Interface – Issue 23

I S S U E 2 3 • W W W. T H E I N T E R FA C E . N E T

Practice makes permanence The importance of employee education for remote working

CARREFOUR

A CUSTOMER-CENTRIC TECH AND DATA TRANSFORMATION We speak to the senior leadership team in charge of Carrefour’s digital transformation to see how the global retail giant is transforming

A DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION OF A GIANT ENTERPRISE

BUSINESS GOALS VS BUSINESS PURPOSE & HOW TO COMBINE THEM FOR SUCCESS

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Welcome to issue 23 of Interface There are few enterprises with a heritage and scale enjoyed

by Carrefour. The 63-year-old global grocery and retail giant is undergoing enormous change across its numerous territories

EDITOR IN CHIEF Andrew Woods

and grocery formats, and not before time. Sitting, as it does, at a pivotal moment in its history, Carrefour is facing, and meeting,

EDITOR

the challenges of size and legacy as it leverages tech and data

Dale Benton

to transform into a company ready for the challenges ahead. We caught up with Carrefour’s leadership team across its numerous territories and divisions to find out how it’s transforming its operations on a global scale…

Carrefour has embraced a widespread ongoing transformation, as the retail landscape experiences monumental shifts in behaviour.

And the person Carrefour looked to, to deliver this incredible programme of change, was the then rather youthful 45-year-old Alexandre Bompard who joined the Group as Chairman and CEO

MARKETING MANAGER Tracey Harris

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Nell Walker Kevin Davies

GRAPHIC DESIGNER Dhruti Vithani

in July 2017. Bompard has a proven track record in delivering

CREATIVE LEAD

change having been at the helm of French retail chain Fnac-Darty.

Mitchell Park

Bompard’s “Carrefour 2022” transformation plan “embodies the goal of bringing eating well – healthy, fresh, organic, local food – to within everyone’s reach”, said Bompard upon its launch. “To

VP GLOBAL FINTECH & INSURTECH

become the world leader in the food transition for everyone”.

Alex Page

Elsewhere in this issue, we speak to Cesar Augusto Dos Santos,

VP TECHNOLOGY

Director of IT and CIO of giant Brazilian Communication Service Provider Claro, regarding its digital transformation at scale, as the

Andy Lloyd Craig Daniels

company enters an exciting new phase of its evolution.

VP PROCUREMENT

Plus, we have some fascinating and insightful content covering

Heykel Ouni Greg Churchill Richard Deane

digital transformation, business goals versus business purpose and a guide to new working practices that could change your company overnight!

PRESIDENT & CEO Kiron Chavda

Enjoy the issue!

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

Contents

6

Carrefour

54

Business goals vs business purpose

62

Poor Visibility and Silos Between Technology and Business: How digital transformation is still fighting a losing battle

50 70

Claro: A digital transformation of a giant enterprise

92

Practice makes permanence: The importance of employee education for remote working

A customer-centric tech and data transformation We speak to the senior leadership team in charge of Carrefour’s digital transformation to see how the global retail giant is transforming its technology on a massive scale as it evolves into a truly customercentric enterprise...

Written by

Andrew Woods

Produced by

Andy Lloyd

Carrefo u r

www.theinterface.net

7

T

here are few enterprises with a heritage and scale enjoyed

by Carrefour. The 62-year-old

global grocery and retail giant is undergoing enormous change across its numerous territories and grocery formats, and not before time. Sitting, as it does, at a pivotal moment in its history, Carrefour is facing, and meeting, the challenges of

W AT C H > > G l o b a l CT D O , Miguel Ángel González Gisbert talks about the dramatic tech and data changes at retail giant Carrefour as it evolves into a truly customer-centric enterprise...

size and legacy as it leverages tech and data to transform into a company ready for the challenges ahead.

As online shopping reconfigured the very notion of retail during the early noughties, the writing was on the wall for businesses of every size: adapt or die.

But change, although essential, is often feared, resisted or considered politically

like Latin America, Asia, Middle East and

unpalatable to many business leaders

North Africa, aside from mainland Europe.

Nevertheless, the situation remains the

Carrefour operations in Brazil and Spain

same. Adapt or die.

are for instance equivalent to those of

Carrefour is a huge global company

a €10bn+ retailer each. The company is

and the largest retailer in Europe with

France’s largest private employer and

a name that carries an almost subcon-

represents almost half of the overall busi-

scious meaning to those who have grown

ness. Today, Carrefour serves 104 million

up with the brand. It was Carrefour that

household customers in making 4 billion

introduced France to the hypermarket

transactions annually.

concept way back in 1963 when it opened

Carrefour has embraced a widespread

its first megastore in Sainte-Geneviève-

ongoing transformation, as the retail land-

des-Bois. Carrefour today is a massive

scape experiences monumental shifts

enterprise with 320,000+ employees

in behaviour. And the person Carrefour

worldwide, in 12,000+ stores present

looked to, to deliver this incredible

in over 30 countries including locations

programme of change, was the then rather

Carrefo u r

youthful 45-year-old Alexandre Bompard

partners. Every year, more than €1 billion

who joined the Group as Chairman and

is dedicated to technology, including the

CEO in July 2017. Bompard has a proven

development of its digital and omnichan-

track record in delivering change having

nel operations, with the view to achiev-

been at the helm of French retail chain

ing €4.2bn in food e-commerce GMV

Fnac-Darty. Bompard’s “Carrefour 2022”

in 2022. Carrefour also aims to include

transformation plan “embodies the goal

the streamlining of its organisational

of bringing eating well – healthy, fresh,

structure to make it more agile, while

organic, local food – to within everyone’s

also achieving gains in productivity and

reach”, said Bompard upon its launch. “To

competitiveness. The final tenet of this

become the world leader in the food tran-

strategy is the overhauling of Carrefour’s

sition for everyone”.

food offering with a greater emphasis

Strategy is formulated at a global level,

placed on quality and sustainability. The

overseeing a technology function that

overarching objective of Carrefour 2022

employs more than 4,000 people inter-

is to deliver a much-needed refresh to

nally notwithstanding contractors and

this historical, global company. www.theinterface.net

9

Besides Bompard’s strategy, the other

Transformation. Perthuisot oversees a

driving force has been Rami Baitieh’s

team consisting of Valérie Legat (Global

“5-5-5” philosophy, which has been

Head of Omnichannel Experience and

fostering great change in Carrefour.

Carrefour.fr Product Lead), Marina Fajardo

Baitieh, Executive Director for France

(Global Head of E-commerce Strategy),

since July 2020, has defined and put into

Selma Bekhechi (Global Digital and

practice a set of principles called the

E-commerce Acceleration Director) and

5-5-5, a set of concrete actions to better

Hervé Simonin (Global New Businesses

serve customers. The 5-5-5 allows each

and Partnerships).

store to win over its customers by being

Elodie Perthuisot’s teams have a global

constantly attentive to their needs and

mission to accelerate the digital trans-

demands. Consumers are placed at the

formation. “We are experiencing a very

centre of the actions of all employees,

unique moment of change in digital, and

from the store to the HQ. .

the team is working really hard to speed

In an effort to get things moving quickly,

up the game-changing projects we have

right after his appointment to his new posi-

launched, confirming our leadership in

tion, Baitieh published his email address

e-commerce, making the most of our data

on the company’s website to encourage

and putting transformative technologies at

customers to write to him. Shortly after,

the service of our customers.

store directors did the same. Baitieh

“For instance, in France, we have the

also set up internal WhatsApp loops to

ambition to enable over 2 000 proxim-

make sure all customer concerns were

ity e-commerce touchpoints (stores and

taken care of - in record time. Baitieh has

click & collect) by the end of 2021 and

established a new mindset that has been

we will multiply x10 the number of towns

spreading in all Carrefour geographies, for

covered by home delivery vs 2019, from

the past couple of years.

35 to 336,” she says.

Bompard has established a talented

“We will continue democratising

team to deliver on his ambitions. This is

access to data for our more than 300 000

particularly true when it comes to digi-

employees, while developing analytics

tal transformation: Elodie Perthuisot has

solutions at the service of our business,

just replaced Amélie Oudéa Castéra

for instance providing hundreds of our

in March 2021 as Executive Director In

category managers with real-time view

Charge of E-commerce, Data and Digital

and insights on assortment, product and

Carrefo u r

Elo die Per t huis ot E xe c uti ve D i re c to r E - C o m merc e, Data an d D i gi tal Tran sfo r mat i on

www.theinterface.net

11

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Global Head of E-commerce Strategy

Carrefour’s marketplace journey & ambitions

2025 2020

20,000 sellers & 18 million marketplace products available globally

8,000+ sellers & 7M marketplace products available globally France marketplace launched

2019 2017

Brazil marketplace launched

Spain marketplace launched

pricing. Data has become a core compe-

are pretty unique and distinctly local. It is

tence in Carrefour, at the same level as our

González’s job as Global CTDO to create

ability to develop exceptional people, have

synergy across the local tech and data

the best merchandise or manage supply

teams while making sure that the funda-

chain flows effectively and efficiently.

mental transformations Carrefour needs,

“And we will continue evolving to embed smart tech in our processes. The potential is huge and we have been catching up very

happen, starting with the enablement of customer centricity.

He cites an example where the tech

fast during the last two years, with tech

team in Brazil, say, could be working on

creating strong competitive advantages,

a similar food traceability project to one

for instance with our move2cloud, that

in Spain, but where the CIOs concerned

reduces by two the time to develop new

might not be actually aware of each other’s

digital applications.”

work. “They could obviously learn from

Completing Perthuisot’s team and

each other, so it’s really creating this

helping to lead this global effort is

conversation on the one hand, while on the

37-year-old Global CTDO, Miguel Ángel

other, keeping very close to the executive

González Gisbert, who joined Carrefour

direction and helping to accelerate the

in September 2019 following almost a

pace of the strategic transformation of this

decade of consultative work at McKinsey

company with an obsession on improving

& Company. “I know digital, but I also know

customers’ lives. My role as Global CTDO

how to translate strategic change impera-

is to orchestrate the technology and data

tives into technology and data, and make a

at a global level.”

little bit of the bridge between the CIO, the CDO and the other CxOs of the company,

Customer centricity / 5-5-5

which is what I did at McKinsey,” González

“Carrefour has initiated a deep cultural

explains. “And to some extent, it’s also a

revolution called the ‘5-5-5’, which iden-

bit of what I’m doing here in translating

tifies five customer-centric principles

an ambitious business transformation

across three themes: trust, service and

agenda into sound tech and data priorities

proximity. For example, ‘The customer is

and putting them into action, steering key

the most important person in your day,

projects.”

