June 2016 • w w w.bu sine s sreviewe urop e.e u
Truvo Belgium
OcĂŠ
Beyond digitising the directory
Innovation in print
Digital bydesign Close Brothers Premium Finance tells us about its digital journey
The seven best
businesses on social media andthesecretsto their success
How cinema is fighting back against the on demand industry
FOCUSED. STRONGER. BETTER. RSA is one of the world’s longest standing general insurers, providing peace of mind to individuals and families, and protecting small businesses and large corporations from uncertainty for more than 305 years
For more information please visit our website: www.rsagroup.com
IN THIS ISSUE
EDITOR’S COMMENT
Technology transformations W E L C O M E T O T H E J U N E issue of Business
Review Europe. This month our focus very much lies in the digital sphere, with our cover feature looking at how Close Brothers Premium Finance is transforming its service delivery by embarking on a huge digitisation journey. We also enter the worlds of manufacturing and business directories, charting the technological changes that have occurred at Swiss machine manufacturer Tornos and Belgium’s Yellow Pages. Before our profiles you will discover how IMAX is competing with the rise of on demand entertainment, spearheaded by the remarkable uptake of Netflix. Pivotal Labs tell us why it thinks IT development outsourcing is a thing of the past, while we also examine seven of the hottest companies currently on Twitter. I hope you find this issue an interesting one; get in touch with us @BizReviewEurope to continue the debates.
Enjoy the issue! Lucy Dixon Managing Editor EMEA lucy.dixon@bizclikmedia.com 3
F E AT U R E S
8
INTERVIEW
IMAX & Netflix: A clash of the movie titans? TECHNOLOGY
16 Pivotal The long, slow death of offshore outsourcing 4
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TOP TIPS
TOP 7 best business on twitter
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Company profiles
32
CLOSE BROTHERS PREMIUM FINANCE Fin-Tech
OCÉ Technology
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Company profiles
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TRUVO BELGIUM Technology
TORNOS Manufacturing
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102
G4S Supply Chain
ZINNOVATE Supply Chain
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INTERVIEW
IMAX &
A CLASH OF THE Writ ten by: T 8
June 2016
IMAX AND NETFLIX
Netflix:
E MOVIE TITANS? O M W A D LO W 9
INTERVIEW THERE ARE 150,000 digital cinema screens around the world. In 2006 there were fewer than 3,000. Premium cinema experiences are also growing fast. The number of IMAX screens globally now stands at 1,060, with hundreds more in the pipeline for the next 12-18 months. Andrew Cripps is President of International at IMAX, and points to the emerging markets as driving the future of cinema. “When I joined the industry in 1985 around 25-30 percent of the box office on a movie would come from the international side,” he said. “That’s more like 70 percent now. “I think this is a really healthy thing for the industry and Hollywood has responded by producing more globally orientated movies. I only see this trend continuing. If you think of how much growth we are experiencing in China and then the potential of untapped markets like India, we are just scratching the surface at the moment.” Such growth in high quality cinema could be seen as unprecedented in the entertainment industry, before the advent of streaming en masse. On demand in demand Netflix is massive. Turning over 10
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$6.8 billion in 2015, the leading on demand provider has more than 81 million members in over 190 countries who enjoy more than 125 million hours of TV shows and movies per day. In the fourth quarter of 2015 alone the number of Netflix subscribers grew by 5.6 million. Other internet giants such as Amazon and Now TV have joined the streaming revolution, which provides a cost effective way for consumers to enjoy their favourite shows and films in the comfort of their own home. “Ironically for IMAX it has actually been a good thing for a number of reasons,” Cripps revealed. “First of all the good news is that consumers today are seeing more movies in more places on more devices than ever in history. There’s been a general upsurge in movie viewing and interest in movies, which can only be a positive. People love talking about movies.” Raised awareness of films and entertainment, Cripps believes, has also led to a heightened demand for premier experiences. He continued: “IMAX provides people with an immersive experience. It feels like you’re part of the movie
IMAX AND NETFLIX
“There’s been a general upsurge in movie viewing and interest in movies, which can only be a positive” – A ndrew Cripps, President of International, IMAX
ineStar Berlin C exterior night 11
INTERVIEW in a way that you don’t get at home or on various devices. When you go out to the movies you expect to see, hear and feel the best, most premium movie experience. “Technology aside, comedies are funnier and thrillers are more enthralling when there are 400 other people laughing and holding their breath with you. I believe humans have a desire to be collectively entertained.” The IMAX factor The rise of on demand has reinforced the importance of cinema continuing to up its game. If the likes of IMAX stall in their pursuit of development and allow home streaming to narrow the quality gap, consumers may opt to stay in more often. Moreover, “consumers are paying a premium price for IMAX so it’s incredibly important that we deliver a premium experience,” Cripps added. “If you’re going to compete with in-home you must live up to your promises.” For 50 years IMAX has been pioneering the big screen experience. In the last 12 months it has introduced laser projection and immersive sound to screens in London’s Leicester 12
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Square and Cineworld in Sheffield, UK. It has also embarked on a joint venture with camera specialist ARRI. Together they provide IMAX cameras for filmmakers to shoot scenes, giving a taller image and larger aspect ratio on screen. The new Captain America movie was partially filmed with one of these cameras. Global footprint The second way in which IMAX plans to compete with the growth of on demand streaming is to expand its own network of screens. Although China represents the most significant growth market (290 theatres already installed with a further 240 ready and waiting), Cripps is also targeting
IMAX AND NETFLIX
underexploited European countries. There are 195 IMAX screens in Europe, of which 155 are open and 40 signed in backlog and due to open in 12-18 months. Another five screens will go up in France and Switzerland as part of a new deal. Cripps explained: “We are targeting France and Germany in particular and looking to build on our success in the UK, where we have 42 IMAX screens open now. “Russia is another excellent market for us with 50 theatres, although issues with the Ruble have thrown up a few challenges. Scandinavia is another promising region where IMAX has two terrific theatres – one in Copenhagen and one in Stockholm – so we will look to build on that.”
Filmmaker force The film industry itself is also an enthusiastic backer of IMAX and the big screen. Endorsements from directors and studios provide crucial publicity for cinema over on demand, encouraging film fans to enjoy the entire visual, audio and atmospheric experience their productions can provide on the big screen. “IMAX has extremely good relationships with filmmakers who, ultimately, produce their movies to be watched by people at the theatre,” Cripps said. “JJ Abrams with Star Wars is a great example – he promoted IMAX and encouraged people to see it on our screens, going round 13
INTERVIEW
“Consumers are paying a pr incredibly important that we de
– Andrew C the world and telling people IMAX is a great place to see Star Wars.” Old classics have also been revived by IMAX during disrupted scheduling periods, often caused by major sporting events like this summer’s European football championships in France. Last year it showed Forest Gump and a special 70th anniversary showing of The Wizard of Oz. IMAX has also successfully digitally remastered two episodes of Game of Thrones, vastly improving the experience of watching the type of content available through the likes of Netflix. 14
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IMAX at home? Is it possible to combine the best of IMAX technology with the comfort of home entertainment? China and the Middle East are currently trialling the new IMAX home entertainment theatre system, aimed at very high net worth individuals. “Again this is a very different experience,” Cripps explained. “It is not your plasma TV on the wall. I went to our demo room in Shanghai and it’s a fabulous product.” However, IMAX’s major focus is on strengthening its core product, the
IMAX AND NETFLIX
remium price for IMAX so it’s eliver a premium experience”
Cripps, President of International, IMAX theatre experience. Cripps concluded: “I think cinema will generally continue to move towards premium experiences in the future, be that IMAX, VIP luxury seats, in-theatre dining alternatives or high quality bars. Cinema really needs to carry on innovating. “Clearly the Netflix model and other services have been bought into enthusiastically by consumers, but that is not a bad thing. Cinema and home entertainment can continue to co-exist positively, but only if cinema offers something you can’t get at home.”
