Ross Wilkers
Orlando Figueredo leads the intelligence community and public sector consulting services business segments at global information technology company Hewlett Packard Enterprise, one of the two companies that formed through the November 2015 separation of the former Hewlett-Packard.
The 15-year veteran of HPE and its predecessor who manages business performance for IC accounts and integration of consulting services for U.S. government customers.
In this conversation with ExecutiveBiz, Figueredo offers his perspective on that transition to HPE; current trends at agencies in areas such as data analytics and cybersecurity; and where he sees the key focus of the intelligence community’s IT enterprise initiative heading this year.
ExecutiveBiz: Which areas did you support and focus on the most during the transition to what we now know as HPE?
Orlando Figueredo: We had a dedicated separation management office that drove all of the activities across the company. Our focus was to work hand-in-hand with that team to make sure that our clients’ needs were identified and met before, during and after the separation.
This included ensuring that all of our contracts, facilities, security clearances, as well as the relationships between the two companies, were transferred and completed in enough time to prevent disruption of service to our clients.
We recently completed our first full quarter as HPE and are off to a very strong start. We are seeing the benefits that a smaller and more focused company brings to our clients. As they experience our new strategy, they appreciate the changes that we’ve made and are committed to working with our new company.
ExecutiveBiz: Describe two aspects of the process and lessons learned from them.
Orlando Figueredo: Splitting the company into two was an incredible undertaking and an extremely valuable learning experience. As we moved through that process, we captured a lot of that knowledge and lessons learned, and have built a service that we now offer to our clients going through similar transformation. Initially, we underestimated the power of what a more focused company can provide our clients.
At the core we have always helped our clients run their traditional IT better, then, seamlessly move to the new style of business. Our customers and partners are understanding the power behind the separation and to see how our team can partner with them in order to work more effectively, deliver results faster and drive more focused solutions to meet their needs.
ExecutiveBiz: Which consulting services are you seeing high demand for from agencies?
Orlando Figueredo: Our government clients’ challenges have never been greater. With the mix of achieving budget reductions while meeting mission needs, which continue to evolve on an almost daily basis, it is becoming an all-consuming effort for them. Additionally, technology is transforming businesses and entire industries at an unprecedented pace.
We can help our public sector clients by focusing our efforts around four key transformation areas that are fundamental to enabling business and transforming agility and growth.
First, transforming to a hybrid infrastructure. This means bridging the gap between traditional IT and cloud-based environments – that our clients are anxious to go to – as well as optimizing both performance and cost for today’s integrated world.
Second, empowering a data-driven organization. This involves bringing solutions that take advantage of the onslaught of information that is hitting all of us. In other words, turning information into insight for our clients.
Third, everything around cyber and security. This involves sustaining operational integrity, which includes protecting the digital enterprise and making sure we are able to manage risks, monitor operations, and protect information and applications for our clients.
Finally, enabling workplace productivity by creating the best-in-class experience for our customers and our partners, and running the technology gamut from mobility to networking solutions. We are excited about the outlook of these four transformation areas and how they help our government customers achieve their complex missions.
ExecutiveBiz: Where do you see intelligence agencies focusing their technology efforts in 2016?
Orlando Figueredo: The Intelligence Community Information Technology Enterprise or IC ITE framework sets the stage for creating a truly enterprise environment that will be capable of enhancing collaboration and information-sharing across the entire community.
We are well-positioned to support that transformation. For our IC clients, the migration of applications and services to the cloud all while maintaining levels and security postures will be a significant focus over the next couple of years, especially in 2016.
Addressing and preventing cyber threats and securing those digital borders from inside and outside attacks will continue to be an initiative that drives a lot of their and our efforts.
ExecutiveBiz: Where do you see opportunities for government and industry to collaborate more closely?
Orlando Figueredo: The reality is that change is happening all around us and is a constant force, regardless of whether it is industry or the public sector. Evolving missions, lower budgets, emerging threats, the change in workforce demographics and also policy reform issues are all driving government and industry to look at ways we can help each other.
At the same time, the mission needs of different sectors –Â government and commercial, which at one time were considered different — are now closely aligned. The speed to markets, the push for mobility, the adoption of SaaS models that are very prevalent in the commercial environment are also the right solutions for our government clients.
On the back end, the security posture that is commonplace with many of our federal government clients is being embraced by the commercial sector, specifically in the financial and retail industries. At HPE, we are doubling down our government business and capitalizing on our fifty-year history of helping government agencies solve their unique challenges in addition to helping them bridge the gap by bringing best-in-class IT solutions.
Government can assist the commercial sector with securing their environments and, in turn, the commercial sector can help the government to drive to that enterprise “look†that will help them not only reduce their risks but also meet their budgets.
This is an important time within the IT industry as a whole and in the way we support the government. As we move into the election cycle, as our clients transform their environments, and as they consolidate to better meet their mission, companies such as Hewlett Packard Enterprise are in the right position to support using core competencies and technologies that allow them to move their mission forward.
