Accenture Defense
Technology Vision 2015
Five Trends Will
Stretch the Digital
Boundaries of
Defense
UNIV
ERSIT
Y
#techvision2015
INTRODUCTION
We are entering the era of the
connected solider. The Internet
of Things (IoT) is helping defense
agencies to make advances in how
soldiers are informed, protected
and connected. Technology is
also helping to improve several
areas that are critical to defense
mission success: safety, efficiency,
effectiveness, security and
cost savings.
There is no doubt that technology has the power to transform
businesses and governments all over the world. As part of
the Accenture Technology Vision 2015, Accenture surveyed
2,000 business and industry executives, including 162 public
service leaders, across nine countries to gather insights into
the adoption of emerging technologies.1 The data showed
that 74 percent of those in public service agree that industry
boundaries will dramatically blur as platforms reshape
industries into interconnected ecosystems. This blurring may
affect defense from a collaboration perspective, but also by
introducing potential threats.
2
This year, the Accenture Technology Vision 2015 explores
how some leaders are flexing their digital muscle in new
ways to improve operations and processes, and to form new
connections with employees and customers. The defense
industry, like many others, is no exception. Below, we explore
five technology trends that show how defense is stretching its
digital boundaries to deliver public service for the future.
ACCENTURE DEFENSE TECHNOLOGY VISION 2015
TREND 1
Internet of Me:
Individual Situational Awareness
As everyday objects are going online, so are experiences—
creating an abundance of digital channels that reach deep into
every aspect of individuals’ lives. It’s an era in which every
experience is becoming a digital experience as ordinary “things”
become intelligent devices.
The demand of the next-generation IT systems in defense
will be to integrate the individual and their mission with a
personalized and individual situational awareness, driving
resourced informed decision making at all levels of command.
Information superiority and the ability to capture intelligence
can influence who has the upper hand—whether in or outside
a battle situation. The flow of data must be made as fluid as
possible, as secure as possible and with mechanisms in place to
visualize, personalize and analyze data for the warfighter.
Virtual technology is providing increased training efficiency for
troops preparing for operations. The Army, Navy and Air Force
departments use this 3D experience for combat simulation, and
they have added it to their training arsenal as it offers a safe,
effective way to train new recruits. Through the combination of
Live, Virtual, and Constructive training exercises, soldiers can be
“trained the way they fight” and are thus, better prepared for
their missions.
The U.S. Army’s Live, Virtual, Constructive-Integrating
Architecture system provides training and mission rehearsal
opportunities to commanders and soldiers through a netcentric linkage that “collects, retrieves and exchanges data
among Army training aids, devices, simulations and simulators
(TADSS).” The integration of the Live, Virtual and Constructive
TADSS with mission command equipment allows for better
training events that prepare soldiers for their missions at
less cost.2 In another example, virtual reality provides a safe
environment to help soldiers suffering from post-traumatic
stress disorder.3
Virtual technology
is providing increased
training efficiency for
troops preparing for
operations.
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#techvision2015
When fully realized,
the solution is
estimated to save over
10 million
man hours of lost
productivity a year
TREND 2
Outcome Economy:
Intelligent Hardware for the
Outcome Mission
Deeper levels of intelligence in hardware are helping to bridge
the last mile between the digital enterprise and the physical
world. As leading organizations come face-to-face with
the Internet of Things, they are uncovering opportunities to
embed hardware and sensors in their digital toolboxes. They
are using these highly connected hardware components to
give customers what they really want: not more products
or services, but more meaningful outcomes. These “digital
disrupters” know that getting ahead is no longer about driving
activities—it’s about delivering results. The mission is no longer
focused on the process, but the outcome.
Hardware can help tremendously in the defense sphere.
Consider the magnitude of global defense forces—the
manpower, the equipment, the processes and the technology
needed to protect nations. How can machines make it easier to
achieve mission results?
