April 2015 Business magazine for IT professionals / ictnews.be/one
On/off
what if the lights go out?
In practice Luminus has sent out 30% fewer payment reminders since it went for an automated approach.
Dossier
The Internet of Things Does your pet’s bowl automatically reorder his favorite food? By 2020 there will be about 50 billion devices online worldwide. New business models will be created. Their added value will define your company’s success.
Welcome
“The Internet of Things has arrived” With the likes of 4G and Wi-Fi, mobile communication, these days, is omnipresent and easily accessible. This means that it is but a small step to connect more than just your smartphone or tablet to the Internet. Your car, thermostat and refrigerator are going online, along with parking meters, elevators, waste containers and traffic lights. And no, this is not a futuristic fantasy. The technology exists.
and IT service provider into the equation. At the same time, we are developing an ecosystem with our technology partners. So with Proximus, your company has a point of contact that can answer all your questions relating to the Internet of Things. We are always close to the Internet of Things too! Enjoy reading!
This edition of One magazine is completely dedicated to the Internet of Things. We take a close look at what could be a major opportunity for your company in the future. The same rule applies to the Internet of Things as to other concepts: it is not the technology that counts but the added value it can bring to your business. With the Internet of Things we are evolving, more than ever, towards business models that are based on cooperation. For our part, as Proximus, we are putting our expertise as an operator
– Bart Van Den Meersche, Chief Enterprise Market Officer Enterprise Business Unit Proximus
Trends
Long-Range network
Coffee Copter
The eye as a password
Getting millions of machines to talk to each other: that is the challenge of IoT. The LoRa technology is Long Range and will exist alongside current networks, such as Wi-Fi and 4G, to connect millions of objects to the Internet. LoRa will be mainly used to connect sensors that run on batteries and to send data over long distances. The batteries in such sensors will last ten years.
‘A Lab’, an Amsterdam business center for innovation, has revealed a novelty. Employees can now order coffee through an app. The coffee is prepared and brought to the right employee using a drone. Using object recognition and movement detection, the drone avoids people and obstacles. Once it has arrived at its destination, the Coffee Copter lands and gives the employee a sign that the coffee is ready.
According to Gartner, in 2020 80% of smartphones and tablets will be unlocked using new biometric codes: facial recognition via the camera, voice recognition via the microphone and even recognition of the specific movements of an individual via accelerometers. Fingerprints are comparable with a traditional, fi rst-generation password of 6 characters and, in the future, could be too weak to be used securely, according to Gartner.
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SPOTTED | Water-repellent metal
Water-repellent metal Dancing drops Water drops that fall onto a piece of metal without splashing: it’s the result of a technique that’s been developed by scientists at the University of Rochester in New York. Professor Chunlei Guo and his colleague Anatoliy Vorobyev use lasers to engrave patterns in the surface of metal. This makes the surface so waterrepellent that water drops bounce off it like tiny rubber balls. This new technique could be used to keep planes free of ice. > www.rochester.edu
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April 2015
In this issue VISION
TALKING HEADS Q+A Jacques Rossler, CIO of the Saint-Luc (UCL) 11 Vision Chris Borremans, CIO at Komatsu Europe 36 In team Christophe Vanneste and his team at Mensura 38 Q+A Ellen Van den Berghe, Digital Channels Manager at the Belgian National Lottery 06
11 “On track for driverless bulldozers” Chris Borremans, CIO at Komatsu Europe
DOSSIER
19-28
SOLUTION Cheaper surfing abroad 14 On/off: what if the lights go out? 07
IN PRACTICE
30
State Office for Annual Holidays “In our transition towards the New Way of Working, ordinary employees would get desks alongside the executive board – a considerable culture shock.”
The Internet of Things Eefje Vanhullebusch and Katia Deboel on the Proximus ecosystem for IoT, 7 managers talk about opportunities and challenges, and Arne Jansen and Jonathan Huyghe discuss added value as a success factor.
A publication of Belgacom nv Year 9 / number 23 / Q1 2015 Publisher: Bart Van Den Meersche, Koning Albert II-laan 27, 1030 Brussels Coordination: Charline Briot, Markus Eggermont, Robbin Sacré, Jean-Marie Stas, Dirk Van Dijck Contributors: Andrew Beavis, Klaar De Groote, Robert Doran, Davy Goris, Isabelle Latour, Frederic Petitjean, Anneke Stoffels, Dries Van Damme, Frank Van den Branden, Filip Van Loock, Cis Van Peer. Concept and production: Propaganda nv, Imperiastraat 16, 1930 Zaventem, www.propaganda.be For more information, contact: Robbin Sacré robbin.sacre@proximus.com Nederlandstalige versie: Mail naar robbin.sacre@proximus.com om een exemplaar van dit magazine in het Nederlands te ontvangen. Version français: mail à robbin.sacre@proximus.com afi n d’obtenir un exemplaire de ce magazine en français. The technical specifi cations are indicative only. Belgacom reserves the right to make changes without prior notifi cation. Like to know who your Proximus-account manager is? Surf to www.proximus.be/mycontacts
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IN PRACTICE RQM IoT in the lift 16 EDF Luminus Laura calling 30 State Offi ce for Annual Holidays Move to the New Way of Working 33 Club Brugge Wi-Fi in the stadium 39 Walibi Communication with direct impact 08
SCOOP New smartphones BlackBerry Classic and Microsoft Lumia 435 29 The Internet of Things Flic and littleBits 32 Book review ‘The Phoenix Project’ 18
ALSO INTERESTING… Technology Red alert in cyber war 22 Infography The race to IoT 40 Proximus News Proximus Night of ICT, the Channel Awards, the LoRa Alliance, Storygrams and Geert Rottier 42 Column Are domotics taking over our diary? 10
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TALKING HEADS | 7 questions for Jacques Rossler, CIO of the Saint-Luc (UCL)
“ I want 48-hour days so I can find a better balance between work and family.” Jacques Rossler CIO – Saint-Luc University Hospital (UCL)
What is your biggest professional achievement at Saint-Luc? In 2014, we migrated to IP telephony. We replaced the traditional telephone system by Wi-Fi phones. To do that, 1,500 antennas were installed. At the moment, we are using 1,000 Wi-Fi phones. By the end of 2015, that will be 1,600 devices. The e-mail systems were also migrated to Exchange. We transferred 6,000 e-mail accounts without losing a single e-mail.
Who would you like to sit next to on an aeroplane and what would you like to ask him or her? Next to Steve Jobs. I would like to know exactly what he did when he went back to Apple to change the company culture. And I would ask him which criteria he based his decisions on when deciding which projects to implement and which not.
What does your staff not know about you? Personal Jacques Rossler is a no-nonsense manager. He listens attentively to advice but makes the decisions himself. He thinks it’s perfectly normal that he should carry the can for good and not to good results. Career Jacques started his career in September 1996 as Consulting Manager at HP Consulting. By 2008, he had spent four years as IT manager at Rainbow ICT Services. Afterwards, he became manager of the department applications used in depots throughout Europe at Toyota Motor Europe. Since 2012, he has been CIO for the Saint-Luc University Hospital in Brussels. Company Saint-Luc is the university hospital of the UCL in Brussels. In order to provide the best care to patients with unusual and serious diseases, multidisciplinary centers are involved. The research department is very highly rated. Employees More than 5,000 people work in the Saint-Luc at Sint-Lambrechts-Woluwe. Nurses, medical and paramedical staff are constantly undergoing training. The ICT department there has 68 employees. 6
That while I was studying at the ULB, I set up a private security service. We were responsible for the security of dignitaries at VIP parties and other events organized by the Polytechnic faculty. The service was so very successful that even the authorities of the university used it.
You can’t go a day without …? I can’t be without my family, who I see too little. I’d like to go diving more often with my sons. I really like skiing with the whole family.
Which person or event made your career take an important turn? In the years 1998-99, Linda Quartier at HP Consulting gave me the job of developing the business solutions department. It was the first time that someone gave me a task that combined my managerial skills with my commercial approach.
What would you be doing if you weren’t doing this job? Then I would probably have become a doctor. When I was eight, I wanted to be an engineer, oddly enough. But when I had to choose a course of higher education, the doubts crept in. Incidentally, there are many doctors in my circle of friends and I think it’s a very interesting profession.
What is your favourite app of the moment? Pulse.me is an app that screens my favourite websites and puts together an interactive mosaic on the basis of the subjects that interest me. April 2015
SOLUTION | Two attractive packages for mobile surfing when abroad
Cheaper surfing abroad
Since 1 July 2012, fixed maximum standard rates have applied to roaming in Europe. Proximus wants to make surfing abroad even simpler and cheaper. That way, everyone can continue to work and communicate without any worries. In addition, system administrators are better able to track the levels of usage.
M
obile surfing is more than just a trend while on a (business) trip. It should be possible to look up something quickly anywhere, any time, to follow up on work and communicate with employees and customers. With a mobile device such as a smartphone, tablet or laptop, you simply have your office with you in a handy format, and nobody even needs to notice that you are not in the country.
