From Data to Decisions: Achieving Mission Success with AI and Data Stewardship
Three Points to Remember
- Breaking down data silos and combatting misinformation builds trust, enabling leaders to protect data integrity and mission success.
- Zero trust and cyber resilience strategies ensure secure, outcome-driven decisions powered by AI and automation.
- Focusing on outcomes transforms data stewardship into actionable insights that accelerate digital modernization and mission achievement.
Data's inherent value can be hard to quantify. Isolated, it can appear as an annoying and overwhelming random string of numbers. However, when curated and properly utilized, data can facilitate strategic decision-making, enhance efficiency, and lead to operational advantages. In a recent Executive Mosaic GovCon conversation series, Rob Linger, vice president of the Information Advantage Practice at Leidos, shared his perspective on how federal agencies can maximize data’s value by leveraging artificial intelligence (AI), and automation.
The discussion highlighted several key takeaways and revealed how data will define the next era of digital modernization.
Enabling real-time decisions and anticipating tomorrow's needs
During the interview, Linger highlighted Leidos' ability to deliver scalable solutions that empower organizations with the insight necessary to make informed decisions in real-time. And while in-the-moment insights are important, possessing the ability to anticipate future needs is critical. From predictive maintenance on critical systems to transforming the military's healthcare delivery system, predictive data empowers organizations to see around the corner and plan with confidence. Yet, to achieve any helpful outcome, the foundation is always the same: understanding the data.
As Linger said, "The biggest part is understanding what your data is, which parts of your data are actually valuable to the outcomes that you're trying to achieve, and how you change and transform that data from just data into actionable insights that can help drive your business or your mission forward."
Breaking barriers to information advantage
While clean, structured data remains the overall goal, obstacles – both new and old – still exist to possessing operational data. In the conversation, Linger identified several significant barriers that organizations must overcome:
Data Silos: Years of collected data often sit fragmented across departments, making cross-mission insights difficult to achieve. Breaking down these silos is critical to unleashing the full power of data.
Misinformation: From human error to malicious intent, inaccurate information can derail outcomes. Large language models add both opportunity and risk, as they can generate insights—or falsehoods—with equal confidence.
Adversarial AI: As threats grow more sophisticated, protecting data integrity has never been more essential. Stewardship is no longer optional; it is mission critical.
The way forward, Linger emphasized, is through disciplined stewardship.
"The only way to overcome all of these challenges is to truly be stewards of our data, understand what our data is and what it's supposed to be, and understand that the mission has to have a particular outcome, and you need to understand how to turn your data into that knowledge to achieve your outcome."
Rob Linger
VP, Information Advantage
Cyber resilience: a critical enabler of information advantage
Cybersecurity is a cornerstone of establishing and maintaining an information advantage. In the interview, Linger explained how organizations must assume that any connected system is compromised and take proactive measures to secure their data. Beyond established zero trust principles, this includes implementing robust monitoring and recovery capabilities, ensuring the integrity of data throughout the decision-making process, and maintaining uninterrupted decision-making environments.
At Leidos, Linger's Information Advantage Practice works closely with the Defensive Cyber team to integrate zero trust security into every solution. This collaboration creates AI-driven capabilities designed to be effective and secure.
The path to digital modernization
AI and automation can greatly enhance decision-making and drive digital modernization, but success hinges on strong data stewardship. When organizations embrace data stewardship, they don’t just modernize systems; they accelerate outcomes, safeguard trust, and successfully place themselves in positions to thrive in a rapidly evolving digital future.
To achieve that goal, Linger emphasized understanding, securing, and aligning data with mission goals. By focusing on desired outcomes, organizations can identify essential inputs for decision-making and create targeted data products.
As Linger states, "I like to see what the outcome needs to be, then, I work backward to determine how we can make these decisions based on the information we have." These dynamic data products can provide informed decisions through accurate and secure data, with a strong emphasis on delivering actionable solutions that drive results.
Final thoughts: building a data-driven advantage
No organization achieves digital modernization alone. The path forward requires collaboration across departments, strong governance, and unshakable commitment to data integrity. Linger's insights underscore the transformative potential of AI and information advantage in enabling faster and more informed decision-making. By addressing barriers such as data silos and misinformation, integrating cybersecurity into every solution, and leveraging automation to accelerate decision-making cycles, organizations can unlock the full potential of their data.
As organizations continue their digital modernization journey, leaders like Linger are paving the way for a future where data-driven insights continue to fuel mission success. The conversation serves as a reminder that while technology is a powerful enabler, the true key to success lies in understanding the data, aligning it with outcomes, and taking action to achieve results. By embracing stewardship and embedding AI into mission workflows, organizations can unlock faster insights, stronger outcomes, and lasting trust with their customers and stakeholders.
