A few months ago I was a serving Royal Marines Officer of 10 years. Now, thanks to a chance encounter in deepest Wales I’m in the private sector and have an amazing opportunity to help defence forces globally reap the operational benefits of instant, automatic digital interoperability.
I now find myself as Head of Sales at 2iC, a UK SME delivering unique, game-changing, digital interoperability solutions to Western defence forces.
It’s been an eye-opening transition and experience — an experience I feel compelled to share with anyone who is a decision maker in the development of military systems and interested to learn more about what 2iC can do.
Let’s first rewind to 2014 to help put this all in context.
THE ULTIMATE SYSTEMS MASH-UP
As a fresh-faced Royal Marines Lieutenant I quickly had to get to grips with an array of communications and digital systems as part of my operational duties. Back then, my naïve assumption was that every military system just worked and integrated with other systems from the same force and, indeed, from allied forces. But then came the gradual realisation that what we are dealing with here is actually a massive mash-up of legacy systems, not-so-legacy systems, and new and upcoming technology.
I experienced systems, equipment and devices that simply didn’t integrate at all, especially those created for an analogue world but are now required to do a job in digital times. I saw other systems, equipment and devices that demanded complex workarounds and manual user interventions before they would connect or offer up any useful, timely information. Quite obviously, this was far from ideal in operational situations where critical decisions need to be made in an instant.
Even more poignant and frustrating was that modern, effective private sector solutions were available but could not be procured due to military organisational complexity or bureaucratic behaviours. What’s more, in the rare cases where solutions were procured, they would take so long to arrive in the hands of the user that they were already essentially redundant. As a Troop Commander, I often wondered why we were carrying around legacy communications kit which had less effect than my own personal mobile device.
It was a hell of a realisation — and there seemed to be an acceptance that military systems connectivity is a slow process and even now in the 21st Century, many military systems, equipment and devices are not really designed to talk to each other.
Then, in 2023, came a bolt from the blue: I learned that it doesn’t have to be this way. There is now a software solution that can connect everything. Instantly, automatically and relatively quickly. And it’s a not a massively expensive solution either.
THE MOUNTAIN HORSE RIDES IN
Back to that chance encounter in Wales on a cold February evening near the UK MoD Aberporth test range. It was with Chris Witts, a VP level sales exec at Mountain Horse Solutions and also a former Royal Marines Officer. Mountain Horse, as you may know, is a Colorado-based company that supplies innovative solutions to all branches of the US Armed Forces. It’s also a company that had partnered with 2iC, a UK tech SME, leaders in digital interoperability for the battlespace, and inventors of the Lean Services Architecture (LSA), an open standard published by the UK MoD in 2014.
Mountain Horse had worked with 2iC to deliver digital interoperability to branches of the US military and had been very impressed by the 2iC software and its long-term potential. And Chris just happened to mention to me that 2iC was looking for someone to lead its sales effort in the next chapter of its growth.
COMPLETE DIGITAL INTEROPERABILITY FOR BETTER OPERATIONAL OUTCOMES: MY EUREKA MOMENT
Soon after I met up with 2iC co-founder and CEO Graham Booth. I was intrigued by what he told me about how 2iC software solves digital interoperability challenges for Defence. I was excited, too, by the simplicity of 2iC software in connecting disparate systems for military operators and enabling their assets — legacy, current and future — to properly communicate and extend capability.
I was also attracted by the prospect of working for a defence sector SME, which I knew to be a good move for an ex-military person with my mix of experience. The SME world challenges your variety of management, leadership, initiative skills and humour in the face of adversity on a daily basis!
Graham didn’t need to work hard to convince me that this was where I now wanted to be: working at the frontline of the digital connection of military systems and users.
And that, in brief, is how my own personal transition from the military to the world of 2iC digital interoperability came about.
There’s much more to tell about how the 2iC software works and the benefits for the armed forces including, of course, better operational outcomes. This I plan to do in this continuing series of blog articles over the coming months.
In the meantime, if the possibilities excite you as much as they do me, and you’d like more info, please get in touch.
Email me at tom.berry@2icworld.com or call me on +44 20 8123 7479.
