AWS Public Sector Blog

Category: Best Practices

Fighting fraud and improper payments in real-time at the scale of federal expenditures

Since 2003, the US federal government has made approximately $1.7 trillion in improper payments, with an estimated $206 billion made in FY 2020 alone. Improper payments are now anticipated to increase proportionally to new levels of federal spending. How can agencies fight improper payments at this scale? And what tools can agencies use to address fraud, erroneous data submission and other causes of this problem? Agencies can use AWS to solve the multi-sided issues of payment integrity.

The value of document databases in the public sector: A spotlight on Amazon DocumentDB

Document databases make it simpler for developers to store and query data in a database by using the same document-model format they use in their application code. Amazon DocumentDB is a fast, scalable, highly available, and fully managed document database service that supports MongoDB workloads. This blog post details how public sector organizations are using Amazon DocumentDB, and why so many organizations are turning to this purpose-built database to address JSON intensive applications.

Why moving to the cloud should be part of your sustainability strategy

A recent report by 451 Research, part of S&P Global Market Intelligence, commissioned by the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Institute, reveals that moving enterprise and public sector IT workloads from on-premises data centers to the cloud can reduce energy consumption and associated carbon emissions by nearly 80%, and is five times more energy efficient than the typical on-premises Asia Pacific (APAC) data center.

Introducing 10 minute cloud tutorials for research

Ten Minute Tutorials for Research provides a way for researchers to quickly learn about topics and tools that are specific to their unique needs, covering the basics on how to get started and providing helpful links to get more in-depth information and support—all in ten minutes. The series is led by AWS solutions architects and AWS research business development specialists who work closely with researchers. Many of the presenters are former researchers themselves and content is specifically geared to a research audience.

6 steps to cloud procurement readiness for government

Governments across the world are looking to procure cloud technologies to meet the needs of their citizens. Addressing the difference between traditional technology purchasing and the procurement of cloud is critical to maximizing an organization’s ability to buy and use cloud technology. To ready their departments and agencies to purchase cloud services and get support to make this move, organizations can take these six procurement readiness steps.

Wickr, an AWS company, offers a secure and compliant solution to protect organizational communications

To offer security conscious enterprises and government agencies the ability to implement important governance and security controls, AWS acquired Wickr in June of 2021. Wickr helps organizations protect their collaboration with a secure and compliant solution. Built with a security-first mindset, Wickr delivers advanced security features not available with traditional communications services.

What you need to know about the Executive Order on Improving the Nation’s Cybersecurity and how AWS can help

President Biden’s executive order emphasizes the need to elevate information security as a core tenet of national security, and calls on federal agencies and public sector organizations to work with the private sector to prioritize the data security and privacy of the American people and government. AWS and AWS Partners can help government agencies align with the initiatives in this executive order.

5 things public sector managers should know about cloud security accreditation programs

Accreditation programs and the organizational models that support them are priority considerations for public sector managers who are modernizing their IT. But managers often consider risk and compliance issues too late in the planning stage. Here are some key principles that can prevent accreditation-related issues from becoming a roadblock to cloud adoption.

Transporting people and freight more efficiently with cloud-based technologies

Freight transportation companies and logistics service providers are being challenged by spikes in e-commerce volume. The need for real-time, dynamic re-adjustment of global supply chains has shortened planning cycles from weeks to hours, and requires faster IT workloads, quicker access to data, increased ability to innovate, and more. Amazon Web Services (AWS) and cloud technologies can help by bringing cost-effectiveness, scalability, elasticity, and agility to freight and people transportation systems.

How governments can benefit from open source solutions to solve common challenges

Governments have similar problems and are not in competition, so using technology that others have developed and made freely available via open source to transform essential services makes sense. To make open source solutions easier to find for governments, AWS recently created an online repository: Open Government Solutions.