Expect mobility strategy to broaden

There is likely to be a new government approach to mobility in months to come, according to a highly placed official who spoke March 15 at a mobility conference in Washington D.C., sponsored by Association for Federal Information Resources Management and Government Information Technology Executive Council.

Lisa Schlosser, deputy chief information officer at Office of Management and Budget, said the Barack Obama administration’s original vision for a mobility strategy is maturing into a broader digital government strategy as federal CIO Steven VanRoekel and his team learn from the experiences of users.

"It will be a little bigger than a mobility strategy," Schlosser said. The new strategy will treat mobile devices as just the conduit for content, she said. The goal is to get data to where it needs to be, regardless of the devices used.

The administration is embracing a bring-your-own-device ethos, she added, but said the new strategy is still too new in its development to discuss in detail yet.  The focus, she said, is going to remain squarely on agency mission.

"It's not about having something cool, although that's nice,” she said. “It's not about the technology, it's about how we deliver the mission agenda."

She offered a preview of the digital strategy, emphasizing as cornerstones security and privacy, data availability and delivery, strategic sourcing and a customer-centric focus.