Acuity Innovations Blog:
Balancing Cultural
Disruption with
Digital Transformation

Aaron Gibson, Chief Growth Officer at Acuity Innovations LLC

As I approach one year since celebrating my retirement from the United States Space Force, I’m both encouraged and anxious by the acceleration of the commercialization of space. Earlier this year, the Department of Defense published the Commercial Space Integration Strategy which emphasized the relevance of leaders at all levels to work collectively towards eliminating structural, procedural, and cultural barriers to overcome the preconceived notions of how the commercial sector can support national security. Having spent more of my life than I care to admit within the confines of layered security, I’m encouraged by the continuous rhetoric from senior leaders to bring down these barriers and embrace the innovation of industry. Still, the Strategy further captures the need to act within international norms and standards to remain committed to responsible conduct while working with the commercial sector. 

The remarkable capabilities of generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) continue to capture the imagination in unprecedented fashion, driving business executives to leverage the technology for accelerating growth and securing competitive advantages in ways unimaginable. Certainly, the train has left the station and we’re all maneuvering to harness this technology. However, acknowledging the inherent risks and formulating strategies that do not stand in the way of technological advancement present one of the greatest challenges as we ride this train to our next destination. Some of these risks include use of synthetic data, maintaining data privacy (and integrity), countering embedded bias, and the all elusive cyber security. Going forward, it will be essential to ground our decisions in facts, not emotions. While I’ve never been a proponent of unnecessary policy and the traditional red tape, the need for governance and clear guidance to address issues like data ownership, risk of biased outcomes, and emergence of new cyber threats will mitigate the negative effects of full on adaptation of AI technology. 

As the defense sector continues to evolve through the integration of cutting-edge technologies with existing systems, it will remain critical to adapt culture while maturing our digital technologies. Integration of future-proof technologies that evolve with the changing landscape should be balanced with a human-centered design approach to ensure organizations, processes, and procedures adapt to address the challenges we will face tomorrow and beyond. If you’d like to learn how your organization can integrate future-ready digital solutions, don’t shy away from small businesses driven by solutions engineering. Sometimes the answer you’re seeking isn’t merely addressed through technology, but through partnering with mission-focused, passionate, problem-solving human beings!