Andrew Cripps Andrew Cripps was born in Sri Lanka, grew up in Japan and speaks fluent Japanese. He graduated from Georgia Tech with a degree in Industrial Management in 1981, and then received his MBA from Georgia State in 1983 in International Business. He is a member of both the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Cripps first joined the entertainment industry in 1985 in Tokyo Japan where we was appointed Representative for Japan and Korea for Thorn EMI Screen Entertainment, a British film company, responsible for the company’s theatrical and home entertainment releases in those markets. Since then he has worked for and with many industry giants, most notably Paramount Pictures International, the new international distribution company for all Paramount, Dreamworks, Dreamworks Animation, Marvel and Nickelodeon films. He joined IMAX in 2012, becoming President of International in March 2016. 15
The long, slow death of offshore outsourcing Pivotal Labs Director Robbie Clutton discusses why outsourcing IT development offshore no longer works for businesses
TECHNOLOGY
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TECHNOLOGY OUTSOURCING IT DEVELOPMENT offshore no longer works for businesses. The argument was that using developers in less expensive markets would save a business a substantial amount of money and yield the same quality result. But the rules of the game have changed. Why? Agility and speed are now more essential to a business than ever, and teams needs to be closer to enable the digital transformation required by mobile oriented customers. Offshore outsourcing simply can’t keep up. The need for speed Reid Hoffman, co-founder of LinkedIn and Silicon Valley strategist counts speed as his first principle. His famous line is that ‘If you aren’t embarrassed by the first version of your product, you shipped too late.” To be at the sharp edge of innovation, to get to market first or to steal a march on your competitors, software needs to be developed fast. It can be rolled out and then iterated afterwards where necessary. There’s also a cost benefit to pace. By releasing fast, agile iterations of software, the cost of change is kept low. Rather than cumbersome, 18
June 2016
process heavy monolithic software, you have dynamic and nimble apps and platforms that can easily be changed and developed according to market demands. Leading enterprises are already focusing on pace. Vodafone recently built an intelligent maps app in three weeks. Daimler built its Mercedes Me app with Pivotal to focus on minimal development cycles. Apple’s operating systems are built fast and then updated regularly and Amazon updates its retail platform every 11 seconds. Development offshore is simply too slow for modern business needs. The need for speed makes a more significant business case than the simple face value cost savings from offshoring. A close-knit team is now vital Developers and customers that work in different territories or even different continents are separated by distance, time, language and cultural nuances. How does this affect the quality of work? Teams are unable to collaborate. Effective collaboration is borne out of the constituent parts of a team working closely, instantly and reactively.
OFFSHORE OUTSOURCING
During the 84th International Motor Show in Geneva, Mercedes-Benz launched its new “Mercedes me” service brand. Under this new umbrella brand, the Stuttgart-based premium automotive manufacturer is bundling all existing and future service offers, making them easily accessible at any time on a digital platform
‘To be at the sharp edge of innovation, to get to market first or to steal a march on your competitors, software needs to be developed fast’ 19
TECHNOLOGY With distance there will be constant handover points. As discussed by Balanced Team, handover points, such as those constantly required by an offshore team, create a margin for error and take pace out of a process. There is also a loss of fidelity. Practical experience enables a faster, more accurate solution compared to a theoretical understanding of what the issue might be. We need to ‘go see’ a problem in order to fix it effectively. An offshore team is spread across the globe, so individuals will only ever be able to apply theory to a problem, rather than the nous required for a fast solution. Another problem is there can be suffocation through control. A
‘To create software that can be built fast, adapted quickly to the market, and iterated at low cost, software has to be built onshore, close to the business, close to the customer’ 20
June 2016
distributed team often comes with a ‘command and control’ environment. I can’t see you, so I need to tell you exactly what to do. An efficient, motivated, creative team responds to broader goals and objectives, not a rigid, micro-managed framework. This is partly due to motivation. Dan Pink claims that motivation is driven by autonomy, which is almost non-existent in highly controlled situations - like those regularly found in offshore work. Communication lines can also be disrupted in offshore outsourcing. With his ‘two pizza’ theory, Jeff Bezos claims teams should not be bigger than a number which could be fed by two pizzas. This helps to stay decentralised, move fast, and encourage high autonomy and innovation. Offshore teams are typically big - developers, managers and individuals onshore - there are so many communication lines that the pace and accuracy of work can be affected. Finally, it’s vital for a development team to be where the customer is. How can you build something that meets a user need when you know nothing about them? It’s a position backed up by Eric Ries’ Lean startup approach. He talks about “getting out
OFFSHORE OUTSOURCING
of the building” to conduct research. If you are offshore, you’d have to get out of the building and hop on a flight to see who your customers are. Offshore is archaic These factors show that agility and speed, and the need for a close-knit team are so vital in modern software development, that a one-dimensional focus on cost saving is now archaic. In fact, it could be argued that a team of 50 onshore developers could create a faster, better and ultimately, cheaper output than a team of 200 offshore.
What is the solution? To create software that can be built fast, adapted quickly to the market, and iterated at low cost, software has to be built onshore, close to the business, close to the customer. This ties in with the broader point that the business case for making development a core competency within an organisation is stronger than ever. Consumers and customers now expect a digital experience from all the businesses they interact with, and it means that management teams can no longer afford to have software development out of sight, and done on the cheap. It needs to be at the heart of the business’ strategy. Offshore outsourcing has ceased to become the smart option for businesses, and those who bring development close and put digital at the heart of their business strategy will reap the rewards. 21
TOP SEVEN
TOP seven businesses on twitter Twitter can be the stuff of nightmares for PR departments of large companies, but get it right and your reputation can soar. Here is a selection of the best corporate tweeters Written by: Tom Wadlow
ead the guide to R using Twitter as a business tool
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TOP SEVEN
7 EasyJet / 363k Twitter: @EasyJet
One of Europe’s largest airlines, easyJet’s twitter is brimming with updates, promotions and consumer advice for its 363,000 followers. The main account has tweeted more than 191,000 times while frequently retweeting customer images and providing important promotion to charitable organisations such as UNICEF. EasyJet is also responsive to customer queries, helping them to submit claims and even navigate particular European airports. It also holds #FlashSale competitions, pulling more Twitter users to interact with its brand.
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T O P 7T O BP E SBTU B SU I NSEI N SE SS ES ON TWITTER
06 ITV / 1.8m Twitter: @ITV
Home of iconic drama and hugely popular entertainment and talent shows, ITV interacts with some 1.8 million Twitter followers. Teasing potential TV viewers with GIFs and snippets of upcoming programmes, the media company is also keen to share the public’s enjoyment of its shows. The feed becomes particularly lively during X Factor and Britain’s Got Talent, showing highlights of the best and worst of the auditions and live performances. 25
TOP SEVEN
05 Barclays / 170k Twitter: @Barclays
Barclay’s corporate news Twitter account serves a following of 170,000 with its customer enquires feed (@BarclaysUKHelp) on hand 24 hours a day to provide assistance and support without compromising personal banking details. The company makes clever use of multiple accounts to reach as many followers as possible, retweeting and interacting through sharing news of activities in local branches and nationwide developments such as the move to Apple Pay.
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04 facebook / 1.4m Twitter: @facebook
Facebook does Twitter, and rather well too. Boasting more than 14 million followers, its feed is full of fun graphics and leads into content on its own social media platform. However, it does not purely promote Facebook via Twitter. It is also very responsive to customer enquiries and maintains a human feel by documenting the activities and whereabouts of owner Mark Zuckerberg, simply referring to him as Mark.
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TOP SEVEN
03 National Grid UK / 19k Twitter: @nationalgriduk
In a Harvard Business School study of 50 of the best and worst corporate tweeters carried out last year, the National Grid ranked as the 16th best overall. It’s 19,000 followers can expect to find updates on gas and electricity problems on the network as well as news on careers and company developments. It serves as a pat on the back for staff, praising the hard work of its employees and promoting the work they do for the community.
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02 Next / 218k Twitter: @nextofficial
The @nextofficial Twitter account has tweeted almost 100,000 times since joining in 2009, accumulating 218,000 followers along the way. As well as the obvious creative promotional activity, Next is keen to publicise the stories behind its latest lines of fashion by creating and tweeting content about the models in their advertising campaigns. It also, like many other successful businesses on Twitter, introduces humour in a way that doesn’t threaten to cross the line, the downfall of so many brands whose jokes backfire. 29
TOP SEVEN
01 Direct Line / 9.4k Twitter: @DirectLine_UK
Despite a comparatively modest following of 9,400 tweeters, Direct Line was named by Harvard Business School as the best corporate tweeter in its 2015 study of 300 of the largest FTSE, NASDAQ and NYSE companies. To Harvard, “social media isn’t merely a place for people to chat with each other and for brands to talk at their customers. For a new generation of consumers who get their news and form their views about the world primarily on social media, it is an essential proving ground”. Empathy is another key emotion or trait which successful corporate Twitter accounts master, and this includes a gender neutral or even slightly female tone to tweets. Direct Line’s twitter feed certainly pulls this off with a degree of charm, wit and feeling of genuine concern towards those it interacts with. Whether it’s advice on dealing with hayfever or simply announcing that they are there to help, the company’s social media team is certainly doing an effective job. 30
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T O P 7T O BP E SBTU B SU I NSEI N SE SS ES ON TWITTER
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Digital
by design Written by John O’Hanlon Produced by George Tweed
CLOSE BROTHERS PREMIUM FINANCE
Close Brothers Premium Finance, the company that ‘helps makes insurance more affordable’, is on a digital journey that will deliver cost benefits to the business and enhanced ser vices to insurance providers and their customers
Chris Loake CIO
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A
lmost two million people and businesses across the UK and Ireland have a relationship with Close Brothers Premium Finance. The core aim of the company is to help individuals and businesses spread the cost of their insurance by providing a finance solution that enables the customer to pay over a number of monthly instalments. More than half of all people who buy motor insurance, for example, expect to set up a direct debit to pay the cost over ten or twelve months. In some cases the insurer themselves is able to offer monthly repayment terms but more often than not it falls to the broker to either collect the premium in full from the customer or provide some form of financed repayment
FIN-TECH
facility. Most brokers don’t have the resources to offer that those facilities themselves so they look to companies like Close Brothers to provide it for their customers. Close Brothers Premium Finance has been providing this service for 35 years and is today a trusted partner to more than 2,000 insurance brokers. As you’d expect, most of its business is now conducted electronically with a fair degree of automation, to the extent that it could be described as a digital business. “But it has become a digital business by evolution rather than by design,” says CIO Chris Loake. Much upgrading had already taken place before Loake joined the company in 2014 from Experian where he had worked for 11 years, for example the process of consolidating the group’s data centres into a central location was well under way. However the digital channels were
Chris joined Close Brothers Premium Finance as Chief Information Officer in 2014 having spent the previous 11 years at Experian, with most recent roles being Vice President for Software Development, EMEA, and Head of Solution Development, UK. Chris is a member of the Bank IT leadership team and is responsible for the Premium Finance IT strategy and execution, as well as the day to day maintenance and support of the systems. Chris is a keen athlete, having previously been in the British Rowing team; he now spends his free time training and competing in bicycle races around London.