Carrefour is a highly distributed company: the operations in each country Carrefo u r

Mig u el Á n g el Go n zález G is ber t G l o bal CTD O

www.theinterface.net

15

always tell them ‘Yes’. In other words,

“It is a very ambitious agenda, and my

every customer is unique and the satis-

mission is to put technology and data at

faction of every one of them has become

the service of the plan, and more broadly

an obsession at Carrefour. Indeed, just

at the service of our customers and the

in 2020 we saw our Net Promoter Score

5-5-5,” González explains. “This is true

(NPS) grow +20 points. Today the 5-5-5

across all technology and data layers:

is adopted by every BU in Carrefour, and

when it comes to offering a more delight-

it is perfectly clear to every one of our

ful customer experience in our online

employees - including my digital team -

platforms, implementing a performant

that the number one priority is to make our

e-supply and also bringing purpose-

customers happy,” Perthuisot explains.

ful technology to our stores, where we

Carrefo u r

that front,” Marina Fajardo Global Head of E-commerce Strategy at Carrefour explains. Three years ago, Carrefour was making a very small amount in e-commerce. “The plan here is to catch up and get to €4.2bn in food e-commerce GMV in 2022. Nonetheless, a great deal of the work has already been done. For example, in Brazil, we have increased our market share from 5% in 2018 to 18% today!”

Jan Pollier is Carrefour’s Digital and E-commerce Director in Belgium. “I’m in charge of a team of product owners that are developing and operating our web platform, as well as the mobile app we recently renewed,” he says. Pollier is also in charge of the different digital touch points with the customer.

Alexandre Bompard issued the clear instruction that Carrefour was to have only one e-commerce platform per country leverage datatech and algorithms to

in 2018 and Jan reminds us of the impor-

propose personalised journeys and more

tance of this moment. “Carrefour Belgium

fluid operations. And even when it comes

- as all the other countries - created ‘One

to our tech foundations, we see the

Carrefour’: a single digital portal consol-

power of the cloud to innovate fast and

idating both e-commerce and market-

deliver more services to our customers at

ing.”The website and the app are the

a reduced cost.”

visible side of e-commerce, the tip of the iceberg, however. Carrefour Belgium’s

Modernising e-commerce platforms

e-commerce operations - or e-supply-

Carrefour has some bold objectives

were running behind neighbouring coun-

around e-commerce. “We were late on

tries - and so they looked to Food-X, a www.theinterface.net

17

“ We are crafting a faster, easier and somehow gamified App experience. It will be the Trojan horse of our omnichannel strategy” — Va l é ri e Le gat P roduct Lead of France E- commerce an d G l ob al Head of Digita l and Omnichann e l E x per ien ce

Canadian tech boutique that specialises in

installation within a large Carrefour ware-

online grocery fulfilment.

house, enabled by the Food-X software.

“We were looking at the efficiency of our

“They helped us design the interior of

operations and more specifically the opti-

the warehouse that will be semi-auto-

misation of the preparation and transport

mated, with conveyor belts and light mech-

models,” Pollier explains. “We analysed

anisation,” Pollier beams. “It is about using

Food-X and came to the conclusion that it

software in a very smart way, making sure

was the most suited solution for Belgium.

the systems enable ultra-lean processes,

“Maple” [Carrefour codename for the

perfectly suited to the food business.”

project] is about putting in place a new

Food-X has 20 years of experience within

Carrefo u r

online groceries in Vancouver and are

last mile coverage, while improving the

specialists in sustainable production.

customer journey on the website. “This is

“They source a mainly organic assortment

the advantage of using an integrated fulfil-

and so they really have that knowledge of

ment specialist. For instance the system

fresh foods.”

is capable of adjusting delivery schedules

This project is broader than putting in

dynamically depending on the progress

place the new warehouse, with Carrefour

of the picking schedule,” Pollier explains.

Belgium intending to optimise the end-to-

This project clearly shows that the pace

end new business model. Project Maple

of Carrefour delivery has increased:

will also enhance Carrefour Belgium’s

“Delivering such a project in less than a www.theinterface.net

19

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Since 2020, Salesforce has helped Carrefour to transform its e-commerce capabilities in Italy. With Salesforce Commerce Cloud this has included serving a higher volume of customers and delivering support at scale. Building on this momentum, Carrefour is already launching similar acceleration initiatives in other markets in 2021 like Taiwan, reimagining the ways we shop and how companies and customers stay connected. With a 360 degree view of every customer Carrefour has become a true Trailblazer.

To find out more about how Salesforce puts the success of customers at the heart of everything they do, visit www.salesforce.com.

year is very rock and roll. But we need to

customers are coming to shop for and

do it because Covid-19 is raising the stand-

making them available and easy to access.

ards of e-commerce and we have great

When I say ‘personalised’, it means offer-

ambitions for e-grocery.”

ing different features depending on the

Back in France, where it all began, this

profile of the client, but also different fulfil-

e-commerce ambition is underlined by

ment services, like express delivery, which

Valérie Legat, in charge of carrefour.fr, the

is one of our key ambitions for 2021. The

5th largest e-commerce site in the coun-

last point is ‘omnichannel’. We have very

try. “I would say that currently, my focus

large ambitions around the mobile app. We

is to help our customers simplify their

want our clients to have Carrefour in their

shopping journey on our website, and

pocket through their mobile app.”

make it personalised and omnichannel,” she explains “And when I say, for exam-

In-store innovation

ple, ‘simplify’, it means deploying all the

However, ‘omnichannel’ also means

algorithms we have developed in our data

putting technology at the service of the

lab to predict what kind of products our

stores. Hervé Simonin has been working

Carrefo u r

hard to change gear on this specific dimension. He oversees new businesses

“ We are working really hard to deliver a muchneeded refresh to this historical, global company to put technology and data at the service of the business” — M i g u e l Án g e l G onzá lez G i sber t G l o b al CT DO

for the Group and for Carrefour France.

This means not only leading the best portfolio of food e-commerce startups in France - including Greenweez, Dejbox, Quitoque, Potager City and Croquetteland - but also increasing the pace of change joining forces with tech start-ups like AiFi, that provide services on retail store automation.

So far, this has proven to be a challenging task. “As the organisation of Carrefour is international and multi-format, it is difficult to provide guidelines and assistance for this digital transformation while identifying the right technological choices to significantly reduce, on the one hand the heterogeneity of the solutions in the store and in a manner its obsolescence. But it

Carrefour 2022: What does that look like?

is central that we manage to do it. This is precisely one of the roles of the Group: promoting a better sharing of information throughout the company,” he reveals.

“For example, there are about 70,000 tills in the shops across the Group with software that dates from several decades ago that is maintained by a heterogeneous set of tech companies. This creates a problem for a digital transformation as you need to be able to roll out new capabilities like payment, geolocation or fraud reduction quickly. Even if you come up with the www.theinterface.net

23

A future-proof, reliable and scalable platform for retail digitalization

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Enhance your in-store experience with a true real-time solution

Trusted Innovation Drives Store Digitalization For over 20 years Pricer has been a key partner to Carrefour for store digitalization. Pricer is also the preferred worldwide supplier of electronic shelf labels to the retail group.

For decades the company has worked closely together with leading retailers around the world, spearheading the retail evolution through constant innovation.

Carrefour’s strategy is based on using advanced digitalization to enhance store efficiency and customer experience in all their store formats • Driving efficiency for Click and Collect and replenishment – using instant flash and geolocation provides visibility up and down the aisle for efficient replenishment, promo-flash, pick-to-light and waste management • Providing real-time shelf edge information with store management data – such as minimal stock, replenishment day, average sales or product’s EAN. • Price optimization/dynamic pricing and immediate enhanced product information – execute extensive price optimization, enhancing the potential profit and reducing customer confusion while delivering enhanced information to consumers.

• Waste management – make date checking efficient and ensure expiring products are sold at an optimal price before they go to waste.

“As a trusted partner for in-store digitalization and automation, Pricer works closely with leading retailers such as Carrefour in all parts of the world. The solutions are unique, robust and highly scalable to meet the specific challenges of each retailer” Helena Holmgren, CEO of Pricer

Leading the future of retail Pricer’s evolution to an integrated cloud-based solution is making it ever easier to analyze the shelf, product, and campaign performance and consumer buying behaviour.

Pricer delivers a key ever-developing platform for leading retailers to continually deliver dramatically improved store efficiency and new levels of customer engagement.

best idea for a new service, the moment

“There is a fair amount of innovation going

you are confronted with, and come up

on there. We are leveraging the strong

against, these stumbling blocks of hetero-

expertise of Spain in this area, where

geneity and obsolescence, they are going

rockstars like José Antonio, Marian, Javier

to slow you down. But we are pushing hard

and Esther managed to develop one of the

to simplify.”

best Point of Sale (PoS) software suites

The strategy here is everything but turn-

in the Spanish market,” González, CTDO

ing the store into a collection of expensive

explains “And my colleague Laurence

tech gadgets: Carrefour wants to put tech-

Azagoh is doing a wonderful job scal-

nology at the service of operational excel-

ing-up these local capabilities to make

lence on the ground, in perfect connection

them global so other countries can take

with the 5-5-5 agenda and the need to

advantage of them. We will hopefully have

delight customers every day.

store systems that are better connected

Nicolas Safis is the Group Innovation Director, and is bringing this mindset of customer-centricity into play, when it comes to turning prospective ideas into practical realities. “I think what’s important at Carrefour is that the tech and data transformation - especially when we talk about our stores - simplifies the life of our customers regarding touchpoints and fluidity and also our associates as we would not be able to provide our customers with the best service possible without ensuring that our collaborators have the right conditions, tools and processes required to do so.”

Today, the majority of Carrefour’s sales continue to happen in-store, and the Group sees a tech landscape that simplifies cashiers day-to-day tasks while aiming for a more omnichannel operation.

Carrefo u r

to the rest of the Carrefour information

system so we can have more consistent

three distinct areas. Yann Barraud, Global

data across digital and physical chan-

CDO explains: “The first area is to use

nels. We also intend to make it easier to

our data to propose more personalized

provide a seamless experience between

and fluid customer experiences online

e-commerce and store, such as complet-

and offline, before, during and after their

ing online baskets in store. And, finally, a

shopping journey.” This is why Carrefour

platform that is multi-device, that enables

opened a data lab in partnership with

the till, but also the non-food vendor or

Google three years ago. Carrefour

even the store manager. It is what we call

data engineers have been working with

‘SmartPoS’,” he says.

