Business Chief Asia Magazine – August 2019

ASIA EDITION AUGUST 20 19 asia.businesschief.com

MAXIMISING VALUE THROUGH HOLISTIC TRANSFORMATION

PIONEERING DIGITAL SUPPLY CHAIN SOLUTIONS

STRATEGY AND TECHNOLOGY POWER SUPPLY CHAIN EFFICIENCY VP Strategic Sourcing & Procurement, Arindam Sengupta, details the strategic and technological solutions driving supply chain innovation RICHEST PEOPLE IN ASIA

City Focus

SHANGHAI

FOREWORD

W

elcome to the August issue of Business Chief Asia!

Dole International is one of the largest fruit producers in the world, and it is currently undergoing a procurement

Elsewhere, Dmitri Chen, COO at Dell EMC, discusses how the technological solutions provider is able to tailor its extensive offering across Asia to maximise the efficacy of

transformation that will give it an even digital transformations. sharper competitive edge. Arindam This month’s City Focus takes us Sengupta, VP Strategic Sourcing to Shanghai, one of China’s & Procurement at the largest cities and a thriving company, spoke with hub of Asian business, Business Chief about and the Top 10 examines how strategic and techthe region’s most influennological innovations tial CEOs. Arindam Sengupta, are revolutionising agriDon’t forget to check Dole International business supply chains. out the in-depth company “Our data was very segprofiles of Cargo Services Far mented, mostly very manual East, Katoen Natie, Ormond Group, and driven by different legacy systems,” Procter & Gamble, OMD APAC, he says. “One of the first things that and more. we decided, which has already been rolled out, is a single ERP from agri to If you would like to be featured in an marketing – end to end. That will enaupcoming issue, please get in touch at ble us to capture and make visible marcus.lawrence@bizclikmedia.com data on what we are doing, where we are spending and what we are and Enjoy the issue! aren’t doing correctly.”

Marcus Lawrence

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03

From Inspiration

to Innovation

ASIA EDITION

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C CO ON NT TE EN NT TS S

12 Strategic deployment of technology for procurement transformation

30

42 WHY CORPORATES SHOULD LOOK TO STARTUPS TO SPUR THEIR INNOVATION

52

WESPORTUS: HOW BUSINESS STRATEGY CAN REVOLUTIONISE SPORTS SCOUTING

60

70

THE CUSTOMER PERSPECTIVE

HOW CASCADES AND SAP PRIORITISE SUPPLY CHAIN SUSTAINABILITY

78

City Focus

CONTENTS

94 Cargo Services Far East

120 Ormond Group

106 Katoen Natie

138 Procter & Gamble

168 Victorian Department of Health & Human Services

182 156

OMD APAC

200 RSC Mining & Mineral Exploration

Only About Children

12

Strategic deployment of technology for procurement transformation

AUGUST 2019

WRITTEN BY

WILLIAM SMITH PRODUCED BY

CHARLOTTE CLARKE

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D O L E I N T E R N AT I O N A L

Arindam Sengupta,VP Strategic Sourcing & Procurement at Dole International, details the strategic and technological solutions powering supply chain innovation in the agribusiness industry

A

s Vice President for Strategic Sourcing and Procurement at fruit and vegetable giant Dole International, Arindam Sengupta

sees the potential for a revolution in the way sourcing and procurement in agribusiness are carried out. “Traditionally the agribusiness sector 14

has been behind in terms of procurement practices,” he explains. “Partly that’s due to its complexity, but also to the fact that new technologies, digitalisation and everything else which has been applied in other industries has not been as developed on the agribusiness side.”

A WINNING STRATEGY With this in mind, Dole has implemented a number of strategies geared towards improving efficiency and benefitting the bottom line at the business.

Such an approach is vital given the nature of the industry. “Strategic procurement is critically important for Dole’s bottom line,” says Sengupta.

“Essentially, we are a commodity business where we buy commodities and then process them to sell as branded products. Given the fact that 70% of AUGUST 2019

15

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D O L E A S I A H O L D I N G S ( P T E ) LT D

our costs lie in procurement, we have to be competitive and make sure that our supply chains are very affordable.”

One such measure has seen the exploitation of seasonal differences around the world. “The peaches that we buy are typically from Greece and China,” says Sengupta. “The problem is that they have similar seasons in the same hemisphere. Peach season is between one and one and a half months, so we had to buy a whole year’s supply in that time, placing

16

a constraint on quality and a risk with climate. Now we look at different hemispheres strategically. Typically, the same fruit is grown in the northern hemisphere in a different season

“ Using technology we can much better predict the volumes and the pricing of our crops” — Arindam Sengupta, VP Strategic Sourcing & Procurement

compared to the southern hemisphere, so we’ve gone out to South America and South Africa to locate, identify and develop new sources to mitigate that risk.”

Another development has been the streamlining of Dole’s procurement structure, supported by its procurement excellence team. “We are moving from a very decentralised procurement structure with a lot of buyers to a much

AUGUST 2019

CLICK TO WATCH : DOLE - GROWING PINEAPPLES 17 more centralised, centre of excellence

both a moral and a business perspec-

model. That’s ensuring the different

tive. “How do we make our procure-

Dole entities have a standardised

ment organisation fit for the future?

approach, while still maintaining

It’s clear the sustainability agenda

flexibility at the local level for all the

looms large in the minds of our consum-

operational and tactical buying.” Dole

ers. Focusing on sustainability will

is also implementing a category

affect how much customers

management approach. “Our category

are willing to pay for our

managers think strategically to develop

products compared

new products and ways of buying using

to our competitors.

the external resources of suppliers and

To achieve that

partners, developing our business

we’re going to

for the future.”

need to build

Sustainability, too, has become a critical part of Dole’s strategy, from

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Adding value through sustainable packaging Hypac has been supplying its range of barrier packaging materials to Dole since 2000. For almost two decades, the organisations have enjoyed not just a supplier/customer relationship but a true partnership built to last.

Hypac Packaging Pte Ltd was established in 1992 and pioneered the supply of high barrier multilayer films. Today it caters to high-profile clients in the pharmaceutical and food companies like Dole. The motto of the business are “honesty, quality, consistent price competitiveness and excellent after sales service”.

As a dynamic packaging solutions Company, conscious of its responsibility to its customers and the environment, Hypac is also currently working with Dole in the development of biodegradable pouches and films in order to align with the company’s 2025 sustainability and plastic waste reduction goals.

“Sustainability is a big focus as we build relationships with external partners and suppliers, and as we head into the future and a new generation of buyers and consumers, it’s going to become more and more important,” says Arindam Sengupta, Global VP Strategic Sourcing & Procurement at Dole International.

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aspects including a competitive price guarantee and price stability based on contracts signed. It is also always striving to create best value for partners such as Dole with cost down opportunities together with a volume loyalty incentive program. In addition, with just-in-time supply chains vital to the food industry, Hypac offers short lead time delivery perfect for such cases.

Much more than just a vendor, Hypac offers sales and technical support to many of its clients. In order to operate sustainably and encourage more consumers to purchase Dole products, Sengupta acknowledges it’s vital to work end-to-end with marketing and sales organisations to stay ahead of the curve. With packaging as the fifth ‘P’ in the marketing mix, relationships with organisations like Hypac and the added value it offers are vital.

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D O L E A S I A H O L D I N G S ( P T E ) LT D

20

allotments and new marketing agendas,

and a new generation of buyers and

and work end to end with marketing and

consumers, it’s going to become more

sales organisations to stay ahead of the

and more important.”

curve.” Sengupta is clear that a sustainable approach can add value to Dole’s

TECHNOLOGY

business by acting as a selling point for

To achieve the potential sourcing and

customers. “Consumers are more likely

procurement efficiencies identified

to buy products from companies who

by Sengupta, the company has put

have sustainable practices,” says

to work numerous technological

Sengupta. “That’s in terms of how they

solutions. Sengupta gives the concrete

source, make or package things.

example of pineapple, which like other

Sustainability is a big focus as we build

commodities operates on a boom

relationships with external partners and

and bust cycle. “When prices are high,

suppliers, and as we head into the future

farmers rush to grow the crop in larger

AUGUST 2019

E XE CU T I VE PRO FI LE

Arindam Sengupta, VP Strategic Sourcing & Procurement Sengupta joined Dole in 2018 with a mandate to lead and transform its global procurement organisation and make it ‘Fit for the future�. He is responsible for leading procurement across four factories and multiple co-packer locations globally and leading a team of 100 procurement professionals with a multi billion dollar spend.His previous background has been at Royal Dutch Shell, where he demonstrated extensive Procurement leadership and business impact over the past 13 years with a proven track record of performance. His previous leadership role at Shell was as Global Procurement leader for their Multibillion annual procurement of Materials, Equipment, Fabrication and EPC services businesses. Sengupta worked with diverse teams and over 30 significant suppliers globally to lead strategic transformation initiatives, manage procurement strategy development, innovation, benchmarking, procurement implementation and maintain market beating pricing for the categories in scope. Prior to working at Shell, Sengupta had extensive International Leadership experience across multiple organ-isations at a regional and global level, and has lived in seven countries across three continents.

Sengupta holds a MBA degree in Finance & Strategy with Distinction from University of Oxford, an MBA degree in Marketing from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, and a Bachelor Degree from the Indian Institute of Technology in Kharagpur.

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21

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D O L E A S I A H O L D I N G S ( P T E ) LT D

£ 2.5bn+ Approximate revenue

2012

Year founded

20,000

Approximate number of employees 24

AUGUST 2019

volumes, depleting other crops. When prices are low due to demand or oversupply, then they shift to other crops because they’re not getting enough profitability from their farms.”

To manage this, Dole has implemented advanced predictive models that help it to better understand supply and demand of a particular commodity.

“To come up with a predictive model of demand and supply patterns globally and regionally is always a challenge.

We have recently been working to develop a much more sophisticated model which not only uses historical data but incorporates many other factors. That includes farmer behaviour, demand in the market, inventory being held in different locations and markets, and how trends are changing in the industry in terms of consumption and crop growing, et cetera.” To collect the data that is put in to the models, Dole is pioneering yet more digital solutions.

Future technology investments will look at using drones to replace physical surveys, using AI for better demand forecasting from the field and implementing more modern practices in farm management and irrigation. a si a .busi ne ssc h ief. com

25

“ Creating the right talent, having the right mindset and the right approach with empowered and motivated people will drive the organisation forward” — Arindam Sengupta, VP Strategic Sourcing & Procurement

different legacy systems. One of the first things that we decided, which has already been rolled out, is a single ERP from agri to marketing – end to end. That will enable us to capture and make visible data on what we are doing, where we are spending and what we are and aren’t doing correctly.” The more decentralised nature of agribusiness compared to other industries makes the inherent scalability of

Software solutions have also been implemented across the business. Such unified

software solutions attractive, as has been the case with digital purchasing at Dole.

systems have brought

“On the back of ERP, we are also

increased clarity and

implementing new procurement

understanding of busi-

software from Ivalua. Ivalua is very

ness operations. “We took

suitable for us, very flexible and

the decision to roll out a

caters to our needs. What we are

brand new enterprise resource

trying to do is not only digitalisa-

planning (ERP) system across the

tion and analysis of the entire experi-

entire supply chain, which enables us

ence of interaction with suppliers,

to have critical visibility on data,” says

vendors and partners, but also the

Sengupta. “Data is one of the most

development of an eMarketplace.

important factors behind making

The dream is to move towards a

decisions, but that was one of our weak

more Amazon-like user experience

points. Our data was very segmented,

for the end users, who are our end

mostly very manual and driven by

customers internally, where they can a si a .busi ne ssc h ief. com

27

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Established in 2007, Consus is a leading procurement services provider and procurement systems integrator, operating across 20 countries. With over 100 customers across various industry verticals, Consus works closely with customers to deploy cloud based sourcing and procurement solutions. Consus has been rated amongst the top 10 procurement service providers by APAC CIO Outlook Forum.

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seamlessly input the items that they want, the standards and specifications, and then have a list of fruit suppliers.�

With clear strategies guiding the deployment of technology to fulfil its aims, Dole is in the midst of a purposeful and effective digital transformation of its supply chain functions. Having presided over these developments, Sengupta is clear about just what it takes to deliver on the promise inherent in a properly managed supply chain. “There are four pillars of sustainable advantage to empower strategic sourcing and procurement AUGUST 2019

C OM PA N Y FACT S

• 70% of Dole’s costs lie in the cost of procurement • Dole uses AI, better forecasting models, technology driven surveys and modern farm & irrigation technologies to deliver a higher predictability of supply

in any organisation. The first one is affordability: we have to continuously improve – if we are just standing still, even if we are ahead we will be caught up to. Second is sustainability: all of our supply chains, all of our activities, all of our products, everything should be sustainable at the end. That’s key for the future, from a regulatory, environment and consumer point of view. Third is reliability: do we have the alternative sources we need? We have to have reliability in our supply chains, meaning that we have to provide our customers and our consumers with products no matter any adversity in the supply chain. The fourth part is people: that is always the most important thing because anything can be done if you have the right people. Creating the right talent, having the right mindset and the right approach with empowered and motivated people will drive the organisation forward. With these factors in mind, the procurement and sourcing function at Dole can deliver a sustainable, predictable & profitable growth.”

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29

LEADERSHIP

30

: Asia’s go-to digital transformation solutions provider Dmitri Chen,Vice President, APJ GTM Strategy and Programs, VMware and Strategically Aligned Businesses, speaks with Business Chief about regional digital transformation challenges and how Dell EMC is driving accelerated digital efficacy WRITTEN BY

AUGUST 2019

MARCUS LAWRENCE

31

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LEADERSHIP

T

oday, there is perhaps no better source for cutting-edge insights into the state of play in Asia than Dell Technologies. Dmitri Chen, Vice

President, APJ GTM Strategy and Programs,

VMware and Strategically Aligned Businesses, Dell Technologies, summarises this view succinctly: “There’s never been a better time to be in technology.

There’s never been a better time to be in the Asia region.” Formed through the merger of Dell Technologies and EMC Corp in 2016, the firm’s own recent experience of disruption, integration, adaptation and success have positioned it as an ideal digital transformation specialist. Not to mention 32

its extensive offering, a holistic and dynamic portfolio that can be tailored to clients from a range of industries at every stage of their transformation journeys. “We came together in one of the largest mergers in history over 24 months ago,” says Chen.

“We integrated two large IT organisations while adding performance, capacity and resilience across multiple clouds. On top of that, we enhanced the level of commerce that we’re able to support for our partners and millions of customers.” The evolution of the merged companies’ offering is strengthened further by its adoption of an Agile software development methodology, echoing the approach taken by Pivotal Software, a firm in which Dell holds a 70% stake.

VMWare, also majority-owned by Dell, has had a similarly profound effect upon Dell EMC’s capabilities. “We’ve extended our modern, hybrid AUGUST 2019

“ There’s never been a better time to be in technology.

There’s never been a better time to be in the Asia region” — Dmitri Chen, Vice President, APJ GTM Strategy and Programs, VMware and Strategically Aligned Businesses, Dell Technologies

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33

LEADERSHIP

multi-cloud environment with VMWare,” says Chen.” It gives us a single control plane across multiple clouds.