Warning when usage exceeds the limit Given that the costs for this sometimes used to result in rather unpleasant surprises, the new European legislation forces providers to set a block on your data traffic as soon as the cost exceeds € 50. You also get a warning once you are at 80% of the maximum volume. Proximus introduced two packages with which you can now surf even cheaper while abroad. Package for intensive travelers For individual use, there is Travel Mobile Internet. You get a mobile data volume of 300 MB per month in Europe, Albania, ictnews.be/one
China, Japan, New Zealand, the USA and Switzerland. This is the ideal solution for employees who wish to be productive wherever they are, without having to worry about the cost of using their mobile. With this package, you also get a warning if the cost is higher than € 50 or you have consumed 80% of your maximum volume.
Shared data volume The Shared Data Roaming packs are intended for a whole group of employees. As an IT manager, you can subscribe to a set data volume for an unlimited number of employees. Individual activation is not necessary. Your employees use the volume according to the principle ‘first in, first out’. The size of the total roaming volume can vary from 5 to 60 GB per month, which can be chosen according to your company’s needs or the number of travelers. The roaming rates for these packs apply in all European countries, Albania, China, Japan, New Zealand, the US and Switzerland, plus Brazil, Canada, India and Russia. Blocking and warnings about the subscriber’s usage cannot be communicated individually.
Business benefits • Carefree mobile working abroad • Higher productivity • Satisfied employees
More info Activate a roaming option before you leave today via MyProximus, or contact your account manager.
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IN PRACTICE | RQM builds monitoring on m2m factory
IoT in the lift The lift no longer works. It’s very annoying for those trapped in it and frequently expensive for whoever has to foot the bill for the repair. RQM measures how lifts are performing and submits a report on this to owners and tenants.
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ifts are surprisingly unreliable. According to figures from TÜV, a German safety inspection company, one person gets stuck in each lift per year on average. If the same figures apply for Belgium, at least 77,000 people would experience such a frightening experience every year. “That’s a logical consequence of the way the lift business works,” says Lars Odlen, General Manager of RQM. “The builder of an apartment or office building chooses the lift. The deciding factor for the builder is the cost of purchase. However, it is the subsequent owner of the building who pays the maintenance contract.” For that – often costly – maintenance, the owner gets little in return. That is proven by the large number of break-downs happening. Odlen comments, “The annual invoice is the main form of communication between the maintenance company and the owner of the building.”
Detailed reports We can do better though, in RQM’s opinion. The company has developed LiftLog, an application that connects the lift to the Internet. The LiftLog is a small m2m device that collects data about the lift and sends that by means of GPRS to m2m factory – the m2m platform that is a service of Proximus. From there the data is transmitted via a VPN tunnel to the cloud-based backbone of RQM, where the analysis of the data takes place. Based on that analysis, warnings, alarms and reports are sent to the owner of the lift. Odlen notes, “For an owner seeking to sell or lease his building, it’s important that he can show concrete, correct data about the lift to a potential client.” The data collected by LiftLog includes data about the number of movements of the lifts and the doors, the number and the duration of the 8
About RQM RQM (Remote Quality Monitoring) is entrepreneur Lars Odlen’s new company. The business has a team of three permanent employees, seven consultants and a network of subcontractors. RQM is based in Brussels.
April 2015
interventions by the maintenance company, the number of times the emergency button was used, etc. Such data supports the dialogue with the maintenance company, which can improve the function and possibly lower the costs for the owners and tenants.
Roles reversed The owner has better oversight of the operation of the lifts via the information derived from LiftLog. Odlen comments, “If it’s apparent from the reports that only four of the six available lifts are being used, then the owner could choose to close two of the lifts in rotation. That way he can save on maintenance and increase the lifespan of the lifts.” In addition the LiftLog reports allow the owner of the lift to reverse the roles. “Currently maintenance companies sell contracts with a fixed number of service visits per year. That’s not very efficient, in light of the large number of breakdowns and people that get trapped in a lift every year.” Instead of paying for maintenance, the owner could choose to reimburse the maintenance company according to the uptime of the lift. It is a nice example of how the Internet of Things could completely change a business model. Proactive is positive RQM makes the information about a lift accessible to the owners. But the reports could just as easily help the maintenance company to improve their service. “Compare it to the maintenance of a car: the distance driven determines which actions are necessary. If you measure the intensity of the use of the lift, you’re much better able to proactively provide maintenance and reduce the risk of breakdown,” points out Odlen. Undoubtedly to be continued.
Lars Odlen is a Swedish serial entrepreneur. In the 1990s he moved to Brussels when the lift company Kone moved its head office there. Over the past 15 years he has started and later sold six companies. He started RQM in 2014.
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Business benefits
More info
• Data collection and analysis • Accurate reporting • Proactive maintenance
Surf to www.proximus.be/m2m or contact your account manager.
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TECHNOLOGY | How do Advanced Persistent Threats work?
‘Advanced Persistent Threats’ is the buzzword in the world of security today. But how do these threats work? Bart Callens, Product Manager ICT Security at Proximus, explains.
Red alert in cyber war
T
he first step of advanced malware is to target a victim (an individual or organization) and send some malicious or phishing mail or infect (so-called waterholing) websites. This is known to most of us. But what happens next is scarier. The second step is to bypass your protection mechanisms. You may have firewalls, antivirus systems, proxy servers and so on. They scan whatever passes by to find ‘signatures’. These are typical pieces of code that can harm computers. The trick is to hide the malicious code. Today’s attackers split up the code over different pieces of content: Javascript on the webpage with a little piece in the picture in jpeg and a little piece in a bitmap separator line or sometimes in a font of MS Office. Once downloaded, one of the pieces will use a weakness in the software to activate itself and reassemble itself. At this stage we have the ‘shell-code’ as it’s known: software hiding some other software. The final step here is to decipher itself, or even to download, with regular FTP, the real malware.
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The next step is to nest itself deeply in the software on the computer. The malware checks it is not running in a ‘sandboxed’ environment. The first thing it has to do is get administrator rights by using a vulnerability in the OS. Then the malware can hide itself on the disk, in the registry, in applications, in documents or even in the bios or in firmware. The malware will also ensure it can restart every time the computer is restarted. The malware will also ensure it cannot be erased by nesting itself deep in the OS. You will need to perform a hard reinitialization and reformatting of the hard disk to completely wipe out the virus. In order to be 100% sure malware
doesn’t come up again, you may be forced to destroy your existing hardware. Another trick to avoid easy erasure is to spread itself to other computers, where the process starts all over again. Also, advanced forms of encryption of related network traffic are used in order to stay under the radar. Finally, if the attacker, from its command and control center, suspects that the malware is going to be detected, it may command the malware to go to sleep or even completely erase itself and all traces of itself. The final stage is the evil-doing stage. This may be the exportation of the targeted sensitive data. This involves getting in touch with the command center, where the evil-doer will give a ‘go’ to do what the malware was originally intended for, most of the time this is about the exfilitration of sensitive or financial information, but it could also involve other harmful actions such as wiping the disk, executing a denial of service attack on a given target, destroying whatever is connected to the computer, etc. The malware may be sitting there for months before it is triggered by the command center. Is there a solution to this? Advanced malware is disguising itself very well, so it becomes impossible to rely only on end-user vigilance or standard security solutions. The only way to defend your computer is to make sure your security solutions track all emerging threats and by complementing your existing prevention technologies with advanced detection and incident response. As this requires advanced security skills, your best bet may to rely on managed security services from organizations that deliver continuous security on a real-time, 24/7 basis. April 2015
VISION | Chris Borremans, CIO at Komatsu Europe
Komatsu Europe uses IT to develop off-road machines and to improve and accelerate industrial processes. In doing so, CIO Chris Borremans is riding the wave, balancing between the demand for innovation and the rather traditional nature of the market.
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t Komatsu, IT can be found in two strategic locations. “Over the years IT has expanded rapidly as a component of the machines that we build,” says Chris Borremans. “Excavators and bulldozers have more IT components than ever incorporated in them to measure performance and collect data about use and wear and tear.” At the same time, IT has developed into an indispensable element in the development of the machines. Borremans provides the example of a holographic representation of a new driving cab, intended to optimize the ergonomics of the design. “That was very convincing,” he says. “This way IT has a major impact on the lead time of the design cycle, a result of which is that we can go into production faster and the machine can be brought to market quicker.”
“On track for driverless bulldozers” Chris Borremans has worked for Komatsu since 1991. He started his career there as ICT infrastructure manager. Later he moved on to become European ICT manager. Since 2003, he has been CIO for Europe. Komatsu is a Japanese manufacturer of off-road machines and vehicles. The company manufactures excavators, bulldozers and dump trucks for the construction sector, the road-building and mining industries. About 90% of the production is built-to-order. In Europe, Komatsu’s assembly sites can be found in Italy, Great Britain and Germany, as well as other countries. The European headquarters are in Vilvoorde.
