Business Chief USA – March 2019

HHH USA

EDITION MARCH 20 19

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Unlocking potential through data

CUSTOMER-CENTRIC FINTECH

DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION OF PROCUREMENT VP Global Procurement Nirav Mehta on the company’s journey to customer centricity

City Focus

TOP 10

Smartest cities in the USA

CHARLOTTE Which companies are leading its technology transformation?

FOREWORD

W

elcome to the March issue of Business Chief USA.

“What gives us an edge is our scale

– we’re the number one in the industry and we have been at it the longest,” says Ben Hawksworth, Chief Technology Officer at Progressive Leasing. In our lead feature this month, Hawksworth explains how the company is helping creditchallenged customers with a disruptive digital transformation that harnesses agile methodology and applies it to fintech at scale.

From its 27,000 retail locations and online, Progressive Leasing’s leaseto-purchase option has helped millions of customers and their families.

Also highlighted this month is Edgewell Personal Care, whose motto of ‘challenge to win’ is taking the company on a journey to transform its procurement function, enabling a consumer-centric, sustainable future, and Infor USA, the industry-leading software company using cuttingedge analytics, data lake technology and its own artificial intelligence to unlock the human potential of its customers.

This month’s City Focus takes a look at Charlotte, North Carolina, and three of the disruptive ‘unicorns’ that call it home. You can also find Charlotte on our list of the top 10 smart cities in the country.

Hawksworth insists that “we measure

Enjoy the issue!

usability, we practice design-first

Harry Menear

thinking and, at the end of the day,

harry.menear@bizclikmedia.com

we’re really passionate about taking the friction out of the process for our customers at every step”. w w w. b u s i n e s s c h i e f. c o m

03

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CONTENTS

Procurement’s role in Edgewell’s transformation and digitization

10

44 SOFT WARE ENABLING Ahead of the curve

30

5G

REINVENTING UPSKILLING FOR THE FOURTH INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION

54 64

76 CHARLOTTE City Focus

OPEN DATA ADDRESSING WORLD H U NGE R — SOLVING THE AGRICULTURAL CRISIS FOR A MORE SUSTAINABLE FUTURE

86

TOP 10 Smart cities in the USA

CONTENTS

100 Progressive Leasing

148 Infor

162 116 PAY-O-MATIC

130 Boise State University

Choice Financial

214 Traffix

230 176

Calgary Drop-In

Dimension Data

186

248

Hyster

PBL Insurance

198 Emmerson Packaging

10

MARCH 2019

S U P P LY C H A I N

Procurement’s role in Edgewell’s transformation and digitization WRIT TEN BY

CATHERINE S TURM AN PRODUCED BY

DENITR A PRICE

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EDGEWELL PERSONAL CARE

With the motto of ‘challenge to win’, Edgewell Personal Care has been on a journey to transform its procurement function to enable a consumer-centric, sustainable future. VP Global Procurement Nirav Mehta tells us more…

T 12

he procurement function has evolved from purely transactional – such as managing purchase orders, pay-

ments and invoices – to a strategic role across organizations. Shifting its value proposition to become an integral part of a business, procurement is expected to deliver a significant impact on bottom line margins using innovative sourcing strategies and cost saving levers. The value proposition is evolving even further, where procurement has sought to impact the top line of an organization by delivering supplier-enabled innovations, forming an integral part of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and sustainability objectives, mitigating all kinds of external risk to supply continuity, finances or even brand equity.

A clear example of that is how businesses, presently faced with political uncertainty, government regulations and ongoing trade MARCH 2019

S U P P LY C H A I N

wars on a global scale, are looking at the procurement function. Such volatility has put unprecedented financial and supply chain risks on businesses, which is where procurement needs to be in driver’s seat.

On top of this, the ongoing digital disruptions impacting every industry, has resulted in increased pressure on businesses to transform their models. The procurement function must play a critical role in digital transformations of businesses, while also transforming itself.

“I believe these are significant challenges, but it makes our role in procurement very exciting and valuable at the same time,” reflects Nirav Mehta, Vice President of Global Procurement at Edgewell Personal Care (EPC). Joining the business four years ago and appointed as Vice President in 2018, Mehta’s diverse background in the consumer goods industry made him the perfect choice to take the business on its next stage of growth. Working for Coty, Avon and L’Oréal amongst others, he reflects that he joined “this gem of a company” due to its “phenomenal culture” and its “collaborative and down-to-earth people.” With several w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

13

EDGEWELL PERSONAL CARE

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P U N A B O Y O U W E I

C H V E R G H T

M U L L E N L O W E T O

S U P P O R T

I S

P O R T F O L I O

O F

A C R O S S

K E Y

5 0

W O R L D W I D E .

MARCH 2019

H O N O R E D

E D G E W E L L ’ S B R A N D S M A R K E T S

S U P P LY C H A I N

“ We have deployed technology-enabled solutions at every stage of the procurement value stream, with the objective to reduce redundancies, and automate and streamline processes” — Nirav Mehta, Vice President of Global Procurement at Edgewell Personal Care (EPC)

“We like to call ourselves a small big company. It also describes our culture and our entrepreneurial mindset to a great extent. Like a startup, perhaps, but with the resources of a large organization,” he says wistfully. “We are not so big that the bureaucracy and politics of decision making, or lack of empowerment can stifle our growth and innovation. I believe this is a great asset that we have, and we try to leverage it. Our company’s motto, in simple words, is ‘challenge to win’. We consider ourselves challengers to our competitors in the industry.”

Technology continues to accelerate

strong fundamentals in place for the

the transformation of every industry,

business to succeed long-term, including

and the consumer-packaged goods

strong personal care brands under its

(CPG) and personal care sector is no

umbrella, Mehta is enthusiastic about

exception. Whether it is e-commerce

the role procurement and supply chain

or direct-to-consumer type business

is playing in its transformation.

models. EPC was previously geared

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15

EDGEWELL PERSONAL CARE

towards competing with larger CPG companies and serving large, brickand-mortar type retailers. As digitization continues to shift the goalposts, a significant number of niche brands are not only challenging market share and the price positioning of bigger players, but also the traditional business models which have remained relatively unchanged – until now.

“I would say even consumer behaviors are changing,” observes Mehta.

“In the past, consumers used to be a lot more loyal to big brand names,

16

but nowadays are looking for more personalization and are more willing and open to try new brands and new products that appeal to their individuality, that the values of these brands align with the values of themselves.”

“You see this huge influx of really small, niche piranha brands in every consumer goods sector. That niche value proposition is targeted to a very specific segment of consumers, appeals to them and is successful in grabbing pieces of market share. At the end of the day, when you add all that up, it becomes a challenging marketplace for incumbent players.”

MARCH 2019

S U P P LY C H A I N

With shifts in consumer behavior, an

amidst changing market trends.

evolving landscape from brick-and-mor-

The procurement team at EPC is

tar to e-commerce, as well as business

at the front and center of navigating

models changing to direct-to-consum-

through these complex challenges.

er and subscription-type models, these

Recently, the business effectively

tensions, on top of such geopolitical

managed an ongoing threat posed

uncertainties, has created a hotbed

by the steel import tariffs by the US

of challenges for companies like EPC.

government. Due to its proactive

EPC is undergoing a journey to transform

approach, the business was one of

each area of the business. From taking

the first to be granted exemptions by

a closer look at changing consumer

the US Department of Commerce.

behaviors and delivering agile innovation

“When the US government an-

through simplified ways of working, the

nounced the 25% tariff on imported

business is also deploying new digital

steel, it was one of the key challenges

tools to become increasingly proactive

we were facing in our shaving business

E XE CU T I VE PRO FI LE

Nirav Mehta Nirav is a veteran of CPG industry. In his 20 years of experience, he has worked across numerous leading global CPG companies like Coty, Avon, L’Oreal and Edgewell. He brings significant cross-functional leadership experience in Plant Engineering, Manufacturing, Package Engineering, Supply Chain, and Procurement.

Nirav is passionate about Procurement, as it demands a combination of soft skills like Negotiations and relationship building, as well as sound business acumen, financial skills, macro-economics, and category expertise.

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EDGEWELL PERSONAL CARE

18

because our razors are manufactured

of steel is the tariff being applied for?

with imported blade steel. It was

What countries are exempt? What

a challenging situation because

countries are not exempt? What are the

something like that can immediately

criteria for exemption? These tie back

have a big impact on the margins of

to our category expertise as well, where

that line of business. We took a very

we had a very in-depth understanding

systematic, and what I would consider

of the macroeconomics, the cost

a very organized approach towards

drivers and the marketplace for blade

managing that risk in a four-step

steel. This really helped us to incorpo-

approach,” he explains.

rate a sourcing strategy that would

“The first step was to really under-

allow us to manage some of these risks.

stand the policy, go down to the details

“The second step was assessing the

and really understand what the tariff

risk exposure, understanding the full

is being applied on. What categories

value stream within our supply chain

“ I n the past, consumers used to be a lot more loyal to big brand names, but nowadays are looking for more personalization and are willing to try new brands that appeal to their individuality” — Nirav Mehta, Vice President of Global Procurement at Edgewell Personal Care (EPC)

MARCH 2019

S U P P LY C H A I N

CLICK TO WATCH : ‘EDGEWELL’ 19 where there could be an impact. After that, step three was taking some immediate actions.

We were very proactive in terms of filing a petition, we were in very close contact with our suppliers and made sure that we aggressively appealed and made our case with the US Department of Commerce. We also sought advice from experts within the trade field,” he continues.

“As a result of all these efforts, we were one of the first to be granted an exemption for the blade steel category. As a final step, we are considering our long-term strategic decisions and how we can build more flexibility and agility within our supply chain and mitigate w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

EDGEWELL PERSONAL CARE

such impacts in the future. Whether it is alternative sourcing and manufacturing strategies, or changing up product strategies or our specifications. However, we are not done here, as there are still ongoing efforts to ensure we strategically manage impact of tariffs on various other categories, including imports from China.”

EPC Procurement Managers are tasked with not only understanding EPC’s business needs, but also develop their expertise on macroeconomics, cost drivers, competitive benchmarking, external innovations and more.

20

The procurement team is then able to utilize this insight and intelligence to implement multi-year sourcing strategies. These multiyear strategies will then define how to deliver further value within the different lines of businesses at EPC. The team is also driving value through commodity risk management across all lines of business. By implementing strategies for most of its commodities to share, transfer, operationalize, deflect or even hedge ongoing risks, EPC has different strategies dependent on each commodity and what is happening in the supply markets. Taking advantage of these levers has allowed the team to provide increased visibility to its business stakeholders.

“It’s understanding where an impending MARCH 2019

S U P P LY C H A I N

$2.3bn Approximate revenue

2015

Year founded

6,000

Approximate number of employees 21

significant business risk is and being proactive about mitigating and managing such risk,” stresses Mehta. “It also helps us provide a more accurate and consistent picture to our shareholders and our investors in terms of what they can expect from our financials.

I think that’s been a great value that the procurement team has been able to deliver.”

To support this further, EPC has placed significant investment in new technologies to transform its procurement and supply chain capabilities. Focusing first and foremost on the basics, the business is presently upgrading its ERP systems and overhauling w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

EDGEWELL PERSONAL CARE

“ We want to align with suppliers that really share our vision and values and to include more active participation from suppliers in terms of sustainability” — Nirav Mehta, Vice President of Global Procurement at Edgewell Personal Care (EPC)

22

its digital foundations to provide the right

possible and streamline processes.”

level of data integrity and governance.

“We have digitized our sourcing

“If you don’t have sound fundamentals

capabilities to a great extent by imple-

to build upon, you can easily end up

menting new technological solutions

spending millions of dollars on some

for Spend Analytics, eRFx, Contracting

technology and spinning your wheels but

and Procure to Pay solutions. We are

not get the most out of it,” reflects Mehta.

also looking to transform our vendor

“We have deployed technology-enabled

life cycle management,” says Mehta.

solutions at every stage of the procure-

“What constitutes the onboarding of

ment value stream, with the objective

new suppliers, vendor master automa-

to reduce redundancies, automate where

tion and self-service, to performance

MARCH 2019

S U P P LY C H A I N

23

management of our suppliers, to

individual within procurement. The

offboarding and exiting suppliers upon

technology will aim to develop a consist-

the ending of a relationship. We are

ent level of competency across a number

utilizing digital solutions not only to

of important focal areas, where the

make the procurement function more

existing skills and knowledge of every

efficient and streamlined, but also to

employee is assessed against the

develop and train our colleagues.�

competencies and skills required for

Introducing a web-based learning

their position, Mehta explains. The

and training platform, EPC has sought

technology will then illustrate a set of

to provide a personalized capability

interactive courses each employee

assessment and training plan for every

must take online to close any skills gap. w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

EDGEWELL PERSONAL CARE

“All in all, we’ve been utilizing technology solutions to a great extent. People, skill and capability development, while having streamlined, automated processes are enabling faster decisions,” he says.

EPC’s technological focus has even extended to towards its supply relationship management (SRM). Developing sophisticated criteria around segmenting its supply base to gain a greater understanding of its strategic suppliers, as well as ones which are critical to the business, EPC has issued scorecards 24

to measure supplier performance, drive collaboration and improve the overall performance and relationship with its key partners.

EPC Procurement is also playing a critical role in adding value to EPC’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) and sustainability priorities.

“We have a pretty strong supplier code of conduct but we have also developed a sustainable sourcing policy, where we’ve made sustainability and corporate social responsibility key factors in determining our supplier selection and onboarding criteria,” says Mehta. “We do evaluations of our key suppliers based on their commitment to their people, their MARCH 2019

S U P P LY C H A I N

25

CSR, and how well they are managing

products and the planet, EPC has

their environmental footprint. We want

a number of success stories highlighting

to align with suppliers that really share

its commitment to ensuring a sustainable

our vision and values and to include more

future. Its recent Banana Boat sun care

active participation from suppliers

line, Simply Perfect, now has 25% fewer

in terms of sustainability. We in EPC

ingredients. Its Bulldog skincare brand

Procurement are in a unique position to

has also recently launched an original

influence our suppliers to do the right

natural bamboo razor instead of using

thing for the people and for the planet.�

plastic, which has been met with

Through three main pillars: people,

applause. “For Bulldog, we have also w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

EDGEWELL PERSONAL CARE

C O M PA N Y FACT S

• EPC adopted a hands-on mitigation and trade tariff management strategy, leading the business to be granted exemptions by the US Department of Commerce • EPC is upgrading its ERP systems and overhauling its digital foundations to provide the right level of data integrity and governance 26

• EPC is exploring innovative technologies, such as robotic process automation to automate manual and repetitive tasks, such as contract and shopping cart reviews

MARCH 2019

S U P P LY C H A I N

moved from sourcing fossil fuel-based plastic to bio-based plastic. When you look at activities like the sourcing of our palm oil, we have also made a commitment to source 100% of our palm oils from sustainable sources,� adds Mehta.

