Business Chief Canada Magazine — January 2019 by Business Chief USA

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TECHNOLOGY TRANSFORMATION IN ENTERTAINMENT

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EXPERTS IN TALENT ACQUISITION Erin Hough discusses the impact of digital disruption in finding the right people and skills City Focus

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WELCOME

elcome to January’s Canada edition of Business Chief!

For this month’s cover feature we sit down with Erin Hough, Senior Manager, North America Supply Chain at Allegis Group Solutions (AGS). A global talent solutions provider, AGS transforms the way the world acquires talent by delivering client focused solutions that make a difference for businesses worldwide. As the leader of a team of consultants, Hough tells us about the process of digitally disrupting the global talent acquisition space. We also speak with Neelam Sandhu to find out how a desire to work in a fastpaced and dynamic environment, where she could utilize her skills in business strategy and be a genuine ambassador lead her to mbecome Senior Director of Business Operations, Office of the CEO at BlackBerry.

We talk with Sandhu about how her role “touches every function of the company in some capacity”, and get her insider perspective on BlackBerry’s reinvented focus, the fast-emerging Enterprise of Things, and challenges faced by women in tech. It takes agility and an innovative mindset to carve out a place for yourself and your business in the fastest growing markets in the world, but Wendy Chen, founder and CEO of Omnistream is doing just that. We caught up with Chen, as well as bringing you the latest insights from businesses such as Fannie Mae, BlackBerry and Viacom.

Enjoy the magazine, and join in the conversation on Twitter: @Business_Chief Harry Menear harry.menear@bizclikmedia.com

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CONTENTS

Digital disruption of procurement talent acquisition

‘We are Data Managementas-a-Service’

44 A CUSTOMER JOURNEY DRIVEN BY DATA

City Focus

Top 10 Brands in the USA 62

CONTENTS

130 Blackberry

156

University of Saskatchewan

Radius Networks

172

Truliant Federal Credit Union

SSR Mining

108 Viacom

184

232

Bray International

Cincinnati International

244 Rosewood Hotels and Resorts

198 Johnson Brothers

212 256

University of Proton International Saskatchewan

212

270

Fannie Mae

Brown- Forman

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

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Digital disruption of procurement talent acquisition WRIT TEN BY

DA LE BENTON PRODUCED BY

ARRON R A MPLING

JANUARY 2019

S U P P LY C H A I N

w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

ALLEGIS GLOBAL SOLUTIONS

Erin Hough, Senior Manager, North American Supply Chain at Allegis Global Solutions, discusses the digital disruption of global talent acquisition s the supply chain and

that make a difference for businesses

procurement industry contin-

worldwide. AGS is the global leader

ues to become increasingly

in Workforce Management Solutions.

professionalized, with businesses all

This requires a deep understanding of

over the world waking up to the value

a client’s requirements and expecta-

of procurement, it creates a need for

tions and AGS’ Supply Chain team plays

skilled professionals in order to unlock

a critical role in all of this. “We consult

the true potential and propel strategic

with our clients to ensure they are

growth. This is where Allegis Global

implementing innovative strategies that

Solutions (AGS) comes in. As a global

focus on risk mitigation, data govern-

talent solutions provider, AGS trans-

ance and visibility, as well as operational

forms the way the world acquires talent

efficiencies with their supply chain,”

by delivering client-focused solutions

says Erin Hough, Senior Manager,

JANUARY 2019

S U P P LY C H A I N

North American Supply Chain at AGS.

supplier partners providing talent in

“What they want is to acquire the best

specific industries, geographies and

talent, at competitive market rates and

skill sets. Over the course of her 13-year

at the right time. AGS’ Supply Chain

career in the staffing industry, Hough

team provides the market insights and

has held a number of roles across

tools that our clients need in order

North America. Prior to joining AGS,

to achieve this”.

she worked for a staffing firm providing

As part of the company’s Supply

sales and recruiting services. It was

Chain Management team, Hough is

then that she first encountered AGS

tasked with leading a team of consult-

and the growing presence of MSP’s. In

ants across North America. These

2012, she joined AGS to help grow the

consultants must ensure that its clients’

supply chain team. “Having experience

goals are achieved by having the best

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S U P P LY C H A I N

provided the right foundation for my role here at AGS. It set me up for success as I have a greater understanding of suppliers’ pain points, how hard they work, how difficult their role can be to find, secure and ultimately retain the right candidate,” she says. “It also helped me to understand how to coach and mentor a supplier if they were struggling in our programs and provide them with key guidance and support in order to be successful.” Hough has seen first-hand the changing supply chain and procurement landscape, particularly in the way the company works with client partners. Historically, AGS would make supplier recommendations to its clients based largely on existing or previous relationships.” But, as Hough notes, while the importance of relationships has not changed, the methodology AGS uses to select its suppliers has evolved. “The relationship is still a key component for us but what’s important to

“ We will continue to evolve to be a thought leader in the industry, continue to be open minded and to be a consultant to our clients. We will strive to be a true partner to our suppliers because without our suppliers we can’t deliver the talent that our clients need”

— Erin Hough, Senior Manager, North American Supply Chain at Allegis Global Solutions

procurement are proof points. With each recommendation we make to add, remove or even realign suppliers based on geographies or skillsets, our recommendations are driven mainly by data,” she says. “The strategies that we implement with our supply chain consistently aligns with our data analytics. The value of relationships is not eliminated, we know when a supplier’s team w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

ALLEGIS GLOBAL SOLUTIONS

is demonstrating a strong partnership to both AGS and our clients. The data simply paints a more complete picture and allows us to make the best business decision about their success or lack of success within one of our programs.” Hough acknowledges that industry wide we are experiencing digital transformation of both staffing and procurement. Technology, she notes, is changing the way procurement and hiring managers are attracting, motivating and retaining the right talent in 20

the marketplace. “What we are seeing is growth in artificial intelligence and automation in order to meet the needs of our clients. We are educating our hiring managers to think differently about the way that work gets done,” she says. “They might look at a role that is knowledge driven or has repetitive tasks as one that can be completed by a robot, or artificial intelligence.” “The digital transformation we are experiencing in our industry will enhance our service offerings and streamline our processes to make AGS more efficient. This will not eliminate the need for a human to be involved. Roles that require relationship building or a consultative JANUARY 2019

S U P P LY C H A I N

CLICK TO WATCH : ‘AGS INTELLECT 2018 STEVE PARKER EXPLAINS’ 21 approach would still need to be completed by a person,” Hough explains. Both AGS and its clients must navigate this changing landscape and so it is integral that AGS identifies trends and understands the digital impact in order to continue providing the best talent and maintain those leading relationships. Hough admits as much and notes that as AGS works across multiple global sectors, the best way forward for both AGS and its clients is to invest, collaborate and share knowledge. “Supply chain and procurement are evolving and we are experiencing those changes across all of the industries AGS supports. In order to stay on w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

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S U P P LY C H A I N

PA R T NE R S — INF O T R E E , A QUE N T, C OMP UG A IN

“These suppliers are part of our strategic supplier program, meaning they are our top 1% of suppliers across the globe. They have built strong partnerships and trust with us. We know that they are suppliers we can rely on. If we need honest feedback about what’s going on in the market place or a tough skill set that we need help with, we know that they’ll dedicate

a team to help us to make sure we’re supporting the client. Each of these suppliers have also contributed by providing us with market intel. Telling us what’s going on in the market, what their pain points are, giving us suggestions for ways that we could improve their user experience. They’ve just been true partners to us. They’ve been great.” 23

top of these changes, we have an

A key example of how AGS has

innovation team that is constantly seek-

embraced technology and innovation

ing out and testing new ideas,” she says.

is through the implementation of a

“We’re also partnering with our

proprietary workforce system called

suppliers to gain an understanding of

QUANTUM. The QUANTUM Platform

what they are experiencing in the market.

acts as a single point of entry to all

We are attending industry conferences

types of workers including contractors,

to learn more about the evolution of the

consultants and full-time employees.

industry, artificial intelligence, chat bot

QUANTUM simplifies the hiring manager

and the gig economy, so that we can

experience and enables AGS’ clients to

be better prepared.”

make data driven/fact-based decisions w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

ALLEGIS GLOBAL SOLUTIONS

more efficiently. Backed by robust data and the consultation of a talent advisor, QUANTUM has created a whole new user experience for hiring managers and is improving time to fill, cost and quality. “AGS’ talent advisors can work with the hiring managers to understand what their tasks and business objectives are and then create and develop a resource plan based on those specific needs. This approach coupled with client-specific data, comparative benchmarks and external market insights ensure that our hiring managers have evaluated the options 24

and they have been advised on the best talent in the right location for the best price”, she says.

JANUARY 2019

S U P P LY C H A I N

One example of how QUANTUM creates efficiency â&#x20AC;&#x201C; â&#x20AC;&#x153;It helps to highlight quality candidates that will be coming available and allows them to be redeployed within the same company, rather than them ending an assignment and having them sit on the bench to wait for another opportunity to come along. For example, if a particular candidate is rolling off of an assignment and is perfect for another opportunity within the same organization, we can redeploy them and have them back to work the next day with a simplified onboarding process,â&#x20AC;? says Hough. Implemented last year, QUANTUM is already showing great results: better than 50% reduction in time to fill, time to submit went from an average of 48-72 hours down to less than a day (usually a few hours) and an improved user experience through technology and the interactions with the talent advisors. By removing the antiquated process of waiting to see what talent is out there or waiting for a hiring manager to detail their needs, AGS can provide access to the best talent of today and tomorrow. This is but one example of how AGS has transformed its procurement process through technology. Hough points to the implementation of artificial intelligence that helps suppliers with their pre-screening processes and w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

ALLEGIS GLOBAL SOLUTIONS

JANUARY 2019

S U P P LY C H A I N

“From an operational perspective our clients and our operations can identify trends and start forecasting. Our suppliers that have access to this system they’re able to see how they’re performing in comparison to their competitors in that particular program” — Erin Hough, Senior Manager, North American Supply Chain at Allegis Global Solutions

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ALLEGIS GLOBAL SOLUTIONS

removing “black holes” that seem to

ed scorecards that provide real-time

exist after candidates are submitted.

performance analytics. “From an

Another key technology that AGS now

operational perspective, our clients

utilizes is the ACUMEN system. The

and our internal teams can identify

ACUMEN system is a platform that

trends and start forecasting. Our

displays and monitors key performance

strategic suppliers have access to this

indicators across the entire AGS

system and they’re able to benchmark

ecosystem of suppliers, clients and

their performance in comparison to

AGS’ internal teams. It highlights spend

their competitors within a particular

activity, as well as quality and speed

program,” says Hough.

metrics for a program. With this tool, AGS has been able to create automatJANUARY 2019

“It also gives our program officers, our clients, and our suppliers the

S U P P LY C H A I N

opportunity to make immediate changes

change and approach our clients with

as they start to see trends going in the

strategy and innovation by implement-

right or even the wrong direction.”

ing technologies such as ACUMEN

Industries all around the world will

and QUANTUM. This will allow us to

continue to evolve and so too will the

continually impact the lives of others by

skillsets needed to serve their needs.

matching great talent to great organi-

AGS embraces these changes by

zations,” says Hough.

providing universal access to all forms of talent. The ACUMEN and QUANTUM systems are two examples of this. “We must continue to position ourselves as thought leaders in our industry, embrace w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

LEADERSHIP

JANUARY 2019

â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;We are Data Managementas-a-Serviceâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Jaspreet Singh, founder and CEO of Druva, talks about how the company is making it simpler for businesses to take advantage of the cloud WRITTEN BY

DAN BRIGHT MORE

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LEADERSHIP

ruva started out ten years ago building disaster recovery software for the financial sector but by 2013 it had

pivoted into building back up software and

data management tools purely native to the Amazon Web Services (AWS) platform. This was a strategic move so that any company considering using AWS could also benefit from Druva for its data solutions to and from the platform. Druva (featured in the Deloitte 500) is now among the top three storage partners for AWS, protecting more than 40 PB of data for 4,000 customers globally 32

(including the likes of Lockheed Martin, DHL, Tata and Ikea). As the industry’s fastest growing data protection provider, Druva’s award-winning solutions intelligently collect data; and unify backup, disaster recovery, archival and governance capabilities onto a single, optimized data set. “The market wasn’t ready for mass cloud adoption a decade ago but has come our way in the last five years and, with the help of funding, we’ve been very successful,” recalls founder and CEO Jaspreet Singh. “As the AWS and cloud traction picks up so does the need for Druva - the industry’s first data management-as-a-service solution that aggregates data from endpoints, servers and cloud applications. We leverage the JANUARY 2019

public cloud to offer a single pane of glass enabling data protection, governance and intelligence, dramatically increasing the availability and visibility of business-critical information, while reducing the risk, cost and complexity of managing and protecting it.” With today’s market featuring software providers such as Commvault, hardware providers like EMC or hyper conversion specialists like Rubrik, Singh saw a gap for Druva as there was no cloud native solution or SaaS tech to deliver a unified service across the globe. “It took us a few years to perfect delivering a service with a predictable service-level agreement (SLA) at a specific price point,” he says. “A combination of innovation and internal engineering was required to make the solution extremely native to AWS. It’s a custom build software service stack which means we take care of security, cost optimisation, DevOps etc. It’s been an interesting journey and as AWS improves there is a customer expectation we must also improve our offering. Every time AWS makes a new announcement for a new storage tier, an improved way of doing machine learning or input/output we are often the Beta partner to be first to market with those new technologies.” Druva’s partnership with AWS has been w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

LEADERSHIP

leveraged in this way with Snowball Edge. Druva supported its stack to sit inside Snowball Edge from its day of launch when private lanes were announced for the transfer of data between clouds so the company was able to offer this service between VMC, VLS and Amazon. “Now we can support our customers not only in the way the data can be protected, but also how it can be analysed appropriately and the value-driven,” adds Singh. So what are some of the key benefits 34

Druva’s Data Management-as-a-Service can offer its clients? “There’s a lot of ‘cloud washing’ right now…” counters Singh. “But if you look at the core benefits of cloud, it’s a lot more than technology. It’s a business model built around cost optimization, agility, innovation and time to market. Druva stands for all those things. Given that a platform can replace traditional hardware, software services and management it’s a much lower TCU compared to the typical workload where you have to buy peak capacity for five years. With Druva you can buy consumption on demand.” Singh adds that when it comes to business agility and innovation Druva JANUARY 2019

Jaspreet Singh, Founder & CEO, Druva

CLICK TO WATCH : ‘CONQUER YOUR MOUNTAIN OF DATA WITH DRUVA AT VMWORLD 2018’ 35 is transforming enterprises by adapting to the new cloud native technologies much faster than its customers can do on their own and indeed quicker than any of its competitors. “The third main benefit is our speed to market,” he continues. “Druva is the only solution that can be launched in as little as a week. It can take months for our competitors to deploy a solution like this. The peace of mind we offer across the globe is something our customers can’t get anywhere else.” As data becomes more fragmented and risks increase - with ransomware, GDPR, back-up/ recovery requirements and the locality of data - a centralized way of managing information is w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

LEADERSHIP

required so efficient data management

enabling it to offer customers the best

becomes essential. Druva’s alliances

integrated stack with a solution that

with key partners drive that efficiency.

can be built through AWS Marketplace

“Our most prominent partnership is

and its unified billing model so AWS

with AWS,” highlights Singh, who also

credits can be used to purchase Druva.

notes that Druva is gaining traction with

“We’re also building further alliances

the likes of VMware for its virtualization

where AWS field reps are compensated

needs, helping it protect and manage

for selling Druva,” adds Singh. “We can

all customer data residing in private

go to market together and attack the

infrastructure, public cloud and hybrid

best customer value together.”

virtual environments. Highly integrated with Amazon there are multiple tiers to Druva’s partnership, 36

JANUARY 2019

Druva has also partnered with Nutanix to offer a comprehensive hybrid cloud solution for backup, archiving and

“ As the AWS and cloud traction picks up so does the need for Druva — the industry’s first Data Managementas-a-Service solution that aggregates data from endpoints, servers and cloud applications” — Jaspreet Singh, Founder & CEO, Druva

disaster recovery. “Druva provides

of Druva customers. “Our clients want

workload mobility and data protection

faster and more affordable ways to adopt

with seamless hypervisor-level backup

and adapt to cloud,” he says. “Allied to

to the Druva Cloud for Nutanix NX

this is the inherent desire from them

appliances,” affirms Singh. “As a result,

to mine data in the cloud and analyse it

customers get the simplicity and

to drive business value. Now, with data

performance of the Nutanix hypercon-

born in the cloud, enterprises want a

verged infrastructure platform, with the

holistic strategy to manage this new

elastic scale, global reach and cloud

kind of data now out of physical reach.

economics of Druva Phoenix cloudnative data protection.”

Druva plans to focus on all three,” pledges Singh. “Today we manage the

Singh believes alliances like these are

business continuity and data protection

vital to keep up with the trends of the

for our customers looking at cloud in

market and meet the changing needs

terms of secondary data, backup and w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

LEADERSHIP

recovery data, disaster recovery – all to be stored in the cloud, where we also manage SaaS applications for them. We’re also looking at ways to help monetize and capitalize on the data they have stored with governance, compliance and analysis strategies.” Druva has found success across a diverse range of sectors. Among them, GameStop — an American brand which delivers online and offline gaming services across the globe— is a big AWS customer, with a successful online 38

gaming portal which required a holistic data protection software solution. “They not only needed to protect data at hundreds of different locations across the globe but also the data born in the cloud where the architecture required better AR resiliency,” explains Singh. “Gamestop uses our platform to deploy its software around the world and also in its Amazon account to protect the data born there allowing them to build that holistic approach through Druva protecting and managing its data.” Elsewhere, Saint-Gobain (a construction materials manufacturer founded in France in 1665) is now one of Druva’s biggest European customers after it JANUARY 2019

“ Data integrations currently take days or weeks, but this will give us the ability to quickly backup an acquired company’s data and seamlessly incorporate it into our existing storage repository” — Brian Bagwell, Director of IT, North America, at ANDRITZ

CLICK TO WATCH : ‘DATA MANAGEMENT-AS-A-SERVICE: THE DRUVA STORY’ 39 adapted to the cloud for the first time. “We have helped them build a centralized backup and disaster recovery practice on AWS public cloud,” says Singh. “They are now procuring software through Marketplace to deploy where appropriate.” Druva is also working with an Asian oil mining company with rigs and platforms across the world. “They had a unique problem,” recalls Singh. “They had to find a way to support predictive data delivered to their ships across the fleet and return it for processing. To make sure data was not lost they used hardware throughout the fleet to physically return it. But with Druva they were able to w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

LEADERSHIP

automate data processing across their

senior analyst of storage technologies

oil rigs to automatically backup to cloud

at 451 Research elaborates: “The new

and their data centre for processing

AWS Snowball Edge is designed for

where results can be delivered. It was

moving data at scale, and adds compute

a dramatic change in how they managed

capabilities to its hardened, secure

their information cutting down their

system for moving up to 100 TB to the

processing time from months to a

cloud. With AWS Snowball Edge, Druva

matter of days.”

can offer a new model for data protection

Druva’s customers can testify to the strides made in transferring dozens of

that’s tightly integrated with cloud migration capabilities.”

terabytes of data to the cloud - which

Brian Bagwell, director of IT, North

can be an insurmountable challenge

America, at ANDRITZ is excited about

for companies located where internet

the potential of this offering, both for the

bandwidth is at a premium. Steven Hill,

management of his company’s current

JANUARY 2019

global footprint and for future mergers

“My view of the market is of a large

and acquisitions: “Data integrations

enterprise segment,” he says. “In the

currently take days or weeks, but this

next three years a third of businesses

will give us the ability to quickly backup

will adopt SaaS, a third will adapt to

an acquired company’s data and seam-

managing cloud directly (not through

lessly incorporate it into our existing

SaaS but by pulling their workloads)

storage repository. An on-demand

and the remainder will still manage

solution from Druva on AWS is a game

on-prem. In the mid-market, which is

changer for our approach to data

the majority of Europe and the US, I see

management and data protection.”

the split as 50% SaaS, 30% cloud

With more and more success stories of companies like these transitioning to

workload and 20% on-prem.” Singh believes overall the market will

the cloud, what are Singh’s predictions

transition to the cloud in two ways:

for the next major milestone in the space?

moving to SaaS offerings like Druva or w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

LEADERSHIP

“ In the next two years, all major countries will have privacy laws which will regulate how data is supported and processed within a specified region and who can process it. The level of scrutiny will fuel cloud development because the traditional software stack of colocation and data centre cannot fulfil demand” — Jaspreet Singh, Founder & CEO, Druva

JANUARY 2019

managing their own software stack on top of a public cloud. “This will be fuelled by two core trends,” he adds. “In the next two years, all major countries will have privacy laws which will regulate how data is supported and processed within a specified region and who can process it. The level of scrutiny will fuel cloud development because the traditional software stack of colocation and data centre cannot fulfil demand. We’ll see a massive shift to make the cloud inexpensive and more achievable at mid-market through server-less computing with outcomedriven pricing and machine learning which will be the new mobile 2.0. It will make software smarter, cheaper and easier to use.” Druva hopes to amplify its efforts to make the cloud more accessible while both easier to use and consume. “We want to double down and help our users mine and analyse data sitting the cloud to address the problem of how to utilize data in a much broader way,” asserts Singh. “We’re keen to grow as robustly as we did in 2018 - fuelled by the consumption of cloud we’re the fastest data protection growth company in the world and aim to keep up the pace.”

