Booz Allen Hamilton
Karen Dahut
Executive Vice President/Leader of Booz Allen's Strategic Innovation Group
Consulting: As we close out 2015, where is your firm today?
Dahut: When we launched the Strategic Innovation Group (SIG) as part of our Vision2020 strategy, we did so with the goal of developing a clear and focused innovation agenda that could extend horizontally across the firm. As we close out 2015, I'm proud to say that we've made great strides in realizing that goal. The development of our innovation agenda has become a major, competitive differentiator for us. We've put a greater emphasis on growing our partner ecosystem and investing in the deep technical expertise that's become a requirement for our clients. We're pleased with the performance of our investments in all of the firm's core priority areas: Cyber, Engineering, Systems Delivery, Innovation, and our Commercial and International businesses. If I look back on the last year, what surprises and excites me most is how quickly the market has accepted our innovation agenda and our focus on solutions and services. In the first half of the fiscal year alone, our commitment to bidding on new business contributed to a very strong award quarter with a book-to-bill ratio of 3.49, the highest since the company became public in 2010, and total backlog of $12.55 billion, the highest in nearly three years.
Consulting: How would you describe the firm's outlook for 2016?
Dahut: In 2016, we expect to see continued growth, particularly in the kind of work Booz Allen is best known for—innovative, mission-focused, technical—and combining our unique blend of mission, technical, and consulting capabilities. Our Vision 2020 strategy ensured that we maintained investment in innovation and capability-building, even through the most recent downturn. We anticipate this will continue to pay dividends in 2016 as our investments mature and our clients continue to demand new, different, more complete solutions.
Consulting: What specific signs are you seeing that suggest an increase or decrease in demand?
Dahut: Clients have expressed an immediate need for deep, technical skills. They need these skills faster than they can acquire them, so they're looking to outside firms, like Booz Allen, to help fill that role.
Consulting: What do you see as the biggest opportunities in 2016?
Dahut: The biggest opportunity for firms in the year ahead is the client need for deeper technical talent. For instance, our team of data scientists is working hand-in-hand with its clients to help develop long-term, sustainable, data analytics strategies.
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