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VISION | Chris Borremans, CIO at Komatsu Europe
Traditional working gloves As the CIO, Borremans concerns himself mainly with the ‘traditional’ application of IT. “Our goal is to perfect processes and cut out unnecessary costs.” The Internet makes a lot of new stuff possible in that respect. There is an online system that links the end customers’ orders - for example for spare parts - through the dealer’s web shop to the Komatsu stock system. That results in smoother processing of the orders, shorter delivery deadlines and, consequently, differentiation with respect to the competition. “At the same time we also need to be realistic about the rather traditional profile of the end-users of our machines,” says Borremans. “They are generally people who are working on a site or in a mine, wearing large working gloves. It’s not always easy to fit the use of tablets and smartphones into that world.”
New era For the end customer, the IT built into the machine doesn’t make the difference just yet. “The Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) remains the most important argument when making the purchase.” Yet the CIO receives more and more questions from R&D. Borremans: “The questions are about how we can close the feedback loop.” This means IT is gaining an important role. On the one hand, it’s responsible for collecting data about the use of the machines, such as oil temperature, rpm, number of movements, etc. Those data come from hundreds of built-in sensors. On the other hand, IT provides the analysis of the data and its conversion into useful information for the business. “It’s information that R&D could use to solve recurrent failures for example, or that the purchasing department can use to predict the demand for specific components.”
The smart machine Through its connected machines, Komatsu ends up in the world of the Internet of Things (IoT) and big data. Borremans: “As CIO, you have to make the necessary preparations for that. At present we are seeing an upsurge in the demand for data storage.” Currently, Komatsu is already using the data from machines and the associated analysis to provide extra services to the customer. If the system spots a problem with the oil temperature, then the customer gets the advice to plan a service. “In the near future, we will really be able to speak of a smart machine, where we can control and adjust the machine remotely on the basis of the collected data.” In an analogy to the driverless car, there will probably be driverless dump trucks and bulldozers in the future. “We are just at the beginning of a new era. In about twenty years’ time, we’ll be shocked by all the possibilities.”
3 tips for the CIO
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1 Think of the value for the company …
2 …exaggerate but don’t either
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“Technology for the sake of technology adds nothing,” is Borremans’ view. For this reason he recommends that every proposal for an IT project should be examined very critically. “If the idea adds value, then you can, nevertheless, learn much more by digging a bit deeper. If the value is rather doubtful, then further analysis of the proposal will probably bring new insight into particular risks.” At that point, doing so is certainly not a wasted effort, even if the project doesn’t get a green light in the end.
Borremans explains, “Some projects are, from the IT perspective, very interesting but don’t add enough to the business. We don’t need to bother with them.” However, as CIO, you have to avoid ending up in an environment about which IT staff are barely enthusiastic. “Consequently, you have to allow employees to have an iPhone, even though BlackBerry would possibly be better for essential business functions, such as e-mail and diary. Those sorts of things can sometimes be a breaking point for some employees. As CIO you mustn’t be too rigid about things either.”
Borremans notes, “At Komatsu we don’t allow ourselves to be influenced by trends and hypes. What interests us primarily is what technology can add to the company. We’re quite happy to use an old system for video conferencing, but when it comes to a system to monitor stock levels of spare parts, we go for the very best.”
Keep a cool head
April 2015
“ We’ll soon be talking about smart machines and controlling our dump trucks remotely.”
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SOLUTION | Ensure your business continuity in case of power cuts
On/off what if the lights go out? It’s important that your organization is well prepared for a power cut. The keywords here are inform, collaborate and availability.
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t is vitally important that you inform your customers, staff and suppliers properly about impending power cuts. Both in advance – when a power cut is planned – as well as during and after an unexpected blackout. With Crisis Communication Manager of Proximus, you can send out messages via an online environment to your staff, customers, etc. You define the communication channel – telephone, text or e-mail – per target group and set up the procedures in advance. The software is accessible via an Internet connection, so there’s no need to install anything locally or make major investments. Crisis Communication Manager can even be activated online, via an app or by simply sending a text message with a specific code word. So that is all you need if your own systems are no longer working.
Rerouting incoming phone calls Informing is one thing. The work needs to carry on too, even during a power cut. Customers and suppliers must still be able to contact you. The Voice Managed Services (VMS) of Proximus operate in normal circumstances to always answer phone calls from your customers via
Proximus-datacenters immune to power cuts An announced power cut or blackouts have no impact on the availability of the Proximus-datacenters. Thanks to the autonomous and abundantly available power supply, they never lose power. Customers can therefore always count on the continuity of the service. > Surf to www.proximus.be/powercut for further information.
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April 2015
rerouting, both quickly and professionally. During a power cut, you can, using VMS Call Center, reroute the incoming calls to your company via the network to a different fixed or mobile number. That keeps your company contactable and keeps your image and customer satisfaction ratings intact. Another possibility within the VMS range of services is the Disaster Recovery Solution, a full backup for your Proximus telephone services or your contact center. Your organization then continues to receive calls that would normally be lost when disaster strikes, without you needing to make any modifications to your existing IT infrastructure.
Flexible diversion to a different location Proactive companies that already ensure optimal business continuity and productivity, will have a lot of possibilities to hand that can be deployed successfully during a power cut. Employees who have a connection that allows them to work at every location and with every device, can work somewhere else just as efficiently as at the office. Proximus has a variety of options for getting that properly organized in a secure manner. The Proximus
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Explore network is the basis for a secure network within your company. It links all your locations and employees within the country and abroad. Flexible working at each location is then absolutely no problem; videoconferencing makes collaboration with colleagues or external contacts more efficient. It is also interesting to offer connectivity, communication and/or devices as a fringe benefit. That is possible with the Starter Packs for Employees, Mobile for Employees and Devices for Employees. In combination with teleworking solutions such as Explore teleworking, Mobile Intranet and Virtual Desktop (VDI) it provides a work environment that is just as well secured and provides the same performance as back in the office.
A backup of everything Remote working can only take place if the operating systems and data are always available. That can be done with the Disaster Recovery-as-a-Service (DRaaS) from Proximus. With this, you not only keep a backup of the data but also of the complete operating environment, including the physical or virtual servers. Because it is a cloud service,
the solution is rapidly available in a flexible manner, without investment in one’s own infrastructure and management. In the event of a power cut, the backup can serve as a fallback. This means that the users can keep on working without any problems. Every user’s environment can be rapidly repaired with the Office Recovery service.
Business benefits • Assured business continuity • High customer satisfaction • Mobile employees
More info Get in touch with your account manager to fi nd out how you can best ensure the continuity of your business.
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IN PRACTICE | EDF Luminus sends out payment reminders by phone
Laura calling Reminding customers about unpaid invoices is a delicate operation. Energy supplier EDF Luminus turned to Proximus to make this process more customer-friendly, simpler and cheaper. ‘Laura’ offered the solution.
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In the past, payment reminders were sent to EDF Luminus customers in the traditional way. Seven days after the due date of the invoice, a first reminder was sent by letter, an expensive and time-consuming procedure. “After we were taken over by EDF, we looked at how they were sending out reminders,” says collection manager Tim Kusters. “They had a system that they called Julie Tag: an automatic phone call to customers in which a voice informed them that their invoice was overdue.” EDF Luminus was interested in the solution, but wanted to extend it with text and e-mail possibilities.
Laura-call “We then contacted Proximus, where we were already clients, and asked whether they could provide such a solution. Together with their partner, The RingRing Company, it could be in operation very fast.” In January 2014, the first tests were done with a computer voice, but that drew negative customer responses. For that reason, the decision was made to work with human voice actors. “We call our system Laura-call,” says Kusters. “Now we make a friendly phone call on the second day after the due day in which we remind the customers of the outstanding invoice. We also give them the chance to create a direct debit. If the phone is not answered after three attempts, we send a text message. If we don’t have the customer’s mobile number, he gets an e-mail.” Money-saving The results of the new system are spectacular. “After a Laura-call, we have to send out far fewer additional reminders than previously, which means a lot of money saved on postage and paper. Our contact center also has to deal with far fewer questions; fewer than 1% of the customers contact us as a result of a Laura-call. 16
The response from customers is also positive: we are sometimes even thanked because we saved them from additional costs. EDF Luminus also regards the service as a free service for its customers,” Kusters explains, “instead of a stern reminder for customers who pay late once in a while.”
Trump case – ease of use To get the system to do its thing, almost no intervention on the part of EDF Luminus is needed. “We only have to upload the customers’ data to the SFTP server in the morning and then our job’s done. All the rest happens automatically.” EDF Luminus pays a fixed rate per call with an additional rate per second for the calls. “That rate per call is negligible,” says Kusters. “And the price per second is also better than expected. If they go through the whole script, we have the customers on the line for 90 seconds at the most. To give you an idea: this system costs us one-fifth of the old system by letter. So it’s been a really good investment.” Miss Belgium gets more work In the future, EDF Luminus wants to roll out the system more extensively, for instance, to collect missing data from customers, arrange changes of address and answer customers’ questions. But where did the name Laura come from? “Well, the system needed a name and during one of the brainstorming sessions, I suddenly thought about the former Miss Belgium - Laura Beyne,” says Kusters, laughing. “Since then it’s been called Laura. Laura Beyne probably doesn’t know it, but she already called more than 100.000 of our customers.”
