Charles Lyons-Burt
A U.S. Army veteran, Phil Miller spent the majority of his career in the immigration and national security space on the government side. In the days before the creation of the Department of Homeland Security, he worked at the former U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service for almost a decade, and then logged 15 years at U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement once DHS was stood up in 2003.
Federal law enforcement comes with strict term limits, so as he reached the end of his tenure — culminating as ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations’ deputy executive associate director — Miller sought a way to reinvent himself and find a meaningful pursuit that was aligned with the ethos of his work at ICE while operating in a decidedly different register. He was drawn in by the IT world and the impact he could make assisting the government with modernization and efficiency improvement.
Miller then became acquainted with Procentrix, a medium-sized Microsoft integrator, cloud and AI provider, and customer experience enhancer based in Herndon, Virginia. He is now senior vice president of corporate strategy for the company, where he’s worked for seven years.
In an Executive Spotlight interview, Miller explained how Procentrix is partnering with DHS and the Department of Justice in the fight against threats like counterfeit drugs; its role as a “solution accelerator”; and the unique mission that attracted him to the company in the first place.
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ExecutiveBiz: What do you think are the most pressing public safety threats we’re facing today? How is Procentrix addressing these threats?
Phil Miller: I think the most pressing one is transnational criminal organizations. These groups are using technology in increasingly sophisticated ways to undermine what America is trying to accomplish—whether that’s by smuggling drugs, trafficking people or moving counterfeit goods that pose real risks to public safety.
There’s a lot of money to be made in these activities, and when you avoid legal channels, your profit margin grows. That’s why this threat is so broad spectrum. You’re not just dealing with unvetted goods or individuals entering the country—you’re dealing with ripple effects across public safety, economic stability and even national security.
When you add narcotics or precursor chemicals into the mix, it becomes even more dangerous. As a parent, I think about this a lot. My daughter’s in college, my son’s in high school, and you constantly see stories of kids buying pills without really knowing what’s in them. These aren’t pharmaceuticals—they’re often made in labs in the Arizona desert or somewhere overseas. They’re counterfeit and they’re lethal.
I’m really proud that at Procentrix, we get to support the agencies tackling this threat. We work closely with a number of investigative arms within the Department of Justice and Department of Homeland Security, helping them bring technology to bear in their missions. Their budgets are limited, and their workforce—especially at my former agency—is stretched thin. Agents are responsible for so much, so helping them use tools like artificial intelligence can make a real difference.
“Doing more with less” has been a government talking point for years, but today it’s a necessity. Threat vectors are expanding. These organizations are operating offshore, laundering money, using multiple languages and hiding behind mountains of data.
You can’t just throw manpower at that. You need the right technology to sift through the noise, spot patterns and move investigations forward. That’s what we’re helping these agencies do—make their work faster, smarter and more effective so they can close cases and protect the public.
EBiz: Which emerging technologies do you anticipate will have the greatest impact on our standing in the great power competition in the next few years?
Miller: Procentrix is a Microsoft Services Provider, so we tend to look at the world through that lens—especially as more federal agencies shift their workloads to the cloud. We help them explore what Azure services and AI tools are available to fill mission-critical gaps.
A lot of what we do addresses manpower shortages. Transnational criminal organizations are operating 24/7, and federal agents can’t. But the systems can. That’s where cloud and AI technologies come in—systems that don’t need to sleep can support investigations around the clock.
Because many of the platforms we design use open architecture, it’s much easier to layer in new technologies as they become available. That flexibility lets agencies stay current without having to rip and replace entire systems. One of the biggest frustrations I had as an agent and executive was working with systems that were built at a specific moment in time—usually decades ago. They weren’t designed to evolve.
I’d be on the Hill getting asked why we couldn’t answer basic questions, and the reality was: the system was built in 1992. That question didn’t exist then. We didn’t have the flexibility to evolve with the mission.
Now, using modern software-as-a-service-based tools like Microsoft’s, we can deliver more flexible, scalable platforms that update regularly. That means agencies have access to the best, most secure tools available—without waiting five years and tens of millions of dollars to rebuild a system from scratch.
Instead of going to Congress asking for $40 million to modernize a legacy system, agencies today can make a case for much smaller, measurable investments. And more importantly, those investments are predictable. That’s critical for federal program managers trying to budget smartly and deliver real outcomes.
