Overview
- Government spending is increasing, creating a positive outlook for contractors.
- Challenges remain across compliance, security, and agility.
- To overcome these challenges and capitalize on growth opportunities, government contractors must prioritize automation technology like mobile barcoding.
Booming demand. Record discretionary spending. Increased growth. The outlook for government contractors looks vibrant, according to Deltek’s 2021 Clarity in Government Contracting Report.
However, challenges, exacerbated by Covid-19’s lingering effects, remain. According to Deltek, top areas of concern for contractors include: compliance, security, and agility.
In this article, we’ll examine how one automation technology—mobile barcoding—can help you overcome these challenges to capitalize on this significant opportunity for growth.
1. Compliance
According to Deltek’s report, compliance remains top of mind for contractors.
Companies must have automation technology in place that can track inventory throughout a complex supply chain with 100% accuracy. If manual processes dominate your workflows and back office, you simply won’t be able to grow your business and remain contractually compliant at the same time.
Instead, your contracts will be consumed by those who prioritize automation technologies that increase visibility and track-and-trace.
Mobile barcoding is one technology that can help fill the gap. Through a combination of mobile apps, barcode software, and handheld devices, you gain 100% visibility over your inventory as it moves throughout your operations—and the supply chain.
One IT managed services company implemented mobile barcoding to achieve 99.999% data accuracy. Another defense contractor did the same to achieve lot-level traceability and 100% billing accuracy to gain contractual compliance, even as their business grows.
WATCH THE VIDEO: How VSE Built Success with 100% Traceability & Billing Accuracy:
2. Security
Cybersecurity is another top-level focus area for contractors in 2021. The pandemic brought remote work to many industries, including government contracting. Now, many companies either remain remote, or have a blended work environment. Remote implementations are also still common. This makes data security needs more complex, and more pressing.
Look for automation technology that enhances your data security, even across a remote working environment.
For example, RFgen’s mobile barcoding solution for Deltek never allows users direct access to the ERP. Instead, RFgen’s technology simply acts as a proxy that only displays relevant, pre-defined fields on your employees’ handhelds.
You can also add additional security measures like single sign-on (SSO) or traffic encryption for enhanced security.
3. Agility
Fifty-two percent of those surveyed by Deltek say that adjusting to new client projects or new business demands is another top concern. And while President Biden’s American Jobs Plan offers some peace of mind over continued government spending, midterm elections could change this projection.
Government contractors must have technology in place that augments their business agility. They must be able to quickly adjust to demand fluctuations, customer requests, or lingering supply disruptions.
By using a technology like mobile barcoding, you have complete visibility into your inventory numbers, movements, and utilization. This lets you pivot priorities quickly to ensure customer satisfaction—while not sacrificing compliance. It also lets you grow operations without adding additional labor, as your current workers can use technology to be more productive and efficient.
Turning Challenges into Opportunities
While the overall outlook for government contractors looks positive, companies must position themselves to attain contractual compliance, boost data security, and increase agility to put themselves at the front of the line for each new opportunity.
Outlooks can change quickly. Prioritizing a foundational technology that can help you do all three of the above will safeguard peace of mind—and your bottom line.