The program executive officer for the U.S. Army\u2019s Enterprise Information Systems, Cherie Smith, outlined her vision of the future of network capabilities across the Army and the Department of Defense by way of a frank discussion of the challenges she faces in achieving stronger network connectivity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhen you talk about connectivity across the Department of Defense, I really think in many cases today it\u2019s the disconnectivity,\u201d Smith said during a keynote at the C4ISRNET conference. \u201cWe struggle, constantly, to figure out how to provide that connectiveness even within our own PEO.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Smith, who oversees more than 60 Department of Defense and Army acquisition programs, advocated for a new broader approach to streamline disparate networking programs for the global Army.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThere used to be the day where your stuff stopped at the enterprise and there was something different when you got over to the tactical world,\u201d Smith said. \u201cMore and more we\u2019re seeing that\u2019s not happening.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The main challenge for the PEO is finding a way to achieve a more dynamic, mobile IT environment, according to smith. To achieve her vision, Smith wants to build a more open and honest relationship with industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019ve asked all my PM\u2019s at every level to spend more time with industry,\u201d Smith said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The PEO went on to encourage industry representatives in the audience to be more transparent with her office about successes and failures they have experienced working with the Defense Department in the past.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI know you guys have got to make a buck. I\u2019m good with you coming in and talking about your capabilities and your products, but I ask that you put that into context with how we can do things better,\u201d Smith said. \u201cI know you all don\u2019t like to talk about that, but we need to know those things where it wasn\u2019t successful.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Smith stressed that to be able to flexibly move from move from one platform to another, the PEO must be able to have frank discussions with industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI want you to come in and tell us where we\u2019re not doing something smart,\u201d Smith said. \u201cWe are wide open to those types of discussions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Another topic on Smith\u2019s mind was how to leverage future data technologies, like artificial intelligence and the cloud, in her overarching mission to rapidly deliver innovative and cost-effective systems and services for the total force.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHow do I get some of this workload off of the individuals running it and putting it into AI? I want to think about how we use open sources and software to define networks and network management,\u201d Smith said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The key to many of her toughest challenges, according to Smith, is improving the management of data. She even floated the idea of establishing a data czar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe thing that worries me the most is data. We designed all of our data differently,\u201d Smith said. \u201cNobody has looked across [the enterprise]. The bottom line is I\u2019ve got to simplify. I\u2019ve got to make it easier.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Army’s Program Executive Officer for enterprise systems talked industry transparency, artificial intelligence and her plans for creating an army data tsar.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":62092,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":29,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[160,29,14,36],"tags":[],"coauthors":[1247],"class_list":["post-31777","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-digital-show-dailies","category-land","category-newsletters"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"F7BWKPCSWFG7BI2ZN5JQIXGFOI","arc_canonical_url":"\/digital-show-dailies\/c4isr-conference\/2018\/05\/10\/dod-in-a-state-of-disconnectivity-says-army-network-program-exec\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n