A Dell.com survey of 662 public-sector IT professionals indicates a need for clearer, more customized information related to the flow and impact of ARRA funds. The survey results also suggest mounting IT challenges among public-sector healthcare, education and government organizations.

The top provider of IT to the U.S. government, Dell has responded with a range of activities aimed at improving customer, channel partner and sector-focused employee awareness of the ARRA package.

Those efforts include an Economic Recovery Web site, best-practice sharing, tailored customer and partner webcasts designed to help target and apply for the $35 billion in ARRA funds allocated to infrastructure modernization. The company also will partner to provide information and assistance to customers interested in ARRA funds.

The News:

When asked about the ARRA:

• 79% of public-sector IT professionals indicated they don’t have enough visibility or are only somewhat aware of the impact and flow of ARRA funds on their organizations.
• 78% said ARRA-related information is non-existent, too generic or not understandable and that tailored tools are needed to better navigate the recovery package.

When asked about top IT challenges:

• 45% of K-12 education IT professionals indicated resources are the biggest challenge to modernization; 42% indicated budgets were the biggest challenge.
• Similar to K-12, higher education IT professionals rank resources as largest IT-related impediment to modernizing America’s educational institutions.
• Federal, state and local government IT professionals said a lack of standards, budgets and resources for IT deployment and management each has a “high impact” on infrastructure modernization.
• Healthcare IT professionals indicated that budgets, interoperability and disparate networks are the “largest IT impediments” to modernizing America’s healthcare system.

Dell said IT solutions that would help address public-sector challenges and warrant ARRA funding include modernized, “intelligent classrooms,” for K-12 organizations; standards based high-performance computing platforms for university research environments; energy-efficient products and low-touch services for government customers, and standardized, interoperable IT for healthcare environments, including electronic medical records.

Quotes:

Frank Muehleman, vice president and general manager, Dell North America Public Business Group

• We want to help cut through the noise and expedite the impact of ARRA funds to modernize public-sector IT and jumpstart the economy.
• We’re seeing three consistent themes from customers who want to use the ARRA to invest in IT: they want cost and energy efficiency, they demand transparency and they are focused on IT that is simple to deploy and manage.

Methodology:

Survey results are based on responses from 662 U.S. public-sector IT professionals from Federal, state and local government, K-12, higher education and healthcare organizations. The survey took place on Dell.com.