Google AI experts to create together, new customer experiences. The lab’s

Datatech, Google and the cloud

Assortment Recommendation System

The entire transformation programme

is a great example - the algorithm identi-

pivots around a data strategy that covers

fies how to improve product offerings in

Mari án O rdu ñ a H errero Custo m e r Te c h So l uti o n s Direc to r i n Sp ai n

www.theinterface.net

27

Where some see uncertainty, we see possibilities As a digital business transformation partner of choice, we’ve spent nearly three decades utilizing the disruptive power of technology and ingenuity to help digitally enable our clients' business in their pursuit of next.

find out more

When the COVID-19 pandemic first struck in early 2020, Carrefour was ready with a scaled, high-performing grocery website that helped continue its critical role of feeding the French nation. Three years earlier, when Publicis Sapient helped Carrefour re-imagine their digital offering, we could never have predicted the impact of the pandemic. Nevertheless, by building a rigorous technical backbone, implementing new ways of working and re-imaging the customer experience, we created something that firmly withstood the challenge.

The world was very different in 2017, when Publicis Sapient and Carrefour partnered together to define a new digital strategy for the grocery brand. Carrefour had a legacy of old technologies, a hierarchical structure and slow – and often late – IT delivery. Alexandre Bompard, Carrefour’s new CEO, set us a clear direction to use digital to regain its position as the number one grocer in France. “The real challenge was not about what we needed to change,” says Julian Skelly, Head of Retail at Publicis Sapient, “instead, it was about enabling the organisation to do it”.

Publicis Sapient focused on transforming the organisation and, along the way, built a world-class website.

As a first step, Bompard pulled his leadership team together into an intensive four-week ‘Ignite’ workshop series led by Publicis Sapient to build Carrefour’s digital strategy. Then, “armed with a clear vision of what needed to be done, we rapidly re-organised Carrefour Digital,” Skelly explains. “We addressed the tendency to operate in silos, by pulling everyone together into a single Digital Hub.” This Hub continues today and has over 250

cross-discipline people, working together in a scaled-agile model.

Unifying people was absolutely key.

So, right from the start, Publicis Sapient made sure this was a truly collaborative process by jointly creating a strong and clear vision. We brought the voice of the customer into the process and then aligned everyone around real customer needs. “We maintained this customer-centric approach throughout the delivery,” says Skelly, “by setting up guerrilla research teams that could answer questions and provide insights in a matter of days.”

Publicis Sapient then shifted focus from being a strategic advisor to a delivery partner, building the Carrefour organisation to deliver its new digital strategy. Publicis Sapient designed the delivery framework and added about 90 digital experts into the Carrefour teams to work side-by-side with them. Publicis Sapient’s objective was to help Carrefour change by building a new culture and ways of working in the Hub from the start.

“Publicis Sapient’s real success was enabling Carrefour to operate itself,” Skelly says. “When the pandemic came, Carrefour had the tools and capabilities to pivot. Without these, Carrefour would not have been able to cope with the challenges of COVID and probably would have lost all their online customers.”

“When we launched the new website in 2018, we achieved what we thought was unachievable” says Olivier Gibert, former e-commerce lead architect. “Now, three years later, the new agile ways of working are fully bedded in”.

N i co l as S af i s G ro u p I nn ovat ion Director Carrefo u r

each store. This system delivers a personalised in-store product selection: it is active in +150 stores in Paris, recommending over a hundred products to each store every month.

“The second area is to use our data to better operate our own machinery, our shops and warehouses to execute more effectively and reduce actual costs. For instance, our lab has been leading the charge in automating reporting and various BI [Business Intelligence] tools which has proven a tremendous time saver for HQ and operational staff allowing them to focus on value added tasks,” Barraud adds. At this very moment, the lab is preparing to put into production, a Daily Order Forecasting model for e-commerce activity to ensure better staff planning in preparation facilities.

“The third area is focused less on the internal needs of Carrefour and more on the needs of our industrial partners (CPG companies) where our strategy is to develop an open ecosystem in which Carrefour data is a solution for our growth and helps us identify areas of development in their different lines of business,” says Barraud, adding: “This is the purpose of DataShopper, a data platform designed to offer advanced KPIs about shoppers’ behaviour. Our partners get advanced insights allowing them to interact more effectively with customers, making their experience more pleasant and faster. This platform has been built using 100% cloud-native solutions, such as Looker, a next-gen cloud analytics tool, and BigQuery, Google’s cloud data warehouse.” Within DataShopper, Carrefour is building a 360, omnichannel view across all its geographies, in near real time, representing 50 petabytes of data processed each month, strictly respecting regulatory and data privacy and security requirements. www.theinterface.net

31

The team built this platform in a few weeks, and went from 0 to general availability in less than 6 months.

As Global Chief Data Officer, Yann is not only a tech partner to business when it comes to data, but also the person that helped to accelerate Carrefour’s move2cloud program. Such a dual role was deliberate. “In Carrefour, we do data in the cloud by default. It enables better time to market, it is more scalable and we get access to more innovative services. It is also cheaper. Data is such a fundamental part of Carrefour’s plans and so it was important to get a partner (Google) very expert in that field.

I don’t know any other data warehouse solution in the market capable of bringing the level of performance of BigQuery at that price.”

“Besides defining the data strategy and supporting countries in the execution, I have the chance to contribute to the delivery of several data projects with the potential to generate a serious performance shift for Carrefour,” Barraud explains. Carrefour has implemented a new big data platform, Eagle, which is 100% cloud-based, to equip all their geographies. The first use case built on top of this platform was completed in Carrefour Romania. Eagle enables them to better understand their customers and to better serve them: the platform gathers a large volume of receipts (approximately 550k a day) allowing Romanian marketing experts to analyse the ticket contents for any combination of stores, dates and customers. This means that in Romania, they can now identify segments of customers at a store-level, whether they are “promo hunters”, “early adopters”, “premium” or “impulsive buyers”.

Any major digital transformation, and they come no bigger than Carrefour, requires a solid technological infrastructure upon which the company can evolve at pace.

Carrefo u r

Yan n B ar ra ud G l o bal C h i ef Data Offi c e r www.theinterface.net

33

•

•

Google Cloud

•

IN 2018 CARREFOUR, the largest retailer in Europe, had defined a 2022 Strategic plan, based on four pillars; Streamlining the organizational structure to make it more agile, without losing sight of its end customers, Achieving gains in productivity and competitiveness, Creating a leading omnichannel ecosystem uniting stores and ecommerce and Overhauling its food offering with an emphasis placed on greater quality.

Carrefour sought a cloud solution that cou Id empower this strategic plan and so it needed a key partner. Retail is one of Google Cloud's top priority verticals and it's only natural for Google Cloud to be implemented to enable Carrefour's transformation journey.

Google Cloud allows Carrefour to leverage its Data Analytics experience, its best-in-class artificial intelligence (Al) and machine learning (ML) expertise and engineering power.

•

"We are thrilled to contribute to Carrefour's tech & digital strategy.

Our journey over the /ast 18 months has been impressive: Data has become a business for Carrefour, and it is the best journey we couId dream over for such a strategic Partner."

Samuel Bonamigo

•

Carrefour's 2022 plan can be broken down into the need for agility, productivity and innovation. With Google, Carrefour can provide digital experiences during peak shopping periods without sacrificing performance or reliability, adopt Google Workspace to help employees collaborate efficiently during challenging periods and foster collaboration between Carrefour and Google's experts and engineers in a Google/Carrefour Lab to salve the biggest challenges and drive innovation throughout Carrefour.

•

Carrefour Belgium just got fresher eGrocery acceleration powered by FoodX

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foodxtech.com Carrefo u r

++

Technology for grocers, by grocers

This is where cloud plays a major role.

“Back in 2018, the company had no clear

us in our scalability and performance - for instance our ability to absorb the traffic

position about cloud and more specifically

peaks during the first Covid-19 lockdown

public cloud,” Yann reveals “End 2019, the

- and how easy and integrated security

strategy became clearer, and extremely

and monitoring were and that the shift

simple: We were targeting ‘public cloud

was bringing tangible financial benefits,”

first’, moving away from traditional data

adds Barraud. For example, closing two

centres. Back in 2018, his strategy was

data centres in France in 2019 generated

accelerated by the signature of our part-

considerable savings.

nership with Google.” Hence, the company

Using cloud-based solutions also

shifted and became more aggressive on

allowed Carrefour to gain momentum.

its cloud migration, evolving from less

For instance, the company developed

than 5% of apps in the public cloud to 25%

and deployed, in only 6 days, a new

at the end of 2020. This bold movement

e-commerce channel during the first

towards the cloud is also motivated by the

COVID pandemic - “Les Essentiels”.

willingness to increase the pace of innova-

This would have been barely possible

tion, which is today happening in the cloud

with a traditional toolset.

by default. For example, the emergence of

Once those benefits were made clear

“no code” solutions, like AppSheet, allow-

and accepted, the countries started accel-

ing anyone to build applications in minutes.

erating their journey to the public cloud.

For instance, Carrefour on-site mainte-

For example, in Poland, in 2020, 10 apps

nance teams recently built a simple appli-

were shifted to public cloud. In 2021, the

cation to plan interventions and generate

target is multiplied by three, targeting

service reports.

more than 30 applications.

“Obviously, this did not come in a

“Google was interesting as a cloud

glimpse. As for every change, we had to be

partner, because, besides the strength

convinced that the cloud shift was benefi-

of GCP in data and software engineer-

cial for the Group. In addition to making it

ing, mid-2018 when the partnership

clear and simple, we also showed, based

with Google started, Google was still an

on facts, that the cloud was bringing multi-

emerging force in the cloud market, and

ple benefits besides innovation and speed,

this helped us to get a good balance from

at almost every level of the company. We

the very beginning,” González explains.

explained how cloud applications helped

“They bring a lot of expertise and scale www.theinterface.net

37

on technology and infrastructure and we

shares in the bricks and mortar world

bring a lot of expertise and scale on retail.

of retail including historical formats like

The move2cloud does not stop here. After

hyper, whilst at the same time signifi-

seeing the business value, we decided to

cantly increasing its online leadership

increase the level of ambition: we want to

with the ambition of becoming - in line

be a 100% cloud company in a few years.

with the vision of the Group - the respon-

This may seem normal nowadays, but it is

sible e-commerce leader, incorporating

in fact totally crazy when we consider the

the fields of sustainable development

starting point back in 2018.”

and social commitments specifically. This

Nicolas Forgues is the CTO of Carrefour

means, in the respect of environmen-

France and he further underlines the

tal resources, paying particular atten-

touchpoints of the global strategy, at

tion to everything that contributes to

a local level. “The strategic vision of

the reduction of our carbon footprint.

