Interface magazine – Issue 11

T E C H | T E LC O | F I N T E C H | D I G I TA L IS AT I O N | A I | M A C H I N E L E A R N I N G

Issue 11 | www.theinter face.net

MAGA ZINE

E XC L U S I V E Q &A

with Pat Lynes, Founder and CEO at Sullivan & Stanley

An education in digital transformation Interface magazine speaks to Derrick Brown, CIO of DeKalb County School District regarding its massive digital transformation

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WELCOME TO ISSUE 11 OF INTERFACE MAGAZINE! These might be trying times, but we’re still here, bringing you the best B2B content around. And this month’s cover story features an exclusive interview with Derrick Brown, CIO of DeKalb County School District regarding its digital transformation programme.

DeKalb County School District (DCSD) is Georgia’s third largest school system, serving just under 100,000 students, 139 schools and centres, and employing 16,242 staff. In 2016, a decision was taken to undertake a digital transformation of its schools, in a bid to boost the educational experience for every stakeholder. The digital transformation was branded Digital Dreamers, an ambitious four-year strategy, the primary aim of which was to construct a digital ecosystem that would provide

EDITOR IN CHIEF Andrew Woods

EDITOR Dale Benton

teachers and students with the necessary tools and resources to revolutionise the learning experience. “The instructional

SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGER

ecosystem has been designed to virtually meet the both needs of

Callum Rivett

educators and learners,” Brown explains.

Elsewhere, we have further exclusives with Marc Wallace, CEO and Cofounder of Radius Networks, who discusses how location technology represents the future of customer service in restaurants and retail... And we also catch up with Vladimir

CONTRIBUTING EDITOR Kevin Davies

CREATIVE LEAD Mitchell Park

company’s massive digital transformation programme. Further

VP GLOBAL FINTECH & INSURTECH

highlights include revealing insights from Pat Lynes, Founder of

Alex Page

Arshinov, IT Director at steel producer SIJ Group regarding the

Sullivan & Stanley and Chief Digital Data Officer Paul J. Bailo.

Enjoy the issue!

VP TECHNOLOGY Andy Lloyd Craig Daniels

VP PROCUREMENT Heykel Ouni Greg Churchill

PRESIDENT & CEO Kiron Chavda

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

PUBLISHED BY

3

CONTENTS

Dekalb County School Distrtict

6

Radius Networks

38 Pat Lynes

24

Slovenia Steel

66 Paul Bailo

54

Top 5 ERPs

78

An education in digital transformation Interface magazine speaks to Derrick Brown, CIO of DeKalb County School District regarding its digital transformation program… WRI T T EN BY PRODUCED BY

6

Andr ew Woods Cr ai g D ani el s

7

E

ducation has experienced an incredible amount of reconfiguration. Digital transformation

is redefining, evolving and accelerating the educational landscape to equip schools, teachers and students with the necessary tools, platforms and knowledge befitting of 21st Century institutions and client expectations. Higher education and private schools were the first to dip their toes into innovation, primarily a result of increased competition and customer expectation; boosted by rising fees. Of course, the other major driver of digital transformation in the classroom is the need to maximize the classroom experience. And now, tax-funded schools

capital spending. The primary aim was to

and colleges are making enormous

construct a digital ecosystem that would

progress in improving the quality and

provide teachers and students with the

access to modern education for all.

necessary tools and resources to revolu-

DeKalb County School District (DCSD) is Georgia’s third largest school system,

tionize the learning experience.

Derrick Brown is the Chief Information

serving just under 100,000 students,

Officer at DeKalb County School District

139 schools and centers, and employing

in Georgia: “Four years ago they (DCSD)

16,242 staff. In 2016, a decision was taken

started the strategic thinking and brand-

to undertake a digital transformation of its

ing of Digital Dreamers; the digital

schools, in a bid to boost the educational

ecosystem hosting platforms such as

experience for every stakeholder. The

Verge, ItsLearning, a learning manage-

digital transformation was branded Digital

ment and instructional system contain-

Dreamers, an ambitious four-year strat-

ing all online tools for virtual learning.

egy funded by SPLOST, which released

The instructional ecosystem has been

and invested taxpayer dollars through

designed to virtually meet the needs of

8

DEKALB COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT

educators and learners,” Brown explains.

Brown and his colleagues in Curriculum

some it’s personalized, and so sometimes we differentiate, but at the end of

& Instruction and Student Support

the day, it’s the teachers who know the

Services provide online curriculum and

appropriate tools and ways to engage

tools for math, science and the core

with their students.”

curriculum, as suggested by the teaching

Brown is relatively new to DCSD. He

staff, who work closely with his team to

joined the district in November 2019, but

shape the educational landscape. “And

this work isn’t new for him. He did simi-

that’s where the magic happens, in how

lar work for another major school district.

that teacher engages with the students.

Brown is not the product of a traditional

Because they all learn differently. For

career path in education, and was bitten w w w.t h e i n t e r f a c e . n e t

9

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DEKALB COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT

“We aren’t just over here in the boiler room, managing technicians and systems engineers and network engineers, and managing these systems.

No, we’re actually in the boardroom” Derrick Brown, CIO DeKalb County School District

by the education bug while consulting in

teacher, as well as learning materials and

Portland Public Schools for one year then

research aids. A couple of years ago

joined full time and served for another

“There was a fear from parents when

three years in various IT leadership roles.

devices were distributed to students from

Brown facilitated a similar digital transfor-

school districts throughout the nation

mation to the one at Dekalb, while work-

regarding screen time and what might

ing for The Evergreen Public Schools in

that look like for my child, but they’re

Washington. “We were going through

used intentionally and with purpose

this exercise some years ago, about the

for access and to enhance learning.

same time as DeKalb and we started with

Students don’t have their devices on

what we called the Four Cs: creativity,

their desk all day. The teacher is instruct-

communication, collaboration, and critical

ing and can still use many different tools:

thinking. That’s pretty much still the prac-

paper, books, or other means. And then

tice here at DeKalb.”

when appropriate, instruct the students

DeKalb’s digital learning platform Verge, (constructed by global software developer ItsLearning) has equipped

to use the devices for whatever task they might be doing.”

Brown’s team currently has approx-

all students and educators with access

imately 175 employees with executive

to Virtual Learning. Students in grades

leadership in instructional technology

6 through 12 to take home devices to

supporting teachers as well as infrastruc-

continue learning. In elementary school

ture and support services responsible for

students have access to shared devices

the district’s network, enterprise systems

in mobile carts. Virtual assignments

& servers, unified communications,

and content can be delivered by the

cyber security and technical support to w w w.t h e i n t e r f a c e . n e t

11

name a few. Verge is a complete system

Fortune 100 companies” available 24

connected to DeKalb’s digital learning

hours a day, if not physically, then virtu-

platform, built on Itsearning’s manage-

ally. “And so, leadership and essential

ment system. That entire digital ecosys-

staff are always on call. We always felt

tem contains grade level, teacher-cre-

that way as a technology division within

ated content. “So, we provide the digital

education, but now we’re at the front

tools, and then they (the teachers) take

of the bus instead of the back, so to

those tools to create their own lesson

speak, because they’re utilizing these

plans. That’s the ecosystem running right

systems in a way they never have before,

now for teachers to virtually provide for

at all times of the day and night, glob-

the children.”

ally. We’re not always able to afford, as

According to Brown many public schools are expected to operate “like

12

DEKALB COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT

a school district, the best of everything, but we want to make sure that we’re

implementing enterprise equipment and

skills, managing budgets, professional

solutions with fidelity and leveraging

development, training and leadership.

