Accenture Federal Services recently announced a pair of executive promotions: Vanessa Godshalk was elevated to safety and citizen services portfolio lead, and Keith Runtz was promoted to defense portfolio lead.
Runtz served most recently as the company’s defense agencies lead and Defense Logistics Agency client account lead. In his 26-year career at Accenture, he has worked on large systems integrations for commercial clients across multiple industries before spending the last 20 years in defense.
We talked to him about his new role, and about the evolving defense space for GovCons.
Within the defense portfolio, what are some of the projects AFS is working on right now?
One of the things we’re proud of is the range and scale of projects we have around defense missions and IT modernization efforts. We work with our defense customers on some of their most important initiatives, a lot of digital and mission transformations that are using our value- and outcome-focused approach.
We know how to speed modernization efforts and we serve as a trusted partner to the DOD in doing so. This includes work in applied intelligence, cloud, digital platforms, large-scale system and supply chain modernization, user experience and cybersecurity. We’re helping a lot of our customers implement strategies to make their data available, timely and useful.
What common themes do you see across DOD?
We’re seeing technologies evolve faster and faster in a way that’s very applicable and impactful to our DOD customers. They want to mobilize and realize the benefits quickly. They’re looking to take advantage of innovation at speed.
Defense agencies are looking for solutions that help them make split-second decisions using the right strategic and tactical information. And that’s why data and applied intelligence are so important.
We’re helping our customers make the right technology investments that open doors to new ways of working and collaborating from the back office to the edge ⏤ without being compromised.
How is AFS positioned to help them on that journey?
In a couple of key ways. First, we are unique in that we draw from the broader power of Accenture. At times, the commercial sector has moved faster than government. Think of the best experiential gaming in the metaverse that occurs at Disney. Or remote maintenance and repair with the major industrial players. We bring knowledge of how to design and implement the innovations and emerging tech efforts happening across the world so that DOD does not need to reinvent the wheel. And we can bring in the experts who led the actual efforts. No guesswork.
Another way we help is by engaging our customers in what we call our “Innovation Architecture,” which is a set of organizations that move ideas from research all the way to operations at a global scale. We have a federal digital studio that has teams of highly skilled people who understand human-centered design, rapid prototyping and best practices, such as agile.
We often bring our defense customers into these settings to step away from the day-to-day. We find that when our customers take the time upfront to reframe problems, they are so much better positioned downstream when they deliver solutions their people want and will use.
How should GovCons in general be thinking about DOD’s needs?
It’s about people. At Accenture Federal Services, we make sure our people are a good fit for the challenges facing defense. Whether that means hiring additional defense experts who know how to apply what Accenture offers to defense missions, or focusing our data scientists on a problem, who really work right on the cutting edge between being researchers and practitioners.
From a cyberspace perspective, threats come by the second, so we understand the people working on those problems need to understand the policies, unique problems and constraints the DOD faces.
When some of the government’s biggest challenges arise, such as mobilizing within a two-month period to provide free COVID tests to Americans in need, we have always had the talent and strength to be there. Our people understand that everyone they work with at a government agency is a partner. We believe in the exchange of knowledge and ideas, as well as embracing the principles of inclusion and diversity, so that agencies build strength and readiness, not dependency on a contractor.
The emerging technologies of today truly require more of an investment by GovCon. It’s not a body-shopping activity, just finding people with a certain skill set and tying them to a contract or an effort. The capabilities and experiences that our customers need are best formed by building battle-tested approaches and capabilities within an organization like ours.
How can DOD best work with GovCons to get its needs met?
The biggest business challenge that we face in this environment is the need to work with our customers early enough to help inform their overall approach. That requires a change to the way they acquire support.
With the urgency to realize benefits, our customers want to define their approach quickly and get started ⏤ but it’s important for them to bring in the right partner early in the process, one that’s going to help them define the overall roadmap and approach for their journey based on prior experiences.
Then their acquisition process has to place value on the partners who have the right capabilities, companies that can demonstrate where they’ve done this before.
How are you approaching your own role in all this?
By bringing the best of Accenture to empower people and improve mission outcomes fast.
We’ve got strong momentum and we are excited to take what we’ve already done across our company, from navigating emerging tech to future-proofing IT portfolios, and apply it to the toughest problems facing defense.
Our customers need pragmatic solutions. Where we add value is solving for today and tomorrow. And that’s where we lean on critical thinking and imaginative problem solving, respecting the fact that it’s not a “one size fits all” for defense.
Finally, on a personal level, what makes this work meaningful, interesting, satisfying?
The value we deliver for our customers, from their mission at the tip of the spear all the way back to their enterprise processes and systems. The benefits that we’re able to deliver have direct, meaningful impact on the warfighter and our veterans. That makes the work so rewarding.
I also love seeing the investments that Accenture makes in the careers of our people along the way. To be sure that we’re bringing the right capabilities, we invest in a career-based approach, with continuous learning for our people. That makes it a pretty special place to work.