CANADA EDITION DECEMBER 20 19 canada.businesschief.com
The value of secure data DRIVING SUSTAINABLE MINING OPTIMISATION
Customer centricity and digital readiness How digital transformation is enabling seamless customer experiences
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City Focus
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FOREWORD
W
elcome to the December issue
methods that can be sustainable in
of Business Chief Canada.
the long term. Doing all three of those
Business Chief Canada this month
together is key, so this isn’t just a technology project”
features Ontario’s Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB). Samantha
In this month’s City Focus our eye is
Liscio, Chief Technology and Innovation
on Montreal, Quebec’s largest city,
Officer, reveals how the organisation’s
as we take a look at the cutting edge
digital transformation is improving the
industries taking root in a historic
experience of customers.
urban environment.
Liscio details what she considers to
In our Top 10, meanwhile, Business
be the most significant transforma-
Chief examines the top 10 wealthiest
tion in WSIB’s over 100 year history,
people in the United States.
in the form of digitised services. “It’s getting rid of paper and becoming
Do you have a story to tell? If you
digital at source, because if you’re
would like to be featured in an
handling digital information it funda-
upcoming issue of Business Chief
mentally changes the business
Canada, get in touch at william.
processes, rationalising those busi-
smith@bizclikmedia.com.
ness processes in line with customer journeys and then finally deploying
Enjoy the issue!
the enabling technology using agile
William Smith
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CONTENTS
14 46 34 Trianz: digitally transforming technology solutions
DATA ANALYTICS FOR GOOD – THE NEXT FRONTIER
54 Talent retention: why traditional methods are no longer enough
64
72 City Focus
MONTREAL Evolving the journey: putting your carbon footprint at the top of the agenda
82
CONTENTS
98 Meridian Credit Union
114 KUBRA
128
144
DRA Global
eStruxture
158 Automation Anywhere
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172 Interpublic Group
200
tter
Visions Federal Credit Union
186 Tuenti Ecuador
214 RANDALL Construction
14
Seamless customer journeys and digital readiness WRITTEN BY
MARCUS LAWRENCE PRODUCED BY
JAKE MEGEARY
DECEMBER 2019
15
c a na da .busi ne ssc h ief. com
WSIB
Samantha Liscio, Chief Technology and Innovation Officer, Ontario’s Workplace Safety and Insurance Board, discusses the organisation’s digital transformation and its drive to enable seamless customer experiences
I 16
n Ontario, Canada, workers benefit from legislation compelling their employers to provide workplace insurance. This
strategy necessitates a provider for that cover and Ontario’s Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) is that very organisation. While many companies view digital transformation as a means to keep up to date with the times or gain a measure against the competition, such compulsions are not so clear for state-mandated entities; if the organisation is essential, one might wonder why that organisation would prioritise exhaustive modernisation and the heavy investment and strategic challenges of shifting operations to digitised solutions that it entails. Samantha Liscio, Chief Technology and Innovation Officer at WSIB, dismisses such notions. The focus, she says, has to be on making the customer experience seamless, straightforward, and easy, irrespective of whether employers have the option to change insurer. “Our DECEMBER 2019
The digiHUB is located at WSIB’s head office. It is a workspace for all things digital, featuring an open layout that encourages employees to come together and collaborate
1914
Year founded
CA$4.4bn Revenue in Canadian dollars
4,000 Number of employees
c a na da .busi ne ssc h ief. com
17
WSIB
“ Our CEO affirms that our goal here is to be the insurer of choice. Even as a monopoly, if our customer had a choice they should pick us, and he’s very vocal about that”
18
— Samantha Liscio Chief Transformation and Innovation Officer, WSIB
CEO affirms that our goal here is to be the insurer of choice,” she says. “Even as a monopoly, if our customer had a choice they should pick us, and he’s very vocal about that.” This obligation is driven by the services and solutions that customers have come to expect from the modern world, where vital information and operations can be accessed and actioned through apps that define and enable sleek, optimised customer journeys. “We still have competition on customer expectations, and
WSIB has a lab at Kitchener’s innovation hub Communitech – employees can collaborate and leverage other communal creative environments
DECEMBER 2019
CLICK TO WATCH : ‘WE’RE MAKING IMPROVEMENTS TO DELIVER BETTER SERVICE’ 19 we feel that very keenly these days
status, and they want the WSIB to be
when people can go online and bank
easy and straightforward and availa-
or purchase airline tickets with one
ble. That really is what’s driving digital
click,” explains Liscio. “It makes an
transformation for us.”
imperative for us to be able to provide
With this focus on the customer,
services like that to them, because
WSIB has identified the processes
when our clients come to us they’re
which define the customer journey
injured or they’re ill and they expect
and performed a series of ethno-
that the great work that we do to help
graphic studies into the needs and
them get better and return to work
expectations of its customer base. By
isn’t overshadowed by how difficult it
then taking staff through each facet of
is to deal with us. They don’t want to
that journey, the areas of convolution
be worrying about mailing or faxing
and friction become clear. Addressing
information to us, they don’t want to
these areas of frustration, Liscio says,
have to call to figure out their claim
will enable the digital transformation c a na da .busi ne ssc h ief. com
WSIB
“ With a clear focus on what our customers want, IT can foster discussions around the art of the possible in using digital tools to enable transformation” 22
— Samantha Liscio Chief Transformation and Innovation Officer, WSIB to precipitate the correct changes for
enable transformation. IT can show
the organisation as a whole. “Getting
the business what modern technol-
staff to think from an outside in kind
ogy and modern software can bring
of focus, and getting that customer
in terms of enablement and meeting
experience right, drives other values
those customer needs, effectively
too. We track public value as a key
orchestrating and architecting for the
measure and part of our strategic
future in a scalable, efficient, and
metrics reporting, and if we get the
sustainable way.”
customer piece right, our public value
While Liscio believes that some tra-
and trust measures change for the
ditional access channels will remain
better as well. With a clear focus on
in place to serve the less digitally-
what our customers want, IT can
enabled, removing reliance on paper
foster discussions around the art of
is a fundamental piece of the trans-
the possible in using digital tools to
formation. Claims related documents
DECEMBER 2019
Located in WSIB’s head office at Simcoe Place, the digital factory represents its commitment as an organisation to develop solutions for the people it serves, improve its processes, upgrade its systems, and enable employees to provide the services that customers need with the least amount of effort. WSIB’s digital factory is both a physical space and a way of working
E XE CU T I VE PRO FI LE
Samantha Liscio As Chief Technology and Innovation Officer at the WSIB, Samantha is responsible for digital transformation, leveraging technology and customer experience to streamline processes, provide value and modernise the business. She ensures IT operational excellence, directs innovation and drives the highest possible value from technology assets and investments. Samantha has over 20 years of experience in IT leadership roles. In previous positions in both the public service and private industry, she led the design and implementation of large-scale digital transformative initiatives.
c a na da .busi ne ssc h ief. com
23
CLICK TO WATCH : ‘PETE’S RETURN-TO-WORK STORY’ 25 can now be uploaded directly from a
because if you’re handling digital
laptop or mobile phone and delivered
information it fundamentally changes
to the organisation digitally, signifi-
the business processes, rationalising
cantly decreasing the lead times for
those business processes in line with
postage and processing of faxes that
customer journeys and then finally
traditionally hinder the expedition of
deploying the enabling technology
claims processes. This customer-
using agile methods that can be sus-
facing element permeates through
tainable in the long term. Doing all
the organisation as part of what Liscio
three of those together is key so this
calls WSIB’s biggest transformation
isn’t just a technology project, even
endeavour in its 105-year history: the
though a big component of that is
core services modernisation pro-
replacing and upgrading our core sys-
gramme. “It’s essentially doing three
tem of record.”
things,” she explains. “It’s getting rid of paper and becoming digital at source,
This is where key partner Guidewire comes in, providing a suite of c a na da .busi ne ssc h ief. com
WSIB
PA RT N E R S
Wipro “Providing continuous improvement enhancement and on-going defect fixes has been a vital component in maintaining performance and stability in our core system. Wipro have helped the WSIB rollout system enhancements that have reduced the number of clicks from our core system users by more than 50%” 26
IBM “We’ve just partnered with IBM to do our managed hosting and cloud services, and they’re helping us understand how we can be better use data and analytics in our data centres so that we can automate the repetitive server administration tasks and drive efficiencies as we plan and orchestrate cloud services” Samantha Liscio Chief Transformation and Innovation officer
DECEMBER 2019
WSIB’s leaders come together frequently to talk about its modernization journey and plan for next steps
digitally-enabled insurance tools to facilitate rapid claims registration, administration and return-to-work processes. “A ‘quick win’ for us has been the digital document upload tool that we launched last year, and its connectivity to Guidewire,” enthuses Liscio, adding that the organisation’s time to market has been cut drastically through using the digital factory to drive development. “In the past, it took years to launch WSIB products, but this one was 16 weeks from inception to launch. In 2018, we received more than 2.3mn pieces of paper either by mail or by fax and we’re cutting a lot of that through the digital upload tool; it now has more daily uploads than the total documents we receive in paper. They come in and they go into the Guidewire backend system instantaneously. It also removes some of the call volume that we have from people asking if we have received their postal or fax documents, removing all of the barriers to good and fast customer service.” To remove the barriers to its own transformational success, WSIB has also partnered with IT and business c a na da .busi ne ssc h ief. com
27
Change. It’s what we do. Avenai is a business and IT services consulting company that specializes in helping our clients transform into high performing organizations. With a value driven focus, we work with our clients to create business strategies and solutions that drive positive impact. With offices in Ottawa, Toronto and Victoria, BC we are a growing consultancy that has an excellent reputation for working closely alongside our clients and rolling up our sleeves to make sure that change sticks. Learn More
We’re honored to help WSIB deliver on its mission
CLICK TO WATCH : ‘DOUG’S RETURN-TO-WORK STORY’ 29 services consultancy Avenai to intro-
it,” Liscio explains. “Avenai helped
duce a new, digitally-empowered
us do a current state assessment of
organisational framework. “Previously
how our legacy model was impeding
there were silos of IT operations and
our progress and then suggested an
solutions delivery; it didn’t work well
industry standard IT operating model
together. When a major project was
that was much more client focused,
finished and the development work
with delivery verticals leveraging agile
was done, it kind of got thrown over
and DevOps methods and supported
the fence to operations to manage
by horizontal IT shared services func-
and maintain it. If there were defects
tions. We’ve moved our entire 300+
that needed to be worked through
person IT organisation into that new
with problem management, that work
functional model, and have started to
was difficult to assign and there was
change behaviours at the leadership
finger pointing between operations
level by agreeing on a set of values
and delivery as to who should do
that we aspire to. At its heart, it’s c a na da .busi ne ssc h ief. com
WSIB
An employee uses WSIB’s new best-in-class phone system, Genesys
about being customer focused, collaborative, demonstrating clear value to the business and moving from a project to a product focus. Avenai was very helpful in helping us help shift the organisational culture, applying specific behavioural performance objectives, and helping us bring the necessary leadership, values, and culture piece into the change management approach during the deployment of the new model.” Change management, the Everest of all digital transformations, has thus DECEMBER 2019
“ In the past, it took years to launch WSIB products, but for the digital upload tool it was 16 weeks from inception to launch” — Samantha Liscio Chief Transformation and Innovation Officer, WSIB
31
been enabled by this structural revolu-
simple reimbursement for medical
tion to WSIB’s IT operations and the
costs. Those can be processed auto-
associated change in culture across
matically in the Guidewire solution,
the IT organisation. The success of its
based on WSIB business rules, and
new digital products, and the ability to
we can take advantage of the auto-
automate repetitive tasks and expand
mation potential within the software
the capacity for employees’ additional
itself. This straight-through process-
value-added activities, is facilitated
ing means that claims processing
by this newly-enabled readiness. An
times are dramatically improved and
example that Liscio offers regarding
staff with high skills and expertise
automation is in the straight-through
can spend their valuable time on the
processing of medical expenses
complex claims that require human
claims that it enables. “More than
decisions.” As a result, a claims
70% of the claims that we have involve
process that could have taken a full c a na da .busi ne ssc h ief. com
WSIB
32
“ It’s about being customer focused, collaborative, demonstrating clear value to the business and having the IT leaders model those behaviours by building commitments into their performance objective directly” — Samantha Liscio Chief Transformation and Innovation Officer, WSIB
DECEMBER 2019
payment cycle to deliver has become instantaneous, and the benefit for customers speaks for itself. In the age of digital transformation, customer centricity and operational preparedness are characteristics that separate the winners from the chasers, and this is no less certain for companies whose offering is mandated by local authorities. These qualities resonate through the entirety of Liscio’s strategic endeavours. “For digital transformation to succeed, IT can’t be the order taker to the business to execute on individual priorities, it needs to demonstrate clear value that’s aligned to the customer, it needs to do these things while keeping the engines running and the plumbing working, all in a safe and secure and sustainable way,” she asserts. “It’s about looking at things foundationally, assessing the key pieces that we need to have in place to truly transform how we do our business, and leveraging the expertise of key partners that will help us get that right.”
c a na da .busi ne ssc h ief. com
33
LEADERSHIP
34
Trianz: digitally transforming technology solutions Ganeshan Venkateshwaran, President at Trianz, discusses upcoming digital transformation trends WRITTEN BY
DECEMBER 2019
GEORGIA WILSON
35
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LEADERSHIP
W
ith almost 20 years’ experience within IT consulting and services, Ganeshan
Venkateshwaran, President at Trianz,
understands the rapid pace at which his industry can evolve, driven by new and innovative
technologies. He believes that, when it comes to the technology industry, “a key disruptor is the pace at which core businesses are getting disrupted. This, he says, means that the need 36
for technologies to deliver faster, better and connected outcomes has never been greater in order to stay ahead. “As early as 2013, Trianz Founder and Chairman Sri Manchala sensed new paradigms taking shape and spent serious time with clients understanding how it impacted theam,” says Venkateshwaran. Before digital transformation became fashionable, he explains, Sri and the senior leadership team applied themselves to create the right portfolio required for multidisciplinary collaboration. “When we saw digital disruption coming, we consciously transitioned out from any legacy footprints we had, investing not only in creating digital assets but also training and transforming our core assets, our people.”