By making a significant effort to transform the procurement function and working to ensure all its supply sources are fully accountable, EPC continues to do the right thing. Serving local communities and developing sustainable products and services which promote innovation, passion and creativity across all avenues, the company will continue to challenge convention to drive future growth, harness an agile mindset as the CPG industry continues to evolve, and deliver on its long-term vision, placing consumers at the core and supporting their overall wellbeing.

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27

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LEADERSHIP

30

MARCH 2019

Ahead of the curve Business Chief sits down with technology industry veteran and entrepreneur Ravi Rishy-Maharaj to talk about his journey, the challenges of doing business 10 years ahead of the market, and how he arrived at his latest project: GigSky WRITTEN BY

HARRY MENE AR

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31

LEADERSHIP

A

veteran of cutting-edge tech startups and software giants, Ravi Rishy-Maharaj can look back across a career spanning more than 30

years spent pushing the outer reaches of innovation.

“I’ve always had a drive for doing something new or interesting anyhow, but what I’m interested in all of the time it seems is solving a problem.” From electric vehicle batteries in 1984 to video conference calling in 1990, from Apple to his own startup Kinaare Networks, he has remained firmly ahead of the curve.

This month, we talked to Rishy-Maharaj about his journey, the challenges of doing business 10 years ahead of the market, and how he arrived at his latest 32

project: GigSky. Launched in 2010, GigSky provides users with international data services using eSIM technology.

Today, GigSky is “on probably 100mn iPhones out there by now,” says Rishy-Maharaj, as well as “Google, which is supporting dual SIM Android coming up this year. All of the mobile platforms that matter, GigSky is integrated into them.” With his Palo Altoheadquartered venture at the forefront of the eSIM market, as well as delving into the applications of IoT and blockchain, we asked Rishy-Maharaj about a life led on the digital frontier. “My career, I think, most of the time has just been enjoying moving from one area of technology to another. I enjoy physics, I enjoy chemistry, I enjoy electronics and software programming and then system design and systems architecture and computing, et cetera. It’s just MARCH 2019

33

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LEADERSHIP

moving on from one interest to the other and enjoying the ride.”

In 1984, Rishy-Maharaj started working at PowerPlex, a four-person startup funded by Brown, Boveri & Cie and Magna International. “It was the first greenwave of electric vehicles.

And we were working on bringing sodium sulfur batteries to market.”

Laughing, he admits the market may not have been ready to embrace the technology in 1984. “The battery, it had a couple of hundred sodium sulfur cells in it. And the thing about sodium sulphur is that it has to operate at 300 degrees

34

celcius for the charge to be created.

It was actually quite safe but, well,” he laughs again, “it looked like a coffin.”

Rishy-Maharaj explains that in 1984, “It turned out that the market wasn’t ready for sodium sulfur batteries. The electric vehicle then was a little ahead of its time, if you know what I mean.”

Of course, half a decade later, in the early 1990’s, concern over air quality conditions lead to the beginning of green vehicle adoption, although sales of electric vehicles in the United States didn’t exceed 500,000 until midway through 2016. In 2018, the global electric vehicle market reached over US$118bn MARCH 2019

CLICK TO WATCH : ‘GETTING STARTED WITH GIGSKY SIM’ 35 and in 2022, Bloomberg predicts

engine control system. I was the guy

that EV pricing will reach parity with

designing that system.”

gasoline-powered transportation.

Rishy-Maharaj stayed with CNG

Following two-and-a-half years

for two years before shifting industries

at PowerPlex, Rishy-Maharaj moved

entirely. He ended up at Nortel Networks

to Compressed Natural Gas Fuel

in ‘88 as a switching engineer working

Systems (CNG), where he worked

on Customer Local Area Signaling

on designing a computer system

System (CLASS), the precursor to

to augment gasoline fuel delivery

caller ID, signalling and voicemail. “My

systems in cars. “In one instance you’re

career had been up to that point highly

running on gasoline, then you flick

technical,” he explains. At Nortel

a switch, and now you’re running on

Networks, Rishy-Maharaj seized the

compressed natural gas,” he says.

opportunity to combine his engineering

“But when you did that, you actually

expertise with a desire to explore more

switched over to a completely different

business-centric opportunities. “Nortel w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

LEADERSHIP

36

put together an exploratory marketing

and point-to-point screen share. In 1990!

group in 1990,” he says. “At that time,

The video screen was only one inch and

we used to use dial up modems to

in black and white. It was just amazing.

connect to the internet, or to connect

We launched the product, called Vivid,

to the cloud, whatever the cloud was

that ran on a video compressing card that

at that point in time. We said, ‘hey look,

had to go into Mac UCI because the

there’s this thing that’s happening.

only computer that you could do this

People want to communicate, they want

on was an Apple computer. Windows

to communicate better, et cetera.’ So

95 wasn’t out yet. Obviously,” he laughs.

in 1990 we came up with a multimedia

“We kinda got in cahoots with Apple

communications concept.” Rishy-Ma-

in 1990,” he adds. “In fact, I was working

haraj excitedly lists the functions: “It

so closely with Apple out of Nortel in

was voice and video and file transfer

Canada, Apple offered me an opportu-

MARCH 2019

37

nity to come down to California and

communications product management

work for the company in 1995 as the

team for a while.” He chuckles and

first telephony product manager they

groans in quick succession. “It was just

ever had.” Rishy-Maharaj moved to

one thing after the other.”

Cupertino, California that year from

After leaving Apple a little over a year

Toronto. Even though the company

later, Rishy-Maharaj moved on to stints

experienced challenges during the

at Sun Micro and OpenTV, working on

mid-nineties, he looks back on his

microelectronics implementation and

tenure as an interesting and exciting

interactive entertainment software until,

time. “Apple was going through some

in January 2000 he founded his own

very tough times in ‘95. Jobs was not

company, Kinaare Networks. After his

back yet. People were leaving. I ended

experience with Universal Plug and

up running the whole networking and

Play (UPnP) at Open TV, Rishy-Maharaj w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

LEADERSHIP

wanted to explore new developments in microelectronics and the cloud. He reflects on that time in California with his family: “We were still isolated on the West Coast, 2,500 miles away from our closest relatives. I was also pursuing this idea that you could plug a device into the internet and it would connect to a cloud service and it would express its capabilities. That became a service discovery feature called : Kinaare Plug and Play (KP&P).” His family’s separation from their relatives in Toronto also became part of the inspiration for 38

Kinaare’s first product. Combining the desire to connect over large distances with his new UPnP technology, the company’s first product became an intelligent picture frame. “You’d plug it in, it would connect to the internet, it would discover a server that it would connect to, and then people would subscribe to that service,” he explains.

“I thought of my family initially. The idea was that people would publish, their pictures that could be dispersed all over the world and cycled through these digital picture frames that would be on your desk. People could share their photos with each other.” Among other products, Kinaare’s digital picture MARCH 2019

“ I’ve always had a drive for doing something new or interesting anyhow, but what I’m interested in most of the time is solving a problem” — Ravi Rishy-Maharaj, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Gigsky

frame was an early entrant into the Internet of Things (IoT) - a concept first linked to an internet-enabled Coke machine at Carnegie Mellon in 1982 and officially named in 1999. “IoT, cloud services, services discovery, social by sharing photos with each other. That was the idea behind the company,” Rishy-Maharaj says.

“But guess what? 2000, the whole market collapsed.” The dot-com crash caused over $5trn in damage to global markets between March 2000 and October 2002. Rishy Maharaj sighs.

“The market timing was just deplorable.

I put a lot of my money into that company.

I wiped out all my resources. In fact, I had to declare bankruptcy at one point in time.”

Although the market context proved infertile, the technology at the core of Kinaare has since become part of the digital landscape. Once again finding himself at the outer limits of business-technology innovation, Rishy-Maharaj took the collapse of his company as a lesson to be applied to the future. “Market timing is a huge part of being an entrepreneur,” he explains. “It didn’t matter if I had a lot of money; I was too w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

39

LEADERSHIP

far ahead of the market.” This realization remained with him, and was central to the inception of GigSky in 2008.

“When I started GigSky, I wanted to solve an immediate problem so that, once the product came to market, people would see it as a solution to a problem they had and buy it,” he explains. Unfortunately, old habits die hard. Rishy-Maharaj came up with the idea for GigSky in 2008 while working for a friend’s startup that required him to travel far and often. You’d go to a company and it would be like extracting 40

teeth to find a connection within their network. There was no wifi. So some guy would come running with a big, long

“ The idea was that people would publish their pictures and they would be dispersed all over the world through these picture frames” — Ravi Rishy-Maharaj, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Gigsky

ethernet cable plugged into some connection point 100 meters down the hall - it was just really painful.”

The frustrations of internet connection in a world without ubiquitous wifi prompted him to jury rig his own solution from a portable wifi box and a wifi dongle from a local carrier. “Local carriers were selling plastic SIMs at that point in time. The plastic sim would come with local data service. Not a lot, but I could still buy 250 megabytes of local conductivity for maybe $20,

MARCH 2019

41

versus buying roaming service from

Data will grow. Let’s focus on doing

AT&T for $2,000.”

that and doing it right.’ It was the right

Even though GigSky passed on building its own personal wifi hotspot,

thing to do.”

The first GigSky service launched in

the idea of switching between local

early 2013, “And here we are,” says

carriers for cheap data became the

Rishy-Maharaj. “We didn’t have to build

core of the business. By sticking with

hardware, the programmable SIM

a data-only service, GigSky kept costs

became eSIM, and the App ended up

low. “I really didn’t need to pay the telco

being integrated directly into iOS and

some big fee for roaming for voice.

Windows.” GigSky’s collaboration with

Even though so many times people

Apple began in 2014. “Someone at Apple

said to me, ‘you should deliver a voice

sent a message to our info email account

service,’ I said, ‘No. It’s just about data.

saying ‘We’d love to meet with one of w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

LEADERSHIP

your directors. We’d like to talk to you about your business.’” He laughs, “we were wondering if it was junk mail or somebody pulling a fast one. But lo and behold it was Apple, and here we are on probably 100mn iPhones.”

GigSky continues to grow each year, helping its growing user base stay connected, wherever they might be, for a fair price. Rishy-Maharaj admits there are challenges to finding competitive pricing across over 190 countries. “We try to ensure that, if you buy our five gigabyte plan, you’re basically spending 42

$10 per gigabyte. Prices will get better as we go along.”

He explains that “the idea behind the eSIM is the ultimate in convenience. It’s to provide the ultimate choice in terms of connectivity. This year GigSky is going to be integrated into dual eSIM android devices going forward.” Airlines are also using GigSky to collect data for post-flight analysis, and Rishy-Maharaj also hints at upcoming applications involving blockchain. It’s no surprise that, in the year the eSIM is predicted to become mainstream, Rishy-Maharaj is turning his eSIM company to explore new technological frontiers. “How else can the e-sim be leveraged with other MARCH 2019

“ We were wondering if it was junk mail or somebody pulling a fast one. But lo and behold it was Apple, and here we are on probably 100mn iPhones” — Ravi Rishy-Maharaj, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Gigsky

43

non-obvious technologies to deliver an even better user experience? That’s what we’re after at GigSky.” He laughs, acknowledging his signature move as he signs off. “I wish I had another 20 years to see what this thing turns into.

But the next few years at least are going to be a very exciting time.”

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TECHNOLOGY

44

SOFTWARE ENABLING 5G Folke Rosengard, Head of Business Development, Nokia Software, explores how 5G serves as more than just an answer to the burgeoning IoT and digitalisation landscape WRITTEN BY

MARCH 2019

FOLK E ROSENGARD

45

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TECHNOLOGY

W

e at Nokia believe that we are in front of one of the biggest upsides in the whole telco industry in a

long time, thanks to the digitalization trend

and IOT. IOT will add a massive amount of new connections; and the digitalization trend creates a growing demand for a multitude of diverse connections including use cases with high bandwidth, low latency and ultrahigh reliability. 5G is the ideal solution to respond to this demand, however 5G is much more than simply a new Radio Access Network (RAN) generation. It comes with sophisticat46

ed software that affects all parts of the network, including how service providers operate the network and how they offer profitable and compelling services. It is a whole new business system that enables service providers to respond to the massive demand fueled by the Internet of Things (IoT) and digitalization trend in a profitable way.

5G requires a tight connection between network, operations and business with all the systems and processes working together to deliver and monetize the 5G use cases for consumers and enterprises. Software is the key for realizing 5G capabilities in an efficient way. Technical capabilities such as dynamic slicing of mobile networks and a servicebased architecture to enable multiple and MARCH 2019

47

“ 5G is the ideal solution to respond to this demand, however 5G is much more than simply a new Radio Access Network (RAN) generation” — Folke Rosengard, Head of Business Development, Nokia Software

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TECHNOLOGY

“ We believe ‘Cloud Native software’ is a fundamental principle for software of the 5G era” — Folke Rosengard, Head of Business Development, Nokia Software

diverse use case requirements based on agile, flexible and real-time digital fabric are critical for telcos to maximize and exploit 5G capabilities.

Network providers must have a strong digital fabric that’s built on applications with five key characteristics:

01. INTELLIGENT Analytics and machine learning in everything are critical to manage an ever-growing volume of data. Great experiences are the ones that are personal, contextual and fast. These rely on the ability to augment human

48

intelligence with machine learning and analytics. They use the data to provide a 360-degree view of the experience and decide what actions will produce the best outcomes.