Carrefour France is to regain market

For example, Google has a very low

“ The strategic vision of Carrefour France is to regain market shares in the bricks and mortar world of retail, whilst at the same time significantly increasing its online leadership with the ambition of becoming the responsible e-commerce leader” — Nic o l a s Fo rgues Fra nce C hief Technology Officer

Carrefo u r

environmental impact with a PUE [Power

the company working very closely with

Usage Effectiveness, a ratio calculated

producers, supporting them to make it

by dividing the total of energy required

more sustainable while improving food

at the level of the data centre by the part

quality at a fair price. Carrefour wants

dedicated to computing only] of close

to be the leader in terms of the “food

to 1.1, hence lowering our own global

transition” that is happening across the

carbon footprint.”

globe - healthy, fresh, organic and local food - and tech is enabling this ever-in-

Sustainability through digital

creasing influence of Corporate Social

Sustainability is a very strong lever of

Responsibility (CSR). Bertrand Swiderski

Carrefour’s strategy. One of the central

is in charge of sustainability for the Group

ideas is to play a leadership role in

Carrefour. “It’s my role to drive the change

sustainable food consumption, as well

inside of our company, to drive our busi-

as food production. Basically, it will see

ness, to make sure that our business is

www.theinterface.net

39

sustainable enough. And it’s creating a win-win-win situation. It’s a win-situation for Carrefour, a win-situation for our consumer and a win-situation for our planet and for our society.”

The CSR drive at Carrefour is driven by five priorities.

“The first is that we have to increase the sale of organic products,” Swiderski explains. “The second is making sure our brand, the Carrefour brand, is healthy and responsible. The third one is to reduce food waste in our operation, and also to help consumers to reduce food waste. And then, we still have to work on reducing plastic, reducing packaging, and we’ve made a tremendous commitment to that. We want to reduce by 20,000 tonnes the quantity of packaging before 2022. And finally, we still have to work on sourcing and delivering local products.”

Sustainability and tech are deeply linked on several of Carrefour’s projects. For instance, Carrefour has developed a strong partnership with Too Good To Go (TGTG) since 2019. Carrefour has helped to save ~2.5 millions of meals (i.e., 2 400+ tons of food) across Europe (France, Spain, Italy and Belgium) granting access to its customers to discounted baskets through the TGTG app. To make it happen, both store and warehouse staff are equipped with mobile devices to pinpoint products about to expire, constitute baskets and sell them.

The company’s societal responsibility is also visible on its digital assets. For instance, during the mid-2020 lockdown, Carrefour decided to open its marketplace in France with Mirakl, granting free-of-charge access to small producers, micro enterprises and SMEs so they can reach their customers during the sanitary crisis, starting their e-commerce business and reaching Carrefour’s customers without any marketing effort.

Carrefo u r

B er tran d Swin dersk i G l o bal He ad of Sustai n a b i l i t y

www.theinterface.net

41

Customer centricity at the core of technology

They will find a way to oversmart the

Of course, with increased digitalisation

solutions to help our business instead of

and the pools of sensitive data that will

being a blocker,” Amsel says.

be generated, at the scale of Carrefour’s

system. It is really important that we offer

Customer-centricity comes back again

transformation, there are always going

and again, even when it comes to the

to be increased risks of cyberattacks

deeper layers of the technology stack. The

and fraud.

ultimate proof can be found in support,

Laurent Amsel is the Global Chief

back-office heavy functions like finance.

Information Security Officer (CISO) at

Another major partner of Carrefour is SAP,

Carrefour. Although solid security meas-

which is conducting a huge major program

ures were in place before his appointment,

to modernise the backbone of Carrefour’s

he has been tasked with adding an added

financial operations.

protective layer around the new offerings

Finance at Carrefour is undergoing a

and operations that underpin the transfor-

major transformation, in part to provide

mation programme. “The more and more

vital real-time intelligence to support oper-

digital we become, the bigger the surface

ations. “We have to be sure it will benefit

area that’s exposed,” he explains. “That

the end customer too,” explains Claire

means there are more and more targets

Noel du Payrat, Group Financial Control

for any attackers. Without e-commerce,

Director at Carrefour. “OK, so we are a

there is no website to attack.”

support function and we will remain a

Carrefour has already started the trans-

support function, but operations need us,

formation of its cyber-security. Amsel

so they can be better at decision making.

leads an international community of CISOs

So, we provide them with the right deci-

that work together to share best practices

sions at the right moments through more,

on a local level while working together on

real time intelligence. And not only real time

global incidents. Infusing an agile mind-

information, but also the insights into how

set to this team of cyber experts, with-

to use it. If we want to improve decision

out losing on resilience, is key. “Unusable

making, we have to use this real time data,

security is NOT security. The point is that if

and so that’s why we have been utilising

our employees and our customers do not

SAP HANA, which gives us an appropriate

understand, do not adopt, do not embrace

configuration and structure of data, with

cybersecurity, the effort will be pointless.

the appropriate BI and additional tools.”

Carrefo u r

« In 2021, tech is already playing a key role for Carrefour, whether it is

for our digital services like live shopping, digital catalogs or automated assistants; our data, cloud services and in-store innovation.

CTDO at Carrefour

“Coffee [Carrefour’s codename for the

to track food product information, and

project] is a massive program of change,

has even extended its use to textiles,

unique in the sense that we are modernis-

with extraordinary rigour: “immutable”,

ing our financial and indirect procurement

“tamper-proof” and “secure” are just

core in 9 countries in less than two years,

some of the unique properties asso-

while at the same time standardising and

ciated with this technology. Garance

improving our processes and rules to work

Osternaud, in charge of Carrefour’s block-

better as a Group. It is an incredible ambi-

chain program, believes that “Customers

tion and a program that will lead to a signif-

demand more and more transparency. For

icant positive impact for Carrefour.”

them to trust us, we have decided to play

Besides security and finance, customer

an open game, granting them access to

centricity is also visible in Carrefour’s

certified information along the full value

product traceability efforts, such as

chain, from the producer to the proces-

Walmart in the US, where Carrefour has

sor and from the farm to the fork. Thanks

been pioneering the usage of blockchain

to blockchain, customers can know the www.theinterface.net

43

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farmer that harvested their tomato, get

network with Banco Carrefour. The

the proof it was grown with no herbicides,

transformation is accelerated further

locate the farm to check the origin and

with Carrefour’s acquisition of Grupo

track precisely delivery dates at the level

BIG, Brazil’s third-biggest food retailer,

of each individual lot. We have already

strengthening Carrefour presence there.

blockchained 37 quality

This was the largest acquisition since

lines in 7 countries. The

Alexandre Bompard’s arrival and the

point is that we do not do

transaction prices Grupo BIG at an enter-

blockchain because it

prise value of approximately €1 billion.

is trendy or technologi-

By combining both Carrefour Brazil and

cally cool, but because it

Grupo BIG, Carrefour Brazil has gross

provides perfect visibil-

sales of about R$100bn (€15bn), operates

ity and assurance to our

more than 700 stores and employs around

customers.”

137,000 people.

Overseeing the digital transformation

A programme of global change

of the retail segment of Carrefour in Brazil

It is clear through the

of the challenges faced by the Group. “So,

multiple examples that

Carrefour Brazil is a 45-year-old company

the tech transformation

and it faces many challenges in reinvent-

of the company is truly

ing itself,” he says. “The tech roadmap is

global. All Carrefour

based on joining the physical and digi-

is CIO Paulo Farroco, who outlines some

countries and business lines - physical

tal stores together, and delivering that

stores, e-commerce, retail, financial -

omnichannel experience to our custom-

are contributing to a coordinated wave

ers. We really want to be a company where

of change, with different flavours and

the customer is at the centre of all our

unique ideas coming together around

decisions. Carrefour Brazil is launching its

common principles and vision.

new e-commerce platform on Carrefour.

The global character of the transfor-

com.br, developed by the e-commerce

mation is really visible in Brazil, where

software company VTEX, and which aims

Carrefour operates three major busi-

to achieve positive impacts across the

nesses: traditional retail, wholesale with

business. High-level levels of performance

Atacadão and a strong financial services

are expected in order management, www.theinterface.net

45

There's magic in the air.

Or maybe it's just business and tech getting along.

� commerce platform helps you find the harmony between business and technology, linking the different parts of your commerce operation.

vtex.com

vendors’ marketplace powered by Mirakl, and omnichannel services that connect

than satisfying customers.

In 2019, Roberto Müssnich, the CEO

the online operation to its bricks-and-mor-

for Atacadão, met CotaBest’s founders

tar stores. The new digital platform will be

Vanderlei Junior and Fernando Coutinho

the basis to scale and evolve the business

to explore if CotaBest - which offered

in the short and long term as Carrefour

an open-ended B2B grocery market-

Brazil gains the same level of maturity as

place service at that time - could include

markets where e-commerce operations,

Atacadão as one of its vendors. CotaBest

especially food, are very mature, as in

has an astonishing origin starting out

European countries.”

as a simple restaurant. The co-found-

Back in 2007, Carrefour acquired

ers noticed it was particularly complex

Atacadão, which became the cash & carry

for them to analyse and compare the

business unit of Carrefour Brazil. 15 years

offerings coming from the different food

later, there is strong evidence that this

providers of their restaurant. That is why,

move was a very good strategic decision

Junior and Coutinho created an online

at that time, as it enabled Carrefour to

platform to aggregate, simply and quickly,

diversify the type of formats available for

the various offers. And it proved to be

their customers in Brazil. Since the acqui-

a great success when they opened the

sition, Atacadão has represented a major

service to other restaurants.

growth accelerator for Carrefour in Brazil.

