Access to Insight: How Government’s Data Challenge Has Changed in the Past 15 Years

By Sydney Metzmaker

Fifteen years ago, the government’s biggest data challenge was access. Agencies raced to build data lakes, stand up warehouses, and untangle years of spreadsheets and siloed processes—all to bring their organizational data into one accessible location. The logic was simple: consolidate and democratize access and better decisions would naturally follow.

Looking back, that effort worked. Today, most agencies have some form of enterprise data environment. Leaders and operators can pull information faster than ever before. But in solving the access problem, we uncovered a bigger challenge: the insight problem.

As PVM celebrates its 15th birthday this year, I’ve been reflecting on our journey in the world of data, and the lessons learned along the way about turning access into actionable insight. Today, the focus has shifted: it’s no longer enough to ask, “Can I see the data?” as it was 15 years ago when PVM was founded. Instead, the real question is, “Can I trust it, interpret it, and act on it at the speed my mission demands?”

The New Challenge: Insight at Scale

What makes insight harder than access is that it doesn’t live in technology alone. It’s not just about pipelines, platforms, or APIs. It’s about people, processes, and the choices leaders make every day. Data without context is noise. Dashboards without action are decoration.

Today, the biggest challenge government agencies face with data is assuming that merely having it is enough to advance their missions.

The next phase of government modernization requires more than centralizing systems; it requires creating a culture where insight is accessible, trustworthy, and operationalized into daily decision-making. That shift—from access to action—is where missions will win or lose in the decade ahead.

What Has Changed in the Past 15 Years

Three changes stand out when I look at where we were 15 years ago versus today:

1. Decision-making has overtaken access as the key challenge. Fifteen years ago, the priority was simply getting data into the hands of users. Today, agencies have access to data everywhere—but access alone is no longer enough. The real challenge is reasoning upon it, interpreting it accurately, and acting quickly to move missions forward. Insight—not mere visibility—is the new bottleneck.
2. Volume is no longer the problem; velocity is. Agencies now collect more data than they could have imagined a decade ago. The difficulty isn’t storing it, it’s finding the right signals in the noise and acting on them instantly. Success requires tools and processes that can surface insights in real time and translate them into actionable decisions.
3. Culture determines the impact of data. Modern data tools can automate, reconcile, and enrich information at scale, but technology alone isn’t enough. Organizational change, adoption, and collaboration are critical. Agencies that invest in people, workflows, and change management, not just infrastructure, unlock the full value of their data.

Looking Ahead

In the immediate and long-term futures, the government agencies that can translate raw information into operational advantage immediately will see the biggest movement toward their mission goals. That requires more than just technology. It requires leadership. It requires a willingness to measure success not by how much data we collect, but by how quickly we can turn it into mission outcomes.

Government has already proven it can solve the access challenge. Now let’s focus on building a culture of insight. That is where the real mission impact lies.