Sometimes that means our own data centres, and we have about 19 of those globally.” These factors, as well as ongoing infrastructural evaluations geared towards accelerated value and time to market, have had a staggering impact on Dell EMC’s efficiency.

“We’ve been able to lower our general infrastructure costs by about 40% since the merger, and we’ve reduced our provisioning costs by 80%. Our overall infrastructure utilisation rates

34

have improved by 10-30%, depending on the environment. That’s pretty substantial. We take a lot of these

“ To secure their digital future and progress with innovation, businesses must accelerate their transformation rather than slow down” — Amit Midha, President, Asia Pacific & Japan and Global Digital Cities, Dell Technologies

learnings and share them with customers.” This self-sufficient internal transformation provides the perfect use case for the firm’s clients. “The cool thing is that we’re able to demonstrate that our approach and portfolio really works, and can help with our customers’ biggest challenges,” enthuses Chen.

The APJ market is no different to other regions in that the challenges it faces are manifold and complex, but nonetheless, Dell EMC takes

AUGUST 2019

CLICK TO WATCH : DMITRI CHEN AT DELL TECHNOLOGIES FORUM 35 a particularly tailored approach to

transformation is lagging across their

operations across Asian markets.

respective organisations and 35%

Dell Technologies’ Digital Transformation

worrying that they could be left behind

Index 2018, which surveyed 4,600

in the march towards fully digitalised

global leaders from mid-to-large-sized

industries. “In many respects, the Asia

companies across the region, found

Pacific, Japan and Greater China

that 95% of companies in APJ are

region is emerging as a source of

encountering roadblocks during their

innovation in the way it fosters new

digital transformations, particularly in

business models and embraces

terms of technological skills gaps. The

emerging technologies,” said Amit

consequence of these challenges is

Midha, President, Asia Pacific & Japan

highlighted by findings that only 6% of

and Global Digital Cities at Dell

the region’s companies can be

Technologies, according to the report’s

considered ‘Digital Leaders’, with 84%

press release. “This is a tremendous

of respondents believing that digital

opportunity for the region – but it’s also a si a .busi ne ssc h ief. com

LEADERSHIP

a determined period in time. To secure their digital future and progress with innovation, businesses must accelerate their transformation – rather than slow down.” Dell EMC is not only poised to enable capitalisation on this opportunity, but it already has a plethora of successes under its belt.

Chen highlights KFC Singapore as one of the many customers that have been significantly impacted by Dell Technologies. “They had to go through a significant IT transformation, moving from traditional IT operations to a 36

modern data centre approach,” he explains. “They had to do that because they had an expectation from the business to transition their IT operation from a cost centre to a profit centre.

The outcome, essentially, was that they improved their speed of data delivery across their infrastructure by around 57% and they’re now able to provision new server nodes in minutes instead of days.” As well as becoming significantly more efficient with their data storage and cutting down on associated costs, KFC Singapore has also achieved almost 100% uptime for its business-critical applications. “They did all that with the solutions from our AUGUST 2019

37

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LEADERSHIP

“ If we focus on being patient and really understanding the customer’s business, we can help them to architect something that’s highly differentiated”

38

— Dmitri Chen, Vice President, APJ GTM Strategy and Programs, VMware and Strategically Aligned Businesses, Dell Technologies

portfolio, mainly centred around

processes from a digital standpoint:

hyperconverged infrastructure and

they were able to cut their design load

data protection solutions,” says Chen.

times by 92%, and they’re also now

Another success story comes with

able to do desktop deployment.” In a

Japan’s Mitsubishi Motors, who wanted

company with as many engineers as

to develop a desktop virtualisation that

Mitsubishi, across multiple

would enable their engineers and

environments, the positive implications

production teams to access data more

of desktop deployment for productivity

easily and cut time spent managing

are huge. “They were able to cut the

various machines. “They essentially

deployment time from 80 hours to one,

established a new remote data access

whilst cutting the amount of data they

architecture for the workforce, and

needed to store by around 87%. They

essentially enhanced their design

achieved that through solutions from

AUGUST 2019

39

Dell, such as PowerEdge rack servers

differentiated,” says Chen. “It may

and our XtremeIO flash storage arrays.”

mean that a lot of the use cases are

In sum, Dell EMC is not only well-

different, even within the same industry,

positioned to cater to myriad needs of

but it helps our customers maintain

enterprises in markets across APJ, but

their level of competitive edge within

it has the capacity to zero in on the

their respective vertical.”

specifics of individual customers and drive impactful digital transformations.

“The good news for us is that, if we focus on being patient and really understanding the customer’s business, we can help them to architect something that’s highly a si a .busi ne ssc h ief. com

Covering every angle in the digital age The Business Chief platforms offer insight on the trends influencing C and V-level executives, telling the stories that matter

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TECHNOLOGY

42

WHY CORPORATES SHOULD LOOK TO STARTUPS TO SPUR THEIR INNOVATION Ritam Gandhi, Founder and Director, Studio Graphene, explores why traditional corporations should be inspired by startups if they want to keep up with the blistering rate of innovation WRITTEN BY

RITAM GANDHI

AUGUST 2019

43

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TECHNOLOGY

A

ccording to the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), only 60 of the Fortune 500 companies listed in 1955 still retain

their place amongst the business elite. While for some of these companies, the decline was inevitable, for many it reflects their reluctance to embrace disruptive trends that have radically transformed the business environment and the nature of consumer demands.

In their wake has come a new generation of corporate titans including tech giants like Facebook, Amazon and Netflix who have rapidly become the dominant players in their 44

respective industries. While many of these companies had humble beginnings as startups, once they went public, they began to adopt a more corporate mentality in order to deliver regular profits for shareholders.

Tesla Founder and CEO Elon Musk is a high-profile critic of this trend, saying that: “Being public puts enormous pressure on Tesla to make decisions that may be right for a given quarter, but not necessarily right in the long-term.�

Indeed, part of what marks Elon Musk out as such a successful entrepreneur is that he has retained his entrepreneurial spirit despite Tesla now being one of the biggest companies in the world. Many of his contemporaries, visionary leaders who took their AUGUST 2019

45

“I believe that established companies would be wise to outsource innovation by partnering with young and dynamic startups” — Ritam Gandhi, Founder and Director, Studio Graphene

a si a .busi ne ssc h ief. com

TECHNOLOGY

companies from startup to the upper echelons of the Fortune 500, have long since been replaced by processoriented executives with corporate backgrounds.

As someone who made the leap from the corporate world of management consultancy into the dynamic startup landscape, I know how difficult it is for companies to retain their dynamism as they transition from agile challenger to established incumbent.

While many founders bemoan the lack of a level playing field when it comes 46

to the resources available to large corporates, being small can be an

“If large companies don’t take the necessary action to stay one step ahead, they’ll soon find themselves falling behind” — Ritam Gandhi, Founder and Director, Studio Graphene

advantage for innovative startups as they are neither too unwieldy nor too conservative to implement new ideas.

make for more cost-effective enterprises. As private entities, startups can

WHAT DO STARTUPS HAVE TO OFFER?

make decisions with the long-term in

So, if the balance of power is currently

mind as they don’t have to worry about

tipping away from large corporates it’s

the impact of quarterly performance

worth asking what about startups

on their share price.

makes them so innovative. Startups

In my work with startups, I’ve seen

generally consist of a small team

how the need to break new ground

which means they can remain respon-

affects the culture of many successful

sive to changes in the market. They

startups. Indeed, the most successful

also depend for their vitality on

see their lack of scale as a virtue

identifying new, more efficient

because it makes for clear-eyed

methods which means they usually

decision-making.

AUGUST 2019

47

However, even if corporates were to

successful that it will reshape the

acknowledge the merits of this

industry, making it less favourable

dynamic approach, they are fundamen-

to the company who developed it.

tally prevented by their size, structure startup mentality. Simply put, innova-

WHY DO BIG CORPORATES FAIL TO INNOVATE?

tion in the corporate world equates

 While large companies are too big

to risk. Risk of wasted resources,

and have too much on the line to be

both in terms of dollars and man-hours.

truly creative, total disregard for

Risk of reputational damage if a

innovation is not an option. These days,

creative project fails to bear fruit and

companies understand that they have

in exceptional cases, the risk that a

to continue innovating if they want to

new product or technology will be so

guard against the threat of dynamic

and priorities from truly adopting a

a si a .busi ne ssc h ief. com

TECHNOLOGY

new challengers. Of course, casting

between their work on existing

aside your traditional ways of working

projects and on developing new ideas.

comes with an immense amount of risk

Google’s ‘20% time’ is probably the

and so it’s understandable that many

most feted example as the company’s

executives are reluctant to whole-

policy of allowing engineers to devote

heartedly commit to new projects.

20% of their time to personal projects

Some companies reach a compro-

resulted in some of the company’s

mise that allows them to balance these

most successful products such as

competing objectives. For example,

Gmail, AdSense and Google Talks.

by implementing schemes that allow employees to strike a balance

While this can approach can be a fruitful one, it’s worth noting that many

48

CLICK TO WATCH : ‘RITAM GANDHI TALKS ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND BUILDING A STARTUP THAT BUILDS OTHER STARTUPS’

AUGUST 2019

as they have become large global

WHY SHOULD LARGE CORPORATIONS LOOK TO COLLABORATE?

businesses. Corporates like Google now

The reality is that the corporate world

span too many sectors and jurisdictions

is being disrupted at an exciting pace.

to rely on such an ad hoc approach

Therefore, I believe that established

to innovation. Consequently, they need

companies would be wise to outsource

to find a framework that allows them

innovation by partnering with young

to continue pushing technological

and dynamic startups. Ultimately, these

boundaries while still focusing on

partnerships have the potential to

maximising the value of their major

create mutual value by granting the

revenue-generating products.

startup access to capital and distribution

companies have abandoned this model

49

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TECHNOLOGY

50

“ These partnerships have the potential to create mutual value by granting the startup access to capital and distribution networks while giving the corporate a chance to benefit from innovative new projects” — Ritam Gandhi, Founder and Director, Studio Graphene

AUGUST 2019

networks while giving the corporate a chance to benefit from innovative new projects.

This change in corporate culture takes many forms including mentorship programmes and in-house tech incubators but strategic partnerships are gradually emerging as the most effective way of leveraging a startups’ disruptive potential.

As corporations become larger and more results-oriented it makes it more difficult for innovative ideas to come to fruition. That’s why I believe forwardthinking companies are increasingly looking to collaboration with startups as the solution. After all, there’s nothing to suggest that corporates and startups have to co-exist as separate entities. In the digital age, size doesn’t guarantee future success.

If large companies don’t take the necessary action to stay one step ahead, they’ll soon find themselves falling behind.

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PEOPLE

52

WeSportUs: how business strategy can revolutionise sports scouting Could blockchain decentralise talent-spotting and make it fairer? WeSportUs thinks so.

Ex-Banker Latif Adéothy is applying business expertise to revolutionise sports scouting WRITTEN BY

AUGUST 2019

LATIF ADÉOTHY

53

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PEOPLE

B

usiness is often told to consider what it can learn from sport. But what about the other way around? What

could sport learn from business? Sport

focuses on winning, the team spirit and match analysis, but could it also learn how to focus on customers, empower teams and better use technology?

Could technology disrupt sport and the talent-scouting process? I think it could definitely benefit from technologies that could decentralise decision-making.

54

I had an experience in Africa that convinced me to try and develop a solution. In Abidjan, a city on the southern Atlantic coast of Côte d’Ivoire, I came across a group of young footballers. Boys, with sandals on their feet, were playing on a field that looked more like scrub than a Premiership stadium. They let me join in for a little game. And we lost 10-0!

Despite having never set foot in a training centre and playing in sandals, one young player scored 8 goals! It disappoints me that this boy’s raw talent could go unspotted due to a lack of resources and visibility.

The sports world wouldn’t be the first entertainment industry to be challenged by technology. The music industry has had to reinvent itself by harnessing, rather than AUGUST 2019

55

“The benefit is twofold: to give more visibility to talent, and to facilitate their relationship with potential supporters” — Latif Adéothy, Founder, WeSportUs

a si a .busi ne ssc h ief. com

PEOPLE

continuing to fight, technology. So, the sports world could reinvent itself through digital to combine entertainment experience, performance, and the experiences of professional and amateur athletes.

The benefit is twofold: to give more visibility to talent, and to facilitate their relationship with potential supporters.

All this and an opportunity to restore sport’s positive image, which has been tarnished by numerous scandals.

But how would this work when so many people play sports? In 2017, 56

two out of five people across Europe

AUGUST 2019

“ One young player scored 8 goals!

It disappoints me that this boy’s raw talent could go unspotted due to a lack of resources and visibility” — Latif Adéothy, Founder, WeSportUs

CLICK TO WATCH : ‘WESPORTUS – APP PROMO’ 57 played at least one sport once a week;

countries. So we need a mechanism

three out of 10 also played in clubs.

which could enable young talent to

That’s nearly 155mn, not to mention the

truly emerge from the multitude of

amateurs who sometimes play several

amateur athletes around the world.

sports, in the park or at home. More

This is still difficult to imagine on social

than 600,000 hours of videos are

networks in their current format.

uploaded to YouTube every day. With

In asking myself how we could

so many people participating in sport, it

make sports-scouting less random,

is difficult to identify the new talent who

I started thinking about my experience of

could dominate their discipline.

business, banking and blockchain. Could

The solution would need to incorpo-

scouting benefit from blockchain; the

rate an innovative social network

disruptive technology that is disrupting

based on openness. Today, our talent

the business world? It is a decentralised

spotting system is focused on just a

and participatory system and so, through

few institutions located in the richest

its differentiating cultural and monetary a si a .busi ne ssc h ief. com

PEOPLE

value proposition, we could use blockchain to engage the social sports community in a different way.

Why bet on the blockchain? Because the fundamentals of this technology are based on the very notion of transparency and information sharing. It is a technology that is open to almost everyone, is decentralised and transparent. As a result, each transaction belongs to both individuals and everyone at the same time, making the system completely democratic and robust.

This technology gives us an opportu58

nity to bring fans back to the centre of sport. Using decentralisation, athletes can showcase themselves and fans can like them, raising their profiles to potential patrons, sponsors and clubs.

They can even give new talent a boost by microfunding new boots or access to professional training grounds.

In business terms, this clearly demonstrates how sport can better listen to their customers (fans) and empower them. Fan involvement could also bring their passion and sense of fair play back to the heart of the global sports community.

I want us to imagine a sports social network model that integrates AUGUST 2019

“ I want us to imagine a sports social network model that integrates a cryptocurrency and gives power to the fan communities that will elect the young athletes of tomorrow” — Latif Adéothy, Founder, WeSportUs

59 a cryptocurrency and gives power to

the players never get scouted. We’re

the fan communities that will elect the

inventing a decentralised global talent

young athletes of tomorrow. It’s not a

detection platform, within the reach of

pipe dream. Social networks could take

sports professionals, which will promote

on their full meaning and we can move

champions from multiple horizons.

from a narcissistic vision to a holistic

What if new technology and business

approach, taking on the role of

nous could find, support and sponsor

revealing talent and creating a meritoc-

the next Usain Bolt or the future Kylian

racy. The world of sport is truly at the

Mbappé? That’s the plan at WeSportUs.

crossroads of funding innovations and the emergence of new media to reinvent the entertainment of tomorrow.

