IT World is the sort of IDG trade rag that starts showing up in your mailbox about thirty seconds after you get your first job in the exciting world of high technology. Still, though, they do have an interesting article or two every once in a while.
Vivek Kundra, the Federal CIO, was talking at a Washington state college about some of the inefficiencies in the federal government that could be addressed with a better IT infrastructure and workflow.
It takes the Veteran’s Administration 160 days to process benefits for veterans, he said. “That’s because the Veteran’s Administration is processing paperwork by passing manila folders from one desk to another,” Kundra said. Sometimes that involves sending a folder via UPS to another office.
That’s okay, though. I hear they’re on the edge of a major breakthrough – something called a “Facks” machine. I hope I spelled that right.
Indeed, it seems that it might benefit the government to patent a paper reverser as well. If the patent office accepts you application:
http://industry.bnet.com/technology/10005104/uspto-wont-accept-upside-down-faxes-demands-resends/
I always thought it was a “Facts” machine. You know, Joe Friday, “Just the Facts, ma’am.”
This reminds me of the movie “Bullit”. In one of the final scenes they are hooking up a facsimile machine to receive a picture of the criminal. It takes like 15 minutes to receive the picture, the machine is huge and sounds like a bomb about to go off. That movie was made in 1968.