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Accenture Publishes Report Analyzing Cloud Initiatives & Strategy; Karthik Narain Quoted
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Accenture Publishes Report Analyzing Cloud Initiatives & Strategy; Karthik Narain Quoted

Accenture has published a new report, titled “Sky High Hopes: Navigating the Barriers to Maximizing Cloud Value,” to analyze businesses’ cloud investments, initiatives and strategy, the company announced on Monday. 

“Cloud-based transformation offers companies the most powerful way to reinvent their businesses, unleash the expertise and creativity of their people, enhance their sustainability efforts and create new stakeholder value,” said Karthik Narain, global lead, Accenture Cloud First. 

In its latest report, Accenture surveyed 750 senior business and IT professionals at large enterprises across 11 industries and 17 countries, finding that 37 percent of companies say they are achieving the full value expected on their cloud investments, with a two percent increase since Accenture’s original research report in 2018.

45 percent of business and IT leaders say they are “very satisfied” with their cloud outcomes, and 29 percent are completely confident that their organization’s cloud migration initiatives will deliver the expected value at the expected time. 

Accenture’s report highlights that, when businesses have gone more heavily into the cloud, outcomes are significantly better. Forty-six percent of high adopters report fully achieving their expected cloud benefits, compared to 36 percent of moderate adopters and 28 percent of low adopters.

“The reality is that not every company is unlocking the full potential value of the cloud. In fact, our newest report shows a surprisingly small two-year improvement in returns on corporate cloud initiatives, suggesting that a more thoughtful and holistic approach is needed,” Narain said.  

Accenture’s report found that 80 percent of business executives now look to cloud as a means of mitigating business uncertainty and lowering risk. In addition, 87 percent view cloud as a critical component of their strategy for achieving their corporate sustainability goals.

“Competing in the age of COVID-19 and beyond requires that companies implement a cloud-first strategy, in which every element of their business leverages the power of the cloud, right now,” Narain added. 

The findings also show that 54 percent of CEOs are completely confident in their organizations’ ability to deliver cloud initiatives with the expected value at the expected time, versus 34 percent of CIOs and 28 percent of CFOs. 

“The good news is that by taking a rigorous, outcomes-centric approach to devising a customized cloud strategy, partnering with the right experts and addressing challenges outside of the technology itself, such as upskilling their people to be more productive, businesses can achieve the results and return on investment they’re seeking,” Narain added.

About Accenture

Accenture is a global professional services company with leading capabilities in digital, cloud and security. Combining unmatched experience and specialized skills across more than 40 industries, we offer Strategy and Consulting, Interactive, Technology and Operations services—all powered by the world’s largest network of Advanced Technology and Intelligent Operations centers. 

Our 506,000 people deliver on the promise of technology and human ingenuity every day, serving clients in more than 120 countries. We embrace the power of change to create value and shared success for our clients, people, shareholders, partners and communities.

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AECOM Launches New Business Strategy & Appoints Executive Leadership; Troy Rudd Quoted
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AECOM Launches New Business Strategy & Appoints Executive Leadership; Troy Rudd Quoted

AECOM has launched a comprehensive strategy, called Think and Act Globally, to set the new standard of excellence in the Professional Services industry, the company reported on Monday. AECOM’s Board of Directors has increased the authorization in its existing stock repurchase program from $305 million to $1 billion, due to its confidence in its business and its strategy.

“Today’s announcements represent the next steps of our journey to set the new standard of excellence for the Professional Services industry,” said Troy Rudd, AECOM’s chief executive officer.

AECOM’s new strategy will extend the company’s global expertise and transform deliverables via integrating new technology and digital platforms. The strategy will advance AECOM’s position within the Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) industry.

“Over the past several years, our professionals have made great progress on our goal to create a higher-margin and lower-risk Professional Services business, and through this process we have identified several opportunities to extend our competitive advantages even further and take better advantage of our strengths,” Rudd added.