At the moment, too much talent is never seen, never makes it out of the park game and into the arena, because a si a .busi ne ssc h ief. com

S U S TA I N A B I L I T Y

THE CUSTOMER PERSPECTIVE 60

HOW CASCADES AND SAP PRIORITISE SUPPLY CHAIN SUSTAINABILITY Business Chief sits down with Xavier Duprat, Director of Logistics and Production Planning at Cascades, to learn how the business is putting sustainability at the forefront of its operations WRITTEN BY

AUGUST 2019

SOPHIE CHAPMAN

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S U S TA I N A B I L I T Y

A

ces Sustainability is quickly shifting from an idealistic preference to a missioncritical change in operations. Beyond

reduced waste and increased efficiency,

sustainability has emerged as a necessary way to do business to appeal to both partners and customers.

Sustainable business practices are especially relevant in the packaging industry, historically one of the biggest contributors to supply-related waste with an estimated 30,000 tons rotting in landfills. Cascades, one of the top packaging manufacturers 62

in North America, is on the front lines of sustainable business practices through a streamlined supply chain. To hear about their story, we sat down with Xavier Duprat, Director of Logistics and Production Planning at Cascades.

To get started, please tell us about Cascades and its core values? Cascades produces, converts and markets packaging and tissue products that are composed mainly of recycled fibres. With 25 plants operating across Canada and the United States, we are the largest manufacturer of containerboard in Canada and the sixth-largest in North America. In line with our corporate mission to “improve the well-being of people, AUGUST 2019

“ WITH 25 PLANTS OPERATING ACROSS CANADA AND THE UNITED STATES, WE ARE THE LARGEST MANUFACTURER OF CONTAINERBOARD IN CANADA AND THE SIXTH-LARGEST IN NORTH AMERICA” — Xavier Duprat, Director of Logistics and Production Planning at Cascades

63

communities and the planet by providing sustainable and innovative solutions that create value,” and to optimise its supply chain, we realised that we needed more consistent planning processes, faster planning cycles and better user engagement in our supply chain strategy.

Why did Cascades decide to address the issue of waste, and how are you doing so? We have evolved our business processes to address the a si a .busi ne ssc h ief. com

S U S TA I N A B I L I T Y

“ WE HAVE EVOLVED OUR BUSINESS PROCESSES TO ADDRESS THE ISSUE OF SUSTAINABILITY HEAD-ON, KNOWING THAT IT IS AN INDUSTRYWIDE CHALLENGE” — Xavier Duprat, Director of Logistics and Production Planning at Cascades

issue of sustainability head-on, knowing that it is an industry-wide challenge.

We understand that sustainable business practices, like an efficient supply chain, are not only good for the planet but are also good for business.

What sustainability challenges has your company faced? In order to get the business results we wanted, we knew that we had to make some changes.

Working alongside supply chain leaders such as SAP, we determined that enabling fact-based decision making by increasing end-to-end

64

supply chain visibility and providing access to information from one place was something that we needed to address. There was no relationship between sales and operations and strategy and tactical operations, which was also causing issues. We knew that we needed to make some changes in order to facilitate faster planning cycles and consistent processes for sales and operations planning, while improving collaboration and user engagement across functions.

What SAP technologies are you using to help with the project and what AUGUST 2019

CLICK TO WATCH : ‘SUSTAINABLE PACKAGING – CASCADES IS PART OF THE SOLUTION’ 65 impact is the project having on the

customers have come to rely on. With

rest of the business? We introduced

SAP, we now have a comprehensive

the SAP Integrated Business Planning

and transparent overview of our supply

solution to provide full support for

chain, helping us to be highly responsive

monthly and weekly planning processes

to customer needs.

and to enable easy collaboration and quick resolution of issues across

In the end, why did you select SAP

functions. The enhanced data and

and how is its technology helping

forecasting help our company make

with efficiency? Implementing SAP

smarter decisions. With our employees

Integrated Business Planning has

and sales teams able to focus on

helped us establish long-term

adding value, we were able to be more

partnerships with our most strategic

agile and responsive to our customers’

customers. These partnerships

needs, allowing us to continue to deliver

enable us to support our growth and

the innovative products that our

sustainability goals with our strong a si a .busi ne ssc h ief. com

S U S TA I N A B I L I T Y

focus on the supply chain. Since choosing SAP, we have seen valuedriven results, including: • Improved decision-making with the aid of more-accurate data and forecasts (up to 80% better forecasting accuracy • 90% less time needed for data collection • Reduced costs, due to increased visibility and improved collaboration • Improved planning security supporting sales to new markets • Greater efficiency with maximised 66

production capacity and faster access to relevant information for both internal and external users • Enhanced ability of employees and salespeople to focus on value-added tasks such as customer service What trends are you seeing within the packaging industry and how are you adapting to them? The containerboard industry is increasingly moving towards a “buyer’s market,” as more capacity and foreign investments are shifting the equilibrium of demand and supply in this direction. In the past, it might have been somewhat acceptable to operate and service customers with AUGUST 2019

67

a certain amount of backlog within

Where do you see Cascades going in

a “weekly” window, but I don’t think

the next five years? We need to have

that will be the case in the coming

a clear understanding of our global

months and years because of this new

supply chain and master new pro-

reality. Customers are becoming more

cesses in order to deliver and exceed

demanding – and rightfully so. In

customer expectations. True customer-

response, organisations need to shift

centricity will hinge on on-time delivery

their mindset to service the customer

as a critical differentiator, and in turn,

in a timely manner, focusing more

help organisations thrive in this new

rigorously on cost control, working

environment over the next five years.

capital and “just-in-time inventory” best practices. a si a .busi ne ssc h ief. com

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CITY FOCUS

70

AUGUST 2019

Business Chief APAC explores the largest city in the world, Shanghai, and the companies that are helping its residents overcome the challenges of living in one of the world’s most-polluted urban environments.

WRITTEN BY

HARRY MENEAR

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CITY FOCUS | SHANGHAI

L

ocated on China’s central coast, the city of Shanghai is famed for its striking skyline, which is dominated by the

1,545ft Oriental Pearl Tower and the elegant, twisting outline of the 2,073ft Shanghai

Tower. Home to more than 26.3mn people, it is the most populous urban area on the planet. The city has the world’s fourthbusiest airport, which sees over 110mn passengers pass through it each year, and its container port is the busiest on the planet.

As a global hub for trade, finance and innovation – not to mention the place where more 72

than 26mn people live out their lives – Shanghai’s residents are exposed to a unique set of challenges. However, cutting-edge technologies are helping them overcome the pressures of life in one of the world’s most populous cities.

Life in a major Chinese city has, over the past twenty years, developed its own uniform, the most distinctive element of which being the face mask. In Shanghai, pollution levels have increased dramatically since 2013 – especially levels of harmful PM2.5 particulate matter. As air quality has declined, the industry for air-filtering face masks has grown dramatically.

According to a report by Orbis Research released in 2018, the global anti-pollution AUGUST 2019

“As a global hub for trade, finance and innovation, Shanghai’s residents are exposed to a unique set of challenges”

73

mask market is expected to grow by 30.4% by 2022. “Key factors driving the robust growth rate of the APAC region include the rising penetration of foreign brands and rising pollution levels in countries like China and India,” the report states.

From a sweeping trash-sorting initiative to the promotion of electric vehicle (EV) adoption, Shanghai’s public and private sectors are taking steps to combat the pressing environmental challenges facing the megacity. a si a .busi ne ssc h ief. com

CITY FOCUS | SHANGHAI

MILA Founded in 2013 by three expat fathers living in Shanghai, Mila set about addressing the absence of affordable indoor air filtration units after one of the founders was quoted approximately $3,900 for a single unit.

While a smog-choked street may be all the visual evidence a commuter needs to don a filtration mask outside, 74

due to lack of airflow and air conditioning systems, air quality indoors can be up to five times worse than on the street.

Marrying stylish, modern designs with affordability, the Mila filter is available to Shanghai citizens either as a subscription service (starting at around $21 per month) or an outright payment of around $275. The units use a multi-stage filter design, which includes 3M certified HEPA and activated carbon filters proven to remove up to 99.97% of pollutants such as PM2.5, allergens, pollen, formaldehyde and household odours.

Unlike traditional air purifiers, which can be the size of a family fridge and AUGUST 2019

“ Most people buy air purifiers like French wine; they have no idea if it’s good or bad, they just buy the most expensive one they can afford and assume it must be good” — Grant Prigge, Co-founder, Mila

26.32mn Population – the world’s largest city

644km Subway system Largest port

40mn

TEUs (containers) handled per year 75 twice as expensive, Mila’s units are

Mila’s team is continuing to provide

designed to work in systems of small

thoughtful, fairly-priced air purification

units to provide even coverage

solutions to the city’s citizens. “We

throughout a home. “Most people buy

speak to our customers as three

air purifiers like French wine,” Grant

fathers,” Prigge affirms. “We know our

Prigge, one of the co-founders of Mila,

customers are buying these units for

said in an interview with NBC. “They

the health of their loved ones and we

have no idea if it’s good or bad, they

take that responsibility seriously.”

just buy the most expensive one they can afford and assume it must be good.

CES ASIA 2019

It doesn’t matter if you have a huge unit

Even though car ownership in China

in your living room. It does little to noth-

has only reached a penetration of 15%,

ing to improve the air in your kid’s room

the country is still the largest vehicle

down the hall.”

market in the world. As such, cars are a

Headquartered in central Shanghai,

major source of pollution in cities, with a si a .busi ne ssc h ief. com

CITY FOCUS | SHANGHAI

“ When the ownership experience exceeds expectations, electric vehicles will simply become the natural choice for everyone” — NIO

Shanghai being no exception.

With the People’s Republic of China (PRC) government actively taking steps to curb national pollution levels, EV adoption is being driven forward in the country at an industry-leading rate.

According to a CleanTechnica report, Chinese EV sales are expected to reach 2mn units in 2019, and the country is predicted to be responsible for 50% of global EV sales by 2025.

In June 2019, the fifth annual Consumer Electronics Show Asia (CESA) was held in Shanghai’s New International Expo Centre. While the event

76

played host to showcases by tech

AUGUST 2019

giants Huawei, Hisense and Sonos,

world’s fastest electric sports car.

the lion’s share of floor space went to

As well as its sports and racing designs,

auto manufacturers. Two of the five

NIO also produces the ES6, a sports

main halls at the event were dedicated

utility SUV with a range of up to 510km.

to car companies, according to a

The company was founded as an

report by Pocket Lint, and more than

expression of the belief that seismic

60 global automotive brands show-

change is on the horizon for the car

cased products at the event.

industry. “When the ownership experience exceeds expectations, electric

NIO

vehicles will simply become the natural

Shanghai-based auto manufacturer

choice for everyone, leading to a more

NIO was founded in 2014 and special-

sustainable tomorrow,” said the com-

ises in the design and production of

pany. “With that, our vision of a blue

electric autonomous vehicles. The

sky will come true.”

company’s flagship car, the EP9, has

77

set multiple world records as the

a si a .busi ne ssc h ief. com

T O P 10

78

AUGUST 2019

richest

people in Asia Business Chief counts down the top 10 richest people in Asia, according to Forbes’ 2019 Billionaires list of the world’s wealthiest people WRITTEN BY

WILLIAM SMITH

a si a .busi ne ssc h ief. com

79

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T O P 10

81

Yang Huiyan [ $ 2 2 .1BN ] Yang Huiyan is Asia’s richest woman. She came in 42nd position worldwide on Forbes’ list, with a net worth of $22.1bn.

A property developer, she inherited her majority share of Country Garden, a Chinese property development company, from her father and founder of the company, Yang Guoqiang.

Forbes’ said Country Garden’s revenue totalled $56.7bn, thanks to its international property portfolio.

a si a .busi ne ssc h ief. com

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Tadashi Yanai [ $ 2 2 . 2BN ] Tadashi Yanai is the owner of holding company Fast Retailing.

He is chairman, president and CEO of the company, whose primary subsidiary is clothing retailer Uniqlo. The company was founded by Yanai’s father in 1963. Fast Retailing’s revenue was $20bn, buoyed by his other brands including Theory and J Brand. With a personal net worth of $22.2bn, Tadashi Yanai is Japan’s richest man, and founded the first Uniqlo store in 1984.

AUGUST 2019

83

Wang Jianlin [ $ 2 2 .6BN ] Wang Jianlin is the founder of the largest real estate developer in China, Dalian Wanda. Serving as the company’s chairman. In recent years, the company has been investing in property outside of China. It is the majority shareholder of the world’s largest cinema chain, The US AMC Theatres and owner of media company Legendary Entertainment. Its revenue was $19.8bn according to Forbes, with Wang Jianlin’s personal wealth coming in at $22.6bn.

a si a .busi ne ssc h ief. com

Building an ecosystem?

Connect the dots. “Your journey to cloud must navigate pitfalls and opportunities that are unique to your business. We support you in imagining and delivering your cloud journey and making it run�.

Eric Meistermann, Deloitte Partner in charge of AXA Group

T O P 10

By World Economic Forum - Flickr: Energy Revolution in the Making: Azim H. Premj

85

Azim Premji [ $ 2 2 .6BN ] In joint 7th place on this list, Azim Premji is India’s second richest person, with a net worth of $22.6bn. He is the chairman of Wipro, a pioneering Indian software company.

Despite its current reputation for IT, the firm was set up initially by Premji’s father as a vegetable and oil manufacturer known as Western India Vegetable Products Limited. With revenue of $8.4bn according to Forbes, the company reported more than 170,000 employees in 2019.

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86

By Tksteven - Own work, CC BY 3.0

Lee Shau-Kee [ $ 3 0.1BN ] The oldest person on this list at 91, Lee Shau-Kee is a real estate tycoon. Until 2019 he was the founder, chairman and managing director of Hong Kong’s Henderson Land Development, recently stepping down in favour of his sons Peter and Martin Lee. He founded the company in 1976, taking it public in the early 80s. Forbes gave the company’s revenue as $2.8bn, with Lee’s personal worth coming in at $30.1bn.

AUGUST 2019

By EdTech Stanford University School of Medicine

Li Ka-shing [ $ 3 1.7 BN ] Sir Ka-shing Li made his fortune in plastics before founding conglomerate Cheung Kong Holdings, the predecessor to CK Hutchison Holdings. The 90-year-old recently retired as chairman, though remains an advisor to the company which his son Victor Li now controls. Hong Kong’s richest man, he recently made global news thanks to his pledge to pay the tuition fees of Shantou University’s incoming 2019 class for up to five years, costing him $14.4mn annually. His net worth is approximately $31.7bn.

a si a .busi ne ssc h ief. com

87

T O P 10

88

Hui Ka Yan [ $ 3 6 . 2BN ] Real estate mogul Hui Ka Yun is founder and chairman of Chinese property developer Evergrande Group. Based in Guangdong province, the company operates throughout China and is more widely known thanks to its ownership of football club Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao FC. As reported by Forbes, its revenue was $71.7bn. 22nd on Forbes’ list, Hui Ka Yan is anticipated to have a net worth of $36.2bn.