About EDF Luminus EDF Luminus is the main challenger on the energy market in Belgium, with approximately 20% market share. The company serves private individuals and SMEs as well as industrial customers, with great attention to customer satisfaction, rewarded by the VREG with the maximum of 5 stars.
More info Save 80% in less than a month by sending your payment reminders by phone. Mail to SMSapplication-sales@proximus.com
April 2015
“ The reminders by phone cost us one-fi fth of the old system by letter.” Tim Kusters has been working at EDF Luminus for 12 years, initially in the Legal Recovery department and for the last 2.5 years as Debt Collection Manager, for both the B2C and B2B markets.
Business benefits • Script and set-up ready within 3 weeks • Relieves pressure on the EDF Luminus call centers • Savings on postage and paper • Ease of use: EDF Luminus barely needs to do anything • High customer satisfaction
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SCOOP | New smartphones BlackBerry Classic
Fans of BlackBerry smartphones know why they continue to prefer that brand: a keyboard with 35 physical buttons is more productive than a touchscreen. Besides a comfortable azerty keyboard with 4 rows of keys, the BlackBerry Classic also has a square touchscreen that works as a track pad. The 4G phone with fast web browser is one of the most secure phones on the market. The 8-megapixel camera with the option of filming in full HD won’t disappoint either. The phone works with the latest BlackBerry operating system that can also cope with Android applications so that a wide choice of business programs is available. You can find them in BlackBerry World and in the Amazon App Store. The phone is a real, personal digital assistant that supports all forms of messaging.
Processor: 1.5 GHz Qualcomm dual-core Snapdragon Operating System: BlackBerry 10 Memory: 2 GB RAM, 16 GB storage, micro SD to 128 GB Screen type: 3,5” LCD capacitive multi-touch touchscreen
Screen resolution: 720 x 720 Talk time: 11hr (2G); 17hr (3G) Stand-by time: 14 days Dimensions: 131 x 72 x 10 mm Weight: 177 g Connectivity: 4G LTE Cat4 SAR: 0,70 W/kg Bluetooth: 4.0
131 mm
Keyboard for professionals
Camera: 8 MP with auto focus rear, 2 MP LED fl ash front Optional extras: azerty keyboard, track pad, support for Android and BlackBerry apps, nano-sim
72 mm
The BlackBerry Classic is the latest off spring of the Canadian smartphone manufacturer. The starting-point remains, as ever, a physical keyboard with which you can type quickly. Microsoft Lumia 435
Anyone buying the Lumia 435 gets a lot of phone for a modest outlay. This user-friendly, durable telephone works using Windows Phone 8.1, and is ready to be upgraded to Windows Phone 10 when it becomes available. Popular apps such as Twitter, YouTube and Flickr can be used and the mobile versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote and Outlook. Internet Explorer 11 is included, of course. The 4-inch LCD touchscreen is good for 480 x 800 pixels. You can choose from several covers in cool colors. The Lumia 435 is compatible with OneCloud Storage and ideal for using mobile device management applications.
Processor: 1.2 GHz Qualcomm dual-core Snapdragon Operating System: Windows Phone 8.1 (upgrade to Windows 10 provided) Memory: 1 GB RAM, 8 GB storage, micro SD to 128 GB Screen type: 4” LCD capacitive multi-touch touchscreen
Screen resolution: 480 x 800 Talk time: 21hr (2G); 11hr (3G) Stand-by time: 21 days Dimensions: 118 x 65 x 12 mm Weight: 134 g Connectivity: 3G HSDPA+ SAR: 0,58 W/kg Bluetooth: 4.0
118 mm
Entry model with ambitions
Camera: 2 MP rear, 0.3 MP front Optional extras: available in white, black, green and orange; camera supports geo-tagging
65 mm
Despite its low price, the Lumia 435 has a modern control system, a well-fi lled app store and a trendy appearance.
Surf to www.proximus.be/devices or visit a Proximus Center to choose your new mobile device. 18
April 2015
Dossier
The Internet of Things The new opportunities offered by IoT are infinite … Interview
Eefje Vanhullebusch and Katia Deboel talk about the design of Proximus’ ecosystem for IoT.
20 Infographic
The race to IoT
22 ... but added value continues to define the success of new business models and modified processes. 90 minutes
Companies seek answers to customer needs in IoT.
24 Over to the experts
Arne Jansen and Jonathan Huyghe, CUO KU Leuven: “The end-user decides, not the application.”
28 ictnews.be/one
19
DOSSIER | IoT through the eyes of Eefje Vanhullebusch and Katia Deboel
The sensors and networks to link any device to the internet are available and affordable today. Nevertheless, the Internet of Things does not escape from the cast-iron law that defines the success of new technology: where is the added value?
T
he expression Internet of Things (IoT) has developed into a bit of a ‘one size fits all’. Putting it simply, what is implied by IoT is the broad range of new possibilities that arise when we fit devices, machines and other things with sensors and link them to the Internet. In 2020, it’s expected to involve between 30 to 50 billion devices worldwide. Forecasts for Belgium talk of 80 million things that will be connected to the Internet, or an average of 7 to 8 devices per person. The opportunity offered by IoT lies not so much in the fact that things are connected but rather in the use of the data they pass on and how that will serve as the raw material for completely new applications. IoT can provide more comfort, ease of use and security.
Components are ready “We can think up all kinds of applications,” says Eefje Vanhullebusch, head of IoT & Advanced services at Proximus. “A sensor on the door of the toilet in an office building records how often the toilet is used. That can allow the owner of the building to organize the servicing of the toilet more efficiently. Or take a sensor that indicates when a refuse container is full. This allows you to avoid the refuse collection service coming for a container when there’s hardly anything in it.” These are just two examples of applications that are perfectly realizable at present. The connectivity is available (including via Wi-Fi and 4G), just like the sensors (including batteries with a long life span) and the platforms for applications.
Who is ready for the Internet of Things?
20
April 2015
Belgium leads the way The first applications of IoT have already hit the market, including remote control heating and lighting. The expectation is that more and more smart applications will continue to appear. “For the management of our mobility for example,” explains Katia Deboel, Lead Manager M2M Product & Solutions Marketing at Proximus. “A sensor could measure the number of vehicles at a traffic light and pass on the data to an application. That regulates the lights depending on how busy the traffic is.” Belgium is, in general, pretty innovative when it comes to IoT matters. “Sometimes the legislation is a defining factor for the accelerated adoption of new applications,” states Deboel. “In the construction sector, for instance,
the statutory registration of employees at a site permits a simple calculation of the travel allowance and mileage allowance.”
wants to accelerate the transformation of the customer by pushing forward the right building bricks and partners.
Thinking process starts now In practice, IoT is running ahead of the legislation in many instances. It’s expected that new rules could accelerate the breakthrough of applications. “It does seem at times a bit futuristic, but the era of IoT is already very close,” says Vanhullebusch. “That’s why it’s important for companies to start thinking now about what IoT could mean for them.” Their competitors are doing the same. It is in this context that Proximus is molding and marketing itself as a technology partner for the complete concept of IoT – and not only for the connectivity aspect. Proximus
Ecosystem “We are developing an ecosystem with several partners,” says Deboel. “It enables us to analyze the customer’s idea, to define the needs and then bring in local partners to come to the right solution. It is important in this that the added value for the enduser – and therefore also for the provider of the service – is always a top priority.” “An IoT project only makes sense when it’s been preceded by an exhaustive thought process,” Vanhullebusch concludes. It is not enough to install a few sensors here and there. “For IoT, everything stands or falls with a watertight business case.”
Eefje Vanhullebusch (right) is head of the Internet of Things & Advanced Services department at Proximus. She heads a team of 35 employees. Katia Deboel is Lead Manager for M2M Product & Solutions Marketing at Proximus. She leads a team of Product & Solution Managers who help to develop the IoT ecosystem of Proximus.
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DOSSIER | Infographic
The race to IoT By 2020 80 million devices in Belgium will be connected. New business models, based on machine-to-machine solutions, are racing in our direction. The Internet of Things (IoT) can also offer your company added value. Don’t miss this bandwagon; make sure that you start in pole position.
1
OBJECTS
Sensors, gateways and all kinds of hardware that can be connected.
WHAT DO YOU NEED?
CONNECTIVITY
A convergent network (fixed and mobile) harmonized to the needs of your project.
SOLUTIONS
An end-to-end IoT platform that makes it possible to bring innovative solutions to market with a minimum amount of development.
Proximus m2m factory
2
WHAT SHOULD YOU INVEST IN? SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT
10% 20% 20%
50%
RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT HARDWARE CONNECTIVITY
22
April 2015
3
HOW MUCH DO YOU GET IN RETURN?