Intelligent hardware solutions used in defense can improve
supply chain efficiency, which ultimately improves readiness
and safety. For instance, Air Force aircraft laden with sensors
4
that collect data can provide useful insights via analytics
that inform crews as to when and why to pull a craft for
maintenance. The work is accomplished in a timely manner
because workers know the work is coming, and the craft is back
in the air more quickly. Surprisingly, the Accenture Technology
Vision 2015 revealed that only 9 percent of public service
leaders surveyed say their organization is using sensor data to
interact with the world.4
The U.S. Air Force (USAF) has become more outcomeoriented by using a solution that leverages ServiceNow, a
services-management platform, to reduce the complexity
of its IT and security infrastructure. When fully realized, the
solution is estimated to save over 10 million man hours of lost
productivity a year through process automation, automated
provisioning of use access and cloud infrastructure and
standardized forms to expedite software accreditation.
The solution dramatically improves time-to-value enabling a
more agile USAF, which means that personnel are focused on
achieving the mission and not waiting on IT systems. With
the solution built on ServiceNow, the USAF is able to move IT
administrators away from data entry and refocus their efforts
to become digital warriors.
ACCENTURE DEFENSE TECHNOLOGY VISION 2015
TREND 3
Platforms (R)evolution:
Defense Ecosystems
Today’s new and evolving platforms essentially comprise
well-defined architecture, governance and services and are
underpinned by the latest digital “tools” – social, mobile, cloud,
Internet of Things and others. Increasingly, platform-based
organizations are capturing more of digital’s opportunities
for strong mission execution. Rapid advances in digital tools
not only are eliminating the technology and cost barriers
associated with such platforms, but also are opening up this
new playing field across enterprises and geographies. In short:
platform-based ecosystems are the new dimension of mission.
Defense organizations want to revolutionize, standardize,
consolidate and simplify platforms and upgrade to latest
technology so they can best use all data produced.
Cybersecurity, efficiency and savings motivate agencies to
pursue IT modernization and consolidation efforts that realign
the construction, operation and security of networks and
systems into a joint/single information environment.
For example, the Joint Information Environment initiative
(JIE) will help the U.S. Department of Defense modernize
how the Department’s IT networks and systems are built, run
and defended, allowing for a more cost-effective, secure and
standardized architecture.5
Upgrading to a scalable platform enabled through a joint
information environment allows agencies to have cyber
situational awareness, use integrated cloud services anytime,
from anywhere and they can employ multilayer security
solutions that protect the technology perimeter from hackers,
viruses and other more sophisticated threats that may
compromise defense data. Multilayer solutions help control the
data flow within the platforms (and with coalition partners)
to allow partnering across military branches while also
maintaining an increased level of security and resilience.
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#techvision2015
TREND 4
Intelligent Enterprise:
Command and Control Above
the Weapons Systems
Huge data and smarter systems mean unprecedented mission
execution. How we coordinate and apply our weapons systems
around the world as a whole can be its own weapon system—
responding to asymmetric challenges with the full power, might
and speed of defense capabilities from traditional weapons
deployment to integrated intelligence to efficient use of
economic power.
When coupled with analytics that apply computer vision
algorithms to video surveillance feeds, video footage can
help maximize situational awareness, streamline operations and
enhance response capabilities for soldiers. These technologies
will only increase in popularity as systems continue to get
smarter, and the technology continues to become more
affordable.
The next level of operational excellence and the next
generation of software services will emerge from the latest
gains in software intelligence. Until now, increasingly capable
software has been geared to help commanders and defense
leaders make better and faster decisions. But with an influx of
big data—and advances in processing power, data science and
cognitive technology—software intelligence is helping machines
to make even more, better-informed decisions.
The Singapore Government realized that analytics could go
beyond merely spotting existing patterns of behavior—it could
help the city better understand, prepare for and react to future
events. Singapore is using a video analytics service platform
to connect existing and new sensor infrastructures (including
dozens of CCTV cameras), apply computer vision and predictive
analytics to surveillance video feeds to detect various events
and generate operational alerts for six government agencies.
Defense leaders must now view software intelligence not
as a pilot or a one-off project, but as an across-the-board
functionality—one that will drive new levels of evolution and
discovery, propelling innovation throughout the enterprise.
Singapore has achieved greater than 80 percent accuracy
using just five video cameras in one of Singapore’s busiest
metro interchange stations. The city has increased operational
support, anomaly detection through social media monitoring
and analytics and real-time decision making.6 Defense
organizations can similarly enhance their surveillance
techniques in military bases, depots, airports and other defense
facilities.
