Live at Emerging Tech Demo Day: Insights from Next Phase Solutions

Insights from the Emerging Tech Demo Day at the Carahsoft Conference and Collaboration Center in Reston, Virginia. Joined by Warren Miller, Corporate Chief Architect at Next Phase Solutions, and Lisa Wolff, the President and CEO, the episode delves into the innovative technologies showcased and their applications in government and commercial sectors. Key topics include data fragmentation solutions with Foresight 360 and the impact of artificial intelligence on future tech landscapes. Hear about their experiences at Demo Day, their leadership journeys, and the challenges they tackle to provide holistic IT and cyber solutions.

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Intro/Outro Music: See a Brighter Day/Gloria Tells
Courtesy of Epidemic Sound

(Episodes 1-159: Intro/Outro Music: Focal Point/Young Community
Courtesy of Epidemic Sound)

Chapters

• 1:09 Event Overview and Significance
• 2:35 Interview with Warren Miller
• 3:52 Next Phase Solutions' Innovations
• 6:58 Reflections on Demo Day
• 11:19 Leadership and Career Insights
• 22:03 Future Trends and Technologies

Transcript

BACKGROUND: [00:00:00] It's 
BACKGROUND: here for X 
BACKGROUND: demo day. There 
BACKGROUND: you go. Thank you. You're welcome. Everything will be on the fifth floor, and James will queue up when you're 
BACKGROUND: okay. 
Yohanna: Hello everyone, and welcome to a very special live edition of the Buzz. I'm your host, Joanna Baez, and today we're coming to you from the Carahsoft Conference and Collaboration Center.
Yohanna: A beautiful building here in Reston, Virginia. We are here for Emerging Tech Demo Day, an amazing event designed to spotlight demonstrations, not just presentations. For those of you who may not know, ACT IAC organizes a lot of events and meetings that provide our members with networking and learning opportunities.
Yohanna: These are the places where you can get to know your colleagues and exchange information to help the government meet its mission more effectively. We've got a dynamic and engaging episode ahead, so, uh, stick around. This is the buzz Live at Demo Day. The energy in this room is really great. The level [00:01:00] of, uh, innovation and cutting edge technology on display today is incredible.
Yohanna: I've seen some game changing solutions that are pushing the boundaries of, of what's possible. I'm in a unique position to be able to sit with. Some of the brilliant minds behind these, uh, new innovations and hear more about their journey, the challenges they've tackled, and what's next for their work. So let's step away from the crowds a bit and maybe find a quieter spot.
Yohanna: Uh, first up, joining me now is, 
WARREN: so my name is Warren Miller. I am the corporate Chief architect for Next Phase Solutions and Services. 
Yohanna: Okay, great. And you are here today at Demo Day Act IX for banks Emerging Tech demo day. Um, so far so good. How do you guys feel about our event today? 
WARREN: Uh, I think it's particularly exciting.
WARREN: I mean, I've got a good mix of, uh, innovative [00:02:00] ideas amongst the various exhibitors here and we've had some good conversations with folks from across the spectrum, including government. So that's who we were here to target. 
Yohanna: No, that's fair. Um, so when it comes to next phase, let's talk about what, what your role is and what it is that you do over at Next Space.
WARREN: Yeah. So in my specific role, uh, my responsibility is to oversee, as well as come up with the big picture ideas of how we create solutions for our customers. Uh, I have a lot of help in that. It's definitely not something I do by my lonesome. Uh, but I have a great deal of experience in a lot of areas and I found that, um, I.
WARREN: Amazing. Having that experience as well as having gone through a lot of trial and here over my career has helped quite a bit in helping people think of things they may not have thought before. So we're highly collaborative in that way and, uh, successful for that reason. 
Yohanna: What is your demo? 
WARREN: Yeah, so we're showing two things today, um, that we have [00:03:00] provided for some of our clients and they highlight some of the problem solving capabilities that, uh, I see as kind of our forte.
