SAVE Award 2011 Ideas

Lots of people with Blackberries in the Government. Do they really need them? I don’t think so. The Government needs to look at who really needs a Blackberry to save some money by limiting them to those key people (emergency personal, managers,directors, etc.) implement webmail in all agencies and people can then check their e-mails from anywhere. I have seen people with Blackberry that don’t really need them and is more... more »

Mimic industry and (except where required for security reasons) allow employees to use personal cell/smart phones for government business. Allows elimination or consolidation of supported infrastructure, support personnel, phone purchases, upgrades, etc. Allows employee to carry fewer devices. Allows nearly all employees to have cell phone access to work. Facilitates teleworking. Reduces the "I left it at the office"... more »

In one hand is my personal smart phone. I love it. I pay for unlimited voice and data with this phone. I can surf freely and without guilt that I'm wasting government money when I do so. It's also faster and more flexible than...what I hold in my other hand, my blackberry. I hate it. I only use it for government business which is largely viewing e-mails when I'm off site. So I carry two of these devices around.... more »

Use a service such as Citrix or Good Technologies to provide a secure connection to Government networks for people to use their personal smart phones (iPhone), tablets (iPad) or laptops. Provide an incentive to encourage to use their personal equipment. People using their personal electronics would have to agree to allow a "kill' feature be installed on all personal smart phones and tablet so that Government information... more »

Our work and personal lives have been converging for decades; employees have eschewed the duplicitous nature of keeping their work and personal lives separate in favor of policies that enable them to enjoy a more holisic, flexible existence. Remote working, flex-time, and alternative work schedules have been extremely successful in meeting these demands, and have fostered a more productive and cost-efficient workforce.... more »

Blackberry's are a critical piece of equipment for many employees in the VA. There is however no need for all blackberry's to be government purchased. Users not in critcal patient cares role that need blackberry's simply to communicate with staff could, and should purchase these devices themselves. Blackberry's connect to a managed blackberry server. Every device connected is automatically forced to recieve policy... more »

Many agencies have blackberries on their accounts that are no longer in use due to employee separations, etc. Suggest accounts be automatically terminated for nonuse after 3 or 4 weeks. There could be a 'warning of termination notice' sent ahead of time for those on vacation, etc.

Some installations (and also public lands) have cell phone carriers who lease out land to have cell phone towers on them. Require that a provision of the lease be to allow the government cell phones and blackberries at that particular area to have free coverage on that providers network.

Eliminate paper business cards. Use electronic signatures and EMAIL. For several years now, when I've been asked for card, I ask - "what is your EMAIAL address?" I then send an EMAIL on the spot with my Blackberry which includes my signature which is all of my contact info. Much less expensive, espedient, and effective. It also facilitates an immediate connection via EMAIL. For those without Blackberries or other... more »

For all staff with both Blackberries and desk phones, plus any staff that telework, issue one cell phone (versus having a personal cell phone, an office Blackberry, plus a desk phone), or offer a subsidy toward using the person's personal phone for office purposes. Then, all lines should share pooled minutes (like a great big "family plan"). Having both a Blackberry (with phone service), plus a desk phone, is redundant,... more »

All employees whose duties require field work or a significant percentage of travel are issued a number of devices that can be consolidated into a signle purchase of a smartphone. For my job as a Vulnerability Assessment Team Lead, I was issued a laptop, air card, Blackberry, vehicle Global Positioning System (GPS), hand-held GPS, flashlight, camera, and a backpack and Pelican case to hold all of it. This totals 7 devices... more »

In today’s’ world everyone searches for data. Everyone has a laptop, not a desktop… an iphone, blackberry, or android phone, and everyone loves a simple conservative interface. Our dependency on Microsoft products offers no fiscal reward regarding cost, productivity, training, maintenance and growth.
The data our federal government warehouses in contracted networks is ridiculously hard to navigate. I spend more time... more »

In my office, all the attorneys who request a blackberry can get one, which allows us to do our job more effectively.

I have been in our office a little over a year and am on my second blackberry. Along with the new blackberry, which already came with a standard wall charger, I received a separate wall charger and a car charger. Of course, with the first blackberry, I was also given a regular wall charger that came... more »

Why does everyone need a Blackberry? Just in my office alone the cell bill is $100k per year. Imagine how much could be saved across the gov't.

Only employees that are deem emergency personnel in each Agency’s shut down plan prepared and distributed last April should be provided with government funded Blackberries (or other mobile devices). Everyone has cell phones these days and if you need to contact employees just text or call them on their own cell phones.

With that being said, I recognize that this will most likely not happen, as many people are addicted... more »