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GLOBAL BUSINESS & TECHNOLOGY SERVICES
IT TAKES A DIGITAL ENTERPRISE TO MAKE AN ENTERPRISE DIGITAL At Cognizant, we’ve invested in the end-to-end capabilities needed to help organisations not just do digital, but be digital. We partner with our clients across industries to unlock new value through the power of digital technologies and help them evolve into more competitive, progressive versions of themselves.
Cognizant is proud to support Close Brothers on their digital transformation journey.
KEEP CHALLENGING
TM
HELPING CLOSE BROTHERS NAVIGATE THE SHIFT TO THE DIGITAL ERA Digital is driving a once-in-a-generation shift in how we live, work and play. It’s this shift that makes it possible—and necessary—for businesses to radically reshape how they interact and transact with customers and partners, seamlessly connecting the physical with the virtual. Companies that successfully navigate this shift are reimagining and reinventing their businesses, dramatically altering the ways in which they serve their markets. Close Brothers Premium Finance is embracing this shift and transforming its business for the digital era and Cognizant is proud to be supporting them on this journey. In this changing environment, financial services organisations must make the leap from doing digital to being digital. Cognizant is enabling this shift by helping our clients to simultaneously boost operational efficiency and enhance their overall effectiveness with next-generation IT services, build platform solutions and implement digital models that unleash new market potential and deliver higher levels of performance. Next-Generation IT It is now a strategic imperative for financial services organisations to satisfy a dual mandate – to be more efficient at the same time as embracing innovative ways of doing business. Next-generation technology infrastructures allow organisations to achieve operational efficiency by embracing automation, converting core IT activities into managed services and modernising their legacy systems to become effective digital businesses.
Platform-Based Solutions Increasingly, we are seeing platform-based solutions being adopted to accelerate the shift to digital. Platform solutions offer variable cost structures and speed time-to-value by enabling businesses to quickly achieve better performance and competitive advantage.
Delivering digital In financial services, responding to the digital shift requires organisations to develop new multi-generational business models, new products and services and new ways to engage their customers. This requires a fresh mindset and new approaches to rapidly architect, build, pilot and scale digital initiatives that can transform customer propositions and accelerate performance.
Winning in this new landscape means working with the right technology partner that understands this new and emerging market. We are delighted that Close Brothers Premium Finance has selected Cognizant as one of its partners on their digital journey. Cognizant (NASDAQ: CTSH) is a leading provider of information technology, consulting, and business process outsourcing services, dedicated to helping the world’s leading companies build stronger businesses. Visit www.cognizant.com to learn more.
CLOSE BROTHERS PREMIUM FINANCE
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FIN-TECH
not sufficiently scalable or stable to meet the needs of the business going forward. When Loake arrived this was already understood by the business leadership, and a technology update was being discussed; a process he quickly pointed out would be expensive and ultimately ineffective unless it was carried out as part of a root and branch business transformation. “We needed to re-architect the business into a truly digital entity. We stand or fall by our relationship with the brokers – and ultimately their clients – and that relationship is delivered through our servers and our technology.”
Who is our customer? The first task was to map the current technology estate. Like the curate’s egg, some of its parts were excellent but had not been utilised properly. Other parts had fundamental problems. However this mapping had to be done in conjunction with understanding what it was supposed to do. “We are an intermediated business,” Loake explains. “99 percent of our business is sold through insurance brokers. But we had an identity crisis: who are we?” In the insurance sales process the end customer generally has only a limited understanding as to who
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We will deliver your programmes cost effectively through our technically certified teams in the UK and offshore. We’re pleased to play our part by providing the foundation of a versatile integration platform to support Close Brothers’ digital transformation. If this sounds like something your business needs, get in touch today and together we can begin your digital journey.
“Prolifics’ expertise and delivery track record for software on IBM Hybrid Cloud, were the key differentiators that secured their selection as our partner for this core building block of our digital transformation.” Chris Loake Chief Information Officer Close Brothers Premium Finance
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Making societies more productive by helping our customers run their businesses. Birlasoft, one of the Global Leaders in IT service delivery, is proud to be associated with Close Brothers for last three years in its journey to become a leading Modern Merchant Bank. Birlasoft is a strategic partner of Close Brothers and supports its mission critical core banking application and Management Information System which puts it in a unique position to create value for next generation business transformations. Birlasoft has successfully implemented: A Fraud Detection Solution which has saved Close Brothers a million pounds since inception. It has been awarded
‘Best vertical solution of year 2014’ by IT Europa - European IT and Software Excellence Award. Close Brothers Premium Finance IT team has successfully delivered a very large Customer Service Program (CSP) by transforming the Banking Application for which Birlasoft was the partner of choice.
Founded in 1995, Birlasoft is a Global IT Services provider and part of 150 year old, multi-billion dollar CK Birla Group. Birlasoft deploys a host of innovative solutions and service architectures across the globe in Banking, Financial, Insurance Services and Manufacturing industries. Our core values lie in being a dependable service provider, with years of experience in managing mission critical systems for our esteemed customers. We achieve our mutual goals by engaging and integrating human capital across our people, customers and partners. Our expertise makes us unique as we challenge the status quo and strive for excellence. Birlasoft (UK) Ltd. 53-54 Grosvenor Street, London, W1K 3HU www.birlasoft.com | birlasoftuksalesteam@birlasoft.com Tel: + 44-207-319 5700 | Fax: +44-208-711 5103
“Birlasoft have had a strong delivery track record for Close Brothers; what separates them from other vendors I’ve worked with is the level of partnership and flexibility the y consistently display” Chris Loake, CIO – Close Brothers Premium Finance
FIN-TECH
Close Brothers Premium Finance perhaps bought a supermarket is. Even though Close Brothers branded insurance policy, managed Premium Finance works closely with by a broker, from a price comparison brokers to make sure the customer website in the first instance. is provided with all the information Insurance is not the core business needed to make them aware that of a retailer, so it uses a broker to they are entering an agreement configure its product and in turn with a third party lender the broker uses an insurer it’s the very nature or insurers to provide of the insurance the risk transfer facility purchase model that and a provider such the customer often just as Close Brothers The year Close sees their broker as Premium Finance as Brothers Premium the provider of the its finance provider Finance was founded end to end service. to pay the insurer’s Whilst they will receive premium and arrange Close Brothers branded monthly collection from documentation, if they have the customer “All the customer queries, want to change their bank wants is insurance and to be able account or requested payment date, to pay for it monthly. In some parts or settle miss payments, they will of our market segmentation we are have to deal someone they don’t asked to be as invisible as possible immediately recognise, having so that the insurance distribution
1980
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CLOSE BROTHERS PREMIUM FINANCE
“We needed to re-architect the business into a truly digital entity” brand can provide a seamless experience!” This is an approach is known as ‘white labelling’ and is very common in the personal lines insurance market. At the other end of the scale, Close Brothers Premium Finance provides finance for much larger commercial insurance premiums for large companies. One construction company customer, for example, has over £23 million worth of annual insurance policy premiums to cover its insurable risks. “In that case it’s unlikely that we can be or would be expected to be invisible in the background or white labelled” he says. “We want to be sure we understand the customer’s business and that they understand what we are doing for them. In that market segment it is a completely different offering. We need our business and
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our technology to be structured to support these different market segments.” Having mapped the customer journey in each of the different segments, it was possible to plan the digital journey to deliver the ideal experience to them. “There are two options”, Loake says, “You could decide to build a new business alongside the old one, with new systems and ways of operating, and flip over to that when it is ready. However I think that is an approach that is set up for failure. It’s not much use saying that we will give you a splendid service in three years’ time – they want to know how we can help them now!” Partners in progress An incremental approach gets over
PARTNE RI N G EXC L U S I V E LY WI T H C L O S E BROT H E R S THROU GH O U T THE I R CH A N G E PROG RAM M E .
“
“
Lawrence Harvey impressed me with their delivery record and professionalism from the start. It was an easy choice to select them as the sole contract recruitment partner for our transformation programme.