02. AUTOMATED Manual processes are too slow to handle the big data explosion. As such, intelligence workflows and bots should push automation to extremes to ensure we can drive insights to action with efficiency and speed using closedloop fundamentals.

MARCH 2019

CLICK TO WATCH : ‘5G IN ACTION’ 49

03. SECURE

05. OPEN

With more of our lives online, customers

It’s unlikely that service providers will

must know they can trust their providers

rely solely on one infrastructure vendor

to handle their data. The new digital

or partner, one revenue-sharing

fabric must include security in its

relationship or service. Applications

foundation to provide customers with the

must be multi-vendor, open and

highest level of protection in the digital

lightweight - and the complexity of the

world.

network must be removed or abstracted.

5G will enable a range of new use

04. CLOUD-NATIVE

cases with a variety of specific require-

To respond with agility at a better cost

ments. To support each use case in an

point, software needs to be built for the

optimal way, security capabilities will

cloud, from both the technological and

need to be more flexible. For example,

consumption-model perspectives.

security mechanisms used for ultra-low

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TECHNOLOGY

latency, mission-critical applications may

50

We believe “Cloud Native software�

not be suitable for massive IoT deploy-

is a fundamental principle for software

ments where devices are inexpensive

for the 5G era. There are many

sensors that have a very limited energy

benefits of cloud native software for

budget and transmit data only occasion-

telcos, including more efficient use of

ally. Another driver for 5G security is the

cloud resources, operational simplicity

changing ecosystem. Long-Term

and horizontal scalability. Proven by

Evolution (LTE) networks are dominated

massive scale companies such as

by large monolithic deployments―each

Google, Twitter and Netflix over years

controlled by a single network operator

of use, horizontal scaling or adding

that owns the network infrastructure

more containerized applications within

while also providing all network services.

a cluster, enables providers to provi-

In contrast, 5G networks may be

sion the processing capacity they

deployed by a number of specialized

need to process data quickly.

stakeholders providing end-user 5G network services.

MARCH 2019

Managing and reducing the complexity, while keeping operation costs under

51

control, can only be achieved through

Today, automation is popping up

injecting intelligence and automation into

almost everywhere in the network, and

the transformation process. As 5G

“closed loops” are considered silver

extends beyond radio technologies,

bullets for killing complexity. A recent

deep into the cloud, across mobile and

study by Nokia Bell Labs concluded

transport layers, it will be paramount to

that closed-loop automation can only

combine data from RAN and non-RAN

work in combination with a new

sources and introduce machine

architecture and – even more impor-

learning-enabled automation to create

tant – an implementation master plan.

algorithms for use cases that operate

The full benefit of automation can only

across all these data sources.

be realized if it’s done in concert. Small w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

TECHNOLOGY

benefits can be – and are being – realized with tactical, domain-specific automations, but those benefits can only be maximized if harmonized and orchestrated across all domains.

As non-telco companies digitalize their own product offerings, new opportunities will emerge for telcos and service providers. With the new network characteristics of 5G and cloud resources sitting close to customers, these companies will be in a position to offer capabilities no IT 52

cloud service provider can match.

Software helps communication service providers to reinvent themselves as digital service providers. A key in this transformation is to recognize the need for far greater agility with frictionless business and operational

“ With the new network characteristics of 5G and cloud resources sitting close to customers, these companies will be in a position to offer capabilities no IT cloud service provider can match” — Folke Rosengard, Head of Business Development, Nokia Software

MARCH 2019

53

adaptability. In other words, digital

product management, customer experi-

service providers need to act in and

ence management, network and service

capitalize on windows of digital time.

operations, care and monetization.

To operate in digital time, service providers need a holistic and real-time view of what’s happening with business and operations to determine the next best action to take – this applies for all areas of operations from marketing to w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

PEOPLE

54

REINVENTING UPSKILLING FOR THE FOURTH INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION With Industry 4.0 underway, Nick Lazaridis, President of EMEA for HP Inc., explains how ultimately, it’s the people behind the screens and machines who enable digital transformation NICK LAZARIDIS, PRESIDENT OF EMEA FOR HP INC WRITTEN BY

MARCH 2019

55

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PEOPLE

56

T

oday’s world moves at a

competitive advantage, but taking steps

mind-blowing rate, and it’s only

to build the organization of the future.

going to get faster. Emerging

More than any that have come before,

technologies like IoT, 5G, artificial

the fourth Industrial Revolution holds

intelligence and 3D printing have

the opportunity for businesses

heralded the fourth industrial revolu-

everywhere to transform their impact

tion and proven their potential to

on employees and, by extension,

change the status quo. But it’s down to

society.

us as business leaders to transform

Looking back, the advent of new

our workforces and equip them to

technologies has often been associ-

make the most of this opportunity.

ated with resistance and fear because

There is a need for real innovation and

of the impact it might have on work-

change across every market and sector.

forces and ‘business as usual’. The

It’s no longer just about gaining a

reality is that these new technologies

MARCH 2019

57

are not a threat to work, but an opportunity to automate the routine, repetitive or low value tasks and apply valuable human resources to more creative and complex challenges.

Just as the PC changed the way we work, as well as the skills needed to get the job done, we are entering a new chapter of change that will surpass those before it in size, scale and scope.

The fourth Industrial Revolution has the potential to create new, technologically-driven value en masse - but getting there calls for a human-centric

“ The fourth Industrial Revolution has the potential to create new, technologically-driven value en masse – but getting there calls for a human-centric approach and investment in people” — Nick Lazaridis, President of EMEA for HP Inc

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PEOPLE

“ A truly diverse representation of backgrounds, experiences and opinions helps challenge the status quo and allow new ways of thinking” 58

— Nick Lazaridis, President of EMEA for HP Inc

approach and investment in people.

It will look different to every business and the extent of reinvention will vary, but there are some commonalities as to how we can build the skills of our organizations for the future.

MANY HANDS MAKE BRIGHT WORK The obvious business case for diversity is that it is key to attracting the best talent and engaging employees. But it goes further than equal representation and fair opportunities.

A truly diverse representation of backgrounds, experiences and opinions helps challenge the status quo and allow new ways of thinking.

Real diversity of thought is becoming essential in the global economy, not just to attract the best talent but to integrate broader cultural understandings and add fresh perspectives and processes. When you pair this with inclusive workplace culture, people feel more comfortable in bringing their true selves to work and their ideas to the table.

LEARN AS IF YOU WILL WORK FOREVER A real investment in learning and MARCH 2019

CLICK TO WATCH : ‘HP DEVICE AS A SERVICE (DAAS) PROACTIVE MANAGEMENT’ 59 development is crucial to recruiting and developing a highly-skilled, future-ready workforce. Within the technology sector, there’s an urgent need to diversify the STEM talent pipeline and bring new thinking to the fields of science that will shape our tomorrow. They are crucial cornerstones of the fourth Industrial Revolution – and it’s only by ensuring fair opportunities and representation that we can consider them to be truly innovative.

The opposite is also true, however.

Across all industries, there is a growing w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

PEOPLE

focus on ‘soft’ and social skills, particularly around communication and emotional intelligence. These are the skills that bolster creative thinking and complex problem-solving – the concepts that translate into a blueprint for services and solutions of the future. eLearning platforms and self-paced programmes have changed the way we can acquire and develop skills at work, but in order to engage employees in a shared mission those competencies must be underpinned by a culture of 60

collaboration, knowledge and growth.

LEADING THE WAY So how do you lead an organization to transformation? Transform the leadership of the organization. Put simply, business leaders must embody the values of the change they want to make. HP itself was reinvented as a multi-billion-dollar start-up, and we’re seeing our strategy pay off – but would be nothing without the strong and motivated teams behind the business. I’ve always tried to stick to my leadership principles to help create and foster that culture.

Managing cycles of innovation and MARCH 2019

61

regular organizational change are part of the job, but more substantial transformation and reinvention need vision, role models and commitment to successfully bring a workforce on the journey.

Transforming an organization and building skills requires everyone to be open to change. Leadership teams need to lead the charge with wholehearted commitment and investment in their development, to set the best example for their organization.

If we are to believe that the only constant is change, then there will w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

PEOPLE

62

“ This may well be a technologydriven revolution, but ultimately it is the people behind the screens and machines who make the change” — Nick Lazaridis, President of EMEA for HP Inc

MARCH 2019

always be a new skills gap to tackle.

Build a foundation for an organization that’s open to change, committed to learning and continuously improving, and not afraid to fail along the way, and you will build the basis for tomorrow’s industry.

This may well be a technology-driven revolution, but ultimately it is the people behind the screens and machines who make the change. As someone who has spent their career reinventing in a rapidly changing world, I’ve seen how it’s possible to transform an organization with positive impact for people and planet. Technology might change the way things are done, but it is squarely within our power as the leaders of industry to think creatively and solve the challenges of tomorrow.

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

64

OPEN DATA ADDRESSING WORLD H U NGE R — SOLVING THE AGRICULTURAL CRISIS FOR A MORE SUSTAINABLE FUTURE WRITTEN BY

ANDRÉ LAPERRIÈRE, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, GODAN

MARCH 2019

65

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

66

T

oday, hunger is bringing suffering

to over 795mn people across the

economically undeveloped nation. Â The threat of an agricultural crisis is

globe. Those affected currently do

very much a reality across the globe.

not have access to enough food to live

Crippling costs, poor weather condi-

sustainably. Although a majority of this

tions and disease outbreaks have hit

population are based in the world’s

landscapes, farmers and businesses

most vulnerable regions, this does not

hard over the years and the potential

contain the issue within borders as

impacts can be tenfold. The UK for

food security issues are also residing

example, has suffered from record

in some of the most developed nations.

high temperatures, reported outbreaks

The UK is reportedly one of the most

of foot and mouth disease and is also

food insecure nations in the European

in the midst of an uncertain trading

Union, and it is by no means an

future as Brexit looms. In Africa, where

MARCH 2019

“ O PEN DATA CAN PL AY A CRITICAL RO L E IN HEL PING TO ACHIEV E THE SUSTAINABL E D EV ELO PM ENT G OAL S PRO PO SED

BY THE UNITED NATIO NS” — André Laperrière, Executive Director, GODAN

water conservation issues, malnutrition

across Africa present a notable

and hunger are still pertinent, climate

example of these issues. The conti-

and weather are one of the principal

nent’s farming industries have been

causes. The agricultural industry is a

suffering due to the lack of shared

volatile one, from either ends of the

information and data, most small-scale

globe. We are continuing to experience

isolated farmers in rural African

the struggle to meet the growing

communities are missing out on new

demands of the consumer, to combat

and improved methods and best

the fluctuation in supply, the instability

practices of farming and agricultural

of markets and the lack of investment

processes. This issue, married with the

in the agriculture industry in many

water contamination crisis affecting

nations.

sub-Saharan Africa - where only 16%

The agricultural crises in countries

of the population have access to clean w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

67

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

water and have no access to critical information relating to water quality or weather data -demonstrates how there is the significant need for access to Open Data to help bring about an end to the crisis, save lives and create a more sustainable future.

Open Data has developed alongside technological advancements throughout the years. However, its potential impact on the agricultural space has rarely been considered a key solution to solving the food crisis. The potential for the use of Open Data to combat

68

food issues can and should no longer be ignored; not only because of the relevant historical data and the potential to increase production it can provide, but its usefulness in monitoring water supplies, anticipating changes in the weather and also sharing crucial information across borders so that nations can learn best practices from each other and prosper.

Through the use of satellite data, remote sensing and mapping, farmers, businesses and consumers in the agricultural industry can harness the most relevant and useful information to improve and adapt practices, make MARCH 2019

CLICK TO WATCH : ‘ANDRÉ LAPERRIERE AT SWAT4HCLS CONFERENCE, ANTWERP, 3-6 DECEMBER 2018’ 69

“T H E R E I S S T I L L A LO NG WAY TO GO BE F O R E OPE N DATA ACCESS IS GLOBALLY ACCEPTED AND UTILISED” — André Laperrière, Executive Director, GODAN better decisions and ensure sustain-

The Ghana-based organisation,

ability. Increasing access will trigger

Esoko, presents a prime example of

innovations that will bring both

the benefits of Open-Data access to

agriculture and nutrition to the next,

the industry by illustrating how mobile

higher level of impact, improving

phone technology can be integral to

efficiency, yields, competitiveness and

allowing farmers and their buyers to

ultimately increasing food security

access Open Data to obtain informa-

across the world.

tion to improve access to markets and w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

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

70

encourage fairer pricing based on

hundreds and thousands of families.

shared feedback. By utilising Open Data

Those using the technology can both

to collect data on a national scale, the

collect and input data regarding the

technology solution TradeNet was born,

selling price of basic commodities, such

enabling farmers to share and access

as the prices of seeds and fertilizers and

data through SMS with customers and

send daily updates to farmers through

other farmers. This data is obtained

SMS. Thus, the farmers can determine

through existing channels such as

their input costs, increasing their selling

weather data channels and other basic

profit by utilizing the information made

technology, to enable a self-sustainable

available to them. Now, more than

business model combining data,

350,000 farmers have joined the Esoko

farmers, customers, markets/ dealers

platform in 10 countries in Africa and it

and phone companies on an open

continues to expand.

system to benefit the livelihoods of MARCH 2019

In the West, countries such as The

“FOO D SEC URIT Y ISSU E S ARE AL SO RESID IN G IN SO ME O F T H E MO S T D EV ELO P ED N AT IONS ” — André Laperrière, Executive Director, GODAN

71

Netherlands are also benefitting from

In the south, the ‘digital divide’ has

the offerings of Open Data as more web

played a huge role in agricultural crises,

applications aiming to improve accessi-

as large industrialized farms are

bility to Open Data are unlocking

becoming more cost efficient and

valuable data related to historical

competitive, while the small traditional

weather patterns and food consumption

farmers are gradually bringing

data, accessible to those involved in

themselves out of the markets. This is

agriculture and the environment. Similar

due to the large industrial farms/

to the organisation in Ghana, these

wealthy countries and businesses that

applications are also user-generated,

already make efficient use of data to

allowing farmers and those in the

improve techniques, products, market

agricultural sector to input data for all

access, rapidly increasing their

participants to see, allowing best

competitiveness in the world markets.

practices to be shared and adapted.