DECEMBER 2019
37
c a na da .busi ne ssc h ief. com
LEADERSHIP
“ A key disruptor is the pace at which core businesses are getting disrupted, which demands the need for technologies to deliver faster, better and connected outcomes” 38
— Ganeshan Venkateshwaran, President, Trianz
DECEMBER 2019
In terms of that transformation, Venkateshwaran has seen multiple technologies drive digital disruption in the sector. These, he adds, include Concierto.cloud, an integrated cloud and infrastructure operations management platform, to provide a unified and holistic view of IT operations, spanning infrastructure and applications; Arxway, a bastion host server that connects an organisation’s VPNs to AWS Cloud’s EC2 instances, enabling enhanced security and authorised user access from anywhere; Trianz Marketing Data
CLICK TO WATCH : ‘IMPROVE CUSTOMER & EMPLOYEE EXPERIENCES WITH FASTER, EFFICIENT APPLICATION PERFORMANCE MONITORING’ 39
Lake Solution, a unified repository for
in public cloud, taking a balanced
all customer data, combining internal
approach that enables them to opt
and external sources to produce data
for a ‘multi-cloud’ strategy. The
marts in an analytical consumable
development of hybrid cloud solutions
format; and Trianz IoT Platform, the
and innovations in containerisation
management layer Underlying IoT,
“marks the next phase of cloud
which has the capability to visualise
adoption”, he adds.
device topology and rule chain analysis for predefined actionable patterns. Cloud in particular is becoming
With the continuous increase in cloud and analytical technology driving mainstream businesses,
increasingly important to companies
Venkateshwaran discusses in more
worldwide, he states. For example,
detail how Trianz works to leverage
he explains how businesses of all
innovations such as chatbots (natural
sizes are increasing their investment
language processing), connected clouds c a na da .busi ne ssc h ief. com
LEADERSHIP
(public, private, hybrid), blockchain, artificial intelligence, machine learning, AIOps platforms, digital twins, serverless computing, DevOps assembly lines and microservices. “Our digital transformation includes building a machine learning algorithm to classify legal documents for a leading law firm, leveraging Azure Cognitive services,” he explains. “We are also developing a chatbot that can retrieve data in conversional ways for insurers; building a network 40
management system (NMS) solution based on an open source IoT platform, to monitor and manage patented BPL devices; an AIOps product, that ingests system services and application logs that uses predictive algorithms in an event management framework; and developing deep competency in areas of Modern data stacks and driving certification around Azure, GCP, Talend, Snowflake looker and AppDynamics. “At Trianz, our ‘Innovation Labs’ are hotspots where new platform features and capabilities are evaluated and tested for specific use cases,” comments Venkateshwaran. DECEMBER 2019
“ We have carefully crafted an ecosystem engineered around our focus on digital evolution” — Ganeshan Venkateshwaran, President, Trianz
“The company is constantly evaluating next generation technologies and developing POCs/Prototypes that enable technology based disruption.” In addition to its current projects in progress, Trianz has launched Trasers, “a syndicated, benchmarking and custom research service based on the world’s largest study in digital transformations, spanning over 5,000 companies across 17 industries.” The service aims to allow business leaders to develop visions, strategies and roadmaps with data driven insights for digital solutions. Venkateshwaran also highlights the importance of crafting the right service model strategy, alongside the right technology partnerships and the right culture, when it comes to multidisciplinary collaboration. If companies do this, he states, it can help to keep both themselves and their clients ahead of the digital transformation curve. “By investing in digital workplace technology” he adds, “we can provide operational efficiencies to our global workforce, to optimise synergies through seamless communication and collaboration. c a na da .busi ne ssc h ief. com
41
LEADERSHIP
42
“ When we saw digital disruption coming, we consciously transitioned out from any legacy footprints we had, investing not only in creating digital assets but we trained and transformed our core assets, our people” — Ganeshan Venkateshwaran, President, Trianz
DECEMBER 2019
LEADING THE DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION RACE Founded in 2001, Trianz has been solving critical challenges faced by business leaders through perspectives backed by experience and research for nearly two decades. Says Venkateshwaran: “we have positioned ourselves as next-generation leaders in digital transformation engagements.” Trianz delivers to its clients business and technology roadmaps, business readiness and organisational adoption for strategic initiatives, as well as technology services ranging from platform selection and technology
43 architecture, all the way through to
strengths are, its “exclusive focus on
solution implementations. “These
digital transformation, unbiased insights,
services aim to facilitate, orchestrate and
global scale, values and culture.”
simplify the uphill task of evolving digitally
Over these years, Trianz has
and contextualise interactions with
expanded its footprint to multiple global
clients to personalise their experiences.
locations, with over 2,500 successful
To reflect this commitment, our business
client partnerships and engagements
theme is ‘Digital Evolution Simplified’.
with Fortune 1000 and emerging
“We have carefully crafted an
organisations in multiple industries.
ecosystem engineered around our focus on digital evolution,” continues Venkateshwaran “we are committed to enabling business and technology leaders to drive transformations through simple, yet effective, techniques.” Venkateshwaran believes Trianz’s c a na da .busi ne ssc h ief. com
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H AV E Y O U S E E N O U R O T H E R T I T L E S ?
TECHNOLOGY
44
DECEMBER 2019
DATA ANALYTICS FOR GOOD – THE NEXT FRONTIER David González, Head of Big Data and Advanced Analytics for Vodafone Business, on the opportunity to use big data for social good WRITTEN BY
DAVID GONZÁLEZ
c a na da .busi ne ssc h ief. com
45
TECHNOLOGY
I
n 2018, data visualisation company
DOMO predicted that by 2020,
1.7MB of data will be created every
second for every person on earth.
The new year is now only one month away, and this explosion of data is showing no sign of slowing down. As digitalisation becomes the norm across more industries and IoT adoption continues, even more data will be generated. Industries like healthcare and manufacturing have been turning data into insights that drive improvements 46
to customer service, processes and products. Outside of these use cases, could this data driven approach also be applied to tackle social challenges? across myriad areas of modern life,
MOVING BEYOND THE ENTERPRISE
granting us the ability to then use
It would be short-sighted to assume
those insights to address existing and
that data analytics can only be
future problems. Aggregated and
relevant within the enterprise. Im-
anonymised large-scale data has
proved connectivity and advances in
the potential to generate immense
IoT are creating vast volumes of data.
positive social impact.
As more people interact with these
For example, managing the after-
connected devices, the data gener-
math of natural disasters can consume
ated will increase exponentially to
resources when time is precious.
represent every aspect of society.
Planning aid in advance is key, and data
This will enable us to gain a better
analytics can be used to inform a plan
understanding of how processes work
to assist those in need. Governments
DECEMBER 2019
47
and NGOs need to know where the impacted people are, in which direction they are moving and how the environment is changing. Only then can they respond effectively and efficiently to the effects of the disaster. In a similar way, data analytics can be applied to protect public health by predicting the spread of a pandemic. Accurate predictions allow authorities to put measures in place which mitigate the effects and control the incidence of new cases.
“ Improved connectivity and advances in IoT is creating vast volumes of data” — David González, Head of Big Data and Advanced Analytics for Vodafone Business c a na da .busi ne ssc h ief. com
TECHNOLOGY
“ Unlocking the full potential of data will require a concerted effort between different organisations” 48
— David González, Head of Big Data and Advanced Analytics for Vodafone Business
CLOSER TO HOME Data can make a difference on a global scale, but what about in urban centres? Today, 55% of the world’s population lives in such an environment. This proportion is expected to increase to 68% by 2050. That’s another 2.5bn people dwelling in urban areas. This increase will place significant demands on infrastructure, retailers, banks, healthcare systems and educational institutions. In addition, preventing crime will also be a top priority. There is the potential for huge social impact, improving the management of cities and the quality of life for citizens. For example, data collected by law enforcement can improve safety by better predicting crime spots and implementing measures such as improved lighting or CCTV. Preparing for this scenario begins now, and it starts with understanding the movement of people. Governments and businesses alike can use this information to make significant decisions. In transport, for example, it can inform where to build bridges and footpaths or place electric car charging points.
DECEMBER 2019
CLICK TO WATCH : ‘WHAT COULD 5G DO FOR YOUR BUSINESS?’ 49 The success of these initiatives relies
sensitive information, such as individual
on accurate insight into the needs
location or health status. Where will
and habits of urban populations. This
this data be stored and how will it be
must start with democratising access
collected? Who will ultimately be
to population data intelligence, in
responsible for keeping it safe from
a secure and anonymised way that
malicious actors? How can citizens
protects the privacy of future citizens.
be assured that their data will be anonymised and only be used for the
KEEPING DATA PRIVATE
stated purpose? The answers to these
The main concern about widespread
questions will affect the extent of the
data collection is data privacy; many
public’s support. Transparency in
high-profile companies have come
communicating with the public will
under scrutiny for their use of customer
be critical to the success of any data
data. However, it becomes more
analytics initiatives, even if the purpose
concerning when it is related to
is for good. c a na da .busi ne ssc h ief. com
TECHNOLOGY
WORKING TOGETHER TO KEEP DATA SAFE Unlocking the full potential of data will require a concerted effort between different organisations. Those who collect the data must work together to ensure the insights are used by the most appropriate organisations who are able to effect change. Vodafone is part of a wider alliance – the GSMA’s Big Data for Social Good initiative – where mobile operators share insights with NGOs to build an ecosystem that supports timely 50
planning and response. Location intelligence – where location-based
“ The increasing digitisation of industries provides the best opportunity for data to be mined for social good” — David González, Head of Big Data and Advanced Analytics for Vodafone Business DECEMBER 2019
insights are used to solve problems and identify new opportunities – plays a role here, building a safer, more sustainable world. The increasing digitisation of industries provides the best opportunity for data to be mined for social good, as a positive ‘side effect’ of collection. In addition to making services more efficient, streamlined and personalised, the same data can be used to predict how populations move and react. As urban areas grow, these insights will be critical to informing how the safety and health of citizens will be managed. It is important that the right decisions are made now, regarding data collection and analytics. Only then will we be prepared to tackle the social challenges of the future.
c a na da .busi ne ssc h ief. com
51
PEOPLE
52
Talent retention: why traditional methods are no longer enough Business Chief meets with Jen Scherler Gormley, HR Lead (UK), Cisco to discuss strategies to retain, source and develop talent WRITTEN BY
GEORGIA WILSON
DECEMBER 2019
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PEOPLE
C
urrently in the UK, 43% of employers feel it has become more difficult to fill job vacancies over the last 12 months,
with 31% seeing salary increases of more than 2% being used as an incentive for recruitment and retention of talent. When it comes to recruitment and talent retention, Jen Scherler Gormley, HR Lead
(UK), Cisco, believes that the flatline approach of annual appraisals and ratings for objectives and development simply isn’t enough. Performance ratings disenfranchise a large 54
proportion of employees, creating year—long labels regardless of a person’s change in performance over the next 12 months at a company. “For us, recruitment and talent management is about empowering people to be their best selves, as well as bringing everyone together to create an environment where individuals and teams can thrive. Five years ago, we revived our performance management processes by ditching annual appraisals and ratings.” Gormley further comments that the organisation’s move to eliminate annual appraisals from its talent strategy in 2015 has yielded positive results for its talent retention, seeing higher engagement from existing employees, as well as providing a strong differentiator for attracting new talent. DECEMBER 2019
55
Being ‘conscious’ is an important part of workplace culture, states Gormley. With 59% of UK workers looking to move jobs as a result of being undervalued, having no career progression and having unsupportive managers. With this in mind, it is important to focus on three key entwined areas: environment, the unique characteristics of the organisation and the specific experience of individuals, in order to manage and lead a positive culture. To incorporate this into its organisation, Cisco has c a na da .busi ne ssc h ief. com
PEOPLE
implemented a digital platform that
coaching. Performance is ultimately
enables weekly connections in relation
personal to each individual and it is
to what support is required and what
important that continuous conversa-
individuals loved and loathed about the
tions take place between employees
week, to aid its elimination of annual
and their leaders.”
appraisals. “We call this ‘check-in’,” says
56
According to Gormley, a workplace’s
Gormley. “It has been adopted at all levels
culture should be built on a foundation
of the organisation – including our CEO
of accountability, empowerment and the
and executive leadership team – providing
freedom to speak out to achieve goals
important information to drive a different
within an organisation. Transparency
kind of conversation with team members
and empowerment is a driving force to
providing greater regularity, as well as
build trust, within an organisation and
allowing in—the—moment redirection
is a key element of ensuring that talent is
of work, support and continuous
retained and thriving.
“Fundamentally, inclusion is a bridge to connect diverse perspectives, providing a platform for new ideas and inspiring innovation” — Jen Scherler Gormley, HR Lead (UK), Cisco
DECEMBER 2019
CLICK TO WATCH : ‘WORKPLACE TRANSFORMATION AT CISCO WITH WEBEX TEAMS’ 57 When looking to source talent,
fundamental to building and maintain-
Gormley highlights the importance
ing a culture of continuous learning as
of combining human connection
well as attracting talent that aligns
with innovation to not only develop
with our values.”
employees, but also the business.
Inclusion and diversity is essential
Industries are continuously changing
to innovation. When sourcing, main-
and adapting, and organisations
taining and retaining talent, it is key to
shouldn’t shy away from utilising
ensure an organisation is inclusive.
multiple forms of employment such as
“We have found that certain language
apprenticeship programmes, alongside
used in job profiles could dissuade
traditional employment methods,
female talent from applying. Therefore,
as well as utilising transferable skills.
we have implemented a tool that
“There is no one answer to this, but
analyses the language in our job
we’ve found that the human connec-
descriptions to ensure that we are
tion intertwined with innovation, is
attractive to a diverse pool of potential c a na da .busi ne ssc h ief. com
PEOPLE
applicants. In addition, every year, we take part in Girls in ICT Day to encourage a higher percentage of girls to become a part of the industry by utilising technology to communicate with and support girls across the globe,” says Gormley. “Fundamentally, inclusion is a bridge to connect diverse perspectives, providing a platform for new ideas and inspiring innovation.” Internal changes within a company can put a strain on organisations. With this in mind, Gormley believes it is 58
important to maintain frequent communication between leaders and team members to ensure that workplace
“ We have found that certain language used in job profiles could dissuade female talent from applying” — Jen Scherler Gormley, HR Lead (UK), Cisco
culture doesn’t get left behind in the process. Companies should instead utilise internal changes to enhance communication and manage talent. “We care a lot about our culture. We are driving for an environment where healthy conversations happen between individuals and teams, where no one is isolated and each person feels able to proactively support their colleagues,” says Gormely, who feels its implementation at Cisco provides a level of transparency she has not seen
DECEMBER 2019
59
in other companies, resulting in greater
an organisation. As a result of
engagement from employees to actively
incorporating these foundations,
participate in conversations regarding
organisations should see an increase
experience and individual growth.
in innovation and inclusion, as well
Ultimately, when it comes to talent
as experiencing greater engagement
retention, traditional methods are no
when it comes to individual growth
longer enough to encourage employees
and performance.
to stay with a company for the long term. Companies need to be more conscious of their employees by maintaining human connection and communication, in order to drive accountability, empowerment and freedom within c a na da .busi ne ssc h ief. com
Transform Build Innovate Build New Relationships. Book Your Exhibit Space Today!
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S U S TA I N A B I L I T Y
62
Evolving the journey: putting your carbon footprint at the top of the agenda David Griffiths, Senior Product Marketing & Strategy Manager at retail supply chain Adjuno, looks at reduction of carbon footprints in the retail industry WRITTEN BY
DECEMBER 2019
DAVID GRIFFITHS
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S U S TA I N A B I L I T Y
64
C
onsumers are thrilled by the
tainability efforts of their favourite retail-
speed and flexibility of e-com-
ers. In fact, a third of consumers are
merce. But the proliferation of
now choosing to buy from brands they
new retail channels and choices
believe are doing social or environmen-
is changing their purchasing behaviour,
tal good. That’s a large proportion of the
and ultimately, that’s taking its toll on the
customer base that a retailer risks los-
environment. With next-day, same-day
ing if they don’t meet this expectation.
and one-hour delivery options starting
The good news is that retailers across
to be commonplace with many retail-
the world are recognising this and
ers, consumers are fast becoming used
starting to step up with commitments to
to getting their chosen product not just
address the sustainable agenda. But are
quickly, but almost instantly.
they doing enough?
At the same time, consumers are
With the battle moving to the supply
placing greater emphasis on the sus-
chain and concerns growing around air
DECEMBER 2019
65
pollution and greenhouse gases, brands now have a responsibility to reduce their carbon emission levels and drive the creation of the green supply chain.
INDEPENDENTS VS RETAIL GIANTS Independent retailers are currently rising above the competition when it comes to low carbon emissions. Transport is the second highest emitter of greenhouse gases, therefore the independents who have shorter
“ A third of consumers are now choosing to buy from brands they believe are doing social or environmental good” — David Griffiths Senior Product Marketing & Strategy Manager, Adjuno
product journeys will naturally have a smaller carbon footprint. It isn’t as easy c a na da .busi ne ssc h ief. com
S U S TA I N A B I L I T Y
“ Brands now have a responsibility to reduce their carbon emission levels ” — David Griffiths Senior Product Marketing & Strategy Manager, Adjuno
for the retail giants. With longer journeys, more players in the supply chain and bigger product ranges to contend with, retail giants have a harder time of reducing their carbon footprint. But it certainly is possible. Packaging should be at the top of every retailer’s list when it comes to making strides towards sustainability. A strategic approach to transit packaging that optimises carton, pallet and container fill will not only reduce packaging costs, with higher standards enforced, but it will also decrease shipping costs as a result of better container
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DECEMBER 2019
CLICK TO WATCH : ‘SUPPLY CHAIN SOFTWARE – ADJUNO SCM SOLUTIONS’ 67 utilisation, with less empty space being
ing types used, and consequently the
shipped. Not only does this reduce
reduction in the amount of containers
the number of journeys that need to
and DC space required. The retailers
be made, but it will also enable more
that are serious about reducing their
efficient use of DC space. Ultimately
carbon footprint have the tools at their
though, a strategic approach to pack-
disposal to make it happen, with simple
aging reduces waste and therefore
changes making a world of difference
improves the carbon footprint, putting
to carbon-conscious consumers.
retail giants one step closer to meeting their sustainability goals. Many large retailers have already
SHOUTING ABOUT SUCCESS At the start of this year, Aldi claimed
seen success in this area too, with
it was the first grocer in the UK to be
effective changes to their packaging
carbon-neutral, detailing that it had
compliance resulting in huge reduc-
cut greenhouse gas emissions per
tions in the number of different packag-
square metre of sales floor space by c a na da .busi ne ssc h ief. com
S U S TA I N A B I L I T Y
53% since 2012. That’s a big statement to make, but it shows Aldi’s commitment to making changes that have resulted in extremely positive outcomes. The fact is that changes are being made, but few retailers are shouting about their behind-thescenes success, leaving the issue of reducing carbon footprint still far lower than it should be on the retail agenda. The lack of visibility for consumers is weakening the message and hindering their ability to trust the brand, so whilst retailers must ensure 68
that first and foremost they are making sustainable changes for the right reasons, they also need to make sure they are letting consumers know what is really happening. Simple changes to packaging will show consumers that the retailer is making an effort, for example, if a retailer can confidently say in its marketing materials that all items from one brand are being shipped into the store using 50% less packaging, every carbon-conscious consumer would know that steps are being taken and be more likely to buy from the retailer as a result.