Gartner for research and calls with indus-

“Communication and understanding the

try analysts about technology tools.”

problems you’re trying to solve, and

Collaboration is common in many

that they have a beginning and an end,

industries but is essential in public

and that they operationalize, are impor-

education. Brown’s background is in

tant. So that fits quite nicely into educa-

IT project management, more focused

tion. And one of the things I love about

with human capital and managing large

education is that we share. There is no

national technology projects, which

competition. We’re all doing the same

makes sense when most of the work

thing, and in the business to educate our

carried out in IT is through relation-

students, and so it’s wonderful to serve

ships, communication, organizational

and support. We pick up the phone and

w w w.t h e i n t e r f a c e . n e t

13

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DEKALB COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT

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We want to make sure that there’s at least a person within every school that can support the work we’re doing now from the digital transformation perspective” Derrick Brown, CIO DeKalb County School District

call our peers all over the country for

can adjust and modify the tools we’re

guidance, insight and learn from their

offering. For a true digital transforma-

experiences. It’s communication through

tion in instruction, we have to know what

the building of relationships, conferences

is happening at the schoolhouse and

and networking. We, IT leaders, have to

to have that open dialogue frequently

be tremendous listeners. Great listeners.

throughout the school year so that we

And not just building the tools that we

can continue to be agile and flexible.”

want, but making sure that it’s delivering

Many organizations, not just educa-

what our teachers, families and students

tion, are looking for thought leaders

need.”

because of the influence of IT at the core

DeKalb is incredibly fortunate that

of the business, from a data and analyt-

turnover of staff is low. That allows for

ics perspective through to the essential

the continued growth of the experience

functions, ERP, human resources, finance

within the team for succession planning

and all the tools that drive a business

and for creativity and new thinking under

to be connected and integrated. Brown

the leadership of new executive direc-

extolls the virtue of being able to commu-

tors. “It gives us an opportunity to get

nicate, articulate and understand what

into the buildings with our staff and begin

the business needs. “And even though

actively seeing and listening to students,

public education isn’t a business, we are

teachers and administrators. How are

in the business of educating children.

we meeting their needs? Because, at

Our product is human. And so, we want

the end of the day, it’s making sure that

to educate and eventually create global

we understand and are observing the

thinkers, not someone that just under-

behaviors in the classroom so that we

stood network design and computers. w w w.t h e i n t e r f a c e . n e t

15

The people who strategically know how to do that and who can groom talent to support that thinking and the mission of the organization as a whole.”

You would think with 7,000 teachers and 100,000 children, DeKalb would have a substantially good-sized organization to support its teachers, but there are only seven instructional technology specialists. However, the scale of the job at hand is not an issue to Brown. “What we’re doing now is as an ‘arranged marriage’, of a chief academic officer, myself and other district leaders. We have executive directors of curriculum and executive directors in technology plus instructional specialists on the technology side. As the next iteration my hope is to align with media specialists or other identified teacher resources in schools. We’re looking for jobalikes, if you will, within the schools so that each person or job title in that school, is linked to a similar role within IT, and then we can begin leveraging those partnerships to enhance support for teachers.”

Digital transformation faces many challenges and education has many of its own and so Brown spends a significant amount of time working with district leaders. “I call it storytelling. We first talk about where we’re going and provide a 16

DEKALB COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT

Derrick Brown CIO, DeKalb County School District

Derrick currently serves as the Chief Information Officer for DeKalb County School District (DCSD) in Georgia. DCSD educates nearly 100,000 students, supports 16,000 employees that serve in 142 schools and administrative offices.

Brown directs activities for approximately 175 employees and serves as chief strategist and visionary for comprehensive IT solutions including but not limited to governance, infrastructure and operations, technical support services, cybersecurity, and IT modernization for service delivery supporting academic goals and business systems & service. Derrick has more than 25 years’ experience with organizations such as Evergreen Public Schools as Chief Innovation Officer, CIO/ CTO of Pulaski County Special School District, PMO Manager for Portland Public Schools, and various roles in healthcare, telecom and other capacities with state and federal government agencies.

Derrick earned a B.A. in English Literature from Virginia Commonwealth University and his M.B.A. from Keller Graduate School of Management.

w w w.t h e i n t e r f a c e . n e t

17

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DEKALB COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT

voice and a choice. Teachers are used to

members obviously can’t support 7,000

being at the front of the classroom, facili-

teachers, but we want to make sure that

tating and being the master craftsperson

there’s at least a person in every school

t. And now we are saying ‘you’re going

who can support the work. Because

to continue to do that, but what would

the tools and resources are there, we

it look like if you just took this one thing

need people in the school to become

that you master really well and imple-

the experts of those tools to transfer the

ment it using technology?’ Rather than

knowledge. We were just having this

pulling teachers out of class to do profes-

leadership conversation where culture

sional development, we offer webinars

will beat strategy all day.”

and alternative learning options. We’re

According to Brown, schools need

not asking the teachers to jump into

to be mindful of not applying too much

the deep end of the learning platform.

pressure to principals. However, they do

We want to make sure that the support

require administrators to demonstrate

structures are there, and that they have

what they want the teachers to do and

a friend or someone in the building that

observe this through classroom walk-

can be called upon. The seven staff

throughs. This was a lesson learnt at w w w.t h e i n t e r f a c e . n e t

19

Brown’s previous job, where new devices

were five to 10 years fresh out of college,

and platforms were not simply “rolled

as they were used to these tools. For the

out”. “We got excited about the learning

other 70-80 percent, this represented

process and input from administrators,

a tremendous cultural shift. We have

teachers and students before saying,

pockets of excellence because we have

‘Let’s roll this out. Let’s build this amazing

some leaders that are exceptional in their

system of tools because it’s what’s best

own right, but from a digital instructional

for the kids and learning.’ Then we won’t

perspective, they’re not quite there yet.

wonder why everyone wasn’t utilizing it.

And so how do we best support those

They’d bought into it. Think of it from a

leaders and connect them with their

marketing perspective, we didn’t just give

peers through jobalike? We want to take

it to them. The ones that were excited

the schools and the leaders that are

about it weren’t just the innovators who

doing really well and partner them with

20

DEKALB COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT

of the tools that they have access to and how they can be implemented with fidelity, using the technology.”

