Digital Resilience Powers Your Mission: GovSummit 2024 in Review

I just returned from GovSummit 2024, Splunk's largest free annual event for public sector leaders held in our nation's capital. Registration and attendance far exceeded our expectations, and the overall energy was high. Every year, GovSummit offers a unique opportunity for public sector leaders to learn, connect, and share solutions to tackle the government's most pressing challenges.

This was my third time attending GovSummit since joining Splunk as Vice President of Public Sector, and I had a fantastic time hosting the event and reconnecting with many of you. For those who couldn't attend this year, I’d like to provide a brief summary. Here are my three key takeaways:

• Splunk delivers observability for the entire enterprise.
• More and better data will lead to better AI outcomes.
• The Splunk you love is now even better.

Here’s What’s Top of Mind for the Public Sector

In today’s complex landscape, the intersection of geopolitics and cybersecurity demands urgent attention from public sector leaders. As we navigate a pivotal election year in the United States amidst ongoing global conflicts, the threat of cyberattacks looms larger than ever. Traditional security strategies are proving inadequate against increasingly sophisticated modern cyber threats, prompting agencies to rethink their approaches.

With the rise of artificial intelligence, a renewed focus on federated data management, and a pressing need for cloud technology modernization, public sector organizations are under pressure to safeguard their critical infrastructures while innovating for the future. What’s more, the growing cybersecurity workforce challenges, coupled with evolving regulations, underscore the necessity for agencies to partner strategically in order to enhance their digital resilience and compliance. We explored many of these key themes and how public sector leaders can address these challenges head-on to ensure a safer, more efficient digital environment.

Were you unable to join us this year? You can watch the keynotes and several of the breakout sessions here.

Splunk Delivers Observability for the Entire Enterprise

Ensuring a seamless experience for users is paramount. Splunk emerges as a leader in this arena, offering comprehensive observability solutions that encompass the entire enterprise tech stack. Whether it's owned infrastructure or third-party services, Splunk provides unparalleled insights that enable organizations to identify and resolve issues proactively.

For organizations across the public sector, observability may still be a relatively new practice, but that hasn’t stopped leaders from increasingly investing in observability in pursuit of more secure, reliable and trustworthy digital experiences for every community and resident. By leveraging Splunk, organizations can track performance across various components of their systems, gaining visibility into potential problems before they escalate and disrupt user experiences. This proactive approach not only mitigates risks but also enhances operational efficiency, allowing teams to focus on innovation rather than reactive troubleshooting.

Splunk Senior Vice President and General Manager for Security, Mike Horn did a great job of articulating our vision to provide visibility and insights across your entire digital footprint, powering actions that improve security, reliability, and innovation velocity​.

More and Better Data Will Lead To Better AI Outcomes

In today's rapidly evolving technological landscape, the significance of data cannot be overstated. As organizations strive to leverage artificial intelligence (AI) for improved decision-making and operational efficiency, the quality and quantity of data they use become paramount.

Recognizing this critical need, Cisco and Splunk have joined forces to empower government customers to harness the full potential of AI — AI that is domain-specific, that keeps humans in the loop, and that’s open and extensible. President, Go-to-Market, Cisco and Splunk General Manager Gary Steele discussed how AI is changing everything, including the nature of work for our customers. AI is pushing organizations to modernize infrastructure, transforming how technology leaders and teams work and ultimately transforming how agencies deliver services.

The Splunk You Love Is Now Even Better

Digital resilience has evolved from a best practice to a necessity for organizations navigating today’s complex threat landscape. The collaboration between Splunk and Cisco aims to drive transformative changes across government agencies, enabling them to integrate AI safely and effectively. Cisco and Splunk are committed to enhancing digital resilience, ensuring that organizations can adapt and thrive in the face of challenges. This partnership embodies a forward-thinking approach to data-driven AI solutions. Splunk as a market leader in digital resilience enables your SecOps, ITOps, and engineering teams to work individually and together as needed to prevent, remediate, and adapt.

​By embedding AI into their joint product portfolio, Cisco and Splunk are streamlining processes and enabling more informed decision-making. Government organizations can expect improvements in service delivery, risk management, and overall operational performance as they tap into the insights generated by this robust data-driven framework.

A heartfelt thank you to all attendees, partners, and sponsors who contributed to our success. On behalf of the entire team, we appreciate the opportunity to support your mission success with Splunk, a Cisco Company.

Until next time,
Bill Rowan