WashingtonExec 2014 Market Outlook Series
As we turn the page on 2013, we look forward to a new year and new opportunities for innovation and growth in the government contracting community. This past year we experienced budget sequestration, a 16-day-long government shutdown, and a perpetually increasing focus on cyber security and healthcare IT.
WashingtonExec reached out to those most knowledgeable and experienced individuals in the federal contracting space. We asked executives in and around the beltway for insight regarding where they see the government contracting community headed in 2014. Topics discussed include M&A activity, cloud computing, healthcare IT, defense, mobility, and more.
Charles L. Prow is the IBM Managing Partner responsible for the Global Business Services’ (GBS) North America Consulting Services and Global Public Sector. Prow is responsible for managing all aspects of our North America Consulting Services business which includes US Commercial, US Public Sector, and Canada.
Like most in Washington, I am cautiously optimistic that the disruptions and uncertainty caused by the budget showdowns may be behind us now. With budget stability becoming a real possibility we expect clients to begin executing strategies that move their mission forward. The trends in technology are clearly focused right now on shifting to cloud and taking advantage of mobility.
As I wrote last year in the report Fast Government, our clients are eager to find ways to become quicker and more agile, and to deliver their mission faster, cheaper and better. Many of these efforts were slowed during the past few years as budgetary survival became a dominant focus. In 2014, while we will continue to work in an environment of lean budgets, there may be increased appetite to take on some of these challenges and an enhanced ability to focus on the hard work of improving government operations.
In areas of emerging importance to government clients such as Cloud, Mobility and Analytics, IBM will be right in the midst of efforts to drive innovation through collaboration with our clients and business partners. The complexity and magnitude of challenges – such as the transformation of Defense Healthcare – means that effective collaboration will be more important than ever in meeting the public’s high expectations. I have no doubt that 2014 will be an interesting year!