Open Data can play a critical role in w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

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

helping to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals proposed by the United Nations. Open Data can help foster economic growth and job creation, improve efficiency and effectiveness of public services by allowing the cross fertilization and synergy of different industries, sectors and governments leading to new practices, new equipment and new technologies that in turn, lead to better yields and the stimulation of private and public economies. This will in turn, 72

improve government transparency, citizen participation and accountability through the sharing of data across communities and borders. Â However, there is still a long way to go before Open Data access is globally accepted and utilised. This drive and determination for it to be a success needs to be welcomed by respective governments and organisations across the globe and pushed to the top of the agenda. With the correct approach and implementation methods in place, Open Data can have a high economic and social return on investment for countries all over the globe and in all stages of development. Areas in Africa, MARCH 2019

“ N OW, MO RE THAN 350,000 FARMER S HAVE JO IN ED THE ESO KO PLATFO RM IN 10 C O UN TRIES IN AFRICA” — André Laperrière, Executive Director, GODAN

73

Latin America, Asia and Europe have already demonstrated how increased access to data can help develop economies and farming practices, taking a significant step forward to achieving sustainability and solving the hunger crisis.

w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

April 29-30, 2019

The Ritz Carlton, Atlan

nta | Atlanta, GA

CITY FOCUS

CHARL City Focus

76

Business Chief takes a look at Charlotte, North Carolina, and some of the companies that are leading its smart city mission WRITTEN BY

HARRY MENEAR

MARCH 2019

LOTTE w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

77

CITY FOCUS | CHARLOTTE

O

fficially founded in 1768 and named Charlotte Town as a tribute to Queen Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz,

the wife of King George III, Charlotte is a city of both tradition and revolution. Home to 860,000 people, NBA team the Carolina Hornets as well as the NFL’s Carolina Panthers, Charlotte is also, according to Mental Floss, the Pimento Cheese Capital of the world. The North Carolina city may have a rich connection with its past (including a local belief that the town issued its own declaration of independence from British rule a full year before the rest of the thirteen colonies) but the government

78

and people of Charlotte have eyes firmly fixed on the future.

NORTH END SMART DISTRICT Starting in 2010, Charlotte has undergone a transformative journey into one of the world’s smartest cities. Ranked 20th on the global smart city rankings in 2018 by the Eden Strategy Institute, Charlotte places ahead of modern

MARCH 2019

metropolises like Copenhagen, Washington DC and Vancouver with a successful clean energy program that achieved a 19% reduction in energy consumption. Also, according to the report, “the city designated the North End Smart District (NESD) as a comprehensive first step to piloting smart city initiatives on a large scale, engaging and partnering with community leaders and residents, companies and entrepreneurs, non-profits, and City departments.”

Situated between North Davidson Street and Atando Avenue, the North End Smart District is made up of eight neighborhoods to the north of the city’s uptown. According to the City of Charlotte, the District aims to be “a community that uses data and technology to make decisions that impact mobility, safety, energy, public services, education and environmental health”. Supported by governmental initiatives, Charlotte’s startup scene has grown into one of the most vibrant entrepreneurial ecosystems in the country.

As of October 2018, the city is home to three unicorns - startup companies with a market valuation of over $1bn. Business Chief takes a look at three of the Queen City’s greatest success stories.

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79

CITY FOCUS | CHARLOTTE

AVIDXCHANGE

ters to create at least 1,200 new tech

Founded in 2000, AvidXchange is an

jobs on the periphery of the North End

industry leader in automating invoice

Smart District, according to the North

and payment processes in the real

Carolina 100.

estate, financial services, energy, and construction sectors, according to

ago in a coffee shop in Charlotte with

Bloomberg. The company became

five employees. Since then, we’ve grown

a unicorn in July 2017, making it the

to 1,200 employees and we’re proud

second-oldest of the three.

to call North Carolina home,” AvidX-

In January 2019, Extent Research

80

“We launched AvidXchange 18 years

change CEO Michael Praeger said.

named AvidXchange as one of the top

“I’m thrilled to have the State’s contin-

players in the Global Check Printing

ued support as we look to double our

Software Market. In the same month,

employee base in the next five years.”

the company announced plans to

www.avidxchange.com

invest $41mn in Mecklenburg County, expanding their Charlotte Headquar-

MARCH 2019

81

RED VENTURES

Flight 1549 on the Hudson river. On the

Also founded in 2000, Red Ventures

10th anniversary of the crash, Elias talked

was the first Charlotte startup to attain

with Forbes magazine about the ways

unicorn status in 2015. The company

in which the event changed both his life

operates a portfolio of technologies,

and the future of Red Ventures.

digital assets, and strategic partner-

“For starters, the plan for Red Ven-

ships that connect consumers across

tures completely changed after the

three continents to brands like Bank-

incident,” Elias said. “We went from

rate, creditcards.com, the Points Guy

wanting to build a company that we

and NextAdvisor.

could sell to deciding that Red Ven-

In January 2009, Ric Elias, co-founder

tures will never be for sale. We turned

and CEO of Red Ventures, was on board

the company into a perch from where

the infamous crash landing of US Airways

to live a life. This freed us from outside w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

CITY FOCUS | CHARLOTTE

expectations. It gave us the freedom and creativity to explore all sorts of new ways to build a company.”

Currently, Red Ventures employs 3,600 people across 13 offices worldwide. Although the official headquarters has since been moved to South Carolina, Charlotte remains the company’s spiritual home and second-largest base, with a large hand in the local community and Charlotte’s smart city mission. In an effort to focus on the social component of its tech transformation, the Charlotte 82

Government runs a number of programs, including TechCharlotte: a housing and neighborhood services initiative that not only creates a new, free community technology access

valuation of $1bn. Based in the South

space, but also partners with Red

End of the city, the company develops

Ventures Road to Hire and others to

software platforms for real-time cus-

provide training and access to jobs.

tomer intelligence management. Its

www.redventures.com

software enables businesses to monetize customer data by collecting, curating, computing, and converting it to customer intelligence across all

TRESATA INC

existing and growing data assets,

After acquiring a further $50mn in

according to Bloomberg.

funding in October 2018, predictive

“Our software is uniquely able to

analytics company Tresata became

automate data analysis to solve for

Charlotte’s third unicorn, with a total

complex business problems, allowing

MARCH 2019

83

decision-makers to address industry’s

the company and never found the

and society’s biggest challenges,”

right partner,” Mehta said in an inter-

Tresata co-founder and CEO

view. “This time, with GCP, we found

Abhishek Mehta said in a statement.

that partner. With GCP, we have some-

According to a report by SiliconAN-

one on our side who believes strongly

GLE, the $50mn represented the first

in our vision — that in data lies the

outside funding accepted by the com-

power to enrich life. We are excited

pany. Founder and Chief Executive

about this investment, as it is a valida-

Officer Abhishek Mehta explained in

tion of the confidence our clients have

the report that he always saw revenue

placed in us from the beginning.”

as the cheapest source of funding.

tresata.com

“We have had tremendous interest from investors ever since we started w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

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T O P 10

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MARCH 2019

TOP 10 Smart Cities in the USA 87

By 2050, over two-thirds of the world’s population will live in cities. As urban populations soar and technology becomes more ingrained in our day-to-day lives, smart cities are becoming an increasingly common reality. Business Chief takes a look at the top 10 Smart City Governments in the US, according to the Eden Strategy Institute’s 2018 ranking.

WRITTEN BY

HARRY MENEAR

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T O P 10

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Atlanta GEORGIA With a population of 490,000, Atlanta is the most heavily forested urban area in the United States, with 47.9% of the city covered by trees, according to the National Forest Service. SmartATL, the city’s forward-looking mission plan began with the creation of a smart district in its North Avenue Smart Corridor. Since then, Atlanta’s public and private sectors have been experimenting with IoT sensors for data collection, video surveillance to assist with traffic management, interactive LED street lights, and autonomous vehicles. According to the Eden Strategy Institute (ESI), what sets the Georgia state capitol apart from other smart cities is it’s drive to transform at scale.

www.atlantaga.org MARCH 2019

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Los Angeles CALIFORNIA The second-largest city in the US by population, Los Angeles, California, is home to over 4mn people. Coupled with the geological challenges of a municipality built on the earthquake-prone San Andreas Fault, the landscape of Los Angeles is characterized by its sprawl. According to the ESI, the city prizes resilience and sustainability through open data in the pursuit of its smart city goals. Los Angeles has an online portal for the distribution of large datasets and statistics on traffic, pollution, infrastructure, demographics, economic, health, climate, and cultural activities.

www.lacity.org

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Columbus OHIO The state capital of Ohio, Columbus is home to approximately 900,000 people. In 2015, the US Department of Transportation held a Smart City Challenge for cities to submit proposals for smart transportation systems that improved urban mobility. Named the winner of the challenge in 2016, Columbus received $40mn in funding to support the revolutionizing of its transportation network. Last year, the city launched its proprietary operating system for a citywide campaign of data gathering. Columbus Mayor, Andrew Ginther, said in a press release: “Fundamental to ‘becoming smart’ as a city is discovering how to use data to improve city services and quality of life for residents. www.columbus.gov MARCH 2019

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Washington DC Situated on the Potomac river between Maryland and Virginia, the District of Columbia is home to the city of Washington, the federal capital of the US, and has a population of approximately 700,000. The city’s smart city initiatives are overseen by Lab@DC. According to the ESI, Lab@DC uses scientific research methods to test and improve municipal policies. The organization is composed of a team of social scientists, data scientists, operation experts, and policymakers who collectively experiment with new policy ideas, evaluate policy outcomes, and distil insights. The organization has been responsible for the introduction of body cameras to the DC police force, flexible rent programs to combat homelessness, and litter reduction initiatives.

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06 Photo © City of Charlotte on Facebook

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Charlotte NORTH CAROLINA Founded in 1768, Charlotte, North Carolina, is a city with a rebellious and forward-looking spirit, even claiming to have submitted its own declaration of independence from British rule a year before the rest of the thirteen colonies. Now, the city is embracing its own smart city vision, with the creation of the North End Smart District, “a community that uses data and technology to make decisions that impact mobility, safety, energy, public services, education and environmental health.”

The city itself is home to three unicorn startups: AvidXchange, Red Ventures, and Tresata.

www.charlottenc.gov

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05

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Seattle WASHINGTON Home to tech giants like Microsoft, Amazon and Valve, Seattle, Washington, has a history of leadership in the digital age. Microsoft announced in January its commitment to invest $500mn in affordable housing to offset the income inequality caused by the area’s saturation with high-pay, high-skill tech jobs. The city also values its partnerships with academic institutions like the University of Washington. In a GeekWire report, Bill Howe, AD of the eScience Institute at the UW said: “We have the right folks at the University of Washington studying research issues; we have the right mindset in the city to treat this as a priority. Data is in the water here.”

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Chicago ILLINOIS Chicago, Illinois is the third-largest city in the United States, with a population of over 2.7 M people. ESI highlights the emphasis placed on using technology to engage with societal problems. “Chicago launched “Smart Chicago” in partnership with a local foundation and fund, to co-create smart city solutions with residents through civic participation, functioning alongside the government’s own systematic application of smart city solutions.” Chicago, like Los Angeles, is utilizing open data practices to engage the community in information and knowledge exchange in order to create a more livable city.

www.citytechcollaborative.org

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03

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San Francisco CALIFORNIA Home to over 880,000 people, San Francisco, California is also home to some of the United States’ most successful tech startups: Uber, Lyft, Airbnb, Twitter and Dropbox to name a few. The city was a finalist in the 2016 Smart City Challenge, receiving $11mn which has been divided between six initiatives to reduce transit problems. According to the Bipartisan Policy Center, the SFpark project uses wireless sensors to create smarter parking management through demandresponsive pricing. Like Los Angeles and Chicago, San Francisco has also taken steps to review the way the city handles data. The city appointed its first Chief Data Officer, Joy Bonaguro as a result.

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02 Boston MASSACHUSETTS Boston, which is home to over 685,000 people, as well as some of the most prestigious academic institutions in the world, has adopted a citizen-centric approach to its smart city policies. “Boston believes that a truly smart city should allow its residents to define what exactly “smart” means to them,” writes the ESI. This idea is expressed by 96

the city’s civic experiments known as the Beta Blocks which attempt to build more meaningful relationships between communities, companies, researchers, and designers.

The first event in this program was the “Robot Block Party for 4,500 participants to discuss artificial intelligence, autonomous vehicles, and robotics.”.

wwwwww.boston.gov/departments/new-urbanmechanics/beta-blocks

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Photos © City of Boston [Top Left & Right]

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01 New York NEW YORK Over 8.6mn people live in New York City. With a population more than double the size of the country’s second largest city, NYC faces a unique set of challenges.

To cope with the complexities of scale, the New York government has taken steps to decentralize its leadership, splitting its smart city initiatives between the 98

Mayor’s Office of Sustainability, the Mayor’s Office of Recovery and Resiliency and the Mayor’s Office of the Chief Technology Officer. Together these offices implement their portfolio of projects with flexibility, involving other departments and agencies as required. Collectively they are focusing on smart water, waste and electric lighting management to reduce environmental impact while coping with the city’s ever-growing population.

www1.nyc.gov

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FINTECH

Agility and customercentricity: Progressive Leasing’s recipe for fintech success WRIT TEN BY

L AUR A MULL AN PRODUCED BY

ANDY TURNER 101

w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

PROGRESSIVE LEASING

Harnessing agile methodology and a customer-centric approach, Progressive Leasing provides simple and affordable purchase options for creditchallenged consumers

Y

ou could argue that in no sector is disruption more palpable than in finance. For a long time, new entrants found it difficult

to break into the market – but the rise of fintech companies has quickly changed that. These disruptors have helped to usher in a new era where 102

technological prowess and a customer-centric approach have loosened the grasp of incumbents on the market. It’s also provided greater choice for customers, allowing them to select the business which best caters to their needs. But what about the rising number of consumers who are being turned down by primary and secondary financing?

Where do those with less-than-perfect credit fit into the equation?

