GSA Blog

Technological breakthroughs will change the way people work in the next decade. As a leader in innovation and technology, GSA works with agencies to identify ways in which their workspace can be transformed. Integrating technology into the design and establishing a digital strategy is critical to the success of the federal workforce of the future.

In order to drive this conversation, we brought together experienced workplace strategists and digital service delivery experts at the Merchandise Mart in Chicago for a Technology Matters summit to discuss the integration of workplace strategy and technology. The goal of our two-day meeting was to develop a framework that would provide federal agencies with a digital strategy – a way to be proactive in making decisions regarding delivery of technology services.

Right away, it was clear that the industry leaders we brought together, including GSA Chief Information Officer David Shive and our Chief Workplace Officer Charles Hardy, were passionate about helping us develop this strategy to better serve our customers By helping other federal agencies integrate their technology to their workplace, GSA can help them save money, meet their mission and serve the American people.

The participants discussed exactly how to implement their ideas from the previous session, how to be a part of that process, and how to develop a document that could be used not only by federal agencies, but potentially industry-wide. They were eager to take a hands-on approach to develop an implementation strategy for the outcomes of the summit, as they recognized the impact it can have on how we view technology in the context of the workplace of the future.

The summit generated many ideas, and all participants emphasized the importance of growing the practice of incorporating technology into a workplace strategy early on in order to prevent elevated costs down the road. It became quite evident that a digital architect could work alongside the architect, project manager, workplace strategist to design and deliver technology in an integrated manner to workplace projects.

Thanks to the efforts and creativity of the industry participants during the summit, GSA can continue to be an innovative force and drive change by establishing a groundbreaking practice in setting the national standard for a workplace digital strategy in the federal government.