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TECHNOLOGY

A CUSTOMER JOURNEY DRIVEN BY DATA 44

Business Chief sits down with Omnistream founder Wendy Chen to find out how sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s using new methods and old tricks to survive and thrive in Singapore and beyond WRITTEN BY

JANUARY 2019

HARRY MENE AR

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TECHNOLOGY

endy Chen began her career in finance. She worked as a trader for both Barclays and Jane Street Capital, largely special-

ising in ‘quant’ trading: large transactions involving

the sale and purchase of thousands of shares at once. “I was doing quant trading for a while”, Chen recalls, “and I saw this opportunity to bring that same type of thinking to enterprises in Asia”. With her trading experience, Chen saw an opportunity to levy her skills and experience from the finance sector and apply them to a new market and a new company. Reflecting on the genesis of Omnistream, Chen confides that “what’s really interesting about 46

the quant trading business is that so much of the secret sauce is in how you operationalize the algorithms - how you think about business continuity and operational data.” She founded Omnistream in 2013 with the goal of using a ‘quant’ trading’s algorithmic, machine learning-powered methods to provide a statisticsdriven retail analysis service, capable of keeping up with “how fast things are changing” in South East Asia and other emerging markets. “Speed and automation are quite important”, Chen explains. “Given infinite time and infinite humans, you could probably replicate a lot of analytics. However, you’re talking about customers who want solutions in five days, not five months”. “It’s very hard for Western enterprises to service South East Asia. A lot of it is just costs structure. JANUARY 2019

“ GIVEN INFINITE TIME AND INFINITE HUMANS, YOU COULD PROBABLY REPLICATE A LOT OF ANALYTICS. HOWEVER, YOU’RE TALKING ABOUT CUSTOMERS WHO WANT SOLUTIONS IN FIVE DAYS, NOT FIVE MONTHS” — Wendy Chen, Omnistream founder

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TECHNOLOGY

They’re earning nice, juicy margins in the US and in the UK. It’s really hard for them to take that really high-touch, high-cost structure they have for servicing customers and bring it to South East Asia.” Chen saw a gap in the market for a new style of analysis and consulting service. Talking about the difference between Omnistream and its competitors, she explains: “it’s a very different service. We probably don’t customize nearly as much, because we don’t spend nearly 48

as much time consulting. We also don’t do as many in-person surveys; we’re more data-driven.” Omnistream’s more one-size-fitsall approach means it can offer its services at a rate that is significantly lower than those of traditional consulting and analytics firms. Chen laughs, “if you look at some of the income statements from these publicly traded companies, you’ll see that they cost a good soul.” “Because we answer the same questions the same questions over and over again, we don’t need to give our customers all the bells and whistles.” She explains the service Omnistream JANUARY 2019

Wendy Chen, Omnistream founder

49 provides as “just answering three questions: where do you put a store? What do you put in a store? And at what price do you sell it?” Omnistream answers these questions using three types of data which it feeds into its complex computational algorithms to create its insights. First, transactional data — “whatever it is the business generates by operating” — that can include everything from local foot traffic to loyalty program participation. Second, “there’s open, external data”, says Chen. “What we mean by that is how far away are your closest competitors? w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

TECHNOLOGY

Are they down the road? Are there lots of them? Are they different?”

The third element of Omnistream’s service relies upon the application

Open data also deals with the number

of proprietary and open data to the

of people within a business’ “catchment

company’s artificial intelligence (AI)

area”. “It sounds obvious”, Chen admits,

algorithms. Part of the service Omnis-

“but we’re talking about very dynamically

tream provides is the ‘fine-tuning’ of its

changing countries, so the data from

AI software from previously gathered

a year ago is very different to today.”

data. Chen explains: “for machine

“We think of a retailer’s addressable

learning to work, your algorithms

world as more than people who just walk

basically need to have something

by,” Chen says. “If there are 120,000

called fine-tuning… you need to train

people who live in your catchment area,

your AI with lots and lots of data… So,

how come you’re only addressing

you need to work with founders who

10,000 of them?”

have worked in similar markets”.

JANUARY 2019

“ BECAUSE WE ANSWER THE SAME QUESTIONS OVER AND OVER AGAIN, WE DON’T NEED TO GIVE OUR CUSTOMERS ALL THE BELLS AND WHISTLES” — Wendy Chen, Omnistream founder

While the majority of analysis compa-

we had a retailer tell us: ‘stop showing us

nies gather this data, which clients then

dashboards. Just tell me what the answer

use in-house data analysts to decipher,

is and why… I don’t want to see your data’,

and the majority of consultancies rely

they just want to get to the solution.”

on the “high-touch, high-cost” approach

The model is proving effective. In

that too often proves too slow and too

2018, Omnistream began operations

expensive for the emerging market,

in Indonesia, Vietnam and Myanmar,

Chen has designed Omnistream to offer

and Chen says the company plans to

data-plus-consultancy as a service.

expand into Thailand, Japan, South

Chen reflects that customers just want

Korea and Malaysia soon.

to know: “Hey! How do I grow faster and make more profits?”

“We use the beachhead strategy”. This method, Chen explains, involves

“Everything in the middle is just chaos

specially selecting a client - ‘a sizeable

and noise.” She recalls that “yesterday

retailer’ - who is looking to expand into a w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

TECHNOLOGY

new market and open to operationalizing Omnistream’s insights. Omnistream’s lower cost model makes no attempt to “bill large amounts of money up front. We actually want to do a revenue split with them”: Clients simply pay a portion of any increase in profits related to Omnistream’s services. Chen describes it as: “making an investment”. While currently Omnistream’s operations are restricted to the Asia Pacific markets, its model of data-driven retail consulting is something that Wendy JANUARY 2019

Chen knows “definitely applies to more than South East Asia.” She believes that anywhere where growth and market instability is outpacing the traditional models for consultation and analysis could benefit from the Omnistream model. “The people who win in this region are the ones who can adapt and capitalise on change as it’s happening.” “We’re definitely looking at the whole emerging world.” The faith Wendy Chen has in her venture is undeniable. She is throwing her startup into an ecosystem where, more than anything, being nimble is key. Omnistream’s outcomes-as-a-service structure is a testament to her confidence in its agility and ability to bring drastic cost reductions to its chosen clients. Chen laughs again: “How many big enterprise players actually say ‘Hey, only pay us if you win?’”

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CITY FOCUS | LAS VEGAS

LAS City Focus

Las Vegas partners with Israeli tech startup Waycare to increase road safety and ease congestion WRITTEN BY

HARRY MENEAR

JANUARY 2019

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CITY FOCUS | LAS VEGAS

ituated in the heart of the Mojave desert, Las Vegas is the United Statesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; premier hub for gambling-

based entertainment. The city received 49.2mn visitors in 2017, representing a 1.2% increase year-on-year, according to the Las Vegas Review Journal. With a native population of 641,000, and one third of all visitors traveling from California, mostly by car, Las Vegas is in the top 3% of the most congested cities in the world. Satellite navigation device manufacturer TomTom reported that, in 2016, its customers 56

drove a total of 1,687,795 miles on Las Vegas roads. On average, drivers experienced 76 hour delays annually, a 24% travel time increase in contrast to the national average.

JANUARY 2019

57 To combat congestion, the Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada, the Nevada Department of Transportation and the Nevada Highway Patrol have partnered with Israeli tech startup Waycare, in order to bring a technological transformation to the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s largest highway. Interstate 15 runs from Primm, California to the Arizona border at Mesquite. Running through the centre of Las Vegas, it is the main artery for passenger and freight traffic in and out of the city. Waycare began its crash prevention pilot program in February. The software uses â&#x20AC;&#x153;invehicle information and municipal traffic data to w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

CITY FOCUS | LAS VEGAS

understand road conditions in real-time”, the Las Vegas Review Journal reports. Israeli journal Haaretz continues that “WayCare’s traffic monitoring technology is installed in Nevada’s traffic control center, seeing and reacting to everything relevant happening on Las Vegas’ roads and providing real-time solutions”. The software gathers information from sensor points and other applications to build a reactive, real-time model. Information harvested from microwave vehicle detection, data from on board devices, navigation apps, 58

local weather forecasting, event data, construction reports, road closures, traffic incidents, public transportation schedules, and live camera feeds is all compiled and redis-

“WayCare not only knows what is hap-

tributed in order to ease the flow of traffic

pening everywhere but can use the data

by the system’s Artificial Intelligence.

to predict the likelihood of a traffic jam

“It even uses ticket sales from Ticket-

and what areas are at risk for accidents”,

Master to forecast crowd sizes at sports

Haaretz notes, “and to respond by

events and concerts”.

changing the timing on traffic lights,

The partnership between Waycare

opening and closing roads, altering

and Las Vegas’ traffic management

messages on road signs and sending

entails near-complete control of sections

out instructions to police officers.”

of the city’s road network, including the

Waycare controllers use the app to

ability to dispatch and regulate the move-

detect traffic incidents, sending a report

ments of law enforcement personnel.

“that includes a video… automatically to

JANUARY 2019

the relevant party,” said Waycare CEO, Noam Maital. Law enforcement officers serving on the stretch of Interstate 15 covered by the trial receive instructions via Waycare, rather than traditional two-way radios. Theresa Gaisser, a controller, told Haaretz that WayCare reduced response times to traffic incidents in the trial area “by an average of 12 minutes”. Elaborating on this, Tina Quigley, RTC general manager told the press: w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

CITY FOCUS | LAS VEGAS

“Groundbreaking partnerships like this enable Southern Nevada to continue to lead the way in leveraging advanced technologies to dramatically improve traffic safety and efficiency. These latest statistics coupled with the fact that we are identifying accidents up to 12 minutes faster with the Waycare platform helps translate what public and private partnerships can do and that AI is working to modernize and create a better transportation system for all.” Maital admitted to Haaretz that 60

Waycare’s interface required some adjustment after police field tests: “it began on the basic level of adjusting the keys on the tablets carried by police and patrol officers — they have the fingers of working people. Another was moving the screens and maps to night mode because they lit up the squad car like a flashlight”. However, after the eight-month trial period, accidents on the affected stretch of I-15 are reported as being down by 17%, and Waycare has received positive feedback from members of Las Vegas’ law enforcement community. “Traditionally, law

JANUARY 2019

WayCare reduced response times to traffic incidents in the trial area by an average of 12 minutes

enforcement has relied on anecdotal evidence to determine where to deploy resources to respond to traffic related issues,” said Lieutenant Colonel Daniel Solow, Nevada Highway Patrol. “Now, with the technology that Waycare has brought to Southern Nevada, the Highway Patrol can proactively deploy units into an area when the system identifies a high likelihood of

something happening and prevent crashes before they even happen. This translates into significantly faster treatment for those injured in crashes, quicker clearance and restoration of normal traffic flow, and untold millions of dollars in commerce related delays that are prevented.” Following the success of its pilot program in Las Vegas, WayCare is now in talks with the city of Tampa, Florida and with the state of Delaware.

w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

T O P 10

JANUARY 2019

Top 10 Brands in the USA Business Chief takes a look at the top 10 most valuable brands in the United States, originally listed by Forbes Magazine WRITTEN BY

HARRY MENEAR

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T O P 10

General Electric Headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, General Electric is a multinational energy conglomerate focused on developing and manufacturing products for the “generation, transmission, distribution, control and utilization of electricity”, according to Forbes. The company reported net sales of US$121.5bn in 2018, as well as net losses of $7.8bn. In October, General Electric promoted H. Lawrence Culp Jr to CEO and chairman of the board. He is the first outside hire to the position in the company’s 126 year history.

www.ge.com

JANUARY 2019

McDonald’s The McDonald’s Corporation was founded in 1955 and is the most valuable restaurant conglomerate in the world, engaging in the management and franchising of chain restaurants globally. It is also the second-largest fast food chain by number of restaurants, with 37,200 locations worldwide. The company reported a net revenue of $23.2bn in 2018, and profits totaling $5.4bn, the highest since 2013. McDonald’s is headquartered in Oak Brook, Illinois, and its CEO is Steve Easterbrook, who has served in the position since 2015.

www.mcdonalds.com

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T O P 10

AT&T Dallas-based company AT&T Inc. engages in the provision of digital communication and entertainment services in the United States and abroad. The company is ranked 5th on the Forbes list of the largest public companies in America. AT&T also ranked 4th on the Forbes list of most profitable American companies, with a bottom line totaling $30.6bn in 2018, a 10-year high point for the company. Randall Stephenson, AT&Tâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s CEO, has served in the position since 2007.

www.att.com

JANUARY 2019

Walt Disney Founded in 1923, the Walt Disney Company is headquartered in Burbank, California and functions as a “diversified international family entertainment and media enterprise” that operates through the “Media Networks, Parks & Resorts, Studio Entertainment and Consumer Products & Interactive Media” segments, according to Forbes. The company reported net sales of $56.8bn in 2018, with a net profit of $11.5bn. Both represent continuations of a nine-year growth period.

www.thewaltdisneycompany.com

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T O P 10

Coca-Cola The Coca-Cola Company is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. Founded in 1892, it is the second-oldest company in the Top 10, behind General Electric. Coca-Cola engages in the manufacturing, marketing and sale of non-alcoholic beverages, according to Forbes. Brands managed by the company include: Coca-Cola, Diet Coke, Coca-Cola Zero, Fanta, Sprite, Minute Maid, Georgia, Powerade, Del Valle, Schweppes, Aquarius, Minute Maid Pulpy, Dasani, Simply, Glaceau Vitaminwater, Bonaqua, Gold Peak, Fuze Tea, Glaceau Smartwater, and Ice Dew. In 2018, Coca-Colaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s assets totaled $93.3bn, an all-time high for the company.

www.coca-cola.com

JANUARY 2019

Amazon Seattle-based company, Amazon.com Inc. provides online retail shopping services worldwide. With 566,000 workers, it is the largest employer in the Top 10, and is ranked 1st on Forbesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; list of US digital companies. Amazon reported net sales of $193.2bn in 2018, with record profits of $3.9bn. Jeff Bezos founded the company in 1994 and serves as its chairman and CEO. His personal net worth is reported by Forbes as $126.2bn, the largest in the world.

www.amazon.com

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T O P 10

Facebook Founded by Mark Zuckerberg and headquartered in Menlo Park, California, Facebook, Inc. provides online social networking services to 2.28bn users worldwide, according to Statista. In addition to the Facebook brand and services, the company also controls Instagram, Messenger, Whatsapp and Oculus. In 2018, Facebook reported record high sales, profits, and valuation of its asset portfolio, with $44.6bn, $88.9bn, and $17.9bn respectively. Founded in 2004, it is the youngest company in the Top 10.

www.facebook.com

JANUARY 2019

Microsoft Microsoft Corp. has engaged in the development and marketing of software and hardware products for computing devices, servers, phones and intelligent devices since 1975, according to Forbes. â&#x20AC;&#x153;It also offers server applications for distributed computing environments, productivity applications, business solution applications, desktop and server management tools, software deveFounded by Mark Zuckerberg and headquartered in Menlo Park, California, Facebook, Inc. provides online social networking services to 2.28bn users worldwide, according to Statista. In addition to the Facebook brand and services, the company also controls Instagram, Messenger, Whatsapp and Oculus. In 2018, Facebook reported record high sales, profits, and valuation of its asset portfolio, with $44.6bn, $88.9bn, and $17.9bn respectively. Founded in 2004, it is the youngest company in the Top 10.lopment tools, video games, and online advertisingâ&#x20AC;?. Microsoftâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s CEO, Satya Nadella, has served in the position since 2014.

www.microsoft.com

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T O P 10

JANUARY 2019

Google Headquartered in Mountain View, California, Google Inc. is a multinational software company, focusing on the provision of services relating to internet-based services, including online advertising technologies, search engine, cloud computing, software, and hardware. The company has experienced a 10-year period of continuous revenue, profit, and asset growth, reporting $66bn, $9.7bn, and 18.5bn respectively.

www.google.com

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T O P 10

JANUARY 2019

Apple Apple Inc. is based in Cupertino, California and engages in the design, manufacture, marketing and sale of mobile communication, media devices, personal computers, and portable digital music players, according to Forbes. The company is ranked 3rd on Forbes’ list of the world’s best employers, and is America’s largest public company in terms of asset valuation, sales, and profits. In 2018, Apple reported record high sales, profits, and asset portfolio valuations, with $217.5bn, $53.3bn, and $367.5bn respectively. Tim Cook has served as the company’s CEO since 2011, previously working under founder and owner Steve Jobs as Apple COO.

www.apple.com

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PRODUCED BY

ARRON R A MPLING

JANUARY 2019

CANADA

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U N I V E R S I T Y O F S A S K AT C H E W A N

As the University of Saskatchewan moves away from manual operations to new technologies, a skilled procurement team remains essential, says Director of Enterprise Procurement, Richard LeBlanc

ichard LeBlanc joined the

bought something that helped

University of Saskatchewan a

enhance their experience, their work,

year ago when a new position

or their research,” LeBlanc notes.

as Director of Enterprise Procurement

With the university spending

was created to modernize the estab-

approximately $400mn (CAD) per year,

lishment’s procurement operations.

effectively managing procurement is

Procurement supports diverse areas,

vital. The university has recently

enabling the day-to-day running of

released its strategic plan for 2025,

most of the campus’ administration.

