The Foreign Service Journal, February 2006

F O C U S F E B R U A R Y 2 0 0 6 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 31 What’s In, What’s Out: Key Trends and Best Practices in 2006 IN OUT Enterprise-wide, governmentwide solutions Single-bureau, single-agency approaches Rapid technology change and adoption Reluctance to innovate Knowledge is a department asset, proactively shared Knowledge belongs to individual bureaus and is not shared Outsourcing of non-core activities In-house for all functions Wireless Wired Next-generation data mining and search Fragmented data sources accessible only in restricted ways Mobile computing and telecommuting; Separate networks tethered to the desk Voice-data integration/Voice over Internet Protocol Voice input and speech recognition Keyboards Leveraging partnerships Isolation Automated, real-time language-translation services Limited ability to get documents translated “Out of the box” commercial off-the-shelf solutions Highly customized solutions, including overly customized COTS Web-based Client-server Multimedia for effective communication Rigid formats, cables Enterprise-wide business continuity planning Ad-hoc approach to critical infrastructure protection Computing as utility Non-standard, isolated IT environments Adaptable networks — self-configuring, dynamic Hard-wired static networks Risk management Risk aversion