When Roberto Müssnich met with

Many of the customers of Atacadão are

them, they all realised something much

B2B customers (like hotels, restaurants

bigger could be done together. Müssnich

or smaller distributors). Another singular-

decided that Atacadão should invest

ity of Atacadão is its strong culture. The

in CotaBest. CotaBest and Atacadão

company encourages commitment, obli-

became partners and together explored

gation to speak up and drive and strives

the opportunity of building Atacadão’s

in permanence to develop its talents.

e-commerce platform (despite the huge

Simplicity and transparency are also core

success of the company, its digital pres-

values of the company, that works hard

ence was very limited until 2020) and

every day to remain customer focused,

sophisticating the B2B marketplace, in

with a business model that is “no frills” and

particular in its ability to compare prices

an approach of service that is extremely

coming from different vendors “That’s

humble and low profile, with no other goal

the most interesting part, where you

Carrefo u r

L au rent A m s e l G l o bal C h i ef I nfo r mat i on Se c uri ty Offi c er

can choose between them,” Coutinho

are a lot of opportunities for new play-

explains. “That is quite a novelty for this

ers, for instance in the field of means of

market and, at the end, creates significant

payment, critical to ensure the frequency

value for customers. And for us having a

of the retail relationship. At this point, it’s a

new e-commerce and marketplace plat-

very hot market to be in,” Mauad explains.

form is really powerful.”

“And we’re still growing that because

Carlos Mauad has been CEO of

we have the advantage of being inte-

Carrefour Bank, in Brazil since January

grated in a huge ecosystem here, which

2019. Mauad’s mandate included running

is Carrefour and Atacadão. For exam-

a digital transformation on the entire

ple, the ‘APAG’ (Atacadão Pagamentos)

company. “We pretty much redesigned

project has initiated synergies between

the entire company in terms of work

Carrefour bank and Atacadão’s in propos-

dynamics to make sure we could play

ing payment terminals for Atacadao’s B2B

in this highly competitive arena which

customers that we distribute in our stores.

is Brazil,” he explains. “We have a very

On top of that, we will offer banking

concentrated banking market, so there

services to store customers that do not www.theinterface.net

49

have a credit card yet. In this project, our aim to become a sub-acquirer is an important lever in our diversification.”

New mindsets and behaviours A commonly cited challenge to a transformation of any kind and scale is the establishment of a positive and productive mentality among the workers delivering, and adopting, the new practices and tools. At Carrefour, that challenge addresses a tech team of over 4,000 and hundreds of data professionals across the Group.

Carrefour’s transformation is a meld of in-house expertise and partnerships going

H er vé S im o n i n

back to 2018, when Publicis Sapient and

G l o bal H e a d of N ew B us i ness e s

Carrefour joined forces to define a new e-commerce tech strategy, harnessing digital to regain its leadership in grocery

And it needed to be done in a matter of

in France by enabling more efficient and

months. Selecting Salesforce Commerce

productive ways of working. And speed

Cloud allowed Carrefour to constrict the

is of the essence as the clock is well and

implementation duration (in less than one

truly ticking with 2022 as the deadline, set

year!) without any compromise on busi-

back in 2018, for delivering Carrefour’s

ness features. The same approach was

transformation programme.

chosen for Carrefour Italy (Salesforce)

Speed is also a key challenge Carrefour

but also Brazil and Argentina, with the

Taiwan had to face when COVID crisis

only difference of leveraging VTEX, a

struck, at the beginning of 2020. Due

LatAm pure player.

to high traffic peaks, Taiwan’s histori-

Mindsets and behaviours are evolving

cal e-commerce platform was unable to

in local tech operations, but also for the

scale enough. Moving to a more respon-

Group function. The role of the Group is

sive and agile platform was the challenge.

to serve the countries, and not the other

Carrefo u r

Carrefour wants an IT and data departments at the service of the business, be it e-commerce or stores, merchandising or supply, finance or HR. “I think this kind of change requires more than ever a spirit of servant leadership,” González, CTDO explains. “We are inverting the pyramid. I exist to serve my tech and data colleagues in countries, so then they can better serve our customers. I am here to listen to them and create the best conditions so they can do their jobs better.”

An example of this is the effort made by the Group to provide cost transparency across a series of mutualised IT services like infrastructure or digital workplace. End 2019, the Group received a lot of feedback from countries about their need to have more information and explanation way round. This is in line with the “inverted

about the set of set of globally mutualised

pyramid” principle that is becoming

tech services. Thus, the Group decided to

mainstream across the company: senior

clarify the mechanisms for making these

managers serving their managers and

costs visible with a double objective: to

managers serving in turn their associ-

give full transparency to countries, but

ates, whose only mission is to serve the

also to make them fully accountable on the

customers to make them happy. This is

responsible consumption of the mutual-

very different from a very traditional organ-

ised services.

isation where orders come top-down. In

Thibaud Cainne, Global Head of Tech

the new Carrefour, the customer is the

Governance, gives another example of the

boss, and the organisation is changing to

changes done to simplify the management

become responsive to these requests.

of the technology function. “Reporting on

The technology function and the data

country tech project portfolios and invest-

function at Carrefour are no different:

ment committees to approve IT projects www.theinterface.net

51

were somewhat cumbersome in the past.

Carrefour’s digital retail blog to share its

In order to reduce complexity of these

initiatives in e-commerce, data, digital

processes, we decided to split work with

in-store, tech and sustainability, world-

countries in two: We maintained strong

wide. “Our colleagues from all over the

instruction on large projects and made

world are proud to share their experi-

countries more accountable on the rest,

ences and their projects on Horizons. We

what we call ‘tactical envelopes’, while

are receiving very positive feedback from

maintaining global visibility on the budg-

both employees and digital profession-

ets and strategic areas of change with a

als that visit our blog on a regular basis!

semi-automated global tech dashboard.”

It is a great way to communicate about

This approach makes it possible to answer

Carrefour’s digital transformation while

both the need of agility to countries and

getting all of our countries onboard,” says

the need to maintain strict strategic direc-

Zoe Bordelon, project manager in charge

tion based on the Group objectives with-

of Horizons.

out creating too much bureaucracy.”

An important part of the new way of

This digital transformation, and the extensive work being carried out at

thinking is the establishment of a more

Carrefour relies heavily on the human

expressive working culture where employ-

touch and its rich pool of talent. “We

ees are encouraged to speak up about

are making a very strong effort to bring

their work and the wider industry and

onboard the best talents in tech, whether

trends. “We don’t want our people to be

it is developers, data scientists or archi-

shy in speaking up about tech or data,”

tects,” explains González. “Our aim is to

says González. “We want Carrefour to be

find and attract the best digital experts!

the coolest place to be today and we want

For example, we are proud to have among

our employees to feel happy and proud

us top leaders such as Alessandra

with regards to their work.”

Grendele, CIO of Carrefour Italy, and

This is the goal of Horizons by Carrefour.

Gabriela Stanica, CIO of Carrefour

Nobody thought Carrefour could openly

Romania, who both joined us pretty

speak about cutting-edge digital inno-

recently. There is a very rich set of digital

vations, but the important point is that

and tech talent here at Carrefour making

change is happening, and people are

all this happen. For me, it’s a constant

not shy to speak tech or data anymore.

source of inspiration that is really helping

Horizons, launched in October 2020, is

to change this company.”

Carrefo u r

Zo e B ord e lo n G ro up P ro j e c t M a n a g e r Ho r i zon s

www.theinterface.net

53

Business Goals vs Business Purpose

how to combine them for success

Written by Gayle Carpenter

Director of creative agency, Sparkloop

Look at the following Business Purpose Statements – which brands do these belong to?

• To bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete in the world (and everybody is an athlete).

• To empower creative exploration and self-expression • Build the best product, cause no unnecessary harm, use business to inspire and implement solutions to the environmental crisis.

The three brands chosen for this exercise are brands which successfully combine their business goal with their business purpose and make it look easy, (Nike, Apple and Patagonia respectively) but for many businesses, there isn’t a balance between the two.

What is the difference between a goal and purpose?

Business goals are what a business

business goal. Purpose is more of a long-

anticipates accomplishing in a set period

term investment; it doesn’t necessarily

of time, usually a three-year cycle,

provide you with quick wins but helps

compared to your business purpose,

to build brand loyalty and the emotional

which is the reason you have formed your

connection and trust with your custom-

company and can be, as demonstrated

ers. The disparity comes when you have

above, explained in a single sentence.

to balance playing a long game when you

If you tell your staff or customers that

have two/three-year business objectives.

you want to achieve double digit growth

Inevitably therefore, some businesses

and dominate your industry, it’s not

find it very hard to understand purpose,

going to encourage them, but is a classic

fail to see the value in it and are sceptical,

B usi n e ss goals vs b usiness p ur p os e

particularly Stakeholders who have it

Brand purpose is not a fad

ingrained in them to make profit the prior-

Most of us can remember our school

ity. They might question that purpose

motto such as ‘honour and integrity’ -

doesn’t necessarily have an ROI against it

these gave us value and purpose, and this

and initially question why it is important.

works in parallel with business purpose.

But when you look at some of the

Whilst the pandemic has seen a spike in

world’s most powerful and successful

the popularity of brands with purpose, it’s

brands, they have found that balance and

not just a fad and the last few years has

as Steve Jobs once said, “If people have

seen a significant rise in the success of

a greater sense of purpose, profit will

brands with an innate brand purpose.

follow.”

Unilever backs this up with examples www.theinterface.net

57

from their own brands, explaining that “In

they are genuine activists for change and

2018, our 28 Sustainable Living Brands

this has always been the case.

– those taking action to support positive change for people and the planet – grew

Every business needs a WHY?

69% faster than the rest of our business.

In the wake of the pandemic, many busi-

That’s up from 46% in 2017.”

nesses are reassessing their strategies

The Cone/Porter Novelli survey found

and as a result are thinking hard about

that 66% of consumers would switch

their brand purpose. But how does this

from a product they typically buy, to a new

translate for the b2b sector, for busi-

product from a purpose-driven company

nesses who don’t have a consumable

while purpose-led brands saw their valu-

product and who talk more prominently

ation surge by 175% over the past 12

about business goals?

years, versus a growth rate of just 70%

All businesses, no matter the sector/

for listless brands uncertain of their role.

product/service, need to start with the

(Kantar 2018).

WHY? And for this reason you need to

Purpose isn’t something you advertise; you don’t commercialise it, and that’s why

implement the top-down business model.

The mistake a lot of people make is

it’s such a hard concept to understand

they want a website and a social media

but as the stats show, businesses need

campaign and that’s fine but what are you

to find a way to entwine the two if the

going to say? These businesses know

business hasn’t grown organically with a

what they need to do but they don’t know

defined purpose.

how to do it. People who start from the

The examples of companies that really

bottom up haven’t identified their brand/

demonstrate the power of purpose have

strategy/purpose and there is a whole

been built from the ground up, where

piece of work that needs to be done

purpose is embedded in everything they

before they can produce something that

do. It has been intrinsic from day one.

captures the hearts and minds of their

Ben and Jerry’s is one of the best examples of this. They are activists who sell ice cream; they never set out to be so

staff and their audience. People won’t engage if there is no WHY? Starting with a single idea at the top and

successful but the reason for their popu-

then making the right decisions to forge

larity, why consumers buy into them and

ahead and flow down through the busi-

why there is such brand loyalty is that

ness enables you to position yourself, to

B usi n e ss goals vs b usiness p ur p os e

www.theinterface.net

59

create the right tone of voice and to identify your audience and your deliverables.