IT is no longer a utility, but very much a strategic partner in educating students, and Brown feels that’s the critical role of the new CIO in digital transformation. “We aren’t just over here in the boiler room or data center, managing technicians and systems engineers and network engineers, and managing these systems. No, we’re actually in the boardroom. We’re helping make decisions for the entire organization because not only do we have access to the data, we also have access to the tools to make sure that everything is integrated, which changes the conversation for who we serve; the students, staff, families and the ones that might need some improve-

community. That’s what I’m excited about,

ment, so we can do some modeling.

and that’s why I want to be in education

Rather than us telling them what to do or

because that ‘systems thinking’ typically

what it should look like, it’ll be their peers

doesn’t come from the educational side.

within the same organization, within the

It comes from the business world, and

same school district, that help elevate

that’s where I got my start. And that’s

us to grow to where we need to be. IT

the shift that you’re beginning to see in

is married to curriculum and instruction.

education, where it used to be you were

They drive the work, and we’re their

a teacher, or a principal, and you went

co-pilot. They set the standards and we

from the principal to the administrative

implement them. And so, we’re at a point

office to be an executive. That is chang-

right now where we need to make sure

ing. The landscape is really changing.”

that all teachers understand the power

So, what does Brown see as a gauge w w w.t h e i n t e r f a c e . n e t

21

of success, with regards to his work at Dekalb? “I think graduation rates, student engagement and cultural organizational systems thinking shifts. That’s one of the most difficult parts with digital transformation. Some scholars will say it’s how the tools are being implemented. How often are they on? And for me, I don’t think that’s a good place to start because usage just tells you behavior. They logged on, that they were on it for X number of minutes or hours. For me, it’s looking at the grades and the outcomes and the learning and getting feedback from teachers. We look at the work holistically, and the whole child through SEL (social, emotional learning). So, for me, that’s how we’re going to measure success. ‘How does this make the student feel or excel?’”

Amid all these changes, Brown is now keen to implement some stability in order to harness and utilize the data being collated. “Let’s spend some more time thinking. Let’s spend some more time talking about what we want and what we need and make sure that we understand the requirements of it first instead of going out and purchasing a tool before we really understand what we’re going to do with it and how it’s going to meet our needs. It’s a tough nut to crack, it really is, because you’re changing a 150-year-plus tradition of sitting in desks in rows. But it’s a nut that we will crack.”

22

DEKALB COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT

w w w.t h e i n t e r f a c e . n e t

23

E XC L U S I V E Q &A

with Pat Lynes, Founder and CEO at Sullivan & Stanley Pat Lynes, Founder & CEO at S&S, explores how the concept of transformation has redefined the workforce economy WRI T T EN BY

D al e Bent on

LIS T EN T O T HIS PODCAS T

24

25

Pat Lynes Founder and CEO at Sullivan & Stanley

Tell us about your background and your career journey prior to S&S‌ It started off with telco recruitment, working with some of the big ISP brands in the UK when there was that Internet Service Provider explosion, so I worked with the EZ net board to help them build their capability to try and make a mark in the UK. Of course it did quite successfully, and then Sky bought them out and then that turned into a big integration point programme which I resourced.

Fundamentally at the heart of it was always speaking to boards, finding

knowledge workers and senior recruit-

opportunities and problems and then

ment. So over a sort of six and a half year

connecting groups of people to solve

period, I grew that particular business,

those problems but with a recruitment

from scratch to an eight figure reve-

angle on it.

nue business and we did really well. We work with boards and help people like

Where did S&S come into the equation?

Burberry become a digital first organ-

I was privileged to be headhunted to

and putting in different project teams to

come over and work for a guy called

deliver their digital programmes. And I

Simon Fosse. There were four of us

love it. That’s exactly what I love doing

around the table. We wanted to do

and I think towards the back end of that

something fundamentally different in the

I started to fall out of love with tradi-

market. We are a collection of senior

tional recruitment. I think that the actual

26

E X C L U S I V E Q & A W I T H P A T LY N E S

isation, working alongside their CIO

model is getting disintermediated. What I was seeing in the market is what not a lot of people are talking about right now, which is this jobs revolution at the senior end of the market.

So a lot of people talk about the gig economy, and the sort of low end of the gig economy. But there’s absolutely this explosion around this expert revolution, this interim revolution of executives and senior knowledge workers leaving the permanent world to trade via their IP and value and building a service around that and becoming independent experts.

So I kind of saw a few things intersecting at once, which was this interim revolution of senior knowledge workers becoming independent experts coming

“ Now, the companies that are winning are designing everything around the customer”

into the market. That’s how I’ve always been successful in my career serving that market.

The other thing was management consulting fatigue. So if you look at the traditional route to getting consulting advisory and then delivery of big programmes or big digital transformation probes, people traditionally went for the Big Four or the Big 10. And I think fundamentally now what we’re finding

P at Lynes, Founder and CEO of Sullivan & Stanley

is a lot of people are starting to back off from using those channels for a number of reasons. So I kind of had this idea in w w w.t h e i n t e r f a c e . n e t

27

28

E X C L U S I V E Q & A W I T H P A T LY N E S

my mind of what if I brought all of the

desktop refresh, they’re calling a trans-

experts I’ve used over the years into a

formation. I think the word transformation

community based approach to consult-

probably needs to be retired. But back in

ing and working with clients. Could it be

the decade of 2000 to 2010 transforma-

a challenger service provider to some of

tions were big, multi-year things where

the Big Four, the Big 10, larger consult-

benefits were not derived until three or

ing providers? So it really came from that

four years down the line. I saw a lot of

spirit of uniting my network already into a

businesses that would spend and invest

services business to fundamentally help

so much money in those big initiatives

organisations transform. I’m pleased to

for it not to work or to not deliver the

say we’re just out of year three coming

intended benefits to the board. I think

into year four. We’ve gone from strength

when you look at the decade that came

to strength and we’ve really hit a tone in

after the first decade of this century,

the market

you only need to see the gradual shift in pace. One is the aggressive shift in

What has changed over the course of your career?

customer preferences, the unforgiv-

Earlier in my career, transformation was

look at the shift from the first decade, if

synonymous with a multi-year Big Bang

you said that Toys R Us or Blockbuster

approach. I think the thing that we see

would be obsolete in the last decade,

around the way that transformation is

you’d have probably laughed. You’d have

being perceived is that there’s a lot of

probably laughed if we said Thomas

fatigue about that kind of word these

Cook would be obsolete at the end of

days. When I go into these big busi-

the last decade. The other high profile

nesses, if you say the word transforma-

casualty Carillion from a b2b perspec-

tion, you can just see the fatigue on their

tive and more recently with Mothercare.

face, or they’ve been through so many

I think the trend was absolutely more

different transformations.

long term programmes and long term

I think the word transformation is just overused. People might be putting the

ing landscape in business now. If you

transformation.

