MBA CSi Wins USPS 2020 Supplier Excellence Award

MBA CSi Named Winner of USPS 2020 Supplier Excellence Award
For the third time, MBA Consulting Services, Inc (MBA CSi) is awarded the United States Postal Services (USPS) coveted Supplier Excellence Award.

Chantilly, VA., June 15, 2021 – MBA Consulting Services (MBA CSi) announced that they were recently awarded USPS’ 2020 Supplier Excellence Award for outstanding performance on the Vehicle Engineering Program. MBA Consulting Services, Inc. (MBA CSi) is a privately held company headquartered in Chantilly, Virginia, and is a leading provider of Federal I.T. and engineering solutions. MBA CSi has earned an exceptional reputation as a trusted partner with USPS for over ten years, providing specialized engineering, facilities, I.T., and research and development.

The USPS Supplier Excellence Award recognizes Postal Service suppliers that have demonstrated exemplary contract performance, innovation, and supply chain integration or played a significant role in helping the Postal Service reduce costs or achieve other strategic objectives. Specifically, MBA CSi tested field vehicle motors and identified defects that saved money for the USPS.

“MBA CSi is proud to support USPS and its mission. We’re honored to be awarded the Supplier Excellence Award. This is the third Supplier Performance Award for MBA CSi, and we’re fortunate that the last two were awarded consecutively. A special thank you to our skilled employees, whose contributions are critical to success, and to our program management and back-office teams for their customer-first approach to delivering excellence.” said Lou Coleman, President & CEO of MBA CSi. “MBA CSi is committed to supporting the delivery of transformative, effective, and efficient innovations that continue to create real value, savings, and revenue streams to our nation’s Postal services.”

ABOUT MBA CONSULTING SERVICES, INC (MBA CSi).
MBA CSi is a leading government solutions provider. We create innovative and transformative solutions that help government agencies optimize their technology systems, data, and mobility. We deliver solutions that matter—collaborating with government agencies to protect, transform, and advance U.S. citizens’ lives. MBA CSi draws on our proven leadership expertise, diverse experience working with emerging technologies, and delivers the most effective and efficient solutions. MBA CSi was founded in 1999 and is a privately held company headquartered in Chantilly, VA. We have nearly 400 diverse and outstanding people in 40 U.S. locations.
# # #

MBA CSi
4795 Meadow Wood Lane
Suite 210 East
Chantilly, VA 20151-2234
(703) 344-9000

MBA CSi Launches Four Centers of Excellence

MBA CSi Centers of Excellence (CoE) will strengthen world-class performance and continuous innovation to tackle our client’s toughest challenges.

Chantilly, VA., June 28, 2020 – MBA Consulting Services, Inc. (MBA CSi) is a leading management and technology services company that has long-standing customer relationships built upon a reputation for excellence and innovation. MBA CSi’s commitment to innovation is the bedrock of its success. This is why we are launching four CoEs—Facilities Management, Recruiting, Data Analytics, and Digital Solutions (www.MBACSi.com/centers-of-excellence).

As federal agency missions become increasingly complex, teams often work in silos, not sharing their knowledge, despite various skills’ parallel evolution. MBA CSi’s CoEs, coupled with our engagement model, will identify these areas and bring together internal resources to be shared among programs. This brings more collaboration and agency efficiencies, and creates a more consistent customer experience, benefiting all stakeholders. Sean Delaney, Senior Vice President of Strategy, said, “Our CoEs will continue to drive innovations, improvements, and promote transparency and shared results. They are a powerful way to align business and mission goals rather than individual departmental metrics.”

“Because our CoEs are designed to drive innovation and improvement, they also provide the spark to inspire our experts with a collaborative spirit to measure, experiment, and push each other forward,” said Mark Colturi, Chief Operating Officer. Lou Coleman, Founder, and CEO said, “Our CoEs are separate from the business units they serve and provide a necessary distinction designed to assure supreme agility in deploying the CoE across an organization. We’re delighted Mr. Delaney will oversee our CoEs.”

ABOUT MBA CONSULTING SERVICES, INC.
MBA Consulting Services, Inc. (MBA) is a leading government solutions provider. We create innovative and transformative solutions that help government agencies optimize their technology systems, data, and mobility. We share a passion for creating real value and positive working relationships and have become a trusted and impartial partner to our civilian, defense, and intelligence agency clients. We draw on our proven leadership expertise, diverse experience working with emerging technologies and deliver the most effective and efficient solutions. MBA CSi was founded in 1999 and is a privately held company headquartered in Chantilly, VA. We have nearly 400 diverse and outstanding people in 40 U.S. locations.