AECOM also announced the expansion of its Executive Leadership Team with the appointments of Todd Battley as chief strategy officer, Shirley Adams as chief human resources officer and Sarah Urbanowicz as chief information officer. The new executives will report to Rudd and are effective immediately.

“As part of our pursuit of this vision, I am excited to welcome Todd, Shirley and Sarah to our Executive Leadership Team, who I am confident will be tremendous leaders for our organization. The future for AECOM is bright and I am excited to see what we can accomplish when we come together unified under one goal of transforming our industry,” Rudd said.

About AECOM

AECOM (NYSE:ACM) is the world’s premier infrastructure consulting firm, delivering professional services throughout the project lifecycle – from planning, design and engineering to program and construction management. On projects spanning transportation, buildings, water, energy and the environment, our public- and private-sector clients trust us to solve their most complex challenges.

Our teams are driven by a common purpose to deliver a better world through our unrivaled technical expertise and innovation, a culture of equity, diversity and inclusion, and a commitment to environmental, social and governance priorities. AECOM is a Fortune 500 firm and its Professional Services business had revenue of $13.2 billion in fiscal year 2020.

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AIS Names Sanju Bansal to Board of Directors; Larry Katzman Quoted
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AIS Names Sanju Bansal to Board of Directors; Larry Katzman Quoted

Applied Information Sciences (AIS) has appointed Sanju Bansal to its Board of Directors, the company reported on Monday.  Bansal has helped start and scale many leading companies in the Mid-Atlantic region, including MicroStrategy, Cvent, Clarabridge, CareJourney, Verato and others.

“We are thrilled to welcome Sanju to our Board… Sanju’s serial entrepreneur experience co-founding multiple companies, as well as his expertise as a director on numerous publicly traded and venture capital-backed boards, will foster our continued growth in the IT market,” said Larry Katzman, president and CEO of AIS.

Bansal will bring deep experience of  leadership and strategy in enterprise software, cloud, and data intelligence solutions, across Financial Services, Insurance, Healthcare and Life Sciences industries.

“It is an honor to have such a strong industry leader join our Board. Our team is recognized for its technical excellence and is comprised of the brightest and most passionate individuals in our industry,” Vishwas Lele, CTO and EVP of AIS added.

Bansal currently serves on the Board of Directors of two public companies: Perspecta and EverQuote. Bansal is also chairman of the Advisory Board for the Virginia Tech Innovation Campus.

“I am excited to join the AIS Board of Directors as the Company further accelerates its already impressive growth,” said Bansal. “AIS provides its customers – both Commercial and Federal – with unique and differentiated solutions as they migrate to the cloud and then scale their data intelligence in that environment. I am looking forward to working with the executive team as they take AIS to new heights.”

About AIS

Our mission is to serve as a trusted partner, efficiently delivering innovative solutions that maximize our clients’ technology investments. AIS specializes in helping large Commercial and Federal enterprises deliver transformative cloud solutions – across all three Microsoft cloud platforms – that decrease time to value, sunset legacy technology, and accelerate innovation.

Our expertise lies in the highly regulated environments leading migration and modernization, DevSecOps, security and compliance, custom app development, and data intelligence efforts, particularly as a leading Microsoft partner. AIS employs a global team of almost 700, headquartered in Reston, Virginia, with offices in Columbia, Maryland; Dayton, Ohio; Raleigh, North Carolina; Indianapolis, Indiana; Austin and San Antonio, Texas; and Hyderabad, India.

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Gen. John Hyten to Step Down as Joint Chiefs Vice Chair in 2021
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Gen. John Hyten to Step Down as Joint Chiefs Vice Chair in 2021

Gen. John Hyten, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and a two-time Wash100 Award winner, is slated to retire from his role in late 2021, USNI News reported Friday.

Hyten, whose two-year term will expire on Nov. 21, 2021, will not seek renomination for the post, according to his spokesperson Maj. Trisha Guillebeau.