Respecting that these customers were underserved and appreciating this was an untapped market, Progressive Leasing, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Aaron’s Inc., has made its mark. For over 19 years, the firm has provided simple and affordable purchase options for credit-challenged consumers and it now stands as the largest and longest-tenured virtual lease-to-own provider in the MARCH 2019

FINTECH

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PROGRESSIVE LEASING

“ The culture is really one of the main reasons I joined the company” — Ben Hawksworth, Chief Technology Officer, Progressive Leasing

US. Ben Hawksworth, Chief Technology Officer (CTO), says the firm ultimately owes its success to two things: its deep customer focus and its significant scale.

“What gives us an edge is our scale – we’re the number one in the industry and we have been at it the longest,” he observes. “With US$2bn in revenue, thousands of retail partners and a very loyal customer base, this scale has proven to be a real competitive advantage for us and it’s one we hope to leverage as we move forward.” Indeed, today Progressive Leasing’s lease-toown option has helped millions of

104

customers and their families, meaning that they can buy the goods they need (whether it’s a mattress or a mobile phone), even if they have imperfect credit or an inability to pay for their purchase upfront. Looking forward, Hawksworth is wellequipped to steer the firm as it grows in size. A seasoned business and technology leader, Hawksworth spent almost two decades at the two largest payment providers in the US. As such, he has first-hand experience of how to scale technology. “When you’re dealing with thousands of transactions a second, MARCH 2019

FINTECH

CLICK TO WATCH : ‘CUSTOMER STORY’ 105 you have to design your systems and

customers’ needs,” Hawksworth

think about your products and processes

explains. “From our Quality Engineers

a little bit differently,” he says. “You

to our CEO, everyone is involved in

have to ensure that they’re hardened,

the product experience creation. We

that they can withstand the forces of

measure usability, practice design-first

uptime, reliability and accuracy.”

thinking and, at the end of the day,

Hawksworth and his team have

we’re really passionate about taking

worked diligently to ensure that the

the friction out of the process for our

customer remains front and center

customers at every step.” To sum this

of the firm’s vision. As a digitally-fo-

up, one of the firm’s core values is to

cused business, this journey starts

‘innovate and simplify’. This simple

with software development and, more

mantra, Hawksworth believes, is one

specifically, product development. “We

which is central to Progressive Leas-

have an intense focus on our products

ing’s way of thinking.

and solutions and how they meet our

To put this vision into motion, the w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

PROGRESSIVE LEASING

business has turned its attention to agile methodology, a software development practice which helps teams respond to the unpredictability of constructing software. Hawksworth and his colleagues have practiced an agile approach at a team level for quite some time but the real challenge was how to scale this as teams naturally became more interdependent on each other and as products became more complex in a rapidly growing organization.

This is where Progressive Leasing first had the idea for an Agile Portfolio 106

$2bn

Approximate revenue

1999

Year founded

1,600

Approximate number of employees

Office (APO). Hawksworth describes this as a place which “brings a center of gravity to our software development lifecycle and adds central accountability to the process of development”.

Essentially, this helped to put a structure in place which enabled collaboration, allowed the firm to scale and to promote visibility into the product development

of a product or a feature during the actual

lifecycle. Progressive Leasing then

execution of the sprint work itself,”

decided to take this one step further

explains Hawksworth. “Dual-track puts

by exploring a dual track, agile product

accountability on three people – the

development methodology where

product manager, the UX designer and

discovering what to build is just as

the tech lead – to assess the feasibility,

important as the building process.

effort and scope of an idea. It allows us to

“Our analysis showed that we spent too

truly determine whether or not an idea is

much time figuring out the feasibility

worth building before we start the work.”

MARCH 2019

FINTECH

107

Successful ideas from the discovery

Hawksworth has only just scratched

track are then followed up through

the surface of Progressive Leasing’s

a so-called delivery track. This allows

journey. The business is also implement-

Progressive Leasing to concentrate its

ing an API management platform from

energy and efforts on projects which will

Google which he says will “give the

deliver value. “By spending a little more

business the ability to innovate on the

time upfront, it makes for a much more

edge” allowing it to innovate more quickly,

rewarding experience for our engineers

consistently and securely. In line with

and product managers,” he adds.

its customer focus, Progressive Leasing w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

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FINTECH

“ We measure usability, we practice designfirst thinking and, at the end of the day, we’re really passionate about taking the friction out of the process for our customers at every step” — Ben Hawksworth, Chief Technology Officer, Progressive Leasing

our customers and retail partners.”

Additionally, Hawksworth highlights how the firm is also striving to make its workflow more “content driven” using a content management platform to deliver real-time, uniquely customizable workflows for its retail partners.

As a digitally-driven firm, product development isn’t just a technology issue at Progressive Leasing: it’s company wide. As the company rapidly grows, constraints and bottlenecks are something that every department faces.

Hawksworth says: “I have the ability and the pleasure to be able to sit down with our CEO and talk about how maybe a legacy design or a legacy constraint creates friction or slows down our delivery process. We can easily talk about investing in the foundation as much as in new features and products,”

is also exploring new ways to reach and

reflects Hawksworth. “We really try

interact with its customers. This often

to balance staying focused on product

involves tailoring the customer journey

innovation and eliminating legacy

to the type of device they’re using. “It

constraints.” Another challenge with

means that we’re increasingly putting

software development undoubtedly

more and more of the process into our

lies in customer transparency. It’s

customers’ devices whether that’s a

a core value for Progressive Leasing

mobile phone or a tablet,” he says. “That’s

which the company won’t concede on.

really where we can take technology

“That’s really the key quest for us,”

and deliver a better experience for

Hawksworth admits. “We never want to w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

109

PROGRESSIVE LEASING

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FINTECH

111 compromise on customer transparency

operations teams put into the busi-

and, simultaneously, we want to deliver

ness,” says Hawksworth proudly. “It

the best user experience that we possibly

demonstrated that we met our own

can. Those two things can naturally be

expectations of flawless execution on

at odds with one another and so it’s up

our most successful day.” However,

to us to find that perfect harmony.”

such growth brings along its own

This is a delicate balancing act that

challenges and opportunities – one of

is undoubtedly paying off. Progressive

which involves attracting and retaining

Leasing has grown nearly 10 times in

key talent. Today, the business has

size over the past six years, with its

several hundred people working in its

success culminating in a bumper Black

technology and product department

Friday holiday. “We had the single most

with more being added every day.

successful day in the company’s history

Headquartered in Salt Lake City, a

which was a testament to the hard work

region which has been dubbed ‘Silicon

that our product, engineering, sales and

Slopes’ for its buzzing tech scene, w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

PROGRESSIVE LEASING

112

MARCH 2019

FINTECH

Progressive Leasing has to work hard to ensure it not only gets the best talent, but that these individuals also work well within the firm’s culture. Progressive’s innovative recruitment team has turned to firms like Tekmark Global Solutions to find unique skills and the best talent – but for Hawksworth, it’s not about skills alone. “In this competitive market, we have to move quickly but we also feel very strongly about spending quality time with candidates to make sure they are going to be a good cultural fit,” says Hawksworth. “The culture is really one of the main reasons I joined the company. It’s second to none. It’s great to see Progressive Leasing has managed to maintain this culture even though we’ve grown to be a two-billiondollar company and my job is to make sure we keep it strong and vibrant. Firms like Tekmark understand how important culture is for us and they speak the Progressive story innately with candidates to attract the right talent required to sustain our growth.”

Progressive Leasing owes a lot to its team, and it also relies on key partners, both externally and internally, to maintain

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PROGRESSIVE LEASING

its rapid momentum. “Internally, my biggest partner is our Chief Product Officer and our VP of Product. We simply can’t afford to be misaligned.

If we aren’t running in the exact same direction, at the exact same target, we will not be able to deliver our vision.

Meanwhile, externally, we’ve leveraged a firm called Silicon Valley Product Group (SVPG) to help us to fine-tune our process and ensure that we’re all on the same page.” With this support, Progressive Leasing is set to continue on its upward trajectory and whilst no 114

one can predict where the finance sector will head in the future, one thing

“ We have an intense focus on our products and solutions and how they meet our customers’ needs” — Ben Hawksworth, Chief Technology Officer, Progressive Leasing MARCH 2019

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115

is for certain – Progressive Leasing will remain laser-focused on the customer experience. “We believe that really listening to our customers will give us the best roadmap to our ongoing success,” Hawksworth affirms.

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PAYOMATIC: DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION TOWARDS MOBILE ENABLEMENT WRIT TEN BY

JOHN O’HANLON PRODUCED BY

ANDY TURNER

MARCH 2019

TECHNOLOGY

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PAY O M AT I C

For more than 60 years, Payomatic Corporation has filled the space between the formal banking system and the cash economy for millions of New Yorkers. Today money works differently than it used to, catalyzing a new digitally enabled customer focus

T

he blue and yellow PAYOMATIC banner is a familiar sight in and around New York, standing above almost 150 stores or

Money Centers. Nearly half of these are open 24 118

hours a day. Since its origins in the 1950s, the company has provided an essential alternative to the formal banking system, providing the ‘underbanked and unbanked’ population with the facility to cash checks, pay bills and remit money overseas, among other services. The New York metropolitan area has always attracted a huge population of migrant and immigrant workers, and though these are by no means the only group to benefit from such services, they typically work irregular hours, maybe in multiple employments and get paid in cash or by check. Not infrequently they are supporting dependents overseas, necessitating a reliable and quick way to remit funds.

For these customers, the bureaucracy of the traditional banking route is not easily accessible.

However, at PAYOMATIC, they can take care of all MARCH 2019

TECHNOLOGY

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PAY O M AT I C

of their business in one place. At the

“We endeavored to build a single source of truth for the customer” — Steve Mayotte Chief Information Officer, PAYOMATIC 120

same time as cashing a check, they are able to pay utility bills, buy money orders, and even try their luck with the NY Lottery. The ability to walk in off the street into a welcoming store environment is important to them, and for the many shift workers whose labor keeps the city humming, the latenight availability of so many stores is a boon. PAYOMATIC is the largest financial services provider and Western Union’s biggest reseller in the New York area.

FROM CONSULTANT TO CIO Like everyone else PAYOMATIC customers are busy people who want to take full advantage of the tools technology affords them. As a retail-type business with a large high street presence and the overhead costs that go with that, PAYOMATIC decided some eight years ago that it needed to bring all of its systems up to date and take advantage of the technology that had infiltrated the traditional banks. It partnered with Modus Agency, an MARCH 2019

TECHNOLOGY

121 award-winning digital innovation

150 locations, each one had a dispa-

consultancy, to develop a multi-

rate view of the customer and each

year plan focused on modernizing

transaction was a function of that store.”

PAYOMATIC’s legacy software

Each time a customer came in with

platforms. Modus’s Steven Mayotte

a check to cash, the customer service

and his team worked on this plan and

representative (CSR), or teller at the

developed a roadmap, working closely

counter, had to take a risk on behalf of

with PAYOMATIC’s CIO and COO.

the company, making decisions about

In 2013 Mayotte transitioned from

that customer and the issuer (‘maker’)

Modus to become Vice President for

of the check – and underwrite that risk.

IT at PAYOMATIC, and in 2015 he was

“If someone hit one location with a fraud-

appointed CIO. It was a seamless

ulent check they’d probably move on to

progression, he explains. “When I first

hit ten or 15 other stores because the

engaged with PAYOMATIC the company

systems did not talk to one another.”

faced problems that are familiar in the retail and financial service space. With

Another issue was that the stores leverage distribution of around 15 w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

FinTech. MarTech. HealthTech.

Whatever your tech, it’s all really HumanTech.

Driven by innovation, design thinking, and a deep understanding of human behavior, we create digital products and experiences that businesses—and humans—love.

The HumanTech Company modus-made.com

TECHNOLOGY

partner products. Each of these, like

a single source of truth for the customer,

PAYOMATIC’s largest partner for

as well as an online transactional

remittances and international payments,

system that could integrate with every

Western Union, has proprietary

third party in real time through applica-

procedures. “There were disparate

tion programming interfaces (APIs).”

systems that tellers were expected to know how to use, then enter back into

DIRECTED TO DIGITAL

the main transactional systems, mostly

This was an ambitious goal but an

in real time. Losses from fraud and

essential first step in the digital journey,

teller error were high. The company

he says – to consolidate data from the

had not really evolved to make use of

customer, the maker, and all other

the more modern technologies

sources, create better analytics to

available. We endeavored to build

understand customer behavior, achieve 123

E XE CU T I VE PRO FI LE

Steven Mayotte Steve Mayotte is responsible for building and developing technology systems and infrastructure for all the PAYOMATIC businesses and for leading the company’s digital transformation. He is responsible for developing and implementing PAYOMATIC’s information security strategy and data engineering, analytics, and machine learning strategy. Mayotte has more than 12 years of experience in financial services and hightech consulting. Prior to joining PAYOMATIC, he served as Service Delivery Manager for Modus Agency. w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

PAY O M AT I C

transparency into fraud patterns as well as underwriting models, and align these within the business so that accurate information would be available to its leadership for better decision making. It had been tackled before in the financial space, he acknowledges, but having looked at existing platforms, his team found that none of them would fit PAYOMATIC’s unique hybrid business model in the space between retail and financial services.

Partnering with Modus Agency for 124

software development, a custom-written platform known as TL2 was created that can not only encompass the inventory management and tracking of the product

have seen dramatic cost savings and

(cash) but also recognize all of the

efficiencies at every level,” says Mayotte.

treasury functions required by the

“This plat-

Federal Reserve and the banking

form paved the way for us to automate

system as well as multiple partner

back-office processes and enhance the

systems. The new platform removed the

in-store customer experience.”

burden from 800 CSRs of working with

Building on the success of new

multiple platforms when completing

transactional platform PAYOMATIC

customer transactions, dramatically

turned its focus to data. From data

reduced fraud losses and made it

silos, the company has achieved data

much easier to manage the peaks

democratization. “At first we leveraged

and troughs that the stores exper-

external partners to help us with data

ience on paydays, holidays and at

warehousing and ETL processes, then

different times of day or night. “We

as our capabilities matured we hired a

TECHNOLOGY

“Migrating to managed cloud solutions lets our team focus on delivering business value rather than on hosting and setup” — Steve Mayotte Chief Information Officer, PAYOMATIC dedicated team internally focused on

cloud solutions lets our team focus on

data engineering. The team partnered

delivering business value rather than

with analysts and built a platform

on hosting and setup.”

enabling on-demand data exploration

He’s proud of the way his staff has

and reporting in our on-premise

been able to develop their skills and

infrastructure. As we’ve grown, the size

learned how to leverage the efficiencies

of our data continues to expand

presented by the public cloud. For

exponentially. To deal with the problem

example, PAYOMATIC uses AWS

we are architecting our next generation

managed Kubernetes to run their

data platform running on the public

microservice workloads. “Previously

cloud.” Mayotte is looking at Tableau for

our deployment times weren’t bad but

data visualization and Apache Hadoop

they took the better part of a day running

for large-scale data processing on the

a mixture of automated scripts, manual

public cloud. “Migrating to managed

procedures, and testing: now with our w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

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PAY O M AT I C

investment in DevOps, continuous integration, and continuous delivery we can deploy our microservices workloads to Production in minutes!” It’s especially gratifying to him to have built a focused, tight-knit team that has delivered results like these when other companies might have engaged Big Four consultants costing millions of dollars.