featuring pillars and aspirations which

“From students in the classrooms and

are guiding the procurement team’s

lecture halls to labs and agricultural

ongoing efforts. As well as an almost

research, members of my team have

entire overhaul of how procurement

JANUARY 2019

CANADA

processes are managed, the universi-

with the communities that support us

ty-wide strategy covers projects that

on the business side.”

align multiple departments. “Some of

As well as reconciliation efforts,

the key themes of our vision includes

the vision targets modernization and

the indigenization of the university;

the introduction of new technologies,

we’ve been working on a procurement

which marks a transition from manual

strategy for indigenous business for

processes within the procurement

several months,” says LeBlanc. “It

department. Several concepts have

aligns with the university’s main

been suggested as alternatives to the

objectives and helps us further

team’s current manual activities, with

advance the university’s reconciliation

a focus on automation and streamlining.

efforts, as well as strengthen our ties

These ideas, which LeBlanc stresses w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

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CANADA

“ From students in the classrooms and lecture halls to labs and agricultural research, members of my team have bought something that helped enhance their experience, their work, or their research” 83

— Richard LeBlanc, Director of Enterprise Procurement have all derived directly from the

being currently underway, others

team itself, have led to projects varying

are “a little bit broader in scope” –

in scale: from improving processes

however, even with an end in sight

and policy work to integrating a risk

LeBlanc stresses the importance of

framework. Communications and plan

always looking forward. “In regards

engagement functions will also be

to modernization, I think it is a journey

updated to improve the adoption rate

that should never end. If you look

of university-wide contracts. By modern-

back at the last five years, some of the

izing the process whereby stock is

enhancements, the new capabilities,

replenished in the facilities warehouse,

and the technologies have advanced

the team has successfully reduced

so much. You’ve always got to keep

buying time by approximately 20%.

growing and stretching in order to

Despite many of the team’s goals

take advantage of those advances, w w w.suppl yc ha i ndi gi ta l. com

U N I V E R S I T Y O F S A S K AT C H E W A N

$1bn Approximate revenue

22,400 Approximate number of students

1907 Year founded

JANUARY 2019

CANADA

or else you will just stagnate.” Essential to the university’s procurement transformation was the introduction of a procurement modernization working group, which has collected representatives from across campus. Through collaboration with the university’s Information and Communications Technology (ICT) group, the team has been able to better collect and store financial data. With greater access to data, the university has noticed an increase in efficiency and improved objectives with clear targets. “They’ve managed to pull all this information together for us and make it easy to gather

a complete picture, and then analyze that. They’ve been working on improving some of the systems that we do use to make the team’s job easier and more efficient.” With key targets in sight, it is easy to keep members of staff motivated, LeBlanc reveals. The department has identified 15 categories for improvement, with staff constantly highlighting developments that could be made within their operations. LeBlanc notes the importance of ensuring any new processes or technologies that are introduced are compatible with the department remarking that a fundamental aspect of his role it to “make sure the team feel like changes w w w.suppl yc ha i ndi gi ta l. com

U N I V E R S I T Y O F S A S K AT C H E W A N

JANUARY 2019

CANADA

“In regards to modernization, I think it is a journey that should never end” — Richard LeBlanc, Director of Enterprise Procurement

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U N I V E R S I T Y O F S A S K AT C H E W A N

are made with them, not to them”. “They’ve come up with a ton of ideas to improve our operations, he continues. “A lot of these are just little things that make the client’s life a little bit easier or better, or eliminate the need to go back to the client and improve time efficiency. This allows us to get the job done right the first time. The team is a constant source of ideas and energy, and they’re very invested in the work that they do. If we have a good idea, they’ll help build it up. If we have a less than optimal idea, they’ll help us 88

strengthen it by identifying the challenges within it. They’re very engaged and committed and that makes it easy.”

“ You’ve always got to keep growing and stretching in order to take advantage of those advances, or else you will just stagnate” — Richard LeBlanc, Director of Enterprise Procurement JANUARY 2019

As well as the focus on efficiency and using technology to streamline, the university has highlighted sustainability as a key target under its vision. With operations underway to improve the procurement team’s environmental impact, such as focusing on the materials selected when sourcing in order to reduce the campus’ climate footprint, the university is also targeting financial sustainability and sustainable business practices. The establishment’s procurement operations have

CANADA

traditionally centered on a decentral-

from identifying issues to generating

ized model, with each business unit

the concepts. With a long way to go,

having its own supplier base. However,

LeBlanc looks forward to continuing to

in efforts to streamline buying and

build upon the departmentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s positive

costs, the team are turning to a more

energy and introduce new operations

centralized approach.

that complement them.

Working within the collegial environment of a 100-year-old campus, LeBlanc has a big task ahead of him to bring processes up to date. The director has attributed the successful changes within sustainability and technology to the work of the team, w w w.suppl yc ha i ndi gi ta l. com

SSR MINING

Technology and growth through operational excellence

WRIT TEN BY

DA LE BENTON PRODUCED BY

RICHARD DE ANE

JANUARY 2019

MINING

w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

S S R M I N I N G ( S I LV E R S TA N D A R D R E S O U R C E S I N C . )

As SSR Mining embarks on a new digital future, operational excellence proves vital

fter more than 70 successful years of operation, exploration and development, SSR Mining (formerly Silver Standard

Resources) embarked on a journey to become an intermediate precious metals producer and one of the world’s leading premier mining companies. The 92

company currently has three mining operations, including the Marigold mine in Nevada, US, the Seabee Gold Operation in Saskatchewan, Canada and the 75% owned and operated Puna Operations joint venture in Jujuy Province, Argentina. SSR defines its existing and future success on strong exploration growth opportunities and operational excellence. It is the focus on operational excellence that will prove key, as SSR Mining’s existing and future success can be pinned on one crucial component – the development of its people. “The mining industry today needs to be more focused on continuous improvement and the best way to move forward is not necessarily through more capital, but better collaboration and more results with people,” explains Kevin O’Kane, Chief Operating Officer. “Personally, this is where I get JANUARY 2019

MINING

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CLICK TO WATCH : SEABEE GOLD OPERATION 95 excited. I look at how an organisation

development as well as health and

can become more effective. One of the

safety. During his career, he gained a

challenges and opportunities in SSR, a

keen understanding on how to get peo-

company that’s been in operation for

ple to where they need to go through

over 70 years and made up of different

collaboration and the standardisation

cultures and experiences, is how can

of best practices. “I can see where the

we create collaboration and consist-

different operations are at different

ency in an effective way.”

points, or people within the operations

O’Kane was appointed COO in early

have different levels of understanding,

2018 and brought with him over 30

and I’ve had the opportunity to see how

years of industry experience across

that connects together.” he says.

Chile and Canada, having worked with

As SSR continues its growth journey,

BHP for most of his career. He has

O’ Kane believes it must do so with the

worked at all levels of operations,

aim of maintaining the agility of a

project development, business

smaller company and the key for it to w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

S S R M I N I N G ( S I LV E R S TA N D A R D R E S O U R C E S I N C . )

“ The mining industry today needs to be more focused on continuous improvement and the best way to move forward is not necessarily through more capital, but better collaboration and more results with people” — Kevin O’Kane Chief Operating Officer SSR Mining

achieve this is through collaboration, leadership and indeed, standardisation. This is where Operational Excellence comes to the fore and SSR established the role of Director of Operational Excellence to drive this focus. But what is a Director of Operational Excellence? “It’s a position based on asking questions. Where can we expand and add value, build on the ideas our people already have, shine the light on solutions, create an environment where we can challenge

JANUARY 2019

MINING

the ways of thinking and due diligence”

transform operating models through

says Liezl van Wyk, Director Operation-

people, change management and

al Excellence with SSR. “It’s about

technology to unlock greater value.

creating different angles on problem

Technology, as it is in most modern

solving and bringing in a new wave of

industries, continues to be one of the

discussion. It is about our commitment

biggest drivers of change and SSR is no

to Safety, it is about leveraging and

different. Van Wyk is a firm believer of

empowering our workforce.”

using data and the accessibility of that

Van Wyk is no stranger to Operation-

data to quantify Operational Excellence.

al Excellence, having spent the best

“One of the very first projects that I

part of her career looking at mining

oversaw was centred around becoming

operations and creating ways in which

more disciplined on data and starting to

businesses can enhance strategy and

increase the connectivity of our existing systems more,” she says. “Across the industry, businesses are becoming cloud based because it’s a very centralised platform in which you can access information from anywhere and make data available to whoever needs to consume it.” “We’re an asset-centric business, so all our decisions need to be around maximizing, optimizing and independently coordinating the flow of assets and how it hands over from one to the next.” To this end, SSR built the necessary internal infrastructure that would allow the business to shift to this cloud-based platform where it makes sense. As a small, mid-tier company, SSR couldn’t w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

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CLICK TO WATCH : MARIGOLD MINE OPERATION 99 outsource this implementation to con-

need to do is look at the whole value

sultants or technology vendors and so

chain, understand where our primary

this required a lean, targeted, fit-for-pur-

and secondary bottlenecks are, what

pose problem-solving approach from

the gaps are, against what good looks

Van Wyk and her team. Technology is all

like, and focus on those gaps,” he says.

well and good but it is the people, and

“It’s obvious, but it’s not always easy,

their capabilities, that ultimately turn

because when you’re somewhat of

potential into opportunity and value.

a personnel-driven organisation, you

O’Kane seconds this approach and

focus on areas that the senior people

speaks of how the company overcame

think are important, and that’s not

this challenge through leadership

necessarily always where the focus

and competency development

needs to be.

programmes for all levels of operation.

“I’m trying to focus on those so that

“Quite often, we focus on where we

when we sit down with the management

think the gaps are, and what we really

teams in each of the sites, we’re talking w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

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“We focus on the whole value chain. Quite often people focus only on the gaps they see. We need to understand where our primary and secondary bottlenecks are, what the gaps are, against what good looks like, and focus on those gaps from a value chain perspective” — Kevin O’Kane Chief Operating Officer SSR Mining

JANUARY 2019

MINING

101

about where we’re going, and what the

operated for more than 70 years. Van

barriers are to us moving forward, to be

Wyk points to the one word that’s on

more effective. It’s an opportunity to

everybody’s lips in any organisation is

have interesting discussions about how

capital and the allocation of that capital.

you can determine where, in the value

Talk of change is all well and good but

chain, you need to focus management

eventually it’s going to come down to

attention, so you produce safer and

cost, timing and priority and how much

more productive results.”

is going to be needed to invest in this

The challenge then becomes one

change. Van Wyk acknowledges this

of implementing change, especially

and again the key is around people.

in a company that has successfully

The importance of educating company w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

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leaders in the value of what Operational

“I usually ask: Is it a tool or is it a toy?”

Excellence together with new technolo-

And to move the sentiment, this is not a

gies can bring is fundamental. She points

toy, it’s actually becoming a tool, so that

to a process of small-scale proof of

those biases of where we are going to

concepts (POCs) as being key to this

spend money are where we know we

conversation as it enables a willingness

will get value. One way to mitigate that

to experiment and change the way of

challenge or that risk is quick, small POCs,

thinking. “If you’re going to spend money

and showing where the risk sits and the

on drilling 100 exploration holes versus

willingness then to take it on or not.”

spending money on some kind of tech

These POCs prove fundamental in not

savvy data platform and tablet-based

only highlighting where Van Wyk and her

computing, you are more likely to spend

teams are making progress and driving

funds or invest capital on 100 exploration

change, but also in unlocking future

drilling holes if that’s always been the

growth. O’Kane points to the company’s

mindset of the company,” she says.

Marigold project as a shining example of

JANUARY 2019

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“ It’s not just a singular problem you’re solving and in using Operational Excellence tools and a value-based approach to show the value, you can achieve many goals across all levels of the organization” — Liezl van Wyk Director of Operational Excellence SSR Mining

this. He notes that historically, SSR had focused solely on improving productivity at the mine; but by making great improvements in truck productivity and Operational Excellence it has allowed the company to look at the next bottleneck. Through the centralised system at Marigold, operators now have access to real-time analysis on site performance which allows them to take immediate action and move forward faster than ever before. SSR is also completing its first multiple drills automation project to significantly improve both drilling and blasting, but O’Kane is keen to stress it goes beyond simple productivity benefits. w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

S S R M I N I N G ( S I LV E R S TA N D A R D R E S O U R C E S I N C . )

1946

Year founded

500+

Approximate number of employees 104

“That project is really about us learning how to do the automation

how they’ve implemented it.” This is echoed by Van Wyk, as she

journey, so we’ll be able to then take

feels that value is and will always be

what we’ve learned about how the

quantified at the business level by

organization adjusted to automating

shareholder returns and employee

equipment, to apply it to other equip-

engagement. “So, it’s the right an-

ment and this benefits safety,” he says.

swers at the right cost point and doing

“It has been accepted very well by

it very safely,” she says. “It’s not just a

the work-force, and the drillers, who

singular problem you’re solving and

you would think, if their equipment

in using Operational Excellence tools

is being automated, would be quite

and a value-based approach to show

resistant to it, but they’ve been a

the value, you can achieve many goals

great help. I think that’s a testimony

across all levels of the organization.”

to the management team there, in JANUARY 2019

“Our best ideas have come from all

MINING

105

levels of the organization. We are

Operational Excellence has be-

proud of our employees. They are

come embedded into the company’s

the ones whom have taken onboard

very DNA but as Van Wyk highlights,

the OE approaches as part of their

Operational Excellence is all about

day to day considerations. They

continuous improvement. “I look in

have brought forward the safety

terms of opportunities that are out

improvement ideas, the cost savings

there, and things do change quite a

initiatives, the production improve-

lot, but the foundational aspects don’t

ments, the different angles on old

and these are what we build on,” she

problems. And we assisted with

says. “It’s a combination of building

the tools, the frameworks and the

on the foundational pieces as well

enablers. One needs trust, strong

as a culture of creativity and willing-

relationships, and great leader-

ness to try something. Learn fast, fail

ship to bring this all together.”

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JANUARY 2019

MINING

bring back an improved product. We are finding better ways to operate every day” “That’s the world of Operational Excellence. The job’s never done.” As SSR continues its journey into a new future of operating, Operational Excellence will continue to define and redefine the way in which the company achieves success. The very definition of success for SSR is fluid, it could be additional assets to its existing portfolio or it could be increased capital, but as Van Wyk notes, the future will be one of unlocking the value that Operational Excellence can bring. “This is happening through our workforce’s understanding and contributions together

“ Learn fast, fail fast, make corrections, improve and bring back an improved product. We are finding better ways to operate every day” — Liezl van Wyk Director of Operational Excellence SSR Mining

with management’s proactive challenging and support. We are on a journey to create value and enhance safety. As we grow from three operations, the impact and reward of the journey actually increases,” she says. “But Operational Excellence is not just projects. It is a combination of transactional projects, but also capability development, change management, foundational rollout, training, relationships and challenge. That’s why Operational Excellence is such a rewarding discipline to be in, because you have that whole spectrum to operate within.”

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TECHNOLOGY TRANSFORMATION DRIVES AN EXCITING CONTENT EXPERIENCE AT VIACOM WRIT TEN BY

OLIVIA MINNOCK PRODUCED BY

GLEN WHITE

JANUARY 2019

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VIACOM

GLOBAL ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY VIACOM’S CTO DAVID KLINE DISCUSSES THE COMPANY’S TECHNOLOGY TRANSFORMATION AND HOW IT STAYS ABREAST OF A VAST, RAPIDLY EVOLVING LANDSCAPE

ith universally renowned brands from MTV and Comedy Central to Nickelodeon and Paramount Pictures under its umbrella, for almost 50 years

global entertainment company Viacom has been delighting viewers the world over. With a commitment to delivering quality content through a wide range of digital 110

media, the company operates across a range of markets and places technology at the forefront of maintaining a quality, tailored experience. Behind the significant digital transformation Viacom has undergone in order to achieve such lofty aims is David Kline, Executive Vice President and Chief Information and Technology Officer. With eight years at the media behemoth under his belt, Kline has enjoyed a 35-year career focusing on technology and has been fascinated by the development of digital. “I got to see technology from yesteryear – punch cards and reel-toreel tape,” he recalls. “And the world was changing because there were connectivity opportunities across longer distances… through to today, where you can connect via the cloud. “I’m really thrilled to have seen those journeys. They’re happening faster, almost at lightning speed, today.” All JANUARY 2019

TECHNOLOGY

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TECHNOLOGY

this experience lit up a fascination with

see today with apps and connected

the “art of the possible” for Kline, which

devices – now, everywhere you go,

he has brought to his team at Viacom.

there is some kind of digital footprint.”

“We aim to identify what’s possible for the divisions we guide and influence –

CUSTOMER CENTRICITY THROUGH TECH

whether it’s advertising, production,

As technology has developed, so too

research, distribution… it is important to

have customer expectations across

understand what they’re doing and deliver

the various demographics Viacom

the technology that works for them.”

caters for. “The millennial audience

At the time of its fruition in the 1970s,

really took a whole new swing at what

Viacom was something of a “walled

connectivity meant – they want what

garden”. “It was very segregated from

they want when they want it. We have

the rest of the world,” says Kline. “As

to be able to deliver that,” he explains,

the world grew, digital connectivity

adding that nowadays on-demand

became more of an opportunity, like we

programming is an expectation rather

E X E C U T I V E P R OF IL E

David Kline Having been at Viacom for eight years, David Kline provides strategic leadership for the company’s technology infrastructure and oversees Viacom’s Online Central Platform Technology and Interactive Services, Content Creation and Distribution Technology, Application Development and Information Security and Compliance. During his time at the company, Kline has led several successful initiatives as well as developing and promoting a strong, diverse team of talented people. Prior to working at Viacom, Kline served as Executive Vice President of Technology and CTO at Discovery Communications, having also held senior technology roles at Rainbow Media

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TECHNOLOGY

“ THE MILLENNIAL AUDIENCE REALLY TOOK A WHOLE NEW SWING AT WHAT CONNECTIVITY MEANT – THEY WANT WHAT THEY WANT, WHEN THEY WANT IT” — David Kline, EVP and Chief Information and Technology Officer, Viacom

117

than an added extra. “How do we make

different countries, so when you see

that more dynamic?” Kline asks. “How

MTV in the US, UK, Poland or Singa-

do we update that content so that you

pore… each brand has opportunities to

have a larger library? How do we add

be more effective in certain spaces.

advertising that’s not stale and

For example, Latin America is more

changes with the times?”

Android-driven, and so while Roku is a

In an increasingly connected world,

great platform in the US, we have

Viacom works to ensure a consistent,

growing platforms in Europe like

quality and above all exciting service

Amazon and Netflix.”

for consumers regardless of location,

In addition, short form content, like

device, platform or demographic. “We

the video footage shared across

have 84 apps on 11 different platforms

Snapchat, Facebook or Twitter to

– whether it’s Roku, Apple TV, iOS,

promote a new TV series, is an

Android, PlayStation… We’re in 180

increasingly lucrative focus, paying w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

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“ YOU HAVE TO KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE, HOW THE DEMOGRAPHIC IS SHIFTING, AND WHAT’S RELEVANT. IT’S VITAL TO STAY TUNED IN AND DELIVER ON WHAT THE CONSUMER IS EXPECTING” — David Kline, EVP and Chief Information and Technology Officer, Viacom

JANUARY 2019

TECHNOLOGY

growing dividends. “We need to make sure we’re aligned with the generations in terms of what they want to consume – creating original short form, not just taking pieces of a show. You have to know your audience, how the demographic is shifting, and what’s relevant. It’s vital to stay tuned in and deliver on what the consumer is expecting.”