Hyten received Senate confirmation for his current role in September 2019 and assumed the position two months later. The fiscal year 2017 National Defense Authorization Act authorizes Hyten to apply for renomination to serve in an extended four-year term that will begin on Jan. 1, 2021.

“The next Vice Chairman will serve a four-year term. Gen Hyten will serve two years,” said Guillebeau. “The intent of Congress was to offset the Chairman and the Vice Chairman positions by two years.”

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Byron Adkins Joins DOI as Interior Business Center Director
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Byron Adkins Joins DOI as Interior Business Center Director

Byron Adkins Jr., a 17-year military and public service veteran, has been appointed to lead a Department of the Interior (DOC) center that provides human resources, procurement and financial management support to agencies.

As the Interior Business Center's director, he will be responsible for shared services delivery across the department and more than 150 other federal organizations. He will also supervise over 900 personnel tasked with providing business support services to customer agencies.

Adkins previously worked as director in the Department of Commerce Office of Facilities and Environmental Quality and as deputy director of the Agricultural Research Service's Eastern Business Service Center.

His career has also included time as a legislative assistant on Capitol Hill, an electrical engineer for the City of Richmond, Virginia, and a commissioned officer at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

He held a project manager role and supported the Army Research Development and Engineering Command during his private-sector stint.

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NRL Eyes Public-Private Collaboration to Support Quantum Info Research; Gerald Borsuk Quoted
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NRL Eyes Public-Private Collaboration to Support Quantum Info Research; Gerald Borsuk Quoted

The Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) aims to promote collaboration between public and private sector organizations in support of its efforts to enhance quantum information science deployment. 

Two quantum collaboration meetings in November 2020 are intended to help NRL with its role as the QIS Research Center of the U.S. Navy, the lab said Friday.

At a two-day workshop, NRL and other members of the Washington Metro Quantum Network Research Consortium are looking into installing fiber optic communications cables to enable distributed entanglement of qubits between the state's participating institutions.

Representatives of NRL, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Army Research Laboratory, Laboratory for Telecommunications Sciences and U.S. Naval Observatory meet virtually on Nov. 16 and 17 to discuss the establishment of collegial research efforts among them.

The second conference on Nov. 23 will gather Navy scientists and engineers as part of the launch of the Naval Quantum S&T Working Group. Adam Black, NRL research physicist and one of the meeting presenters, will talk about his quantum sensing study.

Gerald Borsuk, associate director of research for the systems directorate of NRL, said the lab pursues QIST studies through its partnerships with other laboratories, academia, government and industry. "We hope these meetings build bridges within government and with academia and industry that lead to further interactions to bring quantum technologies to reality."

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NASA’s Deanna Lee on Agency Efforts to Centralize Procurement Ops
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NASA’s Deanna Lee on Agency Efforts to Centralize Procurement Ops

Deanna Lee, a project manager at NASA, has said the agency is launching a program aimed at streamlining acquisition operations at 11 NASA centers across the country, Federal News Network reported Thursday.

Lee told the publication in a prior interview that the NASA Office of Procurement’s Mission Support Future Architecture Program comes as part of efforts to prevent redundancy on contracts and share capabilities throughout the agency’s procurement hubs.

She noted that NASA's procurement office intended to centralize operations at the enterprise level and has “done a very good job of training and informing its staff” on product service lines.

“And so while the centers are aware of what contracting personnel work on each contract, there’s not a centralized database to have an enterprise wide visibility into those assignments,” Lee said.

Ninety-five of NASA’s acquisition workforce achieved certification in line with federal standards. Breakdowns in internal controls resulted in the remaining 5 percent not meeting the criteria for certification, according to Lee.

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Analyst Brad Curran: DoD to Increase AI Investments
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Analyst Brad Curran: DoD to Increase AI Investments

Brad Curran, industry principal for aerospace, defense and security at Frost and Sullivan, said he expects Department of Defense (DoD) to increase artificial intelligence spending on a faster rate compared to other information technology investments, National Defense Magazine reported Thursday.

