The Covid-19 pandemic has forced much of the American workforce to be fully remote. While this may seem like a particularly daunting task for the government, known for its bureaucracy and outdated processes, Deputy Administrator of the General Services Administration, Allison Fahrenkopf Brigati, joins our Dcode Virtual series to discuss how the pandemic is propelling the government forward — and even bringing agencies together.
Watch Ms. Brigati’s full session here.
“We have invested for years to prepare for this moment,” Ms. Brigati tells Dcode CSO Meg Vorland. Brigati’s proactive remote training has paid off; the GSA was the first agency to go fully remote in March 2020. While her department was unique in their level of preparedness, Ms. Brigati said that she now looks forward to seeing the “unbelievable amounts of modernization” across the rest of the federal government.
As a government leader in technology, Ms. Brigati has been able to observe how other departments handle the transition to remote work. She’s been impressed with how well the government has been able to adapt, and she has seen how “agencies that have said that they would never go to telework” are realizing “that people sometimes work better [virtually].” She also values how these collaboration and cloud-based technologies have the power to connect. In this difficult time, Ms. Brigati says the collaboration tools have enabled her and her team “to not only stay connected, but to help people.”
As she observes how the pandemic has forced government agencies to innovate, Allison notes that “sometimes it takes a crisis to move things forward.”
To watch the on-demand recording of Ms. Brigati’s session, visit to dcode.co/virtual →