Big news today for government agencies that are looking into cloud computing. The Dept. of Education has issued an Authority to Operate (ATO) certification for its Appian Anywhere process solution built on Amazon Web Services (AWS). This is the first cloud-based business process management solution to be given an ATO by a federal agency. Its significance extends well beyond the Dept. of Education, because it assures other departments and agencies that Appian running on AWS meets the stringent requirements for federal information systems.
An ATO is only awarded after a rigorous and comprehensive assessment of the solution's management, operational, and technical security controls. The assessment is performed under the Federal Information Security Act of 2002 (FISMA) framework for managing information security for all information systems used or operated by a U.S. federal government agency or by a contractor or other organization on behalf of a federal agency.
Federal CIO Vivek Kundra has made it clear that cloud computing is an important initiative for the federal government. But the cloud model is still emerging, and many agencies are looking for confirmation that it is secure and reliable.
Appian's ATO certification should go a long way to providing that confirmation for government BPM in the cloud. You canlearn more by listening toa great podcast interview with Terry Wise, Director of Business Development at Amazon Web Services, and Samir Gulati, VP of Marketing at Appian, on the BetterGov blog.
Ben Farrell, director of Corporate Communications
