The Interface – Issue 19

I s s u e 1 9 • w w w.t h e i n t e r f a c e . n e t

BUILDING AN INTELLIGENT WORKPLACE Revolut Singapore: Digital banking in the new normal Directness and understanding: How Mark Wright succeeds in a crowded marketing sector...

The great makeover – Venkat Gopalan, CDO of Belcorp, dives deep into the company's astonishing transformation and the technology behind it

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Welcome to issue 19 of Interface Our exclusive cover story this month centres on Venkat Gopalan, Chief Technology, Data & Digital Officer for Belcorp.

A business that’s fully and passionately dedicated to ¨promote beauty to achieve personal fulfilment¨, Belcorp is creating something new for itself that’s not a cultural reset, per se, but a cultural reboot. The message behind this Latin American beauty corporation, which operates across 14 countries, remains the same – but it’s now better, stronger, even more deeply ingrained in each and every fiber of the business. What is, on the face of it, a digital transformation for Belcorp has actually been a full people-centric makeover from the inside-out – it just happens to have been driven by technology. With his hand on the tiller is Venkat Gopalan, Chief Technology, Data & Digital Officer for Belcorp, who stepped in 18 months ago to help push the digital plan, resulting in a hard press on the fast-forward button for the company’s development.

Elsewhere, we catch up with Lori Snyder CIO, Information Systems & Technology at the State of Nebraska for the Department of Health and Human Services, to see how the state is using digital strategies to battle COVID-19. We also speak to BBTS CIO, Alexandre Souza da Conceicao, regarding his various roles executing digital transformation within the Brasilian banking sector… Plus, we have exclusive interviews with former Apprentice winner Mark Wright, Director of Climb Online and James Shanahan, CEO Revolut Singapore. We also list 5 essential tips to building an intelligent workplace.

Enjoy the issue!

ndrew Woods, Editor in chief A content@b2e-media.com

EDITOR IN CHIEF Andrew Woods

EDITOR Dale Benton

SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGER Callum Rivett

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Nell Walker Kevin Davies

GRAPHIC DESIGNER Dhruti Vithani

CREATIVE LEAD Mitchell Park

VP GLOBAL FINTECH & INSURTECH Alex Page

VP TECHNOLOGY Andy Lloyd Craig Daniels

VP PROCUREMENT Heykel Ouni Greg Churchill Richard Deane

PRESIDENT & CEO Kiron Chavda

Contents

6

Belcorp

32 Revolut

4

40

The State of Nebraska

56 BBTS

70

Directness and understanding

80

Building an intelligent workplace www.theinterface.net

5

The great makeover Written by

Nell Walker

Produced by

Craig Daniels

Venkat Gopalan, Chief Technology, Data & Digital Officer of Belcorp, dives deep into the company’s astonishing transformation, the technology behind it, and how this year’s pandemic has actually accelerated it

B e l co rp

www.theinterface.net

7

A

business that’s fully and passionately dedicated to ¨promote beauty to achieve

personal fulfilment¨, Belcorp is creating something new for itself that’s not a cultural reset, per se, but a cultural reboot. The message behind this Latin American beauty corporation, which operates across 14 countries, remains the same – but it’s now better, stronger, even more deeply ingrained in each and every fiber of the business. What is, on the face of it, a digital transformation for Belcorp has actually been a full people-centric makeover from the inside-out – it just happens to have been driven by technology. With his hand on the tiller is Venkat Gopalan, Chief Technology, Data & Digital Officer for Belcorp, who stepped in 18 months ago to help push the digital plan, resulting in a hard press on the fast-forward button for the company’s development.

Gopalan has a long history of this type of transformation within retail giants like Estée Lauder, Sephora, Walmart Labs, Nike, AT&T and Target, focusing on digi-

Venkat Gopalan Chief Technology, Data & Digital Officer Belcorp

tal transformation. He even had his own startup, before returning to the corporate world. “I was very passionate about

job is to create the vision for the team,

bringing both products and services

and to make sure everybody – both the

to the consumer through technology.

technology team and business team –

That’s my passion. Now, as a leader, my

is successful.”

B e l co rp

Gopalan’s vision

consumer wants. The business had, in

Right from the start, with Belcorp,

fact, already begun its transformation

Gopalan’s priority was the human

before Gopalan came on board, but the

element of business and what the

introduction of him as CTO/CDO was www.theinterface.net

9

Swipe

The perfect match for Belcorp’s beauty transformation. valtech.com

e right.

w w w.th e in te r fa ce . n e t

11

game-changing. He drew up his vision for Belcorp, driven by company strategy and business needs by creating a new Technology organization with clearly defined roles, technical career path, product taxonomy model and new ways of working, creating a technology strategy and roadmap with clear outcomes which included foundational capabilities and enablers like Cloud and API first approach, new UX Design system, Data platform & Advanced Analytics, Cybersecurity, Automation, new tools and processes. Even from these broad headings, it’s clear to see that Gopalan’s vision was always about creating a total corporate shift and making sure every part of the business was not only on board, but fully engaged.

Obviously, the dream that I had was that we would be the best Technology team in order to transform the business and consumers’ life. It was important to align that dream to the existing organization before honing the technological strategy. To do all of this, you need the best talent and inspiring leaders. You need different ways of working and to make sure all technology systems are performing exceptionally - you need a full ecosystem. To get started, I did a reorganization within my first 90 days and then measured the outcomes,” Gopalan explains.

The Belcorp mindset ‘The best talent’ also needs to be on the same page, especially in a business as large as Belcorp while widespread change is happening. The Belcorp Technology team is driven by eight behaviors aligned with Company values: customer centricity, the ability to embrace and drive change, transparency, founder’s mentality, datadriven decisions, being learning-obsessed, execution B e l co rp

Venkat Gopalan Chief Technology, Data & Digital Officer Venkat Gopalan is Chief Technology, Data & Digital Officer at Belcorp, where he is responsible for leading the beauty multinational’s digital transformation and enabling the company’s corporate and sustainability strategy through technology. Venkat has more than 22 years of experience leading large-scale global technology organizations in companies that have achieved exponential growth.

He has led transformation programs for Fortune 500 companies such as EstĂŠe Lauder, Sephora, Nike, Walmart, Target & AT&T, among others focused on retail, CPG and e-Commerce.

www.theinterface.net

13

w w w.th e in te r fa ce . n e t

15

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leading by example

— Ve nkat Go p a l an

C h i ef Tech nology, Data & D i g it al O ff i cer

“

“

I’m a strong believer in

excellence, and diversity. This is where

Agility Index (BAI) to measure business

the change begins and ends – with the

KPIs and consumer satisfaction, faster

people driving that change.

delivery of MVP, finance and risk reduc-

“At the end of the day, any transformation is not just about technology, it’s

tion, as well as employee engagement.”

In the last 18 months, they were able to

about the culture, the mindset,” Gopalan

deliver 400% more projects compared to

explains. “These goals were created from

2018 and reduce time to market by 40%.

a behavioral standpoint, and from there

That leap in agility is no surprise, given the

I was able to align the organization. We

depth of change Gopalan has created. In

created OKRs within Technology, specif-

a year marred by a pandemic that nobody

ically three objectives and four results

could have predicted, one that has shaken

for each of them, to measure where we

our lives to their core and sent many

were going. We also created six KPIs

businesses to their knees, the changes

to measure how we would become a

implemented at Belcorp have meant that

high performing team, and we have a

the business has not simply survived, but

Technology dashboard to track that

thrived and grown. In fact, Belcorp has

progress. From there, we were able to

continued to on-board new people and

drive agility. We came up with a Belcorp

introduce technology as a viable career www.theinterface.net

17

Technology Services B e l co rp

Digital Optimization

Digital Business www.tismart.com

path to newcomers.

