves leveraging the inherent advantages of cloud architectures,” he says. This approach offers greater scalability, flexibility, and cost-efficiency, crucial for handling large volumes of data and facilitating quicker decision-making.

Davidson adds that the shift to cloud services must be accompanied by robust security measures. “In-depth security out of the box is essential,” he says. He also emphasized the importance of building trust in third-party service providers while maintaining stringent security and governance standards.

Both leaders reflect on the ongoing challenge of extracting valuable insights from growing data volumes. To highlight this, Medrano spoke about the State Department’s efforts to create a cyber data lake house, making data accessible for various business needs and enabling advanced analytics and visualizations, while Davidson highlighted the multifaceted nature of putting data to use. Ultimately, by embracing these technologies, agencies can enhance their operational efficiency, security, and ability to deliver impactful outcomes for the public.

Learn more about how MongoDB can accelerate and simplify time-to-mission for federal, state and local governments, as well as defense agencies, across the public sector.

This video panel discussion was produced by Scoop News Group, for FedScoop, and underwritten by MongoDB and AWS

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Jennifer Ward, VP Solution Engineering at Salesforce, shares how advances in new tools and technologies are improving mission-critical services. In addition, she talks about how cloud-based collaboration tools are helping government agencies boost innovation.

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Matt Chong, VP of Federal at Qualtrics, talks about how cloud-based collaboration tools are helping government agencies improve innovation. He also discusses how new tools and technologies are bettering mission-critical services.

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Emilee Lehenbauer, VP, Federal Civilian at Qualtrics, shares how advances in new tools and technologies are helping to improve mission-critical services. In addition, she talks about how cloud-based collaboration tools are helping government agencies improve innovation.

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Joe Bleich, Sr. Director, Federal Go-to-Market, at Datadog, talks about the role AI and automation play in strengthening the cyber resilience of government agencies. He also shares how advances in new tools and technologies are helping to improve mission-critical services.

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Mark Valcich, Managing Director, Federal Civilian and Healthcare Agencies at Intel, shares examples of how agencies have built strong data governance into their cloud strategy and the effect it’s had on data storage, analysis and utilization. He also discusses how new tools and technologies are having an impact on improving mission-critical services.

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Cameron Chehreh, GM and VP Global Public Sector at Intel, discusses where he is seeing advances in new tools and technologies having the greatest impact on improving mission-critical services. He also shares examples of how agencies have built strong data governance into their cloud strategy and the effect it’s had on data storage, analysis and utilization.

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Rebecca Piazza, Sr. Advisor for Delivery, Food & Nutrition Service at USDA, discusses how the organization is using policy to promote innovation. She also shares how USDA is looking to technology to build better relationships with the supplier community.

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