WARREN: Uh, one is an example of how you take a top down approach from a client's needs and understand the knowledge they need to get their job done. Um, how do you provide them with that knowledge when it comes from lots of different places across the organization? That traditionally don't talk well. Uh, and the data sets that kind of back.
WARREN: Some of that knowledge are not connected in any way and the overlap, and in some cases they need, can be at odds with each other. And so we like to do is come in and understand what types of answers need to be provided to key business and mission questions. And then go out and get the information necessary to provide those answers.
WARREN: And so the example that we're showing here today along those lines, is one that looks across [00:04:00] the enterprise and grabs everything that it could possibly get related to the health of the technology. So infrastructure, applications, networking, end user computing devices, conference room equipment. Even some IOT things like vending machines that supply, you know, hardware components to employees.
WARREN: Pull it all together and provide sort of that 360 degree view across the top of it, which not only provides that enterprise wide view of everything, but actually creates knowledge. Because right now we're pulling from 50 different sources to aggregate that information. And if you go look at each of those 50 different sources and just kind of add up the sum knowledge that they present, we provide, uh, uh, you know, an aggregate that provides extra information on top of that that you wouldn't get from just those individual sources.
WARREN: And we have one other thing we're showing, um, [00:05:00] and it's more in line with a lot of what people are talking about today, and it's an artificial intelligence example. And so this is an interesting one because lots of people are talking ai. And while it's not trivial to build the technology components of AI to produce some answers, it's still not as difficult as giving really, really good answers.
WARREN: And so we're here demonstrating that, uh, today for what's called a rag pipeline. And so this is the large language model chat bot type of application that's able to inject specific business knowledge that that LLM was never trained on. To provide more detailed and specific answers. And again, it's not the technology components necessary that we wove together to produce that rag pipeline.
WARREN: That's interesting. It's all the interstitial knowledge it's taken to provide good answers. I. When you do that, because you don't get those out of the box. [00:06:00] 
Yohanna: Back at demo day, we caught people literally right during their demonstrations, listening to an amazing group of speakers, catching up with their colleagues.
Yohanna: This event was jam packed with a lot of great stuff, but now we have the space to sit back and reflect, get some background information, and continue that conversation without an event behind us. Just an open conversation about their projects, any lessons they've learned and what comes next for their company.
Yohanna: We touched on their experiences at Demo Day, but now we get to hear the fuller story. Let's dive in.
Yohanna: So that was an amazing short conversation at Demo Day. What I'd like to do now is just dig a little deeper at Act IX Demo Day. We had a brief conversation about. Innovations that, uh, next phase is driving. Can you guys reflect on what that day meant for the team? 
WARREN: Yeah, I mean, I can start. Uh, so I thought the demo day was, uh, [00:07:00] such a valuable experience.
WARREN: Uh, I think what out to me, aside from. Excitement around emerging tech obviously was just seeing the breadth of challenges people are tackling. Uh, so as someone who's been in the tech world for a long time, I'm obviously naturally drawn to the new and shiny. Uh, but more than that it was eyeopening to see what others view as worthy problems to solve.
WARREN: So, so what were they thinking and what types of solutions did they intend to provide for those very challenging and worthwhile problems? And that really framed the whole event for me. 
LISA: I think for me, um, it gave a great opportunity to get some of our folks out in front of other people, um, and really see the value of their work.
LISA: We had a lot of people come by our, our table and we're interested. I think the other thing is, um, we focus on not bringing tech, but bringing a solution. So it was good talking with, we had, I, I don't know, four or five, um, members from the government side come talk with us and hear from them that are, you know, we don't need tech.
LISA: We need a [00:08:00] solution. That was very comforting and having our folks there that can speak and show that we have, it wasn't just tech. We people that understand those challenges and how to address them for the government. That's really good. 
Yohanna: That's good to hear that our events are kind of. Doing that. That's like, that's what we're actually trying to do with our ACT events.