MBA CSi
4795 Meadow Wood Lane
Suite 210 East
Chantilly, VA 20151-2234
info@MBACSi.com | (703) 344-9000

 

Agile Discovery

The following bullets are all-inclusive influences for our eCommerce and logistics government clients. MBA CSi has experience with many eCommerce and Logistics projects. These projects include a wide variety of scope and complexity. However, the two things that remain consistent is our Agile approach and our teams of motivated experts. This allows us to deliver solutions that scale into sustainable and profitable change. Our success is attributed to—

  • Critical and strategic eCommerce and logistics services and solutions that solve real-world problems
  • Transformative leadership know-how, specialized subject matter expertise, and innovative best practices
  • Trusted leadership who can move and inspire clients with innovative ideas
  • Convert ideas into reality while demonstrating how to scale with repeatable success

Perhaps more than any other business function, logistics, supply chain, and transportation continue to undergo a profound transformation. One primary reason for transformation includes the many advances in technology from artificial intelligence to machine learning, blockchain, and data analytics that provide tremendous insight into making better decisions. Additionally, there is what many call the “Amazon effect.” Everyone has high expectations and demands for fast delivery.
Subject matter experts lead MBA CSi eCommerce and logistics teams. Projects begin with an initial Agile discovery phase of collecting and analyzing project information, as well as market conditions, growth expectations, and competitive insight. It also provides purpose and direction that aligns all members around a shared vision. We highlight vital strategies, operating models, key challenges, and potential roadblocks that could negatively impact the project. Our Agile discovery phase helps to confirm where the client wants to get to (desired state)? What exists today in terms of systems, tools, processes (current state)? And what we need to know and understand to get the organization to the desired state (gap)?

Moreover, these teams include eCommerce, logistics, supply chain, nationwide distribution, transport equipment, specialized transportation software, GPS, national carriers, and transportation operations functional and technical expertise. We apply proficient knowledge to determine the accuracy and reasonableness of all data. The focus is always to create a culture of trust, collaboration, and achievement within logistics ecosystems and with stakeholders. These projects are always complex and nonlinear. Accordingly, we use nonlinear Agile approaches to solve nonlinear problems. Nonlinear approaches have led to disruptive technology innovation. eCommerce is the preeminent example of disruptive technology—replacing the antiquated mail ordering systems and processes with the superior qualities and innovation of eCommerce.

Successfully leveraging disruptive technology innovations such as automation, IoT, digital twinning, trust in digital interactions, phygital spaces, smart buildings, and data wallets in eCommerce will be revolutionary. Our next blog, disruptive technology.

Author: Sean Delaney, MBA CSi’s SVP of Strategy

MBA CSi
14900 Conference Center Drive
Suite 525
Chantilly, VA 20151
(703) 344-9000

Sean Delaney, MBA CSi SVP of Strategy Talks Recruiting & Social Media

Sean Delaney, MBA CSi SVP of Strategy Talks Recruiting & Social Media

Social media has fast replaced email as the primary method of communication for students, and most of Generation X, millennials, and Generation Z. Big-name technology firms, government agencies, and industry recruiters leverage Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube, Tik Tok, and others as essential elements of their recruiting plans. Today, there are compelling business drivers for companies to create a multi-faceted social media recruiting program that accomplish the following goals:
1. Attract and engage qualified candidates and external stakeholders in your chosen community
2. Solidify your company’s credibility and thought leadership by creating engaging, thought-provoking content and interacting with industry influencers on timely issues
3. Trigger a ‘snowball effect’ that drives traffic, referrals and ultimately, qualified resumes to your posts or website by highlighting unique opportunities

Core Messaging:
In the social media domain, content is king. In a capricious environment, not just any content will do. You only have a short time to capture your target audiences’ attention, and you are often limited to 140 characters or less. You must deliver strong and compelling messages that get straight to the core of your unique opportunity, in language that resonates with your target audience.

Teaser Message Example:
Join MBA CSi and be a part of the elite few who will:
• Work with state of the art technologies to shape the future of logistics operations
• Stand on the forefront of addressing the nation’s growing needs in cyber operations
• Protect the nation’s most critical assets, its people and its infrastructures, from behind the scenes

OR…

Do you have what it takes?
• Are you ready to put your data analytics skills to the ultimate test?
• Do you think you can out-play (move) the nation’s most cunning cyber threats and criminals?
• Are you called to apply your mathematics and computer science degree to a more significant cause?