DRIVING A TECHNOLOGY TRANSFORMATION With a mission to entertain and excite firmly at its heart, Viacom has used technology as a driver of growth – but has done so thoughtfully, ensuring that new technologies are implemented to make positive change for various stakeholders, rather than chasing what Kline calls the “bright, shiny object”. “Cloud computing is a great example,” he says. “We started looking at cloud when it first came out, and at the time we weren’t ready to make a jump.” While cloud technology offers storage solutions, Viacom already had extensive – and expensive – infrastructure in place for this. However, the business did implement cloud technology for its live events, posting interactive social media w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

119

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TECHNOLOGY

content and creating live video footage at the likes of the VMAs and Kids’ Choice Awards. Since then, Kline’s team has felt enabled and empowered by the cloud, and after abating cybersecurity concerns by rolling out the new tech slowly and sensitively, Viacom now has its full Office productivity in the Cloud with Office365. “It’s about overcoming fears, being smart enough and strong enough to say, ‘we need to focus because change is

“ AS TECHNOLOGY SHIFTS, IT’S IMPORTANT TO MAKE SURE EVERYONE HAS AN UNDERSTANDING OF WHAT IT IS AND NOT TO BE FEARFUL, BUT INQUISITIVE” — David Kline, EVP and Chief Information and Technology Officer, Viacom

coming’. That’s something you have to grapple with in any leadership role –

inquisitive. What does this mean to me?

especially technology.”

To the people I serve? To our industry?

As such, Kline is no stranger to the

And how do we approach it?”

culture shift involved in a technology transformation – and he says both

SMOOTH TRANSMISSION

listening and educating are key to

As well as improving the way content is

change management. “It’s important to

enjoyed, technology has been vital in

listen to what’s going on in the world

improving process within Viacom’s

and within the company, and under-

operations. “The product teams work

stand different needs. Rather than just

very centrally with my technical teams,

putting in technology for technology’s

and we’re all focused on making sure

sake, have a rationale and a really

anything across our platforms, from

responsible understanding of why

video to data, is functional, scalable

you’re doing it. As technology shifts,

and is being delivered,” says Kline.

with Internet of Things (IoT) and 5G for

Over the past few years, a key

example, it’s important to make sure

achievement has been centralizing

everyone has an understanding of

code to develop single code base –

what it is and not to be fearful, but

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TECHNOLOGY

PlayFlex used for apps. “We’re now

RPA (robotic process automation). It’s

down to a single web base so I can

given our team back some time to

deliver the same backend for MTV in

really focus on the next generation and

Poland as I do for Nickelodeon in the

what’s to come, while still delivering on

US. It’s the same with apps. This is a

what’s necessary today.”

pleasing and lucrative opportunity for

“We’re big believers in consumer

the business to be able to go out and

likes and dislikes – how do I make sure

sign deals, knowing they can get

it’s not disruptive for them while it’s

something up and running in a matter

disruptive for us? Obviously, changes

of hours.”

– like introducing AR and VR – are

Yet more technologies are set to

disruptions. They could be good

improve Viacom’s operations, with

disruptions or dramatic disruptions, but

automation affording staff time for

the goal is to make it perfectly seam-

more value-adding tasks. “We’re

less, regardless of whether it’s on

looking at innovative ideas around

television or another device – perhaps

machine learning and AI, as well as

eventually a HoloLens.”

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VIACOM

Centralization enables staff to really concentrate on this frictionless development – for example, a single service desk within Viacom is available for any problem, from lost keys to a serious tech malfunction. “With that, we continue to automate a lot of the tools we have – we’re using chat and automated tickets,” Kline explains. Further, the company has created application stacks for staff to download all the software they need onto a device at once and has automated solutions from HR and payroll to ERP 124

utilizing SAP’s best-in-class platform.

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TECHNOLOGY

125

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TECHNOLOGY

CLICK TO WATCH : ‘COMPANY OVERVIEW 2018’ 127

“ AUTHENTICATION WITH ADOBE PASS IS A GREAT EXAMPLE WHICH VIACOM HELPED CRAFT. IT SHOWS THE COMPANY HAS THE INGENUITY AND CREATIVITY TO REALLY HELP PUSH PRODUCTS FORWARD” — David Kline, EVP and Chief Information and Technology Officer, Viacom

internal group, third party parents and vendors, and our sourcing team. It’s a three-way connection. In many cases, Viacom has a rich history of enabling vendors to build products we inspired, or else we have built them ourselves and pushed the intellectual property off to a vendor if that makes sense for the rest of the globe. Authentication with Adobe Pass is a great example which Viacom helped craft. It shows the company has the ingenuity and creativity to really help push other products forward – not just content but technology.” While Kline is a keen negotiator – “I w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

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JANUARY 2019

TECHNOLOGY

believe everything is free until you tell me otherwise” – he also stresses that relationships must be collaborative to thrive. “The worst thing you can do is bleed a vendor to a point where they’re ready to go out of business, or can’t support something you’ve taught them to support… the best thing you can do is work together for the best cost and best possible product that shines for both them and you.” Together with its partners and vendors, the organization that brings us entertainment in all its forms from award ceremonies to movies will continue to utilize technology to ensure its diverse content is enjoyed. “At Viacom, we’re big on long range plans,” says Kline. The organization is already pushing its 2022 strategy, and though there is no telling what technology will look like in three years’ time, Kline is dedicated to keep to an overall vision of satisfying customers. “That really drives the type of technologies we’re looking to focus on,” he explains. “It’s important to really bond with what the company’s strategies are and make sure we’re thinking that through both the immediate lens as well as the long-range plans.”

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How BlackBerry is undergoing a legendary digital transformation and creating an inclusive platform for women in technology WRIT TEN BY

L AUR A MULL AN PRODUCED BY

CR AIG DANIEL S

JANUARY 2019

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BL ACKBERRY

Following BlackBerry’s incredible turnaround, we talk to Neelam Sandhu, Senior Director of Business Operations Office of the CEO, about BlackBerry’s reinvented focus, the fast-emerging Enterprise of Things, and challenges faced by women in tech

‘Do what you enjoy the most and you’ll never work a day in your life’ – this 132

may be a well-versed platitude, but for Neelam Sandhu it has proven to be sound advice when navigating through her career. She knew that she reveled in fast-paced and dynamic environments, that she wanted to utilize her skills in business strategy, and most importantly that she wanted to work for a company for which she could be a genuine ambassador. This inevitably led her to the world of technology and ultimately the doors of BlackBerry. The rest, she says, is history. Now, Senior Director of Business Operations Office of the CEO at BlackBerry, Sandhu describes her role as one which “touches every JANUARY 2019

TECHNOLOGY

function of the company in some capacity”. One day she may be meeting with government officials and customers, the next launching a new internal expense management system, or executing on initiatives like the BlackBerry Shield. Sandhu has seemingly found her calling in the technology sector but unfortunately, women in this field are increasingly rare. A report by Accenture and non-profit Girls Who Code noted that women account for 34% of

Neelam Sandhu, Senior Director of Business Operations, Office of the CEO, BlackBerry

computing jobs today, down from 37% in 1995. Elsewhere, in the UK, figures from the Women’s Engineering Society (WES) show that just 15% of people working in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) roles are women – and only 5% of leadership positions in the technology industry are held by women. The statistics make for disheartening reading, but Sandhu is optimistic that we could see change on the horizon. “In my career, I’ve certainly experienced some bias from men and women alike,” she recalls. “However, I’ve been very fortunate that, for me, BlackBerry has been a great place to grow and learn and to advance my w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

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TECHNOLOGY

career, with support from both

can see that two leaders of General

genders. I wouldn’t be where I am

Motors – the CEO and the CFO – are

today without that support. There are

both women. The automotive industry

still a number of challenges that need

is one which is notoriously male-domi-

to be worked on in every industry, not

nated so we are seeing change right

just in technology, when it comes to

there. Betty Liu is another example.

gender diversity and equality,” she

She began her career in journalism,

adds. “But I think the conversation is

went on to start her own business and

changing – it’s becoming less taboo

now she is the Executive Vice Chair-

and men are getting involved in the

man of the New York Stock Exchange.”

discussion as well, which is critical.” One of the biggest hurdles, Sandhu

Another hurdle, Sandhu believes, lies in education. Surveying over 2,000

believes, lies in the lack of female role

A-Level and university students in the

models in male-dominated fields.

UK, PwC found that only 3% of women

“Women don’t have those same role

say a career in technology would be

models or examples as men to look up

their first choice. “We need to increase

to or emulate,” she observes. “But I do

the pipeline of women in STEM and

think that's changing. For example, we

that starts with education,” notes Sandhu. w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

137

BL ACKBERRY

“ At BlackBerry, we’re very focused on making sure that whatever we do is positively impacting society – that’s something that is not traditionally seen in or associated with technology” 138

— Neelam Sandhu, Senior Director of Business Operations, Office of the CEO, BlackBerry

“We need to work on creating an envir–

focused on making sure that whatever

onment where women feel comfort-

we do is positively impacting society

able learning STEM topics. Not only is

for the better – that messaging is not

the professional environment male

traditionally seen in, or associated with,

dominated, but the education environ-

technology,” says Sandhu. “Technol-

ment is too. So, creating that environ-

ogy is often seen to be a more rational,

ment or community where women feel

colder environment. If we can change

comfortable in STEM is important.”

the messaging to highlight the value

Sandhu also suggests that creating the right messaging that appeals to women and encourages them to get

that technology adds to society, it will attract more women to the sector.” ‘Impacting society for the better’: it's

involved in STEM could prove helpful.

an admirable statement, and it’s one

“For example, at BlackBerry, we're very

which BlackBerry is putting into practice

JANUARY 2019

TECHNOLOGY

E X E C U T I V E P R OF IL E

Neelam Sandhu Neelam Sandhu is responsible for the operations of the CEO office, including supporting the CEO in managing key customer and government relationships globally, management of and content development for internal and external engagements, and driving strategic cross-functional projects to deliver operational efficiencies. Neelam also manages BlackBerry’s travel strategy and operations. Since joining BlackBerry in 2009 Neelam has held various positions, based out of the company’s United Kingdom, New York and California offices. Her responsibilities have included Brand Management, Brand Messaging, Marketing Operations, Go-To-Market for the Curve and Porsche Design products and Corporate Strategic Initiatives. Neelam holds a bachelor’s degree, with honors, in Business Management, from the University of Leicester and an Executive Certification in Financial Analysis from the University of California at Berkeley’s Haas School of Business.

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“ BlackBerry represents the ambition in diversity and inclusion that RBC seeks out in our business partners, with its leaders fundamentally recognizing the power of humanity – and human values – in our tech-driven age. As a thought leader, Neelam is showing how this approach is esse–ntial to ensuring that we create technology for good, for all of our employees, customers, clients and communities ” — Bruce Ross, Group Head of Technology & Operations, Royal Bank of Canada

JANUARY 2019

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ever since it shifted its roadmap following a mammoth transformation. To say BlackBerry has reinvented itself in the past decade would be an understatement. At its peak, its smartphone was in the hands of almost every corporate and business professional, with sales reaching a crescendo between 2009 and 2011. As the competition heated up, BlackBerry’s device sales slumped and it decided it needed a new roadmap. This is where John Chen, BlackBerry’s current Executive Chairman and CEO, entered the fray. A well-known turnaround expert, Sandhu says that Chen helped to herald in a new era for BlackBerry. “He stabilized the company financially and put us into growth mode. To do that, he had to develop a strategy which would take us into the future,” she says. “He decided to focus on what we do best: security and connectivity.” Recognizing that the market was shifting towards a software model, Chen helped to spearhead a new chapter in BlackBerry’s history, pivoting it from a smartphone hardware firm to an enterprise software and services company. “He led the company through a complete shift culturally, operationally and strategically,” notes w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

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CLICK TO WATCH : ‘BLACKBERRY SPARK ADVERT’

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“ At the center of financial markets, the NYSE plays an important role in helping great companies such as BlackBerry raise capital so that they can innovate, create jobs and drive purposeful programs that advance the global workforce and the communities around them. We commend BlackBerry for its work to foster the growth of its leaders, and we congratulate Neelam for being a strong role model for women in technology” — Betty Liu, Executive Vice Chairman, NYSE

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“ At KPMG, inclusion and diversity strengthens our business, enriches our culture and enables us to develop relationships with our communities. We accelerate productivity by tapping into diverse talent and new markets. We are proud to team with BlackBerry in their commitment to unlocking the power of diversity and driving innovation. I am thrilled to recognize Neelam for representing BlackBerry, a company committed to supporting women in leadership and for being recognized as a powerful example of female empowerment in business and technology” — Tony Malfara, Partner, Risk Consulting Services, KPMG in Canada

JANUARY 2019

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Sandhu. “The future of the tech industry and the connected world lies in software, not in hardware, so we’ve evolved to become a software company, focused on connectivity and security. Chen also identified a new market called the Enterprise of Things (EoT) which we have positioned ourselves to lead.” Just as BlackBerry mobilized the workforce with smartphones – allowing employees to send emails on the go, for example – so too have other technologies and tools transformed the way we work. As more and more devices and tools enter the enterprise workflow, there is a greater need to make this workflow secure and this is where BlackBerry is making its mark. “The Enterprise of Things isn’t just about the assets that your employer provides you; the enterprise workflow is expanding to include other Things that aren’t provided by the enterprise. For instance, an employee might use a file sharing solution that isn’t provided by their employer or a device like an Amazon Alexa speaker. There are more Things being connected into daily work processes that aren’t under the enterprise’s control. This means that enterprises will demand BlackBerw w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

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“ BlackBerry is a company driven by strong corporate ethics. I believe there is strength in diversity and am committed to leading an inclusive organization. In an increasingly integrated world it is unification that unlocks the power of our platform and I am proud to be a champion for women and minorities in technology leadership positions” — John Chen, Executive Chairman & CEO, BlackBerry

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147

ry-grade security for more and more

do,” Sandhu explains. “We are keen

connected Things. We also expect to

to make sure that everybody who is

see the same request from consumers,

connected to a ‘Thing’ is benefiting

as they become increasingly aware

from BlackBerry's best-in-class

of their privacy landscape and demand

security, BlackBerry's data privacy

greater transparency from technol-

promise, and our legacy and reliability

ogy companies.”

when it comes to connectivity too.”

With more endpoints comes greater

The BlackBerry Spark platform is

risk and this is where BlackBerry’s

designed to tackle the growing EoT

expertise in security and connectivity

market. It delivers ultra-secure hyper-

come into play. “Today we’re very

connectivity from the inside out.

focused on securing all EoT endpoints

“There’s a scientific theory called the

and ‘all’ is the keyword here because

‘grand unification theory’ and it states

we are platform agnostic in what we

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BL ACKBERRY

brought together by a single unifying force, and that's how we describe BlackBerry Spark – it’s a single platform that unifies every connected ‘Thing’ securely, reliably, with user privacy at the forefront.” As more hacks and cybersecurity threats make the headlines, security has become a pressing concern for any firm. It’s a top priority for BlackBerry too. Sandhu describes the firm as one which “lives and breathes security”, proven by the fact it works closely with famously secure organizations like 148

the G7 governments, NATO, and some of the world’s largest banks and medical institutions. On top of this, BlackBerry also uses its own technologies and products, ensuring its internal security is of the highest caliber. “We can't have a single conversation at BlackBerry without the word ‘security’ coming up,” she observes. “We live and breathe security so that the end user and the enterprise doesn't have to worry about it. Our security expertise has been built into our platform since day one. It’s been built into every layer of our solutions, from the kernel to the edge, and so I’d say security is definitely one of our key competitive tenets.” JANUARY 2019

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“ As Canada’s flag carrier, Air Canada takes pride in projecting Canadian values such as equality and inclusiveness around the world and we celebrate these qualities every day at our airline, as shown by the prominent role women play in all parts of our company. We are always pleased when we see other major Canadian companies, like BlackBerry, also promote these values and we congratulate Neelam on her remarkable accomplishments” — Catherine Dyer, Senior Vice-President and Chief Information Officer, Air Canada

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“ B ell is committed to fostering an inclusive, equitable, and accessible workplace that provides all team members with the opportunity to reach their full potential. We are proud to partner with BlackBerry, a fellow Canadian company that proudly promotes women to key technology leadership positions, and congratulate Neelam on being recognized by Business Chief” — Devorah Lithwick, Senior Vice President, Brand, Bell

JANUARY 2019

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BlackBerry’s customers seem to agree with this sentiment. Today, BlackBerry’s software is embedded into more ‘Things’ than it was when it had its peak of smartphones in the market – and at that point of time, it had the largest smartphone share in the global market. One of the most notable examples of its widespread use, Sandhu points out, is its mass notification solution called BlackBerry AtHoc which is used by organizations like the G7 governments and the Red Cross, in emergency situations like natural disasters or manmade threat situations. “They use BlackBerry AtHoc to collaborate and send mass notifications or alerts to other users. In the last year, the solution has been used to send around half a billion messages around the world. It enables users to be safe in their environment and to be warned of potentially unsafe situations.” This clearly harks back to the company’s core ethos of wanting to make a positive impact on society. BlackBerry’s turnaround is well evidenced and, for Sandhu, it has been thanks in part to the company’s security, its interoperability and, most importantly, its stance on privacy. “From the offset, we've promised data privacy,” w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

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CLICK TO WATCH : ‘BLACKBERRY CO–OP TESTIMONIAL’ 152 she says. “We don't monetize people's data. We believe that the data belongs to the person that's generating it, meaning the end user. We've had that promise since day one and we continue to commit to it.” This has allowed BlackBerry to foster sincere relationships with its users built on trust which may have given the firm a leg up in the sector. “People have to trust the solutions that they're using and that's one of the key reasons why BlackBerry is still successful and still a key brand name. People trust us,” she adds. On the road ahead, BlackBerry is keen to keep its finger on the pulse of JANUARY 2019

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“ At Sullivan and Cromwell, we believe fostering a diverse and inclusive work environment is vital. I am delighted that Neelam has been recognized by Business Chief as a woman in tech leadership and we are proud to partner with BlackBerry, a company that supports women in key leadership positions” — Alison Ressler, Partner at Sullivan & Cromwell and a member of the firm’s management committee.

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the latest innovations in the sector – for instance, as quantum computing comes more commonplace, security will have to get smarter too and so

“ At Torys, we strive to uphold an inclusive and diverse workplace. The work we do for clients is fueled by individuals who are empowered to bring their best selves to work each day. It’s great to be able to work alongside like-minded companies such as BlackBerry who share the same ethos” — David Chaikof, Partner at Torys

BlackBerry has launched a new quantum security solution to get ahead of the curve. Most importantly though, Sandhu points out that as the landscape changes the firm will continue to remain focused on the three-word mantra which got it where it is today: security, privacy and connectivity. “In the future, we'll maintain our data privacy promise and we'll continue to come up with solutions like BlackBerry Shield that help keep people safe,” she says. “We'll do whatever we can to make these solutions available to the whole market by remaining platform agnostic, and we’ll try to integrate all connected ‘Things’ into our platform. We will continue to stay true to our core tenets.”

