State and local government agencies are making great strides in harnessing the power of data and applying it to problems in law enforcement, homeland security, emergency management, counterterrorism and cybersecurity. Realizing that data serves as a force multiplier, agencies are investing heavily in the design and implementation of next-generation work centers (NGWCs) that rapidly ingest and analyze massive quantities of information from social media, the Internet of Things, legacy data and other sources to provide decision-makers with valuable real-time intelligence. Here are six foundational technologies that NGWCs share.

Creating a solid use case for data is like cooking a great meal. You need the correct ingredients, or data. You also have to take special needs into consideration (is anyone allergic to any ingredients? is the data sensitive, subject to regulation?). With both food and data, you want to know where it’s sourced (is…

Using data to improve operations seems like a simple idea. But many organizations struggle to achieve this goal because they have trouble clearly understanding how operations perform when their data is scattered across multiple systems. Even when these systems have reporting built into them, their closed and static nature makes it difficult to find the…

I live in Fort Myers in Southwest Florida. Our area has been experiencing a worsening water quality situation that has recently resulted in what is widely termed an “ecological disaster.” Large outbreaks of harmful algal blooms in both freshwater and saltwater ecosystems have led to devastating marine life die-offs and negative effects on human health…

Leaders within most of the organizations I work with realize that data analytics must be a central component of their digital transformation efforts. But they often don’t understand the work that a robust analytics program entails. More than once, I’ve spoken with executives whose firms have purchased advanced analytics tools, and they’re confused about why…