Stimulating Conversation and Promoting Events:
Distributing timely and meaningful content is the cornerstone of any effective social media campaign. As with any public relations, marketing, or recruiting plan, it is essential to establish clear milestones and to track measures to ensure you are meeting strategic and tactical goals. This approach will allow you to build on critical information about your audience as it is revealed organically on social media sites.

MBA CSi
14900 Conference Center Drive
Suite 525
Chantilly, VA 20151
(703) 344-9000

Facilities Management

MBA CSi provides comprehensive facilities management services to ensure work environments are safe, efficient, and comfortable. One of our clients has over 30,000 buildings nationwide. Given this volume and diversity of locations, facilities management represents a significant portion of our client’s operating budgets. However, it is noteworthy that many recent developments, including rising wages, technology disruption, and now a pandemic, have made cost savings a very high priority. MBA CSi provides facilities management experts that are skilled in Building Inspection/Condition assessment, Lease Management & Negotiations, Facilities Call Center, Building Management & Maintenance, Energy Management, Facilities Planning, Real Estate Project Management: O&M and Onsite Construction, Space Management, Asset and Capital Management, Computer-aided facility management (CAFM), Data Management, Configuration Management, and more.

To provide world-class services, MBA CSi recruits industry experts, and our staff develops innovative facilities solutions that integrate people, places, and technology. We work to streamline facilities management and administer essential services for unique and specific building specifications. Our team prioritizes the improvement of workplace designs and flexibility, including the use of Human Factors Engineering and User-Centered Design. For example, when designing facility products, systems, or processes, we always consider the interaction between each facility element and the employees. This is part of our approach to Occupational Health Service (OHS). One of our clients uses many technology devices, including tens of thousands of sorting and scanning machines for mission-essential services. We strategically generate proper ergonomic design specifications to prevent repetitive strain injuries and other musculoskeletal disorders. This is an essential service that improves employee engagement and results in higher employee productivity.

Today, MBA CSi supports a government agency’s real estate portfolio of over 30,000 buildings, which has nearly 300 million of interior square feet. We continuously make sure that this facility’s portfolio is managed with a reliable governance structure. Also, we help to administer services that are provided by trusted suppliers at a reasonable cost. We must continually innovate and adapt to current trends of brick and mortar vs. eCommerce solutions. Providing the appropriate facilities solution helps ensure the proper stewardship and real estate portfolio and resources management.

Due to recent COVID events, MBA CSi expects facilities management and building maintenance to continue to evolve at an accelerated pace. We are helping clients redesign workspaces, as many employees are working remotely. Technology and demographics will continue to drive innovation and transformation. MBA CSi is ready to meet the growing expectations of our clients and deliver solutions that improve functionality, comfort, health, safety, and efficiency of work environments.

Author: Sean Delaney, MBA CSi’s SVP of Strategy

MBA CSi
14900 Conference Center Drive
Suite 525
Chantilly, VA 20151
(703) 344-9000

MBA CSi Named Winner of USPS 2019 Supplier Sustainability Excellence Award

MBA CSi recognized for excellent performance on the national recycling program.

Chantilly, VA., June 28, 2020 – MBA Consulting Services, Inc. (MBA CSi) is a leading management and technology services company that solves mission challenges with agility, experience, and innovation. MBA CSi announced that they are the winner of the 2019 Supplier Sustainability Excellence Award for outstanding performance on the National Recycling Program.

The USPS Supplier Performance Awards program recognizes suppliers who were involved in Supply Chain Management (SCM) successes that have “truly made a difference” within the last year in helping the Postal Service achieve positive bottom-line savings, increase revenue or performance results, and have consistently exhibited a collaborative business relationship with the USPS. This year marks the 30th anniversary of the Postal Service’s annual supplier recognition effort, highlighting the efforts of suppliers who are making a meaningful positive impact towards the success of the Postal Service.

“MBA is extremely honored to be awarded the prestigious Supplier Sustainability Excellence Award,” said Lou Coleman, President and CEO. “None of this is possible without the support from our operational and internal teams. Our collaborative approach with USPS to solve complex mission challenges using creative and innovative thinking allowed MBA CSi to create an additional $100M plus revenue stream.”