AUGUST 2019

89

Jack Ma [ $ 3 7. 3BN ] Jack Ma is the founder and executive chairman of e-commerce company Alibaba. Founded in 1999, the company’s web portals quickly attracted investment. While C2C, B2C and B2B sales remain its focus, it has also branched out to services such as financial technology and cloud computing. Alibaba reported its FY19 revenue as $56.15bn, while Jack Ma’s net worth was $37.3bn. Ma recently announced his decision to step down from his role as executive chairman of Alibaba, designating CEO Daniel Zhang as his successor.

a si a .busi ne ssc h ief. com

T O P 10

Ma Huateng [ $ 3 8.8BN ] Ma Huateng is the founder, chairman and CEO of Tencent. With a net worth of $38.8bn, he is China’s richest man, and owing to the English translation of his last name as “Horse”, goes by the nickname Pony Ma. Tencent is a holding company, and through its subsidiaries and associates is active in a wealth of industries with a focus on technology. The company is 90

headquartered in Shenzhen, China, in twin skyscrapers known as Tencent Seafront Towers, and reported its 2018 revenue as $45.6bn.

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© TIM GRIFFITH/NBBJ

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T O P 10

Mukesh Ambani [ $ 5 0BN ] Coming in 13th place worldwide on Forbes’ list, Mukesh Ambani is chairman and managing director of the Mumbai headquartered Reliance Industries. India’s 92

largest company by market capitalisation, the conglomerate and its subsidiaries are active in areas such as energy, retail, and telecommunications and had a 2019 revenue of $90bn. Worth $50bn personally, Ambani is known for owning the second most valuable residential property in the world after Buckingham Palace, the $2bn, 27-floor Antilia in South Mumbai.

By World Economic Forum from Cologny, Switzerland - Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0

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Digital transformation of supply chain solutions WRITTEN BY

94

MARCUS LAWRENCE

AUGUST 2019

PRODUCED BY

CHARLOTTE CLARKE

95

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C A R G O S E RV I C E S FA R E A S T

Josephine Lee, Deputy Chief Process Officer at Cargo Services Far East, discusses the innovative and pioneering digital transformation of the company’s supply chain solutions

C

argo Services Far East (CSFE) has become a leading integrated logistics solutions provider since its founding by John Lau

in 1990. Taking command of the wider Cargo Services Group’s operations in the Far East with strong operational footprints in China, Hong Kong, 96

Singapore, the UK, the US, Australia and more besides, CSFE combines an extensive offering with a culture of customer-centricity that has historically driven enhancement of its operations. In the age of digital transformation, the firm is taking the opportunity to maximise the suitability of its supply chain services to a broad range of industries and customer types like never before, placing focus on visibility and transparency while optimising its internal operations and implementing automation.

Josephine Lee, Deputy Process Officer at CSFE, says the qualities of the industry make for a challenging but exciting prospect when it comes to overhauling operations through disruptive technological solutions. “Because of the uniqueness of the industry, quite a lot of operations across projects involve a range of different parties,” AUGUST 2019

97

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she says. “Supply chains consist of

Purchase Order (PO) Management

big, global contracts, and every party

Visibility solution have been enhanced

needs to be connected together.

in response to the aforementioned

It involves a lot of interaction. In the

customer demand for increased

past, most of these interactions would

visibility. “LIMA gets all the parties

take place by telephone or fax or

together in a single platform to see all

similar channels. Nowadays, everyone

of the shipments with the same level

is looking for transparency and

of transparency. With it, every check-

visibility. We have to transform

point from a shipment’s origin to

ourselves from the traditional way to

destination is tracked by LIMA,” she

the modern way.” Lee notes that CSFE

says. The scope for CSFE’s transpar-

has placed a particular focus on

ency across the supply chain goes

incorporating best-in-class solutions,

beyond the status of a shipment,

with LIMA being one such example.

with Lee adding that the product

The outset of the firm’s digital transfor-

lifecycle management (PLM) software

mation was marked by LIMA’s imple-

in place spans from sourcing through

mentation, and the capabilities of the

to shelf. “All parties are able to view a si a .busi ne ssc h ief. com

99

C A R G O S E RV I C E S FA R E A S T

$1.2bn Approximate revenue

1990

Year founded

6,000

Approximate number of employees 100

AUGUST 2019

101

“ The number one concern is how to change the culture effectively, because people are the most critical element” — Josephine Lee, Deputy Chief Process Officer, Cargo Services Far East

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every detail of the shipment before

our customers, and using it to help

it arrives at customs. As a logistics

them analyse business patterns and

operator in Asia, incorporating LIMA

behaviours from past years.

at the beginning of our transformation,

We developed our own data analysis

offering customers and shippers a high

capabilities using Microsoft’s data

level of transparency, was a very

solutions,” says Lee. AI is being applied

pioneering approach.”

to enhance this analytical offering,

CSFE is also leveraging Big Data

tailoring the insights to the respective

and artificial intelligence (AI) to

company’s own business patterns and

augment the information presented

offering an intelligent perspective for

with predictive and analytical solutions

their strategies. “By leveraging AI

that can elucidate the true value of

technology, we empower our role

the supply chain’s data. “From 2016,

as a freight manager for our customers.

we have been gathering all of our

In the supply chain process, the freight

business data with the consent of

manager helps the customer to

AUGUST 2019

coordinate and monitor the shipments

Ensuring the benefits of these fresh

from end to end. We can provide them

technologies are realised in full, CSFE

with insight, predictions for potential

has placed a significant focus on

hurdles between shipments and how

managing its internal culture. “The

we can overcome those hurdles,

number one concern is how to change

as well as using that historical data

the culture effectively, because people

to prevent future problems,” explains

are the most critical element,” says

Lee. “The two major areas of benefit

Lee. “Initially, it was challenging

to the customer are in managing data

because people found it difficult to

efficiency and reducing costs.”

see how they could help us to conduct

E XE CU T I VE PRO FI LE

Josephine Lee, Deputy Chief Process Officer Lee has been with Cargo Services Group since 2017. In her current role, she leads corporate functions of Global Process and Information Technology for digital transformation, process automation and operational efficiency through cutting-edge solutions and technological knowhow. Internal Audit, Quality Assurance and Claims come under her remit to ensure effective corporate governance. With over 20 years’ professional experience, Lee has held executive positions as VP of HR and Administration with CFL, and as General Manager of Sage Consulting. Lee holds a Masters degree in Human Resources Development and Training for the University of Technology, Sydney.

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C A R G O S E RV I C E S FA R E A S T

104

“ As a logistics operator in Asia, incorporating LIMA at the beginning of our transformation, offering customers and shippers a high level of transparency, was a very pioneering approach” — Josephine Lee, Deputy Chief Process Officer, Cargo Services Far East

the transformation and achieve a positive result. People are pretty conventional; they are generally much more willing to follow instructions rather than be part of the change or innovation.” To rise to this challenge, CSFE has incorporated a culture of open communication between upper management and the rest of the organisation. “We understand that communication is the most crucial part of change management,” says Lee. “Our chairman has been personally involved in this. He spends time

AUGUST 2019

in the West, and we always hear it is the best practice.”

Looking forward, Lee says automation is a key area that the company is set to explore. It has already introduced a robust warehouse management system that has been developed in-house, known as eCWMS, for its customers, along with radio frequency technology to maximise the efficiency of inventory management and cargo delivery. However, Lee stresses that CSFE is always looking for the next way to innovate for its customers.

“I would say that around 70% of the operations are still very manual,” she devising workshops, sharing sessions

says. “The digitalisation and automa-

and management briefings to help staff

tion of these processes is a key part

at all levels appreciate the benefits of

of our plan for the next five years, and

the transformation.” Lee adds that this

we will also adopt more Big Data and

work represents a break from tradition-

other electronic data interchange (EDI)

al managerial methods in the region,

solutions.” Along with shifting more

replicating a model that has been

processes over to the cloud to increase

effective in Western organisations.

operational flexibility, Lee is confident

“In the East, particularly in China, it is

the company will continue to be

not common practice for a chairman

a pioneering leader in the industry.

to come out and deliver a workshop and directly share their vision for the company,” she says. “This type of communication is much more common a si a .busi ne ssc h ief. com

105

106

Katoen Natie: digital and operational transformation to drive value for the customer WRITTEN BY

MARCUS LAWRENCE PRODUCED BY

CHARLOTTE CLARKE

AUGUST 2019

107

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K AT O E N N AT I E

Anton Colpaert, President and CEO at Katoen Natie Thailand, discusses how the logistics company is maximising the value of its services with holistic transformation and a people-led operational focus

K

atoen Natie, one of the world’s largest international logistics service providers, is resolutely ‘people first’ across its global

operations. In Thailand, a hub for the company’s 108

Asian presence, the focus on both employees and customers runs through the core of the firm’s reputation for maximising the value of its services.

For Anton Colpaert, President and CEO at Katoen Natie Thailand, the push towards Industry 4.0 is a continuation of the company’s longstanding track record of innovation in the market. “If you look at how we changed the logistical approach in the petrochemical and chemical industry, you can see that we have already been bringing innovation for 25 years,” he explains. “We want to make sure that our customers continue to see that we value that continued effort within our company, and that we certainly want to stay ahead in that number one position.” Colpaert adds that digital transformation offers an opportunity to push the boundaries of Katoen Natie’s customer-centric ethos.

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K AT O E N N AT I E

110

“ We’re very decentralised, so if you can attract the right people you can create smaller, flourishing islands of operations”

“Digital transformation is certainly very

— Anton Colpaert, President and CEO, Katoen Natie Thailand

transformation takes its employees

important, but we are actually focusing on transformation as a whole. We’re adopting radical changes to try and reorient the organisation in a new direction and take it to a new level of effectiveness,” he says. This broad, holistic approach to transformation is ultimately grounded in the efficacy of its internal culture and change management.

True to its motto, ‘our people make the difference’, Katoen Natie Thailand’s into account at every level. “The strategy has been, from an early stage, to avoid having a heavy corporate structure.

We’re very decentralised, so if you can attract the right people you can create smaller, flourishing islands of operations where people can go wild with their ideas so long as they’ve proven to be adding to our efficiency, and adding to or creating that maximum value for our customers,” says Colpaert.

This attitude, coupled with a pragmatic approach to modifying operations, helps to ensure that new technologies and strategies are applied with care, simultaneously minimising disruption and ensuring that the added value is maximised. “We should not forget the

AUGUST 2019

CLICK TO WATCH : ‘ENTER INTO THE WORLD OF KATOEN NATIE (THAILAND)’ 111 core and basics of what we do,”

important to make sure that the proof

explains Colpaert. “We try to empower

of concept is well thought out and well

our employees as much as possible,

tested, and that we are able to roll it

but often using these tools can let

out quickly. On top of that, we place

them forget the basics of their work.”

focus on testing and retesting, and

He stresses that this potential for

still auditing the system as well.”

cutting corners is counterintuitive to

An area where great strides have

the transformation process and

been made from a technological

purpose: if value added by technology

perspective is automation, particularly

is offset by lost value from employee

regarding administrative processes.

input, the transformation has failed.

For a company with clients as diverse

“We have to be very vigilant. Even if

as Katoen Natie, automating physical

you train them well, they can start to

logistics processes throws up big

rely on the system too much in which

questions about flexibility in terms

they think they can take shortcuts. It’s

of accommodating the continuous a si a .busi ne ssc h ief. com

K AT O E N N AT I E

CLICK TO WATCH : ‘KATOEN NATIE SINGAPORE FIRST DRIVERLESS TRUCK’ 112 changes in product types, weights and

desks where truck drivers can check

dimensions. “From a pure automation

themselves in, and we’re pushing to be

point of view, that’s a big challenge,”

completely paperless in our warehouse

says Colpaert. “It’s a little bit easier if

operations,” says Colpaert. “We opened

you’re on a production site because

up a new terminal in the Rayong region

you have a very defined and under-

which is so small-scale that it offers

standable flow.” While these challenges

a controlled environment to apply and

are being addressed through the

test these new technologies.” Shifting

development of smart, artificial

to paperless operations offers a whole

intelligence (AI)-driven solutions,

host of benefits that range from greater

Katoen Natie has elected to take a

efficiency to a mitigated environmental

step-by-step approach to applying

impact. Not only will the company be

automation across its admin flows

able to significantly cut its paper waste,

and shifting to paperless operations.

but the fuel consumption and associated

“We’re working on automated reception

costs of sending and receiving paper

AUGUST 2019

documentation are also brought down.

of solar panels and thereby generating

Paperless operations also slash the

more electricity than it uses. “In Thailand

margin of error of paper documentation,

we have more than 450,000 sq m of

improving safety, accuracy and quality.

roof surface, and at the moment we

Colpaert enthuses about Katoen

have only installed panels on around

Natie’s wider sustainability strategy,

10,000 sq m,” says Colpaert. “We are

particularly in terms of the progress

certainly open to further investment.

made with its solar panel initiative and

Once legislation changes, we should

its role in the Operation Clean Sweep

be able to put our solar-generated

programme. Thai legislation currently

electricity onto the grid.” With regards

limits the extent of the project as

to Operation Clean Sweep, an

surplus electricity cannot be offloaded

international effort to curb the amount

to the national grid, but Katoen Natie

of plastics entering the oceans, the

is nonetheless actively pursuing a

firm has been investing heavily in its

furthering of its recent 1MW installation

infrastructure to mitigate the volume

E XE CU T I VE PRO FI LE

Anton Colpaert, President and CEO Colpaert holds a Masters degree in Chemical Engineering, Faculty of BioScience at Ghent University. In 2004 he entered the Katoen Natie Management Trainee Programme, after which he joined the Supply Chain Engineering business unit where he acted consecutively as project manager, terminal manager, project director and VP engineering while working in four different countries.

He also supported Katoen Natie’s ambitious growth and investment projects in North America. He then moved from Houston to Thailand to become the CEO and President of Katoen Natie Services (Thailand). He hopes to safeguard and contribute to the further expansion of the company while continuously raising the bar of the offered services.

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K AT O E N N AT I E

114

“ We should not forget the core of what we do and the basics of what we do” — Anton Colpaert, President and CEO, Katoen Natie Thailand

AUGUST 2019

115

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K AT O E N N AT I E

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117 of plastic spills and waste; and subsequent potential effluent this generates.

Over the last few years, money has been pumped into redesigning a host of operational equipment, including sweeper trucks, wet cleaning devices, pellet skimmers/screens and more to reduce the amount of plastic spills.

â‚Ź2.bn

Approximate revenue (EUR)

1854

Year founded

Not only that, but Katoen Natie Thailand is also engaged in local initiatives such as beach clean-ups and recycling.

