Learn by Joining the Federal Business Accelerator!
Yes of course! Here is how you go about doing it.
Let me start with some background. I have been at CXO levels in technology for a number of years. My last “tech” job was as the CIO of the US Department of Transportation (US DOT) where I had the oversight of an annual $3b+ of the technology investment portfolio, with over 3,000+ tech employees and 10,000+ tech contractors with 200+ tech systems.
I now lead an innovative Federal Business Accelerator (FBA) called ScaleUP USA. We partner with innovative organizations as part of the FBA's expanding ecosystem for growth in the $6.6T, recession-proof, US federal government marketplace. We are often asked the big question - how to become successful in the federal government marketplace. I'm going to answer this question in this blog - based on my experience as a former federal CIO.
The quick answer is you need to select the right project and execute it magnificently to build the past experience and reputation that will catapult you to success. Here is how you do it:
Positions of high responsibility come with high risk. Execute well and you are a hero. Execute badly and you are “out” of the door. I was always in search of the magic bullet that will ensure my success on a continuing basis and this led me to define the predictive “Technology Happiness Index (THI)” which helped me drive my career successfully.
Let me start with defining success. In the current business environment, a technology initiative or a technology project is successful, if it is implemented on time, within budget, meets or exceeds the specifications, and wow the customers and leadership. Further, in ideal situations, such technology initiatives are easy to implement, maintain and upgrade and are strong on cyber security and privacy of data.
Now let me elaborate on the Technology Happiness Index and its predictive quality. It will go a long way in making business and technology leaders as you deliver on success.
Business and technology leaders have a plethora of problems to solve. What problems they select for technology-based solutions have a huge bearing on the success of the initiative. In my experience, recurring, targeted, intensely painful problems affecting a large portion of the organization, its customers, or partners are ideal opportunities for problem-solving using technology. Vague problems affecting a narrow band of people or irrelevant problems championed for internal political reasons have low success. Solutions in search of problems always fail!
Clearly, delivering a quality solution is essential for successful technology implementation. The important question here is what is a quality solution? That depends on the problem. Technology solutions can be delivered in three fashions, Custom Built, Integrated Systems, or Commercial-Off-the-Shelf (COTS) products or platforms. Let us evaluate these options at the end and come up with a formula for success.
Innovation creates excitement, collaboration creates opportunities but ultimately transformation creates results. Transformation is defined as a “thorough or dramatic change in form or appearance.” To achieve it we need both human and technological components. The human mind looks for fresh, sleek, improved, and flexible solutions. If you are planning to introduce older, low-quality, “me too” kind of commodity technology solutions, then you may fail. Reviewing technology research reports for new technology assessment is outdated. Look at interesting and more cost-effective, exciting offerings such as the “Industry Powered Learning Master program” to deliver continuous learning, innovation, entrepreneurship, market development, and internal culture change.
Speed matters. Over time, the original problem morphs, solutions become outdated, user requirements change, management and sponsors move on, budgets get cut, new politics gets injected, and most importantly “you” the leader of the initiative may not be there to drive it and all the hard work is fruitless. All of these changes are recipes for a complete disaster. Therefore, speed up technology project implementation, manage technology projects in discrete independent phases, have a clear customer-focused end result for each phase, and select the optimum type of solution for problem-solving. Important -- Buy versus build when possible!
Wikipedia defines Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) as the financial estimate intended to help buyers and owners determine the direct and indirect costs of a technology product or system. We live in a perpetual era of scarcity. In my 25 years of technology career not once was I told I had all the resources I wanted. In fact most of the time I got “unfunded mandates” requiring IT to produce solutions with no money provided for fulfilling the requirements. Thus, technology projects that hog resources during development, production, or upgrade are out. Ready-made or COTS projects are normally in!
Organizations have three distinct types of options for technology solutions: custom development, COTS products or platforms, and systems integration. Let us evaluate these in detail.
This option normally has the lowest “Technology Happiness Index.” Custom development projects normally target complex, many times unrelated, unfocused problems where COTS solutions are unavailable. It is impossible to gauge the quality of custom projects up front, plus the speed of implementation is the slowest, while the cost of development, maintenance, and upgrade is the highest. Finally, rarely is there any innovation in these types of solutions due to the cost of development. Avoid custom solutions unless they are specifically required for strategic advantage or to drive mission activities! Where ever possible productize custom solutions through programs such as the Federal Marketplace.
COTS technology products or platforms encompass the needs of many, so they are more versatile, innovative, better tested, and easier to maintain and upgrade. The development cost is spread over many customers so typically they cost a fraction of the other options. Finally, the implementation speed, transformative technology component, and ease of procurement are excellent. My general rule of thumb is, if a COTS product solves 60-70 percent of your key requirements today, implement it and push the vendor for addressing the balance 30-40 percent in future versions.
This is a combination of custom-built and COTS solutions. A systems integrator is a company that specializes in bringing these two components into a whole and ensuring that those subsystems function together. I like systems integrators who have access to a portfolio of transformative COTS products for integration into a complete solution. This access improves the quality of the solution, its innovativeness, differentiation, and speed of implementation while reducing the overall TCO. Such an approach is a healthy middle ground when direct COTS product installation is not an option and custom development is too risky.
Become a Successful Federal Government Contractor