ABOUT MBA CONSULTING SERVICES, INC.
MBA Consulting Services, Inc. (MBA) is a leading government solutions provider. We create innovative and transformative solutions that help government agencies optimize their technology systems, data, and mobility. We share a passion for creating real value and positive working relationships and have become a trusted and impartial partner to our civilian, defense, and intelligence agency clients. We draw on our proven leadership expertise, diverse experience working with emerging technologies, and deliver the most effective and efficient solutions. MBA CSi was founded in 1999 and is a privately held company headquartered in Chantilly, VA. We have nearly 400 diverse and outstanding people in 40 U.S. locations.

# # #

MBA CSi
14900 Conference Center Drive
Suite 525
Chantilly, VA 20151
(703) 344-9000

Agile Organizational Change Management— Why It’s Still Necessary

Project teams today recognize the necessity to manage the human factor side of change on all projects. However, organizational change management means different things to different stakeholders. IT project managers see change management as the defined process controls in place to gain approval to change a project’s scope, schedule, and budget. On the other hand, executive leadership and the collective user community view change management as a change to behaviors, and the new and improved ways of conducting business. Everyone shares a common goal to realize value and achieve desired results. Many federal agencies face complex challenges with organizational change management (OCM) obstacles. Government stakeholders must see these obstacles as opportunities, not obligations. The agencies that implement and dedicate time and effort to enterprise OCM—the human side of change—realize superior benefits.

OCM thought leadership is critical for agencies looking to transform and modernize. The key is collaboration and iterative progress to gain buy-in. Just as agile processes are followed where projects are developed in sprints (lasting just days or a few weeks), a project can also undergo iterative or Agile OCM plan. A skilled thought OCM leader will have extensive communication expertise in Agile OCM and know how to create a strategic change plan that accelerates change adoption. MBA CSi’s OCM framework was designed for Agile transformation and accounts for the impact of new business processes, changes in organizational structure, and cultural changes within the enterprise.

OCM is valuable when change requires people to learn new behaviors. An Agile OCM plan itself is not enough. Instead, the value of an Agile OCM plan is realized incrementally through the improvements in human behavior and sustained advancements of work results. By setting expectations early, using tools to improve communication, and proactively identifying ways to reduce misinformation, agencies are more likely to adapt to change. To accelerate change adoption, we embed Agile coaches within Agile teams. Our coaches ensure teams understand the change impacts, assess training needs, and reduce productivity dips. Furthermore, Agile coaches customize the process for faster adoption without negatively impacting schedules. The right player-coach solution provides users with the confidence that their voice is heard, that their day-to-day work activities are understood, and their feedback is both welcome and implemented.

Another vital aspect of Agile OCM success is User Journeys. User Journeys inform all users, participants, and stakeholders of leadership priorities. After all, it is the leadership that must embrace new behaviors first to motivate the rest of the user community. This allows the agency to demonstrate vision, help understand user behavior (possible resistance), identify potential issues, and implement a realistic approach based on organizational readiness and capacity to change. The result is always an experienced partner who understands the agency’s business, enterprise environments, and provides the necessary level of support to execute its journey successfully.

Transforming culture can be challenging – especially when communicating at the speed of Agile. Our Agile OCM approach accelerates positive human behavioral change times. Experience is key, and our past performance highlights valuable lessons learned. Best practices and perspectives gained across high-visibility and complex programs allow us to identify and resolve challenges quickly. We also break down silos, improve leadership, and user adoption by demonstrating a shared understanding of strategic direction. This allows the agency to map organizational priorities and goals with mission requirements. Our Agile OCM approach scales to any customer and any mission.

Author: Sean Delaney, MBA CSi’s SVP of Strategy

MBA CSi
14900 Conference Center Drive
Suite 525
Chantilly, VA 20151
(703) 344-9000

Customer Retrospective—Infinite Business Value

It has been more than 20 years since the first introduction of Agile principles, and today Agile practices are widely accepted. Among the many benefits of Agile, one of the most overlooked and distinguishing ones is a customer retrospective. The Manifesto for Agile Development defines a retrospective as, “At regular intervals, the team reflects on how to become more effective, then tunes and adjusts its behavior accordingly.” Simply put, retrospectives, or retros, highlight what is working well and what is not working well. The idea is to reflect on experiences with the motivation to improve continually.