According to Cisco, in 2022 there will be about 14,400,000,000,000 60 (trillion dollars) – or 15% of the total worldwide GNP – 50 created in value globally. 40 30
80
90
100 110
70
120
3 trillion
2.7 trillion by improving logistical processes
by new business and refi ning existing models
2.5 trillion
130
3.7 trillion by improving the user experience
by increasing employee productivity
140 144
2.5 trillion by increasing efficiency
20
GROWTH IoT PER SECTOR IN 2018:
10 0
5% 2% 5% 10% 5%
49% 24%
AUTOMOTIVE & TRANSPORT CONSUMER SMART APPLIANCES WELL-BEING & HEALTH SMART BUILDINGS MANUFACTURING & SUPPLY CHAIN SMART CITIES & PUBLIC TRANSPORT UTILITIES Source: Machina Research
More info Surf to www.proximus.be/m2m or contact your account manager.
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23
DOSSIER | 7 managers around the table
90 minutes
on the challenges of IoT
The Internet of Things (IoT) requires a whole new approach. Companies not only need to go in search of applications that can provide their business with added value, but they must also reach out to various technology partners. One magazine discussed the opportunities and challenges of IoT.
24
April 2015
T
he Internet of Things links objects and devices to the Internet. The data then available about these objects forms the basis for new applications. In this way, IoT offers new possibilities in a lot of sectors. “We work traditionally with security guards who are deployed on site,” says Bart Verhulst, Area Manager Remote Guarding at Securitas. “By using IoT, we can now also carry out tasks remotely. By using cameras we can, for instance, open and close doors without being physically present on the site.” The IoT also provides the opportunity to radically revise the traditional operating model in the insurance world. “Sensors in cars can gather a mass of information, including about the distances driven and driving behaviors,” says Laurent Vauchel, ICT Architect at Ethias. “That could form the input for new types of insurance policies, including one based on the principle of ‘pay as you drive’.”
Disruption Ten years ago, GeoDynamics fitted its company cars with an application for tracking and tracing. Today the company combines that with a mobile time clock, which automates the administration of workers in the construction sector. “The in-car solution provides things like recording of commuting travel,” says Stijn Stragier, Managing Director at GeoDynamics, “as well as the recording of the hours worked per site. That simplifies the calculation of actual costs for a construction project in the central office, among other things. Thanks to the use of the connected car, employees themselves ictnews.be/one
no longer have to keep a paper record of the work done.” Remote supervision is, in the context of IoT, the biggest motivator for Beluma, distributor of mechanical components, such as electronic locks. “We see that the end-user is constantly seeking to manage more things with a tablet or smartphone,” says Pascal Thomas, General Manager at Beluma, “such as doors or locked cupboards.” But IoT is more than that. “We now need to find out – in a wider field of users – which problems we can tackle with IoT. Simple, useful and cheap solutions will result in the breakthrough of the technology,” claims Peter Joos, independent consultant in IoT applications.
Useful concepts The IoT has a lot of opportunities to offer in various sectors but, in the first place, it also remains a challenge. “As a solution tracking and tracing is not new”, notes Bart Verhulst, “but IoT makes it easier and cheaper.” Thus IoT also changes the business model of certain services at Securitas, for example, in the security of expensive cars. Verhulst comments, “We have more information, including about the movements of the car, that allows us to intervene in a more preventative manner.” Moreover, the company can also provide more and better feedback to the end customer on the basis of the processed data, for example with a report or, very specifically, with a warning by means of text messaging. This example is a good indication that we currently have all the elements needed to think up new IoT applications. There are good sensors, there is connectivity and the technology exists for analyzing data and transforming it into useful information. Joos says, “The major challenge now lies in bringing everything together and building useful concepts.” New model At the same time, there are also factors that inhibit that development. As is often the case with new technology, the legal framework is not yet sufficiently attuned to IoT. “Technology could allow us to register the driving behavior of a customer,”
Participants
One magazine invited seven managers from the Belgian business world to discuss IoT.
Bart Verhulst
Area Manager Remote Guarding at Securitas “IoT makes certain extra services easier and cheaper, such as remote guarding.”
Laurent Vauchel
ICT Architect at Ethias “ IoT offers the possibility of changing a business model – for example of car insurance – completely.”
Stijn Stragier
Managing Director at GeoDynamics “ The more history a company carries, the more difficult it is to redesign processes as a function of IoT.”
Pascal Thomas
General Manager at Beluma “ IoT is not actually about the technology. The customer doesn’t ask for IoT, but wants his/her needs fulfilled.”
Peter Joos
Independent consultant in IoT applications “All the component parts for IoT are already present. The challenge consists of combining them into new concepts.”
Alex Lorette
Director Enterprise Telco Solutions at Proximus “ IoT also requires a cultural shift. For this reason, we set up an ecosystem with several project partners.”
Katia Deboel
Lead Manager M2M Products & Solutions Marketing at Proximus “ With IoT you want to play things short, with fast pilot projects instead of complex innovation processes.”
25
DOSSIER | 7 managers around the table
says Vauchel. The question is, however, whether the customer regards the insurer getting that insight as desirable. It is just one of the examples where the possibilities of IoT clash with the boundaries of privacy. Vauchel notes, “You could also use the same technology in a positive manner, rewarding the good drivers, instead of punishing the bad. At that point in time, IoT will have a considerable impact, because the technology would completely reverse the current business model in the insurance world. Vauchel points out, “Today, an insurance premium reflects the joint risk, spread across all drivers. By measuring individually, you can segment your business better as an insurer and offer every driver a premium that is based on his/her own risk.”
Trial and error No matter how you look at this issue, it is a positive business case that defines the ultimate success of an IoT application. “IoT allows a lot of very innovative ideas to be put into practice,” says Alex Lorette, Director Enterprise Telco Solutions at Proximus. “The real added value actually often only surfaces by combining different ideas.” That is also the challenge immediately facing Proximus. Lorette: “IoT also requires a cultural shift in our company. That’s why we have set up an ecosystem with various partners, in which we can achieve concrete results on the basis of close cooperation.” The short duration of projects is typical of IoT. Long, traditional innovation processes overshoot their goal in this sphere. “With IoT, 26
“ IoT is simple and cheap. With a modest investment you can already do amazing things.” – Pascal Thomas General Manager at Beluma
Download the One app and read the digital version of this magazine. Go to the App Store, Google Play or ictnews.be/one.
trial and error is often the starting-point,” says Katia Deboel, Lead Manager M2M Product & Solutions Marketing at Proximus. “Of course, you have to take the time to prepare yourself first but, afterwards, short pilot projects are the quickest way of finding the right solution.”
Extra service Attention in this respect always goes to one thing, the added value for the enduser. “The customer, as it happens, is not actually asking for IoT,” says Thomas. “The customer asks for a certain need to be fulfilled.” Joos says, “Thanks to IoT we can, for example, offer electrical fitters an extra service during the installation. Thus the fitter can install a sensor, then link it via his smartphone to the right bit of software.” That way, IoT ensures the optimization of various processes – and thus reduces costs. “That’s right,” says Verhulst. “By offering remote support, this gives rise to extra services and we can organize our business internally to be more efficient.” Dare to innovate In the field of technology, all the elements are available to apply and use IoT. In practice, there are still some questions in relation to legislation, as well as in relation to liability. What if an application fails and, as a result, damage is caused? That also implies that the IoT drags companies out of their comfort zone. “It’s not easy to predict which IoT projects will be successful,” says Vauchel. “But doing nothing and waiting is not an option, April 2015
“ Future machines are not just intelligent, but brilliant. They are selfassured, predictive, reactive and social.” – Marco Annunziata, Chief Economist
at General Electric, member of the European Central Bank’s Shadow Council.
just ask Nokia and Kodak about that.” In other words, the actual innovation is the largest obstacle. Stragier comments, “The more history a company carries, the more difficult it will be to redesign processes as a function of IoT. When we started with GeoDynamics, there was no history to take into account. Moreover, right from the start, we’ve focused on the customer’s needs and wishes. Our solution has evolved as a result of the demands made by the customer.” The advantage of IoT here is that the financial threshold is already limited. “If it were all about expensive technology, then that would slow down everything,” says Thomas. “But IoT is simple and cheap. With a modest investment you can already do amazing things.”
Conclusion The Internet of Things is taking shape rapidly and offers a wide range of opportunities. The key question when setting up a new business model still remains: does the new model meet the needs of the end-users? The technology is available. It is the legislation that is lagging behind.
Perspective
The growth of connected objects Number of connected objects per person worldwide
Number of connected objects per person in Belgium
7.27 6.58 6.58
3.74
3.74
1.84 1.84 0.06 0.06
2003 2003 2010 2010 2015 2015 2020 2020
Your opinion matters! Would you like to respond to this round-table discussion? Go to www.ictnews.be/one or tweet @proximusict.
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7.27
2020 2020
World population: 6.3 billion
World population: 6.8 billion
World population: 7.2 billion
World population: 7.6 billion
Belgian population: 11 million
Connected objects: 500 million
Connected objects: 12.5 billion
Connected objects: 25 billion
Connected objects: 50 billion
Connected objects: 80 million
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DOSSIER | Over to the experts: Arne Jansen and Jonathan Huyghe
Arne Jansen and Jonathan Huyghe are researchers at the Centre for User Experience Research of the KU Leuven and iMinds. This center conducts applied research into the way people experience technology. Research fields include interactive TV, serious games and healthcare.