Chris Loake, Chief Information Officer, Close Brothers
Recruitment specialists within:
ERP
DATA
CRM
SECURITY
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CLOUD
0203 327 3071
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uk.atos.net/insurance
6 New Financial Organisations
opened their doors in 2015 Two of them will be doing business exclusively online. And there will be more to come1. If your business and IT model aren’t right, you may not get a look in. In fact, you may not be there to get a look in. Close Brothers Premium Finance understands that Digital Transformation is the key to enhancing its current business. In this time of unprecedented change for the financial services sector, maintaining the status quo is not an option. Discover how technology can be used today for a better tomorrow at uk.atos.net/insurance
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FIN-TECH
Alex Marsh COO
that problem, and is much more adaptable to changing markets. So it was decided to start with the all-important contact centre which was using traditional channels to communicate with customers such as telephones and e-mail. To support the evolving customer experience management requirements of our business partners and support a wider set of channels – so that a
customer could be provided with a more joined up experience across all of the brands they form relationships with through the insurance buying cycle something more sophisticated was needed. The decision on a new platform brought in the people expected to actually use it. Employees were taken off the phones for a few days to experience the different packages that were being considered and visiting other companies’ contact centres. The system that was eventually chosen was the one they liked best. A Cisco communications management solution is being implemented by contact centre specialist and Cisco Gold Partner Natilik that is introducing all the tools needed, including webchat, for a seamless customer interface. The Close Brothers Premium Finance
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“We want to keep our annual growth rate at a stea our NPS above +50. Those are our two objective
ady and sustainable rate and drive headlines for the programme�
CLOSE BROTHERS PREMIUM FINANCE
customer services team was named as one of the top ten teams in the UK at last year’s National Contact Centre Awards, with further honours at the London & South East Contact Centre Forum Awards and the team are expecting further success in this years’ awards. The contact centre is already well on the way to being recognised as ‘world class’ and the delivery of the new technology solution later this year is expected to take them onto the next level. The other side of this coin is the online customer interface, or ‘gateway’ which provides customers with the capability to self-serve at key
Sharon Bishop CEO
stages of the journey with Close Brothers, such as credit agreement signature and simple account changes. “This was really not working as we wanted it to before we did the end to end customer mapping I spoke about. Now, instead of having an unexpected e-mail from a company that they don’t recognise and may go into their spam filter, they will have an e-mail identified as coming from their
sign
and
docu
Go
DocuSign is changing how business gets done by empowering anyone to transact anytime, anywhere, on any device with trust and confidence. DocuSign enables organisations of every size, industry and geography to make every decision, approval, workflow and signature fully digital. DocuSign and Go to keep life and business moving forward. www.docusign.co.uk w w w. c l o s e b r o t h e r s p f . c o m
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CLOSE BROTHERS PREMIUM FINANCE
“In some parts of our market segmentation we are asked to be as invisible as possible!”
CREATING A CONSISTENT AND SECURE CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE ACROSS ALL CHANNELS
REDEFINE
INTELLIGENT CALL ROUTING
THE EMAIL
CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE
ANALY TICS
LONDON
SYDNEY
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VIDEO KIOSKS
SOCIAL MEDIA
AGENT DESKTOP
NEW YORK
June 2016
OMNI CHANNEL EXPERIENCE
WFO
HELPING OUR CLIENTS TO RUN THE UK’S BEST CONTACT CENTRES.
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CHAT
SELF SERVICE
FIN-TECH
Paul Trail Director Of Sales
insurance provider, reintroducing us as the provider of the financed instalment facility A link will take them to our secure customer interface, and through that they will be able to sign their documentation and complete the insurance finance application process.” The online completion service is expected to save up to 80 percent on the cost associated
with sending documentation by post and administrating it on it’s return, while speeding up the process of completion of finance arrangement which benefits both the customer and the insurance provider and is already being widely acclaimed in trials by the brokers. As Sue Kitson, Best Business Practice Manager at the leading insurance broker Griffiths & Armour has commented: “We have been trialling the new online document signature service with great results. Submitting documentation online and having the customer review, sign and submit direct to Close Brothers Premium Finance has saved us time and money, and the industry needs more such services. The system is quick and easy to use and it’s freed up our staff to spend more time with our customers.”
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“It’s not much use saying that we will give you a splendid service in three years’ time – they want to know how we can help them now!” Two companies were brought in to deliver the enhanced customer gateway, the content management specialist Liferay, and DocuSign for electronic signature technology that facilitates electronic exchange of contracts and signed documents. “At present”, Loake says, “the percentage of customers who sign online is probably in single digits. Though there will always be customers who prefer pen and ink, the target is to drive that up to around 90 percent.” Objective headlines As well as delivering better customer
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experiences and increasing satisfaction scores, which have always been high (Close Brothers Premium Finance was a finalist at this year’s Customer Satisfaction Awards organised by the Institute of Customer Service), the digital transformation will deliver significant cost savings. Making the organisation leaner through technology will improve productivity, and make it possible for the company to extend its service into areas in which it couldn’t previously operate. This will enable Close Brothers Premium Finance to cover more of the different types of insurance offered by the brokers and
potentially look into associated markets where we can provide financing solutions. It will also allow the company to make better use of synergies within the Close Brothers Group. “We are part of a Bank with a full suite of offerings not all of which we currently offer to our brokers. One large broker recently told me that if we could take on his invoicing, debt management, and single payment processes he could realise real productivity benefits in terms of administration and concentrate his staff’s efforts on the
core business of identifying and providing insurance solutions. We are fulfilling perhaps 60 percent of the brokers’ needs at the moment and need to ask how we can improve on that, but currently we have to scale value with headcount. That
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is not sustainable but technology can make it happen.” It’s fortunate that Loake (a keen cyclist who was once a member of the UK National Rowing Team) has plenty of energy because his 2016 workload would tax anyone. The contact centre will be fully deployed around October, he says, and at the same time the enhanced customer gateway will be substantially ready, with an early release in the summer. But his big thing, as the foundation to his Digital Transformation strategy is the current deployment of an IBM Integration Suite, to explain which he resorts an analogy. “We have a rather inflexible architecture at the moment with multiple point to point connections between individual software components. Unravelling that, peeling back the layers of the onion to get to the heart of it, is a challenge! The Integration Suite delivered by Prolifics who are an IBM
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Premier Partner and specialists in IBM software implementations, will allow us to integrate the new contact centre without attaching it directly to the old system. The same with the new customer gateway. Instead of talking to one another direct they will communicate through the Integration Suite. It makes the components work like Velcro – when attached they are tightly integrated but when you want to remove one it comes off cleanly and you can stick a new one on!” The digital transformation is a huge project for a company the size of Close Brothers Premium Finance, and represents a major investment by
Based in Lo
ondon, UK
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Close Brothers Group, its merchant banking parent company. Working with trusted and expert partners is, as we have seen, an effective way to manage that change but with multiple projects running simultaneously and with multiple vendors, sometimes more holistic programme support is needed, which is why Atos was selected as the delivery partner, and Cognizant as the test partner, for the overall programme. In terms of the selection of Atos, Loake comments that “the company that is trusted to deliver IT for the Olympics every four years can be confidently be relied on to get it right first time. “There’s no way we could hire the number of senior people we’d need to scale up and deliver this programme ourselves. Anyway, what would we do with them afterwards? We don’t need
that many permanent people. We have an established business change team looking at the implications the project will have for our employees and our partners. A whole level of thought leadership is being provided by those business change teams and the technology guys in-house who are working with the Atos teams to navigate through this journey.” For a service organisation like Close Brothers Premium Finance how it is perceived in the market is vital. Currently it has a net promoter score (NPS) of +35 for customers and +45 for brokers. “These are phenomenal numbers,” concludes Loake, “but we aspire to get them both over +50. We want to enable future sustainable growth and drive our NPS above +50: those are our two objective headlines for the programme.”
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Innovation in print Written by Nye Longman Produced by Danielle Harris
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OCÉ
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June 2016
TECHNOLOGY
Having merged with Canon in 2010, Océ is transforming its manufacturing and supply chain operations in order to meet the changing demands of a global consumer base
O
cé was acquired by Canon in 2010 when it became clear that the company’s model of servicing, supplying, and manufacturing document management and printer technologies was set for long term success. Following a number of strategic executive appointments, the company has embarked on a large scale transformation focusing on innovation and driving maximum value from its manufacturing and supply chain processes. Having maintained a culture of innovation since its foundation in 1877, when founder Lodewijk van der Grinten developed a new colouring agent for margarine,
the company is not only keen to utilise the latest technology in its printing products, but across the entirety of its operations. “The focus has been on consolidating IT and on becoming a truly global company,” says Océ SVP CIO Martin Lohmeier. “The company’s focus is on being very innovative and that requires us to have our global operations working seamlessly together, both in terms of R&D as well across our supply chain and manufacturing operations. Our IT landscape is the result of a number of acquisitions we have made over the years and we are now bringing this all together.”
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“ Today, we have standardized our entire enterprise storage on NetApp. We also use SnapLock and SnapManager to run our enterprise backup and archiving operations and we couldn’t be happier! ”
MARTIN LOHMEIER SVP / Chief Information Officer, Océ-Technologies B.V.
