For state, local and federal government agencies, digital transformation means much more than just migrating away from legacy technology systems. It involves inspiring ideas, encouraging communication and collaboration, and empowering government employees to forge their organizations’ innovation pathways. 

That’s why we are focusing on cultural transformation at our upcoming Red Hat Government Symposium. This year’s one-day event—Open transforms: A future built on open source—will be on Nov. 12, 2019, in Washington, D.C., and will feature a stellar lineup of keynotes and panels, as well as fantastic networking opportunities with industry peers.  

The Open Organization

While cultural transformation will look different for every organization, a commitment to openness must be a foundational element for success. An open culture can generate velocity, agility, and innovation by encouraging individual ideas and bringing teams together. It supports discussion, flexibility, creativity. 

As Red Hat’s president and CEO Jim Whitehurst wrote in his book, The Open Organization:

“An open organization -- which I define as an organization that engages participative communities both inside and out -- responds to opportunities more quickly, has access to resources and talent outside the organization, and inspires, motivates, and empowers people at all levels to act with accountability.”

This has always been Red Hat’s vision, and we’ve helped it become manifest at government agencies at all levels. For example, we worked with Lockheed Martin to transform the methods used to create the U.S. Air Force’s fleet of F-22 Raptor fighter jets. We’ve worked with agencies across the U.S. to modernize application development processes. In each of these cases, we’ve shown organizations how to apply many agile software development principles to create organizational change.  

A Day of Transformation

The agenda includes guest speakers from Red Hat and many of our public sector customers. Noted government executives scheduled to present include Nicolas Chaillan, chief software officer, U.S. Air Force; Richard Jack, Distinguished C4ISR Software Engineer, Naval Information Warfare Center, Department of Navy; and Rob Brown, CTO, U.S. Citizen and Immigration Service. Red Hat keynoters will include Jim Whitehurst; Stefanie Chiras, vice president and general manager, Red Hat Enterprise Linux; and Paul Smith, senior vice president and general manager, Public Sector. 

Together, these and many other speakers will share best practices and strategies for successfully transforming public sector organizations into innovation powerhouses. Click here for a full list of speakers and agenda.

We’re excited to share the stories and insights from these and other customers at the Red Hat Government Symposium. Please join us to learn more about how to transform your organization. Register today.


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Red Hat is the world’s leading provider of enterprise open source software solutions, using a community-powered approach to deliver reliable and high-performing Linux, hybrid cloud, container, and Kubernetes technologies.

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