Federal Agencies Need to Rethink How Work Gets Done, Not Just Add More AI Tools
Federal IT leaders have moved past basic chatbots. The next step is building integrated systems where autonomous agents work across an entire agency, not in isolated pockets.
That's the argument from Mia Jordan, a public sector strategist at Salesforce and former CIO at the Departments of Agriculture and Education. In a recent podcast, she outlined why the current fragmented digital model is holding government back from its mission potential.
The Hidden Cost of Disconnected Systems
Government employees switch between applications more than 1,000 times a day. Each switch represents a moment where information gets lost, delayed, or moved into unofficial channels like email and spreadsheets.
Jordan calls these workers "swivel servants" - personnel forced to manually bridge gaps between disconnected systems. For agencies managing procurement or rapid response, this friction is more than inconvenient. It means leaders make high-stakes decisions based on incomplete or outdated data.
The problem compounds across departments. Work moves from one functional area to another, and critical context sits outside official systems of record.
The Agentic Enterprise Model
The solution isn't bolting another AI tool onto existing infrastructure. Instead, agencies need to restructure how work flows through their organizations.
In an agentic enterprise, AI operates within a single, secure platform that coordinates tasks across departments. AI becomes a core component of the work environment itself, not a separate layer on top of it.
This requires a shared operating layer that brings disconnected tools into one workflow. Within that space, AI can automate routine activities - summarization, approvals, task assignments - as part of the daily work process.
Avoiding the Rip-and-Replace Trap
Federal IT leaders worry about expensive overhauls of legacy systems. Jordan points to a more practical approach: zero-copy data architectures.
This method lets AI access insights across multiple systems without physically moving or duplicating sensitive data. Agencies get the benefits of integration while keeping existing data silos intact.
"We're going to blur the lines a little bit now," Jordan said, "because information and data can be shared and become a lot more meaningful to more people."
The Real Payoff
The shift to an agentic enterprise reduces friction in mission execution. When data, workflows, and AI support operate in one coordinated space, leadership stops managing the mechanics of moving work between systems.
Instead, leaders focus on outcomes. "When work happens in a unified environment," Jordan said, "leadership can focus more on the outcomes… because the work is now in a single space."
For government agencies managing complex operations, that clarity matters. It's the difference between managing technology and managing the mission.
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