Category Archives: DCO

Case Study: Defense Connect Online

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The Mystery of the Missing Service Provider

In the Defense Department, there is  a web-conferencing service called “Defense Connect Online“.  Until about two weeks ago, no one was responsible for providing this service.  DCO is a finalist for the 2013 Excellence.gov awards, and no one was responsible for providing the service.  (i-kid-you-not)  This service has 800,000+ registered users, and there were over a half-billion user-conferencing-minutes used last year across the DoD.  It is a huge success, especially in an era of declining budgets and severe travel restrictions.  People love it, and they hate it too.  They love it because it helps them do their jobs.  They hate it because they see how much more it could be.  Even the people who criticise DCO, (and there are such) do so because they absolutely need the capabilities it provides them, and they wish it did more.

How could this be?

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