The chief executive of Science Applications International Corp. anticipates that the ongoing coronavirus pandemic will create lasting changes in the workplace.
In an interview with Inside Defense earlier this week, Nazzic Keene, who has led the company for about a year, said SAIC has sought to quickly adapt, using technology to reimagine employees' work environment.
But even before the pandemic hit, SAIC was one of several contractors that had established outposts in areas with lower costs of living to address pricing. Now, she said, SAIC is in the process of looking for a new facility in a less-expensive area.
In 2017, the contractor opened a new office in Cookeville, TN, with about 300 employees, “for that exact reason,” Keene said.
“We have very good ability to deliver great talent when the customer lets us and be able to do it at a very competitive price point,” she added. “We’re actually considering as we sit here today where our next facility is going to be.”
Before the pandemic hit, Keene said, there were some government agencies more open than others to the idea of remote work. Now, some disinclined customers are feeling differently.
“I actually believe this has opened the aperture in some customers that might have been a little more reluctant prior to COVID,” Keene added.
She said SAIC is sharing the criteria for its next facility location with economic development offices in various states. Keene said the company is seeking a lower-cost area that remains relatively accessible where the company can partner with an academic institution.
She added that she expects the company’s use of technology to improve flexibility to be a silver lining of the pandemic.
“It was out of necessity and out of certainly a crisis,” she said. But “the positive long-term impact of that can be good for all of us.”
Meanwhile, Keene said SAIC is also working to implement a reorganization unveiled earlier this month. With the planned retirement of Jim Scanlon, who heads SAIC’s defense systems group, the contractor announced it will shift into two business units: defense and civilian and national security and space.
Keene said Scanlon’s retirement offered an opportunity to step back and reconsider the best model for the company.
The new organization, she said, will help SAIC “emphasize those areas that we believe will be the growth drivers,” including space and digital transformation.