Ireland Degges
Prior to assuming her current role as data and artificial intelligence strategist for defense and applied intelligence at Accenture Federal Services, Portia Crowe spent two decades serving in various U.S. Army civilian positions, most recently as chief data officer for the Army Futures Command’s Network Cross Functional Team.
Following her extensive career with the service branch, Crowe made a pivot to the private sector to “experience the industry side of things.” She was drawn to Accenture Federal Services because of a sincere passion to support clients through innovative problem-solving as well as the company’s can-do attitude and strong leadership.
In a recent Executive Spotlight interview with ExecutiveBiz, Crowe took a deep dive into data, what it means for organizations and the challenges and opportunities that come with it. Read the full interview below.
ExecutiveBiz: Data must be collected, analyzed and understood in order to be used effectively. What are some of the key challenges and opportunities you’re seeing emerge as organizations harness data and use it to drive decisions?
Portia Crowe: The Department of Defense has significantly evolved its data posture, which is a critical component of digital dominance. A few key challenges include data quality and integrity, data privacy and security and a data literate workforce. The department needs to continually have checks in place to ensure trustworthy data quality and integrity so that it can be used effectively. Without having data quality, accuracy, consistency and completeness as a foundation, any limited analytics and insights you get from that data can’t be trusted.
The second challenge is balancing data privacy and security. Vast amounts of data include sensitive, classified, personal and infrastructure-protected data. Ensuring data is protected while not hindering access to data is a challenge especially as it can impact operational efficiencies. Also, compliance with regulations and policies keep data safe and should also be balanced with timely and efficient data sharing.
The third challenge, which is also an opportunity, is building and maintaining a data literate workforce. As we achieve a data literate workforce to be able to compete and win, keeping up with diverse technological advancements will continue to be what drives our advantage. Providing opportunities for the workforce to get upskilled, making data skills a prominent requirement and incentives like bonuses and/or promotions can support a data-skilled workforce.
Another opportunity is creating positive and intuitive user experiences with data tools that foster easier adoption and use. Removing the complexities associated with using data tools, such as no-code or low-code platforms, automation and drag and drop functions, will help remove barriers and incentivize the enablement for faster, trustworthy decision-making.
EBiz: One of the most pressing concerns about data in today’s digital landscape is the sheer amount of it there is to be processed and sorted. What do you see as some of the more viable solutions to tackling this challenge?
Crowe: One of these solutions would be the continued use of cloud computing and taking advantage of multi-cloud and hybrid environments and advancements in sorting, processing and storing data. Accelerated computing and hardware allows for highly scalable and cost-effective data processing.
Utilizing AI/ML to enhance scalability and efficiencies will continue to be at the forefront of innovation when it comes to mission success. Accelerating data pre-processing and model deployment can significantly reduce the amount of time and effort needed. Workload predictions based on patterns can optimize cloud usage and decrease costs. AI/ML can also be used effectively for threat detection in real time and data management tasks. Advancements in big data technologies and visualization tools have been game changers in reducing complexities from the user.
EBiz: Where are you seeing the most exciting opportunities to deliver better capabilities to our warfighters today, and how are you harnessing these opportunities?
Crowe: I am always amazed at the groundbreaking innovations that we are capable of and have in use within the DOD today. We certainly have opportunities to excel in kill chains using advancements with sensor and data fusion and analytics that can extract useful data, provide insights that may not be apparent to users and quickly integrate all types of data for a more comprehensive battlespace picture. Electronic and cyber warfare is exquisitely difficult but there are many opportunities to utilize industry innovation in this space as the department continues to develop tactics and technology for jamming and deceptive capabilities.
There are also many opportunities for using AI/ML for intelligence and surveillance that apply to automating target identification to enhance speed and accuracy. Detecting anomalies in behavior with pattern recognition through the use of ML algorithms supports advanced kill chains. Predictive analysis utilizing vast amounts of data, such as logistics, personnel and warfighting data, can provide a more robust modern battlespace as we understand and see ourselves in a contested and congested environment.