S&S was formed based on this shift,

data centre into a cloud, they call it

where businesses need to break that

transformation. They might be doing a

down into manageable chunks to keep w w w.t h e i n t e r f a c e . n e t

29

“Transformation is synonymous with trying to transform a legacy laden organisation” Pat Lynes, Founder and CEO of Sullivan & Stanley

the business invigorated and aligned and

value and do the stuff that they love. So

onpoint, where you can actually deliver

they’re starting to design work around

the sum of a transformation every 90

what they love doing. Baby boomers are

days by incremental bits of value, that

just realising that I don’t want to retire. I

give business benefit to the board, the

think this changing workforce, this chang-

customers, the internal stakeholders, etc.

ing opportunity, this changing landscape

The other shift focuses on talent and

that’s going around from the industrial

the changing work in preferences.

way of working to the future of work is

There was this big thing to build huge

really going to accelerate this decade.

permanent workforces. I don’t get that

When I started, no one really designed

anymore. I just don’t get why you want

anything around the customer. Now the

to own your talent. Is the word perma-

companies that are winning are design-

nent? Should that be retired? What does

ing everything around the customer. You

permanent actually mean? I think the

hear of great examples like giffgaff using

new generation coming through doesn’t

the power of the crowd to get iterations

want to be permanent. Millennials don’t

and feedback on their products and

want to be permanent. The genera-

services. So using the network effect to

tion after that are now starting to want

enhance and build their products and

to become executive gigs or you know,

services right in the sweet spot of what

experts where they want to have a frac-

the customer wants.

tional relationship with their work, they

When I designed S&S I resigned from

want to do gigs and fluid gigs and go into

my former company and resigned as

organisations and not get caught up with

a board director. I spent three months

the company political drag and just trade

interviewing my executive network, just

30

E X C L U S I V E Q & A W I T H P A T LY N E S

asking about the current state of affairs

around an outcome or a problem. So it’s

and looking to get a capability. What

a mission based team to be deployed

do you like? What don’t you like? What

into an organisation to help them have

frustrates you? If you had a magic wand,

an innovation capability. Help them have

what would be the ideal solution? When

an incumbent change capability, so they

I launched the business, the first prod-

can constantly reinvent themselves, turn

ucts programme in a box that we were

around a failing programme, align the

bringing to market was programme

board, etc.

management in a box where we come it first. My network said they didn’t really

How does anyone go about defining digital transformation?

see themselves on that path - a commod-

Transformation again, is synonymous

ity. I got the feedback, tweaked it and

with trying to transform a legacy laden

then came back with ‘teams as a service’.

organisation. So it’s an organisation that

Teams have interim experts designed

probably on the whole was born in the

and deliver the outcome – and we tested

w w w.t h e i n t e r f a c e . n e t

31

last century. So they’re geared for the Industrial Revolution. They’ve got higher hierarchies. They’ve got an obscene amount of technical debt, they’ve got a vendor lock in with some of the big guys and the big software packages. They’ve got legacy people skills and people in roles that might have been there for a bit too long and legacy leadership and on the whole that causes a lot of ambiguity and confusion. They’re trying to transform soup to nuts in an organisation born in the last century and decentralise it to an organisation that’s fit for purpose or designed around products and services with business agility in the core. This is incredibly hard. Some of the traditional consultancies will go in and sell you a playbook that might work in one of

Problem number one in organisa-

your competitors. But when it’s actually

tions is often that the boards are under

shoved into organisation it will not work

so much pressure, they’ve got so much

because you’ve got cultural nuances

operational drag on their time. They

and other nuances that are just difficult

might have city pressures. They’ve

to decipher unless you’re in there and

got issues going on in their business.

you’re trying to really get to the bottom

They’ve got failures, they’ve got burning

of what’s going on.

platforms and they’ve got people issues

So invariably, what we see is the older

with miscommunications going on and

ways of consulting have not solved this

people leaving people joining. I could

problem. Because if they had done, we

go on and, and that’s actually really hard

wouldn’t be having all these companies

for that level of executive to actually get

that are starting to die, or starting to have

some time to think about where our busi-

consecutive years of declining revenues.

ness should go.

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E X C L U S I V E Q & A W I T H P A T LY N E S

We start off with getting executive groups to stop and we bring them into

never want to have again?

It’s a concept of reverse engineering

our workshop environment. What does

the future rather than trying to fix the

the future look like for your business? Do

past? What I find with transformations

you have the right strategy? What does

these days is that a lot of them are trying

the customer of your future look like?

to fix the past before they can even get

Where would you like your company to

to the future and by then they’ve lost

be in three or five years? What does it

two or three or four years and they’ve

look like? What does it feel like? How are

actually got no value into the business

your customers? How are your people

and they’ve wasted a lot of money. The

feeling? How do you constantly iterate in

organisation is completely fatigued with

accordance to market conditions? What

transformation and change. They don’t

kind of talent have you got? What is the

actually have a muscle in the business

baggage in the old company that you

of how to change after they’ve done it, w w w.t h e i n t e r f a c e . n e t

33

because they’ve been heavily reliant on

of the problems I see in transformation,

the management consulting drug. We try

digital transformation, business trans-

to turn all of that stuff upside down and

formation, it might not be the right strat-

actually get them to think. So if there is

egy, the board might not be aligned.

a discovery process, we have our IP of

We’ve seen it before we get sponsored

how we do it. At the end, there is a point

to go in somewhere and then the spon-

of view, a solution, a roadmap and a way.

sorship dies. So the business doesn’t

It’s getting them to come together and

follow through on it. But if you get the

go through that process. They’ve all got

board aligned with the right strategy for

equity in that process and they all feel

the right transformation, get them ready

like it’s their idea, because eventually,

for change, execute outcomes every 90

invariably it is and we’re adding points

days - then everyone in the business

of views. We’re adding expertise and

starts to get confidence that it’s moving

we’re facilitating. We also find that’s what

in the right direction and can visualise

actually gets the board and the leader-

the work around the organisation.

ship teams aligned. If I think about some

34

E X C L U S I V E Q & A W I T H P A T LY N E S

Long gone are the days where you’ve

“ What I find with transformations these days is that a lot of them are trying to fix the past before they can even get to the future”

got racks and racks of people where no one’s talking to each other. As a recruiter, you could imagine that I’ve been into thousands and thousands of businesses and most people are dead behind the eyes in the middle of the company.

They’re just coming in doing their nine to five, tapping their keyboard, doing a bit of work, finding a bit of politics and falling out with someone. It’s not all doom and gloom on the whole in my experience but there’s a lot of bloated organisations where it is like that. There’s too

P at Lynes, Founder and CEO of Sullivan & Stanley

many people doing too many things.

They’re not talking to each other, and then they’re not collaborating. We find if

w w w.t h e i n t e r f a c e . n e t

35

you visualise the work at board and leadership level, and bring the work to the people, and carbonise everything so you’ve got a flow of work going through and there’s collaboration and cross functional teaming that’s delivering value to a customer. Then you have a cross functional team delivering value to an internal customer, cross functional teaming, where the execs and the leaders are working with the staff, and you really get the whole organisation aligned to get into their intended state.

I have business coaches, and I’ve had life coaches before, so I’m probably the product of coaching. I made a decision when I was 28 to just try and be someone of growth and be an individual who has a growth mindset and I don’t know all the answers and I need help. I need to be on the hook sometimes for improvement and to sustain some of the gains that I’ve made. So why don’t we have that in companies? We’re starting to see now where we’ll put a board coach alongside the board. We have enterprise coaches, we put across the leadership teams can bang coaches and agile coaches and flow coaches working with the organisation. So it’s that kind of coaching concept that we see in the individual market coming into the business world and I’m a massive advocate of it.

It starts to bring in the concept of continuous improvement and continuous reinvention. And knowing that your last 90 days isn’t gonna be as good as your next 90 days, in terms of you as an individual or you as the business and in terms of how close you are to the customer in terms of the health of the organisation.

36

E X C L U S I V E Q & A W I T H P A T LY N E S

LIS T EN T O T HIS PODCAS T

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37

Leveraging location technology for curbside pickup, instore order delivery, and payments Marc Wallace, CEO and Cofounder of Radius Networks, discusses how location technology represents the future of customer service in restaurants and retail...