“In Technology, there was only one

Belcorp was already prepared for this, thanks to the groundwork laid down by

career path and we needed to create a

the Technology team. Before, on-board-

technical career path,” Gopalan explains.

ing a new employee took several weeks

“You can have software engineers, archi-

– now, it takes less than a week. Gopalan

tects, Data scientists etc. and Belcorp

is passionate about self-learning, and

is a pioneer in Latin America for creat-

not only does the new-and-improved

ing these paths for our employees. We

on-boarding process give new staff an

want staff to really own their careers – it’s

increased sense of ownership, but their

important, in terms of retention and satis-

learning doesn’t stop there.

faction. So, nine job families were created

“I focus heavily on a continuous learn-

in different levels, and we moved 50% of

ing mindset,” he says. “Technology

our employees to the technical career

changes so fast, and it’s important that

path.”

the organization learns. So, I expanded

Due to COVID-19, all on-boarding this year had to be digital – fortunately,

the Belcorp learning ecosystem, which covers everything employees can learn

www.theinterface.net

19

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“ It’s very important for us to move from a siloed mentality to a more cross-functional way of working” — Ve n kat Go p a l an C h i ef Techn o lo gy, Data & D i git al O ff i cer

about technology. We have a partnership

Radical candor in leadership

with Udemy and LinkedIn for the tech-

So, once all of this incredible talent is in

nical courses and soft skills, we have

place, who leads? Leadership is another

workshops, and we used to do meetups

vitally important element of Gopalan’s

before the pandemic. We also have an

vision; he’s all about leadership develop-

Agile Academy and a Data Academy –

ment, and what he calls ‘radical candor’,

there’s a lot of different formats for learn-

which focuses on having the mindset

ing. Before COVID-19, we even had pizza

and framework to enable transparency

nights where we used to bring in entre-

and honest feedback between manag-

preneurs to talk about their journeys in

ers and staff. “Leaders must care for the

a casual environment.” Gopalan also

employees personally, but also challenge

instituted the Tech Awards, which rightly

them directly and give honest feedback,”

celebrate employees and ensure they

says Gopalan. “Thanks to our strategy of

feel recognized for their hard work and

having the best talent, and managing that

what they’ve learned.

talent in a successful way, there’s then a life-cycle in place. I did several workshops on talent management with our www.theinterface.net

21

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B e l co rp

leaders, and shared my personal leader-

but when remote working became a

ship philosophy within the team, inviting

necessity, they broadened their busi-

them to create their own.”

ness.” Belcorp worked with Valtech to bring best-in-class experience to their

Best-in-class partnerships

e-commerce and virtual store. They also

With the right talent and the right lead-

partnered with Perfect Corp to bring

ers in position, Gopalan then shifted

AI/Augmented Reality tools like Virtual

his focus to look closely at the vendors

Make up/Try on to their consumers,

to ensure Belcorp was partnering with

and this especially helped during lock-

truly best-in-class organizations. Before

downs. Companies like Valtech, Inetum,

he joined the team, Belcorp had to limit

Pyxis, Globant, SAP, Tismart, Altimea and

itself to what was available within Latin

Zoluxiones are key partners in Belcorp’s

America, but now is working across the

Digital Transformation. These strategic

globe. “This is actually thanks to COVID,”

partnerships bring specialized tech-

Gopalan says. “Initially, a lot of vendors

nology expertise into the corporation,

insisted on face-to-face communication,

allowing it to continue along its digital

www.theinterface.net

23

transformation journey.

Working with the best has allowed

high resiliency across the board.

And the relationship with vendors

Belcorp to move its workloads to the

doesn’t end with simply integrating their

cloud; 93% of products/workload is on

services – Belcorp considers itself a true

cloud, and by June 2021, it will be 100%.

business partner, with these relation-

In fact, Belcorp is the largest consumer

ships being a two-way street. “We work

of cloud in Latin America for Amazon

very, very closely with our vendors as

Web Services. “This enables the speed,

thought leaders, to drive technology,”

agility and advantages of innovation

says Gopalan. “One of the things we have

that we require. From a digital transfor-

rolled out is a collaboration tool for the

mation standpoint, this is a very impor-

business. During COVID, it has helped us

tant enabler for us.” Moving to the cloud

work remotely and communicate across

has been just one part of modernizing

the organization. Plus, we have a vendor

Belcorp’s entire infrastructure – it has

management strategy in place to always

also rolled out DevOps using SRE and

keep an eye on our relationships, and

performs world-class monitoring of its

we’ve developed our roadmap manage-

platforms to provide high availability and

ment in terms of how we, strategically,

B e l co rp

make changes in a flexible and agile way,

the consumer, they must be the rich-

based on market conditions and busi-

est person in the world!” Gopalan jokes.

ness needs. It’s very important for us to

“Understanding those needs meant a

move from a siloed mentality to a more

lot of experiments, and moving into an

cross-functional way of working.”

experimental mindset requires new tools, processes and a fresh mindset.”

Testing the waters

Advanced data analytics, AI, business

With how quickly and efficiently the vari-

enablement tools – these are all just a few

ous changes across Belcorp have been

of the elements Belcorp has delved into

rolled out, you might think there was no

over the past year to give the consumer

room for experimentation in the process

what they need, along with automation of

– but actually, experimenting along the

manual processes which has eliminated

way proved key to the continued success

close to 1,600 hours of manual processing

of Gopalan’s vision. As Belcorp moved

per month. More processes will be auto-

into a far more digital sphere, it was diffi-

mated in 2021, streamlining the business

cult to know what the consumer would

even further. The sheer volume of projects

want. “If anybody says they truly know

being developed in the background, while

www.theinterface.net

25

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create the vision

— Ve nkat Go p a l an

for the team and empower them

C h i ef Tech nology, Data

“

“

As a leader, my job is to

& D i g it al O ff i cer

Belcorp continues to improve itself at

career progression for employees, is

every level, is incredible. They were able

unity. Gopalan is utterly dedicated to

to deliver 400% more projects compared

the idea of professional togetherness,

to 2018 and reduce time to market by

in a way that goes far beyond the broad

40% by improving deployment frequency,

range of training and learning offered

lead time for changes, MTTR and change

to staff. From the Tech Awards, to Tech

failure rate. “The transformation has

Day – which this year was all about

been amazing between 2018 and 2020,

the consumer journey so that Belcorp

and 2021 and 2022 will be even greater

employees could better understand the

in terms of not only delivering projects,

end-user – to Data Day, which promotes

but the value of the outcomes across the

data culture, to pre-COVID physical

business,” says Gopalan.

meetups, to large-scale video catch-ups, team spirit is a must in Gopalan’s vision of

Professional togetherness At the core of Belcorp, connecting digi-

Belcorp.

“And, obviously, we want to have fun,”

tal transformation, the relationship with

Gopalan adds. Last year we had a

consumers, improved leadership, and

costume contest on Halloween, as well www.theinterface.net

27

as a Comic-Con-style event. I’m a strong

working, and that’s why I didn’t want to

believer in leading by example. I dressed

stop having spaces where employees can

up as the Mad Hatter with full make up for

be virtually together, share, learn and have

our Halloween contest. This year, we did

fun. This kind of thing is important; people

a remote costume contest for Halloween,

have been under tremendous stress.”

and we’ve had dress-up video meetings a talent show! I wanted to create better

Adapting to the consumer’s new normal

integration, and for everyone to have fun.

All of this begs the question: what exactly

People really, really enjoy this.”

was Belcorp like before Gopalan joined?

with everybody joining in. We even had

“For me, as a leader, the last eight

Why was the sheer volume of change

months have been challenging because

necessary? “Consumer needs are chang-

everybody’s working longer hours; since

ing, and customers are demanding

we’re all remote, our people are manag-

more,” explains Gopalan. “And, as Latin

ing their home lives, sharing bandwidth

America is becoming more digitally-savvy,

with family and making other sacrifices

the consumer is looking for things on

as they’re adapting to the new ways of

an immediate basis, and that means

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U n de rstanding EQ and h ir ing for it i n a p o st-pa n d emi c wo r l d

DIGITAL ANALYTICS

businesses need to be available. As well as that, our independent beauty consultants had to be reframed as influencers to keep up with the trends, and we also had to get into a position where Belcorp could handle COVID-like situations. Hopefully we won’t experience another pandemic in our lifetime, but the ability to weather a disruptive event is necessary for future-proofing.” It’s difficult to imagine how the business might have coped with the pandemic before Gopalan pushed its transformation into hyper-speed.

2021 is going to be pivotal for that path.”

