Senior government and business leaders who showed up for a conference on accelerating the business response to HIV/AIDS in New Delhi, India, were expecting typical conference fare — listening to speeches and more speeches. Instead, the 200 attendees became active participants in a pro bono war game designed by Heather Burns and her team of Booz Allen Hamilton consultants.
The simulation was designed to encourage government and the business community to explore innovative ideas and to address the spread of HIV/AIDS in India. They came up with interesting solutions, but more dramatic results came out of the event, Burns says. "People were talking to each other in ways they never had before. In this simulation of the 'real world,' mock deals were struck as part of the game. Governments made agreements with pharmaceutical companies to lift tariffs on imports of drugs, for example. Companies were making use of their clinics available for educational purposes."
Booz Allen did the work pro bono as a member of the Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS, one of the hosts of the conference. But inside the firm, the project had a unifying effect as well. It was another way for Booz Allen, which is working to integrate its commercial practice with its government business, known as the Worldwide Technology Business, to draw resources from both sides of the house.
"Doing the work for both gives you a better opportunity to provide better service to both sides," says Burns, who joined the firm 27 years ago. She technically works in the WTB practice, but her client portfolio includes high-profile commercial names as well. "The health market is highly complex and interdependent; appreciating commercial as well as government perspectives on a problem benefits everybody."
She adds: "Government clients are thirsty for commercial best practices. They might not use language about the supply chain, but if they are trying to get millions of vaccines distributed throughout the country, that's a supply chain issue." The Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, which is one of the biggest distributors of vaccines to children and a client of Booz Allen's, faced this very issue, Burns says.
For another large client, the National Cancer Institute (part of the National Institutes of Health), Burns, along with consultants from other firms, is helping to develop and implement a new grid to link all of the major cancer research institutes nationwide, which will help them share research. "We're helping them figure out how to get it operationalized and working, and we're working with them in a change management way. It's more than just a straight IT job," she proudly points out.
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