Cheaper computers, faster networks and the rise of mobile computing are driving innovation faster than ever before. Cloud computing services are the fundamental enabler of this transformation and are reshaping business models for organizations of every size. Conrad during his tenure as the CIO of the City of Orlando was responsible for driving the adoption of Gmail and other cloud services for the city’s 3000 person workforce, a pioneering move amongst city governments in the US.

Social networking and pervasive computing with mobile devices have made it possible to aggregate knowledge, insight and expertise of diverse groups and coordinate efforts in real-time. Most companies, non-profits, NGOs and governments are at least beginning to investigate how to use of these tools within their own organizations. The Drupal "OpenPublic" solution for government entities and the more generic "Drupal Commons" solution can help organizations improve their "connectedness" both inside and outside the formal boundaries of the organization.

Anyone using Salesforce or CiviCRM with Drupal already knows that collecting information about contacts can be challenging. While having a separate system to collect contact information can be useful, it often creates a wall between the contact and the other information they generate within your website. This situation creates a wall between content and contacts, where valuable data about each lies in different systems, and integrating the two becomes cost prohibitive for most organizations.