Part of this new-and-improved flexibility had to involve the business pivoting

Creating empowerment

to handle new needs – after all, when the

The aforementioned consultants are the

world went into lockdown, people who

main beneficiaries of Belcorp’s desire

previously wore makeup to work every day

to empower women. The purpose of

were probably no longer doing so, mean-

Belcorp is to promote beauty to achieve

ing they didn’t need to stock up in the same

personal fulfilment – it aims to enable

way that they might have before. This could

woman entrepreneurs to manage their

have been a serious blow for a beauty

own businesses, developing a diverse

business like Belcorp; instead, it moved

range of skills in a way that suits their

quickly to launch a branded hand sani-

lifestyle. “We’ve done that successfully

tizer – a real essential in The New Normal

for more than 50 years,” says Gopalan.

– and observed increased demand in other

“It used to be that they’d go door-to-door

product markets, such as skincare, adapt-

direct selling, which left them restricted

ing to those as necessary. “Through our

by geographical boundaries; now, with

consultants and various digital channels,

the digital tools we’ve created, they can

we’ve been able to keep in close communi-

reach out to customers wherever they

cation with our consumers,” says Gopalan.

might be. We’re rolling out more tools

“We want to be a fully digital business and

next year to improve this even further,

this year has been the start of that journey.

and we’re bringing in a new profile, which www.theinterface.net

29

we call the Beauty Community Manager.

This will help the consultant be more of a beauty advisor and influencer and build a stronger relationship with their customers to create loyalty.”

Opportunity in crisis Gopalan is, rightly so, incredibly proud of what has been achieved during a year which could have been incredibly difficult, and has been for many. “There’s been amazing collaboration and alignment across the board, resiliency, leadership, and putting employees first, overall. We were even one of the first companies to start working from home, because we wanted to protect our staff. People will always come first. Also, mindset change has been a very important aspect of this entire journey, and the next two years are going to be critical in how we accelerate things. Nobody knows the future, but the right mindset makes all the difference. To my mind, every crisis is an opportunity; Belcorp has proven that.”

B e l co rp

www.theinterface.net

31

Revolut Singapore – digital banking in the new normal Nell Walker talks to James Shanahan, CEO Revolut Singapore, regarding an exciting new dawn of digital banking‌

Written by

Nell Walker

Revo l ut Singap ore – digital bankin g i n t h e n ew n o r ma l

www.theinterface.net

33

James Shanahan CEO, Revolut Singapore

The banking sector has experienced so much disruption in recent years, hasn’t it?

anything, you can change the world. And

My background is banking and insur-

with Revolut, we can see that as we bring

ance for many years. One of my obser-

ourselves into more and more markets.

vations ever since, has been the emer-

The difference that makes to our custom-

gence of internet banking where the

ers and the difference that makes to our

operating models of banks are very much

ability to scale the business very rapidly

outdated and customer experience is

is immense. The fundamental business

lagging behind what customers expect

model of banking is the balance sheet,

and experience in other industries. One

leveraging the balance sheet, taking in

of the opportunities that Revolut brings

deposits, lending those deposits out, and

to the table or has built, in fact, is that we

essentially, making a margin on that busi-

continue to expand on a new perspec-

ness. That business is not being disinter-

tive on customer experience and a new

mediated. The balance sheet business

perspective on the underlying operating

of a bank is intact and sound and will

model of banks. We’ve built, and continue

continue on for hundreds of years into

to expand on, a global operating model.

the future, is my expectation. However,

It’s a contemporary approach with a

the surrounding systems, the surround-

single underlying infrastructure; one that

ing protective systems, whether they’re

makes the business highly scalable. And

credit systems, whether they’re profit and

I think in order of magnitude, less costly

loss generating platforms or new prod-

and more efficient than your run-of-the-

uct platforms, you will want to cut the G

mill bank.

and L platform: the credit scoring, the

we’ve seen that in many industries in the past and as we move down that path

risk engines, all of these are designed

Why is this so important?

to protect those balance sheets. And

This is important because when you

then, of course, we get to the distribution

take a zero off the cost of pretty much

where the high cost of branches, the high

Revo l ut Singap ore – digital bankin g i n t h e n ew n o r ma l

cost of ATM networks, are the millstone

dramatically or vastly inefficient to what’s

around the neck of banks that no longer

possible using the kind of technology

performs the way it has done in the past.

we have available today. And so, when

I mean, with the advent of technology, we

you reimagine that from the perspective

can disintermediate at that level.

of an organisation like Revolut, you can conceive of a global bank that operates

How does a restructuring of a platform help?

on a single common platform. You can

Looking at it from a more holistic

same operating model universally. And

perspective, the business model of a bank

when you start to do that, you are able to

is intact, but the way it is carried out is

scale the business far more rapidly than

conceive of a global bank that shares the

www.theinterface.net

35

scaled markets, are going to be individual

I guess change is coming to many banking enterprises?

stacks. The stack we have in one country

There are some banks starting to move

is different from the stack that we have

out of that mindset, but it’s like turning the

in another country. And that leads, obvi-

ocean liner. And we’re coming along in

ously, to very high cost and the inability

perhaps not a speed boat anymore, but in

to move rapidly and to act in a very agile

a fast-moving, rapidly expanding boat that

manner. So, by re-conceiving the infra-

can move quickly, can turn quickly and

structure of a bank, if you like, the way

can speed past, some of the incumbents

that a bank delivers its services, you can

in the market. In any markets, we always

take an order of magnitude off the cost,

overestimate what can be achieved in

number one, and you can bring a level

one year, but we dramatically underesti-

of experience to the customer that’s not

mate what can be achieved in 10 years.

hamstrung by old tech, by old thinking,

So, Revolut is five years into its existence.

by siloed approaches, and even a silo

I mean, ask me that question in five years

at a country level. Because frankly, that

or 15 years, and I hope to show you that

school of thinking, that style of thinking is

Revolut is a global bank with tens, if not

really what’s held banks back and contin-

hundreds, of millions of customers on

ues to do so, today.

board able to operate at margins which

any bank. Most banks, if you look in their

put banks in their current form to shame.

Security issues obviously increase with these transformations…

Well, look, security is a war, and a war that will continuously wage. I think there’ll be no end to that. The good guys versus the bad guys will go on forever. What I see is this is increasingly... What we all see is a tech battle as we move to technology as a way to distribute financial services. I think a company that has a stronger tech underpinning and is digitally native, if you like, in its understanding of that technology, will always fight a better battle than Revo l ut Singap ore – digital bankin g i n t h e n ew n o r ma l

“ By re-conceiving the infrastructure of a bank, the way that a bank delivers its services, you can take an order of magnitude off the cost and you can bring a level of experience to the customer that’s not hamstrung by old tech, by old thinking, by siloed approaches…”

— Ja m e s S h an aha n C EO, Revolut S ingapore

we can make it easier for customers to stay secure. We can educate them through the way that the application is laid out, through the way the customer journey moves. And we can avoid situations by running, if you like, a rule set or machine learning, or some artificial intelligence tools around the transactions, in addition to the usual transaction monitoring tools and protection tools to guide customers and to help them in a way that many, I think, less contemporary organisations don’t have the flexibility to do. That allows us to do, build in a level of customer awareness of security right from the beginning, and to adjust that on the fly. We can adjust our front ends

those who have to learn the tools of war

very, very quickly and lead customers to a

and have to bring their approaches to a

better position.

new battlefield, if you like. I think there’s the ability to leverage technology more

Does this inevitably lead to lower fraud rates?

completely and with more modern and

We find our fraud rates, for example, to be

up-to-date tools, if you like, but also the

significantly lower than industry stand-

usability factor here. So, a lot of security

ards right across the board. And I think

issues are not driven by weaknesses in

this does reflect the fact that we have

the underlying security, but rather weak-

a more agile and more technological-

nesses in customers’ behaviour or lack of

ly-sound understanding of what’s going

understanding on the part of protagonist

on, and we can apply it more completely.

in the transaction as to what might repre-

There’s also something to be said for

sent a less secure way of doing things. By

the ability to manage customers’ expec-

having a lot of agility and flexibility on the

tations in this regard. So, it’s quite clear

front end with this customer experience,

coming onto a digital-only platform from

a second part of it as well. So, not only

www.theinterface.net

37

a financial services perspective, that

customers’ behaviour and a dip in spend-

customers need to be educated, need to

ing, but we’ve also seen a rapid recov-

be made secure, need to be reminded, if

ery from that, in particular as people

you like, or nudged in the right directions.

moved online. So, an acceleration in

And that’s easy to achieve with a digital

the tendency of people to move online

front end much more so than, in a branch

occurred. Perhaps we saw three to five

or an ATM machine or other offline kinds

years’ worth of growth in several months

of environments. So, I think the opportu-

in some markets. And then, secondly, I

nity to be vastly more secure is built into

think it creates almost like a pendulum

the operating nature of what we’re doing

effect. When people are unable to spend,

here with Revolut and other technology

particularly in their disposable income,

platforms.

a demand builds up. And as we saw in various markets now, as lockdowns were

I guess Covid has driven some of these changes…

eased or removed, we’ve seen spending

You could argue that, absolutely. I think

lum effect, in some cases higher than

a lot of our customers are driven by

it was before we went into the COVID

convenience, less so than an age demo-

period.

graphic. And I think convenience also raises a question in people’s mind, “Whilst this is easier to achieve, am I being safe?

