Top 100 webcast highlights 2018 trends

If you missed the 2018 Top 100 webcast the first time around, the archived version is now available.

The hour-long webcast covers a lot of ground. We go over the numbers and explore some of the strategies we see Top 100 companies putting into place.

There has been a lot of activity in the market over the last year and driving a lot of that is a return to growth in the market.

For the second straight year we have seen the aggregate value of all of the Top 100 prime contracts grow, which answered a big question we had last year – has growth finally returned. And yes, it has.

One of the big strategic trends we see in the Top 100 is the increased mergers and acquisition activity. Of particular note is the major deal involving General Dynamics IT and CSRA that created a new No. 1 Top 100 company.

But there also is the recent creation of Perspecta and a whole lot of other smaller and mid-size deals.

We also predict that the M&A activity will continue, especially when you consider the resources that both CACI International and Science Applications International Corp. mustered in their attempts to buy CSRA before GD finally prevailed.

There also are a variety of so-called newcomers on the Top 100. I called them so-called because they have always been there but in different forms. These include NTT Data through its buy of Dell Services and Peraton, which was created when Harris Corp. divested its IT business.

Another part of the webcast covers the transformation we see in the market that is driven by customer demands for new technologies such as cloud computing, cybersecurity, IT modernization, artificial intelligence and data analytics.

Some of the priority market segments we see include space, intelligence, electronic warfare and unmanned systems. Then of course, anything dealing with IT modernization.

Overall, we have a lot of optimism about the market but that also is tempered by some caution. What will happen after the current budget deal expires? The long-term budget will be a challenge because of the debt and deficit.

But through 2020, all expectations are for a strong market. After that, it is hard to predict.

You can access the webcast from this link.