Defense and Security

For defense and security agencies worldwide, doing more with less has never been more difficult. They must keep raising the bar in an operating environment awash in fresh challenges.

Defense and security institutions turn to BCG to surmount these challenges because of our extensive experience in both the private and public sectors. We excel at tailoring private-sector best practices to our defense and security clients’ unique goals—such as improved equipment reliability, vital operating-model innovation, and significant run rate savings. These impressive outcomes help defense and security agencies and public safety organizations provide for the comfort, safety, and security of their citizens.

Our Approach to Defense Consulting

We bring a powerful suite of offerings to each defense and security client:

• Acquisition Excellence. Growing supplier margins paired with budget pressures have reconfigured the defense supply chain. Our defense consulting teams bring powerful tools and approaches as well as deep insights into supplier economics—drawn from more than 240 projects—to help government agencies boost their procurement prowess.
• Digital Innovation. We help defense and security organizations sharpen their competitive advantage by deploying the right digital solutions. These solutions enable them to supercharge their operational efficiency and to harness data analytics so that they can make better and more effective business decisions.
• Sustainment Modernization. Reinforcing capabilities such as smart maintenance, lean logistics, and strategic optimization, our systematic approach maximizes the availability of public-sector security systems and military industry personnel during operations. To accomplish this, we help clients strengthen their understanding of cost drivers, draw on predictive analytics, and capture synergies through international cooperation to reduce the costs and boost the availability of ready-to-use equipment.
• Space. BCG is a trusted adviser to the world’s leading players in the space industry across the full value stream and with both industry and government, offering a qualified perspective on critical challenges. We help government agencies stand up new space organizations, commercialize activities, and spur industry while supporting merger and acquisition strategies and public- and private-sector partnerships.
• Cybersecurity and Digital Risk. Our involvement in international standards, policies, and regulations, paired with academic and industry product research, gives us unique insights into the arena of cyber defense. Our cyber services—including our framework for evaluating the effectiveness of cyber defense tools—have attracted attention from the most technologically advanced security enterprises.
• Artificial Intelligence. BCG is an authority on the use of AI in the public sector, publishing studies on government applications and benchmarking public sentiment on AI use. Our defense and security clients draw on our expertise to create usage frameworks for AI and to develop implementation and training strategies.
• Organizational Transformation. Our defense consulting teams support the development of new agencies and the restructuring of existing ones by tailoring commercial best practices to the public sector. Core areas of expertise include organization design, agility, strategic workforce planning, and talent management—all of which help clients attract, retain, and develop high-value defense personnel.