The analyst said DoD is using AI across multiple areas of application on a growing rate, with recent large AI investments including $489 million in contracts awarded last year for AI programs.

Military areas including maintenance, logistics and intelligence use AI for predictive analytics, Curran noted.

He added that AI spending in the defense market will exceed the predicted 2 percent growth of other IT investments next year.

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Satya Akula to Retire as Amyx President & CEO; Scott Amey Quoted
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Satya Akula to Retire as Amyx President & CEO; Scott Amey Quoted

Amyx has announced that the company’s president and chief executive officer (CEO), Satya Akula, will retire in Dec. 2020, after a nine-year tenure, Amyx reported on Friday. He will continue to be a stockholder with the company. Bill Schaefer, the current chief operating officer (COO), will succeed Akula as president and CEO.

“I want to thank Satya for his tremendous contribution to Amyx’s success.  Amyx’s growth under his leadership has been nothing short of phenomenal.  His effective leadership helped grow Amyx in all aspects – the highest level of customer satisfaction, efficient back-office functions, many quality certifications, and business expansion into every State and Territory within the U.S.” said Scott Amey, the chairman of Amyx.

Akula was one of the original group of investors that purchased Amyx in 2008, and in 2011 he assumed the role of Amyx’s president and CEO. During his tenure, he grew the company’s revenue with an average year-over-year growth rate of 30 percent.

Amyx has also expanded its customer base to include the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, U.S. Transportation Command, Defense Health Agency, Securities and Exchange Commission, U.S. Army, Department of Energy and Department of Homeland Security. The company has also expanded its relationship with the Defense Logistics Agency.

In addition, Akula has helped expand Amyx’s services across cybersecurity, cloud computing, agile software development, acquisition support and financial support services during his time as CEO.

Amyx has also gained quality certifications to include CMMI Level III, ISO 9001, ISO 14001, and ISO 27001. Akula has also focused on back-office functions, adding efficiency and effectiveness. Akula has grown Amyx into a large business that is well postured for future success in the full and open market.

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ODNI Names Matthew Kozma as IC CIO; John Ratcliffe Quoted
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ODNI Names Matthew Kozma as IC CIO; John Ratcliffe Quoted

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) has selected Matthew Kozma to assume the role of chief information officer (CIO) of the intelligence community (IC), FedScoop reported on Friday. Kozma will succeed John Sherman, who left to join the DoD as principal deputy CIO in July. La’Naia Jones has served as acting CIO since Sherman’s departure.

“As a U.S. Air Force veteran of 25 years, he brings a wealth of experience in space, research and development, intelligence, as well as private sector and international security cooperation,” said director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe. “We look forward to his leadership in modernizing and advancing the IC IT enterprise.”

As CIO, Kozma will work to coordinate the investment in and management of the IT enterprise across the IC. He will also collaborate with CIOs and other senior leaders in the community’s 17 agencies to advise the director of national intelligence. 

Kozma will focus his efforts on the IC’s continued transition to the cloud, through its multi-billion-dollar Commercial Cloud Enterprise (C2E) contract, as well as the adoption of artificial intelligence.

He is also responsible for the IT infrastructure and enterprise architecture investments of all 17 IC elements and is charged with ensuring research and development activities that enhance integration, interoperability and capability alignment across the IC.

Prior to joining the IC, Kozma most recently served as the executive agent for the Department of Defense’s (DoD) Unified Platform and Joint Cyber Command and Control. In his position, Kozma led the department’s work to “optimize investments, close critical cyberspace capability gaps, and ensure delivery of resilient, agile, secure and effective cyberspace capability solutions to the warfighter,” as stated in DoD’s job description.

With DoD, he also led the department’s efforts to accelerate cyber capability development and deployment to operations. Kozma has served in a variety of positions supporting the DoD, IC, and private sector on efforts spanning space, intelligence and cyber research and development, acquisitions operations and international partnerships.

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