These days, development teams have a big tool chest they can raid. For example, Terraform, the infrastructureas-a-service (IaaS) tool from HashiCorp 126

has, Mayotte testifies, played a huge

“The organization, having tackled the behind-thescenes technology was ready to start engaging with customers in a new channel” — Steve Mayotte Chief Information Officer, PAYOMATIC MARCH 2019

part in the DevOps work of his teams, enabling them to easily access Amazon or other cloud resources.

Cybersecurity laws are evolving, he points out, with New York being the first state to publish financial service sector information security regulations.

“Our CISO and his team are responsible for security compliance and we use IBM QRadar and other cloud-based SIEM (security information and event management) monitoring software tools to detect cybersecurity attacks and network breaches.” PAYOMATIC has

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+ 5mn

Checks cashed annually

1958

Year founded

1,000

Approximate number of employees 127

invested scrupulously in tools and aud-

government checks like tax refunds

iting from a risk management perspec-

directly deposited, all without a trad-

tive, and is fully compliant with the New

itional bank account. The inPOWER

York State Department of Financial

card, accredited to the highest PCI

Services (NYS DFS) Part 500 cyberse-

Level 1 standard, has not been on the

curity regulations for financial institutions.

market long, having been launched in November 2018 but, linked to a new

INPOWER: CARD ON THE RUN

mobile app it’s already transforming

Two years ago, Payomatic started to

customer engagement, he enthuses.

develop its hottest new offering,

“The organization, having tackled the

a prepaid MasterCard that allows

behind-the-scenes technology was

Payomatic customers to pay bills,

ready to start engaging with customers

withdraw money from an ATM, shop

in a new channel – mobile.”

online, or have paychecks and other

Payomatic partnered with a mobile w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

PAY O M AT I C

C O M PA N Y FACT S commerce specialist to identify the highest value opportunities to transform consumer experience and extend the familiar store experience into the digital world. Assigning a dedicated product team, Stuzo researched the customer base to produce a product strategy and roadmap. The result was a mobile app for iOS and Android that launched with the inPOWER card. “All of the services supporting the mobile app run on AWS cloud.

The app’s initial features focus on 128

inPOWER customers with plans for new products and features in 2019.

Early customer adoption has been excellent. We are really excited about mobile as an alternative distribution channel to the stores. It gives us a much closer relationship and understanding of the customer and their behavior.”

Connecting the in-store experience with the digital experience will be his focus over the coming year, he continues, adding features like staging transactions, which are making it easier to complete them in store or even ‘on the run’ using mobile technology.

“Utility payments make up a large portion of our bill pay-ment transacMARCH 2019

“We are really exc about mobile as an alternative distribution chan to the stores” — Steve Mayotte Chief Information Officer, PAYOMATIC

cited

nnel

TECHNOLOGY

tion volume. Say a customer has been saving up to pay multiple bills at the month’s end. When they come to visit a store there is a lengthy data entry process to complete all their transactions. Our vision is that customers store their bills in our mobile app and choose to process their payments in-store or through the mobile app. ” Steven Mayotte has a palpable relish for his role as CIO of PAYOMATIC, which he says is not really about technology so much as about customer engagement. “Younger customers would probably rather not come into a store at all, but they are always going to need our financial services. My view is that we must meet the customer wherever and however they want to be met. We need to be relevant to all our customers for the next 30 years or more and the technology is just serving to advance that strategy.”

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130

CA M PU S -W I D E TEC H N O LO GY TR A N S FO R M ATI O N WRITTEN BY

HARRY MENEAR PRODUCED BY

CRAIG DANIELS

MARCH 2019

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BRIAN BOLT, DEPUT Y CIO OF BOISE STATE U N I V E R S I T Y, D I S C U S S E S T H E U N I Q U E CHALLENGES OF EFFECTING T E C H N O LO G I CA L T R A N S FO R M AT I O N I N A N E N T E R P R I S E - S CA L E E D U CAT I O N A L I N ST I T U T I O N

F

or the most part, the days

in 1997, and then as a full-time employ-

when an employee would

ee in 1999. After leaving for a couple

graduate school or college,

years, Bolt returned and has been with

secure a job, work for 30 years and

the University’s IT organization ever

collect a commemorative watch have

since. He earned his MBA from Boise

gone the way of the stegosaurus, the

State in 2006 and became Deputy

French Monarchy and Betamax. The

Chief Information Officer in 2015. His

US Bureau of Labor found that, in 2018,

long career in higher-ed IT allows for

the median number of years wage and

an increasingly unique perspective as

salary workers spent in a single job

an innovator and solutioner.

was just 4.2. Brian Bolt began working at Boise State as a student employee MARCH 2019

“I came to Boise to pursue a Bachelor’s Degree. I built on my fondness for

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computers and joined a pilot program learning something that doesn’t exist anymore called Novell NetWare,” he reminisces. “It was basically a file and print service. And that’s where I got my start that led to a student employment job on campus.” Bolt’s career with Boise State has long outlived Novell NetWare, which released its final update in 2009. Over the course of his 20-year IT career he has been at the heart of major changes to the campus’ w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

Protect your cloud, network, endpoints and campus through automation, analytics and integration.

Get consistent security across clouds, networks and endpoints. paloaltonetworks.com

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IT governance. We sat down with Bolt to find out about the challenges of effecting technological transformation and change management across an enterprise-scale higher learning institution, and about Boise State’s current plans to implement a campus-wide Customer Relationship Management (CRM) approach to use data analysis to improve and maintain Boise’s university-student relationships.

Located in the West of Idaho, Boise State University was founded in 1932 by the Episcopal Church, becoming an w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

B O I S E S TAT E U N I V E R S I T Y

independent junior college two years later. In 2019, wwwwit has over 24,000 attendees and was reclassified in 2015 as a Carnegie doctoral research university, as well as placing 45th on the US News and World Report’s 2019 list of Most Innovative Universities. This year is also on track to have the institution’s largest first-year class in the university’s history.

To manage the ever-growing student body, Bolt and the rest of the Boise State’s IT department are working 136

to begin the implementation of their campus-wide CRM over the next year, with incremental rollouts expected to begin in late 2019. “We don’t yet have a CRM for students that are in the K-12 environment. They’re our future

important part.” Managing IT govern-

pipeline if you’re looking at it from

ance strategy at an enterprise-scale

a strictly sales point of view. And at the

educational institution presents its own

other end of the spectrum, we have

unique difficulties, particularly when

programs at the university that cater to

implementing campus-wide technol-

the retirement community and ongoing

ogy transformation. Bolt reflects on

education. The lifespan of a customer

the challenges to be faced in order to

for us could be 60 years long,” explains

successfully roll out the CRM: “There’s

Bolt. “But right now, we only have a

managing technology change in a very

CRM for the bookends of our lifecycle:

disparate environment, learning how

applicants and alumni. We have noth-

to manage change rollouts, and also

ing in between that manages the most

being accepting of the fact that some

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E XE CU T I VE PRO FI LE

Brian Bolt Brian began his academic studies at Boise State in 1996 and started his IT career the following year.

After learning about the higher-ed environment as a departmental Network Administrator, he moved to the central IT office as a Systems Engineer. From there, he progressed into management roles within technical operations until founding the Project Management Office in 2011. He currently serves as Deputy CIO.

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B O I S E S TAT E U N I V E R S I T Y

“ T H E L I F E S PA N O F A C U STO M E R FO R U S COULD BE 60 YEARS LO N G , B U T R I G H T N OW W E O N LY H AV E A CRM FOR THE B O O K E N D S O F T H AT L I F E CYC L E : A P P L I C ANTS AND ALUMNI” — Brian Bolt, Deputy Chief Information Office, Boise State University

of the technologies we have may have reached the end of their lifecycle.”

Over the course of his career at Boise, Bolt has faced each of these challenges and more.

Though his career at Boise State began working with the Novell NetWare operating system, by 2007 Bolt could see that transformation and transition were long overdue. “At one point in time, universities were looked to as leaders with regard to technology and its adoption,” he says, “but I think in the 90s the corporate world started to get

138

ahead.” Technology, Bolt points out, became more entrenched and slower moving in academia. “So, we held onto our Novell infrastructure for a lot longer than the corporate world ever did. Which is fine. It’s just kind of the way that universities work, and there’s a reason why universities have been around for a long time. They’re typically deliberate about their decision-making process.” Boise’s relationship with Novell came to an end as a result of reduced reliability due to vendors not being able to invest as much money in maintenance updates. “We were probably one of the last schools running MARCH 2019

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CLICK TO WATCH : ‘MILLION DOLLAR SCHOLARS’ 139 Novell’s technology,” he says. “It was

the idea to management and IT “and

a dying technology that wasn’t being

that was the first domino of remov-

maintained as well as it could be.”

ing Novell from our environment.” He

Bolt reflects that the transition that

laughs before admitting that “it was

followed Boise leaving Novell behind

kind of the Wild West of IT govern-

was one of the “big breaks” of his

ance back then. We kind of inflicted

career. “I received an invitation to the

change on campus, and the first year

Googleplex to learn about Google

afterwards was pretty rocky. We had

Apps for Education. This was 2007,

some people that were very satisfied

remember,” he notes, “the early days.”

and some people that were really not.

Bolt attended the Googleplex in 2007

We had rocked their world by taking

to learn about the work being done

away their email client and calendaring

to bring Google apps to educational

system they’d been using for ten years.”

institutions. Excited by the possibili-

The fallout from the implementation of

ties, Bolt returned to Boise and pitched

Google Apps taught Bolt valuable lesw w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

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24,000+

Approximate number of students

200+

Programs of study

140

1,135

Full time staff

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sons about the benefits of staggered rollouts and pilot programs. “I learned a lot about what happens after a project goes live in a large, disparate organization such as a higher-ed institution,” he says. “If you’re afforded the opportunity to start small and rollout incrementally, that’s a good path to take.”

Bolt has worked with Boise State’s current Chief Information Officer, Max Davis-Johnson, since he joined the university from Arizona State in 2010.

“Max was a game changer in terms 142

of how the university viewed technology as more of a strategic partner rather than just a cost center,” says Bolt. Davis-Johnson was responsible for implementing the university’s Roadmap series of transformational projects across campus. Excitedly, Bolt says, “As a result of that, we got a data warehouse off the ground, and we implemented our first student and faculty portal.” Then, he explains, the IT department used these large projects as a base on which to build up its governance structure.

With either large-scale projects or gradual transformation of IT governance strategies, Bolt reasserts the MARCH 2019

TECHNOLOGY

fact that technological transformation across universities is about managing the expectations and response of diverse user groups. “Thankfully we’re in 2019 now, and not in 2008,” he says, reflecting on the overall level of technological literacy. “Our faculty and staff have become more adept at using technology. I think ten years has made a lot of difference.” On the other hand, the expectations of students have changed, influenced by a generation of social media users and online consumers. “Some of our applications and systems had more of a legacy look and feel,” didn’t provoke positive responses from the student body. “They want to see the stuff that provides convenience more than anything else,” explains Bolt. “And that takes us into the current generation of thinking, which uses data to provide that,” which is at the heart of Boise’s new CRM. “Right now, we have a task force in place. We have a charge that’s been given to us by three of the University’s six Vice Presidents,” says Bolt. The task force is exploring a unique approach to the process, which took shape during the department’s exploration of the w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

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solutions offered by Amazon Web Services. “We decided to go down the AWS route,” says Bolt, reflecting that it took a year-and-a-half to unite the IT, purchasing and legal departments in support of “buying a commodity as a service, not a capital investment.” He laughs, “no kidding. So after eighteen months, we had a signed contract with AWS, which provided us a suite of tools to use for new projects.” Once the department had access to AWS, their governance strategy took a note from 144

“ T H E R E ’S A R E A S O N WHY UNIVERSITIES H AV E B E E N A R O U N D FO R A LO N G T I M E .

T H E Y ’ R E T Y P I CA L LY D E L I B E R AT E A B O U T THEIR DECISIONM A K I N G P R O C E S S” — Brian Bolt, Deputy Chief Information Office, Boise State University

the academia playbook: “we work a lot with faculty members that seek out grant opportunities. Granting agencies, such as National Institute of Health,

wanted to be our project manager was

will put out a call for proposals along

actually our solutions architect, so he

the lines of ‘we have a need. Write your

really decided to stretch his skills.” He

response, and we may or may not give

reflects that, “one of the reasons why

you money to do the research’. We

this worked is that we had the business

decided to do something similar within

unit say they wanted to be part of it as

our own organization and call it a ‘call

well. They actually brought the problem

for participation’.” The team drafted up

to us. They wanted to forecast demand

a call for participation, asking for appli-

for the Summer sessions so that they

cations and solutions for AWS machine

would know how many classes to

learning and data lake storage. “The re-

schedule and how many adjunct pro-

sponse was interesting,” chuckles Bolt.

fessors to hire.” Regardless of the level

“We have seven participants from our

of success the project achieves, Bolt is

technology office, and the person who

excited to both broaden the horizons

MARCH 2019

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145

and skillsets of the participants, and

a campus-wide CRM are just two of

to use it as a springboard for the next

the many projects on Bolt’s desk. He

initiative: exploring applications for

reflects that, “one of the biggest things

Amazon Alexa. “It’s going to be done

I’ve been involved with the past year

by our Director of Development,” Bolt

has been restarting our IT govern-

says. “He wants to invest in Alexa skills

ance structure. There’s not necessar-

and figure out where those fit in our

ily a command and control model in

environment, because smart speakers

the university. So, when it comes to a

are everywhere in our personal lives.

finite resource such as IT, we have a

Trying to figure out where they best

lot of demands placed on us to deliver

fit in an educational environment is

x, y and z, and without structure as

definitely an interest.”

to which large projects we should be

Of course, finding applications for AWS and planning the rollout of

working on and where we’re going, the gap in stakeholder support creates a w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

B O I S E S TAT E U N I V E R S I T Y

fair amount of chaos.” To solve this, over the past year Bolt and his committee co-chair, Boise’s Dean of Extended Studies, have put together a list of large development projects. The system has added structure, Bolt explains that “getting that framework put into place has been a good thing. It’s been a year-long process to get that set up and I think we’ll benefit from that. So will the university. Because we’re working on their goals. Not necessarily our goals. And that’s hugely beneficial to 146

all parties.”

