Insights for System Integrators in a new government ICT era

Jay Ouwehand

February 20, 2023

As the ICT market evolves System Integrators must focus on key solution elements to address shifting government requirements.

It’s clear to all in the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) space, that providing integrations to government agencies has changed significantly over the past few years. Citizen and employee expectations have evolved, and operational changes introduced as a stopgap measure to mitigate the impact of the pandemic are now here to stay. These are the changes that are driving requirements for even more complex government ICT solutions.

To succeed, it’s important that System Integrators stay ahead of the curve. While governments will continue to focus on cloud-centric solutions, System Integrators need to ensure they are delivering secure, reliable and flexible networks that provide a vital link to cloud-based applications enabling government employees and citizens to gain access to whatever they need wherever they are.

7 Key elements to meet today’s government ICT demands

The right combination of network technologies is essential to enable System Integrators to respond to government ICT RFPs with tailored integrations. Below are seven key elements that should be top-of-mind for any System Integrator considering working in the government ICT space.

1. Open standards: Networking solutions built on open standards and open architectures are essential to efficient integrations. With a projection of 20 billion Internet of Things (IoT) objects connected globally by 20251, keeping things simple will be key. The more open a solution is the easier it will be to integrate it into a standards-based network architecture. And the easier it will be to add, enhance and upgrade the architecture with advanced technologies as they become available throughout its lifecycle.

2. Flexibility by design: Government ICT solutions must be flexible to scale the network up or down as needed. With flexible, standards-based options, integrators can meet government needs for coverage, capacity and functionality across a distributed network today, and easily adapt and add to the network to accommodate more users with access and services tomorrow.

3. Secure hardware and software: System integrators must ensure the hardware and software solutions they propose meet the secure supply chain guidelines defined by government purchasing departments. This includes verification of the country of origin for hardware and software, as well as security compliance for all operational software.

4. Zero trust security: Traditional approaches to cybersecurity protection are no longer enough. Network architectures based on zero trust security principles with hardware and software products that can be configured through macro- and micro-segmentation to operate in a “Never Trust-Always Verify” mode are required. This will provide more granular control of user and device access to reduce the risk of potential attacks on the network.

5. Zero-touch provisioning: Network hardware and software should be engineered to streamline integration and deployment. Manual configuration adds time and cost to large-scale network deployments. Solutions that support zero-touch provisioning can save time and money during initial deployments, as well as future upgrades, enhancements and additions needed to accommodate more users, more office connections, and more coverage and capacity requirements.

6. Ease of management: Integrators should consider solutions that eliminate the need for multiple management systems for network resources in favour of a single system that provides a cohesive view across all network resources. With a single management system, integrators can provide government departments with rationalised and standardised visibility and control over all network elements, wherever they are deployed.

7. Supply diversity: In today’s budget conscious environment, integrators must deliver more functionality with every network integration while keeping an eye on costs. To win government contracts and deploy optimal network architectures, integrators need products and solutions that can be configured and delivered quickly and maintained easily. To win bids, integrators must offer next-generation networks with highly secure, rugged and flexible networking solutions engineered to support the most complex requirements and deliver a higher return on investment.

Partnering to deliver

At ALE, we simplify government network integrations with standards-based communications, network and cloud offerings that support the changing ICT landscape. Our customisable and easily managed network solutions provide integrated, cost-effective offerings optimised to move data faster and more efficiently. And all our products provide enhanced security, reliability, and operational efficiency for every network integration without requiring integrators and their customers to get locked into complex, disintegrated, restrictive and costly hardware and software road maps.

Our partnership approach, exceptional professional services and track record delivering ICT solutions for local, national and federal government departments has made us a trusted partner for system integrators around the world.

Check out our white paper to learn more about how we can help with your next government network integration.