Is my bank, A, being responsible, and B, do I inherently understand the change in risk profile that I’m taking on with moving to this platform?” I think in the end... I don’t know. Maybe let’s leave it at that now.

Obviously, there’s been some changes in customer behaviours. I mean, despite all the best intentions, travel has evaporated around the world, as we’ve come to see. So, spending has been affected, but I would say that it’s more muted than we expected. We saw a change in our

bounce back, and again, with the pendu-

“ Looking at it from a more holistic perspective, the business model of a bank is intact, but the way it is carried out is dramatically or vastly inefficient to what's possible using the kind of technology we have available today” — James Sh an ah an C EO, Revo l ut Si n gap o re

Revo l ut Singap ore – digital bankin g i n t h e n ew n o r ma l

www.theinterface.net

39

Department of Health and Human Services at The State of Nebraska The Human Element To Digital We speak to Lori Snyder, CIO, Information Systems & Technology at the State of Nebraska for the Department of Health and Human Services, to see how the state is using digital strategies to battle COVID-19‌

Written by

Andrew Woods

Produced by

Craig Daniels

State Of Neb raska

www.theinterface.net

41

2

020 will forever be remembered as the year that COVID19 triggered a dramatic halt to

life as we knew it, as billions of people were ushered into a world of isolation, economic disruption and total uncertainty. But behind the scenes, as the scientific community battled away to find a vaccine, there were many more working above and beyond to keep communities informed, healthy and safe.

Lori Snyder is the CIO, Information Systems & Technology at the State of Nebraska for the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), the lead agency in the state on COVID response, which has five divisions: Behavioral Health, Children and Family Services, Developmental Disabilities, Medicaid Long-Term Care and Public Health. And three months into her new role at the

the software and the solutions we’ve put

DHHS, slap bang in the eye of the COVID

in place for the COVID response really

storm, Snyder is clearly up for the scale of

helped with the testing, getting test

the challenge in front of her. “I’m a pretty

results back and notifying people.”

quick study, so I’ve jumped into a lot of

Snyder has previously worked in health-

things,” she says. “And I think that the

care, manufacturing, mail services, insur-

state and the federal government have

ance, government, and with the military,

done a really good job in terms of putting

but has never really specialized in a

together solutions so quickly with no

particular industry. “I really like to learn,

notice, but at the same time, when you get

and I get bored if I’m not learning,” she

a few months in, you can see opportuni-

explains. “So, I try to keep that learning

ties to improve and make things better.

curve going. I was getting to the point in

For example, we have seen places where

my career where I wanted to help other

State Of Neb raska

img credit: State of Nebraska

people in some sort of service role. I

area in order to give better service as

needed to be in a leadership role where I

the logistics of rolling out new vaccines

could have a big impact. And so, with the

dovetailed with track and trace. “We’re

COVID crisis going on right now, it really

looking at places where we can commu-

gave me an opportunity to pitch in and

nicate with people in a way they desire,”

find a place where I can really help, not

she explains. “Which is such a normal

only typically where you would assist a

thing in the E-commerce world, but we

company in moving forward, but in terms

didn’t have time to build this into track

of helping save lives.”

and trace. So, we’re finding ways to do

One of the key COVID challenges that

things online, through texting, and email,

Snyder and the State of Nebraska had to

where before it was a call – now a contact

face was communication and the devel-

tracer will reach out and get the informa-

opment of new ways to expand that

tion from the individual. We’re now looking www.theinterface.net

43

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View the briefing

State Of Neb raska www.microsoft.com/government

at places where we can track symptoms

in that first group (healthworkers), right?

and use that tracking to help people know

But as you get deeper into the popula-

when to go into work, or to help them

tion, it’s not as clear who is going to alert

provide a letter to their employer for tax

people when they’re next. Who’s going

credits through the Cares Act.”

to encourage them to sign up? Who’s

Although vaccines are being rolled

going to help them remember which kind

out across the globe, there are many

of drug they had, since there are multiple

logistical challenges inherent in such a

doses? If they had Pfizer first, they then

campaign, with transport and storage

need the Pfizer second dose. If they had

being two notable concerns. “We’re look-

Moderna at first, they need the Moderna

ing at not only getting the vaccine from

second dose. Who’s looking at systems

the manufacturer, but also to the places

to track and curb the adverse reactions?

providing the vaccine,” Snyder says.

Now, a lot of these systems are in place,

“And in this case, it’s critical because

but we’re going to extend the capabilities

we’re using ultra-cold storage. So, you

in some way because maybe some of this

can’t give it to every provider who would

work was done by a provider in the clinic

normally receive a vaccine. You have to

previously, and now we need to reach a

select those who have that ultra-cold

wider population. Sometimes you have

storage. And then, how are we going

people who don’t have a regular provider,

to help the people within the State of

as maybe they’ve moved, or maybe they

Nebraska to get that vaccine? So, the

just don’t go to the doctor that often. And

hospitals help identify the people who are

so, they may need help finding out where

“ We have seen places where the software and the solutions we’ve put in place to help with the COVID response really helped with the testing, getting test results back and notifying people” — Lo r i S nyd e r C IO

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45

to go to get the vaccine. So, there’s all

picture together, showing the life cycle

these extra things around the edges that

of a person and all the things that they

get us looking to either take the systems

might need for support mechanisms for

we have in place and extend them, or

COVID and vaccinations. I think it’s been

looking to add some extra components,

very helpful to take that strategic holis-

such as the Microsoft Vaccine solution.”

tic approach, and look at the solutions

Contact tracing relies on exposure noti-

we have, making sure they integrate well

fications that identify people who were

together, ensuring that the data commu-

exposed, beyond just word of mouth.

nicates well together to improve the

“It’s one of those problems where you

service we’re providing to the folks who

start reaching out to community leaders,

live in the State of Nebraska.”

or chambers of commerce, or provider

The context and background to this

groups or whatever, that identifies even

work is stark. The clock is well and truly

more needs. And so, we’re really trying

ticking, as Snyder, her colleagues and her

to put that together in a holistic picture.

peers try to gain an upper hand during

I just gave a presentation to the gover-

this pandemic while people continue to

nor of the State of Nebraska, to put the

fall sick. The key to control is the spirit of

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partnership and collaboration. “I’ve met

no-code types of solutions, like Microsoft

with 48 different people or companies,

Dynamics 365, or the Microsoft Power

from other state leaders, to vendors, to

Apps,” says Snyder. “We were doing that

providers, to staff members and external

anyway, but what this pandemic has done

parties who are trying to solve this prob-

is accelerate how we need to get those

lem,” she reveals. “It’s really jump-starting

things going faster or where we can lever-

things for me and enabling me to put that

age some of those technologies or some

whole picture together for my leadership

of those small pieces of the puzzle toward

team, so that we can make good deci-

solutions for the pandemic, while still

sions about what we do to support the

realizing we have these bigger projects

people in the state. Some of the things we

that will continue progressing, and that

were doing anyway but were not related

will still come to the table within their own

to COVID. We are now looking at how we

timeframes.”

can best serve the State of Nebraska and the folks here better.”