Ahead with forward-looking strategies Leading organizations worldwide count on NetApp for software, systems and services to manage and store their data. As a continuous innovator in networked storage systems, storage and data management, and scale-out technologies, NetApp is dedicated to simplifying the complex world of enterprise data management. NetApp helps IT organizations reduce cost and complexity, lower risk while increasing control, and adapt quickly in response to change. Océ and NetApp share a long history of close cooperation to plan, build and run sophisticated data management and protection solutions based on NetApp technology for core IT services. These solutions ensure maximum uptime and performance for SAP applications, Oracle databases, VMware and file services. Most recent joint activities focus on modernizing Océ’s data management infrastructure with NetApp’s scale-out Clustered Data ONTAP storage solutions and a more comprehensive data protection strategy. Implementations will not only be in major data center locations, but also in Océ’s international business units.
Océ counts on NetApp to consolidate data center locations and infrastructure to improve efficiency and save costs. As a key IT infrastructure supplier to Océ, NetApp also enables the Océ IT department to create a state-of-theart cloud services portfolio with highly automated application and infrastructure services. Taking advantage of the economics of external cloud services, Océ chose NetApp data management and protection solutions. Océ is now able to move data seamlessly between internal and external cloud environments when required, thanks to the unique inherent characteristics of the Clustered Data ONTAP storage platform. In the long term, Océ trusts NetApp to be one of the key infrastructure solution providers to facilitate Industry 4.0 initiatives like predictive maintenance scenarios as well as comprehensive data analytics capabilities to better serve their customers.
OCÉ
‘Alongside the countless efficiencies embedded in its products and services, Océ implements a range of sustainability initiatives across its operations’
Founded in Yokohama, Japan, in 1976, Zuken has been an innovation leader for the last 40 years, providing leading software solutions to optimize the product development process from design to manufacturing. Our solutions cover Electronic Design Automation (EDA), Wire Harness and Mechatronics Design, and Engineering Data Management. Industries: Electronics and High-Tech, Automotive, Aerospace and Defense, Industrial Machinery
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Contact-CE@zuken.com | www.zuken.com
TECHNOLOGY
Operations “We make large printers,” he explains. “We service them and we provide business services on behalf of our customers.” Océ’s remit therefore covers a range of innovative, patented printing technologies, application support and services which enable businesses to compete while delivering value. Océ’s footprint comprises 3,600 employees spread across eight locations in America, Europe and Asia. The company’s printing technologies cover large format, continuous feed, cutsheet and sheetfed printing, all of which are backed up by Océ’s dedicated business services, with the added option to utilise its tried and tested workflow software solutions. Much like its parent company Canon, a great deal of Océ’s
success can be attributed to its intellectual property. “Our markets are undergoing rapid digitalisation, and our mission is to lead our industry by bringing meaningful innovations to our customers faster than any competitor does. To this end, we have invested in state-of-the-art tools for product design and modeling, thereby allowing us to not only design specific components much faster, but also to truly leverage the potential of our R&D organisation working in virtual teams across the globe.” says Lohmeier. Operating increasingly on a buildto-order model, the importance of harmonising the company’s manufacturing, procurement and greater supply chain cannot be overstated. In line with its innovative ethos, the company is consolidating a variety of systems
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3,6
Number of at O
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into a single, global ERP. While individual processes have been operating efficiently at a local level, the challenge for Lohmeier and his teams came when the global scale was applied, since many were not designed to work in tandem. He explains: “We want to use our industrial assets in such a way that we can really optimise our capacity utilisation and employees move from local OCÉ manufacturing to global so that we can serve the world faster. A lot of the products we are making are built to order, so we need to have a fast response in our supply chain and full utilisation of our industrial footprint.” “We apply lean principles,” he adds. “We have access to the
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world leaders in lean manufacturing that are on the Canon payroll in Tokyo, but we also have access to expertise from Japanese car manufacturers who have helped us set up our lean manufacturing. We are pretty much world class when it comes to lean manufacturing.” Sustainable grow th Alongside the countless efficiencies embedded in its products and services, Océ implements a range of sustainability initiatives across its operations. These activities are all reinforced by Canon Group’s central philosophy to grow while contributing to the prosperity and happiness of all, which also covers a range of talent retention and development strategies. Lohmeier explains: “Making sure our manufacturing processes are efficient is obviously
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important for sustainability but training and education is similarly also the composition of the inks multi-faceted. Both employees and themselves. We also make sure affiliated sales people have access that we have printer solutions that to international training centres, minimise paper consumption.” 3D guides and online classrooms, Océ has saved as much as 20 as well as a growing number of percent of its energy costs in its customer experience centres. centralised data centre in Fully aware that competition for Munich by replacing intelligent and innovative electrical cooling with engineering graduates is a bespoke ground tough, Océ is confident water cooling that its roles can system, and has deliver fulfilling career also utilised the paths, with limitless experience of a opportunities to OCÉ’s annual revenue strategic partner at develop. “We give the facility. Lohmeier employees a great says: “NetApp is degree of freedom so that one of our partners that they can spend their time on we use for storage. As you can what they think is good for them imagine when you centralise, you and us,” he says. The company also have substantial economic scale retains a great deal of patents and NetApp has some nifty technology intellectual property, which gives a that helps us to be energy friendly further incentive for those looking to in our storage operations.” truly innovate within the business. The company’s approach to Océ has grown to the point that
€2 billion
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ENERGY
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TECHNOLOGY
it is central to Canon’s move into the B2B space. The expertise that the printing company has accrued, both in terms of lean manufacturing and operational efficiency, has been vast. Océ is therefore making a substantial effort to expand on its legacy of innovation, while keeping its eyes fixed firmly on the future. The Internet of Things will continue to disrupt every aspect of the modern business, and many will discover that knowing how to deliver value will be missioncritical. Given that this is part of Océ’s DNA, the foresight to develop its manufacturing and supply chain operations will prove to be both profitable and influential for years to come. Lohmeier adds: “We compete on the total cost of ownership of our solutions - that’s a different ball game than just competing on the actual sales price of the printer we eventually sell to the customer. So innovation to us really is of the essence and that is basically transparent for everything we do.”
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Beyond digitising the directory Written by: Tom Wadlow Produced by: Danielle Harris
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Founded
1966
The goldenpages.be 360° marketing booklet
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June 2016
TECHNOLOGY
Truvo has transformed Belgium’s Golden Pages beyond a printed business catalogue, digitising its customer experience and offering a full marketing package for the nation’s SMEs
F
ew would have predicted 20 years ago that a printed Yellow Pages would ever be consigned to the scrap heap of history. Fast forward to today via the advent of Google search, superfast (mobile) internet and multichannel customer engagement, and the paper business directory could conceivably be entering its last days as a means of mass marketing. Enter Truvo, proprietor of Belgium’s Yellow Pages equivalent, goldenpages.be. Having relied on print for 70 percent of revenues in 2008, the company has fully embraced digitisation and is now driving forward its digital transformation plan to provide all SMEs with a multichannel
marketing platform, also including partnerships with Google, Facebook and Yext. Such has been the sea change in the business, its digital offering now accounts for 80 percent of income. A central part of the digital transformation has been conducted by Truvo’s now centralised IT team, headed up by Chief Information Officer Allan Farrell, who joined with 16 years’ experience from Dell with a clear mission in mind. “When I joined in 2010 Truvo was an international business with no central IT team or structure,” he explains. “The group owned companies in Ireland, Belgium and Portugal and had partial interest in South Africa. The landscape at the time was very
info.goldenpages.be
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“Our services and solutions are vitally important for small businesses as they may not have the time or resources to manage their own websites, content and other channels or campaigns” – Allan Farrell, CIO
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much siloed IT organisations on a country level with no real synergies between them. “The business was part way through some financial restructuring and business simplification, with lots of new products being introduced. The mission for me was to create one IT organisation and to enable a new digital business model within Belgium, which is now where the company solely focuses.” Going digital Underpinning the shift from print to digital is Truvo’s belief that ‘professional marketing and communication advice should not just be reserved for big companies.’ Its mission, for ‘all Belgian companies to grow their business by offering them a comprehensive range of versatile digital marketing and communication solutions that are totally geared to their requirements.’ The most significant change helping to facilitate this has been the adoption of a flexible subscription-based business model in 2014. This allows customers to choose one or many channels for campaigns over a period they can afford, an important consideration given 70 percent of Truvo’s customers are SMEs with five or fewer employees. “In the past if you think about the print business you would publish a book once a year and talk to the customer at the same time each year
about renewing for another fixed 12 months,” Farrell says. “This change has required a very different sales approach, selling solutions that not only involve products but the service and expertise that goes with it. “Our services and solutions are vitally important for small businesses as they may not have the time or resources to manage their own websites, content and other channels or campaigns. We have a local sales force in the field who stay with the same customers year in year out, helping to build
up long term relationships.” The company also puts on roadshows throughout the year. These ‘Digital Days’ are free to attend, offering interactive educational and inspiring seminars on how digital marketing can help smaller businesses to grow. Multichannel Goldenpages.be sees more than eight million visitors to its online business directory platform per month and has had more than a million app downloads to