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Marc Wallace, CEO and Co-founder of Radius Networks, talks digital disruption in a data driven world

n an increasingly data driven world, businesses are identifying ways to unlock

new opportunities and markets as they turn to data to reach their digitally enabled customer bases. US-based 158

Radius Networks works with major brands to capture and utilize proximitybased data in order to reach the right people at the right time. As businesses continue to seek new and more innovative ways to use data, Radius Networks Customer Location Platform, which includes tableside and curbside service, asset tracking, and proximity cloud analytics, fits right at home in the current business landscape. However, as co-founder and CEO Marc Wallace explains, bringing disruptive technologies to market is no small feat. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The real challenge that we faced was from an R&D perspective. We were building a very new technolJANUARY 2019

TECHNOLOGY

Engineer and Support meeting (left to right: Jason Wieringa, Brian Cabrera, Bhavin Vyas, Ami Desai, Alex Stone, Sam Kim, James Nebeker)

ogy concept, leveraging Bluetooth or wireless on mobile devices and this was a very novel thing,” he explains. “Nobody really knows how to use it or how to implement it and that caused teething problems.” Having co-founded the business with partners from previous, successful ventures in 2011, Wallace has spent the best part of his career in the technology and internet space. It was through this experience that the team saw an

Chief Technology Officer, David Helms

opportunity in using wireless signals as a means of engaging people on their w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

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smartphones. “You would walk into a

Over the last seven years, Radius

venue and your phone picks up a Wi-Fi

Networks has worked with major

signal and we saw that you could use

brands across the US and is active

that as an opportunity to engage and

in more than 60 countries worldwide,

say ‘welcome’ or ‘go here’,” he explains.

with more than 27 patented technol-

“That’s why we built Radius Networks.

ogy solutions within its portfolio. The

It was all formed around that initial

company’s success is clear to see,

concept of engaging with people based

but Wallace notes that the key to that

on their location and proximity to certain

success lies in the people involved,

points of interest. That was the begin-

as well as a smart approach to capital

ning of Radius Networks.”

investment. “Once we knew what we

E X E C U T I V E P R OF IL E

161

Marc Wallace Marc is a serial entrepreneur. He is the co-founder and CEO of Radius Networks, Inc., located in Washington, DC. Radius Networks is a location technology company focused on helping businesses locate, engage and transact with their customers. Prior to Radius Networks, Marc co-founded several other successful startups, such as District Taco, a Mexican-food fast casual chain in DC, where he serves as Chairman, and SwapDrive (backup.com), an online backup company acquired by the Norton division of Symantec in 2008. Before creating SwapDrive, he served at Orbital Sciences Corporation as an aerospace engineer and engineering manager across multiple successful rocket and spacecraft launch campaigns. Marc holds a B.S. in Engineering from Cornell University and a M.S. in Information Systems from George Washington University.

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RADIUS NETWORKS

were doing we developed strong expertise in the area,” he says, “but it took a number of years to really get to a productization that our customers, huge brands, could see true value in and a return of investment (ROI).” “The first four years of the company were really defined by R&D, but over the last few years we’ve moved into the operationalization phase. We are taking a product that is maturing and pushing it worldwide, so we have to be able to scale it and have third parties and partners that can sell and install the product.” 162

With a career defined by technology it would be easy for Wallace and his team to assume that partners, suppliers and potential customers will have the same understanding and knowledge of innovative technologies, but as Wallace noted previously, proximity solutions are a very novel concept. The key to working with stakeholders and obtaining their ‘buy-in’ is communication and Wallace recognises this. Radius Networks has cemented itself within the market for a number of years and can begin to point to successes and tangible value that its solutions have brought for customers. “Real dollars,” says Wallace. “We have real dollars that our technology can enable through efficiencies, savings and of course drawing customers to JANUARY 2019

“We install thousands, almost tens of thousands of locations a year, so in order to do that across the world, we need strong partnerships” — Marc Wallace CEO and Co-Founder Radius Networks

TECHNOLOGY

CLICK TO WATCH : ‘RADIUS NETWORKS — CURBSIDE PICK-UP’ 163

Craig Brooks and Maie Lee

their stores. We also have very solid data that can back up and highlight the ROI that we can bring.” Sales figures, through Quick Service Restaurants (QSRs) or instore delivery, are the key metrics that can speak to the impact of Radius Networks but there are also the less tangible metrics such as customer satisfaction that can really be the difference. Wallace can point to customer satisfaction increases of close to 25% over stores that do not use Radius Networks’ solutions from convenience alone and that he feels is in itself “real ROI”. Another key metric that Radius Networks w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

RADIUS NETWORKS

has been able to store is wastage. Through its ability to pinpoint customers and drive them through a sales process, the company is able to help businesses manage the process entirely. “Let’s look at food ordering, whether its instore or delivery,” says Wallace. “We’re able to help a business manage the process, drastically cutting waste and wrong orders in half. People are getting the right order. They’re getting their food, not somebody else’s food, and they’re getting it

After the customer places an order from kiosk, mobile, or counter, the staff can view their exact location for order delivery

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in a timely fashion so that their food doesn’t need to be thrown away. It’s very important, and a big ROI factor for a lot of those businesses.” Radius Networks is defined by data as much as it is defined by technology, and so the company collates and stores mountains of data. This inevitably raises the question of what Radius Networks is doing with sensitive data. Wallace says that the company saw a fork in the road a number of years ago in the collection of location specific data. 165 E X E C U T I V E P R OF IL E

Dan Estrada has 20 years of start-up, technology business development experience. He is the Chief Strategy Officer of Radius Networks, Inc. leading the global business strategy and expansion initiative. Prior to joining Radius Networks, Dan successfully executed the worldwide channel distribution strategy for cloud service start-up, SwapDrive, from the company’s inception through its acquisition by Symantec for $123 million. Post SwapDrive acquisition, Dan successfully led the worldwide business development efforts for Symantec for the launch of Norton Online Backup, and served as VP, Business Development for SnappCloud, a leading White Label App & Content Delivery Platform for PC & Tablet OEMs. Dan is currently an advisor to several early stage companies.

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RADIUS NETWORKS

“It can be very personalized and so we decided very early on not to aggregate personal data and sell it to third parties that were not related to our clients,” he says. “We work directly with the brands, and we will provide data back to those brands almost on a pass-through basis – rather than storing data long term on our systems that are related to their customers. “We will honor their relationship directly with their customers. When end customers are using our solution through one of our clients, they can be assured that whatever agreement they have in place from a privacy 166

standpoint – we honor that. That is all part of the GDPR system, so we follow that standard.

“We like being the center of expertise that our customers can turn to in order to give them an idea as to where the wind's blowing with regards to technology” — Marc Wallace CEO and Co-Founder Radius Networks JANUARY 2019

Customers can place an order while on-the-go and opt to dine-in, pickup in-store, or pickup curbside.

TECHNOLOGY

That’s how we operate and we don’t plan on changing that.” Working with clients in more than 60 countries, Wallace recognizes the importance of a trusting client relationship and being able to provide tailored solutions that fit different countries and different market dynamics and demands. To this end, Radius Networks has dedicated teams assigned to its biggest brand partners that work directly with them and are “embedded on site”. “It’s all about dedicating resources to that client and allowing them to focus directly on what their customer needs,” he explains. In this regard, the way in which Radius Networks goes above and beyond to provide additional services and give value to the client proves crucial. Despite its product offering, Radius Networks is not a ‘call us if you need us’ hardware company; it differentiates itself in the way it provides its solutions as a service. The company will install a solution, provide further solutions and then provide a service of services on that solution ranging from maintenance, monitoring analytics and feedback. “It’s similar to if you’re getting cable at your house,” says Wallace. “You get a set-top box. It’s hardware, but you’re paying a monthly subscription for the service that will be maintained and updated. That w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

167

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168

translates to real-time data that we

When working with some of the bigger

obtain from the field that allows us to

clients in the market, whose ability to

understand how the system is being

take solutions to market is measured in

used and then be able to optimize other

years, Radius Networks has to continu-

processes around that.”

ously bring innovation to the table in

As the market leader in an ever-

order to succeed. “We’ll work with them

evolving technology landscape, Radius

and say, ‘Okay, here’s what’s next, here’s

Networks must ensure that its offering

what’s three years down the road or

continues to be at the very forefront of

five years down the road’, and bringing

the latest technology trends. Wallace

it to them so that they can get it into the

says that the company’s technology

pipeline early and start to mature the

and ability to implement solutions must

product, because it will take years to

always be years ahead of its customers.

get that out,” he says.

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With Radius Networks location technology, the customer can simply drive to the store and have their groceries delivered directly to them, no action required.

169

E X E C U T I V E P R OF IL E

Rebecca McFarland a creative and experienced marketing and event specialist with a honed expertise in branding and design. She is currently the Vice President of Marketing at Radius Networks, located in Washington, DC. She leads all marketing initiatives, including branding, design, product promotion, strategy, and advertising. Prior to joining Radius Networks, Rebecca was the Head of Marketing and Associate Publisher at Washingtonian Magazine, where she drove profitability through new business initiatives, multi-platform campaigns, events, and community partnerships.

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“We like being the center of expertise

Nixdorf, Coates Group and Fujitsu to

that our customers can turn to in order

assist with service support and delivery.

to give them an idea where the wind’s

“We install thousands, almost tens of

blowing on the technology.”

thousands of locations a year, so in order

Despite considerable success over

to do that across the world, we need

the last seven years, Radius Networks

partnerships to do that,” says Wallace. Technology partners have also been

hasn’t been able to achieve this growth alone and Wallace can point to key

instrumental in enabling the rapid

strategic partners that the company

development and deployment of the

has worked with that have been funda-

products, such as AOPEN and EM

mental in allowing the company to

Micro. “They have been key, not only to

achieve. Radius Networks has called

provide the right solution but helping

upon the support of NCR, Diebold

us to evolve the solution.”

170

Left to right: Craig Brooks, Maie Lee, Joe Grajewski, Ken McInerney, Amanda Wilson. JANUARY 2019

TECHNOLOGY

CLICK TO WATCH : ‘RADIUS NETWORKS — CUSTOMER LOCATION SOLUTION’

The industries of today will not be the

requirements, we have the ability to

same as the industries of tomorrow

quickly and nimbly do that,” he says.

and technology will continue to steer

“We control the entire stack of our

that evolution. Radius Networks must

solution and we have incredible exper-

be ready for whatever tomorrow will

ience in this space. That’s a huge

bring for its clients. Wallace believes

advantage that we have over anybody

that the hospitality market will become

else that is either in the market or

key in the near future for the company

trying to get into the market.”

and that Radius Network’s approach to service, as well as its experienced team, is what will be fundamental in order to remain as the market leader. “If we need to react to the increasingly varying customer demands or w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

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Truliant Federal Credit Union

A MEMBER-CENTRIC DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION WRIT TEN BY

ANDRE W WOODS PRODUCED BY

ANDY TURNER 173

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TRULIANT FEDERAL CREDIT UNION

WE SPEAK TO CIO SANDEEP UTHRA ON A MEMBERCENTRIC GOAL OF DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION THAT IS ACCELERATING OPERATIONAL EXCELLENCE AND BUSINESS GROWTH

ruliant Federal Credit Union, a 66-yearold financial institution, has a singular and important mission: to improve the lives

of its members. According to Sandeep Uthra, Truliant’s chief information officer, the credit union 174

focuses on helping members make decisions that improve and help manage their financial lives. Unlike for-profit financial institutions, Truliant stays away from pushing products on its members. “We are a different kind of company,” he says. Truliant has 230,000 members and assets in excess of $2.3bn and provides individuals and small businesses with products, services and guidance to reach their ‘life’s goals’, including checking accounts, online and app banking, auto buying, certificates and business/financial advice, and auto and home loans. According to Uthra, Truliant’s USP is its member-centric approach. “First and foremost, we are a not-for-profit organization,” Uthra said. “That’s the biggest difference between us and other banking institutions. But, more so, our goal is to improve each of our JANUARY 2019

TECHNOLOGY

175

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TRULIANT FEDERAL CREDIT UNION

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177

“ OUR CEO AND PRESIDENT TRULY UNDERSTAND HOW TECHNOLOGY’S GOING TO REALLY HELP TAKE US FORWARD IN MEMBER SERVICE” — Sandeep Uthra CIO, Truliant Federal Credit Union

members’ lives, by working as trusted partner or provider of the right guidance to achieve their financial aims,” Uthra explains. “While traditional banking is more about rates and fees, all of our products and policies are consumer, not market, driven. We put people before profit. We are member-centric. We’re not just here to make money. This helps our members create financial security within their own aspirations. ”

IN THE BEGINNING Uthra joined Truliant in late 2016 as CIO. He was charged with helping shepherd the w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

TRULIANT FEDERAL CREDIT UNION

178 E X E C U T I V E P R OF IL E

Sandeep Uthra Sandeep has over 20 years of experience developing and executing information technology (IT) strategies, including serving in executive roles in the financial services space. A native of New Delhi, India, Mr. Uthra has served in global IT leadership roles in product, consulting and financial corporations in Asia, Africa and the United States. Most notably, Mr. Uthra was Senior Vice President, Business Solutions Technology Executive at Bank of America. He leads Truliantâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Enterprise Service Delivery, Enterprise Architecture, Application Development, Systems Operations, Technology Support Services, Infrastructure Services, Information Security, and Telecommunications teams.

JANUARY 2019

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179 strategic direction for Truliant’s overall

logical solutions to achieve those goals.

technology landscape and to help

We really tailor our offerings as per our

drive its technology transformation.

members’ needs to provide a top-notch

“As a trusted advisor in the company,

member service.” Truliant targets

I needed to get us to a point where

locations where they are needed most

we better understood business and

and still operates a traditional guidance-

members’ needs as per our company’s

based approach. “We’re very big on

objectives.”

face-to-face interactions. We don’t

Uthra’s highly strategic role was to

want to remove the humanity in front of

help develop a roadmap that would

us. We will always keep face-to-face

achieve Truliant’s business plans by

interactions.”

leveraging technology. “As part of the Chief Planning Team, I’ve worked hard

THE HUMAN TOUCH

to understand business needs as well

While human-centric guidance is at the

as those of our members with techno-

heart of Truliant’s approach, it is adopting w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

TRULIANT FEDERAL CREDIT UNION

“ I HAVE OTHER COMPANIES LIKE MERIDIANLINK WHO SUPPORT US FROM A LENDING PLATFORM STANDPOINT AND THEN SECURITY PARTNERS SUCH AS FLEXENTIAL WHO PROVIDES HOSTING CAPABILITY” 180

— Sandeep Uthra CIO, Truliant Federal Credit Union

more technologically advanced processes to better prepare for the future of banking. “Members are changing the way they interact with financial institutions,” he explains. “I think we all know that these days people compare our sector with companies like Amazon, right? They want us to be simple and nimble – like shopping on Amazon. This demand is driving us to create a simpler, more nimble and innovative personalization for all members. The consumer experience is king.” “On the other hand, data is at the consumer’s fingertips from many external sources to compare product or services so they are well informed. It is in our best interest to know consumers’ personalized needs in a faster and agile way, to provide them with the best in-class experience. To make all this happen, we have focused on technology architecture, because speed is the new currency in financial institutions. These days, technology architecture must be simple enough to support integrated channels and with an alignment of data to understand or predict members’ needs. “Simplification and Personalization is the game here,” Uthra explains. “Financial institutions should work to simplify their technology landscape and leverage microservices or APIs (application programming

JANUARY 2019

TECHNOLOGY

CLICK TO WATCH : USING THE TRU2GO APP 181 interfaces), to support faster and more

index of processes and technology,

nimble integration with cutting-edge

which gave Truliant a direction for

products and services.”

future investment to achieve its goal of simplification and optimization of the

DIGITAL ECOSYSTEMS

members’ journeys/interactions. “Our

When Uthra joined Truliant Federal

vision is to enable consumers of our

Credit Union, he hired an enterprise

technology with a simple, faster and

architect to help build out business

personalized experience. “Our CEO

technology ecosystems to understand

and President truly understand how

dynamics around business units,

technology’s going to really help take

functions, processes and underlying

us forward in the personalized member

technology. He then sat with internal

service.

teams and critical partners to identify

“We know that it’s important to adapt

friction between those ecosystem

and evolve quickly in line with the

constructs. This resulted in a maturity

fast-paced changes in today’s financial w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

TRULIANT FEDERAL CREDIT UNION

services landscape. Our goal is to create an impactful, best-in-class digital journey that is both dynamic and personal, and maintains an authentic human connection,” says Truliant President Todd Hall. The other important factor in Truliant’s technology transformation is partnership with fintechs and product companies for technology transformation. “Our strategic partners support us to achieve our vision. Companies like Fiserv who support our core banking platform perspective. MeridianLink provides lending capabilities and 182

Flexential provides hosting capability. Veristor enables us with virtualized environment, to aid better manageability and performance and security of infrastructure – because it’s not just about spending or investing in infra-

the near future: simpler, faster and

structure, it’s more about how to optimize

personalization. If I’m a member, and

that in terms of performance and security.

I need a home, normally I would reach

Palo Alto Network really helped us to

out to a realtor or a mortgage or lending

safeguard our technology and infra-

company. We reach out to the builder

structure and Secureworks provides

and to many other folks to achieve that

information security capabilities.”

goal for our family. But an ecosystem approach asks: ‘Why can’t we bring all

FUTURE TRENDS

these kinds of players into same

For Uthra, the future of the industry lies

ecosystem and make it happen? So, as

in ecosystem-driven personalization.

a customer or a member, I will just reach

“I see these three things happening in

out to a bank or financial institution like

JANUARY 2019

TECHNOLOGY

34 Number of office locations

$2.3bn Approximate value of assets

1952

Year founded

Truliant and say, ‘I need a home.’”

really fortunate to feel that I’m part of

Uthra also sees increasing leverage

this high technology team that brings

of APIs for greater integration in sector

those kinds of innovations together.”

technology with many third-party or indirect product companies. I see artificial intelligence and data playing a big role. Data is going to provide integration value because it will predict and say what our customers or members are asking and at what point in time. “I take pride in leading this vision because of our people and culture. I’m w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

183

184

Changing mindsets through technology transformation WRIT TEN BY

SE AN GA LE A-PACE PRODUCED BY

ANDY TURNER

JANUARY 2019

TECHNOLOGY

185

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B R AY I N T E R N AT I O N A L , I N C .