WRI T T EN BY PRODUCED BY

38

D al e Bent on Cr ai g D ani el s

39

T

echnology has and always will

offer the same level of seamlessness that

be used to solve problems.

we experience in our own homes. The

At the very basic level, tech-

interesting thing however, is that this isn’t

nology is developed and used to make

necessarily a new challenge for restau-

things simpler. Just look at our day to day

rants and retail stores; these businesses

lives and the way that technology has,

have been looking to enable the most

for the most part, made our experiences

seamless and effective customer service

simpler which has changed the way

since the very beginning. The only real

we as consumers engage with retailers

thing that’s changed is the tools that they

and restaurateurs. We now expect and

have at their disposal.

outright demand that the businesses we enter and purchase food and items from 40

RADIUS NETWORKS

“At the end of the day, you really need to understand the problems that

your customers have, and then solve

table and the service staff has to locate

them,� explains Marc Wallace, CEO and

and identify the corresponding table to

Cofounder of Radius Networks, a location

that order. In some instances, more than

technology service provider. “In our case,

most, they may even walk throughout

customers are businesses, such as restau-

the entire restaurant before arriving at

rants, grocery stores, retailers or casinos;

the right table with the right customer.

so we are tackling very specific problems.

Through wireless-enabled location tech-

In most cases, those problems are taking

nology, Radius Networks has transformed

wasted time out of the equation.�

the customer experience by allowing busi-

Picture the traditional, and maybe even

nesses to track customers, improve profit

stereotypical, restaurant environment,

margins and ultimately increase customer

where a food order is ready to go to the

retention. w w w.t h e i n t e r f a c e . n e t

41

Customers have, and will always, vote

server’s attention to pay for your bill can

with their feet, and in order to retain those

be frustrating for the customer. It leaves a

customers, businesses need to be able to

bad taste in their mouth at the end of their

remove the pain points. As Wallace noted,

dining experience,” says Wallace. “We’ve

wasted time is one of the single biggest

developed solutions for making payments

pain points in customer service. Radius

remotely without contacting the server.

Networks offers location-based curbside

The server is notified when the bill is paid,

pickup, in-store and table service solu-

and they can focus their attention on

tions, as well as mobile payment technol-

real problems that other customers have

ogy to remove not only the one pain point,

instead of shuttling credit cards back and

but multiple pain points. “We’re addressing

forth.”

other key problems, such as payments.

At the time of writing, the world has

When you dine-in at a restaurant and

been gripped by the COVID-19 pandemic,

are in a hurry to leave, trying to get your

a truly unprecedented event that has

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completely devastated lives and econ-

it has risen dramatically. It was once within

omies all over the world. It has also

a business’s top ten things it needed to

completely ripped up the rulebook when

consider, and has now risen to the very

it comes to food and retail, with lockdown

top of their to-do list.”

restrictions forcing businesses to either

Radius Networks is currently offering a

close down entirely, or pivot to delivery

free version of both its FlyBuy curbside

services. Radius Networks’ FlyBuy curb-

and buy-online-pick-up-in-store (BOPIS)

side pickup solution was actually launched

software for restaurants, retailers, and

over 12 months ago, but it has fast become

non-profits during the COVID-19 crisis.

a key technology offering that is solving

By its very definition, location tracking

an unforeseen problem. By automating

technology appears to be very intrusive.

the curbside delivery service for custom-

It is tracking locations and using that data

ers, FlyBuy provides a turnkey, end-to-end

to inform decision making, after all, and

solution that uses the customer’s location

naturally that can cause a little fear and a

for a faster, easier order pickup experi-

hesitation. Wallace acknowledges these

ence. “There was already a pre-existing

concerns and understands them whole-

return on investment (ROI) with FlyBuy

heartedly. “We had a decision to make

because we were reducing the wait times

early on in the company whether we

for customers when ordering for pickup,

were going to harvest data and use it for

which results in more frequent visits” says

marketing purposes, or whether we were

Wallace. “Throughout this pandemic, curb-

going to be a privacy-centric company

side delivery has become the only channel

and focus on providing a solution,” he

that people can do, so the importance of

says. “We chose to be a privacy-centric

“At the end of the day, I think this goes for business philosophy in general, you really need to understand the problems that your customers have, and then solve them” Marc Wallace, CEO & Co founder, Radius Networks

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43

company, mostly because all of us, as individuals, wanted that for ourselves.”

“When it comes to us being a location company, we are very transparent with our customers, so that they can be transparent with their consumers about what we’re doing with their location data, what we’re using it for, and how long we’re keeping it.”

This transparency is built into the very DNA of the company. FlyBuy will only ever use the location data to alert the store when a customer is on the way and then has arrived onsite to pick up their order, and only after the customer has opted-in to sharing that information. After a period of time has passed, they will then delete that data entirely. Its policy dictates that it does not, and will never, share that data with any third party, giving customers peace of mind that their data is safe and used only as agreed when they opt-in.

Wallace believes that, while the reluctance and fear is understandable, consumers have access to services’ policies and can ‘do some homework’ in order to allay them. “I think, given the amount of options we are given today, customers can no longer just assume every location company is tracking or doing something devious with their information. They need to be aware when they approve location usage and when they don’t,” he says. “If 44

RADIUS NETWORKS

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45

Marc Wallace CEO and Cofounder

they can be sure that sharing their location brings value to them, whether it be to have a car service come to their exact location, or

Marc is a serial entrepreneur. He is

their groceries meet them at their

the co-founder and CEO of Radius

car immediately upon arriving in

Networks, Inc., located in Washington,

the pickup zone, they will happily

DC. Prior to Radius Networks, Marc

share their location. Once they

co-founded several other success-

have established a level of trust

ful startups, such as District Taco,

in the people that are request-

a Mexican-food fast casual chain in

ing location permissions, and see

DC, where he serves as Chairman,

the benefits it brings to their lives,

and SwapDrive (backup.com), an

there is no problem.”

online backup company acquired by

Radius Networks was founded

the Norton division of Symantec in

in 2011, and for the best part of a

2008. Before creating SwapDrive, he

decade, it has grown from strength

served at Orbital Sciences Corporation

to strength as a business, working

as an aerospace engineer and engi-

with the likes of McDonald’s, Five

neering manager across multiple

Guys, and Coca-Cola, as well as

successful rocket and spacecraft

being recognized in the INC 500,

launch campaigns. Marc holds a B.S.

the Deloitte Fast 500, and the CIO

in Engineering from Cornell University

Magazine’s Most Promising Digital

and a M.S. in Information Systems from

Experience Solution Provider. But

George Washington University.

none of these successes would have been made possible, without a solid and sound foundation within the business. “I’ve been told by people ‘wow you guys got really lucky.’ Luck had absolutely nothing to do with it. Our mission is to solve problems for businesses, and right now businesses need our

46

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48

RADIUS NETWORKS

help more than ever. There were a lot of really difficult times over the years where we worked hard and earned the right to stay in the game, and we are once-again earning it right now,” says Wallace.

“Take FlyBuy as an example. I’ve been asked as to whether I thought this piece of technology that we developed over the last few years would ever be as important as it is right now. Yes. Yes I did, and so did everyone else on our team, and that’s key to our success as a company. Every single person at Radius Networks is engaged and believes in what we do.”

