Page 57 - FCW, October 2017

Engility
Engility has restructured its operations to integrate its acquisition of TASC and position itself to pursue larger opportunities. The approach has paid off with several wins, including the biggest in the company’s history.
It also improved employee and management incentive pro- grams as it moved away from LPTA-based work and restructured its business development operations. New hires were a major component, with CEO Lynn Dugle bringing on a new chief hu- man resources officer and new leaders for contracts, defense and communications.
GuidePoint Security
More than 16 percent of GuidePoint Security’s employees focus on cybersecurity R&D. The company offers a virtual security op- erations center product with advanced network and data security methodologies, and it has partnered with 12 technology vendors to complement its own R&D efforts and enhance its solutions.
Ideal Innovations Inc.
Ideal Innovations Inc. reorganized to bring more focus to its tech- nology products and services related to facial recognition. Dur- ing a strategic review in 2015, I-3 officials realized they had the internal capabilities to address issues such as antiterrorism, bor- der security and law enforcement investigations, so they stepped up product development and training in the areas of winning and supporting federal, state, local and international customers.
As a result, the company’s business has shifted from profes- sional services to developing leading biometric products, train- ing and related services.
Integrated Computer Solutions
Integrated Computer Solutions began making R&D investments in 2009 and developed a process for managing how an organiza- tion innovates, including how projects are chosen, funded and evaluated. That approach led to an innovation master plan that has driven other investments, including strategic hires, technol- ogy alliances and a joint venture. The results have been revenue growth and a culture of continual improvement, as evidenced by the increasing number of CMMI certifications among the com- pany’s employees.
Markon
A 2015 restructuring created seven major departments at Markon. Four are focused on markets: defense, intelligence, civilian and private sector. The other three are strategic growth, operations and solutions — the last of which drives much of the company’s innovation.
Markon has a goal of 10 trademarked solutions by 2020 and so far has developed five. It is using its technology investments to drive its professional services and has created an internal
process (help.markonsolutions.com) to review, support and improve its solutions.
The firm has also increased its employees’ participation in professional organizations to raise the stature of the company and now has a senior executive charged with reviewing solutions and new and emerging technologies.
Novetta
Novetta pulled together scattered and fragmented cyberse- curity capabilities into one division to aggressively pursue new opportunities. The restructuring is an example of how the company continually assesses its structure to line up with its customers’ missions.
As the company has grown, it has sought to keep a flat structure and a start-up-like culture. It hosts technology meet-ups, social outings and team-building activities, and boasts an annual innovation challenge for employees with a cash bonus for the winner.
Winner: Best use of corporate restructurings
Octo Consulting was a successful small business that grew rapidly in 10 years. But as they transitioned
from small-business programs to full-and-open competitions, the company’s leaders knew they had to change their approach.
The firm needed more mature processes and undertook the ef- fort to be certified as CMMI Level 4 for development. It is one of only 20 companies in the country to achieve that designation, ac- cording to Octo officials, and one of the few to do so exclusively for agile projects.
The CMMI designation has allowed Octo to deliver software for complex IT projects that are 98 percent free of defects.
The company also restructured its CTO organization to make it a separate entity that reports directly to the CEO, which allows the CTO’s team to start developing solutions for problems the federal government will face in the future. At the same time, the CTO can apply those emerging solutions to current challenges. The com- pany has used that approach successfully on 12 contracts that needed creative solutions.
The CTO office has also led efforts to create alliances with a va- riety of technology vendors, including Olabs Technology. The two firms are working together to secure the infrastructure for the Army’s defensive cyberspace operations.
Octo’s early focus on agile software development also helped it land a $34 million contract with the National Geo- spatial-Intelligence Agency for software engineering, infra- structure and support.
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