“It’s great that we have a scope for what we want to deliver, an area we want to deliver to, and a partner in a particular school on campus that’s willing to work with us,” he says. Bolt’s team is currently in the procurement phase. Hoping to learn from their experiences with AWS, Bolt estimates “we’ll shorten that process from 18 months down to a four-or-five-month process. We’ve learned a lot, and I think we’ve learned how to partner better with areas on campus to expedite things like this. So, we’re hoping to have a technology and a path chosen by early summer.

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147

“This has a chance of being a trans-

tory of an institution he knows like the

formational project for us because it

back of his hand. “Our challenges and

essentially creates a CRM with a very

successes over the past ten years

long lifecycle.” The Boise State CRM

have put us in a spot where we can be

will manage student data, allowing the

successful with something as large as

university to “know how to best advise

a campus-wide CRM.”

its students by pulling information from its systems of record. That can really help us understand the entire makeup of the individual,” says Bolt. Looking back on a career of large technological changes, incremental progress and unique challenges, Bolt looks forward to another exciting chapter in the hisw w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

INFOR, USA

The Infor OS Platform: Leveraging an API gateway and data to unlock human potential

148

WRIT TEN BY

HARRY MENE AR PRODUCED BY

CR AIG DANIEL S

MARCH 2019

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INFOR, USA

We sit down with Joseph Pascaretta and Massimo Capoccia of Infor, USA to talk about Infor OS, Infor ION, Birst Analytics, Coleman AI and Infor Data Lake.

I

was actually a customer of Infor before I joined the organization,” remembers Joseph Pascaretta, Vice President & General

Manager Infor OS at Infor, USA. “I liked it as an organization so much that I joined the company.

It feels like a large start-up.” Massimo Capoccia, 150

Senior Vice President Infor OS, Technology confirms: “I have a career where I’ve had the opportunity to build a platform from scratch, from the beginning.

That has been an amazing journey.”

Between them, Pascaretta and Capoccia have over 16 years’ experience at Infor. Headquartered in New York and with 168 offices globally, as well as over 15,000 employees serving 68,000 customers, Infor is a global leader in business cloud software products for companies in industry specific markets.

“We believe that data is really at the center of unleashing human potential,” says Pascaretta. “We have an Intelligent Cloud Digital Gateway: a way to be able to bring all of that data together, but then allow organizations to innovate effectively and quickly, leveraging real tools and assets all delivered in the Cloud.”

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INFOR, USA

“I was actually a customer of Infor. I liked it so much that I joined the organization” — Joseph Pascaretta, Vice President & General Manager, Infor

152

From the Infor OS API gateway and

the major differentiator”. He adds:

integration of third-party applications,

“No other enterprise software organi-

to its own Coleman Artificial Intelligence

zation is doing what we’re doing. They’re

(AI), to an infinitely scalable Data Lake,

doing elements of it in pockets and silos,

Infor understands the necessity for

but not all together as one integrated

powerful machine learning systems

platform solution delivered fully in

to handle the vast quantities of data

the Cloud.”

inherent to Industry 4.0. Infor is applying

“Thinking about data as the critical

machine learning to Big Data and

asset is really the foundation of all this,”

scaling it infinitely using the power

says Pascaretta. Traditionally, compa-

of cloud computing. Pascaretta notes

nies store data in data warehouses

that the integration of data, AI and

which filter all incoming data that has

cloud scalability is “the huge value

already been processed for specific

proposition of what we’re doing and

purposes. “The first mistake that

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TECHNOLOGY

enterprise organizations make when you want to have data storage for multiple person consumption is that they think that the data warehouse is the place to be,” notes Capoccia. “But that’s actually what people were doing five or 10 years ago.” With the everincreasing quantities of data enterprises are presented with, the necessary approach Infor recognises is to pair Big Data with AI applications. “If you want to use the same data that has been filtered for analytics for an AI application, you’re going to miss a lot of other types of data,” Massimo explains.

E XE CU T I VE PRO FI LE

Joseph Pascaretta

Joseph is Vice President & General Manager for the Infor OS business unit where he is responsible for global growth, business development and strategic partnerships. During his career, Joseph has held a number of business development, business strategy, engineering, sales and marketing roles in software and technology fields and has been recognized as Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year for Product Solutions.

Joseph specializes in building businesses and launching innovative new products and solutions.

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INFOR, USA

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E XECU T I VE PRO FI LE

Massimo Capoccia

An experienced and impassioned technology executive, Massimo Capoccia specializes in technology, software architectures, and enterprise software strategy. He has built three architectures and platforms from the ground-up and understands the life-cycle management of a software product. In his current role as Senior Vice President Infor OS, Technology, he invests his time meeting with customers and prospects, discussing strategic value of software, and supervising architecture development projects.

MARCH 2019

TECHNOLOGY

“We really believe in offering complete solutions, both on the platform and on the application.So if a functionality is not really our core,we partner with a third party” — Massimo Capoccia, Senior Vice President Infor OS, Technology

155

“If you want to do an enterprise search,

market data, all the documents, all the

you’re going to miss other types of

IoT readings”. “Everything you think of

data as well. So, a data warehouse is not

when you think about data – it can go

complete, per se. You need a different

there,” he adds. “From the Infor Data

type of storage that allows you to store

Lake, we will integrate automatically

structured and unstructured data all

with a data warehouse. We have an

together in a very cheap way.”

elastic search as well as an index, so

This is where Infor’s Data Lake comes

you can search the data warehouse

into play. “The Data Lake stays on

even built for indexing data like you

Amazon Web Services (AWS) Ama-

would do with a Google search.”

zonS3 technology, which is available all

Infor ensures the security of its Data

the time and is very cheap and scalable,”

Lake using its proprietary security

Capoccia explains, adding that the Data

platform. “We have a huge investment

Lake stores “all the transactions, all the

in security,” says Massimo. “We provide w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

TECHNOLOGY

CLICK TO WATCH : MASSIMO CAPOCCIA, SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT INFOR OS, TECHNOLOGY - INTRODUCTION TO INFOR OS

a single sign-on, user management, and permission management platforms.”

Traditionally, there is a danger of gaps in security appearing between a core platform and third-party software, but Infor prides itself on the degree to which its OS integrates with third-party applications. “Even if you would build an application on top of Infor, maybe an AOI platform, it would still respect the security,” Capoccia notes.

Once Infor has gathered a customer’s data, its AI and analytics services come into play. “Being able to consume

“You need a different type of storage that allows you to store structured and unstructured data all together in a very cheap way” — Massimo Capoccia, Senior Vice President Infor OS, Technology

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INFOR, USA

C O M PA N Y FACT S

•●19 of the top 20 aerospace companies •●9 of the top 10 high tech companies ● •●18 of the 25 largest US healthcare delivery networks •●18 of the 20 largest US cities

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•●19 of the top 20 automotive suppliers •●17 of the top 20 industrial distributors •●15 of the top 20 global retailers •●4 of the top 5 brewers •●17 of the top 20 global banks •●9 of the 10 largest global hotel brands •●8 of the top 10 global luxury brands

MARCH 2019

TECHNOLOGY

and leverage analytics and business intelligence across all of an enterprise’s back-end systems is definitely key,” says Pascaretta. “So we leverage our Infor Birst Analytics platform that is designed to optimize complex business processes. The idea is that it’s faster time to value and it’s deployed in the cloud. So once you have that data together, being able to see into the data and leverage analytics and business intelligence around it is definitely critical.”

Named after the inspiring physicist and mathematician Katherine Coleman Johnson, whose trail-blazing work helped NASA land on the moon, Infor’s Coleman AI platform represents a giant leap for artificial intelligence at scale. This platform allows users to retrieve, analyse and leverage data into business decisions such as preventative maintenance, inventory optimization and inventory predictions. The Infor Coleman AI platform also recognizes patterns in behavior to help businesses automate processes like purchasing.

“Every time multiple users ask a question, we’ll apply machine learning to optimize the answers back to the users,” Capocw w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

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INFOR, USA

INFOR, USA

$3.1bn+ Approximate revenue

2002

Year founded

15,000+

160

Approximate number of employees

cia explains. Coleman’s automation

“We really believe in offering complete

services also extend to ordering and

solutions, both on the platform and on

invoicing. To transfer paper invoices to

the application. So if a functionality is

a digital format for Coleman, Infor has

not really our core, we partner with a

partnered with Ephesoft for its ocular

third party,” says Capoccia.

character recognition (OCR) needs.

With such a strong focus on propri-

“HCL Technologies is another one of our great strategic partners, not only

etary software, Infor draws a sharp

from an implementation side but also

divide between high investment, high

for next generation digital transforma-

focus in-house products and the use of

tion engineering and delivery,” Pas-

trusted third-party partners also

caretta adds. He explains that HCL

working on the cutting edge of tech.

provides customer-specific engineer-

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161

ing expertise when a client wants “to

external users. “Once you have data,

take their technology to the next level”.

being able to unleash and innovate -

The two companies first partnered in

that’s a key thing to what we’re

2015, with HCL dedicating hundreds of

providing,” Pascaretta concludes.

employees to support Infor.

2019 will be an exciting year for Infor, Pascaretta and Capoccia agree. The Infor Data Lake will have a global compliance platform built on top of its existing security systems, and new features on Coleman AI are set to launch, as well as Infor OS support for w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

162 WRIT TEN BY

ANDRE W WOODS PRODUCED BY

TOM VENTURO

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CHOICE FINANCIAL

We speak to CIO Tim Heilman at Choice Financial regarding its recent technological innovations that place people front and center

T

here is a certain tale that typifies Choice Bank, according to its Chief Brand and Innovation Officer, Tim

Heilman. “We had a customer call one of our locations, simply needing to run to the bank to do a deposit; I believe the account was overdrawn,” Heilman explains. “However, this 164

customer had run out of gas on his way to the bank and so he was simply calling the bank to say: ‘You’re not going to believe this but I am on my way to see you, and now my car’s out of gas.’ I think the typical response from a bank would be something like, ‘Oh, we apologize, that’s too bad. Just run that check in whenever you can.’ However, the employee said, ‘Where are you at? I will be right there.’

The employee went straight to the customer, took receipt of his check, and actually delivered some gas to get his car started, so he could go about his day. People first, banking second,” he summarizes.

People First is an enduring mantra for the North American community bank. Headquartered in North Dakota, Choice is a financial MARCH 2019

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CHOICE FINANCIAL

“ This isn’t banking first: it’s whatever you’re shopping for, or whatever you’re doing, that initiates a desire or a need for banking” — Tim Heilman, Chief Brand and Innovation Officer, Choice Bank

institution that prides itself on a communal responsibility and personal touch.

Heilman often describes the company has having a family feel – and the loyalty this engenders has kept him at the company for the past 15 years, where he has seen the bank grow immensely since its founding in 2001. Choice is the result of a merger involving four local banks: Citizens State Bank GraftonPetersburg (with locations in Grafton and Petersburg), First Capital Bank of North Dakota (with locations in West Fargo and Goodrich), First State Bank Langdon and Walhalla State Bank.

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167

Each local bank was known for its strong community banking culture and it’s clear that Choice Bank has kept this up as a sum of those parts.

PEOPLE FIRST Heilman is in charge of the bank’s technological solutions and his enthusiasm is infectious. “I am in charge of the overall brand for the organization.

Choice is a community bank and forwardthinking in the technological sense so we blended that together in People First.

We truly put people before banking. We w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

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168

have created an atmosphere of empowering employees to do things that go above and beyond what a typical banking experience would be. That is our focus.”

Heilman has been involved in a lot of technological changes at Choice since he took on the role. The North Dakota native has overseen and directly led numerous IT operations, with his role evolving to include brand marketing and innovation. “My role allows me to really focus in on communication,” he explains. “Externally, we are building MARCH 2019

TECHNOLOGY

some great community involvement

more banking locations in a specific

pieces where we take a truly philan-

community, we might partner with

thropic approach, when it comes to

a handful of other community leaders

giving back to our community. Obvi-

to help build something that the com-

ously, that’s a responsibility of a commu-

munities can actually use. We’d rather

nity bank, but we really like to show in

do that than have a lavish facility; it just

big ways how we can make those diff-

isn’t that important to us. We’d rather

erences to people’s lives in the comm-

give back to our communities.”

unities we serve. I want to have genuine,

Choice has recently reinvigorated an

authentic relationships and be able to

initiative to get children interested in

serve customers with value-add services

personal finance and savings called

that are not expected or typically deliv-

Adventure Club, which incentivizes kids

ered by a bank. Part of what we’re doing

to save. “If you empower your children

internally is the initiative I call ‘being

to make their own decisions, they might

philanthropic’. Instead of adding five

actually impress you with what they

E XE CU T I VE PRO FI LE

Tim Heilman Tim Heilman joined Choice Financial in 2004 where he started as a single IT department. Through the years, Tim’s role has expanded into executive leadership and currently serves as EVP, Chief Brand and Innovation Officer. Tim’s leadership has guided Choice to be a leading edge innovator in community banking technologies, and an early adopter of IP technology and online account opening. He has successfully guided Choice through multiple software and system conversions and several other organizational initiatives. Tim believes in the concept of high tech and high touch, and above all else the importance of great culture and great service.