In these times of crisis, the spotlight has shifted significantly onto those business fundamentals and Wallace is extremely proud of the business he has built and the people within it. “The business principles that we’ve been practicing over the last few years have paid off. We are a strong company with sound fundamentals and sound financials. We haven’t over extended ourselves, either from an investment perspective or from an expenses perspective and that’s paying off for us now,” he says.

“It is tough in the current environment to point to positives, because you almost feel ashamed to do so. I think we’ve done a lot as a company to help others; we’ve given w w w.t h e i n t e r f a c e . n e t

49

our product away for free to hundreds of

communicates in an open and transpar-

small businesses, thousands of locations,

ent way with its customers, the same

with no obligation, and it’s a testament to

rules apply from within. He admits that

the work we have done to get to this point.

the pandemic has, ironically, made that

A lot of companies are doing a lot of good

communication better in some aspects,

work to help each other right now and

but it has always been a key part of what

they can do so because they are built on

makes Radius Networks tick. “We’re talk-

solid foundations.”

ing to our customers all the time. My team

Those foundations start from the very

is the best team in the world. They’re

top. Wallace is a key advocate in commu-

working in overdrive right now, communi-

nication. Much like Radius Networks

cating at such a high level, and listening

50

RADIUS NETWORKS

to customer needs, because their needs

upfront about everything that may come

have changed dramatically,” he says.

up along the way.”

“As the CEO, I try to have frequent

Listening to the customer is key. That

hands-on-deck tag-ups with everybody

much is no secret. But when it comes to

to give them an update and try to be as

technology, listening to customers is abso-

transparent as possible about the status of

lutely essential when ensuring that what

the business and what’s happening. I do

you’re offering is what the customers need

this so they can feel comfortable that they

and what they want. Wallace’s role as the

have a job today, and they’ll have a job

CEO is not to sit at the top of the busi-

tomorrow. We work together to come up

ness and leave it to everyone else. He is

with our team goals, and stay aligned and

very much active and engaged at every

“It’s about persisting through the bad times, just like the good times, and trusting your business fundamentals and experience” Marc Wallace, CEO & Co founder, Radius Networks

w w w.t h e i n t e r f a c e . n e t

51

level to ensure that everything Radius Networks is doing is driven by the customer. Wallace is proud of the culture within his business and often finds himself sitting on a call with a major customer and beaming at how well his team listens and understands the customer’s needs and how Radius can successfully address them. “I’m so proud that we, as a team, have a culture that takes so much pride in their work,” he says. “Our people have always been solid employees, pre pandemic, but they have become absolute rockstars today.”

In addition to his team, Wallace credits much of Radius Networks’ success to the partnership ecosystem that they have built over the years. “Our partners, such as AOPEN, Olo, Apple, Google, ShopperKit, Rigado, Toast, NCR, and Oracle, have been essential to our growth and success,” says Wallace.

The world as we know it has changed forever and we cannot begin to predict what this new world will look like post pandemic. One thing is for certain, communication, and the way in which businesses engage with their customers, will never be the same again. Radius Networks has enjoyed success after success over the past ten years, and as we all experience great uncertainty, the goal for Wallace is to continue providing valuable location technology for many years to come. The key to succeeding, regardless of such uncertainty, remains the same for Wallace and his team. “Persistence,” he says. “It’s about persisting through the bad times, just like the good times, and trusting your business fundamentals and experience.

Being transparent with employees and having a good team around you is key.”

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DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION WITH THE HUMAN TOUCH BY PAUL BAILO LIS T EN T O T HIS PODCAS T

PAUL BAILO, PHD, MBA WITH A CLINICAL DEGREE IN SOCIAL WORK IS A GRADUATE PROFESSOR AT COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY AND AN EXECUTIVE WORKING ON COMBINING DIGITAL

WRI T T EN BY AN DR E W W OODS

TRANSFORMATION, DIGITAL STRATEGY AND DATA ANALYTICS INTO ONE POWERFUL SOLUTION.

54

55

HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR WORK?

like a Venn diagram, where I have my

I like to say 90% of my job is saying no

tional world, where I’m pushing really

in a very nice way (ha ha) so organisa-

hard trying to build a future data scientist.

tions really get to the point very quickly

And my executive world, where I’m trying

and understand new models in this digi-

to educate executives and help them

tal world. Because what has worked in

with their corporations and companies to

the past, will not necessarily work in the

be more effective.

academic Columbia University educa-

future. It is a completely different paradigm with organisations in the financial world. And in the insurance world and

HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE A DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION?

in the government, and in fintech and

I think we first have to define digital for a

banking. They all need to actually start

company. And I think digital really is that

thinking differently. My world is really

heart of why a company exists, and what

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D I G I TA L T R A N S F O R M AT I O N W I T H T H E H U M A N T O U C H B Y PA U L B A I L O

really matters. And it’s really not about the

data, innovation, transformation, pushing

company, but it’s how you perceive the

forward in order to help organisations

client you’re working for. And how do you

make unbelievable customer experiences,

make that customer experience greater in

which then makes a happy customer,

a very transformational stage. Looking at

which then allows the organisation to

that customer journey, and how you make

build a loyalty bond with that customer

the person’s life easier, simpler and better.

and then drive revenue. My fundamental

Because I think when you start talking

belief is, feelings drive actions, actions

about digital and digital transformation, I

drive productivity, productivity will drive

think everyone has a different definition

revenue. And if you don’t have a happy

of it. Neither are they right, neither are

customer then the whole system falls

they wrong. I think it really comes down

apart. How do you look at data digital

to the customer, and how you use digi-

transformation to make your customers’

tal. And when I say digital, I mean digital

lives a hundred times better? w w w.t h e i n t e r f a c e . n e t

57

58

CONTENTS

THE CUSTOMER JOURNEY HAS BECOME A MASSIVE BUZZWORD IN RECENT YEARS AND CERTAINLY INFLUENCES MANY DIGITAL TRANSFORMATIONS…

SO LEGACY INSTITUTIONS NEED TO START BEING LESS RISK AVERSE? Yeah, definitely. You’re better off making a wrong move than no move. Right?

Oh yeah. Andrew, you make a really

You’re going to have to start think-

good point. It’s all about the competi-

ing about it. I think you really have to

tion, but it’s all about the new people,

start thinking about this idea of a digital

your new customers. I mean you have

leader. And the first idea is that a digi-

millennials, and young people and they

tal leader is a human being. And how

are transforming every industry on earth.

do you make someone’s life easier and

They’re not putting up with things that

better? But now I think you have to make

maybe you and I would put up with.

sure these organisations have a culture

The minute they don’t like something,

that’s really supporting this idea of digi-

they’re gone. One extra click, one extra

tal transformation throughout the enter-

step. And also, if the companies aren’t

prise. Sometimes you may have the will

loyal in making their lives easier for

and you want to have the skill. So if you

them, they’re gone. When you look at

have the will you could always buy the

the data, millennials hate banks and

skill or get the skill, to understand the

insurance companies. It’s terrible. They

version of a digital leader and what is it

would rather bank at Google, Yahoo or

going to take to mastermind this cultural

Facebook to have a greater allegiance

transformation. Or you have the skill, and

to the tech companies than the tradi-

don’t have the will. And that’s what I see

tional banking corporations. When you

a lot of, where people just don’t want to

look at the data, these large monolithic

do this. Because the world is tough and

companies aren’t really engaging in the

most people don’t want to change. And

digital arena with these digital natives.

we’re talking about a fundamental para-

Their customer base is dying off rapidly.

digm shift in the thinking of how most

And the only way you’re really going to

organisations behave.

get them back is to really understand

If you take banks, imagine you grew up

that customer and how you make their

in a bank, you spent 20 years at a bank

lives easier.

