Orchestrating Technological Change in 2023: A Q&A with Macro’s New Chief Transformation Officer

Rajiv Gidadhubli began his journey in technology as a programmer analyst. Today, he is a transformational leader at the intersection of business and technology with extensive experience architecting and developing enterprise solutions (notably ERP) that enable organizations to achieve their business goals.

An astute visionary – with deep subject matter expertise leading transformations across people, product, process, and technology – we are incredibly excited to welcome Rajiv to the Macro Solutions team.

Below, hear from Rajiv on government transformation trends in 2023 and how Macro is well positioned to lead that change.

Q: What are your responsibilities as Chief Transformation Officer?

The world continues to change at an unprecedented pace, and government organizations that prepare for change and adapt accordingly will improve performance, deliver better services, and become more resilient. My job is to enable and empower this transformation.

In my role as Chief Transformation Officer, I am responsible for helping Macro’s clients keep pace with rapid change and position them to achieve their evolving goals with the right product, processes, and people – while delivering long-term value for the organization.

It will take a village to accomplish this and bringing the right talent into play is one of Macro’s key goals. The role of chief transformation officer is integral to that. We’ve also added key leadership positions in recent months, including Brian Jacobs as Vice President of Intelligent Solutions and Chris Molitor as Vice President of Enterprise Solutions.

Our combined skills and experience allow us to help our clients remain ambidextrous as they look forward, with one foot focused on what they do well and the other on newer trends and technologies.

Q: Digital transformation is a long-standing theme for government; how will things change in 2023?

There are many motivators for transformation. Chief among them is enhancing the user experience across multiple consumption channels (mobile, desktop, and virtual reality), while increasing the pace to value through Agile and DevOps. Other drivers include legacy application modernization and minimizing vendor lock-in. And then there’s the perennial need to realize greater return on investment and lower total cost of ownership.

There is nothing radically new here. Many of these transformation initiatives are starting to take shape and will continue. But, as they chart this course, agencies want to know what technology and platforms will help them adapt to changing business conditions.

For instance, Macro Solutions is deeply embedded in government ERP projects, so we know first-hand the challenges they face. Historically, ERP implementations have been highly customized and not easily modernized or upgradeable to newer versions. As a result, agencies are increasingly looking to eliminate the need to customize ERP by incorporating low code/no code solutions that simplify the user experience, can be easily tailored to meet unique requirements, and adapted for evolving needs – thus ensuring continued return in legacy investments. There is a clear trend to implement more baseline ERP solutions moving forward.

One such effort is the U.S. Army’s Enterprise Business Systems – Convergence (EBS-C) transformation program which aims to converge five major highly-customized ERP capabilities.  As recently stated in its Statement of Need – the Army intends to use an Agility/Engagement layer-first approach to address integration, modifications, or custom development that enhance the user experience – while still processing transactions in legacy systems.

The Army is not alone. At a recent AFCEA event, almost every stakeholder stated their intent to accelerate their transformation journey using Agile and DevSecOps in the coming year.

Macro can help meet the demands for this enhanced IT operating model. Take for example our Continuous Value Office (CVO). Inspired by DevOps and rooted in lean management principles and the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe), the CVO transforms the traditional PMO into a value delivery office so that agencies can take advantage of technology advances in a secure, scalable, and agile way.

Another key trend that isn’t going away is data. The phrase “data is the new oil” was coined nearly a decade ago. However, agencies still struggle to derive value from their data. Helping agencies achieve those insights will be a big focus for Macro’s Data Management and Analytics team next year.

Finally, what will truly win the battle for digital transformation is intelligent automation. Intelligent automation is a huge productivity multiplier, automating routine manual tasks and expediting business value generation. In addition, intelligent automation capabilities including RPA, AI/ML and BPM, streamline data analysis, help formulate predictions, automate workflows, and augment employee productivity while improving service delivery. I like to think of intelligent automation as the wrapper that makes government processes faster, smarter, and better.

What excites you about working at Macro?

All the above! Macro’s experience across each of these areas means we are uniquely positioned to help the government accelerate digital transformation. We’ve made investments in both our leadership team and services to meet the future needs of government. The next step is to bring it all together.

That means having conversations with clients who are using ERP but not intelligent automation – but who should. Or clients who use intelligent automation but aren’t considering its potential when applied to ERP. These are capabilities we can bring, and we intend to double our operations over the next five years so that we can continue to be a leader in driving government innovation.

You’re a graduate of Wharton School’s Chief Technology Program, what insights have you gleaned?

That’s right, I recently graduated from Wharton School’s Chief Technology Officer Program. It’s a very unique program that was launched last year in collaboration with Emeritus, a global leader in executive learning, and is designed to help participants accelerate their impact and orchestrate technological change.

I’ve learned a great deal during my career but completing a program with such a research-intensive university has supplemented my experience with real data and learning. I look forward to bringing that understanding to fuel Macro’s growth and the services we provide to government clients.

To learn more about Rajiv’s experience, role, and how he can create impactful outcomes for your agency, connect with him directly via LinkedIn.