Yohanna: Along those lines, can you expand a little bit? Can you describe the problem, uh, the problem space that next phase is tackling and how you position your demonstration to address that? 
WARREN: Yeah, and so from my perspective, um, and we mentioned this a little bit in our earlier conversation, is that I view us as sort of preeminent problem solvers.
WARREN: And so that's where we start. Our thinking, and that's where we start our conversation. Uh, and certainly that played out at, at, at the emerging tech days. Um, one of the things that we found is the biggest pain points, and this is especially true in large government systems, but I think it's also extends into the commercial realm.
WARREN: [00:09:00] And, and that's just fragmentation of data. Um, no matter how you slice it and d it, in order to solve, you know, government's biggest problems or. Big industries, biggest challenges. Uh, you need to divide and conquer your tasks, and that just naturally results in dividing up your data. Um, but you don't always wanna do that.
WARREN: There are very good reasons to want to take the holistic view across an organization, across an agency, across a business, uh, and now you've gone through this, uh, process of fragmenting it and it becomes very, very difficult to put it. Together. And you throw on top of that the fact that there's just so much data and it's coming from everywhere, uh, infrastructure I devices.
WARREN: Legacy systems, you name it. Uh, so what we were presenting and demonstrating is a product we call Foresight 360. Uh, and we built it to address these problems. And what it does is it gives [00:10:00] organizations a unified, real time view of their it e ecosystem. And you know, we're talking about moving from disconnected, low level details to very actionable insights.
WARREN: And that's what's key about it. And our goal is simple. I mean, it's to help people be proactive instead of reactive. Uh, and that's the space we live in, you know, making data work for people and not against them. 
Yohanna: Before we dig deeper into next phases, current and future work, I'd love to hear more about each of your journeys.
Yohanna: I know we got into it a little bit off mic. Sorry, listeners, we had our off mic conversation. Um, but I'd like to maybe just know what initially drew you all to this field and what key moments, uh, shaped your career. 
LISA: So I am a very mission driven person. Which kind of pushed me into engineering and uh, that's where I was able to get, I'm electrical engineering is what I did, and I able to get a lot of my technical skills from that.
LISA: But engineering also really helps a lot with decision making, problem solving skills, things like that. Right. Um, and [00:11:00] so, um, government is a great place if you're a mission to every person. I can get behind just about any mission. Um, it allows to bring creative problem solving and bring ideas to the table.
LISA: 'cause I, I'm, I'm also a very creative person, so for me it was like this great combination and, um, you know, working at very large companies, not-for-profit, for-profit, and now small business. Um, it gives me a variety of ways to bring my skills to the government. 
WARREN: Yeah. And for me, I mean, it started very, very young.
WARREN: Um, I would venture guess like a, a lot of the folks in the technology industry, you know, I was a kid who took things apart to see how they work. You know, radios, old gadgets, you know, just playing curiosity. Probably much to my parents chagrin. Uh, but you know, when personal computing really took off and it became, you know, computing in general just became more [00:12:00] approachable to individuals.
WARREN: So think of. Maybe late seventies, early eighties, you know, that was just right up my alley and, and I, I dove right into it. Um, and so by the time I was, you know, a junior in high school, senior in high school, I was actually doing contract programming. I. For companies, um, you know, one summer I put together an entire logistics platform for a local business.
WARREN: Uh, and so that blend of curiosity and practical applications stuck with me through college and through earning my PhD in astronomy and even into my time in academia. Uh, and eventually, you know, I made the move to the private sector where I felt like I could have a more direct impact on, on a broader set of problems.
Yohanna: Uh, Lisa as the president, CEO of next phase leadership in emerging tech means constantly balancing innovation with business viability. Um, how do you approach that challenge? How do you walk that tight rope? Well, 
LISA: that's very true. It is it, and it's definitely a tight rope. So, you know, people, we have a lot of people more, [00:13:00] um.
