VA Needs to Embrace Tech-Savvy, Mobile Veterans

The Veterans Affairs Department “must embrace and fully support changing mobile lifestyles” to serve tech savvy veterans between now and 2020, the department said in a high-level draft strategic plan released Feb. 15.

The plan said VA needs to figure out how to “personalize” its interactions with veterans through analysis of data to “understand our client’s needs and expectations.”

VA also needs to leverage technological advances to create a more connected, mobile workforce, the plan said.

A significant portion of VA’s workforce is rapidly  approaching retirement age, with more than 30 percent of employees eligible for retirement, including roughly 50 percent of senior executives.The department will need “robust  workforce planning, employee and leadership development, succession planning, and knowledge sharing capabilities to prepare for the changes in the workforce,” the report cautioned.

VA routinely pumps out these plans that offer a vision of the future without a deep dive into specific programs and projects, but they’re not a bad guide to the department’s focus.

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(Image via Champion studio/Shutterstock.com)