22nd Century Technologies
Enhancing CX with Optimized Solutions

New Jersey-based 22nd Century Technologies traces its roots back to the Y2K problem of the late ’90s. It was founded as a single-member company in 1997 to assist organizations that lacked the appropriate technical expertise to tackle the Y2K bug. Over the years, 22nd Century started providing strategic technology, cybersecurity, and application development solutions to insurance, finance, and telecom industries, and later expanded into the public sector. Today, the company supports federal civilian agencies as well as the US Department of Defense (DOD) along with providing IT services to 34 states and more than a hundred local government bodies. Out of 22nd Century’s total contracts worth $700 M so far, federal contracts constitute 60 percent, state and local governments account for almost 30 percent, and the rest comprises various industrial clients. The company collaborates with clients to develop multi-faceted solutions by integrating strategy, innovation, analytics, and process improvements using Microsoft and other technologies.

“Although, we leverage a wide range of technologies to help clients improve their services, our goal is to be recognized as a strong Microsoft-focused IT provider and serve more commercial clients alongside government agencies,” states Anil Sharma, CEO at 22nd Century. The company enables clients to deliver enhanced customer experience in a highly secure and cost-efficient manner. 22nd Century’s primary clients—government organizations— have historically been slow adopters of technology, whereas citizens expect faster digital services today. Their key challenge is to innovate within the limits of their budget. Governments must also be able to extract actionable insights based on citizens’ behavior and preferences to stay relevant in today’s data-driven world and provide superior services. 22nd Century comprehensively addresses these pain points, enabling the development of cost-effective solutions, including easy-to-use mobile-friendly applications, which help government organizations better serve their citizens. The company is primarily focused on empowering governments to make sense of all the data that is continually introduced into the public sector and in turn, strengthen their capabilities.

“We further optimize cost savings for governments by helping them move to the cloud with our expertise in Microsoft Azure, as well as Amazon AWS, Google Cloud Platform, and DOD clouds such as the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) Cloud,” adds Sharma.

Using Azure, 22nd Century has enabled a mission critical federal agency to create its first platform-as-a-service (PaaS) offering. The company even allowed for the department’s data and functions to be deployed as a service. Further exemplifying 22nd Century’s ability to effectively utilize Microsoft technologies is its project for another client that struggled to handle a large influx of healthcare reports. 22nd Century modernized the client’s legacy application by employing Microsoft Sharepoint to provide data analytics-based online reporting and upgrade the overall end-user experience.

We provide cybersecurity solutions right from solution design to operation level by combining NIST, DOD’s Defense Manpower Data Center (DMDC) and DISA standards and industry best practices

In addition to optimizing costs and improving services, 22nd Century supports numerous mission-critical programs for government organizations and provides 24/7 proactive IT infrastructure monitoring. “With a rise in the number as well as types of cyberattacks today, robust cybersecurity initiatives are paramount to every organization’s core strategy. We provide cybersecurity solutions right from the application design to operation level by combining NIST, DOD’s Defense Manpower Data Center (DMDC) and DISA standards and industry best practices,” says Sharma. 22nd Century has even helped develop a state-of-the-art application using Microsoft technologies, which allows citizens to send real-time mobile alerts to various law enforcement agencies across the US as and when they notice any suspicious or alarming event.

With more than 300 employees—out of a total 2500— certified in various Microsoft technologies, 22nd Century also leverages Azure, Sharepoint, Dynamics 365, .NET, and other Microsoft offering, based on clients’ specific requirements. The company is now focused on making the most of artificial intelligence (AI) and predictive analytics to not only help clients provide better customer experience but also bolster their cybersecurity programs.