“The Internet of Things offers new possibilities, but is not necessarily the answer to every question. That’s why you need to involve the potential end-users of a solution in what you do.” That is the vision of Arne Jansen and Jonathan Huyghe, researchers at the KU Leuven and iMinds.
Added value is the key factor in success
Jansen states, “IoT is the future, we are convinced of that. And yet the majority of today’s projects see the technology as a be-all and endall. That makes sense. In the case of the tracking and tracing of machines for example, technology makes having a clearly delineated goal possible. From there, it’s just a small step to fitting all kinds of other machines with sensors and linking them to the Internet. But we have to ask ourselves whether that’s actually always the best solution.” Huyghe notes, “For instance, lots of people still associate IoT with the traditional example of the intelligent fridge. A sensor in the fridge would be able to determine that there’s barely any milk left, and then place an order automatically online. But is that a useful application? What if there are still bottles in the cellar or if I don’t need any extra milk?” Jansen explains, “Nowadays we can connect everything. It’s technologically possible and affordable. But first we have to ask ourselves what real need there is, and then decide whether IoT offers the answer with the right added value. Possibly a link to a digital shopping list would be a better idea. The smart fridge could then, for example, make suggestions when the user is making a shopping list.”
Real intelligence Huyghe notes, “What we find today in practice in terms of IoT solutions are often existing applications, with a dollop of IoT sauce, without real use or meaning. An application for home automation for example, is often just one remote control for heating and lighting. The added 28
value appears when we make that sort of application really intelligent. And that’s not always easy. Imagine: you have intelligent lighting in your home that comes on automatically when you enter a room. Then it’s impossible for your partner to organize a surprise party because the application detects people in the room and keeps the light on. In short, you can never put everything into an algorithm.” Huyghe adds,“In terms of matters like traffic management and healthcare, you can think of a myriad of practical and useful applications, such as information about the number of parking spaces currently available in town or optimization of certain processes in the town’s hospital. There are always two important conditions involved. There is a need for embedded privacy by design. Protection of the user’s privacy must be assured from the first development stage in the design, so that data about the use – and the users – of connected devices always remain anonymous.” Jansen comments, “Moreover, the application must offer the necessary agency: the final decision must lie with the user, not only with the application. IoT permits the enrichment or improvement of human behaviour, for example by automating the heating according to the user’s daily rhythm. Yet that user must be able to adjust the temperature at any time. That’s what smart thermostats offer. It can never be the intention that an application makes all the decisions independently. In other words, the user must know and understand what’s happening and be able to intervene whenever (s)he chooses.” April 2015
SCOOP | Intelligent equipment that makes life easier
INTERNET OF THINGS
The electronics around us are becoming more intelligent. Today your smartphone synchronizes with your TV, your car or fridge via the cloud, based on the IPv6 protocol. The Internet of Things (IoT) comes into existence: smart devices automatically start actions that make life more easy.
Flic
The ultimate push button Your smartphone makes your life a lot simpler as a central remote control for playing music, ordering pizza or operating your lights. Yet, you would rather not have to get out your phone, unlock it and touch the right app or buttons. With the Flic Bluetooth button that’s no longer necessary. You put a Flic button with a self-adhesive base on your stereo, the door or any fl at surface. With one push on the button, you can start a preprogrammed action such as turning down the heating, turning off an alarm or calling a taxi… Once programmed, you can leave your smartphone in your pocket. Moreover Flic is available in a complete color range.
With one press on the Flic button you start preprogrammed actions such as opening a door or phoning your partner. littleBits
Playing around with automation If you want to introduce some domotics into your home yourself in a creative and flexible way, the Smart Home Kit from littleBits is certainly worthwhile. This kit contains 14 different modules including a temperature sensor, MP3 player, wireless network module and power adapter. The modules click together magnetically so that it’s easy to design and build your own switch. You certainly don’t have to learn to program either. The range contains more than 60 different modules in total, from which you can combine millions of functions to, for instance, design your own alarm clock or have your lights respond to a handclap. LittleBits is compatible with IFTTT (if this then that). This means you can incorporate it seamlessly into popular Internet services to control your house via your smartphone.
With littleBits you can install a domotics system without any need for programming. All you need is an Internet connection.
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IN PRACTICE | Cultural transformation at State Office for Annual Holidays
Move to the New Way of Working The State Office for Annual Holidays is working hard on transforming into a modern administration. A total solution involving the New Way of Working is intended to bring about concrete changes in terms of the layout of the building, HR and IT possibilities.
About the State Office for Annual Holidays The RJV is responsible for disbursing annual holiday pay to over 70% of Belgian workers (> 1 million people) and non-selfemployed artists.
30
T
he current government building housing the State Office for Annual Holidays (Rijksdienst voor Jaarlijkse Vakantie, RJV) has been in use since the early 1980s. At that time, more than 600 civil servants worked there. After 35 years of increasing automation and efficiency the building is now – with its floor area covering 12,000 m² – much too large for the 270 people who work there. The situation is at odds with the RJV’s ambition to become a modern administration. That ambition arose with the arrival of a new general manager in 2008. Sander Bautmans, communications manager at the RJV recalls, “In line with the changes that Frank Van Massenhove had carried out at the FOD – Social Security, he also wanted a transformation in our service. The first part was the building. Several pathways were investigated: a modernization, a new building, sharing accommodation. In the end the choice was to move to a historic building in the center of Brussels, which will be renovated to suit our needs. We should be able to move in in October 2015.”
Company culture Apart from a purely physical change, the move should, above all, herald a new company culture. “Some people have been working here for 35 years, very much along the old established lines. They cling to their status and have a strongly hierarchical mentality. We want a different culture. The new building will have to be the catalyst. What’s also nice: it’s low energy and thus reduces our carbon footprint.” The open office concept is crucial to the layout. “Ordinary employees will have desks alongside the
executive board – a considerable culture shock. That way, we can stimulate interaction and collaboration between employees. For this reason, there will be cosy coffee corners, where people can meet each other informally. We are also introducing the principle of the ‘dynamic office’ where, for example, informal meetings can be held in our restaurant.” HR has a key role in this process. The RJV is aiming to have 90% mobile, flexible employees in future. At present, employees can already work two days a week at home. “The people are the ones doing the asking and, of course, getting the necessary arrangements in place, for example in the form of an Internet connection.”
Backing The other capital element is IT, providing support for the implementation of the New Way of Working. At present a pilot project with instant messaging is being run. Later, all communications will be centralized via Unified Communication with e-mail, chat, headsets and webcams. “People will no longer have a permanent desk, but they will have to be just as contactable as today. By means of document sharing, they can collaborate on projects without physically being together. We are naturally providing video conferencing as well, so that people can take part in staff meetings from their homes.” For a public service that processes confidential information every day, secure connectivity is a top priority. A secure Wi-Fi network offers employees and guests computer access throughout the entire building. Security is very important because of the confidential information managed by the RJV. All employees get a laptop, the managers a tablet. April 2015
“ The RJV is aiming to have 90% mobile, fl exible employees in future.”
Sander Bautmans was specially recruited for the project as communications manager. He has to think, along with the management, at the strategic level. He previously worked as a brand manager in a private company.
Everyone on board “It’s important that people are properly managed if we want them to embrace this process. At a later point in time, customers will be responded to in a more efficient manner. The economies and savings initiated by the new government have also played a role, although they weren’t our initial goal. People have understood that something had to happen with this energy-wasting and under-utilized building,” Bautmans concludes. The transformation process under way at the RJV is a textbook example of a switch to the New Way of Working.
Business benefits • More efficient collaboration • Better mutual communications • Greater satisfaction among employees • Cost savings (low-energy building) and reduction of the carbon footprint • Provide consultancy and training sessions for a fl awless implementation • Perfect collaboration between IT, HR and Facilities
More info Proximus offers a total package of technical solutions, support and training, so that a fl awless implementation in facilities, HR and IT can be achieved for the New Way of Working. Get in touch with your account manager.
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31
SCOOP | Book review
Why should you read it? This book explains why it seems as if the IT and the business side of companies speak two different languages. And why they don’t seem to understand each other.
What is it about? Bill Palmer has been promoted to VP of IT Operations at Parts Unlimited, a company that makes car components. Internal confl icts are run-of-the-mill there. While their competitors continually grab market share, Palmer has to get Project Phoenix, a radical ICT program that is already millions over budget and many years behind, back on the rails.
According to the IDC, by 2015 60% of CIOs will be using DevOps as their primary tool to address the speed and sprawl of the mobile cloud, as well as using open source applications.
The Phoenix Project
A novel about IT, DevOps and Helping Your Business Win Why is the IT department so frequently in confl ict with the rest of the company? How can you avoid this? A fi ctitious tale about a real problem.
32
About the authors
About the book
‘The Phoenix Project’ was written by Gene Kim, together with Kevin Behr and George Spafford. This trio previously wrote the muchpraised ‘The Visible Ops Handbook’, a book about the successful implementation of ITIL (Information Technology Infrastructure Library guideline). Kim has an IT background, but also has experience as a businessman. He is the founder of the software company Tripwire and was the CTO up to 2010.