Brindesh Dhruva, Chief Technology Officer of Bray International, discusses the company’s ongoing technology journey

ray International, Inc. was founded in 1986 with a customer-centric objective to become the preferred flow control

partner. Bray’s global footprint and distribution networks, along with a comprehensive line of innovative flow control solutions, has enabled us 186

to become an international industry leader. Thanks to unrelenting commitment to quality and customer service, clients around the world have made Bray their trusted partner. After 30 plus years, Bray’s focus hasn’t changed. Bray International, Inc. remains your local flow control partner with a global reach. Our customers face the day-to-day prospect of operating in increasingly extreme conditions in a safe and environmentally responsible way. The product technologies and solutions that we offer must maintain pace with these demands,” states Brindesh Dhruva, Chief Technology Officer. Since joining Bray International in early 2013, he has been tasked with steering the company’s technology transformation, creating innovative solutions and products that its customers can rely on. JANUARY 2019

TECHNOLOGY

Raymond Technical Center CAD design facilities

Holding a Doctorate from Yale in Engineering and having previously worked in the Upstream O&G Industry for over 13 years across a variety of roles such as Marketing & Technology Manager prior to joining Bray, Dhruva believes his early engineering experiences in developing products with a high demand on reliability and performance helps him in his current role as CTO of Bray. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Over the past several years we have been able to develop world-class solutions and products. In doing so, we have utilized, for example, additive manufacturing techniques for control valve applications and smart senw w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

187

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“ It’s about putting together a global team that has the right capabilities and infrastructure that allows us to develop, validate and produce products that exceed customer expectations” — Brindesh Dhruva, Chief Technology Officer of Bray International

sors to develop real-time monitoring.” Just over 30 years ago, the Founders of the company – Craig Brown and Frank Raymond revolutionized the global rotary flow control market. Today, Bray provides global distribution and manufacturing with locally available service and expertise for a variety of flow control products. Bray’s products have extensive application in a wide range of critical services. These include butterfly valves in cryogenic conditions for an LNG application to Severe Service Ball Valves in very high temperature & corrosive condi-

JANUARY 2019

TECHNOLOGY

Bray USA Facility

189

E X E C U T I V E P R OF IL E

Brindesh Dhruva Brindesh is currently Chief Technology Officer for Bray Internationals Inc., responsible for Global R&D and Product Management. Brindesh holds a Ph.D. in Engineering & Applied Sciences from Yale University and has over 20 years of experience in Technology & Marketing developing high-tier products and delivering commercial success.

w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

B R AY I N T E R N AT I O N A L , I N C .

“ As long as we understand our customer’s needs and as long as we understand the moving technology pieces, we will continue to grow as the technology partner of choice” — Brindesh Dhruva, Chief Technology Officer of Bray International

190

JANUARY 2019

TECHNOLOGY

tions in a refinery application. Bray’s extensive product portfolio includes resilient seated and high-performance butterfly valves, critical service triple offset valves, floating and trunnion ball valves, metal seated ball valves, actuators, and control accessories to enable smart technology. The application of this portfolio is even more diverse and includes circulating water, flue gas desulfurization, demineralized water, fuel oil (fire safe), service water, steam, fuel gas, potable water, water/ glycol, and various other compounds. Such rapid progress has been the result of Bray’s commitment to its research & development (R&D) and operations in the US, India and China where its main Manufacturing, Engineering and R&D Labs are located. Expanding similar capabilities in Latin America, Europe and Australia has also been an integral part of Bray’s growth. It’s this visionary commitment, which Dhruva affirms, has been important in building the foundations for long-term success. “Over the last several years we have reinforced the right technical teams by strengthening the link between manufacturing, engineering and sales. We have also reinforced the w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

191

B R AY I N T E R N AT I O N A L , I N C .

192

“ I’m a firm believer that good product introduction doesn’t happen accidentally. It comes as a result of a very deliberate approach of bringing products to market” — Brindesh Dhruva, Chief Technology Officer of Bray International

right product development process which starts with the voice of our customers and ends with their satisfaction. It’s about putting together a global team that has the right capabilities and infrastructure that allows us to develop, validate and produce products that exceed customer expectations in terms of reliability and performance,” says Dhruva. “That’s the way we operate! That’s what defines the products, technologies and services we aspire to continuously provide.” Indeed, Bray continues to evolve and has transformed itself into a technology company that can deliver highly customized, highly engineered products and services for a wide range of severe applications. Dhruva points out that these types of transformations start at the top and percolate down. “Bray has a rich history, full of achievements, which we are all very proud of, but the Founders of the company continue to see an even brighter future in terms of growth and technology innovation.”

INTRODUCING NEW PRODUCTS TO MARKET Recent technical and commercial successes include Tri Lok – Triple Offset Butterfly Valve, Series 98 Scotch Yoke Pneumatic Actuator, M1 Severe Service Ball Valve, S19 Segmented Control Valve and numerous other valves, actuators and controls accessories. The product capabilities along with global Applications JANUARY 2019

TECHNOLOGY

CLICK TO WATCH : WORKING FOR BRAY INTERNATIONAL 193 Engineers that understand the cus-

design decisions at Bray are made in

tomer’s challenges enable Bray to pro-

line with customer requirements and

vide not just good products, but good

with product reliability, manufactur-

solutions for our customer’s needs.

ability and product cost in mind. “Our

The technical success of our prod-

Engineers must understand the dif-

ucts relies heavily on the design and

ference between investment cast-

validation steps within the Bray Prod-

ing and sand casting…and they must

uct Development Process all of which

understand how tight tolerances and

conform to ISO 9001 standards. Bray’s

surface finish requirements impact

Global Technology presence spans

manufacturability (costs) just as much

multiple R&D locations around the

as product performance” says Dhruva.

world including India, UK, Brazil and

The qualification of products program

in Houston’s Bray Raymond Technol-

includes not only design validation

ogy Center – proudly named after one

but also validation of the manufactur-

of its founders, Frank Raymond. The

ing process to be able to produce w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

B R AY I N T E R N AT I O N A L , I N C .

“ It’s important we keep up with what our customers face today, but also respond to the technology trends in the industry that will take them to the next level tomorrow” — Brindesh Dhruva, Chief Technology Officer of Bray International

their input & influence into the design process and ensuring good market introduction. “I’m a firm believer that good product introduction doesn’t happen accidentally. It comes as a result of a very deliberate approach of bringing products to market,” explains Dhruva. “That means we engage our customers very early on during development to ensure we get the requirements right. It means we understand the voice of the customer, the customer’s needs and then incorporate those findings into our product requirements and our service & sales organization.”

194 product with consistent high quality. Commercial success doesn’t come

With industry 4.0 driving the manufacturing industry forward, companies

serendipitously, even for great prod-

such as Bray rely on innovation and the

ucts. It begins during the early phases

ability to understand the latest trends

of a product development process in

to leverage & provide products & solu-

identifying customer needs, getting

tions. “It’s important we keep up with

JANUARY 2019

TECHNOLOGY

195

w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

B R AY I N T E R N AT I O N A L , I N C .

1986

Year founded

2,500

Approximate number of employees

196

what our customers face today, but also respond to the technology trends in the industry that will take them to the next level tomorrow. There are two examples that I would highlight here. One is on additive manufacturing where we’ve worked through a super partnership to 3D-Print metal components in a control valve application to significantly improve flow performance by incorporating design features that aren’t possible with traditional casting and forging processes.” says Dhruva. “The second example involves develJANUARY 2019

TECHNOLOGY

197

oping predictive monitoring with near

customer’s needs and as long as we

real-time measurements on valves

understand the moving technology

that will provide performance diagno-

pieces, we will continue to grow as the

sis in a proactive and predictive way.”

technology partner of choice. Bray has the people, processes and the

FUTURE PLANS

technology infrastructure to meet our

With Bray several years into their

customer’s most difficult needs.”

technology transformation journey, Dhruva believes the company’s ability to quickly evolve to address the growing market needs and leverage technology trends is key to continued and sustainable growth. “As long as we understand our w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

198

JOHNSON BROTHERS Enabling organic growth through digital transformation WRIT TEN BY

CATHERINE S TURM AN PRODUCED BY

ANDY TURNER

JANUARY 2019

TECHNOLOGY

199

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JOHNSON BROTHERS

In the alcohol distribution business for over 65 years, Johnson Brothers has built a digitally enabled workforce that delivers outstanding customer service each and every time

lcohol is big business. Amounting to more than 16% of total beverage volume across the US, total alcoholic beverage sales

in 2017 exceeded US$234.4bn, a figure which continues to rise. While beer remains a key staple 200

with 185.57mn barrels produced in the US in 2017, demand for wine and spirits is also on an upward trajectory. As US consumers continue to drive up sales across the industry, opportunities have ascended for strong, market-savvy players to take full advantage and transform their service offerings. Providing exceptional services to its customers and supplier partners since 1953, wine, spirits and beer distributor Johnson Brothers has a long-term vision to leverage their longstanding values of excellence and team work to drive innovation as it enters new markets. Proud of its strong heritage in Minnesota, the business has acquired a number of businesses, launched a new distribution center and strengthened its supplier relationships as part of its ongoing strategy to enable organic customer growth.

JANUARY 2019

Our warehouse and delivery team members use technology to sort and manage product

TECHNOLOGY

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TECHNOLOGY

A Johnson Brothers truck in front of our warehouse

203 Michael Johnson, Chief Executive

of the best suppliers and customers

Officer, and Todd Johnson, Chief

in our industry. Today, technology is

Operating Officer are the Johnson

critical to our business, from providing

Brothers who run the company that

tools to our sales consultants, sharing

was founded by their father Lynn.

market trends with our customers, as

Todd describes how technology

well as improving the efficiency of our

strategy will enable growth, “My dad

distribution operations.”

started the company in 1953. He

Bringing this strategy to fruition at

bought a used truck, rented a small

Johnson Brothers is Vice President of

warehouse and opened his doors for

IT, Tim Dokken. Working for established

business. There was no technology

Fortune 500 organizations, such as

back then – everything was done by

American Express Global, Thrivent

hand. Over the next 65 years, we’ve

Financial and Merrill Corporation, with

grown across multiple states and

a career spanning accounting, finance,

developed partnerships with some

consulting and all aspects of technolw w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

JOHNSON BROTHERS

Warehouse employee filling customer orders

204

E X E C U T I V E P R OF IL E

Tim Dokken Tim is a passionate, senior technology executive with over 24 years of financial services experience, delivering solutions to businesses and consumers globally. He is currently serving as the Vice President â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Information Technology at Johnson Brothers in St. Paul, MN. Previously, he was the Chief Technology Officer of LiveGiveSave, Inc., whose mission is to help people through their everyday spending to effortlessly give to causes they care about and save for their future.

JANUARY 2019

TECHNOLOGY

“ The focus was to support the infrastructure side: our data centers, servers, all of our networking, end user computing, IT service delivery, etc. It’s really the operational side of IT” — Tim Dokken, Vice President of Information Technology 205

ogy including leading large IT moderni-

We’re moving to a brand-new data

zation programs, as well as launching

center which will go live in January

a technology start up. Dokken’s passion

with an entirely new production

to develop companies from the ground

environment. That’s literally from the

up led him to join Johnson Brothers.

ground up. Storage, compute, net-

“The focus was to support the infra-

working, plus we’ve implemented a

structure side: our data centers, servers,

new IBM Power Series for our ERP

all of our networking, end user comput-

system. We have experienced a

ing, IT service delivery, etc. It’s really the

dramatic amount of growth in the last

operational side of IT. Everything that

year and part of what we’re doing is

all the applications and data run on,

to prepare the organization for future

that’s what I own,” he says.

growth and ensure that technology

“A lot has changed in the last year.

is an enabler and not a barrier.” w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

JOHNSON BROTHERS

“ Our new production environment is at least 10-20x faster to accommodate for growth and the ability to process more business” — Tim Dokken, Vice President of Information Technology 206 Moving what had previously filled

and most importantly, speed.

an entire room in its former data center

“Our new production environment is

onto two racks in its new environment,

at least 10-20x faster to accommodate

Johnson Brothers has invested in a

for growth and the ability to process

hyper-converged infrastructure, and

more business. For example, our

has embedded cutting-edge tech-

backups for our ERP system used to run

nologies, whether compute, all flash

all night long on Sunday night and take

storage, unified backup or network,

everything offline. Now we’re down to

including a full SD-WAN. The compa-

less than two hours and that’s not even

ny has developed strong relationships

on our new IBM Power 9 Server yet,”

with Dell, Nutanix, Datatrend and

adds Dokken.

others in turning its three-tier archi-

The complete modernization of its

tecture into a state of the art hyper-

technology stack remains an important

converged infrastructure, delivering

part of its strategy, leading Johnson

optimal compute and storage capacity,

Brothers to leverage the capabilities

JANUARY 2019

TECHNOLOGY

207 of its vendors. Putting workloads into

Cloud technology has also been

Azure for sales applications and

adopted to support both local and

Amazon Web Services (AWS) for

remote workers as the business contin-

offsite storage, the business has

ues to expand, becoming one of the

sought to ensure both resiliency and

fastest and most vital investments

redundancy, as well as recoverability

across the business. Utilizing sales

through offsite data storage. Investing

tools and platforms from Inventive

in Microsoft’s entire suite of security

and Dimensional Insights has enabled

tools and capabilities, as well as

our mobile Salesforce to effectively

third party products such as Cylance

serve our customers.

has also formed part of its ‘defense

“Cloud has remained a key strategy

in depth’ strategy. All of this has

for growth, where our sales team are

worked to support Dokken and his

now entirely cloud enabled, running

team adhering to its internal slogan:

all data and applications through both

‘Always on, Always fast, Always secure.’

computers and iPads.” Promoting full w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

JOHNSON BROTHERS

C OMPA N Y FA C T S

• Amounting to more than 16% of total beverage volume across the US, total alcoholic beverage sales in 2017 exceeded US$234.4bn • Johnson Brothers has invested in a hyper-converged infrastructure, utilized solid state storage and has embedded cuttingedge technologies 208

• The company has developed strong relationships with Dell, Lenovo, Nutanix and others, turning its threetier architecture into a hyper-converged infrastructure • Putting workloads into Azure and Amazon Web Services (AWS) for offsite storage, the business has sought to ensure both resiliency and redundancy, as well as recoverability through offsite data storage

JANUARY 2019

Technology improves efficiency and monitors processes in our warehouses

TECHNOLOGY

November 2018 charity food packing event where 70 employees packed more than 21,000 meals for local children and families accessibility for customers who wish

on what creates the most business

to speak to the sales team, anytime,

value and leaves the other things to

anywhere will allow the business to

the SaaS providers,” explains Dokken.

deliver services in a rapid fashion,

Nonetheless, the most important

removing the constraints of an onsite

investment throughout the digital

data center.

transformation of Johnson Brothers

“We’re expanding many of our

has been its team. The decision to

applications, so our core systems are

move away from legacy technologies,

cloud delivered versus having to host

overhaul the entire production environ-

those in our data center. That frees

ment, move to a new data center and

up our team to focus on the systems

rebuild the network has been met with

which really drive business value. On

excitement, and provided new opportu-

the corporate systems, it’s a way to

nities for the personal and professional

make sure that our resources can focus

growth for team members. w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

209

JOHNSON BROTHERS

210

St. Paul Warehouse and Headquarters

“ My focus is to continue creating opportunities for the team. If I’m gone tomorrow, my objective as a leader is that they will be self-sufficient and will provide a seamless service the business can be proud of” — Tim Dokken, Vice President of Information Technology JANUARY 2019

“The team are the ones doing the heavy lifting; the most significant role I’ve played is to really clear the deck. I saw an opportunity and helped craft a vision, but the team is responsible for its success, looking at how to achieve this vision, the technology to use, as well as evaluating things like ‘what should our recovery strategy look like’ and ‘what data center should we run out of?’ So, they’ve been instrumental in these decisions, which has been very engaging and motivating. My team

TECHNOLOGY

with outside resources. At the same time, making sure our employees get to work on the high-quality work is a core strategy.” Dokken went on to say, “My focus is to continue creating opportunities for the team. If I’m gone tomorrow, my objective as a leader is that they will be self-sufficient and will provide a seamless service the business can be proud of. The team can pick up the ball, move forward, are enabled and ready, and are open to new opportunities to take the business forward.” Clearly demonstrating that technology is an enabler and not a barrier at Johnson Brothers, Dokken remains keen to promote its internal slogan is really proud of their work,” he states

‘Always on, Always fast, Always

with pride.

Secure’, which will see the business

Making a conscious decision

reach new heights in the upcoming

to partner with a consulting firm or

years and ensure its longevity and

provider has also proven advanta-

competitiveness across the industry.

geous in enabling employees to work

“As we continue to grow, we are

on systems and technologies that

thrilled that our IT infrastructure is

drive the most business value without

ready to support our business and be

burdening the team and has allowed

a key part of our company’s success,”

the company to reach some of its key

added Johnson.

goals in a shorter amount of time. “In terms of core engineers, I have a small team so we have to supplement that w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

211

212

Transforming procurement the Fannie Mae way WRIT TEN BY

ANDRE W WOODS PRODUCED BY

DENITR A PRICE

JANUARY 2019

S U P P LY C H A I N

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FA N N I E M A E

We speak to Rajeev Karmacharya, Managing Director, Strategic Sourcing and Category Management at Fannie Mae, on how he aligns procurement with business at Fannie Mae…

number of companies struggle to establish the bridge between their business aspirations and priorities and the procurement space. However,

procurement is undergoing a sea of change at the moment with many businesses no longer viewing this

214

service as merely a back-end function. Rajeev Karmacharya, Managing Director, Strategic Sourcing and Category Management at Fannie Mae, sees his role in procurement as much more business facing. “A lot of times procurement organizations tend to be too focused on the cost,” he explains. “However, that’s often not what the businesses are really looking for. Obviously everyone wants to be competitive with price, but there’s more to be had from procurement.” Karmacharya has over two decades of experience in procurement, supply chain and technology roles and has seen the procurement function evolve over time. He worked as a management consultant for over 12 years, including as a Principal for AT Kearney, a global management consulting firm. He consulted for a number of leading Fortune 500 firms where he often worked just as closely with the CIO as the CFO. “I really got to see how JANUARY 2019

S U P P LY C H A I N

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FA N N I E M A E

the priorities and perspectives could

function here and what I found talking

sometimes be different between the

to senior executives across the

two groups,” he explains.

company was that they didn’t see

Fannie Mae is a U.S. government-

value in procurement that does just

sponsored enterprise (GSE) that

transactional work. Obviously, there

supplies financing to mortgage

are trade-offs with minimizing cost,

lenders. Fannie Mae celebrated its

minimizing risk and speed of delivery.

80th birthday in 2018. Karmacharya

This interesting dynamic gave me a

joined the company in 2013 and has

perspective on how you should really

been working on transforming the

design a procurement organization.

procurement space through a more

How can a group be really effective?”

business-facing function rather than a

218

traditionally administrative process.

FUTURE PROCUREMENT

“When I joined Fannie Mae, we didn’t

Fannie Mae was keen to recruit

have a category management type of

procurement experts that could supply

$109.9bn Approximate revenue

1938

Year founded

7,200

Approximate number of employees JANUARY 2019

S U P P LY C H A I N

market insights and industry knowl-

to a model where we are the category

edge to the organization. “Our busi-

experts. Our category managers

ness stakeholders are not expecting

have a full understanding of their

procurement to tell them whether they

categories, including historical spend,

should buy this product or that product,

contractual terms, key sourcing levers

but they certainly wanted us to bring in

as well as industry knowledge – more

insights as to what was happening in

than anyone else in the company. This

the marketplace. What are the trends?

creates a partnership, and even though

Who are the key and emerging players?

the organization may change on the

What types of innovation are happen-

business side, it enables us to provide

ing in the industry?

continuity as well as an enterprise

“Obviously, the transactional part is important, as is the supplier manage-

perspective.” Fannie Mae’s sourcing and procure-

ment and all the traditional procure-

ment transformation journey is about

ment functions, but we have moved

customer service. “For us, our internal

w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

219

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Planning a Successful Procurement Transformation Journey Wayne Gretzky once said that “a good hockey player plays where the puck is. A great hockey player plays where the puck is going to be.” The same can be said for procurement leaders planning their organizations’ digital transformation. At Ivalua, we’ve had the opportunity to work with hundreds of the world’s leading companies on their journeys. The most successful have consistently been those that keep their eye on where they want their organizations to be many years down the road and plot their course accordingly. While people ultimately are the ones that deliver value and bring successful transformations to fruition, technology is a critical enabler. It frees capacity, provides necessary insights, enables collaboration at scale and much more. Successful procurement transformation journeys involve several core phases, and technology must be able to support each one when you are ready to progress.

