B&G REPORT.

It’s a bitter irony. Just at a time when the threat of cyberattacks appears to be growing, the funding available to keep cybercriminals at bay is far from keeping up with the risk . Even though artificial intelligence systems have the capacity to help states and local governments protect themselves from cyberattacks, they’re also potentially powerful weapons in the hands of the bad guys. For example, AI allows cybercriminals the capacity to stage attacks on multiple computer

We’ve been obsessed with the World Cup this year. Our love for soccer emanated from the days when our daughter, who earned her doctorate two years ago, was playing the game on multiple teams. That inspired the following column, which originally ran in Governing back in 2004. We think that it still stands up. We’ve spent years giving speeches and writing articles about managing for results, explaining the fine points of establishing mission statements, goals and targets. We’

There was a long sad stretch during which nearly everything we wrote had some kind of COVID angle in it. The pandemic had so thoroughly thrown all state and local government functions into the unknown that whether we were writing about budgeting, human resources or performance management, COVID was part of the story. Now, in recent months, it’s dawned on us that even though COVID is no longer front-page news, it has altered state and local government management in dramatic wa

A few weeks ago, we wrote a special feature titled “Using Data to Lead More Effectively.” The focus moved swiftly from data experts to the employees who work with data across government and increasingly use it to make real-time decisions. That point was clearly made by Elena Boyd, Managing Director in Accenture’s Public Service Practice, who said. “Historically government data use was retrospective and siloed. There was a lag between when things were happening and when they

We’ve heard repeatedly about the frustrations felt by leaders in towns, cities, and counties that regularly hold public meetings to get resident input only to find that the opinions voiced frequently come from the same small portion of the population that has time and interest to show up at meetings – often called by civic leaders, the “usual gang of suspects”. This can often leave out people who are working multiple jobs; parents who can’t afford the expense of childcare; po