The story in ‘The Phoenix Project’ has been written as a novel. The structure of the book resembles that of ‘The Goal’, the legendary management book by Eliyahu Goldratt. Using a fictitious approach, it too sketches real situations that every manager encounters. Through his fictional story, Kim subtly offers solutions and methods for solving problems in the professional IT world.
Kim examines the possibilities of Development Operations (DevOps), a method for developing software where communication and cooperation are essential. The book is a real page-turner, an allegory with dynamically described characters and recognizable situations. A drop of dark humor does the rest.
April 2015
IN PRACTICE | Club Brugge strengthens contact with its followers
Wi-Fi
Football club Club Brugge is intensifying its interaction with its supporters. This is being done in part via its own app and various social media in the first ever ‘connected’ stadium of the Belgian Jupiler Pro League.
in the stadium
About Club Brugge Club Brugge dates back to 1891. The club with number three as its registration number has an impressive list of awards and titles: 13 national championships, 10 cup championships and more than 200 victories in 40 rounds of European competitions.
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IN PRACTICE | Club Brugge strengthens contact with its followers
Dagmar Decramer is an economist. She worked for fi ve years as Business Development Manager at Uplace, the real estate company run by Club Brugge’s chairman, Bart Verhaeghe. Since 2012, she has been Operations Manager at Club Brugge.
C
lub Brugge appeals to a very broad range of people. In total, there are about half a million fans, which includes the supporters who regularly attend matches in the stadium and supporters at home and abroad. “In recent years we have played a real pioneering role in the communication with these different types of fans,” says Dagmar Decramer, Operations Manager at Club Brugge. “We are thus striving to have as much personalized contact as possible.” The app launched by the club at the end of last year is being used for that. “The app carries the right information to the right profiles, from the die hard fan of the Blue Army, or the father with kids that only comes to watch the match on Sunday afternoon, to the sofa supporter who follows the match at 34
home. We make sure everyone is always up to date with what’s happening in and around the club.”
Active community The figures already clearly show that Club Brugge can count on an active online community. Within the space of two short weeks, the app already had 42,000 users. In addition, the club has another 200,000 friends on facebook and 47,000 followers on Twitter. “To increase the interaction with the fans, we’ve decided to offer Wi-Fi in and around the Jan Breydel Stadium,” Decramer continues. Not a simple task, as it turned out, because the infrastructure had to be able to cope with peak moments with users in a full stadium. They are closely packed into the stands, which technically was an additional
challenge. Club Brugge undertook a market analysis and, in the end, chose the proposal made by Proximus, based on a specific solution from Cisco for Wi-Fi in stadiums.
Online during the interval Proximus installed 400 access points in and around the Jan Breydel Stadium. Wi-Fi has also been provided in the canteens and offices and on the supporters’ square just in front of the stadium. Proximus connected the access points to a fiber-optic ring. “From the initial analysis of the Wi-Fi use, we can see that the supporters go online en masse during the interval,” says Decramer. “They check facebook and Twitter, and surf to Sporza to re-watch videos of the game.” So far Club Brugge has recorded a peak of 6,000 simultaneous connections. April 2015
Schoenen Torfs offers customers free Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi network with
400
access points for
14,000
Wi-Fi among the shoes
concurrent users
23
security cameras
175
cashless payment terminals
Business benefits • Free Wi-Fi in and around the stadium • Extra service to supporters • Support for interaction between club and community • Fiber-optic network, also for security cameras and cashless payment terminals
The installation is designed to cope with 14,000 simultaneous users. In addition, 23 security cameras and 175 cashless payment terminals have been connected to the network. “In the canteens the supporters pay with an electronic debit card (Blue Club card) that they have preloaded online – or on the spot at a charging point.” That’s not only safer and faster than cash; it also provides the club with extra information that allows it to further strengthen the bond with the supporter.
More info Contact your account manager.
ictnews.be/one
Visitors to the shoe shops of Schoenen Torfs have free access to Wi-Fi. The infrastructure there is sufficient to support 500 users per hour. Torfs took the initiative when it appeared that more and more visitors tried on shoes in the shop and then ordered them from the web shop. The staff also frequently had customers asking about a specific type or model of shoes that they were looking for, and of which they then showed an image on their smartphone. Proximus rolled out
a solution at Torfs on the basis of Fortinet technology. The management and the monitoring of the Wi-Fi access is done centrally in the company’s IT department. “The shops got an extra firewall,” says Raf De Leu, IT Network Manager at Schoenen Torfs. “The customers’ Internet traffic runs on a separate network.” The network traffic generated by staff members runs via Proximus Explore, whereas Torfs sends customer traffic to the Internet.
A.S.Adventure tracks and examines number of shop visits by means of Wi-Fi
Teenagers demand Wi-Fi A.S.Adventure has provided Wi-Fi in its 45 Belgian shops and in the shop outlets in Luxembourg and France. “That way we offer our own staff extra connectivity,” says Johan Bernaerts, Group ICT manager at A.S.Adventure. “But of course, we are also responding to a clear need of our customers in this way.” The demand for Wi-Fi seems to be really high, including among teenagers. “Parents who want to take their teenagers shopping can clearly reckon on more enthusiasm when
the shop has Wi-Fi.” A.S.Adventure decided to go for a low-threshold solution on the basis of Cisco, implemented by Proximus. The anonymous information about the visitors gives A.S.Adventure insight into the frequency of shop visits and into the most popular departments of the shops, among other things. A.S.Adventure provides a maximum of 20% of the available bandwidth of his Proximus Explore-network for the support of Wi-Fi use.
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IN TEAM | Christophe Vanneste, CIO of Mensura, leads outsourcing project
Christophe Vanneste is an experienced ICT consultant who has worked for various Belgian and international companies. He has previously been employed by P&G, Canon, Fortis, Novartis and Exmar. His specialization lies in optimizing IT departments, for example during very large change processes, mergers, etc.
Jeff Geboers
David Sadin
Ronnie Van Weert
Mark Mayerson
Freddy Maetens
FROM OUTSOURCING TO
PARTNERSHIP Turning around the role of IT from cost center to business enabler is the mission of CIO Christophe Vanneste at Mensura. A large outsourcing contract with Proximus fits perfectly within that strategy.
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T
he service group Mensura has just completed a major merger with industry counterpart Adhesia. This is also one of the reasons why the company placed a strong emphasis on outsourcing nearly all of its IT infrastructure needs, according to CIO Christophe Vanneste. “The IT infrastructure constitutes a heavy component in the type of company that we are, but it’s not our core business,” he explains. “We are also involved in a substantial change process because of the merger with Adhesia. That means that outsourcing certain IT components has a certain value.” Vanneste provides a very concrete example: when two companies merge, there are also two datacenters running, one of which often becomes superfluous. Costs like that can
be a considerable burden in respect of a merger. For this reason, it was decided to renew, renegotiate and expand the existing contract with Proximus that had been running since 2007.
Risks outsourced Outsourcing, of course, has had an influence on how the IT department works. “On the one hand, a complete team has been let go but, on the other hand, a major source of worry has also disappeared,” Vanneste explains. “Having your own datacenter is more than just sticking a pile of servers in a room. You find yourself dealing with issues of business continuity, with guaranteed uptimes, high availability, redundancy and backup strategies. That demands a huge amount of resources (all sorts of hardware, but April 2015
also people with specific knowledge) and that is a very expensive business. Moreover, we also immediately outsource the risks, which is another worry that vanishes.”
Convergence With regard to team management, not much has changed since 2007, according to Vanneste. The composition of the team has more or less remained the same. That doesn’t mean that nothing is being done differently. “Communications with Proximus, for example, are much less ad hoc and more streamlined. And separated worlds such as software, telephony, communication and IT have now grown much more towards each other and are managed both by us, and at Proximus, by the same team.” ictnews.be/one
Team Mensura-Proximus At Mensura there is a five-man team that is responsible for the communications with Proximus. Vanneste is one of them. There are regular operational, tactical and strategic meetings. “There is a constant flow of information,” Vanneste reports. “Our people and the Proximus people know each other very well. Everyone has the same information at the same time and at all levels. And that goes really far, right up to future projects and the impact on the finances. However, that’s very important for the quality of our service. I also consider it as more than an ordinary outsourcing contract, this is a true partnership.”
About Mensura • Three departments: Prevention and Protection at Work (the largest department), Absenteeism and Child Benefit. Following the recent merger with Adhesia, the company has 700 employees. • Largest company in Belgium involved in organizing the prevention and protection of employees in all possible areas. • Helps employers keep their employees productive, for longer and healthier.
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TALKING HEADS | 7 questions for Ellen Van den Berghe, Digital Channels Manager at the Belgian National Lottery
Ellen Van den Berghe
“ Survive ten days alone in the desert? No, thanks. I need my daily cuddles and good conversations.”