Get up and running quickly Typical Objectives

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Generate ROI

Digitize the full Source-toPay process Manage 100% of spend

Adopt industry best practices

Bing your best ideas to life Establish agility for evolving requirements

Improve data / strategic insights

Rapid deployment, adoption & onboarding Industry configurations

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Competitive Advantage

Procurement Digital Transformation Journey

If getting started, ensure technology can deliver rapid ROI and deliver best practices. But remember that even if you are only digitizing part of your process now, when you are ready to build a truly best-in-class procurement organization you’ll want to digitize the full Source-to-Pay process, in which case an integrated suite to automate all activity will be needed, and a unified data model will be critical to ensuring 360 degree supplier visibility or generating process-wide insights from the latest artificial intelligence applications. Fannie Mae was able to onboard nearly 100% of their suppliers and achieved visibility into 100% of spend. Their team made it happen, empowered by technology. You should insist on best practice capabilities and configurations, but realize that as you mature you will inevitably find that some requirements are truly unique or have evolved. Be sure your technology has the flexibility to accommodate them through configuration. And remember that best-in-class does not create a competitive advantage. Top talent will want to innovate and do a few strategic activities differently, better than the competition. Technology should empower them to do so and bring their best ideas to life. Fannie Mae maintains better insight into cyber security threats than its suppliers, so implemented a unique process to automatically notify at-risk suppliers of threats, thereby reducing risk better than others. Every company’s journey is unique, but by keeping their eye on where they are headed, procurement leaders can achieve their goals.

To learn how Ivalua can accelerate your procurement digital transformation, visit ivalua.com

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“Like many internal operations, procurement has undergone a digital recalibration of both its architecture, functionality and efficiency as Big Data, machine learning and AI start to filter into the procurement space” — Rajeev Karmacharya, Managing Director, Strategic Sourcing and Category Management

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CLICK TO WATCH : FANNIE MAE – NATIONAL HOMEOWNERSHIP MONTH 225 business unit stakeholders are our

focus on. Sometimes, that may mean

customers. Some procurement

higher cost for faster speed-to-market,

organizations don’t like to call their

or taking on a slightly higher level of

internal stakeholders ‘customers’. I

risk. We may challenge them from time

think we’ve been very deliberate about

to time if we believe that’s in their best

viewing our business stakeholders as

interest, or the company’s. Ultimately,

customers and really putting them at

we want our customers to have a

the center of everything we do. We

positive experience in their interac-

seek to understand their business so

tions with procurement while knowing

we can see it from their perspective.

that we have their back. That’s the kind

We help our customers achieve market

of model we’re building.”

competitive costs and help identify

Like many internal operations,

and mitigate supplier risks, but our

procurement has undergone a digital

customers’ business objectives and

recalibration of its architecture,

priorities are at the core of what we

functionality and efficiency as Big w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

FA N N I E M A E

“I think the key for me is understanding business needs and viewing things from the customer’s perspective” 226

— Rajeev Karmacharya, Managing Director, Strategic Sourcing and Category Management

Data, machine learning and AI technologies start to filter into the procurement space. “We have totally digitized contracts and can do a lot more with contract authoring and contract analytics, among others. We have started to test RPA (robotic process automation) where it makes sense – and I’ll be honest: RPA doesn’t always make sense for smaller scale operations, where there is a lot more thinking versus doing. From a business case perspective, the promised land of true digitization is full collaboration and transparency that enables harnessing the full potential of technologies, such as JANUARY 2019

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machine learning and artificial intelligence. For our customers, that means greater efficiency and better analytics and insights.”

A PROCUREMENT TRANSFORMATION With any digital transformation, robust technology solutions are key to continued success. “If you looked at the technology solution we had a few years ago, the context diagram of our procurement system and integrations was outdated. This complexity meant higher opportunity for errors and impacted our cycle times. We also didn’t have a good way to tackle approvals outside of Procurement – much of this was done via emails and lacked consistency. We had multiple sources of records for supplier data, but no direct integration between contracts and purchase as they were on different systems. So, we needed an end-to-end solution that was flexible to meet our unique needs, yet scalable to handle our volume. After assessing a number of established players, Fannie Mae chose an innovative, emerging supplier in source-to-pay space. We now have a more user-friendly procurement system that allows for integrated requisition and contract approval workflow and now, along with the adoption of e-signatures and mobile approval capability, we w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

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S U P P LY C H A I N

have cut down cycle-time for standard

We have full spend visibility that really

purchases by 50%.”

enables us to do all the associated

Karmacharya’s team utilizes an

analytics. Catalog management and

end-to-end procurement solution

automatic deal approval with the full

where all of the contracts are in one

workflow is also built into the tool,

contract management system. The

which makes the process very efficient.

key metadata is captured and stored.

Moreover, with the workflow built into

Contract authoring has been piloted

the tool, it is easier for customers to

and the company is looking to expand

see where things are – with increased

its contract authoring and contract

transparency, procurement is becom-

analytics capabilities. “Much of our

ing less of a black box.”

contracting work happens electroni-

Karmacharya believes trusted

cally,” he explains. “Key contract

relationships with suppliers are equally

meta-data is captured and we utilize

important to bring value to internal

e-signature for execution. We continue

customers. The team has worked

to be focused on ensuring data quality,

hard to build strategic partnerships

capturing additional metadata, and

with key suppliers. “We believe

some of the innovative things you can

suppliers can help bring innovation

do with digitalization to drive efficiency.

and best practices with the right

E X E C U T I V E P R OF IL E

Rajeev Karmacharya Rajeev is Managing Director of the Strategic Sourcing and Category Management group in Fannie Mae. Rajeev leads a team of category management, strategic sourcing, contracting, and supplier operations professionals. In addition, Karmacharya currently serves in the Advisory Board of the Sourcing Interest Group, a global industry forum for Sourcing professionals.

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FA N N I E M A E

“From a business case perspective, the promised land of true digitization is full collaboration and transparency that enables harnessing the full potential of technologies, such as machine learning and artificial intelligence” 230

— Rajeev Karmacharya, Managing Director, Strategic Sourcing and Category Management

partnership and accountability. For

supplier pricing models we might not

example, we work collaboratively

normally have.”

with them to drive efficiency and cost

Besides unit cost optimization,

competitiveness. Annually, we work

Karmacharya’s team is also focused

with them to plan out future demand

on managing demand and seeking

so they can plan their resources

out substitution opportunities. For

accordingly and we get the benefit

example, the procurement team

of readily available, qualified resourc-

worked collaboratively with the

es in areas of our greatest need. We

enterprise data team to manage

also work with a company that helps

data purchases and allocation. Prior

us with benchmarks, and on key

to establishing an asset management

hardware and software deals, which

program, budget planning, forecasting

helps bring a unique perspective into

and cost allocation was challenging

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more difficult. Sometimes you have to challenge your customer and say, ‘Are you sure you want to do this? Because here’s what the data is telling me.” “There are valuable insights you can draw from analysis of not just spend and buying patterns, but also from trends in the marketplace. What resonates with the customers might not be cost savings. It might be other things you, and the customer, might not be thinking about.” “I think the key is understanding business needs and viewing things from customer’s perspective,” he adds. “On the flip side, by having this analytical insight you really understand what the opportunities are and, in turn, are due to the fragmented nature of the

better able to challenge the customer.

purchase across multiple business

Do you take the easy path, the path of

units. A new data management solution

least resistance, with minimal value or

enabled the company to effectively

would you rather be someone who is

manage its data purchases and reduce

really helping drive the business? I

duplicative purchases.

choose the latter every time.”

It’s Karmacharya’s customer service mindset that is driving tangible value. “I tell my team every day to think about the value we are bringing. You can always take the easy path, or you can take the path that drives the most value even though it may be a little w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

231

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Launching innovative new products during Cincinnati Incorporatedâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s procurement transformation WRIT TEN BY

SE AN GA LE A-PACE

PRODUCED BY

DENITR A PRICE

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C I N C I N N AT I I N C O R P O R AT E D

Justin Atkins, Purchasing Manager at Cincinnati Incorporated, discusses the company’s procurement transformation and affirms the importance of bringing innovative products to market

234

n order to keep ahead of

large-scale 3D product by extruding

its rivals, companies must

materials at a rate up to 80 pounds per

regularly innovate amidst

hour. The system, Big Area Additive

fierce competition to become the first

Manufacturing (BAAM), leverages

to bring new products to market. For

proven design and technology from

Justin Atkins, Purchasing Manager

CI’s laser platform. The innovation

at Cincinnati Incorporated (CI), he

was designed to enable 3D printing

believes it’s his company’s willingness

to be utilized for production manufac-

to launch new innovations and react

turing, where its size and speed allows

to the latest trends that acts as the

for large parts to be created more

catalyst for its success.

efficiently. The system provides more

CI, a global leader in 3D printing,

options due to its open architecture

has created one of the world’s largest

system for material vendors. “The

3D printing technology which develops

new system has enabled our custom-

JANUARY 2019

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235

ers to print parts at a very large scale that was not possible in the past and has allowed some of them to do things that are new to the world. Customers’ reactions have been overwhelming and we’ve won numerous innovation awards based on it,” explains Atkins.

TRANSFORMING OPERATIONS Over the past few years, CI has transitioned to become a company that can focus more on customer-centric product innovation, having solely operated with an engineering depart-

BAAM (Big Area Additive Manufacturing)

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C I N C I N N AT I I N C O R P O R AT E D

ment in previous years. The introduction of dedicated product teams has enabled CI to improve the range of products, such as laser and plasma cutting systems, press brakes and shears, additive manufacturing, as well as powder metal presses. “We now have three product teams: CNC table products, vertical motion products, and aftersales. Each one of these product teams has dedicated functional support including: service, technical support, marketing, training, and engineering resources. It means they can jointly focus on their specific products and the customers 236

that use them in an open team environment.” The company is also in the process of transitioning from its ERP system that has been in operation since 1992 and is set to switch to a state-of-the-art MRP ERP system called IFS which in the middle of a five-year implementation schedule. “It is going to give us the ability to have things like supplier portals and digital order acknowledgements and digital order systems. Technology is playing more of a role in our operations and we’re constantly looking at how we do things and how we can do better,” says Atkins. In a bid to reduce costs and lead times in its supply chain, CI has fully changed the way it operates. Atkins examines how CI’s supply chain has adapted over the years. “As a custom JANUARY 2019

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237

manufacturer of products, the design of our machine tools is fixed and the supply chain has never really had a say in the design, which puts us into a corner at some points. We have certain components within our supply chain and that we do not have full control of,â&#x20AC;? he says. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Over the past five years, we have looked at the supply chain more holistically and have seen where the pain points are. By adjusting our lead times and associated planning, it has allowed the supply chain to have more of an influence on what products we design into our products, which ultimately gives us a better chance of providing a lower-cost, on-time machine.â&#x20AC;? w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

C I N C I N N AT I I N C O R P O R AT E D

“ 25 years ago, the engineering team would make designs and we would have to try to source it. Now, everyone on all teams works very closely together to ensure that whatever products we’re designing is manufacturable and that there is a good supply chain pool” — Justin Atkins Purchasing Manager at Cincinnati Incorporated

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S U P P LY C H A I N

CLICK TO WATCH : ‘WHY CINCINNATI?’ 239 “25 years ago, the engineering team would make designs and we would have to try to source it. Now, everyone on all teams works very closely together to ensure that whatever products we’re designing is manufacturable and that there is a good supply chain pool.”

FORMING KEY PARTNERSHIPS In order to diversify its business model, solely buying steel directly from the mill, CI decided to partner with leading steel supplier, O’Neal Steel, in a bid to

Goform Electric Press Brake

reduce its lead times. However, with close to 50% of steel produced being w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

C I N C I N N AT I I N C O R P O R AT E D

wasted in the form of scrap, the company moved away from the O’Neal Steel model and explored other partner models. Ultimately after further consideration, CI reverted back to O’Neal Steel as it was emerging as the better option. “We had steel service centers competitively quote on every single piece of plate that we needed to buy and have them burn our parts out for us,” says Atkins. “However, we decided to move back to the O’Neal Steel model once again because they took a decent-sized hit on the business that we had with them when we started going to 240

other companies. They assembled a supply chain team together to see how they could

Small Area Additive Manufacturing (SAAM) JANUARY 2019

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“ We decided to move back to the O’Neal Steel model once again because they took a decent-sized hit on the business that we had with them when we started going to other companies. They assembled a supply chain team together to see how they could fix our problem and work with us to make our supply chain even more efficient” — Justin Atkins Purchasing Manager at Cincinnati Incorporated

241

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C I N C I N N AT I I N C O R P O R AT E D

fix our problem and work with us to make our supply chain even more efficient.” The collaboration with O’Neal Steel has allowed CI to closely monitor the inventory at hand and ensure less wastage. Atkins affirms how important it is for the two companies to enjoy a strong working relationship. “We work very closely with them, and do forecasts twice a month, depending on how strong business is, which allows us to better predict exactly what inventory we require,” explains Atkins. 242 “We are effectively able to have four or five times more efficient yield on our plate at a lower cost which is important given the current US administration imposing tariffs on foreign steel.” Looking to the future, Atkins points to the positive workforce at CI as a key factor in its success and believes it remains vital to continue to grow and enable innovation. “Our people are what makes Cincinnati Incorporated so successful. We are right here in southwest Ohio and we have some of the best people in the world. Every day, every member of staff comes in and they have such an immense feeling of pride in the products that we build. JANUARY 2019

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CLICK TO WATCH : ‘BAAM 3D PRINTED SHELBY COBRA’ 243 I would give the credit to the people that we have at the company,” Atkins states proudly. Ultimately, Atkins would like to see the company continue to grow and innovate more and more every day. “We have long-term plans and I want to see us continue in the same direction that we’ve been pursuing for the past three or four years while continuing to bring bigger and better products to market.”

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ROSEWOOD COR DEVA LLE:

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A GLEAMING EXAMPLE OF PROCUREMENT TRANSFORMATION 101 WRIT TEN BY

L AUR A MULL AN PRODUCED BY

DENITR A PRICE

JANUARY 2019

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245

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ROSEWOOD HOTELS & RESORTS

OFFERING EVERYTHING FROM WORLD-CLASS GOLF TO WINE TASTING, ROSEWOOD CORDEVALLE IS A HIDDEN GEM OF LUXURY THANKS IN PART TO ITS DILIGENT PRO C U R E M E N T T E A M

246

estled in the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains, Rosewood CordeValle might be Northern California’s

best-kept secret. The four-star hotel rests on acres of rustic countryside making it the ideal spot for those craving to get some needed rest and relaxation. Yet, whilst guests enjoy golf courses and tranquil spas at their leisure, behind the scenes there’s a buzz of activity that ensures that guests receive an unforgettable stay. Scott Amarante, now Director of Procurement at Rosewood CordeValle, earned his stripes at the hotel. With almost 13 years’ experience at the property, he says that in essence his procurement team has one key goal: “By ordering products and services, managing inventory and more, we try to take away much JANUARY 2019

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247

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TRULY MADE IN ITALY LINENS www.rivoltacarmignani.it export@rivoltacarmignani.it

S U P P LY C H A I N

“ We never want to save money at the cost of the guest experience. We’re always pushing for the best of both worlds” — Scott Amarante, Director of Procurement at Rosewood CordeValle

249

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ROSEWOOD HOTELS & RESORTS

of the day-to-day admin from the front of house managers’ plates. This allows them to deliver better training to staff and, most importantly, deliver a high-quality guest experience.” Having worked at the hotel for over a decade, Amarante is all too aware of the importance of procurement. When he first started out in a food and beverage role, the hotel didn’t have a formalized procurement department. “We began to see some challenges: we were having problems with inventory and food and beverage costs,” he recalls. “There was a real need to centralize procurement and create 250

a department. We went from nothing to a department of three and so whilst it’s been an organic development, we’re now a vital part of the company.” Whether ensuring inventory levels are accurate or overseeing spending, Amarante says that now the department has “really taken on a life of its own”. This is partly thanks to his colleague Luca Rutigliano, he adds. “He had the foresight to create this department and was really the pushing force behind it. He really helped everyone recognize the importance of procurement which was a new and unproven department at the time.” It didn’t take the procurement department long to prove its worth. In the past, Amarante points out how the golf shop’s inventory was JANUARY 2019

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CLICK TO WATCH : ‘ROSEWOOD REGULARS — COMPLETELY REVOLUTIONARY’ 251 overinflated and unmanageable. “We completely took it over and managed what goes in and out,” he reflects. “We took an inventory that was worth around $500,000 and brought it down to $175,000 – now the business is operating beautifully.” By streamlining this function, it allowed Rosewood CordeValle to deliver a seamless guest experience. This same methodology was applied to the hotel’s food and beverage offering. “The food and beverage team were finding it difficult to meet their budgeted costs on a monthly basis so by taking over those inventories and tightening up the process we made sure everything’s accounted for and streamlined. We brought everything w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

ROSEWOOD HOTELS & RESORTS

“ People don’t realize that procurement touches every single department on the property” 252

— Scott Amarante, Director of Procurement at Rosewood CordeValle

down to a manageable, functional

It’s been a big help. When things get

level. We were able to really put our

tough, we can help them tighten the

footprint there while maintaining a

belt.” Yet, whilst cost-saving is a critical

great experience.”

task for any procurement professional,

Procurement may not always gain

Amarante says that striking a balance

the spotlight but its influence is undeni-

between value for money and quality is

able. “People don’t realize that procure-

a “tightrope walk” he does every day.

ment touches every single department

“It’s tough,” he says. “We never want to

on the property,” Amarante adds.

save money at the cost of the guest

“Whether it’s the spa or golf or food

experience. We’re also evolving and

and beverage, we touch everything.

looking at market trends to really put

JANUARY 2019

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253

our best foot forward. We’re always

years. This reputation has proven to

pushing for the best of both worlds.”

be an invaluable asset.

Being part of the Rosewood Hotels

However, for Amarante, the most

& Resorts family undoubtedly lightens

important item in his toolkit are the

this load. With 24 hotels and resorts

strong relationships he has fostered

spanning 15 countries, the Rosewood

with his vendors and suppliers.

umbrella is one which is synonymous

“Creating close, mutually-beneficial

with world-class standards and a

relationships with our vendors is really

memorable guest experience, evi-

key to our success. How do we develop

denced by the variety of accolades

these relationships? Some of it comes

and awards it has collected over the

down to purchase agreements, some of w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

ROSEWOOD HOTELS & RESORTS

it comes down to exclusivity. For instance, we have a signature whiskey and tequila that’s made for us. We make them part of our family. We showcase them to our members and hotel guests.” Whether managing the hotel’s inventories or purchase orders (POs), technology also undoubtedly plays a role, although it can be a double-edged sword, warns Amarante. “One of the paradigms of being technology-based is that having that face-to-face relationship with your vendors becomes more difficult,” he says. 254 “This creates a challenge when you’re sending POs via email, for example. You’re not even having a conversation with the person when placing an order. It really forces us to go the extra mile to maintain these relationships but technology is still paramount for sure.”

