Highlights from an interview with Innoviss President and CEO Tracy Graves-Stevens on John Gilroy’s “Federal Tech Talk,” Federal News Radio (November 15, 2011)
So Tracy, let’s find out a little about your background – tell us how you wound up running Innoviss.
I’m actually a Washingtonian, so I’ve grown up in the Washington, D.C. area and this big realm you call the federal government. Both of my parents were civil servants, and so I guess it was just in my DNA to start working for the federal government as well. So I started as an intern supporting the intelligence community while I was in college. I really wasn’t planning on staying with the government, but there was this new little thing called the desktop computer that was starting to evolve, and so I quickly changed my major to computer science because I was really fascinated by technology and software…that led me to leading a business division and then eventually a company called CTX Corporation.
So tell me about this company, Innoviss.
The company I did lead was acquired by one of the larger government contractors…I went ahead to lead a division within the company and when it was divested I went along with it. Since I have an IT background, I’m really excited about fixing stuff, and so I wanted it to be a company that was really oriented towards fixing stuff. Not just technology, but with real solutions and real knowledge…So here we are. And so Innoviss really is very much targeted towards looking at solutions that have a technology bent but also an understanding of operations, investigations, and analytics.
I think one of the core capabilities is a cloud system or some kind of a network system – making a transition or a change and doing it in a secure system. If you had a 30 second TV spot, that’s probably one of the things you’d say, right Tracy?
Absolutely. We really look at consolidation and centralization of our operations and data but more importantly, how do you secure the data that is transiting over your network? When you think of the cloud, that’s what our clients are talking about is they are getting into more centralized data centers with more access to virtual data points into those data centers. But the biggest fear is how do you set up someone that’s in Idaho trying to access a network in Washington, D.C., and feel very comfortable that the data that is traveling across that network is secure? Those are our specialty areas.
I know the cloud-first initiative, I know that, but what about the other firsts out there, what about security-first, what about maybe making a transition faster that doesn’t cost more money than we’re doing it now?
A lot of the things that are now buzzwords actually have always been issues that we’ve addressed since I’ve been developing systems 15-20 years ago. It really is: you have limited budgets, you have limited resources, and now we are challenging ourselves – we want our data quicker, faster – and shorter; and so it’s really about building an infrastructure with the bandwidth able to handle the load, and to keep the bad-guy out that would like to get to the data. But it’s also about making sure – in this culture where we’re all connected via iPads, and iPhones, and laptops and so many other devices – to make sure that internally that we are not letting go of information that is not intended to go outside of your network.
What advice can you give my listeners that are looking at a restricted budget, restricted employees, and maybe different assignments on top of all of that restriction?
The challenge that I see is to anticipate different ways of doing it so that when you have that one opportunity – that one audience with the customer to say: have you thought about this, have you tried this? That’s where we really put our energy in trying to build that knowledge base. There are so many different ways with technology to get it there quicker, faster, better – it’s just taking time to evaluate what those quicker paths are.
I liken innovation to a receiver receiving a football. When a receiver receives a football, they look for the gaps and they look for the fastest line to get to the goal line – and that really is innovation. It’s not necessarily the same path every time, and it may not necessarily be the play that was discussed before the players hit the field.
One thing that differentiates your company is that you try to empathize with some federal workers and you try to give back to the community.
We’re a big supporter of Birdies for the Brave, which is actually a charitable organization founded by Phil Mickelson of the PGA TOUR that supports six homefront charities and we just recently had our big golf tournament this past Monday and this has been one of the most successful ones by far. We’ve had a great time, but it really is for a great cause – for wounded warriors and their families.
We actually like to say – we take our business personally, so we take our community even more personally. We are a big supporter of Men Against Breast Cancer – this really is an organization to support men who are supporting the women in their lives that are going through cancer. We like to give back – we think it’s our civic duty because we’ve been blessed with so much.
I think it’s good to partner with a small, flexible organization that can work with you in achieving some of your needs – whether it’s making a transition in healthcare IT, whether it’s security services, or whether it’s just designing secure systems and thin clients that can adapt well and apply security…Thanks Tracy!
For the full audio of this interview, click here
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