info.goldenpages.be
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matchcraft
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TRUVO BELGUIM
date. The company has also created 23,000 websites for customers, both standalone and listings within goldenpages.be. That Truvo Belgium also has 1,000 ongoing Facebook campaigns, more than 9,000 ongoing Google AdWords campaigns and 6,000 mobile sites developed to date further highlights its multichannel focus. Farrell adds: “The perception of Yellow Pages companies is either a listing in a telephone book or an online directory, but actually the reality is we are something quite different. It was much more simple 15 years ago!� A lot has happened since the turn
Revenue
$100m USD
info.goldenpages.be
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“The perception of Yellow Pages companies is either a listing in a telephone book or an online directory, but actually the reality is we are something quite different” – Allan Farrell, CIO
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of the century. Indeed, goldenpages.be launched in 1999 under Truvo’s previous name, Promedia. Up to this point, the printed business directory had been unchallenged from its inception in Belgium in the late 1960s, the first Gouden Gids / Pages d’Or (Dutch and French Belgian brand name equivalent of Yellow Pages) being published in 1969. Changing landscape With such a fundamental shift in how the company generates revenue, aligning and digitising key business processes is an ongoing challenge. “Over the past few years we have tried to get a better understanding of what the core business processes and structures are and how they can be digitised from a customer point of
TECHNOLOGY
view,” says Farrell. “Learning how to operate in this new world is a learning process for the whole company, and we have been leveraging one of our key strategic partners, Harman, to establish those business capabilities and processes, which has been invaluable so far.” Truvo Belgium is also digitising and elevating its infrastructure to the cloud, a move which will provide further flexibility for customers. Farrell explains: “We have consolidated all of our digital and business infrastructure and landscape into the cloud and this is just the beginning. It is far more cost effective as it is priced on demand based on usage, making it easy to scale up and down in line with our needs. We don’t have to build and maintain hardware in-house anymore.” Data security is another key area of focus, with Truvo Belgium implementing a number of measures, including new enterprise architecture, to help prevent its data from being taken illegally. Farrell also cites the need
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Number of staff
600
for industrial-strength analytics capabilities to better understand customer audiences and behaviours; behaviours which are constantly changing in a world where consumers interact with businesses across a vast array of touch points. “There are digital user experiences we haven’t even thought of yet and we must be set up to respond to changing consumer patterns in a much more rapid way than we can
today,” he adds. “Using on-demand, best in class SaaS [Software-as-a-Service] solutions from the market and integrating them to our business landscape will help us to do this and become better than we are today.” Industrialised analytics is one of several business optimisation trends highlighted by the likes of Gartner, Forrester and Deloitte which are currently shaping Truvo Belgium’s IT strategy. Making optimum use of data and leveraging
info.goldenpages.be
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“By simplifying all of our offerings into something understandable as solutions rather than a list of 20 different digital products, we can really reach out to our market here” – Allan Farrell, CIO
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the information of everything, advanced machine learning and the subsequent harnessing of autonomous machine capabilities are all trends Farrell and his team are keeping a close eye on. Revitalising core IT systems and building capabilities in process and talent will also ensure Truvo can keep pace with the speed of change required to deliver its services in the best way possible. The end result, an ambient digital experience for customers across a full range of touch points and devices. Simplicity Despite the technological digital transformation at Truvo Belgium reflecting the increasing sophistication in the ways consumers interact with businesses, keeping it simple is what will appeal to SMEs across Belgium. Digital
TECHNOLOGY
user experience has and will remain central to any further digitisation and lies at the core of the wider business strategy. “It has to be easy for customersentrepreneurs to interact with us and a lot of focus and effort is being spent on simplifying this experience,” Farrell says. “This is where our sales teams and the positioning of our solutions are so important. We have gone through a lot of simplification internally and that continues as we speak. By simplifying all of our offerings Photography supplied by: Sven Coubergs, Tanali Photography, Tom Claessens
into something understandable as solutions rather than a list of 20 different digital products, we can really reach out to our market here.” “The digitisation of the customer experience will be key both now and in the future. This requires the entire company to be focused on continuously thinking about optimising and smoothening the way how customers interact with us in order to create an outstanding digital experience.”
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Six steps to succ
cess
Written by Tom Wadlow Produced by Alex Neagu
Building on its proud 136-year history, Swiss machine tool manufacturer Tornos is well on the way to fully implementing its six-point strategy by 2017
S
treamlining operations while maintaining its iconic hallmark of quality lies at the heart of the Tornos strategy. For more than 130 years, the Moutier, Switzerland-based company has been manufacturing a spectrum of high quality and
production intensive components for machines across an array of industries. Indeed, Swiss-type machines are a breed of machine in their own right because of the Tornos reputation for quality. Whether in Switzerland, Korea,
EvoDECO: Tor of Swiss-type 90
June 2016
Service: A continuum of expert support
America or China, this is how they are known. Combine this with highproductivity multispindle machines, and Tornos is able to facilitate delivery of volume and quality for manufacturers in automotive, electronics, medical and dental, micromechanics and many other sectors. Today, under the guidance of CEO Michael Hauser, the business is two thirds of the way through its 2012-2017
ornos’s pinnacle e lathes w w w. t o r n o s . c o m
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Internationalisation
657
Number of Employees at Tornos
six-point plan, designed to further embed Tornos into the international marketplace and strengthen its pioneering legacy of innovation. The six strategic thrusts of the plan include internationalisation, flexibility, innovation, service, operational excellence and customised solutions.
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Hauser describes how a huge shift east in manufacturing prompted the need to adapt and evolve processes. “We are in the middle of the machine tool world which is now a very, very global and international business,” he said. “In the last 10 years there has been a large shift, mainly towards China. This had a big impact on our customers, but also on us machine tool makers. We had to adapt our strategy, which in the past was more or less focused on Europe, on specific markets which are in Europe and this has changed a lot since October 2012.” Key to this has been the opening of production plants in China and Taiwan, now responsible for around 50 percent of output, focusing on entry products and standard machines respectively.
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“We have managed to reduce the time it takes to manufacture machines by 30 percent, without sacrificing quality” Key components for both sites are sourced from Moutier, which continues to focus on the high end, precision machines. These include the MultiSwiss, EvoDECO and SwissNano. Although Europe will remain the core region for Tornos, this expansion has enabled it to offer customers in all other major markets a selection of standard Swiss-type lathes which can be used to produce almost any part conceivable. Strong sales of the MultiSwiss multispindle machine and an increase in order intake from the Americas highlights the company’s growing global reach.
Lean Vital to ensuring a sustainable, long term future has been a serious adoption of lean manufacturing principles, allowing Tornos to be as flexible as possible. “Because our industry is very cyclic it is vital to lower our breaking point and improve margins,” Hauser explained. “We have managed to reduce the time it takes to manufacture machines by 30 percent, without sacrificing quality. This has come from automation, more efficient organisation, careful outsourcing and reducing our carbon footprint.” January 2015 emphasised
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how important flexibility is to manufacturers and Swiss business in general after the Swiss National Bank announced it would no longer hold the Swiss franc at a fixed exchange rate with the euro. This caused panic which effectively made trading with Switzerland more expensive. Hauser added: “It’s back on a level but not on a level where it can stay sustainable. It means the Swiss have to run faster which is a challenge for our country, not only for machine tools. “On the other hand, Switzerland is famous for quality, for precision, for durability, for safety. So when you buy a Swiss watch or a Swiss machine tool, you know that it’s not cracked. It’s a quality product that holds its value. We must take advantage of this in the future despite the fact some of our
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components will be produced outside of Switzerland.” Procurement is also now taking place outside of the country on a larger scale. A new management tier – Global Supply Chain Management – has been created to help improve supply chain flexibility.
Innovation Another way of mitigating currency difficulties in the future will be to grow the reputation in Switzerland for machine tool innovation, especially in an age where competition from the likes of Japan is so fierce. Tornos is embracing the rapidly growing reality of Industry 4.0, or the fourth industrial revolution, which is seeing the emergence of new manufacturing technologies. In four years the company streamlined two thirds of its machine range, adding the new SwissNano,
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TORNOS designed for the micromechanics sector. Sales of the SwissNano grew in 2015 across Switzerland and beyond in Asia and the USA, cementing its reputation as the high end go-to for watch and high precision component suppliers. New software which enables customers to communicate with and manage machines remotely (TISIS), touch screen user interfaces, are other ways in which Tornos is offering a point of difference in an ever-competitive space. Continual innovation has allowed the business to target a wider range of sectors and territories beyond its core customers with its customised solutions. Hauser outlined the scope in which Tornos now operates: “The aerospace industry is quite an attractive, demanding, intriguing business for us,” he said. “We also produce machines for the security sector which make locks, keys and other systems. “In terms of markets, China is still the biggest for us to target and America is recovering on the manufacturing side, so these are two interesting propositions for us. We must also keep our position in Europe because there are a lot of machines that will need upgrading and modifying in years to come.” It is this diversification which will ensure Tornos’s longevity. Despite a fall in activity in the Swiss watchmaking industry last year, the company still posted a net profit of CHF 0.9 million, with its order intake of CHF 160 million still above the CHF 152 million seen in 2013.
