Buchanan & Edwards already has a significant presence across the federal government, but the national security solutions provider has no intentions on resting on its laurels.
With work for the intelligence community now representing half the business, the company continues to expand its footprint within the departments of Labor and State, the FBI and the Government Accountability Office, among others.
The capabilities Buchanan & Edwards offers its customers have really evolved over the last decade, said Chief Growth Officer Mohamed Elansary.
“We have completed large, complex cloud migrations, not only helping our customers get to the cloud, but also helping them modernize their applications so they can really take advantage of what the cloud has to offer,” he said. “Our [intelligence]capabilities have also gone well beyond the collection, processing, analysis and dissemination of intelligence, and we are now delivering full-spectrum cyber solutions, which are critical to national security.”
Agencies today face a myriad of challenges, especially in safeguarding their systems and the nation’s critical infrastructure. Through BE’s recent acquisition of RenXTech, the company significantly expanded its cyber capabilities in support of that need.
“The addition of RenXTech’s capabilities to our arsenal was not only strategic, but mission critical,” Elansary said. “We now offer full-spectrum cyber capabilities to include penetration testing, cyber threat hunting, tool development, digital forensics, vulnerability assessments and network analytics. This is mission-focused work, not enterprise IT.”
These new in-demand capabilities, paired with intelligence operations and BE’s delivery of innovative technical solutions, give the company its competitive differentiator in a crowded marketplace.
“From intake and analysis to strategic planning and mission execution, we’re offering complete mission support across the entire intelligence lifecycle,” Elansary said. “By combining intelligence collection, reporting and analysis capabilities with our innovative technology services, we’re really standing out and breaking new ground. For example, we blend technical and HUMINT-derived information for mission execution.”
Elansary said BE is looking to continue expansion through a combination of organic growth and strategic acquisitions, and while it is keeping an eye open for businesses with an already strong footprint in its client space, the company’s primary focus is on driving organic growth through strong relationships in existing accounts.
“We are an account-focused company and dedicated to supporting our clients and their missions” he said.
What does that mean in practice?
“It means we go in and really make sure that we fully understand every aspect of our client’s business,” Elansary said. “We make it our job, first and foremost, to understand our client’s mission and goals. What are the challenges that they’re facing? What are the nuances that must be navigated to help them achieve their desired outcomes? Once we have that understanding, then we tailor our capabilities and tools accordingly.”
This strategy has proven effective in not only driving growth, but also in maintaining long-term customer relationships.
“I’m proud of the fact that we’ve been approached by long-time clients to help them solve some very sensitive challenges,” Elansary said. “Sometimes, these requests even require us to leverage new, innovative technologies that haven’t been fully adopted in the federal space. Because we understand their mission, and what they’re trying to accomplish, they trust us to architect and implement a complete enterprise solution that meets their requirements while complying with federal security standards.”
While BE marches forward and continues its upward marketplace trajectory, it still must deal with its greatest challenge, which is also its greatest strength, Elansary said.
“We’re a smaller mid-tier organization competing against some very large companies — companies with revenue that exceeds billions of dollars,” he said. “Some of the resources these competing businesses have, present a real challenge. It means we have to be very selective about the opportunities that we pursue and more innovative in our response.”
BE’s smaller size also gives it a significant advantage in the marketplace.
“As mid-tier company, we have the infrastructure and quality management system of a larger organization, but we’re also able to provide our customers with the agility, responsiveness and executive accessibility of a much smaller business,” Elansary said. “It’s very easy for one of our customers to directly call any C-level executive and get the support they need. In fact, we encourage it.”
Plus, the company visits customers regularly, and if asked to make a change, BE responds very quickly.
“It is a significant advantage that the billion-dollar companies just don’t have,” Elansary said. “We can remain flexible and accommodate our clients quickly, while at the same time, maintain that great, large-business quality and infrastructure.”
That QMS includes Capability Maturity Model Integration Level 4 accreditations for development and services, Level 3 for acquisitions, and International Organization for Standardization 27001, 20000 and 9001 — a rare combination of credentials for even very large organizations to have.
“Quality management is extremely important to BE,” Elansary said. “Our customers and employees expect consistent, quality output from us, and so we have mechanisms in place to help make sure that we provide reliable results. By combining the quality consistency of larger organizations, with the agility you normally receive from smaller firms, you can really get the best of both worlds from BE.”
On a personal level, Elansary describes himself as an analytical problem-solver at heart.
“I’ve been in consulting my entire career and I’ve always enjoyed meeting with customers,” he said. “I take every opportunity I can to further understand the challenges and problems that our clients face and enjoy working to identify solutions that fix those problems.”
Elansary likes to immerse himself in a customer’s mission, and he said BE has supported that. He also served on the board of FBI InfraGard National Capital Region and FBI InfraGard National Member’s Alliance and graduated from the Washington Field Office FBI Citizen’s Academy.
“It is rewarding to work with an entire organization that shares the same level of dedication towards problem solving that you do,” he said. “I really appreciate BE’s support of the national security community and its unwavering commitment to their clients. I know what we do really makes a difference and I’m proud to be part of that.”