Looking forward, Colpaert says that the firm’s next steps from a technological and transformational perspective

14,000+

Approximate number of employees

are rooted in the needs of the customer. a si a .busi ne ssc h ief. com

K AT O E N N AT I E

“We do not produce anything; we generate a service for the customer and we can only ensure we are doing that in the best way by opening up and listening to them, understanding their needs and seeing how their – and consequently our – world is evolving,” he says. “It’s essential to keep track of that customer heartbeat and understand them fully.” Katoen Natie is aiming to ramp up its use of Big Data and advanced analytics to leverage customer insights in a more direct and actionable fashion. “At this 118

stage, we are trying to interlink programs across the company so that we can build a complete view of the information itself and maximise the data’s value,” explains Colpaert. Given the extent of Katoen Natie Thailand’s stellar customer centricity and internal culture, it will be very interesting to see how it pushes customer value to even greater heights through such innovations.

AUGUST 2019

“ We should not forget the core of what we do and the basics of what we do” — Anton Colpaert, President and CEO, Katoen Natie Thailand

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119

120

Transforming the guest experience at Ormond Group’s hotels WRITTEN BY

WILLIAM SMITH PRODUCED BY

KRISTOFER PALMER

AUGUST 2019

121

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ORMOND GROUP

Ormond Group’s CTO Julian Wong guides us through the technological solutions being implemented in the group’s hotels and the benefits that guests are enjoying

I

n recent times, one-size-fits-all hotels are facing competition by locations that can cater to a specific type of customer.

Ormond Group is a Malaysia-based hospitality business which operates 13 hotels under its Tune 122

brand. With locations in Malaysia and the UK, its business model has undergone a change in response to an evolving market, taking it from a no-frills budget hotel chain where most amenities were add-ons to a more inclusive basic hotel model.

Accompanying this change in its existing properties, the organisation is launching two new hotel brands in the coming months: MoMo’s, a social hotel brand featuring micro-rooms and fun communal spaces, and Ormond Hotels - its flagship boutique brand for the contemporary traveler looking for simplified luxury. Following the debut of both brands at the end of 2019, The Ormond Hotel will open in Dublin in 2021 while a MoMo’s and Ormond will open on a dual brand site on Flinders Street in Melbourne in 2022.

Julian Wong, Chief Technology Officer for Ormond Group, has overseen the digital transformation AUGUST 2019

123

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SABRE HOSPITALITY SOLUTIONS: TECHNOLOGY FUELS EVERYTHING WE DO Ormond Group’s comprehensive digital transformation required the expertise and technology from established solution providers and chose to leverage on Sabre Hospitality Solutions’ industry-leading SynXis platform to propel their brand into the future. Built with evolution in mind, the platform generates a comprehensive overview of the traveler, allowing hoteliers to create a more personalized experience, and enabling revenue optimization at every touchpoint during the guest’s journey. This was exactly what Ormond Group was looking for, making their partnership with Sabre a natural fit.

EMPOWERED BY INNOVATION Migrating towards cloud technology was central to Ormond Group’s strategy, and Sabre’s innovative SynXis Central reservation systems (CRS) provides Ormond Group a single source of cloud-based solutions to put their unique distribution strategy into action. Reaching the broadest points of distribution in the industry, the versatile and scalable CRS now provides Ormond Group with the capability to drive higher direct bookings with SynXis Booking Engine and MetaConnect.

A sound technology transformation also requires an optimal distribution strategy. Impressed with Sabre’s unparalleled connectivity with online travel agencies (OTAs), linking them to over 450 online channels across the globe, SynXis provides Ormond Group with a robust and reliable solution to support their operations, and ensure their rooms are available to the world’s leading OTAs. With SynXis CRS, Ormond group is also able to manage rates, inventories and descriptions on the Sabre’s Global Distribution System (GDS), enabling them to sell rooms to travel agencies worldwide.

ONE PLATFORM “Sabre’s SynXis platform is the technology partner hoteliers rely on to optimize distribution

and deliver millions of personalized experiences that maximize revenue with one hospitality platform,” said Frank Trampert, Managing Director & Chief Commercial Officer, Sabre Hospitality Solutions, APAC. “To this end, SynXis seamlessly connects with 120 property management systems as well as revenue, content and customer relationship systems. Because of this, data can be shared easily and simply, taking advantage of synergies and reducing costs,” he added.

PROVEN RECORD Serving more than 40,000 hotels, resorts and chains across 174 countries, Sabre Hospitality has pedigree in the hospitality industry. Having facilitated over 130m total annual bookings, driving room revenue of $25.2bn, Sabre Hospitality is trusted by Ormond Group and firms large and small to maximize value and optimize the process of hospitality distribution.

Sabre Hospitality’s SynXis is the platform of choice for hospitality properties undergoing a digital transformation. “We partnered with Sabre Hospitality Solutions for their leading SynXis platform,” said Julian Wong, CTO of Ormond Group. “This forms the core of our hotel systems, working hand in hand with PMS and CRM to drive our business strategy – increasing direct bookings, enabling personalization, streamlining our operations and providing a superior guest experience.”

FRANK TRAMPERT

Managing Director & Chief Commercial Officer Sabre Hospitality Solutions

ORMOND GROUP

“As a group, we want to provide what is essential to our guests and look at ways of optimising the human touch, not removing it” — Julian Wong, Group Chief Technology Officer

126

AUGUST 2019

CLICK TO WATCH : ‘ORMOND GROUP’ 127 taking place across its current and

Tune is a limited service hotel, focused on

future locations.

the 5 essentials – a 5-star bed, hot power shower, cleanliness, 24-hour security

INFRASTRUCTURE

and finally high-speed wifi. Therefore we

For modern hotel guests, technology is

really needed to ensure that our WiFi

often the first thing that comes to mind

infrastructure could stand up to that

upon their arrival. “We realise that the

promise. After review, Ormond Group

most important priority for any guest is

employed the services of Ruckus

reliable and fast wifi,” says Wong. “That’s

Networks to provide a high quality,

normally the first thing that guests ask for

reliable service to its guests. “Ruckus

when they check into a hotel. ‘What is the

is a proven technology and the support is

wifi password? How do I log in?’” Owing

excellent,” says Wong. “In terms of speed,

to that, one of Wong’s first tasks was

our results show that Ruckus is the best

ensuring that network infrastructure was

option. It gives us peace of mind for the

fit for purpose in Ormond’s hotels. “As

next five, six, seven years.” a si a .busi ne ssc h ief. com

ORMOND GROUP

128

Forming good relationships with

requirements is key to providing great

guests is vital in the hospitality industry,

service.” To manage its room bookings,

and Wong has implemented customer

Ormond Group partners with Sabre

relationship management (CRM)

Hospitality to leverage its SynXis Central

systems to better understand Ormond

Reservations system. Completing a trio

Group’s guests. “We went through

of core hotel systems is the property

a lengthy evaluation for all our systems,

management system (PMS), vital for

and picked Cendyn CRM,” he explains.

organising things such as maintenance

“One of the most important parts of our

and personnel. For its PMS systems,

data collection is knowing our guests.

Ormond Group relies on Opera by

In the hospitality industry, understand-

Oracle. “Every question that we asked

ing our guests’ needs, wants and

Oracle with regards to Opera, they

AUGUST 2019

responded back very quickly. They even took the trouble to come onsite to do workshops with us to ensure that we utilize fully all of Opera’s features. We’ll continue to work closely with Oracle to ensure Opera’s implementation in our new brand hotels.” Operating in unison, the three systems help to implement the group’s goals, such as increasing direct bookings, better understanding guests and streamlining hotel operations.

To complement its food and beverage operations, Ormond Group deploys the Agilysys InfoGenesis point of sale (POS) system across its various hotels, interfacing with PMS and allowing

E XE CU T I VE PRO FI LE

Julian Wong Julian joined the hospitality industry when he was hired as IT Manager for the pre-opening of Le Meridien Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia. He was promoted to Regional Director of IT for Southeast Asia at hotel chain Starwood Hotels and Resorts, where he had over 45 hotels and resorts under his stewardship. Julian moved on to join Tune Hotels Group, which, as of August 2017, is now known as Ormond Group following completion of the Marriott/Starwood merger.

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129

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131

guests to seamlessly perform a room

include phones in rooms, leading to many

charge directly to their room folios.

of our guests having to go to the front desk for any basic information required.

EXPERIENCE

Now our guests can do so in the comfort

Aside from ensuring the smooth oper-

of their room, via a chatbot. Providing this

ation of its hotels, Ormond Group has

basic information via a chatbot also

found numerous opportunities to trans-

means we will never require manpower

form the experience of guests through

resources to man phones – allowing the

technology. One such initiative has

hotel ro run a lot more cost efficiently. To

resulted in the ongoing trial of an AI

date, on average, we’re getting about

chatbot. “We’ve been trialing the system

30 to 40 chats a day from guests, and

for six months in our airport hotel. As

if an unusual question is asked, staff can

a limited service, short stay hotel, the

take over the conversation in real time.

very bold decision was made to not

It helps improve our guest experience.” a si a .busi ne ssc h ief. com

ORMOND GROUP

C O M PA N Y FACT S

• Ormond Group has 13 hotels under its Tune brand, with locations in Kuala Lumpur, India and the UK • Ormond Group is launching two new hotel brands in the coming months: MoMo’s and Ormond Hotels

132

AUGUST 2019

133

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ORMOND GROUP

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135 Wong faced some challenges in

especially to a company based in

making sure that the benefits of digital

Southeast Asia and at the mercy of

transformation were understood

currency fluctuations. “When it comes

throughout the organisation. “It’s very

to Malaysia, for example, the cost is

hard to show an immediate return on

four times more than it is in America

investment with IT systems – it’s different

once you factor in forex rates. This puts

from selling rooms,” says Wong. “If I sell

some things out of our reach. Based on

a room at $200 and my cost is $100,

the challenges that we have dealing

my ROI is $100. It takes a long time to

with vendors in terms of cost, we have

realise the value of putting, say, $1mn

evaluated the cost of hiring developers

into an IT system.” Wong is clear that

in Asia, developing a system and getting

such investments do bear fruit, even if

it up and running and it would still be

their effect is not immediately obvious.

cheaper than buying from Europe,” he

It can be the case, however, that some

comments. “We would love to look into

solutions are prohibitively expensive,

any possibilities of developing our own a si a .busi ne ssc h ief. com

ORMOND GROUP

136

“ In the hospitality industry, understanding our guests’ needs, wants and requirements is key to providing great service” — Julian Wong, Group Chief Technology Officer

AUGUST 2019

hospitality tech in the near future to overcome the various challenges we have, especially when it comes to cost feasibility.”

It is clear that Ormond Group is a company with both ambition and a clear idea of the technological solutions needed to achieve its goals. Under the stewardship of Wong, there is a sense that Ormond Group’s digital transformation journey is far from over. Equally, however, as the company embarks upon the opening of its new brands, it is the pride the company takes in the hospitality it provides that is propelling it onwards: “As a group, we want to provide what is essential to our guests and look at ways of optimising the human touch, not removing it,” says Wong. “Our strategy isn’t to invest in hardware that can date quickly, but to stay focused on software that can enhance our guests’ experience rather than distract from them.”

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137

138

Pampers: Finding data solutions with a snug fit WRITTEN BY

DAN BRIGHTMORE PRODUCED BY

KRISTOFER PALMER

AUGUST 2019

139

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PROCTER & GAMBLE

Pampers is pushing to innovate and join its customers in a digital domain where e-commerce channels are intertwined with entertainment. Digital transformation leads the way

E

-commerce has different stages of maturity in Asia where Pampers, one of Procter & Gamble’s biggest brands,

is seeing the natural evolution towards online ordering of bigger packs. It provides the perfect 140

destination for customers to browse products, utilise reviews and find deals - without having to struggle home from a store with a bulky purchase.

Antoine Tyan, Associated Brand Director, Head of Data, Digital Transformation and E-Commerce for Pampers APAC, sees huge diversity across the region. “You have countries such as the Philippines which have a low salience of e-commerce under 5%, and others over 80% like Korea where almost every sale of diapers happens online,” he reveals. “From a solution standpoint, we have to cater for all these different stages of maturity and of the retailers that we play with, so in a country with low salience, our focus will be mainly on commercial offers. In mature markets, we have an increased need for brand building, interactive e-content and social media marketing.”

AUGUST 2019

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PROCTER & GAMBLE

“ Mindset can be the biggest cue. Even at a large company with many years’ experience and proven practices in place, sometimes you have to unlearn to relearn”

142

— Antoine Tyan, Associate Director, Head of Data, Digital Transformation and E-commerce for Pampers APAC, Procter & Gamble

Tyan maintains that e-commerce pages are now showrooms. Inspired by content in the food and beverage sector, Pampers is adopting a sensorial approach with more advanced imagery and video. “We look at the channel and find ways to stand out,” he adds. “The role of branding is often questioned because customers can instantly compare prices and access consumer reviews. However, it becomes even more critical to differentiate from other brands. This is where we step in creating exclusive events to delight our customers with a unique experience. For instance, we worked with Lazada (Southeast Asia’s number one online retailer) to develop an event around baby play by organising a virtual baby marathon that was a perfect fit for that e-commerce platform.”

AUGUST 2019

CLICK TO WATCH : ‘WHAT IS GROWTH HACKING AND HOW CAN YOU USE IT IN YOUR LIFE?’ 143 Procter & Gamble boasts a massive

and reapplying is also key and, in

range of household name brands but

e-commerce, is something supported

they can still operate autonomously

through bi-annual Asian summits

to meet specific business challenges.

to share learnings, applications and

“We also synergise our efforts,” adds

use cases.

Tyan. “Strategies happen at global,

Change management is a constant

regional and local level – for the total

challenge for brands that want to excel

corporation as well as for the brand.

in the digital space. Tyan believes

At a macro level we need to make sure

it must be supported by top down

we pull in the same direction. As a group,

leadership from experts in their field.

we share systems such as suppliers,

“At a data focused organisation like

technologies and platforms, along

ours, digital transformation can only

with centres of expertise like IT and

happen if the strategy is clear for

multimedia which flow across brands.”

everyone and leaders can assess and

Tyan believes the mindset of sharing

quantify the added business value a si a .busi ne ssc h ief. com

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Procter & Gamble achieve growth by shifting to performance marketing strategies with long-time partner yellowHEAD The consumer product industry is rapidly shifting to a wide range of dispersed channels. This poses a big challenge for CPG companies – pinpointing where their consumers are, how to reach them and how to make an immediate, profound impact on their purchasing decisions.

As one of the top CPG companies in the world, Procter & Gamble make it a priority to reach and engage high LTV consumers. To ensure they are scaling in a sustainable way, P&G has trusted yellowHEAD as their performance marketing partner since 2017 to support their UA strategies for a variety of products. yellowHEAD has helped shape Pampers’ digital marketing strategy by focusing on the full user journey (from awareness to conversion), in-depth user segmentation and targeted messaging. They have also transformed the way Pampers analyzes their data and shifted the brand’s creatives from more brand-oriented to performance-oriented.

This precision enabled yellowHEAD to significantly contribute to the growth of Pampers sales over the last two years, bringing about successful product launches for several sub-brands.

Today, yellowHEAD manages performance activities for all Baby Care sub-brands, among other P&G product brands.

