Recognizing the pivotal role of IT in maintaining military readiness and effectiveness, the US Department of Defense (DoD) crafted a comprehensive IT strategy that harnesses the transformative potential of technology to advance national security objectives.
The DoD data strategy embraces innovation, interoperability, and user-centricity to empower personnel and enhance operational capabilities across the entire defense enterprise. It considers diverse DoD IT challenges, including how to:
Maintain technological superiority by leveraging new technologies.
Address cybersecurity risks.
Overcome interoperability complexities.
Quickly adapt to evolving needs.
Modernize legacy systems.
The evolving DoD data strategy
The DoD adopted a data-centric approach in its 2020 DoD Data Strategy. That means treating data as an integral part of every DoD process, algorithm, and weapon system and making it visible and accessible to all the appropriate users.
The latest DoD data strategy builds on that premise to further advance the DoD’s digital transformation. It recognizes that for effective data, analytics, and AI capabilities, you need trusted, high-quality data.
To keep pace with rapidly evolving threats and technological advancements, the plan of action for DoD IT and processes includes these main points:
1. Agile development
Adopting an agile approach to application and system development allows for rapid prototyping, testing, and deployment of software features—enabling defense organizations to adapt quickly to changing requirements and emerging threats. This flexibility means that critical capabilities can be delivered to end users more rapidly, empowering military personnel with the tools they need to respond effectively to evolving operational environments.
By prioritizing speed of delivery, the DoD can rapidly deploy new capabilities to the field, enabling quicker response times and enhanced operational effectiveness. The agile approach fosters speed, responsiveness, and innovation.
See how US Department of Defense agencies are meeting their missions faster with low-code. Get the guide, Rapid, Future-Ready IT Modernization in Defense Agencies.
2. Fast adoption of new technologies
Accelerating the adoption of advanced data, analytics, and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies offers an unprecedented opportunity for the DoD to provide leaders at all levels with timely and actionable insights. By leveraging these technologies, decision-makers can access a wealth of data-driven intelligence, enabling them to make more informed decisions quickly and effectively.
This enhanced decision-making capability not only improves strategic planning and resource allocation but also enhances operational readiness and agility in dynamic and complex environments, ultimately leading to more successful outcomes for the DoD's missions and objectives.
Read the article, DoD AI: Using Artificial Intelligence to Improve Military Operations.
3. Global collaboration
When DoD personnel collaborate on data, analytics, and AI across the globe, they can leverage diverse expertise, resources, and perspectives. By collaborating globally, DoD decision-makers can access a broader range of data sources and analytical capabilities, enhancing their ability to identify emerging threats, predict future trends, and develop innovative solutions. De-siloing data, analytics, and AI across teams will enhance the DoD's situational awareness, operational effectiveness, and resilience in an increasingly interconnected and complex security environment.
4. Informed decision-making and continuous learning
Continuous learning ensures that development teams remain adaptive, incorporating lessons learned into iterative improvements. Responsible development emphasizes adherence to ethical standards, security protocols, and regulatory requirements to mitigate risks and ensure the integrity and reliability of deployed systems.
This goes back to an agile approach: Agile methodologies promote close collaboration between developers and end users, facilitating faster feedback loops and enabling continuous refinement and improvement of deployed systems based on real-world usage and operational results.
An agility layer can extend the value of the application environment
To fully implement the DoD data strategy, agencies around the world need to overcome the difficulties posed by legacy systems that stand in the way of modernization and data sharing.
The Appian Platform can accelerate DoD IT modernization by serving as an “agility layer” that seamlessly bridges the gap between old and new systems. By connecting all the systems in your environment, Appian empowers your organization to build flexible applications and integrate to extend the life of your systems:
Intelligent, end-to-end process automation connects your people, systems, bots, AI, and business rules with a flexible low-code design experience.
Data fabric unifies data sources across your enterprise without the need to replicate or move data. It enables workflow elements to access consistent, accurate, and compliant data at any point in the process.
Learn how a low-code agility layer gives defense agencies the flexibility to quickly adapt to changing situations and requirements.