The I Serve Nebraska Portal is a new

“Government sites often have these little rectangles on their websites and I call it ‘pick-a-box,’” she explains. “And

data warehouse built upon the concept of

people try to figure out where to go to get

serving Nebraskans better with improved

the benefits they need. And so, they might

access, user experience and data around

select a box and it takes them down a

Economic Assistance and Medicaid. “We

path and ‘no, that’s not it.’ And they come

were looking at how we could provide

back to the top and they eventually figure

smaller solutions using low-code and

it out. The next time they come back,

“ I think it’s been very helpful to take that strategic holistic approach, and look at the solutions we have, making sure they integrate well together” — Lo r i S nyd er CI O

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47

they can’t remember that and so they

intelligence so that people can answer

go through the same pick-a-box, right?

the questions just once. We can now help

What we are trying to do with this new

them identify what benefits they qualify

portal is make this intuitive and easy for

for by merging those applications into

those first-time users, as they’re proba-

one. Plus, how can we pre-fill information

bly already feeling like they don’t want to

for them? None of these things are rocket

reach out for help. We want to make this

science in the E-commerce world, but

easy for them so we’re not compounding

you don’t always see it in the government

that struggle. Now we have multiple appli-

world.”

cations and if you maybe qualify for two

Snyder is visibly moved by the spirit

or three benefits, you have to go through

and commitment shown by vendors

that process two or three times. We want

during these challenging times as they

to drive the questioning in the appli-

join forces to develop highly anticipated

cation with better design and artificial

solutions. “Vendors are really thinking

State Of Neb raska

about the problems as thoroughly as they

what they are doing with exposure noti-

possibly can,” she enthuses. “When I look

fication, because I know that they are

at demos, let’s say on vaccine manage-

diverting other work in order to do this.

ment or something like that, and you start

And at least Google and Apple in the U.S.

thinking about all the different scenarios,

are offering some free technical capabil-

these solutions are coming to the table

ities for states, governments and cities

really well thought-out. People are invest-

to use. Well, that kind of thing doesn’t

ing thought time where maybe it wouldn’t

always happen, right? People are taking

have been invested quite so dramati-

this so personally they’re doing it on

cally, and quite so quickly, before. I think

their personal time, too. They’re invest-

there’s a personal nature to this because

ing really deep thinking and thought and

it matters to people’s lives.”

work and development time in this, which

“I was talking to folks from Apple and

is testament to the good in people and

Google yesterday and thanking them for

the good that we see coming out which

img credit: State of Nebraska

www.theinterface.net

49

wouldn’t usually be visible. I really believe in win-win vendor partnerships.”

According to Snyder, Microsoft has been super supportive in terms of understanding technologies and finding faster ways to go to market, things they can do to speed the processes up “while still giving a really high-quality solution, allowing us to bring other vendors to the table to do the implementations”. Snyder’s department has a small legislator app going live in just four weeks. “Which is kind of unheard of,” she laughs.

“That’s the beginning of the contract to the deliverable, so that’s a pretty fast cycle, especially in state government. Microsoft was very instrumental in bringing the vendor to the table, getting the licensing done, making sure we understood how to get through all the technical steps so we could launch. This will be a cloud launch with a very small app, but start to finish, exactly what we need to track our legislative bills.” A second app going live is the legislative bill tracking, to allow constituents to send questions to provide visibility on who has been contacted for answers and making sure the answers get back to the right people.

Snyder and her team have also been working with Cordova Solutions and Microsoft, plus collaborative work with Snowflake regarding how they’re going to move data to the Cloud while making public health data available so “that we can do better work in the COVID space and ultimately the broader public health and Medicaid areas”. Snowflake has been really instrumental in looking at workflows, helping to identify gaps, providing ideas and solutions, and then ultimately providing vendors who can implement. There have also been fruitful working relationships with Qualtrics and the State Of Neb raska

img credit: State of Nebraska

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51

“ All of this is about getting people everything they need. And making sure they feel dignity in doing this. Everything we do comes from this really caring spot” — Lo ri S nyd e r CIO

Salesforce team in implementing some of its COVID solutions.

Teamwork and partnerships during COVID have obviously worked across state lines too, as people cross state borders, potentially transporting this disease. “Our solutions work better if your neighboring states are working alongside you. We have people in our state crossing borders every day, maybe going to jobs, school or visiting relatives who live across these state borders,” Snyder explains. “If we deploy some of these solutions in a way that you can still get the information flowing across the border, we are going to have a better solution for the people in our state. So, a lot of good can come out of this. I think sometimes people are afraid of that collaborative notion and sometimes people want to develop things on their own, but I’m really about accomplishing results and that means leveraging others in a positive way and allowing them to leverage my knowledge as well State Of Neb raska

and having us all work together to identify

for her clients to interact, thus freeing

better solutions more quickly. Learning

the DHHS staff so they can really spend

from someone else is on one hand free-

more of their time with clients. An exam-

ing, but more importantly, it gets us to

ple is the new portal, iServe, which is

solutions faster.”

currently being deployed. iServe is a

Snyder is working hard to bring her

smart app that asks learning questions

private experience, as well as that of her

to make it easy for clients to apply for

vendors, to the table to help drive things

benefits without answering extra ques-

in a direction that makes it a lot easier

tions. “Instead, they can spend their time getting to know them, understanding

img credit: State of Nebraska

their needs, maybe helping them qualify for more benefits than they’re aware of, but really making good decisions to help them get the help they need. This really is something that’s helping people maintain their dignity, and to get them on their feet if they’re facing some initial or one-time adversity. Or they might have something long-term or ongoing. We’re making it efficient for them so they can spend their time taking care of whoever it is they’re taking care of whether that’s themselves or a loved one and not spending their time on a computer trying to figure out how to get the benefits that they need. The Snowflake data warehouse for example is a chance to pull the data together so the state can use it for people’s good. Not only can we use that to provide benefits better, but we’re going to be able to use it to find ways to produce those benefits more cost-effectively so we can use that money more wisely for the people of the www.theinterface.net

53

State of Nebraska. We’re also going to be able to use it in the public health area to help drive better health for the State of Nebraska folks, because if we can find trends or better ways to serve them, so they get the health information they need, maybe we prevent some diseases beyond preventing COVID. It further supports our mission of helping people live better lives.”

Anytime Snyder looks at an IT project, she centers in on the human element.

“It’s that emotional connection that helps people understand what you’re trying to do so that the people working on that feel that sense of urgency? When they feel that sense of urgency and they feel that sense of connection, they go that extra mile so the people using these processes and tools feel better about their jobs and lives. It creates this circle of goodness.”

“All of this is about getting people everything they need. And making sure they feel dignity in doing this. Everything we do comes from this really caring spot. And I love that. It makes you feel that people really are in this to serve the people of Nebraska. They’re really in it because they care. And this is meaningful to me. I want to spend my life and my time giving back.”

State Of Neb raska

img credit: State of Nebraska

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BBTS: a digital strategy We speak to BBTS CIO, Alexandre Souza da Conceicao, regarding his various roles executing digital transformation within the Brasilian banking sector‌

Written by

Andrew Woods

Produced by

Craig Daniels

B BTS: a digital st rategy

www.theinterface.net

57

A

lexandre Souza da Conceicao is

BBTS, pretty much overseeing the overall

moving onto pastures new, but

operation of the company in terms of IT

his love for his sole employer,

processes and systems development. “I’m

up till now, is palpable. “A job at Banco do

enhancing and improving the digital solu-

Brasil is something really desired by the

tions we are offering, not only to Banco do

Brasilian population,” Conceicao explains.

Brasil, but to other banks and companies

“You find one of its branches everywhere

in the market too,” he explains from its

you go in this country. It’s a big company

Brasilia headquarters.

and one of the best places to work. The

BBTS is a solutions provider primar-

company’s very kind to employees and

ily focused on the banking industry.

everyone loves working for BB.”

“Because that’s pretty much our DNA,

BB Tecnologia e Serviços, BBTS is a Brasilian state-run technological solutions provider controlled by Banco do Brasil (99.97%). Focused on information technology outsourcing (ITO) and business process outsourcing (BPO), BBTS was founded in 1974. Alexandre Souza da Conceicao has been working for BBTS and its controlling owner for some 35 years, the outgoing CIO at BBTS having joined Banco de Brasil in 1985, as an office-boy in a local branch when he was just 14 years old. His entire career thus far has been working for the same company and during those 35 years, he has delivered numerous innovative projects across the bank, its numerous business units and now its subsidiary, BBTS. Conceicao’s final role for the bank – and the one he is about to depart – placed him in charge of the technology, directory and digital products and services at B BTS: a digital st rategy

“ Every time I had a meeting or a conversation, I found an opportunity to push for a better way of doing things. It was a very interesting time, and by the end of 2019, we were already able to deploy a brand, new platform that was capable of automating the decision-making process” — Al exa n d re C o nc eic ao C IO, BBTS

right?” Conceicao explains. “A lot of our time is spent in the banking industry just serving Banco do Brasil, since the bank is really big. We serve the organization all over the country and through that work we developed the muscles to support any bank, because Banco do Brasil is pretty much the largest banking branch network we have in Brazil.”