Getting everything in your marketing mix to work harmoniously towards the same business goals is a true challenge. yellowHEAD constructed the perfect formula of paid and organic strategies to grow Pampers’ consumer base: driving a high volume of web registrations with SEO, bringing an engaged audience from Social and Search platforms to the Rewards app with paid UA, and gaining optimal app store visibility while boosting conversion with ASO. yellowHEAD’s dedicated team collaborated internally to gather insights on each activity and thereby continually optimize every step of the way.

Real-Time Optimization Technology Track, report, optimize – all in real time. yellowHEAD offers full transparency over the entire activity in one comprehensive view.

The company gathers actionable insights from live data and efficiently shifts budgets according to best-performing ads and creatives.

Trusted Performance Marketing Experts In this fast-paced industry, companies need a deep understanding into consumer behavior. yellowHEAD experts implement best practices based on profound knowledge gained through years of experience working with industry-leading brands. Committed to flexibility and efficiency, the company applies this experience to build scalable, high-performing campaigns for P&G.

Unified Organic & Paid Solutions To influence consumers’ purchasing decisions, P&G must reach the right audience with the right content. yellowHEAD’s holistic approach allows them to apply cross-platform insights and create personalized, engaging marketing messages for P&G consumers. It also allows for consistent messaging across all channels throughout the funnel.

AI-Driven Creative Studio Creatives play a huge role in campaigns’ success. yellowHEAD’s creative studio delivers creatives that drive action in all types of campaigns, from banners to videos to interactive ads. The company’s creative technology – Alison Art – analyzes and identifies winning elements within the creatives, leading to smart, data-based A/B tests that continuously improve conversion for P&G campaigns.

Let’s talk about the right marketing approach for your business:

Contact Eyal Argon, VP of Strategic Partnerships

PROCTER & GAMBLE

146

of investing in new programmes”

what’s actually possible. This is where

he confirms. “Mindset can be the

technology and data can be massive

biggest cue. Even at a large company

amplifiers and why I feel modern

with many years’ experience and

marketers have the responsibility

proven practices in place, sometimes

to really own that conversation and

you have to unlearn to relearn.”

become more tech savvy.”

Tyan notes the importance of

The necessity of identifying methods

departments partnering on projects

that enhance the ability to meet the

and not simply working blinkered

needs of the market is even more

in silos. “Instead of starting with the

pressing for a brand with an extremely

technology or data solution, we address

narrow audience. “Baby care is a

the business challenge with IT at the

unique category for many reasons,”

outset, to define what’s needed. Then

explains Tyan. “Every three years your

you can have a conversation about

entire base renews so you need the

AUGUST 2019

right strategies to lead customers into

countries, we launched our own app

the Pampers brand and retain them, all

to support and reward moms,” adds

in a very short window.” It’s a very

Tyan. “In others, we adapted to

specific business

customer habits, opting for email

challenge where there

automation or focusing on events

are 50 purchases over

days supported by social media.”

a customer lifespan that

Harvesting data is the key

Pampers aims to win.

to unlocking insights from this

Hence its technology

diverse range of marketing

choices are geared

activity. Tyan reveals that the

towards hyper-personalisa-

Pampers brand is experimenting

tion to communicate product offers

with machine learning to further

with supporting content. “In some

analyse the psychology 147

E XE CU T I VE PRO FI LE

Antoine Tyan Having spent more than a decade with Procter & Gamble, Tyan feels like “an all-rounder and a specialist at the same time” who believes passionately in future proofing the Pampers brand with a coherent digital strategy. “I’ve gone from upstream design work, on projects with mad scientists seeking innovation to the logistics of day to day delivery,” says the man responsible for the brand’s approach to data.

“I feel like I’ve seen the whole funnel, and that helps me in my strategic thinking, as well as in creating end to end design solutions.” That wealth of experience in a variety of roles across brand management with Pampers has made Tyan a strong marketeer who has kept in step with the digital revolution; a vital key to the future strength of his brand.

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PROCTER & GAMBLE

$66.83bn Approximate revenue

1837

Year founded

95,000

Approximate number of employees 148

AUGUST 2019

149

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PERSONALISED EXPERIENCE, PREDICTIVE RESULTS Show your customers you know them. Aimia’s SmartJourney® methodology predicts, personalises and prioritises unique customer journeys. It’s data-inspired strategy driving 1-to-1 connections, experiences and results. It’s the future of loyalty.

Create the personalised journey your customer wants.

“ Every three years your entire base renews so you need the right strategies to lead customers into the Pampers brand and retain them, all in a very short window” — Antoine Tyan, Associate Director, Head of Data, Digital Transformation and E-commerce for Pampers APAC, Procter & Gamble

“It’s one thing to observe behaviours, but you need to understand the deeper consumer motives,” stresses Tyan, who is also excited about the possibilities for new forms of customer engagement fueled by personalisation. “We’re going beyond the value of a diaper, and really starting to impact moms’ and babies’ lives and overall experience throughout their journeys together.”

Alleviating the impact on the planet is also a key goal for Pampers globally.

“At Procter & Gamble we aspire to be a force for good and a force for growth. This was always the case for

of consumer behaviour and

Pampers. We have

ultimately meet their needs.

a history of being

“We’re developing the ability

socially responsible

to identify and analyse very

working with organisa-

targeted audiences that

tions like UNICEF to

have a high propensity

eliminate neonatal

of engaging with or

tetanus. We also work

buying our product.”

on other areas where

Achieving insights into what drives consumer behaviour has been integral to the success of Procter & Gamble’s brands for nearly 200 years.

we can make a big impact, including driving gender equality internally in the workplace and externally through our brand campaigns and a si a .busi ne ssc h ief. com

151

PROCTER & GAMBLE

152

AUGUST 2019

advocacy efforts with partners like UN Women,” says Tyan. “We also want to make a positive impact on the planet.

I’m really excited about something Pampers is leading globally. We’re piloting diaper recycling technology in Europe where we’re collecting waste in a city like Amsterdam, not only for Pampers, but for all diapers and wipes.”

Across APAC, partners like AIMIA (allied with Microsoft and AWS) are key to growing the ecosystem to reach out to customers and personalise their experience with the brand. “As a loyalty program specialist, they have been a long-time partner of our rewards program, the Pampers Club, in charge of overall operations. The premise of the Club is to reward moms for their loyalty by offering them points for every purchase that they can redeem for catalog gifts. In Japan they are providing services from data management and analytics, to campaign and marketing automation,” confirms Tyan. “Across media we have strong partnerships with heavy hitters like Google and Facebook, and select partners based on their capabilities in a given country. For example, a si a .busi ne ssc h ief. com

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PROCTER & GAMBLE

we work with Dentsu in Japan on advanced programmatic solutions.”

Pampers also employs the digital marketing talents of yellowHEAD a performance marketing agency that is a global partner for the brand. “Our work together is primarily to optimise our cost of acquisition to our CRM, notably through fast iteration cycles,” adds Tyan.

Tyan stresses that e-commerce is “growing at the speed of light”, supercharged by the linkage from 154

social media. “Consumers are very receptive to key influencers. The link is becoming more prevalent as we

“ We’re going beyond the value of a diaper, and really starting to impact moms’ and babies’ lives and overall experience throughout their journeys together” — Antoine Tyan, Associate Director, Head of Data, Digital Transformation and E-commerce for Pampers APAC, Procter & Gamble AUGUST 2019

move towards social commerce.

Customisation is another key trend, we all want something that is relevant to us as consumers and ignore generic messages. This leads e-commerce to personalise platforms at a user level, which is a challenge,” he says. “As a brand trying to excel in search, and optimise its virtual shelf, a personalised world means that you don’t have as much control over customer experience.

How do you win in such a fast-changing environment? There’s a clear expecta-

155

tion from our customers. We have

experience online is transforming

to step up, adapt to that and to the

consumer habits. “It’s exciting for

new technologies our retailer

Pampers to look at how we continue

partners are putting in place.” E-com-

to innovate, insert ourselves into that

merce as a channel is embracing

environment and provide value.”

disruption and becoming a form of entertainment in its own right.

“The malls in Asia are like playgrounds for shoppers, buying becomes an activity in itself, as a family weekend outing. Online malls are popularizing that behavior anytime, anywhere’” notes Tyan of the way the shopping a si a .busi ne ssc h ief. com

Data-driven, impactful advertising across APAC

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OLIVIA MINNOCK PRODUCED BY

KRISTOFER PALMER

AUGUST 2019

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O M D A PA C

OMD APAC uses data to provide insights on customers and markets for big name clients such as McDonald’s and Unilever. COO Rochelle Chhaya tells us more

“I

n today’s world, it’s hard to get five minutes of the consumer that is completely undivided. You are competing not just with

different brands, but with cute dogs running to their owners when they get home, with children throwing tantrums,” says Rochelle Chhaya, Chief Operating 158

Officer (COO) at OMD APAC. “You’re competing for the consumer to remember you; for share of mind. The only way you can do that is to ensure you know who that customer is and tell them a compelling story.”

The media agency, part of Omnicom Media Group (OMG), has excelled by taking on the challenge of marketing its clients’ brands in an increasingly digital age. Working with some of the world’s largest companies operating in Asia, its clients include McDonald’s, Nissan and Pepsi.

“OMD is a media agency – but to truly talk about what we do, I would say we are marketing consultants and partners. We work with clients on the business objective they want to achieve,” explains Chhaya, who joined the company in 2007.

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O M D A PA C

“ You’re competing for the consumer to remember you; for share of mind” — Rochelle Chhaya, COO, OMD APAC

Initially, Chhaya was brought in to introduce digital for the region, and in over a decade at the company she has led digital services for a range of clients in a variety of markets including Thailand and Singapore. “It was extremely eye opening from a digital and business building perspective, as well as in terms of managing people and cultures effectively. Thailand is one of the few markets in Asia that has never been colonised, so they have a very distinct culture, language and a strong sense of pride, with their own unique

160

way of doing things.”

An element of OMD’s ability to help its clients reach their regional business goals involves managing cultural sensitivities and putting this knowledge into practice through SLAs, templates, and digital products. An understanding of the increasing role of technology is vital. “Digital has become part of life.

It is a part of a consumer’s journey: we as marketers can’t keep looking at it in silo.”

Beyond operating as an advertising agency, OMD provides a truly tailored service by working to understand wider business strategies as well as the AUGUST 2019

CLICK TO WATCH : ‘OMD APAC – TODAY’S CONSUMER’

market in which a client wishes to

saying ‘here’s what we need to do’

succeed. “Every country is rightly

and us reacting to it.”

unique and at different stages of

Chhaya cites McDonald’s as a key

digital adoption,” says Chhaya. You’re

example of how OMD understands

expected to be ahead of the curve

business objectives and fosters

compared to your clients. Local market

growth through partnership. The key

knowledge and resources are vital,

objective is to sell burgers, of course,

but they may lack that global level

but nowadays this is done offline as

of aptitude, so it’s a challenge to find

well as online through McDelivery.

the right talent and make sure we train,

OMD examines the goals market by

upskill and ensure clients trust our

market: “Sometimes, in a small market

staff’s knowledge and expertise.

like Singapore, we even go store by

We need to make sure we are truly

store,” notes Chhaya. “What are the

driving the client, rather than the client

KPIs, what are the goals they need a si a .busi ne ssc h ief. com

161

Premium Programmatic.

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to achieve in terms of scale?” Through

the product, or change from a competi-

asking the right questions, OMD

tor’s product. That’s our cross section

combines an awareness of the client’s

where we talk about ideation: what are

target audience and desired business

the different things we can do to make

outcomes with its own deep, market-

the change possible? How can we

specific understanding of customers.

drive efficiency in what we’re doing?”

“We put ourselves in the shoes of the

For McDonald’s, the challenge is

consumer and understand who the

to adapt to the local market and thrive

core target audience is. We try to

in an omnichannel arena – fulfilling both

understand the consumer from a

online and offline orders from the same

demography and psychography

kitchen. “At some point, demand will

perspective. We then look at, based

exceed capability to match it with supply,”

on the client’s ambitions, what change

says Chhaya. OMD has developed a

in behaviour they need from the

technology-driven platform which

consumer for them to want to consume

analyses kitchen capacity and uses

AUGUST 2019

an algorithm to show waiting times

media and digital work in tandem to

in each McDonald’s throughout

drive growth. “Where exactly should

Singapore. “The system automatically

they be seen? How exactly should they

starts a media campaign to drive

measure ROI, measure success?” asks

burger sales, or pauses the ad campaign.

Chhaya. The agency partners with

If waiting time is above 10 minutes,

technology giants such as Google and

we can pause all delivery ads for that

Facebook to accrue local insights on

location because we have enough

a global scale so businesses can learn

demand,” Chhaya explains.

how to advertise appropriately and

Clearly, this is more than running an

measure the success of their cam-

ad campaign – it’s understanding how

paigns as well as areas for improve-

E XE CU T I VE PRO FI LE

163

Rochelle Chhaya, COO A marketing and communications specialist with 13 years of experience in both digital and investment capabilities, Rochelle Chhaya has a passion for creating new digital solutions that integrate multiple touchpoints and deliver holistic consumer experiences for brands. As Chief Operating Officer of OMD APAC, Chhaya is tasked with mapping out what the future client-centric, digitally powered and data-led agency model will look like for the network. Formerly the Chief Digital Officer for Omnicom Media Group APAC, Chhaya has comprehensive knowledge and experience to tackle the operational challenges and opportunities that arise when developing an agency model for the future. Chhaya also shares her experience and knowledge with the industry, serving as a Board Member of the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) SEA & India. a si a .busi ne ssc h ief. com

O M D A PA C

ment. “We speak with Google and Facebook regularly about how we can innovate further for our clients and make sure we really push the envelope for their businesses.” That way, OMD can combine global insights from a plethora of companies and consumers that even a giant like McDonald’s could only dream of on its own.

OMD and Google have launched around 200 new technology features in APAC over the past year and many have been expanded across multiple 164

clients. A strong example is TV to online attribution: clients often struggle to gauge the efficacy of TV adverts.

“We sat down with Google and, using Bayesian inference, created an

Global Media Agency

1996

Year founded

10,000+

Approximate number of employees

AUGUST 2019

165

“ We put ourselves in the shoes of the consumer and understand who the core target audience is” — Rochelle Chhaya, COO, OMD APAC

algorithm and baseline of brand search terms. 20 minutes prior and 20 minutes post the TV advert, we can track spikes in search terms to infer whether the TV campaign had genuinely impacted search trends.”

“Everything we do today starts and ends with technology,” says Chhaya.

Omnicom is set to continue leveraging digital solutions to provide local insights whilst maintaining best practice through strict guidelines and talent development. “We have an online program, face to face training a si a .busi ne ssc h ief. com

O M D A PA C

“ We work with our clients on the business objective they want to achieve” — Rochelle Chhaya, COO, OMD APAC

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AUGUST 2019

and a mentoring programme. We also have Omnicom University, which has training courses for the more senior staff. Each market has its own localised training agenda.” Looking to the future, OMD aims to stay ahead of the curve in an evolving industry. “For the next three years our goal is future proofing our business as well as our clients’, making sure we’re all ready for the key trends and technological improvements we see coming up,” says Chhaya. “We will ensure we have the right people in place to be able to lead in the future, the right processes in place to be agile, change and adapt, and the right partners in place so we can constantly develop new products to deliver better solutions to our clients.”

