Helping government modernize with secure, connected cloud workflows

State and local agencies have always strived to serve their communities with coordination, consistency and care. However, as the environment around them grows more complex, efforts to deliver modern, reliable services are increasingly hindered by aging technology, fragmented data and a near-constant wave of cyber threats.

Digital transformation is widely recognized as the path forward, and for many organizations that now begins with cloud-based, software-as-a-service (SaaS) tools capable of replacing legacy systems and supporting more connected ways of working — though the transition is rarely simple. Agencies must evaluate risk, navigate stringent security requirements and ensure compliance remains traceable end-to-end. Change management introduces another layer of difficulty, as aligning multiple stakeholders and onboarding large teams can slow the rollout of new tools.

Decades of siloed data only exacerbate these challenges.

“Sixty-one percent of government leaders say their data is siloed by legacy tools, which is a serious hurdle for advancement and establishing cohesive workflows” said Matthew Graviss, Atlassian’s public sector chief technology officer. “Sometimes pivotal functions like security and governance cause those silos, preventing information from being shared across programs or departments.”

To move forward successfully, agencies need solutions that enable teams to collaborate securely, access detailed insights and maintain the compliance posture their missions demand. 

A cloud foundation built for connected government teams

Atlassian Government Cloud answers that call. Grounded in Atlassian’s two decades of work in the public sector, the FedRAMP Moderate platform is designed specifically to help agencies clear the hurdles that typically stall new implementations. 

“The majority of our customers are currently use our on-prem data center tools today, and we built our SaaS offering, Atlassian Government Cloud, with current and future mission needs in mind,” said Abby Loesch, product marketing manager for Atlassian, noting that a key advantage of the platform is that it connects and underpins core Atlassian apps such as Jira, Confluence and Jira Service Management. 

“That shared platform means it is a lot easier for teams to collaborate, for individuals to find the work they need without context switching between siloed products, for data to be shared and, of course, to do so in a secure and compliant way,” Loesch said. 

In practice, that means daily workflows become more seamless. For example, an IT team might receive an incident report through Jira Service Management, which handles incoming requests and service tickets, then hand it off to developers working in Jira Software, the tool they use to track and resolve technical issues. The team can then later document the resolution or retrospective in Confluence, where knowledge and project notes are captured for future reference. In the cloud, those records stay linked, giving teams a complete view of what happened and why. 

This unified environment also opens up richer analytics, helping agencies identify trends in response times, recurring bottlenecks or opportunities to streamline processes.

“That's our vision for how teams should ideally be working together: connecting the dots and sharing that information,” Loesch said.

Meeting security needs without slowing transformation

Because security governs so much of modernization, agencies often need both confidence and flexibility to successfully make these shifts. Atlassian’s compliance posture helps create space for that balance.

“Having FedRAMP Moderate authorization gives agencies the assurance they need in order to adopt the SaaS model and connect teams,” Loesch said. “They know their requirements are met and their data isn't going to be at risk, and so they can be a little more open and encourage collaboration.”

At the same time, agencies still have the ability to separate sensitive information from the rest of their data, preserving necessary security boundaries while enabling more transparency across everyday work.

As industry customers move from legacy deployments to Atlassian’s SaaS solutions, the company has observed consistent improvements that signal similar benefits for the public sector, including shorter project timelines, greater individual productivity and more informed, data-driven decision-making. 

“A key part of this is also that when you move to a SaaS solution, maintenance responsibility is shared with the vendor,” Loesch said. “We're running updates, shipping new features as they come out, ensuring that security fixes are rolled out, which saves IT teams a lot of time on the burden of maintenance.”

In the near future, Atlassian plans to pursue FedRAMP High and Impact Level 5 authorizations to support mission-critical and classified workloads.

“Atlassian is making long-term investments in our public sector customers,” Graviss said. “We are committed to their missions, we want them to continue using our products and unlock all of the value of cloud that our commercial customers are seeing.”

Modernization expectations are not slowing down, and with a secure, unified cloud environment in place, agencies have the tools they need to work with speed, clarity and confidence.

Learn more about how Atlassian Government Cloud can help drive your agency’s modernization goals.