DECEMBER 2019
“ Simple changes to packaging will show consumers that the retailer is making an effort” — David Griffiths Senior Product Marketing & Strategy Manager, Adjuno
69
MAKING A CHANGE The potential is huge, but retailers must realise that the smallest changes can have the biggest impact. What’s important is for retailers to make these changes and then shout about it from the rooftops, moving carbon footprint to the top of the agenda and creating an ecosystem of retailers working towards a common goal to turn sustainability from talk to action.
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CITY FOCUS | MONTREAL
City Focus
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DECEMBER 2019
71
Business Chief explores Montreal, a central hub of Canadian culture and commerce, as well as some of the companies keeping it at the cutting edge of AI, game design and Canada’s movie business WRITTEN BY
RACHAEL DAVIS
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CITY FOCUS | MONTREAL
M
ontreal, the second-most populous city in Canada, is permeated with
French colonial history dating back to the
16th century. Its economic history goes back to the fur trade, when the city’s position on the St Lawrence river was essential to its development as a transportation, manufac72
turing and financial centre. Montreal’s contemporary economy is made up of a variety of sectors, including aerospace, pharmaceuticals, software engineering, telecommunications, textile manufacturing, tourism, transportation, a strong service sector, research and development, finance and higher education. From the time of the confederation of Canada in 1867, Montreal was the largest metropolitan centre in the country, until it was overtaken by Toronto in the 1970s. It is still considered to be one of North America’s most cosmopolitan cities due to its popularity as an immigration destination.
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1.78mn Population
1642
Year founded Nearest Airport
20km
MontrÊal–Pierre Elliott Trudeau International c a na da .busi ne ssc h ief. com
CITY FOCUS | MONTREAL
“ An economic boom following the Second World War led to increased immigration from Europe, Asia, Africa and elsewhere in the Americas, transforming Montreal into the multicultural city it is today”
A MULTI-NATIONAL CITY Located in the French-Canadian province of Quebec, Montreal is often said to be the second-largest Frenchspeaking city in the world, after Paris. Its economy, however, was historically dominated by an Anglophone minority. It is a modern city, with great charm and vivacity, perhaps attributable to its lengthy history of immigration and infusions of culture. In its infancy, Montreal’s inhabitants were predominantly of British origin. As the growth of the city as a manufacturing hub led to an increased demand for labour,
74
a number of labourers came from
DECEMBER 2019
CLICK TO WATCH : ‘EXPEDIA – MONTREAL VACATION TRAVEL GUIDE’ 75
Europe which led to conflict with the
and elsewhere in the Americas,
existing French-Canadian workforce.
transforming Montreal into the
The owners and controllers of the
multicultural city it is today. Despite
economy were, for the most part,
the city’s multi-faceted demography,
Anglophones, while the Francophones
French speakers still make up half
worked in the factories, causing a
of Montreal’s population.
social and economic divide which split the city. It created a linguistic partition
MODERN ECONOMICS
along Boulevard Saint-Laurent,
Montreal’s economic momentum is
with Francophones to the east and
powerful, growing year-on-year.
Anglophones to the west.
In 2018, Greater Montreal enjoyed a
An economic boom following the
3.6% real growth in its GDP, while its
Second World War led to increased
unemployment rate reduced and the
immigration from Europe, Asia, Africa
labour force participation rate grew c a na da .busi ne ssc h ief. com
CITY FOCUS | MONTREAL
to 67.5%. This is partly due to the influx
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
of foreign investment and talent: the
In the AI sector, companies such as
number of international students rose by
Facebook AI Research (FAIR), Google
over 6% in 2018, and many foreign busi-
Brain, DeepMind and Microsoft
nesses and workers have settled in the
Research all have locations in Montreal,
city, particularly in the high-tech sectors.
alongside some innovative startups.
AI, video games, visual effects,
One such start-up is Element AI.
aerospace, fintech and health tech-
Founded in 2016, the company “gives
nologies are among the strongest tech
organisations unparalleled access to
industries in Montreal, attracting many
cutting-edge technology.” The com-
overseas workers.
pany helps accelerate the deployment
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DECEMBER 2019
and commercialisation of AI solutions,
CA$200mn (US$151mn) in a series
partnering with enterprises that want
B round of funding, and its investors
to utilise AI but lack expertise, and
include Gouvernement du QuĂŠbec,
maintains a strong connection to
Data Collective (DCVC), and McKinsey
academia to continue developing
& Company.
AI-powered solutions. It also takes a leadership position in policy-making
VIDEO GAMES
around the impact of technology on
The video game industry in Montreal
society, a hotly-discussed subject
has been rapidly growing since 1997
as AI solutions become more main-
and the opening of Ubisoft Montreal.
stream. Element AI recently raised
The game design studio produced
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CITY FOCUS | MONTREAL
2002’s Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell and 2003’s Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, and has since developed its own intellectual properties such as Assassin’s Creed, Far Cry and Watch Dogs. It now employs more than 3,500 people, and is one of the largest AAA studios in the world. Its establishment is considered to have had a massive effect on the economy of Montreal. It helped establish the city’s position as a creative hub, and has encouraged other publishers such as Electronic Arts, Eidos Interactive, 78
THQ and Warner Bros to open studios there. The Quebec and federal governments offer subsidiary programs to support high-tech job creation. Montreal is ranked in the top five game development cities by the Game Industry Career Guide, along with Tokyo, London, San Francisco and Austin.
TRANSPORT Transport is an integral aspect of Montreal’s economy. The Port of Montreal is the largest inland port in the world, handling 26mn tonnes of cargo annually. It is a trans-shipment point for grain, sugar, machinery, petroleum products and consumer DECEMBER 2019
goods, and this large quantity and variety of cargo has also made Montreal the railway hub of Canada. The city is home to the Canadian National Railway headquarters, along with other rail transport companies such as ViaRail, which is are mandated to operate intercity passenger rail services across Canada, and is subsidised by Transport Canada. Air Canada, the country’s largest airline, is also headquartered in Montreal. It was originally founded in 1937, and provides air transport for passengers and cargo to 207 countries. Another business of note in Montreal’s transport sector is aerospace and transport engineering company Bombardier Inc. The company entered the aerospace field in 1986, after a history of involvement in the snow transport and rapid transit locomotives sectors. It now operates through four segments: Business Aircraft, Commercial Aircraft, Aerostructures and Engineering Services, and Transportation, designing and manufacturing a variety of aircraft and aircraft structural components. It still offers a portfolio of products and services to the rail industry. c a na da .busi ne ssc h ief. com
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T O P 10
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DECEMBER 2019
Wealthiest individuals in the US Business Chief takes a closer look at the wealthiest individuals in the United States WRITTEN BY
GEORGIA WILSON
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T O P 10
82
10
Rob Walton $53bn
Rob Walton, aged 74, is the eldest son of Sam Walton, the founder of Walmart – he joined Walmart in 1969. During his time at the company he held a number of roles including: Senior Vice President, Corporate Secretary, General Counsel and Vice Chairman, before taking over as Walmart’s Chairman in 1992 following his father’s death. In 2015, Walton retired and was replaced by his son in law Greg Penner. Today, Walton and his siblings own half of Walmart’s stock.
DECEMBER 2019
83
09
Alice Walton $53.1bn
Alice Walton, 70, is the only daughter of Walmart founder Sam Walton. She briefly worked as a buyer at Walmart but did not take part in the day-to-day operations of the business, instead becoming an art curator. In 2011, Walton opened the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art featuring Andy Warhol, Norman Rockell and Mark Rothko. Walton and her siblings own half of Walmart’s stock.
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T O P 10
85
08
Jim Walton $53.4bn
At 71, Jim Walton is the youngest son of Sam Walton, the founder of Walmart. Walton sat on the board of directors for Walmart until 2016, when his son Steuart took over. He and his siblings own half of Walmart’s stock. Today, Walton is the head of regional bank, Arvest Bank Group (which he has a 44% stake in) and works with his sister Alice on a programme to issue US$300mn in bonds to help charter schools invest in facilities.
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T O P 10
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07
Sergey Brin $53.9bn
Self-made billionaire, Sergey Brin, aged 46, is the president of Alphabet, the parent company of multiple subsidiaries such as Google, Verily and Waymo. Brin created a search engine alongside Larry Page, listing results based on the popularity of the page. Brin and Page called it ‘Google’ after the mathematical term ‘googol’, referring to the number one followed by 100 zeros, and reflecting their mission to organise the vast amount of information available on the internet.
DECEMBER 2019
87
06
Larry Page $55.9bn
Self-made billionaire, Larry Page is the co-founder of Google and current CEO of Alphabet, the parent company of Google following a restructure in 2015. In addition to his work with Alphabet and Google, Page is the founder of Planetary Resources, a space exploration company, and is funding “flying car� startups Kitty Hawk and Opener.
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T O P 10
Zuckerberg and US Secretary of State John Kerry, 2016
05
Mark Zuckerberg $68.3bn
One of the world’s youngest billionaires, Zuckerberg, aged 35, co-founded social networking site Facebook in 2004. The site was made for Harvard University students to match student names with photos. In 2005, Accel invested $12.7 million into Facebook, opening the site up to other colleges, high schools and international schools. In 2012 Facebook became public, with its first initial public offering (IPO) raising US$16bn – the biggest in IPO history.
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T O P 10
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04
Larry Ellison $68.7bn
Self-made billionaire Larry Ellison, aged 75, cofounded software firm Oracle in 1977, building database-management systems for the CIA. Oracle has grown through steady acquisition of software companies such as PeopleSoft, Siebel Systems, Sun Microsystems and Netsuite. In 2014, Ellison stepped down as CEO. However, he is still on the Board of Directors and is Chief Technology Officer at Oracle.
DECEMBER 2019
Buffett meets with President Barack Obama at the White House in July 2011
03
Warren Buffett $81.7bn
Warren Buffett, aged 89, is the chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, an American multinational conglomerate holding company that owns 60 companies including: Geico, Duracell and Dairy Queen. In 1956 Buffett formed Buffett Partnership Ltd, becoming a millionaire through identifying undervalued companies, including Berkshire Hathaway. Following a significant investment in Coca-Cola Buffett became the director of the company.
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T O P 10
02
Bill Gates $105.5bn
Self-made billionaire Bill Gates, aged 63, is the co-founder of American multinational technology company, Microsoft, alongside Paul Allen in 1975. Gates met Allen in 1968 when he was just 13 years old, the two bonding over their love for computers. In 1970, Gates and Allen developed a traffic 92
0000 YEAR FOUNDED
$0.0bn REVENUE IN XXXXXXXXX DOLLARS
0,000 NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES
monitoring software for Seattle, making US$20,000. Gates wanted to pursue a business career but was encouraged to go to Harvard University, studying law. In 1975, Gates dropped out of university to establish Microsoft with Allen; their first product was BASIC software that ran on Altair computers. Paul Allen left the company in 1983 after being diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Disease. In 2014, Gates stepped down as Chairman of the company, focusing on his joint foundation with his wife Melinda French – The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation – which he has donated US$35.8bn worth of Microsoft stock to.
DECEMBER 2019
Altair 8800 Computer
Steve Jobs and Gates at D: All Things Digital in 2007
CLICK TO WATCH : ‘INSIDE BILL’S BRAIN – PART 1’
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T O P 10
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Bezos giving NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver (fourth from left) a tour of Blue Origin’s crew capsule in 2011.
CLICK TO WATCH : ‘AMAZON CEO JEFF BEZOS AND BROTHER MARK GIVE A RARE INTERVIEW ABOUT GROWING UP AND SECRETS TO SUCCESS’ DECEMBER 2019
0000 YEAR FOUNDED
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01
Jeff Bezos $108.2bn
Self-made billionaire Jeff Bezos, aged 55, is the founder and current CEO of Amazon. The American multinational technology company was founded by Bezos in 1994, working out of his garage in Seattle, Washington selling books. In 2005, Amazon added auctions to the site and began selling multiple hardware, electrical and apparel products, as well as CDs and books. By 2014, it had launched Amazon Web Services (AWS), Amazon Kindles, Amazon Studios and Amazon Alexa. Jeff Bezos has a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Science from Princeton University. As well as being the founder and CEO of Amazon, Bezos founded Blue Origin in 2000 to manufacture aerospace technology and provide sub-orbital spaceflight services. In 2013 he became the owner of the Washington Post.
Jeff Bezos with Secretary of Defense Ash Carter c a na da .busi ne ssc h ief. com
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MCU: putting members at the heart of digital transformation WRITTEN BY
OLLIE MULKERRINS
DECEMBER 2019
97
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MERIDIAN CREDIT UNION
David Baldarelli, SVP for Meridian Credit Union, keeps member quality of life and security at the heart of digital transformation
A
s a credit union, Meridian (MCU) is 100% owned by its Members: their interests are first. Profits are returned to them not in
dividend payments, but in the form of innovative products, technology and services along with a focus on community and overall member well-being. 98
“We’re ruthlessly focused on our members and employees, we’re really all about focusing on wellbeing: financial, physical and mental,” says David Baldarelli, SVP, Digital & Analytics and COO, motusbank. Baldarelli led the campaign to develop motusbank, a subsidiary of Meridian. It took four years of heavy lifting – both technology build and regulatory approvals – before motus launched in April 2019. The name Motus is Latin for new movement, representing disruption and rebellion, an idea MCU wants motusbank to embody, with a new movement in banking. This new movement is putting customer welfare and a sustainable relationship between the platform and its members at the forefront of its development.
DECEMBER 2019
99
2005
Year founded
2,000
Approximate number of employees
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MERIDIAN CREDIT UNION
“ The legacy way of doing things is no longer accepted” 100
— David Baldarelli, SVP, Digital & Analytics and COO, MotusBank for Meridian Credit Union (MCU)
DECEMBER 2019
MCU is aware that modern cultural shifts have left consumers expecting more from their financial services. “So Financial Institutions in Canada are now being compared to the likes of Google, Amazon, Apple, Uber, because this is who they’re using for their day to day,” says Baldarelli. “They’re expecting the same from financial companies. The legacy way of doing things is no longer accepted.” The financial sector has been forced to adapt and evolve to changing demands from consumers, as younger generations requiring more immediate
CLICK TO WATCH : ‘MOTUSBANK: OUR STORY’
access to their finances enter the
them for the sort of change they want
market. “Three or four years ago,
to see as members. “One of the
digital didn’t contribute much at all to
biggest things is to never assume that
the overall new membership growth,”
you have the answer,” says Baldarelli.
explains Baldarelli. “When you fast
“It’s important to listen to what your
forward to today, digital is the number
members are saying, to spend time in
one new member acquisition channel
operations, the contact center and
across all of our districts.”
branches as well as obtaining a holistic
The launch of motusbank has realised a surge in new membership for
understanding of the business.” Specifically on digital member
MCU. As new members benefit from a
experience, MCU worked closely with
holistic approach towards banking with
TELUS Financial Solutions. Keith
a company that doesn’t assume the
Nugara says: “Through collaboration
needs of its users but rather approaches
with Meridian, we aligned on its digital c a na da .busi ne ssc h ief. com
101
TELUS Financial Solutions A partner to help you grow.