LISA: They need that opportunity to freely think. But I call it sort of like guardrail. So we're not building automotives, we're building major solutions for mission success on in federal or universal. So, uh, but I, I try to give p uh, an open environment. In fact, they created something called the Idea Lab where ideas can come in, they could be thought about, picked at by different technologists.
LISA: You know, isn't viable? Is it solving something? Because like the, the four side, 360, um, we kind of solve this problem before the, the fence and commercial groups solve the problem. So, and it, it comes because you let people come together and think about what's working with, um, kind of in a non-judgmental, uh, judgmental way.
LISA: And I think the big thing from the business side is we focus. On reserving a certain amount of dollars for, I'm gonna call it almost sort of [00:14:00] like a free research to try to develop up an idea to get to where we can go talk about it, build something, do a POC, do things like go to conferences like that you, that you have to give feedback, um, in the case, and we'll be brought there.
LISA: This is a system that it's out working in commercial and federal, but it started with tiny things. It started even with. College students working with very advanced people that we have brought together. And even just presenting even to people within the company, first, executives that understand the business needs, technologists that understand business needs.
LISA: But you know, you wanna, you don't have to keep it under tabs because I'm an engineer too. I'd loved to be doing all kinds of fun stuff. Um, so it is, uh, it is a lot of coming up with the ideas, seeing and the vibe. Lay them fail quickly, right. Um, either because it's a solved problem already and that doesn't really help you grow your business, or, we definitely built a [00:15:00] better mouse trap and we're going to get that out there because it differentiates on us.
LISA: And on a more unique way of solving a problem. And typically in our case, it's finding cheaper wings. Um, simpler s uh, trying to cut through a lot of. Some of these solutions are very overdone and driving costs for, for federal agencies. So sometimes our mouse trap traps are simpler, but we still catch 'em.
LISA: Bounce. 
Yohanna: I like, I like using, I like that you use mousetrap. I don't know why, 
LISA: like visually I understand like, it, it, it's an old term, but it, it does mean a lot. I mean, you would think you could never innovate on a mouse trap that we can innovate a mouse trap. I'm telling, I said. Gimme a better mouse trap, they would come back and engage.
Yohanna: That's great. What's a challenge from your early career that helped shape the way you lead today? What were some early mouth mouse traps? 
LISA: Um, I, like I said, I've worked at all different types of organizations. Um, though, you know, I came up through [00:16:00] Mill Aerospace. Worked here for Northrop Grumman in Litton.
LISA: A very, very, very large innovation. Lot of rules, a lot of structure. You kind of kind of scrapped your way around to get paid attention to and to be able to say, Hey, there's a better way of doing this. I, you know, I moved up through until I became a VP there. I started as like, when I was still in college, I watched a lot of people wanna participate, but structurally the organization made that hard and even just the size.
LISA: Even the focus, hyper focus on bottom line. And yes, the mission's important, but bottom line's really important in a publicly traded company. And so I really over time work, you know, working at those kinds of places, thought I could make a better mousetrap. And, um, still have a lot of the critical corporate functions that you would have on, on how we run things financially, business wise, and whatever.
LISA: A really critical, really critical thing, quality to your customers. No matter what goes on, [00:17:00] good or bad in an organization, when you have customers that are being fulfilled for their needs in a high quality way on time and on schedule, it goes a long way. And so that was I, uh, having, uh, people that we brought in was management.
LISA: Having technologists like Warren that understand how important that is, creating that and bringing in other leaders that just naturally think that way. That was sort of my idea on how to shape a company. So I think all that together has shaped how I lead. So it's a lot of pushing people, empowering people, making sure I give them the resources they need, uh, and making sure it's a fair.
LISA: Uh, a fair field for contributions in that column. 
WARREN: For me, um, it's pretty straightforward. I think one of the biggest shifts and honestly, uh, one of the biggest challenges, uh, came when I moved from doing academic research, [00:18:00] uh, and going back into the tech industry, given some of the background info I gave you.