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Michael Hauser CEO Diplom-Kaufmann (MBA), University of Mannheim, 1988 Other professional bodies: SWISSMEM, Council member and chairman of the “Machine tools and manufacturing technology” division; CECIMO “European Committee for Cooperation of the Machine Tool Industries”, Board member and Vice-Chairman (Chairman from 2009 to 2011) Previous professional activities: Mikron Ltd., Nidau (CH): Managing Director (from 1996 to 2000); Agie Charmilles Group (CH): Head of Milling Division [Mikron Agie Charmilles Ltd. (CH), Bostomatic Inc. (US), Step Tec AG (CH)] and Group Management member (from 2000 to 2008); Georg Fischer Ltd. (CH); President of GF AgieCharmilles and Member of the Executive Committeew(from w w. t2008 o r n o sto . c2010) om
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“One of the biggest challenges for us is to replicate the quality of production outside of Switzerland� Tornos Service Such precise, sophisticated and customisable machines require an equally diligent and personalised spread of customer support. Tornos Service provides clients with start-up assistance, product training, preventative maintenance, delivery of spare parts and machine overhauls, cementing long term relationships from the
moment the first sale is made, no matter where in the world it is. Helping to deliver such vital after-sales service is the company’s loyal base of workers, many of whom have been at the company for decades. However, attracting new, young engineering talent away from large IT companies is more of a challenge and something which
MultiSwiss: Revolutionizing the multi-spindle concept
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Hauser is determined to tackle. “In Switzerland, we have a dual system which allows people to start with an apprenticeship and climb up the ladder to become an engineer,” he said. “Apprentices make up around 10 percent of our employees and we also send our Swiss experts to the factories in China and Taiwan to carry out our internal training programmes. It’s a continuous process - one of the biggest challenges
for us is to replicate the quality of production outside of Switzerland.” Through implementation of its clear six point strategy, Tornos is well-set to finish its 2012-2017 cycle in a position where it can further target global markets and compete with growing competition from East Asia. And by targeting specialised manufacturers and continuing to innovate its own machine tool range, the Swiss hallmark of quality will continue to stamp its mark on the world stage.
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Realising
the value of procurement Written by Nye Longman Produced by Richard Durrant
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Following the introduction of its Group Procurement Team in 2014, G4S has been able to make savings and drive efficiencies across its operations
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hen he joined the company in 2014, Group Procurement Director Shaun Carroll faced a seemingly insurmountable challenge: nothing less than developing a group-wide transformation of the company’s procurement operations. Over the past two years, Carroll has brought about a sea-change in the ways that the business handles its procurement at all levels, which includes the adoption of new processes and technologies, as well as a plan to ensure that, in future, G4S has procurement at the centre of its thinking.
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Operations G4S is well-known for its role as one of the world’s leading integrated security companies. Specialising in providing a range of security products, solutions, and services to a variety of sectors, the company operates in 100 countries and employs over 610,000 people. The procurement arm of G4S fulfils two key functions within the business, which involves operational support, alongside more strategic responsibilities. Operational support is delivered by working closely with a range of different departments which include warehousing,
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logistics and supply management, as well as supplier expediting. The company also aims to improve its commercial arrangements with its third-party suppliers; it combines strategic sourcing and procurement in order to achieve this. “We also look at risk management and supplier relationship management. All of the areas around supplier collaboration and innovation, as well as ethically engaging our suppliers. Bearing in mind, from a procurement perspective, we’re like a start-up company here in procurement at G4S – it’s just a very, very big start-up,” adds Carroll. Alongside its range of specialist outsourced services, G4S provides cash management and security solutions,
as well as services for both the care and justice sectors. Furthermore, the company also deploys the latest technological solutions across its security systems.
Supply chain management Carroll gives an insight into the size and complexity of the company’s supporting supply chain, saying: “We’ve got about a £1.6 billion spend. There are 65,000 suppliers in our supply chain and of that 65,000, the top 250 make up 50 percent of our supply spend. So we have a very long tail of small spend suppliers and that’s necessary because of the type of our business and how spread out we are. The top four percent of suppliers cover 80 percent of our spend.”
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Having several high-spend suppliers places G4S in a position to form close working relationships – an advantage that has delivered real-world benefits to the business, in this case working with Telefonica (TEF) UK. Carroll explains: “One of our early successful category programs has been on Telco provision which was first implemented by the Global Category leader in the UK, we open market tested the relationship with Telefonica for the first time in over five years. This process came at a particularly hectic time in the relationship as various new agreements were being implemented across a number of regions forging whole new relationships. The UK process was complex and entailed consolidating several smaller relationships and also reviewing the current supply from Telefonica. “Through clear commercial
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discussions and value engineering the specification with highly competent internal stakeholders, the Procurement team delivered considerable savings on the UK spend in Telco, improved the resilience and facilitated our move to a cloud based infrastructure. The model for the process has now been rolled out in North America, Europe, Africa and LATAM with Asia following this year. Telefonica has secured several of the contracts around the world.” Operating across so many countries is complex and challenging, which is why the Procurement team is going to invest a substantial amount of time and effort rolling out a new Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system. Not only will this enable the G4S to simplify a great number of individual systems but will bring about a ripple-effect of benefits.
Deliver an enhanced customer experience We can support your business to simplify its IT infrastructure and achieve its strategic objectives on its digital transformation journey. More than 8 million businesses across 170 countries trust us to keep their business ahead of the curve. www.business-solutions.telefonica.com
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“We’ve got about a £1. spend. There are 65,00 in our supply chain and 65,000, the top 250 ma percent of our supply s
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Carroll explains: “There are several improvement projects that come out of implementing a single ERP process. We won’t need to engage a third party for our spend visibility programme which we do at the moment. To be able to do that without an ERP, I - Shaun Carroll put in place a spend visibility programme with Spend360 where we went round and gathered the AP data from around 60 finance systems to pull in the data to know what we spend and who we spend it with. “This was essential to prioritising the workload very early on and our partner Spend360 greatly helped with this programme. So the ERP will give us as close to single element of data truth as we can.” “Procurement is not just about the price of goods and services delivered – it is also about the total cost of ownership. We have introduced several policies around the business to help us control demand. These cover property, travel, professional services and temporary labour – we are working with several global partners to help deliver the demand management programme, an important one being IQ Navigator who is helping us manage our temporary labour requirements and processes.”
.6 billion 00 suppliers d of that ake up 50 spend”
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The value of procurement Carroll explains that the G4S working culture – especially where its procurement operations are concerned – was one of collaboration and mutual respect. It is little wonder, then, that the company has worked hard to ensure that this effective way of working is disseminated as far as possible in the form of its Supplier Code of Conduct. Carroll says: “Our basic focus is keeping as much of the world as secure and as safe as possible and that brings us into conflict with some pretty difficult individuals. Therefore, our supplier base also gets pulled into those issues. It’s important that we get the message out that respect for the
people that we’re dealing with when they’re in our custody or in our care. Making sure that we do everything with integrity in terms of handling customers’ money, looking after our customers’ premises, transporting our customers’ goods around the world is extremely important to us.” In order to ensure that these values are ingrained into the procurement ethos – and that operations in this regard are continuously improving – Carroll focused on three core initiatives during his initial months with the company. These consisted of rolling out procurement excellence, implementing a global category focus, led by worldleading industry experts, and by appointing regional procurement leaders.
Number of employees
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Shaun Carroll Group Procurement Director Shaun Carroll is Group Procurement Director (CPO) for G4S the global Outsourcing and Security Company, responsible for the company’s global supply chain; he is based in London, United Kingdom. Carroll was appointed to the post in May 2014 and tasked with transforming and leading a department that had functioned primarily as a support to local operations in the 100 plus countries G4S operates. Since starting, the team has changed significantly and has been recognised as adding value internally and externally. He is also responsible for Group Property where he has implemented a successful property consolidation program releasing cash and improving costs. Prior to this appointment Carroll held several roles in Johnson Controls Real Estate and FM business – Global Workplace Solutions primarily delivering
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global Supply Chain Solutions to external customers and fulfilling complex contractual obligations using suppliers to deliver value. Prior to JCI Carroll held a variety of positions in construction, water and consultancy organisations focusing on the EPC (engineer, procure, construct) lifecycle of projects. During his 30 years in industry Carroll has developed a pragmatic enthusiasm for transformation and change that builds on his engineering roots and cost leadership in supply chain management. Carroll holds a Bachelor of Engineering Degree in Civil Engineering from Portsmouth, a Masters in Business Administration from London City University, he is a Chartered Engineer and Fellow of the Chartered institute of Purchasing and Supply. He also a non-executive director of English shoemaker RE Tricker Ltd.
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Carroll explains: “I implemented a small, two person central procurement excellence team. I recruited them from the external marketplace and the value delivered by these roles is to have a consistent backbone of policies and processes around the world. They all have the same look and feel but there are variations depending on the operating environment in different regions. “Initially, my view was to have true category management led by global experts rolled out into each of the regions to leverage our spend in some key global categories. I recruited a mix of people into five global category roles and they covered our big spend areas. “We changed our direction in response to the fact that our business struggles to globally consolidate around a single supplier
in any category due to the amount of change that that would need, and there are few suppliers that have our geographical spread. “Where we have managed to consolidate on a single supplier is in our global fuel category, where we have partnered with Shell in all of the regions in which they operate. We took more of a supplierled reengagement/negotiations/ competition programme based around groups of categories.” “The Regional Procurement teams have developed their integration with local businesses to the point where they are helping business development and sales teams to win new business. Not only are they working on new bids but they are also working with the sales teams to help them understand what procurement folks in their customers want and how those procurement teams think.”