BBTS has 35 regional technical assistance units that provide services for over 3,500 Brasilian municipalities, including equipment installation, corrective and preventive maintenance, monitoring and equipment support.

It also offers security equipment such as CCTV surveillance, revolving doors with metal detectors, access control, and alarms, as well as our own PSIM (Physical Security Information Management) software to monitor all the security alerts as an integrated solution. BBTS also offers contact centers, collections center, helpdesk and telemarketing services, as well as document management and printing, software manufacturing and testing, phone system outsourcing with telecom management www.theinterface.net

59

SUSE, the world’s largest independent open source company, provides unparalleled customer choice and powers digital transformation for the enterprise by simplifying, modernizing and accelerating traditional, cloud and edge solutions

The Power of Many. www.suse.com U n de rstanding EQ and h ir ing for it i n a p o st-pa n d emi c wo r l d

including mobile and telephony services billing. When Conceicao stepped into BBTS for the first time in 2019 – having departed a role in IT for the bank – his biggest challenge was to push the company towards innovation and change. “There was a lack of transition or transformation, let’s say, to a more digital operation,” he says. “It was a technological environment, developing products and serving customers with technology and yet, the company

Alexandre Conceicao CIO, BBTS

itself was not so invested. They didn’t push so hard. It was much more geared towards the demand of the customer, but not for themselves, or the internal units and departments.”

Alex sparked an immediate sea change at BBTS and pushed towards digital solutions. “Every time I had a meeting or a conversation, I found an opportunity to push for a better way of doing things. It was a very interesting time, and by the end of 2019, we were already able to deploy a brand, new platform that was capable of automating the decision-making process. Instead of getting everything written on paper and getting things signed, we created a digital workflow where at the different levels of the organization, we could interact to get the right approvals from

Alexandre Conceição leads the IT area and ITO business as CIO in BB Tecnologia e Serviços, a fully controlled subsidiary of Banco do Brasil. He formerly headed the software development unit in Banco do Brasil for operating efficiency as IT General Manager. He joined BB in 1985 and his last 32 years were dedicated to the IT field and digital transformation. He held several positions in BB, starting as an office boy and having served previously as BB’s IT Manager for North America region, in New York. Alex had established the sponsor partnership with the MIT/CISR and had worked as the liaison between Banco do Brasil and the Center for Information Systems Research, pushing forward the digital transformation journey of the bank. He is also contributing with Ativos Gestão as a board member of its Fiscal Council and as a member of Audit Committee in Cielo.

Alex is Graduated in Data Processing with specialization in Distributed Systems with Object Oriented Programming

by Finatec/UnB. He is certified in Governance of Enterprise IT (CGEIT) by ISACA and holds a MBA Degree by NYU Stern School of Business.

every department and back to the board. www.theinterface.net

61

With this movement, I could expedite and

Banco do Brasil’s sponsorship of the MIT

increase the speed of the decision-mak-

(Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

ing processes in the company. In fact, that

CISR (Center for Information Systems

was key to helping us during the pandemic

Research), which fosters and promotes

this year.”

the digital transformation of organizations.

Conceicao has overseen major digi-

They do a lot of research and share expe-

tal transformations at Banco and BBTS

riences and use-cases. They come out

having cut his teeth in IT while working

with a dozen of frameworks on how you

in North America for the bank in 2007.

could apply a digital strategy, right?”

Alex spent six and a half years in the

In 2013, Conceicao returned to

US – in New York – helping to establish

Brasil with the knowledge and exper-

a stronger US presence for BB. “During

tise garnered from his time in the US.

that time, I had the chance to establish

“When I came back, that’s when my

B BTS: a digital st rategy

digital transformation approach became

One of the key challenges Conceicao

stronger within the bank, because I came

faced when returning to BB in Brasil was

back to the IT area as a general manager

altering the mindset of the board and its

to promote a better IT governance

executives. “Most of them came from a

process and mitigate the risks of IT, while

different time when everything was trans-

increasing the value delivery. I pushed

actional and mechanical,” he explains.

harder in terms of digital transformation,

“There was no economic explanation

cultural change, new methods of develop-

or understanding of how digital could

ment and applications redesign. Lean IT

promote exponential growth for the bank.”

and agile methods were the key method-

Conceicao created a workshop for the

ologies I implemented, to make IT leaner

executive board, so they could under-

and lighter while making the value delivery

take a journey in terms of understanding

stronger for the bank.”

use-cases of other banks from around

“ One of the contracts BBTS implemented for Banco do Brasil was a customer collection center, offering a multichannel interaction process, which helped BBTS choose the best approach to reach customers through a variety of channels” — Al exa nd re C o n c e i c a o CIO, BBTS

www.theinterface.net

63

the world, and uncover what the bank should be doing to push further in its digital transformation. The workshop was co-created by Peter Weill, the Chairman of MIT’s CISR. One of the biggest projects Conceicao undertook at the bank was the Technology Transformational Program; a group of projects that reconstructed the platform of the bank through the applications, and the creation of components that could be regrouped to a more scalable architecture. “That’s what the market called SOA, or services-oriented architecture,” Conceicao explains. “We pretty much pushed that approach forward so that everything would be based on the customer journey. Instead of delivering a product based on the capacity or char-

develop. The first initiative was pretty

acteristics of the product, we changed

much the credit or loans and how we

the approach, and created a customer

served customers with loans that used

journey, and said, ‘What would be the

this new architecture we deployed. We

point of access of the customer with the

put those in different tracks although

organization, and how can we enhance

we could reuse the components every

that experience?’”

time we had to go back to a new project.

“Using those components, we broke

This was giving us speed and reduced a

them apart, and put them back together,

lot of effort in time and cost and in terms

in a way that could deliver a better expe-

of the development of other products.

rience. We put everything in a brand,

That happened during 2014 and 16’, and

new web interface, which was much

‘17, ‘18, I had the chance to transition to

more friendly. Then, we created a certain

other units fostering the bank’s efficiency

architecture of reference that searched

with projects for internal processes, cost

for every other product we started to

reduction and better backoffice support,

B BTS: a digital st rategy

until I joined BBTS, in 2019.”

When Conceicao joined BBTS in 2019,

multichannel interaction process, which helped BBTS choose the best approach

he faced similar issues to that of the

to reach customers through a variety of

bank. The structure at BBTS was the

channels including an automated text

same as the bank before, with no agile

assistant, called VIC, which uses artificial

methods being employed. “We pretty

intelligence to interact with the customer,

much had to start something very similar,

and negotiate condition for the payments

but I could make it faster, because the

of debt. “We could really increase the

company is much smaller. I could push

speed of the communication to the

the culture to change a little bit more

customer and enjoy a greater precision

intensely, because there were fewer

in terms of approach and interaction,” he

projects than at the bank.”

says. “Out of more than 400K custom-

One of the contracts BBTS imple-

ers contact during the last two quarters

mented for Banco do Brasil was a

of 2020 VIC was effective in more than

customer collection center, offering a

46% of the times she’d interacted with the www.theinterface.net

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customer, avoiding the need of human support. And we are working to make it even higher.”

Another big project Conceicao has overseen at BBTS is Hiveplace, which allows BBTS to serve consumers and suppliers of banking or data services making an easy, simple and cheaper integration. It’s focusing to adapt to the regulations of open banking and the data protection laws pushing the banks to create APIs, to ensure that they can be connected to any other institution that would like to share information – or if the customer requests to get their data back to another company or bank. “The financial organizations are really pressed by the law, because they don’t own the data,” he explains. “The data belongs to the customer. And for many years, they (the banks) believed that the data belonged to them, and they could use the data by themselves, or just for the benefit of the business. But that’s actually the other way around. It belongs to the customer and so they have to have consent to use that information in any way, from the customer.