We empower financial institutions. Our experience and agility are rooted in nearly three decades of close collaboration with Canadian financial communities. It’s what has allowed us to provide financial institutions with robust technology solutions that are designed to digitize and streamline processes and help businesses gain a competitive edge in the industry. Let us help you too.
AST2756-11-2019
To learn more, visit telus.com/financial-solutions
103
E XE CU T I VE PRO FI LE
David Balderelli As Chief Operating Officer of Motus Bank, David oversees and executes go-to-market strategies and is responsible for delivering against the bank business plan. He is responsible for overseeing the strategy, management and execution of Digital Banking and Analytics strategy for both the credit union and the bank. This includes a strong focus on driving a superior digital member experience, operational efficiencies, and member engagement and growth.Â
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MERIDIAN CREDIT UNION
IDVision
TM
with
Is your business fit to fight fraud? With integrated fraud solutions, businesses and consumers can transact more safely and seamlessly in a digital world. By partnering with TransUnion, Meridian Credit Union and Motus Bank benefit from our IDVision® solution which enables accelerated digital identity management. Our advanced analytics and new data assets help lead to greater accuracy which promotes safer lending and a frictionless customer experience.
© 2019 TransUnion Canada, Inc. All Rights Reserved | 19-476718
Equifax® is helping financial institutions with their digital transformation efforts by offering onboarding and authentication services. Ultimately, it is about creating a superior digital experience and facilitating financial well-being.
1.855.233.9226 • equifax.ca © Equifax Canada Co., 2019. All rights reserved. All marks appearing herein are trademarks or registered trademarks owned or licensed by Equifax Canada Co. No part of this document may be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, transcribed, stored in a retrieval system, or translated into any language in any form by means, electronic, mechanical or otherwise, for any purpose, without the prior written consent of Equifax Canada Co.
NOVEMBER 2019
Visit: transunion.ca/idvision
member experience and national
Financial Solutions enabled us to
strategy, resulting in Meridian’s use
provide members with enhanced
of TELUS Financial Solutions robust
digital financial services coast to coast,
technologies that are designed to
streamline internal processes and
streamline processes and aided
focus on growing our business.”
Meridian to gain a competitive edge by
Demand has led to company
focusing on its member digital journeys.
branches becoming more intercon-
Through this collaboration, our
nected through technology such as
customers will continue to benefit
cloud services, making it much easier
from our respective strengths includ-
to share and process data across
ing strategic and targeted payment
multiple platforms. This comes with its
solutions that enable electronic
own risks though, as cyber security
payment, digital data collection and
threats continue to adapt at a compa-
more efficient analytics.”
rable pace and networks present more
Balderalli adds: “Member journey is
points of entry. Working with MX and
a critical piece of our digital national
Personetics, MCU has developed AI
strategy. Our partnership with TELUS
analytics to process mass data more c a na da .busi ne ssc h ief. com
105
MERIDIAN CREDIT UNION
106
“ We’re three to four times where we thought we would be in terms of new members and balances” — David Baldarelli, SVP, Digital & Analytics and COO, MotusBank for Meridian Credit Union (MCU)
DECEMBER 2019
107
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MERIDIAN CREDIT UNION
Advert NOVEMBER 2019
efficiently, making it possible to identify
their own network and leverage the
and adapt to potential threats across
rapid up-scaling required to keep up
a much larger data sample. “We are
with modern security challenges and
going to have the ability to analyze
the influx of new members. One such
hundreds of thousands of members’
partner was SAS. “We brought in SAS
data and transactions, running it
to the organization and it’s really
through an artificial intelligence engine
allowed us to take our analytics to the
and coming out with valuable, relevant
next level. We’ve started building
and meaningful insights which will help
logistic regression models, and neural
them improve their financial wellbeing.”
network models that basically help us
MCU has built its own proprietary
with identifying credit risk, product
digital and analytics platform, allowing
propensities and helping us segment
them to process member data within
our members.” 109
CLICK TO WATCH : ‘WORKING AT MOTUSBANK’
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MERIDIAN CREDIT UNION
110
DECEMBER 2019
Motusbank has given MCU a reliable and innovative National platform to growth its membership and enhance its brand. Baldarelli explains the initiative has seen “great success! So far, we’ve seen tremendous growth with motusbank. We’re three to four times where we thought we would be in terms of new members and balances.” This success has put MCU in good stead for the future, but it won’t be without its challenges. “Competition is a big thing on our radar. Especially with the likes of the Facebooks, Googles and Amazons. From an economic perspective, we’ve had a really good run over the past 10 years, but we think those good times won’t be there forever. Finally, our capital is precious. Making sure that we’re leveraging our capital in the right way and optimizing it to ensure we’re getting the most bang for our buck is important to us.”
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112
KUBRA: information security and customer experience WRITTEN BY
SHANNON LEWIS PRODUCED BY
JAKE MEGEARY
DECEMBER 2019
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KUBRA
We speak to Tushar Chandgothia, Vice President of Information Security and Risk Management at KUBRA, about how businesses can provide customers with the service they want while keeping digitally safe
K
UBRA was originally founded in 1992 as a bill printing service provider. Clients looking to outsource printing, from
statements to invoices, turned to KUBRA. As the company expanded, so did its interests. From printing, KUBRA moved into billing and payments, 114
which itself moved from the analogue to the digital. Today, KUBRA provides digital and software services to over 365 clients and their customers. Tushar Chandgothia has been Vice President of Information Security and Risk Management at KUBRA for over three years. His background is primarily with other service providers. “I make sure, from an executive standpoint, that there is someone to be held accountable for data security,” he says. KUBRA processes 1.5bn transactions every year, ranging from printed invoices to bank statement, text messages. “We collect a lot of personallyidentifiable information,” says Chandgothia. “We need to make sure that the systems that actually host that data on behalf of our clients are secure. At the end of the day what we want to do is maintain customer trust and reliability in our services.” DECEMBER 2019
115
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KUBRA
“ At the end of the day what we want to do is maintain customer trust and reliability in our services” 116
— Tushar Chandgothia, Vice President of Information Security and Risk Management, KUBRA
DECEMBER 2019
A shift in mentality between generations has forced KUBRA to re-evaluate how it provides services. Gen X, Y, and Z are looking for easy, frictionless interactions. “They ask a question and expect a reply within minutes.” In response, KUBRA developed artificial intelligence-based solutions to efficiently respond to client messages. With new technology comes both convenience and complication. KUBRA’s applications are made up of over 600 different components, flavours or sub-applications. To avoid vulnerabilities in new
CLICK TO WATCH : ‘KUBRA EXPERIENCE BETTER’ 117 code, KUBRA engages in a shift-left
work as hired hackers, trying to break
mentality. KUBRA’s development and
into applications and find vulnerabilities
implementation team, made up of over
that KUBRA can then adjust for.
150 people, centres around creating
When it comes to ensuring a balance
and testing new code. Every piece of
between functionality and security,
billing and payments code at KUBRA
Chandgothia says it is important to
is passed through a security tool that
always be on the lookout for the next
highlights potential security vulnerabilities.
great thing. “We want to be at the fore-
“When the developer is tinkering with
front of payments,” he says. “That’s the
new functionalities, they find out about
strategy that has driven us in the last
the vulnerability early and it’s fixed
few years.” Services such as Forrester
before it is released into the market,”
and Gartner help him compare
he says. For additional security testing
vendors, ensuring any technologies
in its billing and payments applications,
KUBRA replaces will only be made
one of KUBRA’s partners, Cobalt Labs
better. “We are continuously evaluating c a na da .busi ne ssc h ief. com
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“ While secure delivery of new products is something we will always do, there is no compromise on security” — Tushar Chandgothia, Vice President of Information Security and Risk Management, KUBRA
what makes the most sense from a business perspective, where we have the most flexibility, where we can allow the client to provide for themselves rather than having us be in the middle. How can we help them help themselves to meet their expectations?” To focus on process building, KUBRA co-sources its security technology from some of the best security vendors. “We focus on making solutions that are great when it comes to billing and payments,” he says. “When it comes to security, we’re looking for
E XE CU T I VE PRO FI LE
Tushar Chandgothia Tushar Chandgothia is the Vice President of Information Security and Risk Management at KUBRA, a customer experience management solutions provider to some of the largest utility, insurance and government entities across North America. Chandgothia has over 16 years of experience in information security, IT audit, and risk management functions in technology, financial, media, and healthcare sectors. As the first Information Security Vice President at KUBRA, he is working along with his team to strengthen the first line of defence and mature the cybersecurity and technology risk management practice by embedding security controls in KUBRA’s billing and payment solutions.
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119
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121
a relationship where the partner’s core
automate certain processes. Another
business is to provide that. Rather
way KUBRA has opted for security in
than managing it all in house, we find
technology is through the tokenisation
someone for whom security tech is
of data, which allows the company to
their bread and butter.” Finding the
reduce the footprint of actual credit
correct technology is about econo-
card numbers in its environment by
mising. “We try to solve five problems
registering these as different values.
with one piece of technology,” he
This reduces risk since, if the card
says. This mentality has led KUBRA
numbers are tokenised, it means that
into a partnership with FireMon. It
no client card numbers would be
had the most seamless integration
exposed if the system were compro-
when it came to its firewalls and the
mised. When searching for partners
additional service of real-time review
to do this, stacked functionality was
of security rules and the capability to
once again key. The provider KUBRA c a na da .busi ne ssc h ief. com
KUBRA
C O M PA N Y FACT S
• Today, KUBRA provides digital and software services to 365 clients and their customers. • KUBRA processes 1.5 billion transactions in a year • KUBRA’s applications are made up of over 600 sub-applications.
122
DECEMBER 2019
chose to work with offers stateless tokenisation, which removes the usual database of tokens, making the data even more secure. It is also speedy, able to tokenise over a million credit card numbers an hour. Internal methodology is as important to information security as having the right technology in place at KUBRA. Chandgothia has seen major changes in the security team since he joined in 2016. “We have proper pillars now. We centralised a lot of the preventative controls. We don’t want to be just in the detection game, we want to control the first line of defence, hands-on.” The change, from a client standpoint, has been seamless. “I think for the most part we use common sense. It’s what we call a Defence-in-Depth approach.” It allows adaptability. Clients who are switching to KUBRA from a less-secure position can ask to reduce security restrictions temporarily for an initial adjustment period. KUBRA’s security infrastructure is multi-layered, so the company has the flexibility to do this without compromising safety. Legal security restrictions, such as the California Consumer Privacy Act c a na da .busi ne ssc h ief. com
123
KUBRA
124
“ This legislation has allowed us to promote a security culture. If someone wants to push back, we have a regulation behind us” — Tushar Chandgothia, Vice President of Information Security and Risk Management, KUBRA
DECEMBER 2019
(CCPA) or General Data Regulation Protection (GDPR) have been helpful to KUBRA in maintaining its high standards. “This legislation has allowed us to promote a security culture. If someone wants to push back, we have a regulation behind us. We’ve never seen it as something that has stopped our business,” says Chandgothia. Looking forward, KUBRA is interested in becoming an omni-channel provider. “We want to be involved in every facet where client communication is
1992
Year founded
500
Number of employees
125
involved.� Chandgothia says. Security-
KUBRA is looking into adopting
wise, KUBRA is looking to develop
machine learning, artificial intelligence,
a zero-trust environment, in which
and cloud computing, allowing clients
neither external nor internal users
to further self-serve. “While secure
have unlimited access to information.
delivery of new products is something
A 10-year exercise, it has been imple-
we will always do, there is no compromise
mented in parts. So far, KUBRA has
on security.
segmented its production environment, where all personally identifiable data is kept, from its user environment and also segmented its credit card data environment in production from other non-card services. Technologically, c a na da .busi ne ssc h ief. com
126
DRA GLOBAL: HELPING MINING COMPANIES REALISE THE BIG PICTURE FOR THEIR PROJECTS WRITTEN BY
DAN BRIGHTMORE PRODUCED BY
RICHARD DEANE
DECEMBER 2019
127
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DRA GLOBAL
DRA GLOBAL IS DELIVERING INNOVATION TO THE MINING SITE, TURNING UNDERPERFORMING PROJECTS INTO OUTSTANDING ONES
D
RA Global (DRA) is a diversified global engineering, project delivery and operations management group. Founded
in 1984, its impressive track record spans over three decades. With expertise in the areas of 128
project development, mining, mineral processing, plant optimisation, operations & maintenance and related water, energy, and infrastructure requirements, the company successfully delivers comprehensive solutions to the resources sector. DRA has detailed design and construction at its core but also supports major innovations to drive cost savings at the PEA (Predicted Energy Assessment) level while focused on guiding these projects through to construction. Brent Hilscher, DRA’s Director of Process for Western Canada, was brought in to broaden the company’s global footprint and start its Vancouver office. Expanding DRA’s impressive array of services, Hilscher brings expertise in ore sorting, floatation, grinding and extraction. “Typically, when you look at a block model, there won’t be huge DECEMBER 2019
129
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DRA GLOBAL
C O M PA N Y FACT S
• 4,300 staff worldwide • 4,500+ projects completed globally • 3 decades of experience
variability in the grade of the deposit and every block looks like it’s 100% ore,” he explains. “But, when you take that block and you crush it, you normally find that half of the rocks that leave your gyratory are waste rocks. Extraction is a resource and cost intensive process, so, there’s a lot of potential to take that crushed material and reject a certain amount, allowing us to boost mill feed grade while using less power and water.” DRA employs many distinct technologies for bulk and particle sorting. For bulk sorting prompt gamma neutron
130
activation analysis (PGNAA) is one of the most common, where the ore is scanned and exposed to neutrons. Gamma rays are re-admitted from the
“ EVERY ROCK IS SCANNED INDIVIDUALLY WITH TECHNOLOGY CAPABLE OF ANALYSING EACH PARTICLE TO TELL YOU WHAT’S ORE AND WHAT’S WASTE” — Brent Hilscher, Director of Process, Western Canada, DRA Global
DECEMBER 2019
ore with specific signatures a result of the atoms contacted which can, for example, reveal how much copper is in the ore on the conveyor. “Particle sorting is where I probably spend most of my time,” adds Hilscher. “Every rock is scanned individually with technology capable of analysing each particle to tell you what’s ore and what’s waste.” During this process, a variety of sensor methods are used to improve efficiency. “Dual energy
CLICK TO WATCH : ‘DRA GLOBAL OVERVIEW’ 131 x-ray transmission (XRT) looks at
gold ore, it could be that the estimated
the density of particles and does so
gold value is determined based on iron,
by compensating for the size of the
titanium, and zirconium, things you
rock using two energy levels of x-ray,”
might not often think of being associated
explains Hilscher. “The technology has
with gold,” adds Hilscher. “It could
advanced to the point where we can
also be that the waste has a certain
look at the density profile of a block
quantity of things that the ore does not,
rather than the average density of the
so you could create reverse correla-
rock and use that characteristic profile
tions with the XRF.” Other techniques
to tell the difference between ore and
include the use of lasers which assess
waste.” DRA also deploys XRF, which
the brightness of the rock and its
provides a profile of the heavier ele-
translucent characteristics. However,
ments and can detect copper, lead,
not all approaches are fruitful. Hilscher
zinc, titanium, zirconium and more to
has worked on more than 40 major
help determine the ore’s value. “If it’s a
projects, where his team have had little c a na da .busi ne ssc h ief. com
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DRA GLOBAL
CLICK TO WATCH : ‘BRENT HILSCHER FOR DRA GLOBAL’
134
success with electromagnetic sensors,
metric for operations where, for example,
and admits that “you want to keep an
we’ll look at how much gold or copper
open mind but some techniques work
is recovered at the end of the process.
better for certain ore types, so it’s
When we do ore sorting, we’ll often
important to match the right analysis
throw away 5% or more of the valuable
approach to the specific site”.
minerals, so we developed a metric to
Allied to the practical dynamics of
learn the actual value of what’s being
the sorting process, Hilscher believes
lost where the operating costs for
ore sorting economics are crucial.
the extraction and tailings facilities
“Building an economic model for every
are incorporated into that recovery
project tells us what the optimum
number. Discarding a low-grade rock
operating conditions are going to be.
would have a positive impact on profit
A key metric is profit recovery.
recovery, which rewards us for throwing
Normally, metal recovery is a driving
away rocks we’re losing money on.”
