How federal agencies can maximize IT investments

The U.S government invests more than $100 billion each year on technology. The government estimates that about 80% of that total is spent on operating and maintaining its systems — many of which are outdated or obsolete.

“Given the magnitude of these investments, it is important that agencies effectively manage their operations and maintenance,” the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) said in a 2025 report on IT acquisition and management challenges.

Why efficiency is more important than ever

The GAO report identified three major challenges and nine critical actions the government “urgently needs to take.” The challenges are as follows:

• Strengthening oversight and management of IT portfolios: The actions include improved monitoring of IT investments, plus better planning and budgeting for the acquisition of IT systems and services.

• Implementing mature IT acquisition and development practices: The actions include more effective management of project costs, schedules, risks, requirements and testing.

• Building federal IT capacity and capabilities: The actions include workforce challenges, improved customer experiences and the management of emerging technologies.

With the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) increasing the scrutiny on federal agencies to modernize their infrastructure and software, transitioning to smarter systems that leverage AI to deliver exceptional experiences while maintaining the highest levels of security is imperative. The key drivers making modernization essential are:

• Cost pressures: Legacy systems drain budgets with high maintenance costs and outdated processes.

• Operational bottlenecks: Manual workflows slow agencies down, impacting mission delivery.

• Compliance mandates: Agencies must meet stringent electronic records standards set by the U.S. Department of Defense.

> Learn more | Improve government efficiency with open-source content management

The path forward is clear. Intelligent, open-source content management solutions are modernizing legacy software to maximize government efficiency and productivity.

Intelligent content management uses integrated AI and cloud-enabled technologies to put enterprise information to work. Agencies’ systems are securely connected, and content and data previously stored in siloed, legacy applications is transformed into actionable intelligence.

With open-source content management solutions, agencies can:

• Streamline processes: Automate time-consuming tasks such as document workflows, FOIA requests and records management with AI.

• Cut costs: Shift expenditures from legacy maintenance, and reduce paperwork, storage costs, vendor lock-in and administrative overhead

• Enhance security and compliance: Meet electronic records compliance and security mandates with AI-powered process automation — all while safeguarding sensitive data and reducing risk.

• Enable faster, smarter decisions: Leverage AI-powered content insights to uncover patterns, trends and opportunities.

• Increase agility: A modern platform enables agencies to overcome capacity challenges and continue to deliver mission-critical services.

Hyland Alfresco is an open-source platform that empowers federal agencies to build solutions that are tailored to their specific needs. It’s designed to grow over time, allowing agencies to adapt as priorities evolve.

Open-source success

Alfresco provides open, flexible and highly scalable content management that helps agencies find, view, securely share and govern information.

Success story: Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)

The FAA implemented Alfresco as a platform-as-a-service (PaaS) offering in the AWS public community cloud via the FAA’s Cloud Service. The shared services platform offers multiple advantages, including a modular, cloud-native architecture, open-standards support, an open-source core and APIs that decouple front-end applications from the platform for maximum long-term flexibility.

Smarter automation

Alfresco accelerates solution development with low-code tools that enable users to quickly create and modify processes, forms and business rules. This streamlines IT bottlenecks and speeds innovation.

Success story: Cisco

The global technology leader commissioned a study that found their sales and partner teams were spending 15% to 20% of their time — millions of hours annually — searching for the right information to support valuable customer conversations. The company turned to Alfresco as the heart of a new centralized sales content and training platform. The automated platform delivers the best and most relevant information, speeds searches and has saved millions by taming the content chaos.

Actionable insights

Alfresco helps agencies gain insights and improve visibility to information — regardless of where it resides. This enhances decision-making and ensures that goals are efficiently met.

Success story: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)

An analysis of HUD's IT portfolio revealed multiple redundant document management systems. The legacy systems were costly to maintain and challenging to modify. HUD selected Alfresco as the foundation of an enterprise document and records management system, largely because its open-source technologies enabled rapid, low-risk prototyping and were consistent with federal guidelines to increase efficiency, transparency and innovation.

The future of federal IT is powered by open, flexible and scalable platforms. Whether your agency is grappling with legacy challenges, compliance mandates or operational inefficiencies, Hyland offers the tools to automate and streamline processes, and deliver mission-critical services.