With that law in place, the landscape changed completely. Now, you need to interact with multiple companies, banks, or fintechs, so the data belonging to the customer can flow into that organization as the customer requests.”

B BTS: a digital st rategy

Alex and his team developed a part-

are scaling it, so we are connecting more

nership with Skilltech to build the digital

companies, establishing agreements and

ecosystem Hiveplace that could be offer-

creating ample use. We are a subsidiary of

ing single integration with multiple peers.

the bank, and we are working with many

According to Conceicao, a bank that’s will-

different business fronts of the bank, but

ing to offer a product like a loan would be

also offering this platform to the market.

a provider in this hub. But a credit fintech,

From a security perspective, for instance,

say, would be consuming that API, while

we could check the records from a data-

also connected. “Hiveplace reduces a lot

base of customers as a proof-of-concept

“ I truly believe that banking-as-a-service will be a new frontier. You have to understand banking-as-a-service and foresee a forgo of the building full of bricks, with a safe inside.

That cash handling may be quite down in the next coming years” — Alexandre C onceic ao C I O, B BTS

of the effort and time to integrate multiple

experiment just to be sure that we can

institutions. It’s a single integration that

double check the data. We connected to

you have with your product. Let’s say you

11 bureaus of databases of customers,

have an investment fund; you can make

and we check that data against the data-

that fund available for investment from

base the bank has sent to us. They started

multiple customers, allowing any fintech

with 5,000 customers just to check how

to connect. It’s a single integration instead

many we could confirm are positive and

of developing the integration to each one

authentic records, rather than fraud or

of those fintechs or start-ups. The plat-

the result of misleading information in the

form was launched this month, and we

records. We found almost 10% of it was www.theinterface.net

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fraud and we gave that back to the bank.

And they liked that. It’s a good sign as it shall become a product or business in Hiveplace in a way that they could benefit from.”

You don’t spend your entire career, with a single employer, unless something is working for you and with his time at BBTS and Banco drawing to a close, Conceicao is foreseeing new market opportunities within the openbanking space. “This is the future of the financial system and there will be many services, creating multiple lines of revenue,” he says. “With very low interest rates, banks are not making money as they used to do and that’s the biggest challenge.

Banks’ payroll is still a high-cost item in the financial statements and we may see a reduction as they push to the digital landscape. Banks won’t be able to charge services as they used to do.

“I truly believe that banking-as-a-service will be a new frontier. You have to understand banking-as-a-service and foresee a forgo of the building full of bricks, with a safe inside. That cash handling may be quite down in the next coming years. And that’s certainly how I see my next challenge and the next transition in terms of the business, and technology.”

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Directness and understanding How Mark Wright succeeds in a crowded marketing sector...

Mark Wright, Director of Climb Online and a successful entrepreneur with a passion for business and a love of digital marketing (and the winner of Apprentice UK back in 2014) discusses the importance of speaking the right business language when operating in a crowded digital marketing sector.

Written by

Dale Benton

Directness and understanding: How Mark Wright succeeds in a crowded marketing secto r. ..

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Marketing is something that everyone thinks they’re an expert on, so how do you cut through that?

to understand which marketing strategy would be most appropriate for this business.

It’s an excellent question. It comes back

For example, if you’re working with a

to understanding the customer’s indus-

plumber that’s got a great personality,

try and business that you’re dealing with.

looks great on camera, something like

No digital marketing campaign is ever

YouTube ads or social media marketing

the same, and that’s because no busi-

ads with video of that guy talking about

ness is ever the same. The fundamen-

his products and services could be

tal flaw most digital marketers make,

phenomenal because he’s got something

or most people in the online world, is

his competition doesn’t, which is him, his

taking a cookie cutter approach, treating

personality. Then, you might have some-

every business like the same, and every

one that’s shy or hates being in front

campaign should be the same, when

of the camera, but is very creative, and

every business needs to be displayed

that person could do great testimonials,

and understood differently. What I

great imagery, and case studies on their

did very, very well early on is person-

website and boost it out through blogs or

ally get to know the individual that I’m

whatever it might be, their way.

dealing with, and their personalities and the personalities of their business

It’s understanding what’s going to work for the customer and what works best

Directness and understanding: How Mark Wright succeeds in a crowded marketing secto r. ..

for that industry. That’s why these cheap,

business. I said to her; “You’ve been

outsourcing it to India, cookie cutter

with other marketing companies before,

approach businesses don’t work. 99

and you failed every single time. Now, if

times out of 100, I go and meet a busi-

I presented you the same strategy and

ness and they tell me, “I tried marketing.

the same approach that you’ve done

It didn’t work,” but they’ve tried market-

over, and over again, we will fail again.

ing that’s worked for everyone else, but

“You have come to me and paid me

hasn’t had anyone understand what they

very hard-earned money to come to me

should be doing.

to let me do your marketing. Then, you’re going to ring me up and tell me how to

You work with clients, for example, Emirates, but also the local dentist.

That’s going to be different conversations but both are wanting the same outcome, so how do you communicate with them?

do your marketing. Then, if I listen to

Well, I am a very direct person. I was very

pay me good money to do that for you?

upset with me because she didn’t feel

You must listen to me.”

the marketing approach I was displaying for her business was right for her

you, we’ll fail, because I am the expert. I am the person that is the best marketer, is the best company to go to, and I’m charging you. Now, if I was to listen to you and do your strategy, why would you

I don’t ring you up, if you’re a dentist, and tell you how to fit a crown, or whiten my teeth, or do this, because I don’t really know. I might have watched a couple of YouTube videos or heard about it down at the pub, but I don’t really know what I’m doing because I haven’t got the experience, I haven’t got the expertise. The funny thing about marketing is everyone is a bit of a bedroom DJ. They think they know their onions, so to speak, but the truth is that I’ve worked 11 years every day, as you say, day-in, day-out, working with thousands of companies. I get it. I understand what to do. www.theinterface.net

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I have to be quite blunt with people sometimes and just say, “Just leave me to it.” Because you don’t put your car in the garage with the mechanics and stand over him and tell him which wrench to use and which filters to change. You understand that that person has experience, qualifications, and the understanding of what to do. Generally, the biggest problems I’ve ever seen in marketing campaigns is owner-operators dipping their wick in, and going in and making changes and putting their two bucks worth in, or not spending enough money.

Then, they tell us that marketing doesn’t work.

If you hire experts, if you work with people, you’ve got to let them do their jobs and not tell them how to do their jobs. Because Steve Jobs was a great

question. Any company, any entrepre-

advocate for if you hire A-players, you

neur or any business person that stops

need them to let them be A-players. Let

innovating starts dying. The day you

them be creative. Let them do the things

start standing still, you start moving

that you hired them for, and that’s when

backwards, so you’ve got to constantly

you get the best results.

challenge yourself to stay ahead of the market. That’s listening to your

Forgive me if I’m wrong, there are thousands of marketing companies that could say and promise the world to clients, but what do you do to ensure that you stay ahead of them?

customers, that’s listening to tech-

Yeah, there’s thousands of compa-

VR? Is it going to be UX? What is it going

nies that do. This is the million pound

to be that’s going to be the next Google

nology. Understanding what the next Facebook’s going to be, what the next video content’s going to be. Is it going to be augmented reality? Is it going to be

Directness and understanding: How Mark Wright succeeds in a crowded marketing secto r. ..

AdWords for our sector?

Our job is constantly investing in

whatever the third-party of the day is.

There have been people that have come

research, constantly investing in new

into that market, that their products

products and new markets to make

have been so good, it killed the other

sure that we’re ahead of every other

competitors.

marketing agency out there. Once

My job at Climb Online is making sure

upon a time, you used to walk into a

that our product and our technology

phone shop and there were hundreds

gets our customers such good results

of phones on the wall. You’d go into a

that there’s no other option than to go

carphone warehouse, and you could

with us, and it kills those other thousand

pick up to 150 phones off the wall to be

competitors. That’s what I think about

your handset. Now, you walk into the

every day as I’m getting up and I’m going

shop, there’s three. You’ve probably got a

into work; “What am I doing today for my

Galaxy, you’ve got an iPhone, and maybe

customers that’s going to make me so www.theinterface.net

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essential to their business that everyone

on top of analytics and data. That’s the

has to use me?”

thing that I’ve seen over the last couple of years that’s really impressed me,

What are some of the current trends you are seeing in the industry?

and the thing that I think is going to be

We’re living in just the most fascinating

If you’re in business right now, under-

time in human history. The advances in

standing your customers and what they

technology that we’re seeing are just

want to see, what they’re feeling, how

unbelievable. You go back 70 years ago,

to talk to them is really important. There

they didn’t have the TV. We now have

is technology out there to do that much

the Internet. I still remember, in my time,

better than you’re doing it right now.

when we had dial-up Internet, and you

It’s the customers that are understand-

would have to sit there for 10 minutes

ing that technology and how important

while the box made all that noise, and

analytics are that are the ones that are

it’d take five minutes for a website to

going to be successful over the next

sort of click down the browser. We’re

few years.

the big game changer moving forward.

living in a time where machine learning, algorithms, analytics are just changing the game.