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59

building a branch? This morning, I went to the bank four times today, I never even left my office. I don’t think this idea of a bank and branches exists today.

You don’t need branches to do what you need to do. And these are fundamental paradigm shifts that have to occur in the world. And millennials, mobile technology, 5G… I mean the world is shifting drastically. And the underlying business models don’t hold true anymore. The things my parents told me to do, or not do, are exactly the opposite of what people do today. My mom would say, “Hey Paul, don’t go into a stranger’s car.”

And what do we do now, we use Uber and Lyft and we go into strangers’ cars.

“Don’t stay at a strangers house.” What do we do now, you have Air B&B. The models have shifted drastically.

HOW IMPORTANT IS THE CUSTOMER JOURNEY AND TRUST? Make it easy for the customer, and then behave in a proper manner, and then actually build the trust and be transparent. Look, you don’t have to be all things to all customers. And if you can’t do what you want them to do, the fair answer is we don’t do that. It’s just simple, just don’t do it. If you’re looking for an electrician and you’re a plumber, don’t try to 60

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61

be an electrician. You’re just going to get

and get a company ready for digital trans-

yourself electrocuted. It doesn’t pay.

formation. And when we talk about transformation, it’s really rooted in this idea

TALK TO ME A LITTLE ABOUT YOUR IDEAL DIGITAL LEADER…

of change. And change is really one of

When you start thinking about digital

the funny this about digital transforma-

transformation, it’s about having the right

tion/change, is we change every minute,

digital leader, and having a digital leader

every day. Change is a constant in our

who’s actually human. You have to under-

lives, but we sort of deflect it, and we’re

stand human behaviour and embrace that,

afraid of it, as opposed to embracing it.

and then make a bridge between human

the hardest things in the world do. But

Obviously within leadership you have

behaviour and the digital world, that’s the

to be a change agent and understand

first thing. The digital leader has to be

that this is not going to be easy, and don’t

this visionary. You can’t just have these

sugarcoat it. You have to be with the

ideas of where you want an organisation

people, understand the people and hear

to be, you want them to be able to share.

them out. Make sure you have their heart,

And grab people in the organisation to share this vision, and this belief and get people excited about it. To actually feel and taste this vision of digital. And then you have to walk the talk. You can’t just be saying, “Here’s the vision, let’s go do this.” You have to show people, and you have to define it for the organisations. And what does it really mean for people in the organisation to be a digital organisation.

American Express had this model and behaviours of what they wanted for an executive and this was transcended down to every person. This is what it looks like, this is the behaviour. This is what the digital leader has to do in order to transform 62

D I G I TA L T R A N S F O R M AT I O N W I T H T H E H U M A N T O U C H B Y PA U L B A I L O

minds, and souls, and then build that plan,

person who sees the company differ-

build that vision. Share in that. Talk the

ently and who has the experience as a

talk, walk the talk. And then really inspire

digital leader and understands human

people and make sure that you’re holding

behaviour, innovation, technology and

hands and walking forward together in

the customer experience. And that could

the dark.

lead and change the organization. You

The simple task of harnessing this brain

have to be a change agent. If you’ve

power, and then winding people up and

been in the company 20 years, you’re

letting them go is so important. Why are

going to think a certain way. And that’s

you hiring really good people if you’re

the same way you always have. You have

not going to really trust them and let

to radically change the way you’re think-

them do their thing.

ing, and deal with the fact that this will not be easy. And be clear in terms of

LEADERSHIP IS SO IMPORTANT ISN’T IT?

what you want. The DNA of digital has to

Yeah, you have to be bold and get a

to make this work. Digital’s in the corner

be part of everyone’s mindset in order right there. And then you have technology in the corner over there. And then you have marketing over there. They all have to be digital. They all have to be under one roof and playing the same game. And having the right objectives is integral and identifying what those objectives are. Is it the enhancement of the customer experience? Is it digital transformation business processes? Is it the simplification of a service management system? Is it the optimisation of infrastructure? Is it the insights and the analytics that will drive competitive advantage?

You really have to focus in on what you’re trying to do. You can’t just paint with a w w w.t h e i n t e r f a c e . n e t

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D I G I TA L T R A N S F O R M AT I O N W I T H T H E H U M A N T O U C H B Y PA U L B A I L O

broad brush; you have to have these identifiable objectives attached to your long-term vision in order to transform these organisations.

THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM HERE, IS OF COURSE, THE TECHNOLOGY… You really want to make sure you have the right technology in order to enable this transformation. And what I’ve see a lot of times, is that people are selecting the wrong technology stack. I think a lot of it has to do with the fear of change and the fear of failing. Failure is critical piece that you have to embrace.

Because you will fail, you’re going to have problems, this stuff’s not easy.

The quicker you can embrace this, the quicker you can get over it, and move the organisation forward.

LIS T EN T O T HIS PODCAS T

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65

A digital transformation Interface Magazine talks to Vladimir Arshinov, IT Director at steel producer SIJ Group regarding the company’s massive digital transformation

66

WRI T T EN BY

Andr ew Wo o d s

PRODUCED BY

And y L l oy d

67

G

oing into 2017, SIJ Group (Slovenian Steel Group) – Slovenia’s biggest steel

producer and one of the largest manufacturers of stainless and special steels in Europe had typical IT structure with semi-independent IT departments on each plant. And like many modern enterprises, SIJ was at work drafting a strategy to transform its operations, systems and processes into a more unified structure in a bid to improve productivity, safety and the all-important bottom line.

Vladimir Arshinov is SIJ’s IT Director and his initial focus in 2017 was trained on the digital transformation of SIJ’s IT department to a more transparent organization with a clear workflow. Previously, IT was a department of innovation with each individual plant having its own independent function, none of which connected with each other, often across varying geographies. “This meant that lots of efforts were wasted solving the same issues with different solutions,” Arshinov reveals.

68

SIJ GROUP

At the end of 2017, SIJ established a Project Management Office. PMBOK was selected as a master methodology and the Head of PMO received PMP certification and developed internal regulation documents, rules and methodology.

After finalizing the initial establishment phase, hiring project managers and the organization of the operational work, SIJ came to the conclusion that to raise the scope and complexity of the projects program, they needed a tool. The MS Project Management Server was duly selected and implemented allowing SIJ to simplify observation of the progress of projects and control, while ultimately reducing duration. Project team meetings were almost eliminated, and the distribution, control and execution of project tasks, were assigned to the project team members who managed and controlled projects including budget consumption.