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WRITTEN BY

WILLIAM SMITH PRODUCED BY

MIKE SADR

AUGUST 2019

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V I C T O R I A N D E PA R T M E N T O F H E A LT H & H U M A N S E R V I C E S

Dr Steve Hodgkinson, CIO of the Victorian Department of Health and Human Services, details the work he and his team have done to digitally transform project delivery through the Platform+Agile model

O

The Victorian Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) is dedicated to ensuring the health and wellbeing of all

Victorians, providing a wide range of services 170

ranging from hospital and ambulance services to child protection and family violence programmes and beyond. The department is increasingly finding that digital solutions can offer communities improved services, whether that’s people with a disability being able to easily register for a companion card using its Companion Card System or those applying for public housing using the Housing Register Online Application system.

Steve Hodgkinson is CIO at the department, presiding over an ongoing digital transformation alongside his leadership team.

“These days, digital transformation is purely driven by your capacity to execute projects,” says Hodgkinson. “If you can’t execute projects then it’s all just talk. My executive leadership team is at the core of achieving that.” Detailing his team’s AUGUST 2019

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$20.bn Approximate revenue

2015

Year founded

12,000

Approximate number of employees a si a .busi ne ssc h ief. com

V I C T O R I A N D E PA R T M E N T O F H E A LT H & H U M A N S E R V I C E S

“ The pace at which we can deliver digital transformation is now critical to the government’s ability to deliver its reform programs” — Steve Hodgkinson, CIO, The Victorian Department of Health and Human Services

successful process, Hodgkinson says that it starts with Fiona Sparks, Assistant Director, Strategy & Design, who is integral to the upfront work required to mobilise and fund a large portfolio of projects. Ray Baird, Assistant Director, Systems Solutions, then leads development of the applications, creating the structure for delivery. Assistant Director, Solutions Engagement, John Henderson manages the project pipeline, liaising with businesses to ensure projects are steadily delivered. David Stephens is Chief Data Officer, responsible not only for data to do with projects but also the

172

broader logic around data collection and information management in a large department, and Liz Hughes, Directorate Manager, provides the support services that keep the branch operating.

PLATFORM+AGILE Alongside his team, Hodgkinson credits the rapid acceleration of the department’s digital transformation efforts to an approach he has pioneered known as Platform+Agile, building out of agile software development methods. “The Platform+Agile model is founded on two main ideas.

Firstly, you can’t be agile unless you AUGUST 2019

CLICK TO WATCH : ‘THE POWER OF CONTENT WITH STEVE HODGKINSON’ 173 start with a robust, scalable and

of the platform, says Hodgkinson.

sustainable platform. Secondly, public

“Each application is not unique, rather

cloud service platforms are faster,

it’s a variation of things that already

more secure, more affordable and

exist. That enables us to start projects

simply better in all regards than

quickly and cheaply, and then to

anything a government agency could

deliver a minimal viable product much

ever hope to build or own,” says

more rapidly than otherwise possible,

Hodgkinson. Platform+Agile is the

getting feedback from real users and

opposite of the usual government

iterating based on that. That simple

approach which sees each application

process is itself the most important

and system as a unique, one-off event.

accelerant of digital transformation.

“The fundamental mindset of

It is all about increasing the cadence of

Platform+Agile is that each application

project delivery to fuel a compounding

inherits as much as possible of the

organizational learning effect.”

standard and common functionality

By relying on platforms in the way a si a .busi ne ssc h ief. com

V I C T O R I A N D E PA R T M E N T O F H E A LT H & H U M A N S E R V I C E S

174

that DHHS does, it is important that

platforms is Microsoft cloud services

platforms are chosen for their

(Azure, Dynamics and Office365),

versatility and long-term sustainability.

which has the advantage of many

“You have to think of platforms

pre-existing synergies such as a

strategically as things that you invest

government-wide enterprise agreement,

in deeply. When the next use case

Microsoft’s necessary federal

comes along, the question is not how

government security certifications,

to solve this by going out to market

the department’s installed base of

and choosing a new technology and a

Microsoft applications, and skills in

new vendor, the question is how to

Microsoft’s development frameworks.

deliver this use case using our

The department also makes use of

strategic platform and the things we

other platforms for different use

have already built and have available.”

cases: Salesforce for CRM-style

One of the department’s strategic

applications; ServiceNow for service

AUGUST 2019

management; SAP’s SuccessFactors

for each application. Vendors need

for human capital management and

to understand that the game has

Oracle Cloud ERP for finance systems.

fundamentally changed. The Game

Hodgkinson observes that the

of Platforms is a long game based on

Platform+Agile approach is transforming

maintaining positive and deep strategic

the logic of technology procurement

relationships, not a transactional game

in his department. It is now a ‘Game of

based on winning tenders.”

Platforms’ as opposed to a more

To be able to scale-up projects to

traditional ‘Game of Tenders’. “Use

deliver new applications in these

cases are increasingly contested

cloud services platforms, DHHS has

across our platforms to select the

developed a procurement mechanism

best existing platform for a new

known as the Solution Delivery Panel.

application rather than in the past

Key vendors on the panel include

where we would have run a tender to

Terra Firma, Access Testing, CSC

select a new vendor and technology

DXC, Datacom, Dialog, DWS, Infosys,

E XE CU T I VE PRO FI LE

Steve Hodgkinson, CIO Steve has been DHHS CIO since 2014. He was previously Chief Analyst Public Sector for research & advisory firm Ovum. In earlier years he founded and sold an e-commerce company and worked in a range of executive and consulting roles in the government and utilities sectors in Europe and Australasia.

In his university years he worked as a Search & Rescue mountaineer for Aoraki Mount Cook National Park in New Zealand. He has a doctorate in Management Studies from the University of Oxford and a First Class Honours Degree in Information Systems from the University of Otago.

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Business Change Digital Optimisation Cyber Security Looking beyond.

Delivering key business and technology initiatives that propel organisational performance and elevate our customers’ brand.

“ The agility of today’s platforms means the most important thing is to get started, deliver something and iterate upon it” — Steve Hodgkinson, CIO, The Victorian Department of Health and Human Services

brought together a very fragmented application process for public housing and put it online in a form that could be used on a smartphone,” says Hodgkinson. “That whole process was a radical re-engineering and simplification of the way that people applied for public housing. The received wisdom was that the form and the process were far too complicated to work on a mobile phone. Using the Microsoft Azure framework that we had and its ability to work via smart-

Landell, Oakton, Plan IT, PM Partners,

phone applications, we launched

RXP, SMS – ASG Group, TDL/CNI and

the service and found that a large

Third Horizon.

percentage of clients thought that it

Streamlining the process for individ-

was much easier to use than the old

ual projects, the panel allows the de-

paper form process and more

partment to maintain strategic relation-

convenient to access on a mobile

ships with partners rather than relying

phone than a computer. This taught

on a project-by-project approach.

us how the functionality native in the platform can actually drive innovation

PROJECTS Hodgkinson and his team have

in citizen-centric service delivery.”

Another project saw the creation

delivered and iteratively refined more

of the Client Incident Management

than 30 major new business systems,

System (CIMS), a unified system for

of which he points out a number of

collecting and managing incident

exemplary projects that demonstrate

reports from over 1,700 agencies in

the impact possible with the

fields such as disability, public housing

Platform+Agile approach. “The

and child protection. Again using

Housing Register Online Application

Microsoft Azure, the large number a si a .busi ne ssc h ief. com

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V I C T O R I A N D E PA R T M E N T O F H E A LT H & H U M A N S E R V I C E S

of agencies and sensitive data involved proved the efficacy of the Platform+Agile approach, with the system in seamless operation for some 18 months. The architecture foundations and microservices laid down for that system were later reused, as Hodgkinson explains: “The Victorian Health Incident Management System (VHIMS) has only recently gone live for a cluster of around 50 health services. Previously, a dysfunctional version of that application had been in place for many years and had defied many attempts to replace it. Using the 178

fact that we had already developed a lot of basic functionality and platform features for CIMS, we were able to reuse much of the logic for VHIMS. The project was delivered on time and on budget and has been praised by nurses for reducing significantly the time taken to record incidents. It demonstrates the strength of platform thinking.”

A recent development at DHHS is the launch of SafeScript, a new system for real time prescription monitoring between doctors and pharmacies, preventing the over-prescription of controlled drugs. “SafeScript is an example of the power of the Platform+Agile approach to break AUGUST 2019

through a Gordian knot,” says Hodgkinson. “A project had been running for many years to create a national real time prescription monitoring system, but it was stalling because of the complexity of getting all of the different stakeholders in Australia to agree on the requirements and how the project would be implemented. The Platform+Agile approach doesn’t bother with that.

It’s about making the best call you can, implementing the solution and then relying on the fact that a solution provided as a public cloud service can easily scale and be consumed by other jurisdictions to become the national solution.” Since going live, the system has been acclaimed and is being picked up by other states to form the basis of a national system.

As for future projects, Hodgkinson says: “We are still working through a pipeline of applications that need to be modernised or rebuilt. There’s very little that can be done without a digital solution now. The pace at which we can deliver digital transformation is now critical to the government’s ability to deliver its policy and service delivery reform programs.” a si a .busi ne ssc h ief. com

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C O M PA N Y FACT S

• The Client Incident Management System (CIMS) is a unified system for collecting and managing incident reports from over 1,700 agencies in fields such as disability, public housing and child protection

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• Hodgkinson and his team have delivered and iteratively refined more than 30 major new business systems

AUGUST 2019

It’s clear that DHHS’s digital transformation approach has had a transformative impact on the ways Victorians can interact with the department and draw on its resources. For Hodgkinson, the role of the CIO as it pertains to digital transformation is that of the catalyst.

“People have a propensity to want to try and solve the whole of the problem – until they can see a way to solve for the whole then they don’t even get started.

The agility that is possible using today’s cloud services platforms means that, as long as you’ve got a sufficient awareness of the big picture and where it can go to, the most important thing is to get started, deliver something and iterate upon it as opposed to agonising forever over trying to solve for the whole integrated solution. I like to say that ‘startegy is usually the best strategy’.

Getting started and learning fast is often better than spending too long strategising and failing to actually get around to doing.”

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Y

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BY

MI T H

Embarking on a d e r e w o p digitaltransformation journey MIK E S A DR

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O N LY A B O U T C H I L D R E N

Only About Children (Oac) CIO Andy Luiskandl details Oac’s digital-powered transformation benefitting children, families and team members and highlights the important role IT should play

T

he work of digital transformation is often said to be capable of rejuvenating a business, taking it from stuck-in-its-ways

adulthood to the dynamism of youth. Embodying the youthful side of this equation, Only About 184

Children (Oac) is an early learning and childcare provider with more than 70 campuses across Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane catering for 0-6 year olds. Andy Luiskandl is Chief Information Officer (CIO) at the business, guiding Oac’s transformation journey at a time of rapid growth.

“The business has grown substantially over the last 12 months, virtually doubling in size,” says Luiskandl. “When I arrived last year, we were halfway through onboarding 25 campuses, and since then another six have joined the group.

At each campus we have a Campus Director, educators and team members who educate and care for the children. Oac has more than 11,000 children in its care. With parents and extended family as well, we have close to 100,000 people, give or take, who are engaging with Oac digitally.”

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O N LY A B O U T C H I L D R E N

“ Everything Oac does is to empower every child to reach their full potential through a passion for learning” — Anna Learmonth, CEO, Only About Children

In line with the breadth of change in the ever growing organisation, two major transformational initiatives went into full gear shortly after Luiskandl joined: the transition of Oac’s ERP system (QikKids) to the Cloud – including the rollout of new customer-facing apps – and the implementation of a Cloud-based workforce management system (Ento), as well as several smaller projects.

From the outset it was clear that Oac’s digital transformation – or

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‘digital-powered transformation’ as Luiskandl prefers to call it – would touch on everything Oac does, and that success would depend on several critical success factors including: 1. Ensuring organisational ownership and leadership across all levels, from the CEO down and from the educators caring for the children up; 2. A robust approach to project and change management, supported with good governance and assurance, and the timely acquisition of skills critical to successful execution; AUGUST 2019

CLICK TO WATCH : ‘THE ROLE OF AN EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATOR’ 187 3. IT stepping-up to take a broader

tations that Luiskandl also had to deal

role partnering with senior stakeholders

with in previous roles working on tight

and teams to navigate Oac through the

budgets. Overarching all the above

inevitable challenges, something that

was to make sure that the many

Luiskandl terms ‘transformation

changes were ultimately delivering

stewardship’;

on the promise to better scale and transform the ‘Oac Way’ – a set of core

4. Balancing the many demands of digital-powered transformation with the realities of ensuring quality

beliefs and a structured model to deliver inspired, high quality early education.

Anna Learmonth, Oac’s CEO,

day-to-day operations and service

explains: “Everything Oac does is

delivery in parallel.

to empower every child to reach their full potential through a passion for

The transformation had to be delivered efficiently, quickly and smoothly, expec-

learning. This also goes beyond education and encompasses the a si a .busi ne ssc h ief. com

Agile delivery.

Proven outcomes.

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O N LY A B O U T C H I L D R E N

health and total wellbeing of every child in our care. Our transformation had to deliver on that promise. I am pleased to say that the team has achieved this and the benefits of our transformation are already measurable, and frankly impressive. Our people, programs and partnerships were all key to that.”

As Oac’s transformation unfolded, existing and new technology vendor relationships had to scale-up, and fast.

For example, to ensure a robust approach to transformation execution

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and assurance, Oac engaged Quay Consulting to provide project and change management support. “Quay has in many ways been the ‘first amongst equals’ vendor relationship,” says Luiskandl. “The way they engaged with us proved successful.”

Internal business improvements gained through transformation are only one side of the coin, and Oac has seized the opportunity to implement measures that improve the experience of children and their families. According to Kathryn Hutchins, Oac’s Customer GM: “An important part of Oac’s transformation was to upgrade our ERP AUGUST 2019

system, QikKids. Whilst the platform

streamlining the process. With Family

didn’t change too much, without down-

Lounge, parents can easily book chil-

playing the complexity transitioning

dren in for unscheduled care. “Families

a heavily-customised and internally-

are able to book what we call ‘casual

hosted ERP system to a more vanilla

days’,” Kathryn explains. “For example,

Cloud one, we used the opportunity

as a parent you may need to enrol

to roll-out new family apps to improve

your child for an extra day. With Family

the customer experience, namely Enrol,

Lounge, if a place is available you can

Family Lounge and Storypark.” With

book it digitally using the app. And with

Enrol, the process to enrol a child at

Storypark, our educators can engage

an Oac campus is facilitated digitally,

in two-way communications with

E XE CU T I VE PRO FI LE

Andy Luiskandl, Chief Information Officer Andy Luiskandl has served in CIO roles at several sector-leading Australian commercial and social enterprises that are providing services and care to the community: The Smith Family (a wellknown Australian children’s charity), InvoCare (an ASX 200-listed company that services families to celebrate and memorialise lives), Primary Health Network (a government-funded local health reform enterprise) and Only About Children.