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People at the centre of the transformation When appointing the G4S procurement leaders, Carroll looked at industries that have a recognised reputation for excellence in procurement: “The security services industry is generally not recognised as a forerunner in procurement thought leadership – but manufacturing is, airlines are, and some of the more technologyfocused telco organisations are.
“I looked at the business challenges that we have and I looked at the type of industry that has resolved that issue and recruited from that area. Putting good people at the centre of the strategy is vital as they are essential for success.” Coming from the Post Office in early 2015, Robert Copeland was appointed UK Procurement Director. His skills are based in manufacturing but his operational experience is in this service-led industry which has a similar geographical footprint and service lines as the UK Procurement business. One of Copeland’s first priorities was to build confidence in the new procurement team to allow the market testing of key contracts. Two of Copeland’s key projects have been the re-procurement of UK fleet where Hitachi Capital were the successful supplier, making a multi-million pound saving over the four year contract.
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Early on in his tenure, he renegotiated the BT Fleet contract for the company’s cash in transit fleet maintenance, delivering further multimillion pound savings. Another example of diverse leadership is James Ratcliff, who was appointed from Kimberly Clark. Ratcliff has held several global and pan-regional procurement leadership roles and brought thought leadership in the process and systems area.
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Carroll adds: “He was instrumental in developing the policies that the company has rolled out globally and has now taken on additional responsibility in managing the Europe region. “This demands a clear focus and direction from a procurement perspective because it is highly federated and geographically dispersed. This region has a great deal of opportunity for G4S in terms of
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“Changing focus or adding a new layer of complexity to a business’ operations can be extremely difficult to implement. Given the scale, scope and size of G4S – not to mention the critical security role it plays on a daily basis – this achievement is particularly noteworthy” supplier consolidation and savings. “The global team in G4S procurement has come together really well from its beginnings in late 2014 to now, we have a team with diverse, extensive and valuable experience delivering real value locally.”
Seven key principles Carroll and his team are in the second year of their mid-term plan: “We have seven key principles that we’re working on in our three to five year plan. The first one is around leadership and organisation and
interaction with business leadership. We’ve got our procurement and sourcing strategies where we are developing and executing consistent policies and strategies at a global, local and regional level. “We have our people strategy which is around attracting, developing and retaining the right talent base. We have got our savings and consolidation process, delivering traceable savings to the P&L. Last year we delivered multi-million-pound savings that were signed off and audited by internal audit.
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“The next principle is around process and systems which is why we’re rolling out the ERP; another two concern vendor management which is all about the SRM and corporate social responsibility programme. The final principle is based around performance measurement and management; making sure that we measure what we do and report it and that we have a clear set of KPIs to report on.” Changing focus or adding a new
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layer of complexity to a business’ operations can be extremely difficult to implement. Given the scale, scope and size of G4S – not to mention the critical security role it plays on a daily basis – this achievement is particularly noteworthy. While security companies are generally not recognised for their procurement achievements, G4S is certainly one to watch.
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“The UK and Group team have been recognised internally with an award for improved productivity for placing procurement at the heart of the business�
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Custo the fu
Written by Nell Walker Pro
omising uture
oduced by James Pepper
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Zinnovate’s CEO Håkan Nilsson describes how a tiny IT services company has become so enormously successful and well-trusted in its industry
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ince 2013, Zinnovate has provided management, consultancy and IT services with a particular focus on the global transport and logistics industry, allowing businesses to fulfil the potential of their IT portfolios. The company’s Founder, Owner and CEO Håkan Nilsson has utilised his 23 years of experience as a CIO in the global forwarding industry to become a trusted strategic advisor to a number of other companies in the business. “Particularly I’m involved when companies are going through some sort of change,” Nilsson explains. “Or rather when the
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change is of such a magnitude that it’s not simply called change – it’s called transformation, and it cuts across systems, processes and organisations. Many global transport and logistics companies go through changes that weren’t intended to be transformations, but it turns out to be the vehicle for changing their systems and processes for the better.” Zinnovate has the competence to support such large transformations in a technology-focussed way, it is able to deal with infrastructure and systems applications, software elements, core structures, and more. It also concentrates intensely
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on integration and business intelligence, believing that even if companies are buying the best standard package available, they require a level of customisation in these two areas especially. “Whatever the system, it’s not an island – it needs to interact with other systems either in the company’s internal landscape or externally with customers, vendors, carriers, and legal authorities. That’s where
we can help with building those interfaces in the area,” Nilsson says. Zinnovate prides itself on its level of customisation and, as Nilsson explains, it is a vastly important fraction of the bigger picture: “Customisation is such a small part of the total application. It might amount to five percent on top of a standard system, but the value of that five percent has the potential to be quite dramatic.
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WE DELIVER There are many challenges in IT. We promise no miracle cure, but we do believe in the power of hard work. Our philosophy is simple: the more responsibility we take, the greater our ability to deliver. In projects, development, operation, and training.
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It needs to be structured in that business intelligence layer.” accordance with the needs Zinnovate knows that customers of the customer. have their own preferences and “Our customers are so important should have perfect visibility to us. If you are a logistics provider of their processes. Whether and you have a system in place, producing status event messages, that system is there to freight documents, deliver value to your orders, or invoices, customers. Sizeable customisation is customers will important. Nilsson have some says that the pretty strong small but valuable customisation degree of system requirements. customisation Annual So even if you Zinnovate provides revenue have a system that raises customer is producing a lot of appreciation by 100 reports, for instance, if percent, and has led the you don’t customise that report, company to achieve some very the customer will be unhappy. forward-thinking customers: That’s one thing we do, meaning “We start by giving advice,” we can help the logistics provider he says. “We conduct customer give a much better information meetings, they pick my brain, service to its customer by creating and it’s a fantastic opportunity
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Hükan Nilsson - CEO Nilsson’s unique IT expertise stems from more than three decades of IT focus with senior management roles in three different industries: Manufacturing, Finance and for the last 26 years, Transport & Logistics. He is devoted to building and delivering Customer Value and Shareholder Value through Innovation and Optimization of processes and system solutions. Nilsson is instrumental in creating a world-leading global operator in the freight forwarding industry through mergers and acquisitions, and by delivering cutting edge IT solutions and processes. He introduced and led the global deployment of an industry-changing global freight forwarding system based on single-file concept and end-to-end network process. This has resulted in impressive productivity improvements whilst replacing a myriad of legacy systems. Nilsson is a renowned and sought-after speaker at international conferences on the subjects of IT, Processes, Change and Logistics.
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Julia Dunder - PA to CEO and Sales Manager Dunder is results-orientated with a can-do attitude. She is service-minded with a willingness to go the extra mile when supporting customers.
for me to do the same to them. “Recently I was in Amsterdam where 45 of the top IT managers from all over the world were gathered, and I was the only external guy there as a speaker. I was there to share my views on the future and for them to ask me questions, but of course I learned a lot from them too. Things like this are our biggest force for ensuring we stay ahead. “We look at the opportunities technology provides, but if you
don’t have a solid understanding of the underlying business, you’ll waste your time on technologies that are great, but not specific for your company or industry. That’s an area on which we pride ourselves. We have very good technical people who have a solid background in the transport and logistics industry, and that combination is important.” Nilsson says that the entire reason the company began was due to his annoyance regarding the IT services available at the time. He decided that being irritated was not productive, and chose to
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do something about the situation. “If you believe you can do better, do it yourself,” he says. “Many other companies aren’t so flexible or customer-centric, but we’re able to be flexible thanks in part to our small team. We only have four members of staff and some very closelyconnected subcontractors and partners. A big factor in this is building layers of partnerships in a win-win way. “I’ve developed a lot of contacts in 23 years, and I approached the ones I thought to be the best, which are now my partners in Zinnovate. WiseTech Global in Australia is a successful provider of software, and partnering with it allows me to tap into a big global customer base. They have an extreme focus on product development, but how could customers make use of it? That’s where we can come in and close that gap with a level of customisation and support that actually makes best use
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Raffael Dessi - System development consultant Dessi is a highly resourceful, innovative and competent senior consultant with over a decade’s experience from the IT field in a number of different roles spanning from programmer, system architect, technical project leader, team leader and BI developer. He possesses excellent technical skills in .NET, database technology, business intelligence and system integration, coupled with in-depth global forwarding know-how.
of the system from WiseTech Global.” All of Zinnovate’s growth is thanks to its reputation. The company only accepts projects where it believes it can make an impressive difference for customers, and where it will have a successful outcome. It makes choices strategically, and expects customers to do the same. Zinnovate’s highly personalised brand of conducting business has allowed it to develop at an astonishing rate for its size, and Nilsson insists
that his company does not simply offer IT and business transformations for the sake of throwing out an old system: “It is usually a major change from local optimisation to global optimisation,” he concludes. “We’re selling an end-to-end service so we need to address all elements of a system process, people, and organisation. The industry is slowly changing, but people are still not looking holistically at transformations. That’s where we can help.”
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