EBiz: Speaking of modernization, what’s your view on the March 20th executive order about shifting IT acquisitions under the General Services Administration?
Miller: We’ll have to see how it plays out, but I think there’s a lot of upside—especially for smaller agencies. Procentrix does a lot of work with the big departments, but we also support several smaller regulatory agencies, particularly in the financial space. For them, consolidating under GSA could mean stronger buying power, more predictable budgets and faster access to modern tools.
A lot of those agencies have crucial missions—like auditing banks—but limited funding. Sometimes they simply didn’t have the bandwidth to do their core mission and modernize at the same time. Centralizing procurement could help by getting them better pricing and more streamlined access to best-in-class tools.
That said, I expect larger agencies will still need to handle some specialized procurements in-house. When I was at ICE, people would question headlines like “DHS spent $22 million on ammunition,” not realizing that’s across 22 law enforcement components. It sounds like a lot until you see the scale and context.
Centralizing IT buying power could bring the same kind of efficiencies—economic and operational. And as a Microsoft-focused integrator, we think many agencies have already made that investment. What we do is often more cost-effective because agencies already own a lot of the tools. We just help them use them better.
Honestly, six months into my role at Procentrix, I realized ICE already had half the software I was now helping implement. They just weren’t using it that way. Sometimes the problem isn’t buying something new—it’s teaching people how to use what they already have.
If this GSA shift helps agencies see what’s in their portfolio and gives them a path to optimize it, that’s a huge win. And that’s where we come in—helping them unlock what they already own, evolve with the mission and do more with less.
EBiz: Where are you seeing opportunities for accelerated, meaningful tech growth for the U.S.?
Miller: We’re seeing two major areas of opportunity for tech growth in the U.S., particularly as it relates to public safety and law enforcement modernization.
First is the continued move to the cloud. When agencies shift their workloads to secure, cloud-first environments, they’re not just increasing accessibility—they’re unlocking the power of SaaS offerings and artificial intelligence. This creates a more agile, scalable, and cost-effective way to modernize operations. Cloud infrastructure also allows agencies to adopt the latest technologies without the need to completely rebuild systems.
The second area is mobile connectivity. When your systems are in the cloud and designed with mobile in mind, you empower your workforce to operate from the field with full access to the tools they need. For law enforcement, this is a game-changer. In the past, surveillance might take six to eight hours, followed by another six hours back at the office just to write up the reports. Now, with secure mobile platforms, officers can run records checks, dictate notes, or access case files on the spot—cutting down the time between data collection and action.
We’re already seeing this in practice. One of our clients in the federal investigative space has drastically sped up their controlled delivery operations. Before, they had to pause to gather intelligence or ask another office to assist with tracking. Now, with cloud-based tools and mobile access, they can manage operations almost in real time—tracking movement, coordinating agents and assets, and taking enforcement action while the case is still live.
When you combine cloud modernization, mobile-first thinking and AI, you create a force multiplier. These tools allow agencies to do more with less—to act faster, smarter and more decisively in a threat environment that never sleeps.
EBiz: What are Procentrix’s core values? How do you think these values translate into continued success and growth in the GovCon market?
Miller: As I mentioned earlier, one of the main reasons I joined Procentrix was because of its deep commitment to solving government problems at the lowest possible cost and with a strong focus on mission. Nearly everyone here is an engineer—I’m actually one of the few exceptions. My role is often translating government needs to our technical teams and explaining technical solutions back to the government. That level of mission alignment and engagement across the company is rare and inspiring.
Throughout my federal career, I’ve worked with many talented people, but here at Procentrix, I feel like I’m surrounded by brilliant minds every day—people who care deeply about helping government agencies solve big problems. And they’re doing it in ways that are sustainable, repeatable, and flexible. Government challenges are always evolving—whether it’s the fentanyl crisis or something else—and our approach allows agencies to evolve too, instead of having to start from scratch every time.
A big part of that comes from how we operate. We’ve been around nearly 20 years, and over that time we’ve developed what we call “solution accelerators.” When we see government clients struggling with similar issues, we build proven, reusable frameworks around those problems. That way, instead of starting at square one, we come in with a tested foundation and say, “Here’s a proven approach—how do we tailor it for you?” That saves time, reduces cost and risk, and gets them to a working solution faster.