WARREN: Uh, but basically deciding to move forward in the tech industry and in academia. You know, especially in the research world that I came from, a lot of the work is highly individualistic. Um, certainly there were research teams and, you know, it wasn't, you know, like a hundred years or so ago when everyone was kind of on their lonesome.
WARREN: But it still was true that a lot of the work was very individual and you're responsible for your own research and your own results, and you could spend months or years focused on a problem, you know, largely on your own terms. Uh, and you know. When I made the transition into the technology sector, you know, it was a stark reality shift and that that type of approach wasn't going to work.
WARREN: Um, you know, in, in this world, success isn't just about solving the problem yourself, you know, it's about bringing others along for the ride. And, and that's particularly true in architecture where you're kind [00:19:00] of that facilitator between. A set of needs and a set of possible solutions using technology. Um, moreover, you know, a lot of what I do and have had to do in the technology field is.
WARREN: About building teams and communicating your ideas clearly and, and sometimes trying to influence people when you really didn't have the authority to do so. Um, so that was a pretty big adjustment, uh, for me, and I had to learn how to lead in a way that empowered others and, uh, not just relied on my own technical skills.
WARREN: Um, had to shift from being a person with all the answers to being the person who asks the right questions is kind of the cliche that you hear often, but it's definitely true. Um, and it does. It's super important to be able to create that environment where everyone can do their best work, regardless of your own specialties and your own skills.
WARREN: Uh, so I, I think that's probably the biggest shaper or influencer on leadership today, as far as I'm [00:20:00] concerned. You know, I still love. Diving into technical details and, and I do get to do so, uh, but I know that the real progress happens when you know that team, uh, sort of hits the right stride together, um, and starts working around and delivering against a, a shared purpose.
Yohanna: You could feel like when the team goes into like a flow and everyone's flowing together and Yeah. 
WARREN: Yeah. It, it, it's like, uh, you know, even after experiencing it probably hundreds of times now, um, it's still a very pleasant and, and stark, uh, realization when that happens. You know, you're on the right track
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Yohanna: All right, let's, let's pretend you guys have a crystal ball. What are the, uh, major trends in emerging tech that you believe will have the biggest impact in, you know, the next couple of years? Three to five years? 
WARREN: Yeah, it's a little scary to even say this is potentially cliche, but you know, it's a sign of the times and I would definitely start with artificial intelligence.
WARREN: At the very beginning, it's without a doubt, I still recall sitting at, must have been a conference or a seminar maybe 5, 6, 7 years or so ago where the prediction was that, you know, we were going to achieve sort of general intelligence within the next decade or so, and it's been, I. It's very encouraging to see not only the progress, but the pace of change in this area.
WARREN: So, you know, all the good things that you hear about it. Um, there's a lot of hype, but there's a lot of value in reality associated with it. And the one that I like to focus on is one [00:22:00] that you don't perhaps hear is frequently, and that's how it's gonna potentially change how we interface. Technologies. I mean, we already have voice assistance and we have wearable devices and, you know, more personal interactions with technology.
WARREN: But I, I don't think it's anywhere where it's going to be, uh, at least certainly not my experience with some of the, uh, technology that's just a few feet away from me. And I can't say that the, the key words for fear of activating it, but I do kind of hope that, um, I. I do believe we're gonna get very close to a reality where it's not just benefits or the outcomes of the artificial intelligence, it's just going to be the, the smoothness and, or the seamlessness, I should say, of the interaction between humans and, and technology.
WARREN: Um, that's going to be probably the most exciting thing I think we're gonna see on the horizon. 
LISA: I think for me, 'cause I, I, um, I'm actually involved in some work that's on the, [00:23:00] uh. Security link AI's application for security. Um, and, uh, cyber warfare I think is critical for the nation. And, um, having an ability to have secure communications, um, around that are, are very, very critical.