Digital Channels Manager at the Belgian National Lottery What are your biggest professional achievements? That as the project leader at the National Lottery, I have developed together with my team a completely new website that acts as a digital hub in less than eleven months. The 35 different digital channels were grafted onto that. But also that I was involved in growing the London-based performance marketing agency Intela from a start-up with ten people into a profitable company with 65 employees.
Who would you like to sit next to on a plane and what would you like to ask him or her?
Personal Ellen Van den Berghe is demanding but divides projects into manageable tasks for her employees. She consciously acts as a buffer and translates comments into positive messages. In her spare time, she busies herself preparing tasty healthy snacks for friends and family. Career This year, Ellen was elected Young ICT Lady of the Year. Two years ago she was employed by the National Lottery to develop a communications strategy for its digital channels. As Digital Channels manager she is busy on a daily basis with ICT. Prior to that, she spent 2.5 years as Head of Product Management at Intela in London. Company The National Lottery last year celebrated its 80th anniversary. With the renewed digital communications infrastructure, the company wants to offer its players an uninterrupted customer journey. The annual turnover amounts to approximately € 1.2 billion. Employees The National Lottery organization has more than 400 employees. This does not include the people at the 4,800 external sales points with game terminals. The digital communication team has 5 permanent members of staff who are assisted by roughly 20 externals.
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Can I sit between Richard Branson and Freddie Mercury? I want to find out whether Richard Branson of the Virgin Group really is so arrogant and whether that arrogance is justified. I would also ask him what he sees happening in the next forty years. I would like to have asked Freddie Mercury how society regarded homosexuality previously and how it regards it now. I’d also like to ask how he dealt with HIV and the reaction he got to it.
What brand do you always buy? Nesquik, but that’s about the only one.
What does your staff not know about you? I am very open and don’t consciously not reveal stuff. But not everyone knows that I’ve played soccer in the second national division and that I played the flute for 13 years.
You can’t go a day without…? The Internet. But I also can’t manage at all without people. I could never survive ten days alone in the desert. I need my daily cuddles and have to be able to have a good conversation.
What would you do if you weren’t doing this job? Then I would be doing a similar job somewhere else. If I weren’t married and due to have a baby in May, I would probably be sitting in fascinating Taiwan because they are working a lot with new technology there.
What are your favorite apps of the moment? The to-do list and task management app Todoist.com. I use the digital workplace Evernote.com a lot and then, of course, there’s the Club Brugge app.
April 2015
IN PRACTICE | Walibi chooses digital signage
Communication with direct impact
Benoît Gustin is the project leader at Walibi Belgium. He started his career at the park as an events coordinator and has worked in several operational functions.
By using digital signage, Walibi communicates in a very fast and flexible manner with its visitors. This allows the public to fully enjoy their visit to the amusement park in Wavre.
± 1.2 million visitors a year and
800 employees each season
are informed via
11
screens
Business benefits • Fast and efficient communication with both visitors and staff • Up-to-date, dynamic information in real time • Improvement of the visitor experience through more efficient spreading of the crowd • Technical support for ticket sales and special events
More info Surf to www.proximus.be/digitalsignage or contact your account manager.
ictnews.be/one
Walibi The family amusement park in Wavre opened in 1975. It has since expanded, adding two amusement parks in France and one in the Netherlands. Together, the 4 amusement parks receive 2.8 million visitors per year. Walibi is part of the Compagnie des Alpes group. Giving visitors information at any time Walibi wanted to inform its visitors rapidly and reliably. During events, busy periods or days with modified opening hours, communications about the various possibilities were limited. Also, the internal communication and planning required automation, given that the offices and staff canteen are spread across four buildings. All information in real time Proximus proposed a platform for digital signage. The platform runs entirely in the cloud. Bulletins can be simply managed and introduced via a smartphone. Two large LED screens were installed on the central square in the amusement park. Nine other screens (46 inch) were positioned around the park. Information can be shown in real time. Better-informed visitors and staff Walibi now offers real-time information about the number of available tickets for events or waiting times for attractions. This means a better distribution of visitors by indicating the less busy areas. There is fast distribution of important information, such as a child that has lost its parents in the park. Modified opening hours or start times for events can be rapidly passed on to visitors. Efficient internal communication: communication by means of screens about matters like staff planning. 39
PROXIMUS | News
Geert Rottier new Director – Corporate Market O
n 2 January 2015 Geert Rottier joined the Proximus ranks as the new Director – Corporate Market. Previously, Geert had been Managing Director at HP Belgium & Luxembourg. Before that, he had gained a mass of experience in IT, sales, business development, change management and general management at Konica, General Engineering & Technologies and EMC (Filepool). Geert will lead the sales and marketing department for the corporate and public sector at Proximus.
First ‘Proximus’ Night of ICT O
n 11 December 2014, the invited guests gathered for the Proximus Night of ICT at Tour & Taxis. The theme of the event this year was inevitably the renewed image, with Proximus as a commercial main brand for fixed, mobile, IT and combined solutions. “The Proximus brand reflects our ambition to be close to our customers,” said Dominique Leroy, CEO. “By choosing a single brand, we can respond better to changing customer needs and to technological developments,” Leroy commented. Chief Enterprise Market Officer Bart Van Den Meersche told us afterwards what role Proximus can play for companies that want to get more out of trends such as the New Way of Working, Workplace-as-aService, Bring Your Own Device, big data and the Internet of Things. The evening was also spiced up with visual interludes and finished with a walking dinner. > www.proximus.be/nightofict
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April 2015
Proximus wins ICT Channel Awards
‘Storygram’ A real hit
P
roximus won three awards at the 2015 Channel Awards, which recognizes the most-appreciated IT players in Belgium. No fewer than 500 representatives from the IT world participated in the voting. During this year’s event, Proximus came first in the categories Best Telecom Carrier (for the fourth year in succession), Best Partner Program (for the third year in succession) and Best Integrator, together with RealDolmen. > www.channelawards.be
A
t the end of 2014, Proximus added extra meaning to its slogan ‘always close’ by offering its customers an app they could use to send digital cards over the festive season. It turned out to be a great success: In December 2014 more than 265,000 people received digital cards via Storygram. In addition, it led to 960,000 interactions such as clicks, likes and shares. Storygram is still available, and now has two new e-cards for birthdays. It is also possible to send a digital card with a simple animation instead of a video. > Download the Proximus Storygram app.
Proximus member of international Long Range Alliance T
Download the One app and read the digital version of this magazine. Go to the App Store, Google Play or ictnews.be/one.
ictnews.be/one
he establishment of the LoRa Alliance was announced in January at the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. LoRa stands for Long Range, the radio technology with which it is possible to monitor and operate objects remotely. The new alliance aims to ensure the interoperability between telecom operators and the standardization of LoRa technology. It makes possible all sorts of applications for the Internet of Things (IoT), where billions of objects and devices will be connected to the Internet. The members of the LoRa Alliance are suppliers of IoT solutions: IBM, Sagemcom, Cisco, Kerlink, Actility, IMST, Eolane, Microchip, MultiTech and Semtech, and telecom operators who will roll out the technology: Proximus, Bouygues Telecom and KPN. > www.lora-alliance.org
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COLUMN | Are domotics taking over our diary?
Moody in the morning
6.00 am The light in my bedroom slowly turns itself on. Every minute it’s getting brighter and brighter. It’s like being woken up by the rising sun. Today I have to leave early to pick up my boss from the airport. Because my diary and my domotics are integrated, I’m being woken on time. 6.05 am My alarm clock radio starts. There’s no escaping it: it gets louder and louder until I turn it off. I stretch and get out of bed. Downstairs the coffee machine has turned on. 6.08 am Time to wash the sleep from my eyes. I step into the bathroom, the light turns on automatically and the shower starts running.
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6.20 am Once I’m clean and fresh, it’s time for the right outfit. The screen by my wardrobe says what the weather is going to be and makes a suggestion for clothes. Not my favorite blue jacket, because I forgot to pick it up from the dry cleaner’s. The system knows the contents of my wardrobe perfectly. Simple, handy and fast. 6.25 am The fragrance of fresh coffee meets me as I walk downstairs. I step into the kitchen, put the toast that’s just jumped up in the toaster on a plate and take the last bottle of milk from the fridge. It asks me whether I want to order a new one. I answer ‘yes’, because fridges nowadays can also have a say. I enjoy my freshly made breakfast and put my plate in the dishwasher. It will start automatically this evening or tonight when the electricity is on low tariff.
6.45 am I get into the car that’s already agreeably warm. Thanks to the defrosted windscreen, I can leave immediately. The route to the airport has been programmed automatically. The car talks to me the moment I close the door. “Welcome Jan, ready for the trip to the airport?” “Yes, give me the fastest route.” “You are in luck, you won’t lose any more that 15 minutes anywhere on the ring road around Brussels.” That’s a bit of luck. I start the car, drive quickly backwards out the drive and … find myself facing a lorry that is blocking the entire street. Suddenly I remember a note last week from the neighbors about ‘digging out building ground’, ‘do not park’ and ‘street closed’ that I (silly human, me) had carelessly thrown into the wastepaper basket. Not everything, unfortunately, appears automatically in my diary. April 2015
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