Like the departments of many big companies, federal agencies now are charged with finding ways to be more efficient, to standardize technology as much as possible, and to move tasks to the Web.
"There are places where we have (a technology) oversupply ... and there are places that are dying for it and we don't know it," Lorentz told attendees at the RBC Capital Markets software conference here on Wednesday.
As federal agencies look to save money and cut the number of software vendors they use, they also are armed with an information technology budget of $56 billion -- up from about $52 billion in the fiscal year ended September.
That number has captured the attention of software makers, many of whom are hoping Uncle Sam will help them offset slumping sales to big companies.
While there are no guarantees that the president's e-government plan -- and coming Homeland Security efforts -- will be a boon for the software industry, companies such as customer service software maker Siebel Systems and PeopleSoft, which makes software to manage business activities like accounting and human resources, are devoting more resources to government sales.
What software to get rid of? One clear growth spot is security-related software.
"Spending on security is up on an agency level," Lorentz said.
Other potential areas of federal investment include so-called "back office" software that manages such things as accounting and human resources.
Lorentz wouldn't say whether specific business-automation software companies such as PeopleSoft, Siebel Systems, SAP AG and Oracle would be getting some of that business, but he indicated they likely will play a role.
"The Big 4 or 5 are going to be in there," he said.
While there will be winners in the e-government push, there also will be losers.
For example, federal government agencies currently use about 20 different payroll systems. Lorentz expects to cut that number to four.
The companies that are being squeezed out, however, won't immediately feel the pain because the government will keep old systems running until new, slimmer systems are in place.
On other fronts, the federal government is looking to outsource such things as recruiting and auctions and has had meetings with TMP WorldWide's online job site Monster.com and eBay, the popular online auctioneer, Lorentz said.
"You look at what's in the marketplace," he said. "You don't reinvent it."
Quelle: CNN