LISA: Yeah. Although humans are brainiacs, right? Having artificial and intelligence help. See things that we as humans cannot see will be really critical in protecting the nation. 
Yohanna: Um, I know off mic we had, you guys had talked about a project that stuck with me where you guys worked with Amtrak. Um, maybe can you share an example of a project or a technology that you've worked on that you believe will have a lasting impact or maybe just like, can you share about the Amtrak, uh, project at all or no?
WARREN: Yeah, I can mention a little bit about that. I mean, so I mentioned that I was part of the team that helped transition, uh, Amtrak from, I [00:24:00] guess the, the old Western days of paper-based, uh, value bearing tickets, um, to it sort of modern presence today. Um, where it's largely, if not entirely electronic for most of Amtrak's customers.
WARREN: And that was not. As easy a transition as you, you might imagine. So why can't you just do e ticketing like airlines did? Um, but this was an industry that, you know, literally stretched back in the 18 hundreds and not a lot had changed in terms of. Importance and centrality of those paper-based tickets that were as good as cash.
WARREN: And so all these systems and processes and people's attitudes were built around that. Uh, and then on top of that, there's hardcore stuff like actually accounting rules and when you could recognize revenue as a corporation that were tied into this and so. That was certainly one of the great achievements I've been a part of, uh, seeing [00:25:00] that transition and bringing them into the more modern age.
WARREN: I still think that being part of the Hubble Space Telescope program was probably, uh, the tops of the list and having the privilege, and we've both had that privilege to work on that program. Uh, but I'm, I'm keen on, you know, what we're doing today because if you were to ask me kind of what are the two biggest.
WARREN: Unsolved issues in technology today. And I, it's easy for me to state there's data and then there's Security Ladder is still a huge challenge for all of us. Uh, but I think we're making inroads on the data piece. And, you know, that's what the whole basis of Foresight 360 is all about it, saying, we understand the importance of data, we understand that it's complicated, spread and fragmented and all that, but you need to be able to view that, uh, in meaningful ways that.
WARREN: Regardless of that fragmentation. So I'm, I'm super excited, uh, and in highly encouraged that we're gonna be able to crack that nut [00:26:00] and make that type of solution a very long lasting one for a lot of people. 
LISA: So my point was the issue of, but you're still the human at the other end receiving all this data.
LISA: So another focus us has been that very pro you're, you have, you have all this data available to you. How do you parse it, understand it, get value of it very quickly to make your day-to-day decisions. And so that's where I kind of register this came from. How do you simplify taking an action based on a data amount?
WARREN: Yeah. Yeah, and this really goes back to, um, the previous answer. I, I believe it kind of the space that we focus on and, and that's just our recognition, that not only is there just tons of data out there, way more than any individual can synthesize and process and make much sense out of on the fly, but it's that fragmentation that that's a horrible challenge [00:27:00] for, for organizations and.
WARREN: The, the, the crux of it is, is that you have to have that fragmentation at some level because, you know, operating an enterprise, certainly technology for an enterprise is complicated. And if you are always going to try to tackle problems from the top down, from the holistic enterprise view down, you're not gonna get very far.
WARREN: You really do need to do the divide and conquer, uh, type of strategy. So, for example. Uh, you definitely want people who are experts in cybersecurity. Focusing on the security aspects of your organization, having them also have to digest and understand what network topology and equipment health looks like, as well as end user experience and service desk results are, is just gonna dilute the value that they bring.
WARREN: But just recognize that they're experts in that one little sliver of domain. That's awful important, but it's not the holistic view of the enterprise. And you can just multiply that [00:28:00] across some of those other domains I just mentioned, like networks, uh, business applications, end user experience, customer service, uh, just overall enterprise operations.
WARREN: All those areas need to kind of focus in on the specialties that they are, but at the end of the day. You have an enterprise to run, you have a mission to accomplish. If you're a government agency, you have a business to operate, and those things operate holistically. So you need to piece all that stuff back together without throwing away all those fragmented specialties.