DECEMBER 2019
Preparing an economic model for
payback period for a specific project.
each project helps DRA build the best
“For Brownfield projects we’re usually
algorithm to support the second phase
targeting a payback of six months,”
of testing with a bulk sample. “The eco-
says Hilscher. “That seems to be what
nomic model is able to show us the best
mining companies are looking for
sorter operating conditions,” confirms
these days and it’s certainly achievable
Hilscher. “We can see the best upgrade
for a lot of these ore sorting projects. For
ratio for the ore sorter to be running at,
Greenfield, it’s even easier because
so that once we get into the large-scale
your CAPEX is so much lower. For
test, we’ve got the correct algorithm
example, for a single sorter Brownfield
and operating setpoints for the deposit.”
system, it might cost $5mn to install a
That test work and algorithm sup-
200 tonne per hour system, but with
ports the economic model, allowing
the ore sorting equipment incorporated
DRA to more accurately define a
into your design at the beginning of
E XE CU T I VE PRO FI LE
Brent Hilscher Brent Hilscher has 20 years’ experience in mining and mineral processing. He has operated and supervised mineral processing plants, published papers, patented technologies, and been a speaker at over a dozen conferences and universities in Canada and around the world. Brent has led design and construction projects for Teck, Goldcorp, New Gold, Barrick, Xstrata, Agnico Eagle, and many others. He won the CMP Bill Moore Award for technical excellence in 2013, and served as an officer in the Canadian Armed Forces.
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135
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technology combinations, including: X-ray transmission (XRT); X-ray
Focusing on pre-concentration adds previously uneconomic zones to ore and mineral reserves, and improves the effectiveness of ore blending management programs. Processing low-grade stockpiles, even waste dumps, and selective upgrading generates value from previously uneconomic material. This leads to reduced tailings, less environmental impact, reduced milling energy requirements — all which add value to the life of the operation.
fluorescence (XRF); induction; optical-color and 3D laser.
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“ METALLURGISTS TEND TO BE WORRIED ABOUT RECOVERY. GEOLOGISTS ARE CONCERNED ABOUT OUNCES AND POUNDS IN THE GROUND. MINING GUYS ARE FOCUSED ON TONNES, WHILE CEOS ARE COUNTING THE DOLLARS. I’VE FOUND THAT THE ECONOMIC MODEL DOES A GREAT JOB OF BRINGING ALL THOSE PEOPLE TOGETHER AND HELPING THEM SEE THE BIG PICTURE” — Brent Hilscher, Director of Process, Western Canada, DRA Global
Hilscher worked on a silver mine 12 months from closure due to constantly declining grades. Ore sorting was investigated to get the grades back up. “We did the test programme, we got the samples and discovered that nine out of 10 of their rocks were below cut-off grade,” explains Hilscher. “But one out of 10 of their rocks was extremely valuable. So, it was a very easy sort. We could have used XRF, XRT, laser, any one of those would have worked, so we scanned the rock with a conservative approach only throwing away 60% of the rock to begin with. We eventually achieved double the feed grade, with over 95% silver recovery.” DRA has worked for many years to develop approaches to dense media
construction, the cost can be halved.”
separation (DMS) that use fluids of
In greenfield designs there is also an
suitable density so that the minerals
opportunity to reduce project capital
lighter than the fluid float and those
while maintaining or increasing designed
that are denser sink. Hilscher’s team
production. Hilscher notes that instead
is also developing conservation tech-
of spending $100mn on a new mill, a
nologies to meet the changing needs
smaller mill with sorters could produce
of the sector. “Ore sorting is just part
the same product for $70-80mn.
of our tool kit for project revitalisa-
“Spending a little more on your ore sort-
tion. DMS coarse particle recovery,
ing system up front can lead to a clear
modular construction and many others
win for the overall project,” he confirms.
are looked at for each new project. c a na da .busi ne ssc h ief. com
137
DRA GLOBAL
Bel Air Bauxite
138
In 2017 DRA Global was awarded the contract for the development of a port facility and associated infrastructure for the export of bauxite, by Alufer Mining in Guinea. The Alufer Bel Air Mine project was DRA’s first causeway development, which expanded the company’s exposure within the marine environment. Bel Air was expected to have an initial production rate of 5.5 million tonnes per annum and included a 22.5km haul road running over eight river crossings, an export facility with the ROM tip that feeds a 6500-tonne live capacity stockpile, and a causeway extending 1.4km into the Atlantic Ocean, where a barge load out berth was constructed.
DECEMBER 2019
The scope included all the necessary infrastructure to operate the facility: construction camp, wellfields, power generation, offices, laboratory, workshop and a bailey bridge across the Koundinde Work on the project commenced in January 2017 and was completed in August 2018 before commercial production was achieved within the first six months of operation. Alufer is on target to reach its annual production rate of 5.5 million wet tonnes by the end of 2019. DRA Global’s extensive material handling, earthworks and infrastructure design capabilities have contributed significantly to the success of the project.
139 Hydrofloat is a new coarse particle
so they can test solutions in their own
recovery flotation technology, which
operations.” The solutions DRA offer
we’ve started installing for clients,” he
leverage the company’s relation-
confirms. “It uses the slurry current to
ships with key tech partners including
assist in the flotation of exceptionally
Tomra, Steinert, Eriez, Scantech,
coarse particles.”
Rados, Minesense and others.
Hilscher notes that mining has his-
Safety is a hot topic in the industry
torically been hesitant to innovate but
today. Given the tragic impact of
the adoption of ore sorting technolo-
recent dam failures in Brazil, Hilscher
gies into the mainstream has proved
is particularly interested in developing
the exception because the results
DRA’s services to provide alternative
are so dramatic. “It comes down to
tailings solutions. “We’ve done a lot
education,” he says. “We need to make
of work on dry stack tailings, which is
mining professionals aware of the
becoming a more popular option for
benefits from emerging technologies,
plants,” he says. “Even within dry stack c a na da .busi ne ssc h ief. com
DRA GLOBAL
designs, there are optimisation opportunities. Instead of sending all the tailings sand to a filter plant, you may have a two-stage cyclone plant first. The coarsest fraction is used for roads and earthworks, the fine fraction goes to the existing tailings pond (or co-disposal piles), and the mid-size material is filtered. This compromise reduces tailings pond sizes by two thirds while also removing most of the fines and clays that are so difficult to filter. “Of course, sensor sorting, DMS, and 140
coarse particle flotation all have a tailings pond benefit because if you can take those worthless rocks and keep
“ BUILDING AN ECONOMIC MODEL FOR EVERY PROJECT TELLS US WHAT THE OPTIMUM OPERATING CONDITIONS ARE GOING TO BE” — Brent Hilscher, Director of Process, Western Canada, DRA Global
DECEMBER 2019
them coarse you are able to put them in a waste pile or road bed. That’s a direct reduction to your tailings pond size. The pond dam won’t need to be expanded as often, and that tends to make them much safer,” he adds. Hilscher believes that in order to drive innovation, all metrics and operational concerns need to be addressed. It’s a weighty issue where he argues a balance must be struck. “Metallurgists tend to be worried about recovery. Geologists are concerned
1984
Year founded
4,300 Number of employees
141
about ounces and pounds in the
achieve all of these goals simultaneously.
ground. Mining guys are focused on
We can drive growth, while making
tonnes, while CEOs are counting the
tailings ponds smaller, use less water,
dollars,” he muses. “I’ve found that
less energy, and produce less CO2.
the economic model does a great job
All of this simply by rejecting the
of bringing all those people together
worthless rock earlier in the process.
and helping them see the big picture.
It’s the future for sustainable mining
How do the ounces, tonnes, and
and something we’re really excited
recovery feed into making a deposit
about at DRA Global.”
as economical as possible? What can we do to reduce the environmental impact and also make the mine more profitable? With ore sorting, and other preconcentration techniques, we can c a na da .busi ne ssc h ief. com
142
DECEMBER 2019
State-ofthe-art data centers in Canada WRITTEN BY
WILLIAM SMITH PRODUCED BY
TOM VENTURO
c a na da .busi ne ssc h ief. com
143
ESTRUXTURE
Todd Coleman, eStruxture’s President and CEO, explains how the company is leveraging its knowledge of the Canadian market for data center excellence
C
anada’s eStruxture provides carrier and cloud neutral data center service across the country. The company is
experiencing rapid growth – this year alone, it 144
acquired its first facility in Calgary and its second in Vancouver, as well as upgrading existing facilities in Montreal and Vancouver. Behind the company’s success is its keen attention to the specificities of the Canadian market, as Todd Coleman, President and CEO, explains: “What sets us apart from other data center providers is our 100% focus on the Canadian region, our ability to serve a multitude of markets and our willingness and ability to pre-deploy capacity to enable our customers to quickly deploy, even up to multiple mega-watts, in our state-of-the-art facilities. We are Canadian owned and headquartered, and focus entirely on our region. Our mindset is not diluted with other out-of-region markets; we know how to get things done in the markets in which we operate, we believe in local customer touch at the DECEMBER 2019
145
2017
Year founded
60
Number of employees
c a na da .busi ne ssc h ief. com
ESTRUXTURE
146 market level and, as data sovereignty
“ Our goal has always been to become the leading data center provider in Canada” — Todd Coleman, President and CEO, eStruxture
DECEMBER 2019
and foreign ownership issues increase, we are very sensitive to the Canadian regulatory landscape and how that may impact our customers.” eStruxture’s portfolio of data centers may be growing, but expansion is always carefully and responsibly considered. “We have a unique set of requirements that we look for in target acquisitions particularly around the facilities, requiring Tier III, concurrently maintainable architecture, redundancy across the electrical and mechanical systems, access to incremental utility
CLICK TO WATCH : ‘ESTRUXTURE SHARES BIG NEWS AT TEX NYC 2019’ 147 power, close proximity to fiber networks
building, formerly a Montreal Gazette
and massively scalable power distribu-
printing facility. “We are confident that
tion within the facility up to 30kW per
this facility is the most scalable, state-
rack,” says Coleman. “The Calgary
of-the-art carrier-neutral facility in
acquisition checked all of our boxes
Quebec – and quite likely all of Canada,”
on the technical requirements and
says Coleman. “We considered every
included highly skilled employees and
detail of the design, architecture,
an expanded customer base. With this
equipment selection and operating
acquisition, eStruxture has positioned
model to enable us to serve our retail
itself as the largest carrier-neutral data
and wholesale customers in ways that
center provider in the market.”
are unique to the Canadian data center
The company is also constructing
industry. The facility was designed
brand new, state-of-the-art facilities in
around the fundamental tenet of high
Montreal and Vancouver. The former,
scalability, efficiency and sustain-
MTL-2, is situated in a repurposed
ability, which translates to 30MW of c a na da .busi ne ssc h ief. com
ESTRUXTURE
148
immediately available, hydro-electric
the area. “We announced earlier this
power; utilisation of free-cooling up
year the development of a new, 55,000
to 8 months a year; a power utilisation
square feet, 10MW data center in
efficiency that is designed for sub-1.2
Burnaby, just on the edge of the City
at load; the latest lithium battery, UPS
of Vancouver. This facility is being
technology; scalable and flexible power
designed and architected around the
configurations that support up to 30kW
basis of design we have developed for
per cabinet and 2N redundancy; and
our MTL-2 facility with focus on scale,
pre-deployed and built-out capacity
flexibility, efficiency and sustainability.
that allows us to deploy a multi-mega-
We are confident that this state-of-
watt customer in less than 90 days.�
the-art facility will be a game changer
The latter, Vancouver facility is being
for the Vancouver market offering
developed to take advantage of the
substantial expansion capabilities for
underserved data center market in
our retail and wholesale customers
DECEMBER 2019
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E XE CU T I VE PRO FI LE
Todd Coleman Todd Coleman is the President and CEO of eStruxture. Todd brings more than 25 years’ experience in the IT, data center and telecommunications industries. Most recently, he was the Chief Operating Officer and co-founder of Cologix. Todd has also held several senior positions at Level 3 Communications, a global telecommunications company, including Senior Vice President of Data Centers, Senior Vice President of Media Operations and President of Level 3 Communications Europe. Todd holds a juris doctorate and a bachelor’s degree in computer information systems.
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ESTRUXTURE
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“What sets us apart from other data center providers is our 100% focus on the Canadian market” — Todd Coleman, President and CEO, eStruxture
DECEMBER 2019
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ESTRUXTURE
with dedicated fiber access to our VAN-1 facility as well as the downtown Vancouver carrier hotel.” eStruxture ensures that a focus on sustainability is built into its facilities from the earliest design stage. “From a design perspective, our engineers work to design and develop the most energy efficient data center possible,” says Coleman. “We are constantly challenging to drive to the highest efficiency possible. Additionally, the customer IT and server equipment produces a significant amount of
First lithium-ion battery cabinet designed by data center experts for data center users. Cut your total cost of ownership with the Vertiv™ HPL lithium-ion battery system, a high-power energy solution with best-in-class footprint, serviceability and user experience. Smaller, lighter and lasting up to four times longer than VRLA counterparts, the newset generation of lithium-ion batteries pay for themselves in a few years. The Vertiv HPL battery cabinet features safe and reliable lithium-ion battery modules and redundant battery management system architecture with internal power supply. These features and the cabinet’s seamless integration with Vertiv UPS units and monitoring systems make it ideal for new deployments or as replacement for lead-acid alternatives. Plus, its userfriendly display leads to a best-in-class user experience. Visit Vertiv.com/HPL
“ Our engineers work to design and develop the most energy efficient data center possible” — Todd Coleman, President and CEO, eStruxture
CLICK TO WATCH : ‘ESTRUXTURE: PTC’19 EDGE CAPABLE DATA CENTERS’
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ESTRUXTURE
C O M PA N Y FACT S
• Constructing facilities in Montreal and Vancouver • In the last year, has acquired data centers in Calgary and Vancouver
heat that we strive to re-use through heat exchangers, either in our own building through uses like heating our office space and/or by providing 154
it to other adjacent buildings or businesses.” It’s also about making sure facilities run as efficiently as possible, with ramifications from both a business and sustainability perspective. “A traditional data center has total energy expenditure for cooling alone of 50% or more of critical IT load – sometimes significantly higher. In eStruxture’s case, we were able to achieve a yearly average power saving of about 70% through the use of air flow management, CFD analysis and air side economisers, allowing us to benefit from the lower ambient temperatures in Canada that enable us to achieve up to eight months per year of free cooling.” DECEMBER 2019
eStruxture is confident in the path it is taking, while keeping an eye on upcoming industry trends such as edge computing. “With new technologies like AI and autonomous vehicles rapidly gaining traction, companies are beginning to need much more powerful and local compute, storage and networking resources than most current data center providers are used to deploying,” says Coleman. “As a result, interest in facilities located outside of traditional Tier 1 data center markets will continue to surge. “Our goal has always been to become the leading data center provider in Canada, and we will continue to strive for that superlative,” he adds. “We will continue to expand, both into new markets and within our existing markets, and we will continue to be sure our customers have state-of-the-art technology at their fingertips all while receiving white glove customer service.”
