Booz Allen Hamilton has re-entered the commercial business with a renewed focus in the areas of energy, health and financial services. Booz Allen has tapped Executive Vice President Reggie Van Lee to head up the practice. Van Lee has nearly three decades of experience helping organizations in the public and private sectors transform their businesses, including extensive work in the not-for-profit sector. With clients facing new regulatory climates, as well as increased cybersecurity threats, Van Lee says the firm's skills honed over 100 years of federal government work uniquely positions it to tackle challenges clients are facing on the commercial side with an approach stemming from rich expertise over multiple sectors.
Consulting: What's behind the timing for the renewed focus on the commercial market?
Van Lee: Some of it was the non-compete we had with Booz & Company, which was up in April of 2011. We had great plans for how we wanted to enter the business but knowing that we had not done exactly this business different from the more traditional Booz & Company/Bain/BCG/McKinsey sort of high-level strategy consulting, we're doing stuff that gets really into the technology implementation, etc. So we decided to see what the market wanted from us. So over the last 18 months, we've been testing to see if what we thought the market wanted was true. We found it was more than mostly true, so now we're ready to invest heavily in the business to move it forward.
Consulting: Can you speak about the client work you've been doing?
Van Lee: In this environment of increased cyber threats, we do a large amount of cybersecurity work, we do a large amount of regulatory and cyber compliance as well, and of course traditionally we've done a lot of deep analytics work, data analytics work, big data work as well as IT work. Some of our more traditional organizational design, media, and organizations that are going through changes and need to speak to those issues in the right way.
Consulting: How did you decide to focus on those particular areas of your commercial practice?
Van Lee: The consulting business and general management commercial side has been around for 75 to 100 years. If we're coming into this only replicating what others are already delivering to clients satisfactorily, that wouldn't make sense. So it was clear our strategy had to be founded on those capabilities and skills and experiences we've had from our federal government side that would be applicable in a commercial business. The notion of cyber security, which is very hot, can we take those skills and abilities and translate those into commercial opportunities? Whether that's protection of patient data in the healthcare space, or exchange of information and protection of financial data in the financial services business, or the same kind of customer consumer data in utilities. How do you secure and transfer information in a secure way and how to you build a business on the revenue side around that information exchange but do it securely is a big issue. So we're leveraging that stuff we learned on the government side now in the commercial business. Everyone has tons and tons of data, but they don't necessarily have the kind of insight to know how to use that data in the right set of ways. We have done data mining and deep data analysis on the government side for many years, so how do we take that capability and apply it to the commercial market.
Consulting: What sort of regulatory hurdles are clients facing in the commercial business and how are you helping clients navigate them?
Van Lee: To some extent, just understanding the regulations. They can be convoluted and confusing to people. And while internally their legal resources may help them understand what the regulation says, it doesn't necessarily translate into what does that do to your business, how do you approach this opportunity, is there an opportunity, as opposed to all gloom and doom. We're helping them understand the specific implications of the regulation to them, then how can they position themselves to at least not be injured by regulation, but ideally be advantaged by it. Quite honestly, the regulatory bodies are not trying to injure the commercial space, but rather want to put some guidance in place. The regulators are happy for us to help with that interpretation, it's a win-win for everyone.
Consulting: You have an extensive background in the arts and non-profit realm. How does that background inform you in your new role?
Van Lee: I was one of four co-authors of a book many years ago called "Megacommunities" which talks about how complex issues can't be solved by any one sector. Not just by the private or public sector alone. In order to address those complex problems, around healthcare, around financial systems, around energy, around homelessness, you need to have some context across the sectors. I think Booz Allen's approach to this problem solving tries to better understand all the stakeholders in each. That personally is something I bring to the table from my experiences, but I think the firm, as well, is thinking about that broader approach to those problems.
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