So the new health insurances exchanges for Obamacare have been plagued by computer problems. Is anybody surprised? Government agencies are not good at running consumer-oriented computer systems. When the feds take on a project as big as Obamacare we tend to assume they’ll screw it up.
It’s not just the federal government. State governments have chronic problems with computer systems that handle unemployment benefits and other government functions. Some states have invested millions of tax dollars in information technology that is outdated, inadequate or just plain doesn’t work.
Happily, this does not seem to be a problem for military technology. Fighter jets fly by wire, cruise missiles find their targets and drones kill terrorists. I’m a little skeptical of the National Security Agency’s data collection, but if Amazon and Facebook can deliver personalized ads I’d like my government to be just as smart at finding the bad guys and keeping us safe.
Most of us have grown accustomed to using computer systems and expect a seamless experience when we bank, pay bills and make airline reservations online. I am comfortable managing my life this way and trust that my bank, Amazon and other commercial websites will process my transactions flawlessly.
I don’t have the same level of trust in government websites, which often are balky and not particularly user-friendly. When I pay my state taxes online I am never completely confident that my payment is going through. The Veterans Administration website allows me to manage my health records online but did not have a record of my knee surgery last year.
One of the reasons private companies are good at online commerce is that they treat information technology as a strategic function under the direction of a chief information officer. I don’t see that level of emphasis in government, where information systems are a support function and often fragmented among government agencies.
So I wonder if federal and state governments would do a better job of managing information technology if they upgraded the IT function under a cabinet-level chief information officer. Not your average political appointee, of course, but a seasoned tech exec from someplace like American Express or Amazon. The risk is that a government IT organization could become an entrenched, unaccountable bureaucracy like the Internal Revenue Service or, for that matter, some corporate IT departments.
Housebreaking government information technology is critical because the core political issue today is the size and scope of government. It will be ironic if the Obamacare exchanges, signature achievement of the big-government folks, become an inadvertent recruiting tool for the Libertarians.
Do we need a Secretary of Information Technology?
So the new health insurances exchanges for Obamacare have been plagued by computer problems. Is anybody surprised? Government agencies are not good at running consumer-oriented computer systems. When the feds take on a project as big as Obamacare we tend to assume they’ll screw it up.
It’s not just the federal government. State governments have chronic problems with computer systems that handle unemployment benefits and other government functions. Some states have invested millions of tax dollars in information technology that is outdated, inadequate or just plain doesn’t work.
Happily, this does not seem to be a problem for military technology. Fighter jets fly by wire, cruise missiles find their targets and drones kill terrorists. I’m a little skeptical of the National Security Agency’s data collection, but if Amazon and Facebook can deliver personalized ads I’d like my government to be just as smart at finding the bad guys and keeping us safe.
Most of us have grown accustomed to using computer systems and expect a seamless experience when we bank, pay bills and make airline reservations online. I am comfortable managing my life this way and trust that my bank, Amazon and other commercial websites will process my transactions flawlessly.
I don’t have the same level of trust in government websites, which often are balky and not particularly user-friendly. When I pay my state taxes online I am never completely confident that my payment is going through. The Veterans Administration website allows me to manage my health records online but did not have a record of my knee surgery last year.
One of the reasons private companies are good at online commerce is that they treat information technology as a strategic function under the direction of a chief information officer. I don’t see that level of emphasis in government, where information systems are a support function and often fragmented among government agencies.
So I wonder if federal and state governments would do a better job of managing information technology if they upgraded the IT function under a cabinet-level chief information officer. Not your average political appointee, of course, but a seasoned tech exec from someplace like American Express or Amazon. The risk is that a government IT organization could become an entrenched, unaccountable bureaucracy like the Internal Revenue Service or, for that matter, some corporate IT departments.
Housebreaking government information technology is critical because the core political issue today is the size and scope of government. It will be ironic if the Obamacare exchanges, signature achievement of the big-government folks, become an inadvertent recruiting tool for the Libertarians.
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