The defense industry is taking note, using intelligent technology
to minimize human casualties. Installing CCTV in unmanned
areas, mounting mobile cameras on vehicles and using drones
to capture surveillance video can help in proactively notifying
defense forces of threats.
6
ACCENTURE DEFENSE TECHNOLOGY VISION 2015
Determining how machines
could best supplement
operators’ analysis has clear
mission-critical implications
in an environment
characterized by a massive
and growing influx of data.7
TREND 5
Workforce Reimagined:
Collaboration at the Intersection of
Humans and Machines
Digital and physical worlds are increasingly colliding and
connecting. Advances in robotics enable machines to not only
communicate with humans, but also work side-by-side with
them. But it’s the collaboration between both—more so than
their division of labor—that has the potential to produce better
outcomes than either could separately across the defense
community.
The push to go digital is amplifying the need for humans and
machines to do more, together. Advances in natural interfaces,
wearable devices and smart machines will present new
opportunities for companies to empower their workers through
technology. This will also surface new challenges in managing
a collaborative workforce composed of both people and
machines. Successful organizations will recognize the benefits
of human talent and intelligent technology working side by side
in collaboration—and they will embrace them both as critical
members of the reimagined defense workforce.
In the defense world where budgets are going down and
the cost of equipment is going up, there is ripe potential for
robotics to take on challenging physical tasks and perform
them more efficiently or safely.
The U.S. Air Force is exploring the potential of human-machine
teams. The Air Force issued a presolicitation for innovative
research into human-machine collaboration in analyzing
intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance data. The focus
is on understanding the reality of the human experience in
this area—both strengths and shortcomings. Determining how
machines could best supplement operators’ analysis has clear
mission-critical implications in an environment characterized
by a massive and growing influx of data.7
7
#techvision2015
Keeping up with the curve
About Accenture
Digital disruption is accelerating exponentially, so businesses
and governments alike must quickly decide how to use digital
to their advantage. The potential uses for digital in defense
are immense, so the industry must proactively maximize the
latest technology to improve support functions. As the defense
industry stretches its digital boundaries in the coming years, it
will reveal new opportunities for using digital in revolutionary
ways to deliver public service for the future.
Accenture is a global management consulting, technology
services and outsourcing company, with more than 323,000
people serving clients in more than 120 countries. Combining
unparalleled experience, comprehensive capabilities across all
industries and business functions, and extensive research on
the world’s most successful companies, Accenture collaborates
with clients to help them become high-performance businesses
and governments. The company generated net revenues of
US$30.0 billion for the fiscal year ended Aug. 31, 2014. Its
home page is www.accenture.com.
CONTACT
For more information,
contact:
Antti Kolehmainen
Managing Director, Accenture Defense Services
[email protected]
Dr. Valtteri Vuorisalo
Offering Development Manager, Accenture Defense Services
[email protected]
Joe Chenelle
Senior Managing Director, Accenture Federal Services
[email protected]
Follow us @AccenturePubSvc
1
Accenture Technology Vision 2015; http://techtrends.accenture.com/us-en/it-technology-trends-2015.html
2
United States Army; “Live, Virtual, Constructive-Integrating Architecture (LVC-IA),” November 9, 2012, accessed May 8, 2015 http://www.peostri.army.mil/PRODUCTS/LVCIA/
Mark Pomerleau; “How Virtual Reality Helps Treat Soldiers with PTSD,” Defense Systems, March 13, 2015, accessed May 8, 2015 http://defensesystems.com/articles/2015/03/13/army-virtualreality-ptsd-treatment.aspx
3
4
IBID
5
Henry Kenyon; AFCEA; “Joint Information Environment is Under Way;” September 16, 2013; http://www.afcea.org/content/?q=joint-information-environment-under-way
6
Accenture; “Creating the right image in the intelligent city;” http://www.accenture.com/us-en/Pages/insight-creating-right-image-intelligent-city-summary.aspx
7
Joey Cheng, “Air Force Wants Human-Machine Teams for ISR Analysis,” Defense Systems, July 23, 2014, accessed May 8, 2015 http://defensesystems.com/Articles/2014/07/23/Air-Force-
human-machine-ISR-analysis.aspx?admgarea=TC_C4ISR&Page=1
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