WARREN: And that's where Foresight 360 really. Built to slot into, um, enterprise operations and much to our surprise, perhaps not too surprisingly, when you look into the challenge of it, is that there aren't products like that that exist. Everyone has these best of breed tools that do focus in on consuming log metrics so you can get a better idea of how your applications are doing.
WARREN: [00:29:00] But those same tools really aren't focused on. What is my vol? What are my vulnerabilities look like from end user computing devices? You know, what type of attack surface does my organization have? You use a whole different set of tools for that. So ForSight 360 comes in, lays on top of all of that and reunify it and, and so reunifying it.
WARREN: Not only does it present back all the value that those individual best of breed domain focus tools have. But sort of, it's one of those examples where, you know, the sum of the individual parts is greater, uh, the value that you get out of it than looking at in individual piece together. Uh, and so, you know, our sort of tagline for Foresight 360 is it's a unified IT intelligence platform, you know, and it really does provide that single pane of glass.
WARREN: It makes it easy for people to understand under their own terms, not under the complex terms of technology or specific data sets, but their own terms of [00:30:00] what is the help of their organization look like. Where is it headed? Are there areas I should be focusing on, uh, to head off potential problems? Uh, and so in this observability domain, it really does provide that sort of interfacing layer between human intentions and human desires and tons and tons of technology and data fragmentation.
WARREN: It's really, 
Yohanna: that's really powerful. Foresite 360 is really, really strong, really powerful 
LISA: friend. You know, we've been able all. We, we even are looking at like the operational costs, consumption of cloud as uh, organizations, either federal or commercial, get more and more into the cloud. Um, there's a lot of surprises sometimes to the management when Foresight 360 goes into find out there's just clouds running wild and nobody's ever logged in or a contractor is off the job and I.
LISA: It just happened recently, somewhere where [00:31:00] somebody left and never turned anything off. This thing's bugging. They're gonna owe the bill, right? Or even inappropriate use of the cloud. Like, why is this team, why is this team have access? So it finds even accidental security access, uh, and even helping now with, uh, improving security posture.
LISA: There's, you know, at, at any agency, the joke is it takes a village, right? It's not one contract. You're creating a system to get out to the, you know, to the, to support the border or go to space, or, you know, do health, right? There's, could be two, 300 contractors at any agency and where, anywhere from breed of 20 to get an entire system end to end.
LISA: So no individual human and a no amount of tools is gonna give you a unified view. What is going on? And so it has been a big help for the course, uh, or whoever, like a CIO at a, [00:32:00] at a center organization, you know, a commercial organization say, wow, I had no idea I was spending that money. Or Oh my God, why aren't people, why aren't a security patch it?
WARREN: Yeah. And one of the reasons, one of the qualities it has that makes it so, and, and makes it a highly. Uh, compelling in today's world where there is focus on cost efficiency and automation and trying to eliminate fraud, waste, and abuse is that it's extremely responsive to needs at hand. It's not a pre-baked and pre-canned focus on only one set of capabilities, but it's one that a set that evolves over time.
WARREN: So I'll give you a good example, is, you know, practically every organization, you know, used to use, uh, VPNs. As a way for remote users to access, uh, private and secure, uh, on-premise or cloud, uh, uh, facilities or resources that's shifting. Um, there's a, a big change underway into zero trust architectures [00:33:00] where instead of having a single boundary, uh, you basically pace a place a boundary around every resource, uh, and every user of resources.
WARREN: And you, you mitigate. Security issues, uh, upon at the time of connection and, you know, foresight 360 has made huge strides in serving both those sorts of masters. One in VPNs and helping organizations. We helped one agency, uh. Quickly transitioned right at the onset of COVID, right? Where they had everyone on site, and then suddenly the next week everyone was remote and we're talking 10,000 plus employees and contractor suddenly getting VPN resources, helping them understand was capacity, right?
