2014 – WashingtonExec Annual 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.
Tod Weber — the Chief Executive Officer of the Software AG Government Solutions unit of Software AG USA –manages strategy, operations, and growth for the company. He told us he anticipates government executives in the new year will embrace rapid proofs-of-concept, reallocate budget money to improve efficiency, and increase collaboration with industry.
“I think it is a very exciting time to be focused on the federal government. Budget cuts are forcing the government executives to take action in embracing new and more productive ways of achieving their respective missions. Government executives have grown weary of making significant IT investments before the target solution is proven out in their own environment. I think we will see a continued shift towards rapid proofs-of-concept as a way of mitigating the risk and associated costs of embracing new IT programs.
I also anticipate M&A will continue as industry looks for ways to consolidate operations and reduce costs. I expect the federal IT budget will stay relatively flat but there will be a significant focus on leveraging new technologies to cut costs. Investments in leading edge technologies such as in-memory computing have the potential to drive billions of dollars out of the data center costs. I think the government will move aggressively in 2014 to prove out such approaches and reallocate available budget dollars to improve efficiency.
Moreover, industry has a wealth of expertise available to the government. Sharp government executives are realizing that working closely with leading edge companies allows them to validate not only the effectiveness of a solution but assess the responsiveness and capabilities of a team to deliver when difficult challenges arise. To this end, I believe true collaboration with shared risk in the early stages of an IT initiative will become more prevalent in 2014.”
Weber also recently gave us insight into his role at Software AG Government Solutions, federal spending cuts, data analytics, and international big data perceptions. Read our interview with him here.