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DECEMBER 2019
Automation Anywhere: Rashim Mogha is championing diversity through eWOW WRITTEN BY
AMBER DONOVAN-STEVENS PRODUCED BY
CRAIG KILLINGBACK
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A U T O M AT I O N A N Y W H E R E
Rashim Mogha, Founder of eWOW and Global Head of Education Products, Automation Anywhere, is leading the way in bringing more women into the tech industry and shares how we can too
R 158
ashim Mogha is clearly the woman to watch. eWOW (empowered Women of the World) founder and the The Global
Head of Education Products, Automation Anywhere University, best-selling author, keynote speaker and equality influencer has just been awarded Woman of the Year 2019. This is the third award Mogha has won in 2019 alone, having also been recognised as a Woman of Influence for Silicon Valley, and winning the Women Empowerment: Game Changer Award for her eWOW initiative, which empowers women to be successful, and for her career achievements. “I’ve had the privilege of working at the forefront of cuttingedge technology throughout my career,” says Mogha, a veteran of companies like VMware, AWS and Oracle. “I led the education program for AWS, including bootcamps at re:Invent, annual AWS conference where we trained over 8,000 people during a three-day event.” AWS provided Mogha with an opportunity to create education solutions that can function in DECEMBER 2019
159
“Say yes to every opportunity and, as you climb the ladder, don’t forget to give back” — Rashim Mogha, Founder of eWOW and Global Head of Education Products, Automation Anywhere c a na da .busi ne ssc h ief. com
A U T O M AT I O N A N Y W H E R E
“ When you really look at it, robotic process automation (RPA) is going to drive how business is done and what the future of work is in the era of the fourth industrial revolution” 160
— Rashim Mogha, Founder of eWOW and Global Head of Education Products, Automation Anywhere
real-time as well as to scale them out. At Oracle, Mogha built the enablement strategy for Oracle Cloud Infrastructure from the ground up. “Coming to Automation Anywhere was a natural progression as I had the necessary knowledge of how to build products for startup environment, and then to scale them out. That’s what my role involves right now at Automation Anywhere.” Her main responsibility is developing education products to help accomplish Automation Anywhere’s March to Million mission of educating a million individuals on developing and using robotic process automation and prepare for the jobs of the future. “This goal was very appealing to me because when you really look at it, robotic process automation (RPA) is going to drive how business is done and what the future of work is in the era of the
DECEMBER 2019
CLICK TO WATCH : ‘RASHIM MOGHA, AUTOMATION ANYWHERE | WOMEN TRANSFORMING TECHNOLOGY 2019’ 161 fourth industrial revolution.” She asserts
empower more women to join and stay
the need for upskilling and reskilling to
in the tech industry.”
maintain momentum in this ever-evolving industry, confident that knowledge of
AUTOMATION ANYWHERE UNIVERSITY
RPA will soon be a prerequisite for jobs
“Businesses are missing out on creating
of future just like word processors and
compelling global solutions by not hav-
office productivity tools. Mogha is also
ing diversity at decision-making levels,
passionate about leadership and has
as considerations for women are time
been recognised as a Top 100 keynote
and time again missed,” says Mogha.
speaker by databird and a Top 20
“For example, the health app released
thought leaders by Thinkers 360. She
by Apple in 2015 did not incorporate or
says “Launching eWOW in 2018 was a
take into account women’s reproductive
natural progression. Having held leader-
cycles, and facial recognition algorithms
ship roles at VMware, AWS, and Oracle,
have a success rate of only 33% on
it was now my turn to give back and
darker-skinned women, as opposed c a na da .busi ne ssc h ief. com
A U T O M AT I O N A N Y W H E R E
162
to 99% for white men. The creators of
academic institutions. Mogha shares
the solutions were only thinking of one
that Automation Anywhere’s Enterprise
gender; 49% of the population (men)
A2019 platform offers capabilities to
cannot create solutions for 100% of the
enterprises of all sizes, including: an intui-
world’s population.” It is for this reason
tive web-based interface that simplifies
that Mogha says it is essential to bring
bot development; a cloud-native platform
diversity of thought in the tech industry in
that offers customers RPA-as-a-Service
order to create equal solutions and drive
from the cloud with reduced cost and
the industry forward.
“near-infinite” scalability; AI capabilities
The March to Millions initiative is
to integrate third-party solutions and
helping in opening up opportunities
natural language processing; and new
for everyone and so far has delivered
Attended Automation 2.0, allowing
500,000 RPA trainings to business
greater collaboration between humans
analysts, developers, program managers,
and bots across teams and workflows.
partners, and students. The program is
Automation Anywhere University’s
gaining momentum with its 65 author-
education products play a key role in
ised training partners across 300+
upskilling the citizen developers on
DECEMBER 2019
Automation Anywhere’s Enterprise
Anywhere University, we are making
A2019 platform. Origin Learning and
opportunities available to everybody,”
Newgen are strategic training develop-
affirms Mogha. She shares a phrase
ment partners ,working with Automation
often said by Mihir Shukla, CEO of
Anywhere University to create its educa-
Automation Anywhere: “Talent is equally
tion products. “These training partners
distributed. Opportunities are not.”
have been instrumental in helping us develop educational products for our
EWOW: LEADING BY EXAMPLE
global audience. Our trainings are free,
“The eWOW initiative is my way of giving
engaging and localized, making it easy
back to the community. It is an initiative to
for anyone to learn how to develop and
empower women to be successful, what-
use bots to eliminate the mundane and
ever the definition of success is for them,”
focus on being creative. With Automation
says Mogha. 163
E XE CU T I VE PRO FI LE
Rashim Mogha Mogha is a thought leader and women in tech evangelist. A keynote speaker and #1 Amazon best-selling author of “Fast-Track Your Leadership Career” Rashim speaks at conferences around the world, inspiring women and girls to further their career in technology. Her extensive career portfolio includes leadership roles in companies such as Oracle, Amazon Web Services (AWS), and VMware where she built high-performing teams to support over US$2bn businesses. H er thought leadership innovation and women in technology have appeared in publications such as Forbes and ATD and platforms like Linkedin Learning. With a goal to empower leaders in 2018, she founded eWOW: Empowered Women of the World. eWOW is an intellectual platform designed to help women with their technical and leadership skills to be successful and thrive. Rashim is a recipient of ’Women Empowerment: Game Changer, Woman of the Year and Silicon Valley Woman of Influence’ awards.
c a na da .busi ne ssc h ief. com
ENTERPRISE
2003
Year founded
we believe that every woman is a leader in her own way – all she needs is an intellectual platform that can help her navigate the path.” The eWOW platform
1,500,000+ bots and counting
1,750+ Number of employees
In September 2018, Mogha released her book on leadership, Fast-Track Your Leadership Career: A definitive template for advancing your career, which became an Amazon Bestseller within 11 hours of release. “I had goosebumps! It took me a little while to realise the level of impact this was having on people, but many women and men leaders began to reach out, requesting to continue the conversation around empowerment.” In November 2018, she launched the eWOW initiative: Empowered Women of the World, designed to provide women with the framework to be successful at the workplace. “At eWOW,
offers Alexa skills, podcasts, various online and in-person events, and leadership workshops. The eWOW podcast has an audience in over 31 countries. “It’s about empowering women, wherever they are, in their journey to leadership. The eWOW initiative is well on its way CO MPAN Y FACT S
• Facial recognition algorithms have a success rate of only 33% for darker-skinned women, as opposed to 99% for white men • The March to Millions initiative is helping providing opportunities to everyone and Automation Anywhere University has delivered 500,000 RPA trainings to business analysts, developers, program managers, partners, and students.
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A U T O M AT I O N A N Y W H E R E
EMPOWER DIGITAL WORKFORCE Accelerate Digital Transformation with our Learning Strategies & Learning Experience Platform
Email info@originlearning.com to schedule a demo
167
“ 49% of the 100,000 women globally.” “10 years ago, women were expected population (men) to act like men to a certain extent to cannot create be successful in a leadership role, as solutions for 100% most of their peers were men,” reflects of the world’s Mogha. “Today, women can own their narrative, bring their whole self to work population” to reaching out and empowering
and become empathetic leaders without having to pretend to be one of the
men in the room.” Mogha believes that while women have more confidence to speak up within these leadership
— Rashim Mogha, Founder of eWOW and Global Head of Education Products, Automation Anywhere
environments than ever before, we are nowhere close to equality. c a na da .busi ne ssc h ief. com
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DECEMBER 2019
BRIGHTER FUTURES Looking to the future, Mogha has one main piece of advice to others looking to move forward in their careers. “Say yes to every opportunity and, as you climb the ladder, don’t forget to give back.” To companies, she suggests: “If you want this world to be an equal place and help solve world problems, make sure that you are truly bringing diversity and inclusion into your workforce and into your thought processes, as opposed to just thinking of it as a token or a box that you need to check.” Mogha concludes: “The future is bright for women in tech; there has been an inspiring growth in the number of women attending tech events and many companies are also starting to realise build programs to bring and retain women in the workforce.” As the tech industry continues to embark on diversity and inclusion initiatives, there is no doubt that Rashim Mogha will be at the forefront of this drive, continuing to inspire women to challenge bias and push themselves to be empathetic and forward-thinking leaders who create solutions for real world problems.
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170
IPG: building technology, teams and trust WRITTEN BY
HARRY MENEAR
DECEMBER 2019
PRODUCED BY
MIKE SADR
171
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INTERPUBLIC GROUP
Chris White, Deputy CISO at Interpublic Group, talks about the talent shortage, automation, and how to ensure that cybersecurity is an enabler of creative freedom and business operations
W
e live in an era of unsurpassed connectivity. The ongoing digital transformation of the global business landscape is bringing
everything from robotic process automation (RPA) to artificial intelligence (AI) out of the pages of science fiction and into the homes and workplaces of billions 172
of people. Nearly every person walks around with a rectangle of glass, plastic and silicon in their pocket that can access nearly the sum of human knowledge, and possesses about 100,000 times the computing power of the thinking machines that put man on the Moon. In seconds, we can convey information, opinions and our innermost thoughts to an audience of millions. We can share memes using a refrigerator now. Never before has information, interaction and human connection been so readily available, but this new world is not without its challenges. “What I don’t think a lot of people understand is that every single person that owns a smartphone, tablet, smart watch, even a smart fridge, is under attack, every minute of every day,” explains Chris White, Deputy Chief Information Security Officer at Interpublic Group (IPG). DECEMBER 2019
Below: IPG Chairman and CEO Michael Roth and Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer Heide Gardner
173
1961
Year founded
$9.7bn
Revenue in dollars (2018)
54,000 Number of employees
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“ Every single person that owns a smartphone, tablet, smart watch, even a smart fridge, is under attack, every minute of every day” — Chris White, Deputy Chief Information Security Officer, Interpublic Group (IPG)
“There is a global war going on in cyberspace. There are criminal elements, state-sponsored elements – that classic idea of the kid in the hoodie in his mom’s basement doesn’t even scrape the surface.” Far from attempting to instill mass panic, White’s tone is one of reassurance. “Inevitably people hear that and say ‘well now I’m afraid to go outside’, so to speak. What do we do now? The answer is just to behave normally. There’s no sense in becoming a doomsday prepper, living in a bunker with the phone lines cut, because all the companies that make and support everything you do at home and for work, they understand that cybersecurity is critical to doing business. That’s why they have guys like me who are doing our absolute best to protect you.” White’s career in cybersecurity started in the US Air Force, working as a signals intelligence operative around the dawn of the internet. Over the course of a 30 year career on the front lines of cybersecurity, he has developed a wide breadth of experience in security automation and telecommunications. He took on his current
DECEMBER 2019
CLICK TO WATCH : ‘IPG HOSTS INAUGURAL – FASTFW: AN IPG INNOVATION SUMMIT’ 175 role at Interpublic Group in April 2019,
cybersecurity, to our portfolio of com-
working to support and execute the
panies, which all operate in a culture
security vision of IPG’s CISO, Patricia
of consensus. I’m responsible for
Hinerman, who moved over from her
more than 100,000 endpoints, tens of
role of Corporate CIO in March.
thousands of users across hundreds
Interpublic Group is one of the
of companies supporting thousands
foremost advertising and marketing
of downstream clients. My security
holding companies in the world. With
team is 30 people,” White explains.
offices across the globe, the company
Along with Hinerman, White and his
employs more than 54,000 people
team are facing up to the challenges
specialising in advertising, digital
before them and executing an intel-
marketing, communications planning,
ligent, modern cybersecurity strategy
media and public relations. “Because
that balances the challenges of a con-
IPG is a holding company, my job
stantly evolving threat landscape with
is to provide IT services, including
the unique demands of IPG. c a na da .busi ne ssc h ief. com
INTERPUBLIC GROUP
176
Across global companies, opera-
clients with a marketing campaign
tional functions and departments are
that’s intelligent, appealing – all those
transforming their operations to ensure
things. The upshot is that I can’t just
they not only perform those functions
mandate that people use particular
but also enable, support and add value
tools or software. I need to enhance
to the enterprise as a whole. As IPG, a
my agency’s function, and that means
business fueled by creatives working in
creating an environment that is secure,
the world’s best advertising agencies,
but also not restrictive to the creative
this is vitally important. “We’re ensuring
process.” Constantly finding the solutions
that we’re never, ever ‘the office of no,’”
that provide security, without restricting
says White. “IPG has a creative culture.
freedom or disrupting operations is
The people here are working on how
a core element of White’s role.
to make the next great Superbowl commercial, how to really support their DECEMBER 2019
Even as businesses’ operations become increasingly digital, the
industry-wide emphasis on the human
In addition to a shrinking pool of cyber-
element is only growing more pro-
security professionals, the amount of
nounced, something made even more
data that a modern team handles is
apparent by demand for security per-
growing exponentially, something that
sonnel that outstrips the current supply.
is transforming the way teams like the
“There’s a dire need for cybersecurity
one at IPG function. “The talent short-
professionals. If you can hire them, it’s
age combined with this data increase
hard to hang onto them,” says White.
means there’s no way that you can
“I have to find the talent that’s right for
follow traditional security practices
me in my environment, in my culture,
of identifying a problem, sounding an
and work with them to give them the
alert, prioritizing it through as critical,
things that they need to get their job
high, medium or low, and then tackling
done the way they want to do it. I have
it,” he says. “If you do that, you’re going
to think of creative methodologies.”
to get buried in data.” The answer, in
E XE CU T I VE PRO FI LE
Chris White Chris White is a 30 year cyber professional. He spent 25 years working inside and with the DoD on the design, deployment and operation of cyber offensive and defensive platforms. He then spent four years working for EY supporting clients across the media & technology, retailing, and manufacturing verticals to establish and operate their security functions. He currently serves as the Deputy CISO/Director of Security Operations for Interpublic Group. When not defending the enterprise he likes to ride motorcycles, play guitar, and enjoy life.
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Interpublic Group Adds Business Value to its Companies Through Security Proofpoint protects users and delivers unmatched insight for continuously maturing security effectiveness. THE COMPANY Interpublic Group (IPG) is a premier global advertising and marketing services enterprise. Its companies specialize in advertising, digital marketing, communications, media, and public relations—creating customized marketing programs for clients of all sizes. IPG support its agencies with a range of services, including IT and cybersecurity services. But reducing risk and protecting users across a large and complex global federated enterprise is a tall order. Proofpoint plays an integral role in the security team’s success.
THE CHALLENGE IPG and its companies deliver award-winning campaigns for many of today’s world-leading brands. Marketing and advertising strategies, creative work, and brand equity can represent billions of dollars of corporate value to each client. Security is important to win agency clients; therefore, it’s essential for IPG to protect its companies and employees in order to attract new agencies. “Our mission is reducing business risk,” said Chris White, director of security operations and deputy chief information security officer for IPG. “That’s not easy with massive scope and complexity. We can’t possibly hire enough cybersecurity experts—they simply don’t exist—so we must find other methods to achieve our goals.” The IPG security team manages more than 100 agency tenants in Microsoft Azure-based Office 365 email. Among tenants, there are huge differences in office size, ownership and work style. The goal is to move the hundreds of IPG companies to Office 365, but meanwhile, the team needs a way to defend multiple email platforms against crimeware, email fraud, imposters, and nonstop phishing campaigns. “I knew Proofpoint could arm us with the tools and information that enable us to defend our companies and give us the data, automated capabilities, and vendor expertise we needed,” said White. “We chose Proofpoint as our primary tool to support security for one of our most critical business systems.”
