SAP NS2’s Harish Luthra is Leading Federal Cloud Adoption with Compliance, Innovation, Security | WashingtonExec

Today, Harish Luthra is the CEO of SAP National Security Services, but that’s not where his journey at SAP began. In his 26 years with SAP, Luthra worked his way up the ranks. He served as general manager, a managing director and eventually transitioned to SAP NS2 as president of secure cloud.

Last spring, when Luthra took on the role of CEO, it quickly became a job he embraced.

“I have a passion for making it easy for government customers to consume and adopt innovation,” he said.

Luthra’s passions align directly with the goals of SAP NS2, as they facilitate the secure adoption of U.S.-based SAP cloud solutions with a deployment model that prioritizes U.S. government cloud security authorizations.

“One of the biggest challenges across government agencies right now is managing disparate systems on outdated infrastructure,” he said. “The complexity of these systems makes it hard to ensure they’re compliant with emerging security regulations and requirements. Their systems are increasingly difficult to secure in the face of emerging threats from nation-state actors.”

SAP NS2 is working to overcome these challenges through the adoption and consumption of innovation in a secure, compliant model. By providing a secure pathway to innovate, SAP NS2 accelerates the pace of technological advancement across the federal space. This allows the government to adopt the latest and best tools for their mission, ultimately eliminating the need for outdated legacy systems.

From beginning to end, SAP NS2 supports their government customer’s transition to the cloud.

“We’re not just a technology vendor ⏤ we’re a partner in the digital transformation journey,” Luthra said. “We offer cost-effective and scalable solutions that enable governments to modernize their systems, manage their business, enhance cybersecurity, and streamline operations. Our commitment to compliance and security gives our clients peace of mind.”

From the national security perspective, the SAP NS2 team does the work upfront to ensure the right controls are in place. By managing the entirety of the security landscape, from solution to infrastructure, they check all the boxes and eliminate the need to obtain an Authority to Operate. The team’s efforts help government leaders address their risk management framework requirements. With SAP NS2, agencies can safely consume the SAP innovation used by Fortune 500 companies.

As Luthra looks ahead at growth opportunities, he describes emerging capabilities around artificial intelligence as a promising new frontier for government agencies, because outdated systems aren’t the only challenges government agencies are facing.

Agencies also have massive amounts of data to collect and process. Effective data management is key to improving government operations.

“AI is going to help them [government agencies]make decisions faster,” he said. “They’ll be able to automate some of their data processing efforts, and hopefully get to an end solution in a much more accelerated manner.”

“We have a lot of organizational data in our systems,” he added. “With AI, SAP NS2 can empower agencies to tap into the power of that data. This can take them to the next level for decision-making, for automation, and for understanding what they should be focused on first.”

To make that happen, Luthra has to focus not just on technology, but also on people.

The team at SAP NS2 has innate enthusiasm towards the industries they serve and their overall purpose, he said, noting that “what sets us apart is our deep domain knowledge, a proven track record of successful government projects, and a strong commitment to ethical practices.”

SAP NS2 leverages this enthusiasm to build upon their team.

“We are utilizing our employee resource groups,” Luthra said. “There are groups for early talent, groups focused on diversity and inclusion, and a group for women in technology.”

The company encourages these employees to reach back to their schools, and within their communities, “to start talking about what we do so that we can attract in demand emerging talent,” he said.

In addition to ERGs, SAP NS2’s trains military veterans to support their mission of empowering the U.S. government.

“We have an organization called NS2 Serves, where we train veterans in our technology and also place them in high tech careers,” Luthra said. He gets to see firsthand the impacts of that effort. “I just found out that one of the program graduates will be returning as an instructor for the program. I was really happy to hear that.”

On a personal note, Luthra is enthusiastic about making a difference and supporting the government’s ability to meet its national security mission.

“We understand the unique demands of the public sector and regulated industries and have developed expertise in navigating complex security regulations,” he said. For SAP NS2, it’s only the beginning.