Ensuring security in system access and consultant tools is of the utmost importance. 

Government contracting (GovCon) is the official process of providing products or services to government entities through formal contracts, which outline the obligations of each party (the contractor and the government agency). According to American Public University, “these contracts may focus on producing a physical product, delivering a service, or managing long-term public projects.”

As a GovCon organization covering both civilian agencies and the Department of Defense (DoD), cBEYONData improves government operations by diagnosing, designing, and implementing transformative solutions focused on data, financial management, and enterprise resource planning modernization for federal agencies. With all corporate and software systems hosted in the cloud, cBEYONData operates as a cloud-only company, making cybersecurity a top priority. 

As with any GovCon operator, regulatory compliance is paramount in gaining and maintaining contracts. Generally speaking, the primary challenges facing GovCons today are:

• An ever-changing market: Regulations are constantly shifting, with best practices and standards in constant flux.
• Cybersecurity demands: As an organization scales, keeping data secure becomes increasingly challenging.
• Talent shortages: Technology is advancing faster than ever, making attrition of qualified talent costly and difficult. 

These challenges are not ones that can be permanently solved, they will likely always exist to some degree for GovCons. However, with the right technology solutions and partnerships in place, leaders can mitigate these obstacles and set their organization up for sustainable growth despite them.

“No one wants to be that company saying, We lost our customers’ data and it’s now across the internet.’ There’s no coming back from that.”

 

Keith Johnson, cofounder and chief information officer, cBEYONData

After a large-scale merger, managing IT internally became unfeasible, making expansion imperative.

IT systems and technology are a foundational element for government contracts, ensuring consultants have the necessary tools, hardware, and infrastructure to deliver solutions efficiently. Johnson emphasizes the importance of IT in handling day-to-day issues- such as laptop security and quick recovery, allowing consultants to focus on their core job functions without worrying about back-office concerns. An estimated 60-75% of their time is spent managing IT-related risks and decisions, illustrating the bandwidth necessary for infrastructure upkeep. 

When cBEYONData underwent several acquisitions-its workforce grew from 90 people to 250 to now more than 450. The transformation placed tremendous pressure on its small internal IT team, making in-house IT management unrealistic. The surge in personnel created an immediate need to expand IT operations to handle hardware deployment, security requirements, and software maintenance for the much larger base. 

Johnson also noted that the company specifically sought a technology partner familiar with the GovCon space due to its unique challenges compared to commercial sectors and preferred a local partner in the tri-state area.

Ntiva enables cBEYONData to feel confident in its compliance posture despite GovCon complexity. 

Ntiva specializes in assisting organizations on their CMMC journeys, helping them begin or refine efforts towards compliance—especially for those looking to maintain DoD contracts. Fortunately, cBEYONData proactively pursued ISO 27001 and 20000 certifications three years prior, which streamlined its path toward CMMC compliance by establishing repeatable processes and ensuring internal security and IT compliance. 

Even after attaining certification, a subset of 110 controls is reviewed monthly to ensure compliance and avoid last-minute scrambles. Having successfully received CMMC Level 2 with Ntiva’s guidance, cBEYONData is looking ahead to Revision 3, confident in its current compliance posture as it moves forward with the initiative. 

“[Strategic IT] is the foundation for government contracts in terms of making sure that our consultants have a platform to work from that’s got the tools, the hardware, and the infrastructure [needed] to be able to go out and deliver those solutions. ... For employees not to worry… ‘Is my laptop secure?’ or ‘Hey, if I dropped it on the way to the metro, how quickly can I get up and running the next day?’ Those are the day-to-day pieces that we try to make as smooth as possible.”

 

Keith Johnson, cofounder and chief information officer, cBEYONData

Since partnering with Ntiva, the company hasn’t experienced any major IT outages, attributing the system’s reliability to the cloud-only model and ongoing managed support from its provider.