Another classic mistake is just tacking on some kind of charity or ‘do good’ angle to make it look like brand purpose; consumers will see straight through it. Even global giants make mistakes as demonstrated by the 2017 Pepsi advert featuring Kendall Jenner. This was a prime example of a brand trying too hard. What was meant to be a message of unification had to be pulled and apologised for (‘We missed the mark and we apologise’ – Pepsi) due to public backlash.

Does it matter if we don’t have a brand purpose?

Well, yes! People are more likely to buy into you if you have a brand purpose and if you don’t, you will let other people occupy that space and this is where the challenger brands will come in and dominate.

Consumers will connect with other brands over yours and the result is that you won’t achieve your goals and you won’t grow your market share, which is proof again that brand purpose isn’t just about being nice and fluffy, it actually and actively works towards achieving your brand goals.

Apple still remains true and its purpose lives on. People have come and gone from the business, but the core remains the foundation of the entire business and its unparalleled success.

And let’s face it, we’d all like a slice of that pie!

B usi n e ss goals vs b usiness p ur p os e

www.theinterface.net

61

POOR VISIBILITY AND SILOS BETWEEN TECHNOLOGY AND BUSINESS: HOW DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION IS STILL FIGHTING A LOSING BATTLE A brief look at the Digital Transformation Progress Report from Digital.ai as it explores the state of digital transformation in their business during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Written by Written by

Dale Benton Dale Benton

Fi g hti n g a losing batt le

www.theinterface.net

63

D

igital transformation; two words

business concern? A recent survey from

that we have heard countless

Digital.ai, the creator of the industry’s

times before and two words

leading value stream platform, looked at

that we will continue to define the busi-

the current state of digital transforma-

ness landscape for many years to come.

tion in over 600 enterprise, IT, Security

We’ve covered in these pages topics

and Business decision makers. The

such as; change management, break-

Digital Transformation Progress Report

ing down siloed working, AI, automation,

is perhaps more important now than

agility, speed, innovation - the list goes on.

ever before, thanks to the challenging 12

But where do we draw the line between

months brought upon by the COVID-19

just another buzzword and real, critical

pandemic. So what did we learn?

Fi g hti n g a losing batt le

Seeing is believing

revealed a wide range of issues relating to

Visibility, be it into the planning processes

digital transformation, including concerns

and the alignment of software develop-

about ROI, security, and the ability to

ment or the delivery processes to busi-

compete in today’s digital environment.

ness objectives, was identified as ‘critical

The overwhelming majority (99%) of

to driving better business outcomes.’ This

leaders agreed that organisations need

perhaps is no real surprise, but more than

visibility into business planning processes

half reported issues providing that visibil-

to produce better outcomes, but only

ity and alignment, calling in to question the

62% said they can provide that visibility

long term success of today’s digital trans-

and 34% admitted they are doing poorly

formation initiatives. The research also

at providing visibility. Additionally, 94%

www.theinterface.net

65

State of Digital Transformation 22%

95%

91%

56%

49%

need more from their digital transformation initiatives

say their digital transformation is going well

of organizations completed their digital transformation

32%

are concerned about ROI on digital transformation investments

say they still have a lot to accomplish

are not seeing the results they expected

The Impact of COVID-19 92%

of leaders believe their organization has responded well to the pandemic

COVID-19 impact on the alignment between business and IT value streams

31%

47%

16%

5%

1%

Large impact

Some impact

Not much impact

No real impact

Not sure

Stakeholders are positive about their progress...

Organizations believe they are doing a good job...

95% 93% 92%

...protecting customer privacy

...Yet most still have concerns The majority of organizations are worried about.. ...releasing security vulnerable products

63%

...misaligned goals across business, IT, and security

57%

...failing to meet customer requirements

54%

...staying competitive in an increasingly complex market

...creating new value to grow and expand their business

Fi g hti n g a losing batt le

of respondents said organisations need

Stop and consider for one second; what

software development and delivery to be

do you know about the concept of ‘value

better linked with business objectives,

stream management’? How much do

but only 54% said their Business, IT, and

you know about it and how much should

Security teams are strategically aligned

your team know too? In the survey, 94%

and working toward the same goals and

of respondents said they are familiar with

objectives. What’s more, 78% of leaders

the concept of value stream management,

said COVID-19 has further impacted the

and 95% believe their organisation is defi-

alignment between business and IT value

nitely or probably practicing value stream

streams in their organisations.

management, only about half (53%) of

When discussing the report,

the organisations said their business and

Derel Langone, Heat of Strategic

software value streams are very aligned,

Transformation at Digital.ai, said that while

and just 60% say their organisations are

Agile and DevOps tools are in a position

very customer centric. So it’s fair to say

to enable visibility and alignment possible,

that, while there are rumblings in the value

there’s still a certain degree of complexity

stream management discussion, there

that stands in the way of true visibility.

remains no clear consensus on what

“Scaling to the enterprise is far more complex, as organisations must break down silos and manage teams of teams

value stream management means to the enterprise.

In a study from Gartner it’s predicted

that embrace different cultures, tools,

that “by 2023, 70% of organisations will

and systems,”he says. “We’ve found that

use value stream management to improve

in large enterprises that succeed at true

flow in the DevOps pipeline, leading to

digital transformation, business and tech-

faster delivery of customer value and the

nology teams work collaboratively to

use of value stream delivery platforms to

define value and drive outcomes. These

streamline application delivery will grow

companies typically organise themselves

from 10% to 40%.”

in terms of value streams, employ an

So what does this mean right now for

open approach to sharing information,

the enterprises of today? Well, 98% of

and leverage enterprise-grade solutions

survey respondents reported they are

that offer full visibility and rich, predictive

likely to use a platform that connects

insights across the entire organisation.”

software delivery processes to business

Understanding the value stream

objectives and provides insights needed www.theinterface.net

67

to make decisions that increase value

doing more of the right things efficiently.

delivered to customers, and 63% said

Automation and Value Stream platforms

they would be very likely to use such a

can go a long way to help organisations

platform. So change is happening.

overcome key obstacles and enable them

Alan Brown, Author and Professor in Digital Economy at the University of

to achieve more of the intended results of digital transformation.”

Exeter specialising in agile approaches to business transformation, noted: “The

A few additional findings...

gap between investing in business trans-

Most leaders said digital transformation

formation versus reaping the benefits

was going well at their organisation, but

has always existed but has been height-

the survey also found the majority have

ened in the last year. At the heart of it,

serious concerns about the state of

digital or business transformation is not

their programs:

about doing everything faster, but about

• 9 1% said they need to get more out of

Fi g hti n g a losing batt le

their digital transformation initiatives, • 4 9% are not seeing the results they

the majority of leaders said their organisations have responded well to the

expected from their digital transfor-

situation. However, when asked, more

mation initiatives,

than half (55%) are concerned about

• 56% are worried about the return

their organisation’s ability to respond to

on their digital transformation

change and their ability to compete in

investment,

today’s digital environment (54%).

• 63% are worried about releasing security vulnerable products, and • 54% believe problems with digi-

Don’t just take our word for it...

Access and download the full findings

tal transformation have hurt their

of the Digital.ai ‘Digital Transformation

company’s bottom line.

Progress Report’ visit: https://info.digital. ai/digital-transformation-progress-re-

With regard to the COVID-19 pandemic,

port.html www.theinterface.net

69

Claro: A digital transformation of a giant enterprise We speak to Cesar Augusto Dos Santos, Director of IT and CIO of giant Brazilian Communication Service Provider Claro, regarding its digital transformation at scale, as the company enters an exciting new phase of its evolution…

Written by

Andrew Woods

Produced by

Craig Daniels

Cl aro

www.theinterface.net

71

A

ll major Communication Service Providers (CSPs) are undergoing unprecedented

transformation. With a constantly evolving technological scenario and customer expectations for an increasingly connected and disruptive world, Claro Brazil has been working hard to improve the experience and engagement in all its channels in a truly customer-oriented experience.

Currently, there is no longer a notion of ​​Information Technology that is only concerned with reducing cost and efficiency or availability of its systems. It is necessary for modern enterprises to innovate and modernize their platforms as well as implementing more connected and collaborative operational models with the entire ecosystem and its stakeholders. The impact of technology on organizations is currently the driving force for business transformation, contributing to the acceleration or disruption of business, thus creating new revenues and

digital first, Claro offers integrated solu-

products for a transformational journey.

tions for connectivity, entertainment,

As a leader in telecommunications

productivity and digital services in a truly

in Latin America and one of the largest

convergent way, joining fixed and mobile

multiservice operators in Brazil, Claro

platforms, thus firmly establishing itself as

Brazil is present in over 2,000 Brazilian

a leader in Pay-TV and broadband while

cities with its networks providing services

being the fastest growing operator in

to over 96% of the population. As the

mobile services, offering 5G connectivity

world continues to become increasingly

with Dynamic Spectrum Sharing (DSS).

Cl aro

Innovation is key for Claro Brazil and in

technology area in the years that

2017, the company decided to put Cesar

preceded his management, due to the

Santos at the forefront of Information

integration of Claro, Net, and Embratel,

Technology. Along with over 25 years of

which today is Claro Brazil, the chal-

experience in Information Technology

lenge was duly launched. “What bothered

and 20 years working in telecom at Claro

me most was that the technology area

in Brazil, Cesar was handed the challenge

could go beyond cost control manage-

of transforming the technology area.

ment and systems availability, to a value-

With so many changes in the

added and customer-centric positioning, www.theinterface.net

73

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Besides this particular series, another big news is how the Telco and Media industry is currently undergoing a network transformation by adopting a single unified, open, standards-based network automation and service orchestration platform to manage its virtual network services over multiple clouds and network resources.

All of this with the help of Microsoft technology.

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mmunications perspectives out Another major current event concerns the inclusion of 16 new attributes by the Microsoft Dynamics 365 Telecommunications Accelerator, extending and customizing the capabilities of the Microsoft Power Platform and Dynamics 365 products to enable telco-specific application design and development.

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ct us:

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And finally, Microsoft is now enabling telecom operators to rapidly develop, deploy, and monetize cross-industry edge, IoT, and other services. The offerings are IoT Plug and Play, a technology that enables automated device configuration, and Microsoft Azure IoT Central, a hosted managed app platform.