THE SOLUTION Building on strength The IPG team built its defenses on Proofpoint Email Protection. With multi-layer threat protection and analysis, it defends IPG employees against spam, bulk email, malware and viruses. It also evolves impostor email and phishing attacks. And by using Proofpoint Targeted Attack Protection (TAP), the IPG team can detect, analyze and block advanced threats delivered through malicious attachments and URLs before they reach employees. TAP also detects polymorphic malware, weaponized documents, and credential theft attacks across cloud and premises-based email systems. For example, IPG exchanges email with its companies, and each company also exchanges email with external clients. Once, a client’s email was co-opted by a threat actor who inserted a malicious URL—unbeknownst to the client. Proofpoint detected and blocked the email, which enabled IPG to provide the agency’s client with the important data needed for remediation. “Proofpoint enables us to add value to our companies,” said White. “In turn, they can demonstrate security assurance to their clients. Proofpoint supports our trusted relationships, which are critical to delivering great work.” Besides detecting advanced threats, the IPG team can automatically remove them from mailboxes with Proofpoint Threat Response Auto-Pull (TRAP). This automation has been a game-changer for IPG. White’s team plans to extend Proofpoint Threat Response automation to other use cases, such as automatically isolating endpoints or correlating data with other security controls.
“There will always be more threat and attack data than security analysts,” said White. “With Proofpoint Threat Response, we can automatically enable protections further down the kill chain. This is extraordinarily beneficial.”
Maturing front-line defenses Knowledgeable employees are powerful front-line defenses. Proofpoint Security Awareness Training with PhishAlarm makes it easy for IPG users to report phishing emails. PhishAlarm Analyzer ranks reported emails in real time by their threat potential, which saves time for the security team. The Proofpoint Attack Index within the TAP Dashboard provides data on IPG’s most attacked people. And it gives them instant visibility into these targeted users and the threats that attack them. With this insight, White’s team can track changes in the attack landscape over time, as well as improvements in user awareness. “We can measure how well users recognize phishing attacks and if they take action when they see something suspicious,” said White. “Having users report suspicious emails is a huge step forward in security maturity.”
THE RESULTS Proofpoint enables the team to focus its time on “true positive” alerts and issues with potentially high impact. Now they’re spending their time on the security measures that matter most to their enterprise and its companies.
LEARN MORE For more information visit proofpoint.com
“By improving our companies’ security, we provide a distinct benefit to their businesses and their clients. Proofpoint enables us to bring more value to these relationships and plays a key role in making us attractive to new agencies.” Chris White Director Of Security Operations and Deputy Chief Information Security Officer Interpublic Group
INTERPUBLIC GROUP
addition to careful cultivation of an existing security team, is to harness cutting edge automation technology. “You have to apply automation to help direct people’s brains to where they need to be focused. This is one of the reasons why I am very excited about our new companies, Acxiom and Kinesso. When IPG acquired one of the world’s leading data solution companies in 2018, it afforded my team the chance to partner with the incredible expertise they have around the under180
standing and use of data to support automation,” says White, “because the most important tool in your toolbox is people. Period.” In a world of talent shortages and increased digitalisation, expert help is an essential commodity for White. “I couldn’t do my job without having supportive partners,” he says, “and I use the word partner intentionally. A partner is someone you trust implicitly and who is going to do what is right for you. A good partner in business brings new insight and new ways of thinking about what you do.” Early thinking about cybersecurity methodology centred around the maintenance and DECEMBER 2019
“ I couldn’t do my job without having supportive partners” — Chris White, Deputy Chief Information Security Officer, Interpublic Group (IPG)
development of an effective firewall. Then, in the 2000s, applications added an additional dimension. “Not only do I have to have the network protected, but every application needs its own individual defense in-depth stack,” says White. “Proofpoint exposed me to a new dimension of thinking – a whole new axis. We need to be thinking about identity as a third dimension that needs its own levels of protection.” Today, as digital identity becomes more dispersed, both inside and outside the enterprise – across a host of different applications – IPG is working to protect its employees’ identities beyond the standard provided by normal identity access management solutions. “That’s something that Proofpoint brings to the table, because digital identity is c a na da .busi ne ssc h ief. com
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INTERPUBLIC GROUP
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IPG Chairman and CEO Michael Roth opens the annual IPG Breakfast in Cannes at Cannes Lions Festival 2019
“ Proofpoint exposed me to a new dimension of thinking – a whole new axis” — Chris White, Deputy Chief Information Security Officer, Interpublic Group (IPG)
primarily controlled through email, and they showed us how to harness our data to start protecting the identities of our users more effectively,” says White. Reflecting on the first few months at IPG, White and Hinerman are still putting their stamp on the department and the team. “With both of us being new to the role, I think our short-tomedium term goal is to ensure that our agencies are confident in us to do the job that they’ve asked us to do, and that comes through in good production results that are based
DECEMBER 2019
183
upon good data analysis, and that’s
for a Fortune 300 company. Never. Not
impactful,” he explains. Looking for-
five years earlier I was working with
ward to the new year, the IPG team
the Department of Defense, and then
has internally branded 2020 The Year
15 years before that I got out of the Air
of Data Quality. In both the short and
Force as a lower-level enlisted member.
long term, though, the most important
This is kind of like being a kid, hitting a
thing that White is working to build
home run and all of a sudden I’m playing
is trust. “I need to increase services
in the Major Leagues.”
efficiently, build trust, and continue to make IPG’s operations more secure without incurring a cost to its ability to do business. I’m really very grateful to IPG for this chance. I never, ever, in my life thought I would be deputy CISO c a na da .busi ne ssc h ief. com
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DECEMBER 2019
: R O D A U C E I T TUEN , L A T I G I D , E L SIMP AGILE WRITTEN BY
HARRY MENEAR PRODUCED BY
GLEN WHITE
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TUENTI ECUADOR
Gerardo Suårez Napolitano, CEO of Tuenti Ecuador, reflects upon the Telefonica offshoot’s rapid growth, 100% digital offerings and agile methodology
T
he global business landscape is being continually shaped and reshaped by evolving customer demand. In the tel-
ecommunications space, the rise of social media 186
and digital communication is provoking radical shifts in the way that operators approach new and existing markets. Tuenti came into being in 2006 as a social networking service targeting young people in Spain. Between 2009 and 2012, it attracted more than 15mn registered users, becoming known as the Spanish Facebook. Seeking new markets and customers, the company has transformed its offering over the past decade, now operating as a private brand which operates as an independent business unit of multinational telecom giant TelefĂłnica. The firm offers mobile telephone services accessible anywhere on any device with the strong digital operation.
DECEMBER 2019
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TUENTI ECUADOR
The Tuenti brand entered the Ecuadorian market in 2015, sponsored
Ecuador’s dramatic growth, and the
by José Manuel Casas, Telefónica
company’s vision for the future.
Ecuador’s Executive President, with the
“When we were starting out with
goal of capturing the millennial and and
Tuenti Ecuador, we wondered if it was
centennial market through a roster of
possible to create a new telco brand
simple, affordable plans as an alterna-
that was different from what millennials
tive to traditional mobile carriers. “We
and centennials were accustomed to in
started out with a plan to reach 500,000
Ecuador,” recalls Suárez Napolitano. “To
customers in five years. Four and a
accomplish this, we thoroughly inves-
half years into that plan, we have more
tigated what was positive and negative
than 900,000,” says Gerardo Suárez Napolitano, CEO of Tuenti Ecuador. 188
to discuss the strategies behind Tuenti
We sat down with Suárez Napolitano
2015
Year founded
$36mn
Revenue in US dollars
27
Number of employees
9%
Share of market in telco prepaid segment DECEMBER 2019
CLICK TO WATCH : ‘RECARGA BANCO GUAYAQUIL — STAR WARS’ 189 about these users’ experiences. We
have access to the same great offerings
became obsessed with their wants and
we present to our newest customers.
needs. From those inputs we created
Lastly, we don’t do small print or hidden
the Tuenti experience, which is the sum
conditions; our offering is so simple that
of an attractive commercial offering and
our customers will always understand,
a very simple product to use.” Tuenti´s
remember, and hopefully love it,” says
team operates in accordance with three
Suárez Napolitano. “When we designed
central rules for creating a superior
the product we dedicated a lot of time
telecommunications product: be data
to constantly achieving innovations that
centric, be pro client and keep it simple.
make the experience easier and easier.”
“Our target demographic wants data,
At the heart of Tuenti Ecuador’s suc-
so that’s at the heart of everything we
cess is a dedication to agility, simplicity
offer. We also value our loyal customers
and a constant focus on improving the
as much as we value our new ones, so
product. “Our User Experience (UX) is
long—term Tuenti customers will always
at the heart of everything we do.” The c a na da .busi ne ssc h ief. com
TUENTI ECUADOR
simplicity of Tuenti Ecuador’s digital
The company eschews a physical
products also affords the company
presence, instead embracing a 100%
the opportunity for laser focus on the
digital offering delivered through chan-
intricacies of its offering. “Although the
nels such as Facebook, Twitter, Web
products we offer may be simple, when
Chat and the Tuenti Chat App. “We
we change and improve those projects
know that the best customer service
— offering new integrations, promotions,
is the customer service that doesn’t
etc — we work through those changes
happen because the client doesn’t
in great detail, investing time in test
need it, so we make it as easy as pos-
environments and, in many cases, we
sible for them to find the answers to their
integrate the developments in phases to
problems without having to pick up
ensure the best possible results,” Suárez
the phone. We don’t have any physical
Napolitano explains.
care centres,” says Suárez Napolitano.
Learn More
Find out how businesses like yours are growing on Facebook. Cisneros Interactive is a Facebook Authorized Sales Partner for Bolivia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Panama, Paraguay, Puerto Rico and Uruguay helping brands in those countries to take advantage of Facebook’s marketing platform for real business results. LEARN MORE
N A L P A H T I W UT O D E T R A T S S R E M “ WE O T S U C 0 0 0 , 0 0 5 H F L A H TO REAC A D N A R U O F . S R A E E V A H IN FIVE Y E W , AN L P T A H T O T YEARS IN ” 0 0 0 , 0 0 9 — N MORE THA Gerardo Suárez Napolitano, CEO, Tuenti Ecuador
191 E XE CU T I VE PRO FI LE
Gerardo Suárez Napolitano Suárez Napolitano is an executive with over 25 years’ experience in several commercial assignments in Latin America. He worked in massive consumer products companies such as Procter & Gamble in Venezuela and Argentina, and Empresas Polar in Venezuela. His last 15 years has been spent working in telecommunication business in the hand of Telefónica as a Commercial Director in Venezuela, Sales Director of Telesp in Brazil and Commercial VP in Ecuador. In October 2014, he was appointed as Tuenti Ecuador’s CEO and launched the brand in June 2015 as separate business unit of Telefónica. Suárez Napolitano is an Industrial Engineer from UCAB — Venezuela, Finance Magister from Unimet — Venezuela and Telecom Business Master from Catalunya University in Spain.
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TUENTI ECUADOR
192
HE T G N I D E E C EX D N A G N I T E AN L “ ME P S S E N I S U RB U O F O S L A GO ING Z A M A E H T O T E U D N E E B HAS ” M A E T R U — O F WORK O Gerardo Suárez Napolitano, CEO, Tuenti Ecuador
DECEMBER 2019
193
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TUENTI ECUADOR
, T N I O P R E “ LESS POW ” N O I T C A E MOR — Gerardo Suárez Napolitano, CEO, Tuenti Ecuador
194
DECEMBER 2019
“Instead, we have an omnichannel customer service offering supported by our own proprietary chat bot that allows us to optimise our service and increase customer satisfaction.” As a result, Tuenti Ecuador has been recognised as having the best digital customer service record in the market, reaching 72% of NPS (Net Promoted Score), Internally, the company has achieved a 60% level of automation regarding customer service. Agility and innovation are impossible, however, without deep, meaningful understanding of the target market. Súarez Napolitano prides his team on being young, diverse and creative. “Meeting and exceeding the goals of our business plan has been due to the amazing work of our team,” he says. “To create this team, we sought to integrate a diverse mixture of talents, incorporate a large percentage of millennials into the company, hire people with experience inside and outside the telco sector, as well as people from different geographies of the country, and ensure an even mix of genders.” This small and diverse team has been essential to Tuenti Ecuador adopting a successful digital strategy, with the agility to evolve and c a na da .busi ne ssc h ief. com
195
TUENTI ECUADOR
196
suit the needs of a market based on clear
Tuenti Ecuador has become the
understanding of consumer demand.
preferred brand for millennials and
This agile methodology is not restricted
centennials in the telco industry. The
to the company’s internal operations.
company’s brand communication and
Suárez Napolitano explains that, through
media strategy are based on awareness,
Tuenti Ecuador’s relationships — all of
consideration, performance and loyalty.
which are based on a commitment to
Continuously, the firm creates cam-
maximising agility — with a growing
paigns with direct collaboration
network of close partners, the company
from Facebook Creative Shop and
has dramatically improved the quality
Google Excellence, who guide them
of its offering and reduced delivery
in the best practices of creative
times across its supply chain.
execution and media.
DECEMBER 2019
197
Looking to the future, Suárez
avenues that aligns with and expands our
Napolitano sees Ecuador as a place
current offering,” he enthuses, adding
of limitless potential. “In 2020, there
that Tuenti Ecuador is a business that cel-
are three key areas we will be pursuing:
ebrates success, takes risks, learns from
ensuring that the Tuenti team continues
its failures, and constantly innovates. He
to operate with the same passion, humil-
laughs, adding one final thought: “Less
ity and individualistic spirit that has seen
PowerPoint, more action.”
us change and grow to become the preferred brand for the country’s young people; expand the capabilities — and therefore the user base — of our digital platforms; and develop new business c a na da .busi ne ssc h ief. com
Visions Federal Credit Union: 198
becoming financial advocates WRITTEN BY
GEORGIA WILSON PRODUCED BY
SHIRIN SADR
DECEMBER 2019
199
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VISIONS FEDERAL CREDIT UNION
Thomas Novak, AVP of Digital Banking, Visions FCU, discusses how digital transformation can help the business become true advocates for its members
T
homas P. Novak has been in the banking industry for close to 14 years. He began his career at PNC Bank in New Jersey in
2006, before moving to M&T Bank in New York in 2010. Today, he is Assistant Vice President (AVP) of Digital Banking at Visions Federal Credit Union 200
(FCU), a member-owned credit union dedicated to community advocacy. According to Novak, who joined the business in 2011, Visions FCU involved in multiple volunteering, fundraising, donation/sponsorship initiatives and scholarship programs for the local communities it serves. It is an approach, he says, that sees the business “woven into the fabric of the local communities that we serve”. “Our digital strategy is focused around the term advocacy banking. Like a healthcare advocate for physical well-being, we want to support, guide and advise our members at every step of their journey regarding their financial well-being,” Novak continues. “We want to help our members across every aspect of their financial lives to become financially independent.” It is a vision that is driven across the DECEMBER 2019
201
1966
Year founded
$24mn Revenue in US dollars
650
Number of employees c a na da .busi ne ssc h ief. com
VISIONS FEDERAL CREDIT UNION
organization from the top down, says Novak. For example, over the last seven
technology innovation at Visions FCU
years – following the appointment of
has also been viewed with a fresh
Ty Muse as President/CEO – a fresh
approach, with Novak stating that the
perspective has spread throughout
business has “moved away from simply
the business, driven by several cultural
caring about operational efficiency,
changes. “Our CEO and executive
to innovation and efficiency through
leadership team travel to our three
advanced technologies.”
operating states – New York, New
202
Alongside these cultural changes,
Novak’s core role at Visions FCU is
Jersey and Pennsylvania – to hold Town
centered around digital transforma-
Hall Meetings for members, local com-
tion, which he calls a “central tenet for
munity groups and Visions employees,
our success”. He adds that “delivering
giving them the space to voice opinions
a top tier member experience has
and generate new ideas,” he says.