WARREN: Uh, did they need to augment? How much did, did, did they need to augment? Was there signs of impending difficulties? That's gonna take everybody offline. And so it's extremely valuable in those types of cases, but as Lisa said, you know, quickly that fades and people hit their stride and you [00:34:00] reach steady state.
WARREN: Uh, and now tools like ForSight 360, still monitoring VPN at Edge points can seamlessly shift over looking at zero trust and answering the same types of questions. Is there right capacity? Are there security concern with, uh, sort of egress of data through those types of boundaries? I can even see that type of stuff.
WARREN: And so I think that's our secret sauce as well, is being able to capture the shifts in the marketplace and still provide the type of value is 
Yohanna: just thinking about all the things that four C3 60 can do and how I can do. Um, all right. Uh, so if we fast forward and, and just looking ahead maybe five years, where do you see next phase, uh, going?
Yohanna: What kind of, what kind of breakthroughs are you aiming for? 
WARREN: Yeah. No, I mean, I, I think for me, um, keeping. Pace of possibilities is, is really what excites me about going forward. I mean, things are changing so rapidly and we've done a really good [00:35:00] job of staying ahead of that curve. Uh, and, and so doing, we're able to make sense of information, ways that, you know, you couldn't even imagine a few years or so ago.
WARREN: I think a lot of that's because, you know, next phase at its heart is, is a small, nimble company. Uh, and we're in the position not only just to keep up with that pace of change, but actually help shape it. Uh, and I think we will continue to do that, uh, going forward. Um, so what really excites me is, is how these emerging technologies are, are starting to remove barriers.
WARREN: Uh, that's been a big focus for us is, um. Not just removing sort of technical barriers to getting the job done, but, you know, barriers to understanding, uh, barriers to taking action. You know, so Foresight 360 is a great example of moving from reactive to proactive. So enabling that action to be taken is key to us.
WARREN: Uh, and at the end of the day, I mean, it's all about helping others make better decisions, 
uh, 
WARREN: across the entire spectrum of their [00:36:00] responsibilities. Um. So, yeah, I mean, those are the things that, uh, we excel at and I expect us to keep moving forward in those directions. 
LISA: Okay, let's see, next five years. I feel that there is a huge mission ahead for every federal contractor right now, and it's securing the nation.
LISA: We all have our normal jobs, but everything we do in the federal side is securing the nation. Um, there's some of the vulnerabilities, so from that perspective. Um, I, and, and as we are investing more and more, um, we are looking at not just, you know, bringing data out on the bowels of whatever and connecting them and getting over those hurdles and whatever, but also really developing our cyber practice, um, is an important area.
LISA: Um, and, um, and suddenly, I mean, we, we do a lot of DevSecOps routing, doing a lot of the. [00:37:00] Things that a system integrator would do, or an application company, or a product company. Um, but I think in, in, in that area, it there and of course artificial intelligence and Warren and I, coming from the science side, even though artificial intelligence for a lot that, so it's now a new term in a lot of people's heads.
LISA: Um, but I think more and more of that coming out, I probably also looking at how to keep artificial intelligence in check. To make sure that we're using it, I don't mean like in an ethical way, but making sure it's, we're building solutions, um, and the, and government and commercial, uh, companies are using, um, you know, artificial intelligence in a good way and it's not hallucinating and all those other things that it, it might do.
WARREN: Yeah. And again, we put that focus on people's ability to solve problems and not just use tools. Right. So it's, it's great in our modern era that we have all these high level abstractions to [00:38:00] ease system design and programming. That's phenomenal. Uh, but that can sometimes mass complexity, uh, instead of teaching you how to navigate it.
WARREN: And so we always go back and make sure that people understand, uh, that they need to stay curious. Uh, and they need to be able to reason in addition to using the the high powered tools. 
Yohanna: Thank you so much. 
WARREN: Thank you. 
Alright. See,
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