SUMMARY:
Government contractors must adapt to a post-pandemic landscape defined by permanent remote work environments, stricter Department of Defense cybersecurity mandates, and a strategic pivot toward digital marketing and virtual events.
- Remote Work Drives Modernization: Agencies and contractors are treating remote work as a permanent norm, necessitating significant investments in IT modernization, cloud computing, and digital services to support a distributed workforce.
- Cybersecurity Compliance is Mandatory: The Department of Defense has accelerated enforcement of the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) and NIST standards, making security compliance a prerequisite for contract eligibility.
- Recruitment Costs are Decreasing: The shift to remote operations enables companies to recruit talent from lower-cost areas, effectively reducing salary expenses and expanding hiring budgets.
- Marketing Strategies are Shifting Digital: With the decline of in-person meetings, contractors are increasingly relying on inbound marketing, virtual conferences, and thought leadership content to drive sales and engagement.
Embracing these disruptive changes enables government contractors to transform operational challenges into opportunities for innovation and long-term business growth.
Table of contents
When we sit down to write about this year’s trends, it’s way different from previous years, and there’s a certain apprehension about making any predictions with full confidence. Most of our expectations for 2020 were shattered by the pandemic and its sidecar of chaos, so weighing in on what might happen this year feels like grasping at straws.
While there were some predictions we caught from the get-go — for instance, to no one’s surprise, the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certifications have become paramount for success with DoD contracts — most of what we thought would happen last year did not. So, as I look back on the past year and try to draw some conclusions about what we’ll see in government contracting, I’m nervous about what catastrophe is lurking in the coming months, waiting to disrupt our industry during 2021.
Yet, there are some things I feel confident about moving forward. As we turn the page on 2020 and open the door to 2021, I believe some trends will shape the nature of work for government contractors. Many of which are remnants of last year’s events, while some I hope to come to fruition without the barriers of our current business climate.
2021 Trends in Government Contracting
Continued Investment in Remote Business
The shift to remote work within the federal government and in government contracting has opened the door to various business improvements. One of the most pressing is IT modernization; as government contractors invest in remote-enabling technology, they’re also setting up an architecture that aligns their business with modern tech stacks and demands. While government contractors have migrated their workforces to home offices to promote safety, they’ve enjoyed uplifting benefits, including lower business expenses, increased productivity, and improved customer satisfaction.
Before the pandemic, remote work was a luxury enjoyed by less than 20% of the country’s workforce — not to mention they worked from home only a few days a week — but now it’s becoming a permanent designation for many workers in government contracting. Thus, the lunge to secure a remote workforce in government contracting will continue to soar in 2021.
“Agencies need to step back and plan for the reality that remote work will be the norm for the foreseeable future and that even after the vaccine is deployed and employees start to return to work, work will be different than it was pre-pandemic. Focusing on the long-term technology needs of employees and the citizens they serve in areas like digital services, cloud computing, and cybersecurity, and making the right investments to support them should be at the top of the priority list.”
– Mike Hettinger, president of Hettinger Strategy Group, Federal News Network.
Prioritizing Cyber Security and the DoD’s CMMC
In November of last year, the DoD issued a Memorandum concerning the Interim DFARS Rule, which elaborated on the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certifications (CMMC) requirements and implementation of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). As no surprise, the expansion of technology in the federal government and among government contractors has accelerated the need for comprehensive security. As many companies working with the DoD began planning for the certifications after enactment in September 2020, the influence of 2021’s effect on all government contractors signals a boost in maintaining NIST security protocol.
Whether you’re new to the CMMC requirements or NIST parameters, we’ve published a blog to help you start planning for adherence within your organization. There’s no better time to start than right now!
More Affordable Recruitment and Staffing
One of the benefits of a remote workforce is that companies can expand the pool of potential new hires. This allows many government contractors to recruit their staff from less expensive metropolitan areas like Washington D.C., leading to lower salaries given the cost of living in those areas and opening the door to budget expansion opportunities. When you compare the cost of living between Washington, D.C., and less expensive cities — even in the surrounding areas — you’ll find that remote hiring can offer significant savings around your hiring budget.
Expansion of Digital Events and Conferences
The market for digital events and virtual conferences has exploded over the past year, and their popularity shows no signs of slowing. Within the next decade, the virtual events industry is expected to reach $775 billion. In government contracting, holding virtual events and conferences was a staple of 2020 sales strategies, and in 2021 we’ll see an expansion of those capabilities: live demos, webinar broadcasting, internal and partner conferences, team-building events, job fairs — the list goes on. Not only does it promote safety, but this trend toward digital events opens the door for incredible collaboration and opportunities for government contractors that may not have had the resources to attend or sponsor in-person events in the past. Through virtual events and conferences, government contractors can boost the value they deliver to customers and industry professionals alike.
Amplified Marketing Initiatives
Without the opportunity for in-person sales meetings or outbound activities, government contracting will increasingly rely on inbound marketing to boost site traffic and sales. In almost every industry, the need for precise targeting and content marketing has been amplified by the pandemic. Whether it’s for providing value or enhancing their brand through thought leadership content like blogs, eBooks, reports, case studies, and other sales enablement content, these approaches have become a primary way to engage with clients and deliver value across their customer base.
The past decade has shown a significant shift in government contracting marketing from outbound tactics to inbound-centered methodologies. Still, the implications of COVID-19 are accelerating the change from small to large businesses working with the federal government.
Rereading all of this manifests a commonality: disruption can ignite incredible growth. Whether it’s in how we pursue contracts, our methods for enhancing security, or the development of new and improved marketing strategies, disruption breeds innovation. And if 2020 showed us anything, it’s that in times of mass disruption, precise strategy and awareness are critical for empowering our business and driving continued success. In an ode to the XTIVIA B2B Pivot Series we launched in June of 2020, I’ll close with this quote:
“Disruption is an amplifier that surfaces anything already happening in a business, whether it’s weak spots, strengths, or potential opportunities. In other words, disruption amplifies what was already happening and what is possible. Using strategy to focus the generative energy caused by disruption is constructive and can progress your business beyond where you are now.”
– Lynn Scheurell, B2B Pivot Series 2: Pivoting Disruption Through Strategy.