George Franz, managing director and cybersecurity lead for defense at Accenture Federal Services (AFS), recently spoke with GovCon Wire about how the inclusion of the Novetta acquisition from 2021 has benefited its portfolio and driven value for the company’s customers.
In addition, George Franz touched on ensuring long -term success for AFS employees, which includes addressing the recruitment and talent management challenges of the federal sector as well as how the influence of emerging technologies is. continues to drive digital transformation efforts for AFS in 2022 during the latest Executive Spotlight interview.
“The main drivers of change are technology and people. They are both essential to the work required to keep pace with the rapid development of emerging technologies. We cannot afford to miss the opportunities we have to develop new ways of thinking about change. The secret is that change happens on the part of the mind and in the development of your people.
You can read the full interview with George Franz below:
GovCon Wire: With the influence of emerging technologies affecting every aspect of the business, how has your company been able to drive digital transformation efforts to stay at the forefront of change in the federal landscape for yourself and your customers?
George Franz: “Obviously, the challenge can be daunting. My role at Accenture Federal Services (AFS) is primarily focused on operations and strategies for cybersecurity with the Department of Defense (DoD). In consideration of our digital efforts change in the DoD, the AFS has actually made a practical, results -based change strategy.
That requires a good mix of people, processes, and technology. It is the AFS’s responsibility to provide the best possible support for the DoD as the department works to address important national defense priorities at hand. Using the latest national defense strategy, AFS seeks to support joint detention and bring those capabilities across the federal government.
There is great synergy between AFS and DoD as we support all aspects of the campaign from developing strategies and policies to delivering cutting-edge tools to the operator edge of the battle. AFS allows our clients to gain a real advantage against the full range of competitors and potential threats.
Another aspect of our mission is that AFS helps build benefits that accelerate the development of delivering these technologies to people faster, which includes the agility and capabilities of DevSecOps.
We continue to make large investments in talented people who develop those capabilities. There are many requirements coming into the pipeline through recent executive orders as well as emerging technologies such as zero-trust architecture and quantum computing capabilities.
Our approach is to take the full spectrum of culture, which includes people, processes, and technology to deliver and reach training results. Innovation is accelerating. Many technologies are coming fast, but you need to bring that into the mission space in a way that provides successful results for the client.
There is so much modern technology to come so you should have people who can really help execute those with you on the mission. Technology itself is not the answer. It’s a combination of technology and your people. The real driver of technology is the ability to create strategies to solve problems and have people who can carry out the mission. ”
GovCon Wire: How does your company ensure long-term success for your workforce to drive value for your employees as you continue to face the upward challenge to recruit and retain the best talent in the federal marketplace?
George Franz: “As a veteran, I really appreciate the need for diverse, disciplined, and creative workers in all technologies, especially in the cyber mission space. At Accenture Federal Services, that is a very important part of our overall human capital management work. Our focus is to support the national defense strategy as well as recruitment initiatives for veterans.
It provides an opportunity for our veterans to continue to serve the town in other roles. That’s how I personally felt about continuing to serve in support of our national defense as head of Accenture Federal Services. This is a critical part of developing that industry as well as being available to define government and military relationships to help our veterans join our organization.
Accenture Federal Services really looks at the talent pool of veterans at all levels, including experienced senior veterans like myself or the junior folks who are also moving. Aspects at the core and strength of our DoD and military community include excellent technical skills and an appreciation of new technologies and their processes.
We found that the veterans who joined AFS had an intense thirst for continuous learning and a deep understanding of the mission, which helps our team and the entire company in everything we do. There are several things we use to raise our veterans, train and move them and their spouses to large platforms like Salesforce and ServiceNow.
AFS has found that veterans who go through our programs not only move on to new careers and opportunities if their career takes them elsewhere, but they become trainers to share information for others.
That’s perfect in the AFS culture. We are motivated by serving our clients and helping to complete their missions. We have learned that veterans bring a generous environment to work and they deserve to continue to serve in the defense of our country. ”
GovCon Wire: What can you tell us about Novetta’s integration since acquisition last year and how it has benefited your portfolio and driven value for your customers?
George Franz: “We’re really excited to get Novetta. AFS has included an excellent team with a strong set of capabilities that enhance the capabilities of Accenture Federal Services ’portfolio, particularly in the cyber mission space in support of the national defense strategy.
Novetta, which is now our National Security portfolio, has brought the full spectrum of cyber tools and capabilities. This allows us to better support the DoD’s mission and provide operational-focused support, engagement, and tools.
The collection of those capabilities will add significant value for our customers. We also recently established a new national security center to complement our defense sector.
All of this has given AFS the opportunity to improve our use of disruptive technologies, artificial intelligence, and machine learning. They have super cybersecurity and full spectrum capabilities that allow us to change how we approach defense and law enforcement missions.
We provide enhanced capabilities for our clients, giving them better access to their data to meet mission requirements across the spectrum to support the National Security and Defense Strategy.
I’m obsessed with the idea of integrating technology, but more importantly, people and processes work together so that everyone is on the same page with the same level of innovative thinking to realize the full potential of what what those technologies can do. take on the mission.
Often, we are all too able to focus on technology or the latest tool, or whatever is the latest thing in our sector. That’s important, but we also need to always have advanced, cutting-edge tools. You need the best trained and most skilled people. Above all, you should have processes and implementation plans regardless of the next technology.
That’s how Accenture Federal Services leverages these technologies to use them more efficiently than any of our competitors. We can’t afford them. However, we can outdo and envision them to get the advantage we need to support our national defense missions.
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