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“ Creating close, mutuallybeneficial relationships with our vendors is really key to our success” — Scott Amarante, Director of Procurement at Rosewood CordeValle

255

Rosewood CordeValle has firmly put itself on the map as the ideal destination for any getaway and, whilst its procurement department may boast of a small team of three, it seems they’re making a lasting impression on the hotel and its guests. “Looking forward, we hope to continue to improve profitability and enhance the quality of the guest experience every day,” adds Amarante. “It might sound simple or cliché but that’s what it’s all about — it drives us every single day.”

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Undergoing a digital transformation in cancer therapy at Proton International â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

WRIT TEN BY

SE AN GA LE A-PACE PRODUCED BY

TOM VENTURO

JANUARY 2019

H E A LT H C A R E

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

Vice President of Design and Construction at Proton International, Jay Beranek, discusses how the proton industry has transformed over the last few years

igital transformation is affecting all industries as companies adapt to the latest trends in order to

achieve success with their offerings. In the 258

case of cancer treatments, it has also allowed for proton therapy to have a more significant impact in the sector. Proton therapy, which is a type of radiation therapy used to treat cancer, utilizes protons instead of x-rays in order to battle the disease. As a positively charged particle, protons can destroy cancer cells and are often combined with chemotherapy, surgery, radiation therapy and immunotherapy. Vice President of Design and Construction at Proton International, Jay Beranek, has overseen a significant transformation in the construction of cancer treatment centers since arriving at the company in 2011. In the years since, Beranek believes that technology has become increasingly important to Proton International. JANUARY 2019

H E A LT H C A R E

“Technology in the proton industry is changing very rapidly. Less than 10 years ago, our industry thinking was to build multi-room facilities which would see us develop four or five rooms with larger equipment,” explains Beranek. “It meant there are four completely different gantries but there is still only one cyclotron that can deliver the protons to each of these rooms. Although cost is a major issue, technology has helped to reduce the size of this significantly. I believe the proton industry is going towards single room facilities, which will also substantially reduce the overall cost of the project itself. Technology decreases the size of the scope, equipment, physical facility and size of the space and it remains absolutely vital to us.”

REMAINING SUSTAINABLE Proton therapy centers began less than three decades ago with just a handful of centers in the US and Europe. However, in recent years the treatment method has become increasingly prominent in the industry and now holds just under 30 operating centers in the US as well as several in 28 other countries around the world. Beranek points out that protons have become more widely-used as a method of cancer treatment due to the influx of patients that have a greater understanding to w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

259

BR+A CONSULTING ENGINEERS is the Global Engineering Leader in Proton

and Carbon Center design. Our success stems from the talented Core Team of Engineers who have been collaborating for many years. We understand the intricacies of these highly complex facilities and possess in-depth knowledge of the technical requirements of the proton equipment operating systems. Overall, our portfolio consists of involvement in over 60 particle therapy facilities worldwide, of which, 14 proton centers are currently treating patients and approximately 12 will be brought ‘online’ and start treating patients by the end of 2018 through early 2020.

PARTICLE THERAPY LOCATIONS Abu Dhabi, UAE Adelaide, AU Al Sayh, Bahrain Atlanta, GA Baltimore, MD Bangkok, Thailand Birmingham, AL Boca Raton, FL Boston, MA Cairo, Egypt Cincinnati, OH Cleveland, OH

Dallas, TX Dayton, OH Delray Beach, FL Doha, Qatar Dublin, OH Falls Church, VA Flint, MI Freiberg, Germany Halle, Germany Hefei, China Hong Kong, China Houston, TX

Irving, TX Jacksonville, FL London, England Madrid, Spain Miami, FL Muscat, Oman New York, NY Newport, Wales Northumberland, UK Oklahoma City, OK Oxford, England Philadelphia, PA

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia Rochester, MN Royal Oak, MI San Francisco, CA Seattle, WA Singapore Somerset, NJ Stanford, CA Taipei, Taiwan Voorhees, NJ Warrenville, IL Washington, DC

CONTACT

Michael Fahey, Managing Principal m 347.752.2364 | d 646.205.7289 | e mfahey@brplusa.com

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H E A LT H C A R E

“ One of the best things about protons is it can focus on solid tumors in the brain or around the spinal cord, particularly in young children with little to no collateral damage to surrounding healthy tissue. From a quality of life point of view, it’s huge” — Jay Beranek Vice President of Design and Construction, Proton International,

261

the benefits of the treatment. “I believe

Having treated its first patients at the

protons have found their place in the

University Medical Centre Groningen

clinical treatment for cancer and one of

(UMCG) in January 2018, the UMCG

the main reasons is because protons are

became the first site to provide proton

particles, in comparison to a light wave

therapy in the Netherlands and is built

which are x-rays,” he says. “One of the

with a 220-tonne particle accelerator

best things about protons is it can focus

and the most modern irradiation

on solid tumors in the brain or around the

equipment. By launching facilities such

spinal cord, particularly in young children

as the UMCG, it has allowed Proton to

with little to no collateral damage to

remain sustainable and provide a vast

surrounding healthy tissue. From a quality

number of proton facilities to the world.

of life point of view; it’s huge.”

“The design process at UMCG was w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

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

very successful. UMCG had a strong physics presence on campus; however, not with the clinical aspect of using protons to treat people,” says Beranek. “As integral to our culture, we meld our operations experience with the culture and experiences of the Dutch or any other clinical partner. It is not just about working with our clinical partners, we actually develop strong friendships which instill trust and allow transparent conversations leading to very quick decisions. This bonded relationship also significantly reduces the quantity of changes during the construction process.” 262

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H E A LT H C A R E

CLICK TO WATCH : ‘THE CONCRETE POURING FOR THE PROTON THERAPY CENTER IN GRONINGEN’ 263

ESTABLISHING KEY PARTNERSHIPS Beranek believes that through unveiling its facilities, it has enabled Proton to set itself apart from its rivals while offering a diverse range of people the help they require. “We differentiated ourselves from anyone else. Proton International is the only company worldwide that has the track record of successfully bringing multiple proton facilities to the world. University of Alabama in Birmingham will be our eighth building and no one else has even come close,” explains Beranek. “Our Proton vendors provide equipment but it’s a lot different than just selling equipment because you have to put the whole package together. It’s important w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

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

C OMPA N Y INF OR M AT ION â&#x20AC;&#x201D; BR + A

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BR+A is a global engineering firm that embraces challenging projects for organizations whose work makes a difference in peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s lives and the world. We engineer responsive, high-performing buildings where people and ideas thrive. Founded in 1975, BR+A creates state-of-the-art facilities by providing tightly integrated and coordinated engineering design services that touch every aspect of the built environment. These include MEP/FP systems design, sustainability consulting, building commissioning, infrastructure design, master planning, and more. Whether it is a small, quick-turn assignment or complex, large-scale project, BR+A is hands-on from inception to construction completion. BR+A has more than 350 team members, working together across eight US-based offices, bring unsurpassed technical expertise and wide-ranging creativity to everything they do. We assemble

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highly proficient, multidisciplinary teams, each led by a firm principal, to serve as trusted advisors throughout the project. Using the most advanced tools and technologies, BR+A provides lifecycle cost analysis, energy modeling, and proactive value engineering that helps architects and owners weigh the pros, cons, and holistic benefits of proposed designs. We have been successful in providing engineering services to our particle clients worldwide for over 15 years, currently encompassing 15 countries with that success stemming from our talented, and experienced, core group of engineering professionals. Above all, our diverse team is dedicated to serving as a true partner to clients and we strive to be seen a vital part of their organization. In the office, on the job site, or out in the field, BR+A fosters a culture where creativity and hard work are celebratedâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;and collaboration fuels mutual success.

H E A LT H C A R E

to think about location, financing, hospital and doctor partnerships before you can actually put a completed project together. We bring all those parties together.” In order to establish its success, Proton International formed professional partnerships with design professionals such as Stantec – Architecture Bard, Rao-& Anthanas Engineers and Goldstein-Milano which have collaborated with the company since its inception. The long-lasting relationships have seen all entities work together in order to deliver the best experience for its patients. “We also believe it’s critical to have regionally focused construction managers such as Brasfield & Gorrie, Gilbane, Linbeck and Hoffman to execute the building process. We conduct Lessons Learned sessions with these partners knowing that our next proton project will ultimately provide the best possible patient experience,” says Beranek. “We are a family and grow accordingly in that we can not only anticipate mutual needs but also respect each other’s responsibilities to act as advocates for Proton International while keeping the needs of the patients first and foremost.” w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

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P R O T O N I N T E R N AT I O N A L brasfieldgorrie.com

Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re honored to partner with Proton International and the University of Alabama at Birmingham to deliver Alabamaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s first proton therapy facility.

www.stantec.com

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Particle Therapy Architects

H E A LT H C A R E

“ It’s not just about bringing the project to fruition, it’s about operating and having that expertise of understanding how patient delivery systems should be incorporated.This means we fully understand what the patient experience is and we have to ensure we maximize that experience”

267

— Jay Beranek Vice President of Design and Construction, Proton International,

As a pioneer for implementing proton

of understanding how patient delivery

therapy treatment, Proton understands

systems should be incorporated. This

how vital it is that patients remain the

means we fully understand what the

top priority in the company’s plans.

patient experience is and we have to

Beranek is adamant that Proton can

ensure we maximize that experience,”

provide the best service due to its

affirms Beranek. “We know that you

determination to get projects complet-

have to deal with insurance and the

ed. “It’s not just about bringing the

actual treatment and clinical aspect.

project to fruition, it’s about clinical

However, we’re also the only ones who

operations and having that expertise

can find the financing to get all these w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

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

projects completed and considering the way our sustainability is right now, I believe we’re the only ones who can deliver this from soup to nuts.”

FUTURE PLANS With an eye on the future, Proton International are looking to expand their operations further with facilities in Delray Beach, Florida, and Birmingham, Alabama, expected to open next year. Beranek maintains that he never reflects on completed projects for too long following the completion of a facility. 268

“Once the building gets up and

CLICK TO WATCH : ‘PLACEMENT OF THE PARTICLE ACCELERATOR (CYCLOTRON) IN THE UMCG PROTON THERAPY CENTER’

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H E A LT H C A R E

“ We differentiated ourselves from anybody else. Proton International is the only company worldwide that has the track record of successfully bringing multiple proton facilities to the world”

— Jay Beranek Vice President of Design and Construction, Proton International,

operational, I’m pretty much onto the

continue to bring protons and maintain

next project. Our Delray Beach facility

our position as a major directive force

is only a few weeks from opening to

in bringing a greater number of protons

see patients for Linac treatments while

to the world. We’ve completed more

our proton building will begin to treat

projects than anyone else and that’s

patients in the Fall of 2019. We’re also

what we pride ourselves on. It’s what

building one in Birmingham, Alabama

we do.”

and we anticipate to be receiving proton equipment for that facility in February,” explains Beranek. “We’re a small privately-owned company and we make our own decisions. We will w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

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Brown-Forman 270

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271

WRIT TEN BY

L AUR A MULL AN PRODUCED BY

ANDY TURNER

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BROWN-FORMAN

Brown-Forman may be better known for its iconic repertoire of spirits and wines, but the American company is also earning its stripes as a digital trailblazer

F 272

rom Jack Daniels to Woodford Reserve, Old Forester to Canadian Mist, today Brown-Forman’s brands

are a mainstay of any bar or cocktail cabinet. The American wine and spirits company was founded almost 150 years ago when the founder, George Garvin Brown, created Old Forester, a brand that is often cited as America’s first bottled bourbon – and it seems that this pioneering approach is still present today. The century-old company is keen to preserve its long-lasting legacy but it isn’t naïve enough to think that the alcohol market will be untouched by the latest wave of digitization. In fact, Brown-Forman has put its weight behind a root-and-branch digital transformation that hopes to cement its brands as household favourites for years to come.

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“ We look at every employee as a tremendous brand builder” — Tim Nall, Senior Vice President and CIO at Brown-Forman

273

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FOOD & DRINK

275 With over 18 years of experience at Brown-Forman under his belt, this job has fallen partly into the capable hands of Tim Nall, Senior Vice President and Chief Information and Data Officer (CIO/CDO). With an acute understanding of the inner workings of the American company, married with a continuous improvement mindset, Nall and his team have ensured that IT no longer plays a back-end function but rather is a key strategic driver of Brown-Forman’s operations. “Brown-Forman used to be a traditional place where IT was viewed as a back-office function,” observes w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

BROWN-FORMAN

Nall. “But a few years ago, we began to look at what tools Brown-Forman needed to really advance in this data economy. We began to view IT as an enabler and business partner, a function that could provide true solutions not just for the back office but for production teams, sales teams and marketing teams.” This has been a seismic shift in mindset for Brown-Forman, but it is undoubtedly an essential step for any company wanting to remain at the top of its game in today’s digital economy. Storytelling and brand building are the 276

backbone of a successful food or beverage brand, and it is a skill which Brown-Forman has honed for decades. “We absolutely believe the consumer is king,” observes Nall. “Our ultimate goal is for our consumers to understand our product – we want them to make educated choices, we want them to be fans of our brands.” How best to connect with these consumers is a pressing question for any food and beverage business, and Nall believes that technology could be a key part of the solution. “Whether you’re communicating on social media with that consumer, whether you’re creating interactive tools for that consumer, how you’re targeting that consumer – it all requires technology,” he explains. JANUARY 2019

CLICK TO WATCH : ‘WHO IS BROWN-FORMAN?’ 277 Over the past few years, the Jack Daniels maker has implemented a slew of technologies to become a more digitally savvy firm. These include everything from cloud-based productivity and collaboration tools to a modern data stack. “First, we realized our existing data stack was not adequate enough for us to really gather, harmonize and interrogate our information. We knew we had to modernize, so we started looking for a modern data ingestion platform that our employees could leverage and we settled on Talend as our partner working with the Talend Data Fabric,” explains Nall. “We knew we also wanted a modern, robust w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

BROWN-FORMAN

“ We want our consumers to know the stories behind Brown-Forman. We want them to engage with us so that we can tell them about Old Forester, the first bottled bourbon. We want them to understand our recipes so that they can create the perfect Manhattan” — Tim Nall, Senior Vice President and CIO at Brown-Forman

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warehouse for all this information to go into so we chose to work with Cloudera. Then we asked ourselves how our employees and our partners would really interrogate and examine the information that we give them. We wanted to ensure that we had modern toolsets out there as well, so we looked at different products and settled on Tableau as our visualization platform and RStudio as our analytical, statistical modeling platform.” Through these cutting-edge technologies, BrownForman has sought to democratize

279

data and its analytics so that employees from all departments can utilize this for their own ad hoc analyses every day. Gaining the data is only the beginning. For this tool to really earn its stripes, Nall points out that you need to gain true insight and analysis of the figures. “We’re always cautious to say that, in a way, the data isn’t doing anything,” he explains. “It’s the insights we’re gleaning from the information that are important. Data without analysis is wasted money. We’ve transformed how we look at the information; it’s w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

BROWN-FORMAN

surfacing new ideas that are really driving positive action within the company.” At Brown-Forman, data has been the bread and butter of the company’s digital transformation and it’s helping to deliver insights that drive tangible, real-life results, such as more informed pricing decisions. “It’s helped us see how our competitors are moving with regards to their price and how that affects us. Over the past few months, we’ve been rolling out a revenue management application globally that’s been well received,” explains Nall. Data analysis 280

$3.25bn Approximate revenue

1870

Year founded

4,600

Approximate number of employees

has touched every corner of the American company, including the heart of its operations: its production division. “We worked closely with the production organization and we saw that there

well known for its captivating market-

were issues that data analytics could

ing efforts but the company has taken

help resolve. Using data, we’ve taken

this one step further with its use of

a hard look at our barrel yield to see

data technology “We’ve engaged

what issues could be affecting it.

with partners like Salesforce to help us

Leveraging a lot of internal information

provide modern toolsets, and we’ve

and even external information like the

also looked at exact target marketing

temperature and other variables, we’ve

and consumer journeys so we can

provided dashboards that are really

better communicate with our customers

helping our production partners better

and deliver a better experience,” says

manage and forecast barrel yield.”

Nall. The wine and spirits firm has also

With its quintessential southern

made its first foray into chatbots and

American charm, Brown-Forman is

has used SMS text engagement at its

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FOOD & DRINK

281

distillery tours. Additionally, as a sponsor

employees but are also viewed as

of the Kentucky Derby, Brown-Forman

brand ambassadors. “We look at every

says it can use a balance of marketing

employee as a tremendous brand

and data analytics to track whether

builder,” observes Nall. “We want our

event promotions have been effective

consumers to know the stories behind

and to forecast the success of its

Brown-Forman. We want them to

future campaigns. This, in turn, helps

engage with us so that we can tell them

marketing dollars go further and

about Old Forester, the first bottled

increases brand awareness.

bourbon. We want them to understand

The biggest tool for marketing, though,

our recipes so that they can create the

is undoubtedly Brown-Forman’s team.

perfect Manhattan. I think that’s the

With a 4,600-strong workforce world-

real benefit for the consumer: they get

wide, teams are not only seen as

this information and it’s digestible. w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

BROWN-FORMAN

We view data and analytics as playing a significant role in our future successes.” Over the past decade, technology has undoubtedly revolutionized the customer experience. With a few swipes and taps of our devices, we can get the goods and services we want when we want them. Today’s consumers expect their experience to be seamless and indeed today’s workforces are no different. “Just like we want to understand the expectations of our consumers, we also want to understand the expectations 282

our employees,” Nall adds. “Our employees expect a consumer-like experience.” Making working life simpler for staff in over 160 countries is not an easy feat, but by leveraging trailblazing technologies and processes Brown-Forman is hoping to bridge geographical gaps and bring its teams closer together. “Whether it’s regarding their paycheques, their communications or their training, we want to make sure that it’s delivered seamlessly and that our employees have a great JANUARY 2019

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BROWN-FORMAN

284

experience with it. We want to make sure

borders and time zones,” says Nall. As

that all our 160 countries are connected.

a Salesforce customer, Brown-Forman

You could do that by hopping on aero-

has not only adopted the firm’s customer

planes but that can be very costly and

relationship management (CRM) tool

so we are leveraging modern technology

globally, but is also using its Chatter tool

to help connect our team.”

that allows employees to keep in touch.

Pushing for better communication,

“Our employees are used to tweeting

Brown-Forman quickly got on board

and using instant messaging apps in

with cloud technology like Google’s G

their personal life so Chatter gives that

Suite platform and Cisco’s Webex tool.

to them professionally,” he adds. “It really

“We believe these tools help eliminate

allows all of these employees just to

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285

“ We definitely believe that technology isn’t a solution, but it’s an enabler for change” — Tim Nall, Senior Vice President and CIO at Brown-Forman

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BROWN-FORMAN

“ Data without analysis is wasted money” — Tim Nall, Senior Vice President and CIO at Brown-Forman

286

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stay connected despite the time zones.” As more and more technologies come to the fore, it seems it’s an exciting time to be in the alcoholic beverage space. However, Nall is keen to point out the saying ‘if you have a hammer, everything looks like a nail’ – that is, if a business relies too heavily on particular tools it may miss out on the perfect solution or idea. Instead, he suggests: “When we think about digital we always think about our stakeholders, our employees and our consumers. We definitely believe that technology isn’t a solution, but it is an enabler for change.”

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