become an increasing trend across
DECEMBER 2019
CLICK TO WATCH : ‘NEW HQ GRAND OPENING’ 203
“ We’re always looking for more ways to achieve better results for our members, communities and employees” — Thomas Novak AVP of Digital Banking, Visions Federal Credit Union
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VISIONS FEDERAL CREDIT UNION
204
“ Instead of casting a wide net and carrying out a manual process, we want to utilize AI to have more precision and accuracy for catching potential fraud” — Thomas Novak AVP of Digital Banking, Visions Federal Credit Union DECEMBER 2019
the entire banking industry and, for Visions FCU, it’s our communities, members and employees that are really the driving force behind our digital transformation journey.” Since embarking on that journey, Visions FCU has developed a ‘member experience department’ to drive innovative changes to better serve the company’s members. Working with this department, Novak’s digital team has focused on four key pillars of digital memberfacing technology: online banking, mobile banking, account opening and
consumer lending. “We knew we had to
lending that unifies the process for
get the basics right, then we can build
employees and members. This, accord-
a more sophisticated technology eco-
ing to Novak, resulted in an additional
system on top,” he explains. As of 2018,
US$60mn in loan volume within the first
Visions FCU successfully implemented
year. Putting members first, he believes,
the four pillars, providing members with
has made the process easier and more
“a connected and unified experience
convenient. Vision FCU’s online and
with no drop-off points”.
mobile banking is directly powered by
To apply for a loan from Visions FCU,
Q2ebanking. “As we strove to create
customers can use five core chan-
a single platform for online and mobile
nels; online, mobile, in-branch, contact
banking, Q2ebanking was the key com-
center and indirect lending. Two years
ponent, becoming a critical partner of
ago, Novak and his team created a
Visions FCU,” says Novak, who is now
multi-channel solution for consumer
partnering again with Q2ebanking to
E XE CU T I VE PRO FI LE
Thomas Novak As the head of Digital at Visions FCU, Thomas P. Novak is the leader of the digital strategy and digital transformation. He is responsible for many SaaS based member facing technology platforms and led the charge on their digital banking conversion (online and mobile) at Visions FCU. He believes in partnering with members to become their financial advocate while providing relevant and convenient digital solutions to empower their journey to becoming financially independent. Working for the past 14 years with banks and Visions FCU in various roles, he has a unique perspective on how to approach business challenges with a global mindset.
c a na da .busi ne ssc h ief. com
205
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create innovative solutions for bill pay
overall digital systems to support
and money movement. In addition to
ongoing business needs. For instance,
Q2ebanking, Visions has also entered
through the implementation of more
into a new partnership with SWBC to
sophisticated technology, such as
streamline the company’s payments
machine learning, he explains that
infrastructure creating a safe, secure
Visions FCU currently utilizes a digital
and consistent platform for its mem-
marketing tool powered by machine
bers. Supporting the member in a way
learning for personalized marketing
that is optimal to their lifestyle is of
within digital banking, noting that “we
paramount importance to Visions FCU.
have datasets that we are working on
In addition to payments, Novak is
with our fintech partner, Micronotes, to
focusing on bolstering Visions FCU’s
determine the probability of someone benefitting from a certain product or piece of educational content. If there
“ Delivering a top tier member experience across every channel has become an increasing trend across the entire banking industry and for Visions, it’s our communities, members and employees that are really the driving force behind digital transformation journey” — Thomas Novak AVP of Digital Banking, Visions Federal Credit Union
is a high propensity, then we communicate with the member within digital banking through a conversational note to see if they wish to move forward.” He highlights that, every time a campaign is run, the result is more targeted and provides stronger insights. Most recently, a certificate campaign helped to yield over US$4.3mn in deposits. With regards to other technologies, Novak highlights work in the Business Performance Department exploring robotic process automation (RPA): “Business Performance is in the early stages of utilizing RPA within our card servicing department to reduce the c a na da .busi ne ssc h ief. com
207
VISIONS FEDERAL CREDIT UNION
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209 repetitive, low value tasks that some
front-end for Union users, but transform
employees endure in order to facilitate
the manual processes in the back office
an increase in the amount of high value
following the submission of a successful
work produced,” he says. “RPA isn’t
application to be more efficient overall.”
being used to replace employees, it’s
Naturally, with any implementation
to complement and enhance what they
of new technologies comes a greater
are currently doing so that their focus
focus on cybersecurity. For Novak,
can be transferred to our members
Visions FCU’s cybersecurity maturity
and high value projects.” In addition, he
is one of its key strengths. “Whenever
ultimately hopes to utilize automation
we look to develop internally, we do
for the entire mortgage process: “Our
so through a secure development
SVP/CMEO and VP/CLO in conjunction
lifecycle,” he explains. To combat
with the Digital Dept. want to transform
cyber-crime, Visions FCU’s efforts
the entire process, making it end-to-
include education on how the busi-
end. We not only want to simplify the
ness interacts with them, educating c a na da .busi ne ssc h ief. com
VISIONS FEDERAL CREDIT UNION
its employees on phishing, providing sophisticated multi-factor authentication for digital banking access, as well as notifications to alert members of login attempts to digital banking. In recent months, Visions FCU has also created a separate risk department that leverages knowledge and experience from various areas to create improved transparency for employees and members regarding fraud mitigation. In addition to this, Novak is currently researching with multiple 210
business units, innovative solutions to utilize artificial intelligence (AI) for fraud mitigation and detection, noting
“ We don’t just want to be the best credit union; we want to be the best financial services provider and advocate to those we serve” — Thomas Novak AVP of Digital Banking, Visions Federal Credit Union DECEMBER 2019
that “instead of casting a wide net and carrying out a manual process, we want to utilize AI to have more precision and accuracy for catching potential fraud”. Looking to the future, Visions intends on utilizing an AI chatbot solution and natural language processing in member-facing technology that can learn various dialects and slang terms, providing an extra convenience layer for members for a 24/7 service offering. In addition to this, Novak wants to build a financial ‘health score’ for the
211
company’s members, stating that
to solve real business problems, as well
“we believe a person’s financial health
as its financial strength that helps it
is integral to other parts of their life”.
propel its initiatives and innovative tech-
With this in mind, Novak discusses
nology. “We’re always looking for more
the creation of a platform that helps
ways to achieve better results for our
members better understand how their
members, communities and employees.
funds are being utilized, “underpinning
We don’t just want to be the best credit
this would be AI, data analytics and an
union; we want to be the best financial
elegant UI and UX”.
services provider and advocate to
Reflecting on the business, Novak
those we serve.”
believes that Visions FCU’s biggest strengths are its commitment to people and openness to leveraging technology c a na da .busi ne ssc h ief. com
212
DECEMBER 2019
RANDALL: construction the right way
WRITTEN BY
DAN BRIGHTMORE PRODUCED BY
TOM VENTURO
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213
RANDALL CONSTRUCTION
RANDALL Construction is cementing its position as the leading self-perform in Florida by investing in innovative market disrupting products across an impressive portfolio of business units
T
he genesis of RANDALL Construction lies in a full-service plumbing company launched in Orlando, Florida back in 1986.
“We started the business out of my apartment,” recalls Jeff Condello, President & CEO. RANDALL’s 214
portfolio of business units has grown to include everything from electrical and engineering to BIM and fabrication. “The more complex a job, the greater value we bring,” pledges Condello. “We like to partner with construction managers and owners who value a well-managed, professional contractor for their specific solutions.” It was the acquisition of Seminole Sheet Metal in 2010 that elevated RANDALL’s offering and triggered a period of extreme growth, positioning the business as both a major mechanical and plumbing company, as well as the largest sheet metal company for construction in Florida. “It was the largest non-union metal manufacturer in Florida,” remembers Condello. “Today, we’ve more than doubled the size
DECEMBER 2019
215
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RANDALL CONSTRUCTION
“ The more complex a job, the more value we bring. We like to partner with construction managers and owners who value a well-managed, professional contractor for their specific solutions” 216
— Jeff Condello, President & CEO, RANDALL Construction
of the manufacturing facility to 20 acres. We used the acquisition to enable us to offer in-house fabrication and grow our mechanical plumbing group. The reason for that growth is our aim to be a one-stop shop and provide value to our customers by working out of the same facilities to ensure our costs can be competitive in any market. Our ability to self-perform most of the work on a construction site has future-proofed our business model.” During the last recession, Condello explains the company took advantage of the struggling economy and was able to expand the RANDALL family. “Companies were shutting down,” he recalls. “We were able to take on many good people and fund new and innovative branches of our business. That’s how we started our concrete tilt wall company, which is now among the largest contractors of its type in Florida.”
DECEMBER 2019
CLICK TO WATCH : ‘RANDALL ENGINEERED PRECAST’ 217 Innovation is key to RANDALL
the general contractor. Through our
enhancing its capabilities as a spe-
design-build process, we offer a full
cialty contractor. “We aim to provide
turnkey service that ensures every-
solid, state-of-the-art service to make
thing is coordinated via a unified
projects more efficient for our clients,”
approach resulting in greater effi-
maintains Matt Reinders, Vice President
ciency.” By employing a vertically
of RANDALL. “Because we self-per-
integrated offsite construction
form, we can control our job sites
approach, RANDALL can reduce
– especially with the mechanical
labor on site by up to 50%. “Bringing
plumbing, electrical, and fire protec-
a prefab mentality to each project is
tion all in one unit. We can deploy
the perfect solution to meet the chal-
prefabricated solutions with ease, use
lenges of today’s tight market with
BIM models for more accuracy and
its labor shortages,” adds Reinders.
provide one point of contact for com-
“We’re tooled to be that subcontractor
munication which makes it easier for
in the marketplace.” c a na da .busi ne ssc h ief. com
Done right the first time, On Time and On Budget. The One Stop FabShop, for all your fabrication needs. At FP Fabricators , we are committed to meet the highest standards in sheet metal and KoolDuct fabrication. You can depend on us to consistently deliver high-quality products that will exceed your expectations, including custom requests. Learn More
As part of its strategy, RANDALL
attractive company to work for. “You’re
has invested in BIM technology to aid
not going to find another contractor that
its approach to pre-construction pro-
does approximately 70% of a total pro-
cesses, providing General Contractors
ject in-house and self-performed; from
and project partners the capability to
site work, tilt walls and precast to archi-
see what’s happening in real-time when
tectural, metal work and MEP-FP. Our
work on site begins. With 360-degree
innovative mindset is a differentiator.
cameras on the job sites, the ability
We’re taking that to the next level with
to deploy drones – and with most of
our modern approach to modular con-
its workforce connected with mobile
struction, using prefabrication to push
devices – technology in the field is
the possibilities to make construction
aiding collaboration by keeping all
sites safer and cleaner while producing
disciplines across a project connected.
less waste.”
Reinders believes RANDALL’s commitment to technology makes it an
Located in the heart of America’s theme park industry, RANDALL has
1986
Year founded
100,000
Square feet fabrication facility in Florida
1,300 Number of employees
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219
RANDALL CONSTRUCTION
formed partnerships with themed-
which minimises the challenges most
entertainment companies like Disney,
other companies in our industry face.”
Universal and Sea World to name a few.
RANDALL has found success with
“People like working with RANDALL,”
a diverse range of state-of-the-art
says Reinders proudly. “We have the
projects including a bio science labo-
resources, strength, safety progamme
ratory at a UF Research & Academic
and the reputation. No matter how dif-
Facility, Dr. Phillips Performing Arts
ficult, RANDALL is the go-to player in
Center in Orlando, several airport pro-
the South East marketplace that will
jects, Cabana Bay Resort for Universal,
exceed expectations and get the job
themed metal work for both Star Wars
done. Our business model is controlled
attractions in Anaheim and Orlando,
and our planned growth is strategic,
and The Land of Pandora for Disney.
220
E X ECU T I VE P RO FI LE
Jeff Condello Jeffrey S. Condello is an entrepreneur. Looking to break into the construction space, Condello worked for a plumber in Philadelphia, as his apprentice to learn the plumbing trade, before breaking away to begin his own company in 1980. Shortly after, the Condellos moved to Central Florida and Randall Mechanical Inc. was born in 1986. Under Condello’s leadership, and with the full support of his wife, Debra, and his two children (who now work for the company), Chris and Danny, this once just-aplumbing company has grown into the largest self-performing subcontracting firm in Florida. Condello famously shares words to live by as he encourages his employees to “do the right thing, every time.”
Sustainability is another important area of focus for RANDALL as the firm aims to identify ways it can lessen its carbon footprint. Thanks to an offsite, modular approach to construction, significant progress is being made. For example, “engineered precast combines a two and half-inch thick concrete wall with a steel-stud panel and is a much lighter product, when compared to the traditional thickness of brick or concrete walls reducing the
“ We aim to provide a solid, state-ofthe-art service to make projects easier for our clients” — Matt Reinders, Vice President of RANDALL Construction 221
E XE CU T I VE PRO FI LE
Matt Reinders Previously an Operations Director at Balfour Beatty, where he worked on major construction projects for more than 20 years, Matt Reinders brings a wealth of experience to his role at RANDALL. During a decade of service at the company, he has helped oversee a period of sustained growth that has seen the specialty contractor develop its 10 self-performing business units to offer a one-stop shop for its clients. “We can do it all in house, it’s a big advantage that gives us control,” confirms Reinders, who is focused on meeting the challenges ahead. “Our aim is to achieve growth with our founding principal of finding solid leadership candidates to help RANDALL thrive.”
c a na da .busi ne ssc h ief. com
Advanced Enviromental Systems AES Core Controls Inc. is one of the most respected Building Automation contractors providing efficient, reliable and cost-effective HVAC solutions for clients in the state of Florida. AES has served a wide variety of industries, gaining extensive experience with both new facilities and existing building retrofits. With in-house engineering, AES provides turnkey design/build commercial HVAC installations, specializing in direct digital control systems. Learn More
AES Core Controls, Inc Groveland, FL www.aescore.com
Authorised Partner
352-432-3683 941-650-3442
amount of natural resources (water, sand etc) required,” explains Jessica Allen, RANDALL Brand Manager. “In turn, this makes a building’s foundations smaller. Lighter precast products further reduce the number of loads to be transported by large emission-producing trucks.” RANDALL’s approach is also helping owners and developers qualify for LEED green building credits, promoting greenier solutions across the construction industry. “In our precast yard, we recycle and reuse waste concrete,” adds Reinders. “Broken down concrete from one DECEMBER 2019
project can be recycled as fill for another.”
Reinders sees a growing trend for
RANDALL is actively seeking suppliers
prefabrication and modular solutions
who can enhance this eco-friendly
across the construction industry leav-
approach. For example, the company
ing RANDALL well-placed to take
has teamed up with Kingspan as one
advantage of emerging requirements
of its few manufacturer distributors
for MEP and fire protection systems,
for the KoolDuct product. Kingspan’s
which it can deliver in-house. “We’re
KoolDuct System has a phenolic core
also moving towards offsite pod con-
and is a pre-assembled, pre-insulated
struction for bathrooms and kitchens
duct system for HVAC installations that
at our facility,” he adds. “They can be
is 70% lighter than alternatives avail-
put on a truck, delivered to site and
able and much greenier as it uses
craned into position.” Ultimately,
fewer materials.
RANDALL is able to increase the 223 C OM PAN Y FACT S
RANDALL is very familiar with virtual design construction (VDC) concepts, protocols and implementation, including Building Information Modeling (BIM). Utilising BIM is beneficial for its team to analyse physical building changes and improve overall building, design and structural changes as the project proceeds on schedule. RANDALL has the expert personnel to fully engage and implement BIM, activating its
many benefits, including: •B uilding prototypes and analysed best options •P redictive logistics conf licts •B uild faster, smarter, more cost effective • Reduces risks • Controls cash f low •E liminates unnecessary costs •O ptimises scheduled activities, reduces construction time •F inds, fixes errors before they become expensive mistakes
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RANDALL CONSTRUCTION
224
“ Our innovative mindset is a differentiator” — Matt Reinders, Vice President, RANDALL Construction
DECEMBER 2019
projects’ speed to market, reduce risks and provide much needed alternatives to the traditional, antiquated methods of construction. Condello affirms RANDALL is always looking to improve. “We always ask our people: ‘what are the problems in the construction industry?’. It’s always been done the same way for many years.” he laments. “A lot of companies aren’t happy with where they are and what they’re doing. The solution? Think differently and find better ways to achieve your goals. We do this by partnering with our manufacturer relationships and discovering new approaches to projects through the progress they are making with materials and technologies. We do facility tours and apply those learnings at RANDALL, both in the field and in our own workshop.” Under Condello’s watchful stewardship, the RANDALL family will continue to evolve, looking to redefine ‘the right way’ to achieve the best construction solutions.
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225