His area of expertise is to power the transformation and growth of enterprises with technology. Prior, he worked in the fast-moving consumer goods industry spearheading digital and e-commerce at Coca-Cola and Dairy Farmers (the latter award-winning). Andy also founded and run an award-winning Cloud software business that serviced larger enterprises incl. Unisys, Campbell Arnott’s and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.

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O N LY A B O U T C H I L D R E N

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AU $175mn Approximate revenue

2002

Year founded

2,000+

Approximate number of employees 193

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O N LY A B O U T C H I L D R E N

“ It’s not good enough for just IT or another team to walk that journey or answer for it, everybody needs to” — Andy Luiskandl, CIO, Only About Children

194

families, sharing children’s learning ex-

Genysis, Oac was able to expand

periences and more. The uptake of all

and improve the performance of the

these new capabilities has exceeded

network that connects Oac’s 70 plus

expectations, our educators now have

campuses, including VoIP-based

the tools they need, and we are raising

telecommunications. “Modern digital

the bar.”

networks can be thought of as a

Then there is Microsoft, Telstra

human nervous system,” says

and Genysis that supported Oac

Luiskandl. “We all know how constraining

to scale-up its ‘bread and butter’

it can be if our Internet at home is slow

technology foundations. Working with

or not working at all, and the adverse

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195

impact in an organisational context

foundations. We are now using

is greater of course – especially if

Microsoft’s Office 365 platform to

customers are impacted.” Turning

better collaborate with tools like

to Microsoft, Oac rapidly-scaled the

SharePoint, and we also pushed

availability of Microsoft Office 365

the envelope when it comes to data

from 150 to over 2,000 users, whilst

analysis and visualisation using

Telstra scaled Oac’s mobile network

Microsoft PowerBI.”

and coverage with 4G. “There is more

Finally, there is Ento, a new vendor

to do,” Luiskandl reflects, “but we now

relationship for Oac. Craig Talberg,

have got a better network and stronger

Oac’s Operations GM explains: “Our a si a .busi ne ssc h ief. com

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Ento workforce management initiative touches pretty much everything workforce-wise. Rostering and scheduling, time and attendance, workflows such as onboarding and more, all supported with a mobile app on iPads at all campuses and smartphone access for all team members. Ento also supports facial recognition to make things easier and faster for people, also considering how busy work can be at a campus. As well, the use of AI capability is enabling our business to align and operate more closely with the children, so we are better able to provide outstanding education and care. We are on a good journey.�

This sense of a journey informs the culture Luiskandl strived to nurture as the transformation unfolded. “Oac has historically been innovative when it comes to technology, and the business will continue to innovate to better deliver on its customer promise and meet stakeholder expectations.

As CIOs we are temporary stewards who support people as the digital-powered transformation journey unfolds.

Our responsibility is ultimately to those that will take over from us, making sure the business is in the best possible a si a .busi ne ssc h ief. com

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condition – certainly when it comes to technology.”

Another plank of the transformation was cybersecurity, maintaining ‘business as usual’ and – last but not least – developing the IT Team.

“Cybersecurity-wise we have come a long way, and we are now beating several industry benchmarks. For example, our Microsoft Secure Score has quadrupled and is now double the industry average,” says Andy. “In respect to ‘business as usual’, we 198

have redoubled field servicing to make sure campuses are better looked after IT-wise, with a sixfold increase in user satisfaction (based

“ As CIOs we are temporary stewards who support people as the digital-powered transformation journey unfolds” — Andy Luiskandl, CIO, Only About Children

on user feedback). And we are not resting on our laurels.“ As for the IT team, Scott Bennett, Oac’s longestserving IT team member, reflects: “We have never been in a better position than now. The last 12 months were quite a ride, and we have landed in a good place.”

In his role as CIO, Luiskandl sees the opportunity to leverage transformation to guide wider improvements across an enterprise, and to raise the bar for people coming together to

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199

achieve results. “When I was on-boarded

enough for just IT or another team

there was an opportunity to better

to walk that journey or answer for it,

align the IT Team with the rest of the

everybody needs to.”

business, and vice versa. The conversa-

Oac’s digital transformation journey

tion became: ‘let's work together and

gives Luiskandl’s sentiments credence.

support each other to make this a

Two major initiatives succeeded in

success’.” Ultimately, Luiskandl sees a

positively touching the experiences

successful transformation as requiring

of many, capability advanced all

the collaboration

around and measurable results were

of every part of a business. “Everybody

delivered smoothly, all within a short

has to work together to succeed. IT

timeframe and on a tight budget.

can and should play a stewardship role provided the whole organisation walks the journey together. It's not good a si a .busi ne ssc h ief. com

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COMING OUT ON TOP AFTER A LONG INDUSTRY DOWNTURN IN A CROWDED MARKET PLACE WRITTEN BY

DAN BRIGHTMORE PRODUCED BY

RICHARD DEANE

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RSC MINING & MINERAL EXPLORATION HAS DELIVERED GEOLOGICAL SOLUTIONS FOR OVER A DECADE. MANAGING DIRECTOR RENÉ STERK REVEALS HOW THE COMPANY HAS GAINED TRACTION IN A CROWDED MARKET AUGUST 2019

203

W

hen Managing Director René

Sterk. “I had a consulting offer on the

Sterk launched RSC back

table, but it needed a 24-hour decision,

in 2008 it was a one-man

so I designed a logo, registered the

band triggered by his disillusionment

company in New Zealand and headed

with the big-company approach. “I was

out to South Africa to provide technical

looking for more exposure to different

support at a small gold mine in South

projects and different commodities,

Africa.” It was this go-getting attitude

and to be able to have a more direct

and passion for geology that saw the

impact on the bottom line”, recalls

company grow. a si a .busi ne ssc h ief. com

R S C M I N I N G & M I N E R A L E X P L O R AT I O N

“ WE’RE ONE OF THE VERY FEW GROUPS WORKING IN THE SEABED MINING ENVIRONMENT. OUR BREADTH OF EXPERIENCE IN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT, SEABED SAMPLING EXPERTISE, AND ABILITY TO COME UP WITH INNOVATIVE APPROACHES REALLY ADDS VALUE HERE” 204

— René Sterk, Managing Director, RSC

Today, RSC boasts a 72-strong team comprising consultants, project and logistics managers, data management professionals, contract geologists and savvy technical personnel with experience spanning the mining cycle.

Based around the world and with offices in Australia, New Zealand, Africa and Canada, the company runs projects from early stage exploration through to resource development, feasibility studies, mining operations, project close-out and sustainable environmental remediation.

Navigating the challenges of the industry downturn has seen RSC dig deep to succeed by doing things differently. “As consultants and service providers we aim to get our clients on board and to buy in to what we can offer,” says Sterk. “We really want to add value, not just do the job and send the invoice. I have sleepless nights if we’re facing a challenge to deliver on schedule, or if things don’t work out as planned. In this very conventional and crowded mining-service space, that journey, as a point of difference, is important to us. We have a top to bottom structure which is very flat, so

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CLICK TO WATCH : ‘KONONGO GOLD MINE – GHANA 3D FLY-THROUGH VIDEO’ 205 we all equally engage with our clients.”

latest machine learning research as

RSC strives to be on the cutting

we aim to offer our clients the total

edge of industry developments, with

package,” he pledges. Sterk notes that

technology part of the success of its

RSC is big on forging alliances in order

offering. “Most of the time people are

to broaden its offering. “For example,

looking for a very conventional product.

we work closely together with Olympus

They simply want our geologists to

which has turned us into one of the

come out to assist with a drilling

major rental outlets of portable XRF

program and we just work within the

analysers – capable of delivering

client’s constraints,” says Sterk.

multi-element geochemical data via

However, he is keen for RSC to be part

X-ray fluorescence – in Australasia,”

of the conversation and to stay relevant

reveals Sterk. “We also have strong

as early adopters. “We’re excited about

alliances with companies who push the

a brand new alliance with our partners

software envelope. Phinar Software,

in the US, giving us access to the very

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package X-10, are creating functional-

of this is done in international waters.

ity and user experiences that nobody

Our breadth of experience in resource

else out there are offering, at great

development, seabed sampling

value, making our resource estimation

expertise, and ability to come up with

work so much easier, and offering

innovative approaches really adds

a higher-value product to our clients.

value here. We have done high-level

“Alternatively, we provide high-level

work for several large international

consulting advice in unconventional

consortiums and governments with

markets. For instance, we’re one of the

interests in this space,” Sterk adds.

very few groups working in the seabed

RSC is also a strong supporter of

mining environment. It’s a secretive

questing junior explorers. “We get the

space with overlaps with the oil and

biggest kick out of helping small

gas environment, and without public

companies that have dreams but not

reporting requirements because a lot

the teams to develop those dreams,”

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E XE CU T I VE PRO FI LE

René Sterk, Managing Director, RSC “I’ve always loved starting new things”, says serial entrepreneur René Sterk. “Confidence is everything: being able to deliver on what you promise, and knowing that you can, is key. You’ve got to learn from your mistakes and learn to identify your own strengths and weaknesses. In order to set up a successful company, you have to hire people who are better at the things you are not good at. I’m only a geologist because I love rocks and have a passion for the outdoors, not because I wanted to find fortune; I would have become a banker instead! From an entrepreneurial point of view, I find the competitive nature of the mining industry really interesting. It’s a very crowded space, but it’s been far easier than I thought at the beginning to start a company and find a niche.”

Sterk has delivered resource evaluation, training and geological consulting throughout Africa, Asia, Europe and Oceania in a wide variety of geological settings and commodities. He has led numerous exploration and mine geology teams in Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia, Philippines, Mongolia, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Mozambique, Ghana, Sweden and Mali. He is a Director, Fellow and Chartered Professional with the Australian Institute of Mining & Metallurgy, a Member and Registered Professional Geologist with the Australian Institute of Geoscientists, and holds a master’s degree in Structural Geology and Tectonics. He established RSC in 2008, employing up to 75 technical staff around the globe, and specialises in exploration management for gold and base metals, with a strong added skill set in resource modelling, grade control, reconciliation, QA/QC and successful sampling. a si a .busi ne ssc h ief. com

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2008

Year founded

65

Approximate number of employees

208

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Sterk. “At the end of the day, as geologists our primary goal is to find deposits and these guys have a really prospective stretch of ground, but on a budget without the arms and legs to undertake the work. We’ve got exploration managers in the field developing programmes getting results and then we’ll advise on how to structure the portfolio. It’s an area where we excel. says Sterk. “They have ambition to

Finding a big deposit is not only great

get into the mining game. They’ve put

for the client’s shareholders, but it

a framework together; they’ve got

makes us look good as well.”

a board and raised some money, but

The challenge for RSC is to remain

they’ve got nobody to help them

flexible and keep resources in place in

execute. We like helping those guys

what Sterk terms “such a competitive

from cradle to grave. It’s the front end;

and crowded market”. Being able to

all the exploration management on

react to demand is vital. “Our planning

the ground, but also the marketing,

and governance is based on quarterly

design, road shows and compliance.”

budgets,” he explains. “That’s how

To that end, one of the various juniors

short-term the demand in the service

RSC is currently working with is

industry is. Resourcing appropriately

Sydney-based Gold Mountain in Papua

and taking on just enough risk to

New Guinea. “It’s a fantastic project,

be ready when demand spikes is key.”

with amazing potential,” enthuses

Sterk maintains that RSC always a si a .busi ne ssc h ief. com

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positions itself to be able to say yes to clients and to consistently deliver the high standards they have come to expect.

RSC is agile and well-tuned to react to industry trends. Among those, Sterk highlights the shifting geography of demand that can move from North America to Africa. “Clients aren’t necessarily looking for different solutions, but they do need different structures to how we offer them, so right now we’re doing a lot of campaign 212

work, specifically for mid-tiers and larger companies. The liability of an overfull team of full-time geologists is still fresh in their mind from the previous downturn, so we’re supporting them with turnkey solutions. It’s a way for them to mitigate risk,” reasons Sterk, who sees this development as indicative of a shift in the wider industry.

The company has managed several of Barrick’s drilling campaigns and assisted with its exploration and feasibility programmes in Western Australia. Its turnkey AUGUST 2019

CO M PAN Y FACT S

RSC originally analysed listed mining company announcements to support its own marketing efforts.

Through its work in the public reporting compliance space, RSC then began offering a free service allowing users to view and download published reports, with the main aim of improving the quality of global public reporting standards. Its most popular product is a weekly list in which all globally announced drilling results are converted to an Au-equivalent result and ranked against each other, producing tables of the top intersections by stock exchange listing in different time periods. Opaxe was formed in March of 2019 to take over the existing operations of RSC’s Mineral Intelligence service and to continue to develop and expand the subscriptionbased service. Its clients include mining professionals, investors and brokers, mining companies and the media

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“ WE GET THE BIGGEST KICK OUT OF HELPING SMALL COMPANIES THAT HAVE DREAMS BUT NOT THE TEAMS TO DEVELOP THOSE DREAMS” — René Sterk, Managing Director, RSC

full-project solutions are in demand, with RSC recently picking up a big project with Evolution Mining which has assets across New South Wales and Western Australia. “Working on great exploration projects like these is a feather in our cap,” adds Sterk.

Sterk believes that being a service company is not RSC’s final destination; the organisation is capable of much more. “We’ve developed a number of other products that will ultimately diversify our company,” he confirms.

RSC added oil and gas services to its portfolio in 2016, and has picked up soil remediation and other environmental work in New Zealand. “However, diversification for us is also about a si a .busi ne ssc h ief. com

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“ WE’RE VERY EXCITED ABOUT COMBINING OUR MACHINE LEARNING EXPERIENCE AND RESEARCH WITH BETTER WAYS TO DO DATA ANALYTICS IN A PUBLIC REPORTING SPACE. THAT’S WHERE OPAXE COMES IN” — René Sterk, Managing Director, RSC

216 coming up with novel ideas. One of the things we’ve developed is a resource intelligence product that’s become very popular. We’ve recently spun that off into a daughter company called

Sterk recently took on a Director role

Opaxe, providing mineral intelligence

at the Australian Institute of Minerals

to mining professionals and investors.

and Metallurgy (AusIMM) where he

The data analytics space is where the

hopes to contribute at board level for

industry is looking for new solutions

three years. Why is he so keen to give

with things like big data and machine

back to the community that has

learning. We’re very excited about

supported his business endeavours?

combining our machine learning

“We need to encourage the next

experience and research with better

generation to enter the mining industry,”

ways to do data analytics in a public

he argues. “It’s critical to build a strong

reporting space. That’s where Opaxe

industry and AusIMM allows profes-

comes in.” www.opaxe.com

sionals to come together to find ways

AUGUST 2019

217 to improve it. I’m passionate about getting more young people on education pathways into the industry. I’m eager for the institute to be innovative, think about what the future looks like in 20-30 years’ time, and ask how we position it to provide a place for the millennials and then the Gen Zs.” Energised by finding new ways to make miners mineral dreams come true by helping them realise the value of their assets, Sterk and RSC aren’t ready to pass the torch just yet.

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