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Lessons Learned from Transitioning 20,000 Employees to Telework

July 17, 2020 / Dcode

At Booz Allen Hamilton, Chief Innovation Officer Susan Penfield believes that people and clients come first. That means that when the company shifted its 20,000 employees to telework, data privacy and security were essential to continuing business as usual. She joined Dcode Virtual to discuss the challenges of converting clients to telework and the role emerging tech played in the process.


Watch Ms. Penfield’s full session here

Ms. Penfield told Dcode CSO Meg Vorland that she’s impressed how quickly Booz Allen Hamilton was able to “rapidly present ideas and prototypes” following the immediate shift to telework to keep businesses operating smoothly and effectively. Ms. Penfield noted that Booz Allen Hamilton can “bring together a number of different capabilities and experts to respond” to each of the unique and unanticipated challenges that emerge in the marketplace.

With emerging tech, Ms. Penfield said Booz Allen Hamilton has “been able to pivot clients that we never thought we’d be able to.” To help many of these clients transition to remote work, Booz Allen Hamilton has focused on developing a secure and effective infrastructure to instill confidence that telework can be as efficient as a traditional office. Ms. Penfield credits advancements in secure mobility and is excited about potential applications of secure mobility in the federal marketplace.

To tech companies looking to enter the federal market, Ms. Penfield advises: “know your customer base, and know their requirements.” With the influx of new tech being adopted in the federal market, the government has realized that “there’s a better, more efficient way to work.” Ms. Penfield believes that it is through partnerships with “the startup community as well as large tech” that Booz Allen Hamilton and its partners will “develop the next great thing.”

To watch Ms. Penfield’s virtual session and others on-demand, visit dcode.co/virtual