For other more specific cases, there is Microsoft Azure Edge Zones, Azure Stack Edge, and Azure IoT Edge or Azure Sphere guardian modules.

Microsoft Microsoft w w w.th e in teTechnology r fa ce . n eCenters t 75 Consulting Services

and with collaboration between stake-

services. It is a new operational model

holders throughout the organization,”

that crosses the entire organization.”

he told us from his Sao Paulo office.

Claro’s digital transformation journey

“We wanted to build a new architecture

started in 2018 with an ambitious and

and a sustainable operational model to

transformational Enterprise Architecture,

drive the digital transformation. At the

with a cloud platform-oriented, data-

end of the day, digital transformation

driven mindset, API-First approach that

is not just about technology, it’s about

challenged a decoupling of its legacy

the culture, people and mindset.”

system. “We introduced new digital BSS/ OSS platforms that allow us to improve

The transformation journey

not only revenue and market share, but

Transformation at scale, at a large

also new services to our customers,”

company like Claro, is not easy.

Cesar explains. When Claro started

According to Cesar, if Claro was a

this agile transformation five years ago,

startup, its challenges would be very

it was, according to Cesar, not a very

different. “Although a startup’s mindset

well-structured program, prompting

is needed to push some digital initia-

the introduction of a scaled process.

tives, and we are following this path, we

“We started from the CEO down, a very

also need to consolidate and maintain

well-structured program and last year,

the availability of our current platforms

we started Going Digital, which is a prod-

as we transform Claro’s business.”

uct-oriented process. They’re look-

Many network-based communications service providers are now

ing for the value-added services that we can provide to our customers.”

several years into their agile journeys,

Another big challenge was to change

but most have not yet achieved scale.

people’s mindsets and to implement an

CIOs leading enterprise agile adoption

enterprise agile culture by adopting a

need to address resistance associated

product mindset, promoting collabora-

with culture, processes, and a lack of

tion and trust, while coaching people

transparency. “In fact, these are chal-

through the change; an exercise that

lenges that we face on a daily basis,” he

requires discipline. “We know that

says, “and at the moment we are look-

Amazon, Spotify and Netflix have been

ing to scale our transformation jour-

using this methodology for at least for

ney with a view of product-oriented

10 years now, and we believe that we

Cl aro

“ They understand that we must pivot IT from an operational department to a business partner, value-added and customer-centric positioning mindset” — C e s a r Au gu sto Dos Sa ntos D i re c tor of I T and CIO, Claro Brazil

www.theinterface.net

77

Cl aro

could have, as an enterprise company

Sourcing program with procurement in

or enterprise big tech company, this way

order to select real trusted vendors to

of working to launch new products.”

keep an eye on relationships and cost

One of the outcomes of the trans-

efficiency. “We’ve developed our roadmap

formation was the creation of a multi-

management in terms of how we stra-

year program: a Strategic Plan based

tegically make changes in a flexible and

on six pillars: Operational Excellence,

agile way, based on market conditions

Cost Efficiency, System Consolidation,

and business needs,” Cesar explains.

IT Modernization, Research and

In a year when the COVID-19 pandemic

Innovation, and New Agile Operational

caused an unprecedented crisis, 2020

Model. “To keep the core business

was a challenge that Claro Brazil success-

running we selected some traditional

fully overcame as it released brand new

pillars as Operational Excellence, Cost

services enabling a new e-commerce

Efficiency and System Consolidation,”

platform for the B2C segment, an API

Cesar reveals, adding, “but using a key

Management that enabled them to decou-

approach to speed up the transfor-

ple the Core and launch new services

mation with these three new pillars: IT

on digital channels, a complete ecosys-

Modernization, Research and Innovation,

tem for sales and customer service, new

and New Agile Operational Model. With

services for the B2B segment explor-

that approach, we started enabling

ing its monetization data with Microsoft

some new platforms in a cloud-based,

Azure Analytics components, and broad

API-first approach along with micro-ser-

implementation of collaborative compo-

vices to speed up new products.”

nents based on Azure. These are just some of the goals Cesar and his team

Trusted partners

achieved in 2019 and 2020. “Another

Another important aspect to developing

important aspect of the transformation

a digital transformation, especially in an

is a Data and Analytics Strategy, and we

enterprise as large as Claro Brazil, is the

have a dozen Tier 1 and Tier 2 partners

successful selection of reliable partners

and vendors helping us during this digital

who bring the experience of dozens of

transformation. Another trusted partner

similar sizable projects to enable speed

is helping us in that journey is SAS with

and assertiveness to the journey. For

its Analytics platforms across the multi-

instance, Claro developed a Strategic

ple use cases we have implemented.” www.theinterface.net

79

Right people on the bus

at the vendors and business partners

Cesar and his team performed an impor-

to ensure Claro was partnering with

tant part of this transformation through

the right strategy, program roadmap

the building of the strategic plan and

and truly best-in-class organizations.

the pillars of the transformation that

“As a leader we must encourage the

closely aligned to the corporate stra-

teams to perform the best results they

tegic plan. “They understand that we

can, but I never said: ‘I am the Boss!’ The

must pivot IT from an operational depart-

most important thing to keep in mind

ment to a business partner, with a value-

is that you need to be side by side with

added and customer-centric mind-

your team and do it together. Leaving

set,” he reveals. With that in mind and

barking orders and guidelines will only

the right talent and leaders in position,

take you away from your team and help

Cesar shifted his focus to look closely

everyone lose. The way is always to listen

Cl aro

to your employees’ dialogue and build

whenever necessary, adapt processes

together the best solutions. As a leader,

so that its employees can always create

you must act so that your team gets into

new solutions for the situations that will

synergy, so the skills and abilities of each

arise along its trajectory. When we rede-

member are enhanced. Do not restrict

signed our IT headquarters I encouraged

creative freedom. Perhaps this is one

the team to design, develop and imple-

of the most important lessons. Be very

ment a new work environment where we

careful not to strangle your employees’

could adopt the new mindset. The result

creative capacity with too many rules

was phenomenal. They created a truly

and plastered processes. Yes, processes

collaborative environment on their own.”

are important if you want to have quality management, but they are not everything.

Talk about partnership with business

Your company needs to have agility to,

To deliver best-in-class services for the www.theinterface.net

81

company, a partnership with main stake-

Claro. Maurício Santos, Claro’s Financial

holders was fundamental to develop

Services Director explains: “IT, therefore,

new products. With that approach,

started to gain a new face, with an eye on

Cesar and his team started to develop

the business, looking for innovation and

new collaborative ways of working with

new values to meet the expectations of

them. So, at the beginning of 2019, the

the digital driven market and to be in line

pillar of Research and Innovation raised

with a new customer profile, eager for

the idea to build a Digital Wallet for

convenience. In this renewed journey,

Cl aro

costs of collection and commissions, in addition to attracting and retaining customers for Claro, with intelligent use of data, customer experience, and digital engagement, connecting customers to the best solutions. In a marketplace concept with banks and FinTech to create value for Claro’s digital ecosystem, Claro Pay was launched in March 2021 after a business simulation process between Nov-20 to Jan-21.

Mauricio explains: “To my positive surprise, the technology team was already working on finding new business opportunities with a lot of technology, with Design Thinking and agile methodology. So, we designed Claro Pay together. IT’s vision, from the beginning was profoundly important to the project. In all phases of the project, IT work with a business mindset, partnership, and not only as an executor.”

Continuing this transformation, in 2018 Claro started a customer-journey focused strategy launching a IT had an important business partner.”

Claro Pay is an app with a digital

program initially called Customer Experience Center (CEC) followed by

account and mobile payments, created

SOLAR, “that means the sunshine of

with the objective of democratizing

Claro and a broader meaning for the

the use of payment services, eliminat-

real Customer-oriented approach”.

ing unnecessary bureaucracies and

Claro offers its cable and satellite

making financial services available in a

Pay-TV services, fixed and mobile broad-

safe and simple way. It aims to reduce

band, fixed and mobile lines, in addition to www.theinterface.net

83

value-added and financial services. “With

analytical engines based on machine

all these services, and a fragmented

learning, and the use of robotiza-

architecture coming from companies like

tion. The micro-services-based archi-

Claro, Net, and Embratel, we needed to

tecture allows Claro to launch new

create something innovative and disrup-

features faster than ever, bringing the

tive that could bring speed and at the

greatest result for the business.

same time would bring total adherence

The project is based on a Digital BSS

to the organization’s objectives, while

architecture using the SalesForce

focused closely on the customer.”

platform, SAS Cognitive features and

The project brought disruptive archi-

micro-services Cloud-based on the

tecture and decoupled Claro from

Google/APIGee platform and provides

its legacy systems (CORE Systems),

to the customer its product personal-

using technologies based on cloud,

ization and offer greater adherence in

“ We assess whether the best journey with the greatest value for the customer and the return for the organization is in line with the main objectives of the program” — C e s a r Au gusto Dos Sa ntos D irector of I T a nd CIO, Cla ro Bra zil

Cl aro

the retention and monetization of new

According to Gartner, a global consul-

acquisitions. “SOLAR aims to unify a

tancy firm, by 2024, 25% of large tradi-

360 ​​v iew of our customers, in a journey

tional enterprise CIOs will be held

centered on their experience, person-

accountable for digital business oper-

alized in all services. In this journey,

ational results, and by 2023, over 50%

we want to personalize their experi-

of employees in lines of business will

ence with Claro,” Santos enthuses.

be technology producers. This means

“The product objectives are reviewed

that IT is becoming more strategic and

quarterly, and we assess whether

a large and crucial part of the business

the best journey with the greatest

growth. “At Claro Brazil we have IT lead-

value for the customer and the return

ers joining business strategy teams as

for the organization is in line with the

Product Managers (PM) to develop and

main objectives of the program.”

deliver more value to the business and

www.theinterface.net

85

customers. This is some-

by investing in a special-

thing that is changing in

ized Big Data & Analytics

a real-world of transfor-

Centre (or CBDA in

mation, as technology

Portuguese) focused on

becomes the business.

accelerating the adoption

Enterprises are optimiz-

of big data, machine learn-

ing their approaches to

ing and AI. Additionally,

strategy, governance,

CBDA is responsible for

and operating models

data security and data

to reflect the long-term

governance; important

prospect of ongoing

disciplines that consoli-

turbulence, uncertainty

date and disseminate best

and transformation.”