Some of the stuff I’m seeing in analytics, things are being done online using data and analytics that we cannot even dream of. I’m seeing technology, that it just blows your mind in terms of data prediction and output that is just breathtaking. The stuff that the companies are collecting in terms of data, and using to segment audiences, supply advertising data, but also control what we’re seeing, and feeling through the media that we’re consuming, is just really intelligent stuff.

I think we’re moving really quickly, and the thing that I’d want to back is being Directness and understanding: How Mark Wright succeeds in a crowded marketing secto r. ..

What have you seen in terms of the impact of COVID on the business landscape?

all using technology.

It’s been a very challenging period. At

ness side has really sorted out the

the same time, when I’ve reflected on

men from the boys, shall we say. It’s

it recently, I’m very grateful for where

sorted out the skilled sailors from the

we are and what we’ve learned. I mean,

people that were just floating around

for example, the amount of money that

on a wooden door. There’s businesses

we’ve discovered we were wasting

that are going under right now, and

on going to face-to-face meetings all

they’re saying it’s because of corona-

around the country, getting on a plane

virus. Jamie’s Italian went under about

here, a train here, a hotel there, when

a year ago, 12 months ago, right before

our sales process is now improved. It’s

coronavirus. If they went bankrupt right

now shorter. We’re doing more things by

now, they would blame coronavirus.

Teams, Zoom, et cetera, like this, saving

They didn’t go bad because of corona-

the company money. We’re closing

virus. They were just a bad business.

bigger deals. We’re closing them faster,

There are many companies that were

COVID has changed the world. Now, the health side of it is terrible. The busi-

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over-leveraged, that had poor market share, that had too many employees, that had bad technology, and now they’re blaming coronavirus.

On the flip side, there are some companies like airlines that are just affected, holiday companies that are really affected by coronavirus, and I get that. Our job, as business people, is to understand who it is affecting and who it isn’t. At the start of this, it did affect my business a little bit, but we’ve improved our processes, we’ve learned from it, and we’ve understood what we can do better through technology, through working with different industries, different niches, to make sure that we’re more protected for the future. We’ve also understood that there was wastage in our business that we could improve on.

Tough times are always going to be around. This year, it’s coronavirus. In

anyway, and your job is to be serious. It comes back to that honesty.

Look at yourself and say, “Is this coro-

the future, it will be something else. We

navirus, or is this a bad business? Is this

can either sit back, furlough ourselves,

a bad employee, or is this a coronavirus

furlough our employees and blame the

problem?” I think this period has been

environment for failure, or you can tackle

a great time for really true reflection.

it head-on and you can learn from it.

Looking at yourself, looking at your busi-

If you can run a business right now, if

ness in the mirror and understanding

you can thrive right now, you’ve got an

what is good and what is bad. What do

incredible business. If your business

I want to change, and what do I want

makes it through this, you have some-

to keep? There’s been a lot of natural

thing for the future. If it doesn’t, you

cleansing in this period. I think a lot of

probably didn’t have a great business

people, whilst right now it feels really

Directness and understanding: How Mark Wright succeeds in a crowded marketing secto r. ..

ugly, in 12 months time, they’re going to

it is I was going to do, and I focused

have made some decisions or be in a

on that, day-in, day-out. I watched

totally different business or career, and

You-Tube videos about it at lunchtime.

be really happy and glad this happened

I worked until midnight about it, day-in

because sometimes, things always have

and day-out. It is really finding some-

a natural way of working themselves out.

thing that you enjoy, finding something you’re good at and passionate about,

What is your key to success?

and then just really working at it like

Find whatever it is you love to do, and

crazy. If you do that, it doesn’t matter

then get obsessed with it. If you want to

what tools you have behind you, what

be successful, you have to be obsessed

mentor you’ve got, this, that, and the

with being successful in whatever it

other, you’ll get there eventually if you

is. That’s the best advice I could give

stick at it long enough.

anyone. I learned, very early on, what www.theinterface.net

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Building an

Intelligent

Workplace

Written by

Andrew Woods

Today, smart buildings are becoming more dynamic and tailored to individual requirements, specifically within the office space. And with Gartner predicting that the greatest source of competitive advantage for 30% of organisations over the next few years will be their ability to creatively exploit the digital workplace, the pressure is on for businesses and building owners alike to invest in the latest technologies and techniques to provide even better user experiences.

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1 Employee Expectations

Research reveals that millennials would be willing to take a pay cut to work in a nicer office; and also consider quitting if their workplace is either outdated or inefficient. Employers need to keep up with the rapidly changing demands of employees in order to stay competitive when attracting and retaining talent.

To achieve this, workspaces are now becoming more ‘aware’ through an ecosystem that allows buildings to dynamically adjust to the requirements of users through the convergence of IT and Operational Technology (OT) such as building management systems, energy and space management. There is an expectation in place that facilities and building management firms will adapt to meet employee expectations; if not, then they will fall behind.

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2 Collaboration and Productivity Many companies are leading the way with shared office facilities and hot desks on a part-time or multi-lease basis. With desk layouts developed by algorithms, companies are responding to the demand for mobility and flexible consumption in the modern digital workspace. By configuring open and closed spaces through noise-absorbing fabrics and glass doors, buildings are providing the privacy of individual offices within an open plan setup, meaning that staff no longer need to be confined by physical walls.

Furthermore, data can be collected about user movements, machinery condition, energy usage and other activities within the building that can be used to optimise the user experience and enhance collaborative processes further. For example, mobile phone controlled AV screens, wafer-thin sensors that can detect occupancy and trigger the air conditioning system, ongoing measurement of internal environmental conditions including temperature, humidity and CO2, and indoor mapping and navigation platforms.

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3 Sustainability

With 72% of office workers revealing that a sustainable environment is important to them, embracing this new movement has become a competitive necessity. Through clever environmental design which optimises space, consumption and resources, smart offices can reduce the overall environmental impact and save money and resources along the way. From autonomous energy systems that shut off heating and lighting when rooms are vacant to systems that monitor and optimise the use of water and electricity, these offices can identify their most wasteful aspects and also lessen the pressure on the national grid.

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4 Making the Business Case Â

Smart buildings in themselves are opening up new revenue streams.

But the cost of IoT implementation may be perceived as a barrier to its adoption and development. Many smart offices are built from scratch so existing workplaces need to be retrofitted with technology. And although there is an upfront investment or cost to retrofit an existing building, once installed, additions such as optimised lighting make running these spaces much more cost-effective to the building owner.

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5 The Role of the MSP Â

Managed Service Providers have a valuable potential role to play beyond providing Digital Communications and collaborative infrastructure including high speed internet lines, Wi-Fi and cloud based collaboration technology such as Microsoft Teams. The MSP can work with an emerging ecosystem of expert IoT infrastructure, device and applications companies to deploy IoT sensor devices, capture and flow data to cloud based applications for insight and action. The MSP can become the agent of new efficiency gains for buildings and their users, generating new income streams and increasing user satisfaction.

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Conclusion

People are the largest investment of an organisation, and as new technologies evolve to make their lives easier and safer, it is important to look at which technologies, strategies and approaches will create the most positive, productive and efficient impact for your office and users. IoT technologies, effectively overlayed and combined with existing digital infrastructure and collaboration initiatives, potentially deliver new data insight to further improve and enhance the intelligent workspace and productivity. An ecosystem of expert IoT companies working with incumbent MSPs can be an effective design, deployment and management mechanism for tapping into the intelligent workspace opportunity.

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