MBA CSi embraces customer retrospectives. Our approach is to conduct customer retrospectives at least quarterly. The more frequent the retrospective, the better the team can better identify and track risks. Each key customer or stakeholder is invited to speak candidly to ensure all team members hear valuable first-hand feedback. Customers and teams collaborate in a formal, retro meeting, usually with a dedicated and independent facilitator. We find that an independent facilitator encourages everyone to share opinions and experiences so that a team can learn, collaborate, and improve. It is essential to recognize there are always ways to innovate and grow. Retros offer the opportunity to celebrate milestone successes, and also to identify blockers—issues or anything that slows down a schedule.

The goal of the retro discussion is to identify actions that are documented on posters or whiteboards. Usually, there are dozens of yellow stickies of action items and observations posted around the meeting room. Sticky notes are merely a placeholder for face-to-face collaboration and discussions. The facilitator gathers unique action items and ensures each one is assigned to an individual or owner.

MBA CSi and its GovCon clients find infinite value with retrospectives. These sessions always encourage thought leadership and innovations. Our experience ensures a smooth partnership with our customers and, more importantly, a better way of doing business.

Author: Mark Colturi, MBA CSi’s COO

MBA CSi
14900 Conference Center Drive
Suite 525
Chantilly, VA 20151
(703) 344-9000

Project Management – A Paradigm Shift

Is traditional project management obsolete? Many traditional project management plans are based on a Waterfall or a Critical Path plan-driven approach. Under the right conditions, a conventional method can be successful. Today, the Agile methodology is most prevalent. However, that does not mean we should shoehorn a one-size-fits-all approach.

Most everyone agrees that the best practice approach is to embrace new tools, processes, and technologies. Successful management and technology consultants adapt to a customer’s technology maturity and establish an every day/practical project management foundation. MBA CSi’s non-traditional approach is called Transformational Agile Management Approach (TAMA). TAMA provides insight and oversite. It combines the very best practices of Agile and traditional management approaches. Our TAMA approach encourages innovation and resists the notion of “that’s the way we do things here.” Our project managers and technology leaders can quickly and continuously validate project milestones against business objectives. It also allows both the project manager and customer to implement changes rapidly at a decreased cost with lower risk.

Using TAMA, we have experienced increased collaboration and project control through adaptable project plans. Essential activities are readily managed to schedule, programmatic insights are encouraged throughout day-to-day activities, and real-time documentation is available for stakeholder transparency. TAMA provides immediate and continuous feedback without impacting cost, schedule, or performance. It offers dependable performance synchronization with natural alignment to any client’s mission.

Strategically combining the best practices of each approach—and tailoring our approach to a customer’s technology maturity level—inspires creativity and innovation while providing planning and control to achieve predictability.

Author: Sean P. Delaney, MBA CSi’s SVP of Strategy

MBA CSi
14900 Conference Center Drive
Suite 525
Chantilly, VA 20151
(703) 344-9000

Human Factors, Why Occupational Health Service Is Important

According to the International Ergonomics Association, “[Human factors] is the scientific discipline concerned with the understanding of interactions among humans and other elements of a system, and the profession that applies theory, principles, data, and other methods to design in order to optimize human well-being and overall system performance” (International Ergonomics Association, 2010).

Designing products, systems, or processes that consider the interaction between corporations and employees is critical to the Occupational Health Service (OHS)—and our clients. One of our key clients uses many technology devices, including tens of thousands of mobility tools for mission-essential services. MBA CSi uses Human Factors Engineering (HF&E) to meet occupational health and safety and productivity goals. Generating proper ergonomic design specifications is necessary to prevent repetitive strain injuries and other musculoskeletal disorders. Unfortunately, if appropriate ergonomic design specifications are faulty or non-existent, over time, it can lead to long-term disability.

MBA CSi uses HF&E for mobile device selection. HF&E allows a laser-focused approach to ergonomics. We use a dedicated lab to ensure both hardware and software are optimized. Our team operate repetitive tasks, diagnose and resolve issues, and train users to maximize productivity and efficiency. This helps minimize the potential for upper extremity injuries that could be associated with repetitive motions. Our approach to HF&E stresses the importance of user-centered or person-centered design. It ensures people, tasks, and environments are safe, effective, and efficient.

Author: Sean P. Delaney, MBA CSi’s SVP of Strategy

MBA CSi
14900 Conference Center Drive
Suite 525
Chantilly, VA 20151
(703) 344-9000