practices, while setting

One of the key charac-

the rules of access for

teristics of organizations

each type of data such as

that have adapted well

sensitive and non-sen-

to this turbulent environ-

sitive customer data.

ment is that they accel-

The CBDA is a multidis-

erate efforts to break

ciplinary team composed

down operating models

of data scientists, data

and the organizational

engineering, statistics,

boundaries as well as

big data tech experts,

those related to role.

cloud experts and telecom experts. The team is

Data-driven journey

organized into Analytics

In order to reach the

Squads, acting in prior-

market’s expectation for

itized use cases or

high quality services and

complementary trans-

customer convenience,

formational project team

such as new payment

that require data and intel-

methods, cloud comput-

ligence to improve their

ing and IOT, Claro started

results. To succeed, the

its Data Strategy in 2017

CBDA only prioritizes use

Cl aro

www.theinterface.net

87

“ We have completed our mission planned for 2019 and 2020 with great success, but we know this is not enough” — C e s a r Au gusto Dos Sa ntos Di recto r of I T a nd CIO, Cla ro Bra zil

cases that can be measured financially.

home or on the antenna. In these cases,

Successful use cases include credit

algorithms are transformed into APIs

score algorithms, the location of best

to easily integrate with legacy systems,

offers that match with the customer’s

BOTs and RPAs, thus closing the cycle

profile and consumption habits, and eval-

of automation and auto-learning.

uations of the best places to expand the

The CBDA also generates business

net, evaluate the best places to open new

value to B2B clients, as the intelligence

stores and identify why some places or

created to solve internal problems is

devices (smart phones or modems) have

transformed into APIs which are exposed

poor network signal quality – in order to

in the Claro Insights Portal. Using the

take appropriate action. The actions can

CBDA, Claro utilizes its Datalake, which

automatically reconfigure the device or

has a big volume of data (+20 Petaytes),

open a work order to a technician who

to create the portal of intelligent solu-

can fix the problem at the customer’s

tions that optimizes decision-making

Cl aro

while contributing to better results for

of services available. As a cloud-based

the company’s business. With an intuitive

product, the portal is available 24x7,

interface that facilitates the onboard-

and can be accessed from anywhere

ing of new customers and the hiring

and at any time through any device.”

of new services, the portal provides,

“They can then manage this consump-

through its showcase, the documenta-

tion with payment methods available

tion and internal processes of how to

directly at the portal. Until now, we had

contract, use and manage the consump-

long cycles in the development of new

tion of services. “The customer can

intelligent data services and, little inno-

monitor the consumption and perfor-

vation, directly affecting time-to-mar-

mance of the contracted products

ket for a solution to create, publish and

through analytical dashboards,” says

manage the services. To build this journey

Cesar. “For Claro, it is easy to manage

we always had a great support from SAS

its customers and make new releases

and Microsoft as Trusted Partners. Doing www.theinterface.net

89

Cl aro

things in a collaborative way of working was fundamental for the success.”

Claro: The future and a solid foundation The digital transformation, well underway at Claro Brazil, lights the way to an exciting future for the Brazilian telco. “The future is here and now, and we believe we have delivered a solid foundation to continue delivering value to the business and transforming Claro Brazil to continue building upon and unlocking the door to greater innovation through a best-in-class Information Technology function,” Cesar enthuses. “We have accomplished great successes so far and have more to achieve. We have a 3-year strategy plan (TRANSFORMA_TI) that establishes where we want to be in this period of time, and this gives us the right way to capture the benefits of the transformation as soon as possible.”

“We have completed our mission planned for 2019 and 2020 with great success, but we know this is not enough.

The journey is only starting as our environment is very dynamic, technologically fast and perhaps will never end as we are also constantly evolving and always seeking excellence within our sector.”

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Practice makes permanence

The importance of employee education for remote working

Practi c e Makes Per manence

As we look back on a year of remote working, what are some of the bad IT habits we’ve picked up? and how can we work to shake them?

Written by Kumaravel Ramakrishnan, Product Manager at ManageEngine

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umaravel K Ramakrishnan Product Manager at ManageEngine

I

t’s hard to believe that it has now been over a year since many employees in the UK working from home. What

used to be an exception has now become the rule across many sectors, and after more than 12 months, employees may feel like they’ve gotten the hang of working remotely. Likewise, enterprises and their IT teams may feel they have mastered the management of remote work.

However, while many say practice makes perfect, the reality is that practice just makes permanence, and this applies to the bad IT habits many home work-

ers may have adopted during the last 12 months, such as repeatedly accessing their company’s network from insecure devices and networks. When restrictions begin to ease, enterprises that

to reduce the chances of IT vulnerabil-

continue allowing remote work or adapt

ities becoming exposed. The latest

to hybrid working models may find

ManageEngine research shows that

employees choosing to work outside

IT teams found effective user training

their homes using unsecured public

and knowledge management to be the

networks, such as those available in

greatest challenge of the first lockdown,

coffee shops and cafes.

so it’s clear there is still work to do.

With this in mind, enterprises need

There are a number of steps IT teams

to ensure employees are correctly

can take and recommend to employees

educated on security best practices

to help avoid vulnerabilities.

Practi c e Makes Per manence

Share the risks of open Wi-Fi networks

presents hackers with easy access to

Using work devices on open Wi-Fi

Hackers can even place themselves

networks and accessing business

between an employee and the connec-

networks through open Wi-Fi should be

tion point, giving them access to all the

banned as part of company policy, and IT

information the user is sending across

teams must ensure they are communicat-

the network, such as sensitive emails

ing this regularly to employees.

and security credentials. With this infor-

Network connections on public Wi-Fi don’t require authentication, which

unsecured devices on those networks.

mation, the hacker can then access the organisation’s systems by posing as the www.theinterface.net

95

employee. Unsecured public Wi-Fi can

off file sharing in the device’s control

also be used by hackers to distribute

panel can also prevent files on the device

malware to devices using the network.

from being extracted by hackers.

If company policy allows users to usually connect to open Wi-Fi, employ-

Secure the remote work standard operating procedure

ees should only connect to business

Wherever employees are working

networks through their own hotspots,

outside business premises, the stand-

which should be set to undiscovera-

ard password policies should be

ble so the connection remains private.

enforced, again with regular commu-

Employees should also be encouraged

nication to ensure up-to-date knowl-

to use a virtual private network connec-

edge. Users should be kept informed

tion when connecting to public Wi-Fi, as

about the latest iteration of password

this will provide strong encryption of the

policies, which should come recom-

employee’s data. They can also select the

mended from an IT security adminis-

“Always use SSL” option in their browser

trator. Frequently reminding users of

settings to help keep their connection

these policies will help keep primary

secure and safeguard their data. Turning

networks secure and encourage good

work in public spaces where they would

Practi c e Makes Per manence

password habits.

Two-factor authentication should

service desks. One recent study found that 30 percent of people find reset-

be implemented wherever possible

ting passwords to be hugely stressful.

on all systems, software, and devices.

According to Gartner, 20 to 50 percent

Employees should be encouraged to

of annual help desk tickets are for pass-

use long, complex passwords. It’s been

word resets, and the average MSP

reported that a 12-character password

that serves 1,300 users wastes nearly

takes 62 trillion times longer to crack

$10,000 per year on managing pass-

than a six-character password. Using a

word reset tickets.

combination of uppercase and lower-

Although regular password resets are

case letters, numbers, and symbols

important and helpful, account secu-

will also reduce the chance of hackers

rity should be reinforced through other

successfully guessing their way into a

means as well—such as using tools that

user’s account.

enable mobile device management, priv-

Many organisations require users to

ileged access management, and remote

regularly reset their passwords, but this

password resets. Log monitoring tools

can have a negative impact on produc-

can also be implemented to detect

tivity and place unnecessary strain on

anomalous account login activity.

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Practi c e Makes Per manence

Only allow logins from secure devices

outline the type of personal devices

When working remotely, it’s more compli-

which employees are entitled to use

cated for employees to get any hard-

those devices, and the corporate data

ware issues resolved by the IT team. With

that they can access from them.

no backup company devices immedi-

employees are allowed to work on,

Organisations can optimise personal

ately available, users will likely switch to

devices in line with their BYOD policy by

using a personal device if they encoun-

implementing mobile device manage-

ter problems with their work device. In

ment (MDM) software. An MDM solution

this scenario, businesses face the same

allows an organisation to create their own

issues they could encounter if they have

app catalogue, which can help minimise

a bring your own device (BYOD) policy in

vulnerabilities on employees’ devices. In a

the workplace.

work-from-home scenario, an MDM tool

More often than not, personal devices

helps IT admins resolve or troubleshoot

will lack a suitable level of security

issues remotely in real time. Monitoring

compared to company-supplied devices.

content on devices, keeping operating

Employee-owned devices may be

systems updated, and deprovisioning an

running outdated antivirus software,

employee’s device when they leave the

contain known vulnerabilities that have

business can also be easily achieved by

not been patched, or be infected with

implementing efficient MDM software.

malicious software. A keylogger, for example, can allow a bad actor to steal a

Not all habits are bad

user’s login details in a single use.

While the bad habits outlined above

Not only should employees be

should be actively discouraged, repeated

educated about the dangers of using

behaviours can be useful for the IT team

unsecure devices on business networks,

when it comes to understanding vulnera-

the IT team should also have a preventa-

bilities and figuring out how to solve them.

tive procedure in place that allows users

By applying a machine learning process

to quickly get hold of a secure backup

known as user and entity behaviour

device should hardware issues arise. A

analytics (UEBA), the IT team can contin-

robust BYOD policy should also be put

uously monitor user and device activ-

in place to safeguard corporate data

ity. This allows the IT team to develop a

from personal devices. This should

baseline of regular activities to measure www.theinterface.net

99

user and device behaviour against in order to detect anomalies. Once an anomaly is flagged, the IT team can investigate the unusual behaviour and either educate the user that triggered the event or prevent an ongoing attack. This may be as straightforward as setting a “normal pattern” for folders used by an individual and flagging an instance of the user accessing folders out of the ordinary as a possible abnormality.

Looking ahead With the end of UK restrictions in sight, what is clear is that the future holds more remote work, even when normal life does resume. Because of this, it’s important that IT teams act now to ensure employees are educated on IT security best practices and reminded of security policies on a regular basis.

Monitoring behaviour and identifying anomalous activity can help to prevent unauthorised access from bad actors, but this can be challenging without the right tools. UEBA automates much of this task for the IT team and will become increasingly valuable in keeping business networks safe, wherever employees are logging in.

Practi c e Makes Per manence

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