Each project member would then be measured for effectiveness. w w w.t h e i n t e r f a c e . n e t

69

Turning the IT department into a

companies SIJ had a bulk of different IT

leaner function was a massive first step

systems, which were supplied or devel-

for SIJ as it needed a firm foundation

oped in the past and had to be either

upon which all future innovation could

permanently supported, or, due to the

sit. And so, the next step in SIJ’s inter-

business requirements, changed. One

nal IT transformation was aimed at the

concern with the legacy system was the

most sensitive and critical area: software

reliance on locally based productive soft-

development. As with many metallurgical

ware developer engineers developing

70

SIJ GROUP

Vladimir Arshinov IT Director SIJ Group Arshinov has 17 years of experience within the metal industry working across several territories including Russia, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, USA, Italy and Slovenia.

Arshinov’s work includes roles as varied as SCM Director, CIO, Architecture and Developing Center Director, Commissioning engineer and software developer at institutions such as Moscow State University of Steel and Alloys, Automation.

new solutions and then, after, support-

SIJ IT considers people as its major

ing them, resulting in a massive drop in

asset and were determined to break

development speed, as development

the vicious circle of “one system - one

and the subsequent support increased.

person - forever”.

This situation was causing overload-

“What we did from an organizational

ing, burnout and frustration, triggering a

point of view was to unify all geographi-

desire to change something; sometimes

cally distributed developers from 4 differ-

resulting in employer change. However,

ent companies into the several virtual w w w.t h e i n t e r f a c e . n e t

71

groups in each department,” Arshinov

board monitoring and control. Process

explains. “Each group has a Team Leader

and technical solutions now allow SIJ to

role, who assigns tasks to the group

involve external software development

members and controls the execution of

partners into the development process

each individual task.”

while controlling their activities, deliver-

Development at SIJ is now organised

ables and costs. Developers can now

according to an agile approach using

use the Azure DevOps Server with the

scrum boards and Microsoft Project

scrum board and are now able to regis-

Server to control all the time sheets

ter change requests in their system by

of the people involved in the projects,

themselves, where they see the progress

plus their schedules and budgets. SIJ

of all individual change requests coming

uses Microsoft Azure DevOps Server

through the process with the integration

for unified storage of inter-company

of the IT Director informing the exchange

source code and Change Request Scrum

and updating the status of the task

system was changed (from Oracle BI) to

development.

In October 2019 SIJ revamped

MicroStrategy for usability and a unified

and migrated its Corporate Business

interface. Now, SIJ has a system that

Intelligence system to a new

looks the same no matter the device

MicroStategy platform. The project

it’s accessed from. This project allows

took six months and provided SIJ

us to organize and develop the team

with an extensive corporate Business

that tests the trial usage and devel-

Intelligence system with more than 180

ops the processes of the PMO (Project

different dashboards covering produc-

Management Office) inside the IT

tion, finance, sales, procurement, HR,

function.”

Legal and investment functional areas.

The BI System contains the entire

The overwhelming majority of the data

spectrum of corporate data and allows

now uploads automatically and the

SIJ to move quickly and transparently

business intelligence tool has created

when taking a management decision,

a unified reporting system across the

while reducing the number of mistakes,

group utilizing the same source of

misunderstandings and time-consuming

data in order to integrate it. “There

meetings.

was huge involvement of the busi-

The next system to be unified across

ness customers with Oracle BI and this

the group was the Salesforce CRM

year, we moved to this new platform,”

system, which is now fully integrated.

Arshinov explains. “The front end of the

Then, an Oracle supplier portal followed,

“We are not an IT company, that’s understood,” Arshinov explains. “But we are supporting services inside the business, and of course our main concern will always be supporting the production of steel” — V L A D I M I R A R S H I NO V, I T D IR E C T O R AT S T E E L P RO D U C E R S I J G RO U P

w w w. th e i n te r fa ce. n et

73

which opened the possibility of organ-

incorporating the Oracle Business

izing tenders, thus massively simpli-

Suite, has improved the delivery, safety

fying the purchasing process. Oracle

and performance of SIJ’s plants. “We

Innovation Management is another

improved Delivery Performance OTIFF

successful implementation, which,

(on time and in full) of a stainless

although a relatively small project, has

steel plant by 12.8% in six months,” he

had a big influence on the business

enthuses. “And we shortened the produc-

transformation and innovation through

tion cycle by 15,4% from ordering to ship-

increased flexibility. “It is also used to

ping, which is a brilliant result within six

motivate people to suggest improve-

months of going live.”

ments and new innovative ideas,” he

In SIJ Matal Ravne has replaced the melt shop technology system and entire

says.

So, what have been the major

plant manufacturing execution system

successes, according to Arshinov, follow-

to replace the obsolete legacy system

ing the ongoing digital transformation

– which had zero planning functional-

at SIJ? “The main difference between

ity – with PSI Metals. “First of all, we’re

now and then was that each individual company was living alone, and I see now that the IT function in this case is unifying the people and allowing them to speak in a single language. It doesn’t matter if it’s a steel center or a big plant,” he explains.

Costs have been dramatically reduced too, outsourcing being a prime example.

In 2016, SIJ was spending more than 70% annual budget for operational external services. For 2020, that part of budget reduced to 40%. Meanwhile, the capital investments part of the budget has grown from 4% in 2016 to 56% in 2020.

The implementation of a Supply Chain Planning system (from Quintiq) 74

SIJ GROUP

“Through this massive digital transformation, SIJ has also managed to increase quality control through sophisticated AI, which has massively impacted its operations” — V L A DIMIR A RS H I NO V, I T D I R E C T O R AT S T EEL P RO D UCER S I J G RO UP

increasing the level of understanding and the knowledge of the internal IT team, while dramatically decreasing project cost by involving internal specialists into the supplier team. That allows us to save several hundred thousand Euros of project budget and it’s a win-win situation for the supplier as well. First of all, the supplier is receiving our team, which knows the production and the limitations and has extensive inside knowledge. At the end of the day, the commercial value, in this case, is the cheaper price. Cheaper than anybody else is able to receive.”

Another and no less important project for Sij Metal Ravne is the joint development work with Comtrade Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS).

Laboratories in metallurgy companies are complicated and highly demanding environments with unique processes required for quality control of all products and this solution covers and improves core laboratory processes and will be highly integrated with the PSI manufacturing execution system from one side and Oracle ERP on the other. w w w.t h e i n t e r f a c e . n e t

75

“ …the IT function in this case is unifying the people and allowing them to speak in a single language” —

V L ADIMIR ARSHINO V, I T DIR E C T OR AT S T EEL PRODUCER SIJ GROUP

76

SIJ GROUP

Through this massive digital transformation, SIJ has also managed to increase quality control through sophisticated AI, which has massively impacted its operations. The acquisition of scrap metal, a major influence on SIJ’s bottom line, can now be influenced through advanced detection systems that can detect impurities, thus representing huge savings when it comes to procurement. “The conservative saving is €1.4m,” he says.

The digital transformation at SIJ is touching every aspect of the company’s growth and is certainly an ongoing journey rather than a destination. “We are not an IT company, that’s understood,” Arshinov says. “But we are supporting services inside the business, and of course our main concern will always be supporting the production of steel. But we’re not there yet.”

w w w.t h e i n t e r f a c e . n e t

77

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TOP 5 ERPS

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