Digital Transformation: A Strategic Blueprint for Defense Modernization
An emerging trend in Defense Modernization is incorporating Digital Transformation (DT). For Defense organizations, implementing DT is a fundamental component of using technology to redefine and complete customer missions.
By: Jason Saldana
Digital Transformation (DT) uses digital technology to create or modify business processes to meet changing business requirements. DT is critical in Defense modernization with the current digital landscape focusing on data-driven decision-making. Software-defined capabilities with Government Purpose Rights (GPR), like algorithms and apps with defined APIs, are at the forefront of the DT trend. As these software-defined capabilities integrate into weapon systems, organizations need affordable, scalable, and repeatable infrastructure plans to outpace a lasting threat and connect with warfighters.
These infrastructure plans are strategic blueprints for new or modified business processes specific to a mission or requirements. Mission owners can design a DT strategic blueprint and improve research, development, and mission operations. By learning to embrace DT and optimizing the benefits, mission owners can leverage their experiences, harness their knowledge, and craft a strategic blueprint to ensure mission success.
Mission Owner Implementation Management
Mission owners can manage a wide range of perceptions and expectations while optimizing their business. It is important to note that implementing DT requires buy-in from all levels of the organization. It is also essential to implement DT in ways that first support cultural changes. Areas of cultural change include improving timelines, costs, and delivered results. For example, show how Jira and Confluence (agile project management tools) improve a team’s ability to adopt and execute agile programs. Use digital engineering models and Symantec Data brokers to trace a digital thread. Highlight how digital ecosystems provide authoritative modeling and inheritance at all classification levels.
Crafting purposeful digital strategies to include in a DT strategic blueprint and highlighting benefits allows mission owners to gain perspective. It also reassures them that DT-enhanced services can improve existing processes by making them easier, cheaper, and faster. Strategically positioning DT as a tool allows for transparent interactions with the digital landscape and more informed decision-making.
The Evolution of DT in a Secure-Integrated Digital Ecosystem (S-IDE)
Secure-Integrated Digital Ecosystems is a theme in the DT trend. Driving successful missions built around DT capability integrations and evolving over time. Improvements to S-IDEs are ushering in an era of automation, scalability, repeatability, and affordability. In addition, S-IDEs provide the agility to conduct all three operations at every classification level to outpace threats:
- Biz Ops (Business Operations)
- R&D Ops (Research & Development Operations)
- Mission Ops (Mission Operations)
By strategically leveraging S-IDEs as part of DT, mission owners can revolutionize integrations through minimal viable products (MVPs) in these three areas. Collaborative hybrid cloud architectures can transform the mission owner’s internal and external interactions with mission partners and the Defense Industrial Base (DIB). This strategic use of S-IDEs puts the power in the hands of mission owners, allowing them to shape their digital landscape and make more informed decisions.
In building your DT strategic blueprint, it is important to keep the long-term goal in mind. Implementing DT reactively instead of proactively may seem straightforward, but in some cases, it is only a short-term fix. A best practice is to help mission owners personalize their DT strategic blueprint to enhance their digital capabilities, solve problems, and build rapport with internal and external mission partners. This long-term commitment to DT implementation will ensure a successful and sustainable future for defense modernization.
Future of DT Ecosystems: Defense Board Outlines Path for an Integrated Digital Ecosystem
Phases of DT Implementation for Defense
Incorporating the phases of DT implementation into your DT strategic blueprint is vital to the success of DT for mission owners. DT implementation requires assessing the hard use cases for a specific mission, setting specific DT implementation goals, and evaluating the quality and availability of necessary data. Then, DT capabilities recommendations that meet the multi-level security requirements integrate with existing systems quickly. DT integration should meet specific mission needs in the development phase. DT integration models incorporate relevant data to respond to changes quickly and accurately. This phase is crucial for ensuring that DT services are accurate and effective.
The next critical phase is testing and gathering stakeholder feedback. Before a full deployment, mission owners should test DT in controlled settings using MVPs. Mission owner and stakeholder feedback refine DT capabilities to better suit real-world needs. Next comes the official deployment and introducing DT enhancements into mission-facing processes. After DT deployment, use a monitoring system to improve DT performance over time and ensure regular access to new data.
Identifying Key Pillars for Defense DT Integration
When mission owners design their DT strategic blueprint, it is essential to identify the key pillars for defense DT integration. This step analyzes the three core pillars below for successful DT integration.
Pillar #1: Collaborative Multi-Level Security Ecosystems
Pillar #2: Modular Open Systems Architecture (MOSA) and DevSecOps
Pillar #3: Authoritative Models
The process of connecting and combining digital technologies across an organization fundamentally changes how it operates. In identifying and analyzing these pillars, consider the following questions. Where can these DT integration pillars improve data-driven decision-making the most? Where can the mission owners deploy these DT pillars to analyze end-user feedback and determine what to innovate or fix first? Can we identify the people, processes, and tools to tailor the DT experiences in the DT integration strategy? In the realm of rapid feedback analysis, the DT integration strategy should be based on specific use cases and habits, considering preferences and lessons from other digital acquisition programs.
The Future of DT Blueprints for Defense
Integrating strategic DT capabilities offers mission owners a chance to innovate and adapt to threats in a digital landscape. A clear blueprint for navigating DT—recognizing its capabilities and limitations—supports enhanced mission-level automation, scalability, repeatability, and cost-effectiveness for the nation and taxpayers.
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About the Author
Jason Saldana
Vice President of Strategic Development
Jason is an accomplished and results-driven professional with over 24 years of experience leading and managing cross-functional digital teams to drive organizational growth and profitability. Proven track record of putting employees first, “Being an influential servant leader first, there is nothing is greater than our service to others”. Jason has a deep understanding of digital implementation strategy and architecture development. Before joining MTSI, Jason led small and large teams implementing digital transformation for strategic Defense and IC customers.
