Hank Bailey’s passion for technology came about early when he realized just how impactful solving complex problems in aerospace and defense could be ⏤ from using simulation to train Army soldiers to fingerprinting tools that help the FBI identify criminal behavior.
As president and chairman of the board of Software AG Government Solutions, Bailey has years of experience working with commercial companies and government alike. His background spans several areas, including sales, engineering and management. He has been with Software AG since 2012.
“I benefited from growing up in both the industry and in organizations having worked hands-on with our products ⏤ while also growing with customers as I took on new roles,” he said. “As an engineer, it was exciting to develop solutions that impacted our customers’ businesses.”
Those insights into technology’s impact on a business’ trajectory also led him to further probe his understanding of what it can do for government missions.
“As a leader, I understand the problems and challenges that our customers have, and I also understand those who have to fulfill the roles needed to bring technology to life,” Bailey said. “I believe this gives me empathy, as well as the insight and wisdom to help navigate key challenges.”
From the beginning of his career, Bailey said he valued being honest and straightforward and tried to communicate his appreciation of others. But as time has gone on, he grew to increasingly value the practices of nurturing relationships, working hard and being a team player.
Outside of work, Bailey enjoys spending time with his family, and mentoring and coaching his children. He also enjoys playing golf “because it’s a constant challenge.”
“It’s a simple game, but there’s always room for improvement,” he said. “I also enjoy the social aspect of playing golf.”
Bailey recently spoke with WashingtonExec about Software AG’s latest work and what else is in store.
Unlocking Faster Mission Impact From Legacy Data
New isn’t automatically better, Bailey said. While IT modernization is a popular topic in government IT these days, the reality is that legacy/mainframe data remains viable in government because of its transactional performance, reliability and security.
“However, this data is often disparate and siloed, which makes it difficult to make it actionable for real-time decision-making and overall mission enablement,” he said. “Thanks to our industry partnerships, we have made it possible to gain a 360-degree approach to modernizing mainframes, and getting faster value from the data. Ultimately, this allows government to accelerate innovation, and be on the forefront of the mission.”
Bailey also cautions against what he said is a tendency within the industry to be enamored by the next “best thing.”
“I’ve been in industry long enough to have seen other technologies be presented as a panacea, but turn out to not have an impact,” he said. “We need to remember that it’s not just about the new technology, but it’s more about the problems it can solve. The right technology needs to be surrounded by other technologies, needs to be trained and have access to data, and has to interface with other applications and humans. This all takes time and energy. Although AI is a phenomenal tool that can solve key problems, we need to recognize that we need collaboration to point these new tools in the right direction.”
Software AG’s Built-For-Government Approach
Software AG has been about connectivity since its inception more than 40 years ago. This heritage lives on today with its built-for-government approach, Bailey said. That approach is about designing solutions that can handle the mission while also meeting technical requirements to help agencies succeed and prepare for the future.
“We have been around long enough to see multiple generations of innovation, and we help agencies to move data in a more efficient way across these different generations of innovation,” Bailey said.
Expansion into the Systems Integrators Community
Software AG’s continued growth and evolution include significant investments into partnerships with systems integrators to unlock new capabilities for agencies using Software AG’s products.
For example, a partnership with Snowflake allows Software AG to help customers move data from the mainframe to the Snowflake platform, allowing agencies to analyze data in new ways and embrace a truly digital government.
“Our innovations are not tied to any particular technology provider, which opens the door to new SI partnerships,” Bailey added. “Our built-for government solutions are designed around helping to interconnect applications, people, devices and technologies in ways that are perfect for SIs to leverage.”
New ATOs and FedRAMP-Approved Offerings
Earlier this year, Software AG announced that the Defense Health Agency granted authority to operate for self-service the Cumulocity IoT platform.
“We are excited about this ATO because it opens up government to a wider range of IoT data management capabilities and use cases in everything from biometrics, disaster management, asset tracking, border security and beyond,” Bailey said.
In May, Software AG announced its solutions for APIs, data ops and process mining had all achieved Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program Moderate Authorization. This builds on the company’s existing FedRAMP offerings for IT portfolio management and process modeling, Bailey said, and it reinforces the value of the company’s built-for-government approach.
Looking Ahead
Software AG leaders recognize the pace of innovation is moving very quickly, even in government. They want to keep helping support new API-enabled government services, support agencies in advancing customer experiences and partner with government to create self-service, streamlined approaches to meeting all constituent needs.
“Of course, AI is everywhere these days, and we are fitting ourselves squarely in this new arena,” Bailey said. “For government to take advantage of the explosion of AI and the availability of machine-driven learning models, they need the right data to be on these models. They also need to align the right people with the business problems, and use data as the solution.”