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CHOICE FINANCIAL

EMPOWERING

the Financial World

At FIS, we provide the technology and solutions to allow financial institutions of all sizes to empower their customers, their transactions, and their business.

TO LEARN MORE ABOUT HOW FIS CAN EMPOWER YOU, VISIT www.fisglobal.com

decide to do with their money,” Heil-

savings accounts) in what has been

man explains. “The solution has an app

a two-year relationship.” Every one of

that the child and parents both share

Choice’s fintech partners has to be

on their own devices. You can create

a cultural fit, first, offering a product the

goals, objectives, rewards; it could be

bank firmly believes in.

anything that the parent and children agree on. Once those goals and rewards

INTERNAL OPERATIONS

are set and achieved, then the money

2009 represented a seismic shift at

slides from the parent account to the

Choice when its internal communica-

child, which is instantaneous within the

tions became audio-visual. “It’s been

app. Apple Pay is tied to it, and it has

a 10-year transition,” Heilman explains.

real time notifications of what the child

“In fact, before that, in 2006 we switched

is spending their money on. We also

everything to full-on voice-over IP.

have a company working out of San

I think the biggest shift for us, and the

Francisco that does HSAs (health

biggest opportunity we have taken

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“ Again, we’re using a lot of Cisco equipment but we do have other vendors in the back that are helping us monitor the network very closely” — Tim Heilman, Chief Brand and Innovation Officer, Choice Bank

advantage of, with technology, involves the ability to communicate. Geographically, we are quite spread out across two states, and people that work with others on a daily basis now have the ability to see who they’re talking to at any given time. There’s nothing better than a face-to-face, in-person discussion.”

A new employee receives a video phone on day one so they can start building relationships with other team members. “This has made an organization with close to 400 employees feel like a small, intimate and authentic w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

CHOICE FINANCIAL

organization,” Heilman explains. “I’ve been really proud of how it’s brought people closer together.” Choice’s vendor of choice is Cisco which takes care of all of the network, infrastructure and security at the bank. “We’re using a lot of Cisco equipment but we do have other vendors in the back that are helping us monitor the network very closely.”

Video communication, they like to call video collaboration, has allowed the bank to build greater bonds after a number of acquisitions. Choice is committed to keeping people in jobs 172

during acquisitions, a time when typically 30% of staff can be laid off right out of the gate. “Our goal, commensurate with our culture, is to not lay anybody off, and we’ve now done three acquisitions,” says Heilman. “Plus, the cultural shift (following an acquisition) can take three to five years to sync up when you bring two organizations together and video collaborations really help to reduce that timeframe.”

Choice views its fintech vendors, such as Cisco, with the same value as its customers and they work together through those situations that need to be fixed, or tricky installations that require collaboration. “Collaboration MARCH 2019

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gets results,” says Heilman. “So, I think maintaining the relationships and constantly seeing if there’s some reciprocating value that we can give back and forth always goes a long way.”

FINTECH Regarding the fintech side of Choice’s operations Heilman is proud to be building Banking-as-a-Service. “For about two years now, we’ve gotten into what we like to call Banking as a Service. If you have a really good idea that can improve banking, or you have a way to w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

CHOICE FINANCIAL

“ PeopleFirst is what makes our organization come together. We have true purpose in defining why we do what we do, and not just what we do” 174

— Tim Heilman, Chief Brand and Innovation Officer, Choice Bank

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TECHNOLOGY

reinvent banking and the experience that surrounds it, then we’d love to talk to you. We started that process a couple of years back.”

Heilman enthuses about frictionless banking, which he sees as shaping the very future of fintech. “This isn’t banking first: it’s whatever you’re shopping for, or whatever you’re doing, that initiates a desire or a need for banking.

It’s where we kind of come along for the ride,” he explains. “That’s currently being built into an existing system that’s already successful to provide a service that way. It’s another area that I see banking, as an industry, expanding into. As far as growth strategies, and what’s over the horizon, that’s typically what I’m seeing. We’re also going to work with a company in Sydney, Australia, which is getting a product developed that incorporates AI into mobile banking. It’s almost a personal finance coach and that’s where I see things going.”

And It’s this rich combination of technology, fintech and people that will see Choice Bank continuing to grow across the everchanging financial landscape.

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Protecting companies on their digital transformation journeys WRITTEN BY

SOPHIE CHAPMAN PRODUCED BY

CRAIG DANIELS

MARCH 2019

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D I M E N S I O N D ATA

As a supplier to Fortune 100 firms, Dimension Data continues to expand its digital offerings to a variety of industries

G

lobal system integrator – Dimension Data’s operations span across 47 markets on five continents. The company employs

more than 28,000 people and serves over 8,000 178

clients, and as a member of Japan’s Nippon Telegraph and Telephone (NTT) Group, services 70% of Fortune 100 and 60% of Fortune 500 businesses. Dimension Data was established in the South African capital city, Johannesburg, in 1983.

The company listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange four years later, with international expansion beginning in 1993 into the firm’s first international market, Botswana. In the following years the business reached the Asia Pacific region, followed by the northern hemisphere. At the turn of the century, Dimension Data listed on the London Stock Exchange, raising raised US$1.25bn.

As the company continued to grow it won over 100 client, vendor, and industry awards in 2015, and over 50 in the first half of the following year.

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D I M E N S I O N D ATA

‘We are one of their largest global partners with a shared heritage spanning more than 25 years – and we have Gold Partner status in every region in which we jointly operate’

the agreement, the company provides

— Dimension Data

The firm aims to use technology to

Microsoft in 21 countries and Titanium Partner status with Dell EMC. US firms such as NetApp, McAfee, and Oracle have also partnered with the IT services provider. In 2015, the company also partnered with the Amaury Sports Organisation (ASO), agreeing to a five-year deal to be the technology partner of for cycling events. As part of telemetrics for the sports. accelerate the business of its clients, targeting four key areas within its

180 The company currently operates in

services: digital infrastructure, hybrid,

29 cities across 15 states in the US,

cloud, workspaces of tomorrow, and

and partners with the some of the

cybersecurity. Dimension Data noticed

largest global companies based in the

the growth of IT-as-a-service across

country, such as Cisco. “Cisco is the

these four sectors, allowing the

worldwide leader in networking for the

business to cover a range of offerings

Internet since 1984, and today, more

from cloud advisory services to

than 85% of all Internet traffic travels

on-premise cloud solutions. Due to its

across Cisco’s systems,” Dimension

work with both public and private cloud

Data states. “We are one of their

computing, the company’s operations

largest global partners with a shared

are defined as hybrid cloud services.

heritage spanning more than 25 years

The company has a holistic approach

– and we have Gold Partner status

towards its clients – from consulting

in every region in which we jointly

engagement to the management of IT

operate.” Dimension Data has also

operations. Dimension Data also offers

established Gold Partner status with

what it dubs “omnichannel customer

MARCH 2019

TECHNOLOGY

CLICK TO WATCH : ‘WHO’S DIMENSION DATA?’ 181

experience”, covering mobile, digital,

have been designed for a variety of

physical, Internet of Things (IoT),

industries – education, financial

automation, bots, virtual agents, video

services, healthcare, manufacturing,

and artificial intelligence (AI). “It’s

media and communications, pharma-

this frictionless switching between

ceutical, retail and sport, stating: “We

channels that defines the omnichannel

offer broad technology expertise in

experience… Our Omnichannel CX

a range of verticals. Combined with

works with you to get measurable

our strategic partnerships and robust

results in terms of winning new custom-

services portfolio, we can help you

ers, retaining existing customers,

achieve your digital transformation

improving productivity, and reducing

objectives … Whether you’re an

cost to serve.”

educational institution, a manufacturer,

As well as its wide range of offerings, the company’s technology solutions

or a healthcare provider, we can ensure your IT platforms and services w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

TECHNOLOGY

‘The company’s technology solutions have been designed for a variety of industries – education, financial services, healthcare, manufacturing, media and communications, pharmaceutical, retail and sport’

183

Team Dimension Data sponsors a professional cycling team partnered with Qhubeka, a charity programme in South Africa that aims to fund 5000 bicycles each year to help children attend schools and adults to attend work. The team boasts Mark Cavendish in its ranks, a former World Champion and winner of an incredible 30 stages of the Tour de France.

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D I M E N S I O N D ATA

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‘Security is enabling digitization. If you look at fintech or technology businesses, they are leading this charge’ — Dimension data

are fit for purpose and future proof.”

For Dimension Data, cybersecurity is becoming an increasingly profitable business. “Cyber-attacks abound in the digital age. Digital transformation and hybrid IT are pushing security perimeters off premises, into the cloud, and into the workplace. As a result, enforcing cybersecurity policies is more complex than ever,” states the

MARCH 2019

TECHNOLOGY

1983

Year founded

28,000+

Approximate number of employees

HQ

Johannesburg, South Africa

what cybersecurity is doing to the world.

Security is enabling digitisation. If you look at fintech or technology businesses, they are leading this charge. Many of these businesses are asset light, whilst ensuring secure transactions, so we think that security expands beyond the physical perimeter into the cloud environment.”

Dimension Data promises to enable clients to keep up-to-date with new technologies, tackling cybersecurity, data and the cloud, and infrastructure.

“We deliver wherever you are, at every stage of your technology journey,” the company promises. “We invest heavily in innovation to bring together the world’s best technologies, from consulting, technical and support services to a fully managed service, to our global

company. The firm’s moto of “risk less,

client base.”

achieve more” allows customers to continue to embrace ongoing developments and ensure their operations are secure. The company offers a range of solutions, including formulated policies, predictive protection, and assessments and responses. “Security is and always will be big business. Big dollar figures are quoted in terms of w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

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INNOVATION HELPS DRIVE SUPPLY CHAIN PRODUCTIVITY WRIT TEN BY

JOHN O’HANLON PRODUCED BY

DENITR A PRICE

MARCH 2019

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HYSTER

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HYSTER COMPANY IS POSITIONING ITSELF TO MEET SEISMIC CHANGES IN THE WAREHOUSING AND MATERIAL HANDLING INDUSTRY.WE SPEAK TO GIJO GEORGE, BUSINESS UNIT DIRECTOR FOR FOOD AND BEVERAGE MARCH 2019

A

ppointing Gijo George as its first ever Business Unit Director for Food and Bever-

age was part of a wider Hyster Company strategy to focus on a cultivating a deeper understanding of the unique challenges of key industry segments and help influence marketing initiatives and product development.

George is a seasoned supply chain veteran, bringing to his newly-created role not only 20 years of procurement leadership, but also a deep knowledge

S U P P LY C H A I N

189

from a customer perspective – as

locations, the world’s largest cold chain

a Hyster national account customer

solutions provider faced some very

for 11 years. “I was a very active

specialized material handling issues.

customer, too,” he asserts. “Pursuing

Warehouses that operate at -20

innovative solutions for the business.

degrees put material handling equip-

Hyster approached me to join their

ment under extreme stress: steel

marketing group because I had that

becomes brittle, batteries lose power,

customer perspective on the food

fluids become viscous.

and beverage side.”

“It was my job as a procurement professional to cultivate a strong

THE CUSTOMER’S PERSPECTIVE

supplier relationship. Hyster became

As a major cold storage and warehous-

one of the preferred suppliers at that

ing company with more than 170 global

time. Cold storage warehouses are w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

HYSTER

among the most challenging ware-

Hyster Company continues to apply

house environments, mainly due to

its expertise and customer feedback

condensation and the need for driver

from a broad global install base to

comfort,” he says, “and Hyster has

develop innovative solutions that build

become a serious competitor in the

on its reputation for strong, durable

sub-zero space.”

equipment while integrating intelligent

A good example is the new Class III

software capabilities to help opera-

End Rider – designed with a variety of

tions meet increasingly demanding

industry-exclusive and best-in-class

productivity goals.

ergonomic enhancements and produc-

190

tivity-enhancing Smart features to help

TOTAL COST OF OWNERSHIP

operations boost labor efficiency and

As in any industry requiring capital

increase throughput in order picking,

investment in specialized equipment,

unloading and other warehouse tasks.

there is a temptation, especially among

It was awarded “2018 Product of the

smaller food and beverage operators,

Year” by Material Handling Product News.

to make purchase decisions based

“ Hyster has become a serious competitor in the subzero space” — Gijo George, Business Unit Director for Food and Beverage, Hyster

MARCH 2019

S U P P LY C H A I N

CLICK TO WATCH : ‘HYSTER: TOUGH AND RESOURCEFUL’ 191 solely on price. Gijo George is a passion-

statistics show productivity falling by as

ate evangelist for the concept of total

much as 14% since 2013 and turnover

cost of ownership (TCO) that reveals

rates around 30% have been recorded

the broader decisions facing a CPO.

in ambient warehouses (60% in cold

“It’s our strategy to work very closely with our customers to help them manage their balance sheet.” For example, the

stores). Average onboarding costs for a skilled operator stand at around $10,000.

“Hyster is addressing the issue on

emphasis on operator comfort ad-

two fronts: focusing on robust telemat-

dressed by the end rider can positively

ics solutions to measure performance

impact broader labor issues prevalent

and productivity while engineering

in many warehousing operations.

ergonomic solutions to help improve

Recruiting and retaining skilled labor is

operator comfort and reduce potential

increasingly a challenge. With record

fatigue. We have some of the most

low unemployment, labor has become

comfortable platforms in the industry,

a scarce and valuable resource. Some

designed to help minimize fatigue w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

HYSTER

192

and absorb shock and vibration in a multitude of operating environments.”

The lift trucks also incorporate an ‘Intelligent’ suite of solutions providing improved productivity, load stability

CLEVER COMFORT

and ergonomics. An optional extended

Warehouses are not normally well-lit at

operator platform provides more usable

the picking point. The new Hyster End

foot space than the leading competi-

Rider series of lift trucks have industry-

tors, allowing operators to adjust stance

exclusive LED platform lights to provide

to provide postural relief. The Ultra

operator awareness in low light or

Cushion reduces shock and vibration

congested areas and the LED fork

to improve operator comfort and

lights offer in-trailer illumination,

provide steady footing.

helping raise pedestrian awareness,

George involves the financial leader-

can reduce product damage and help

ship to explain the real cost benefits of

increase the bottom line.

such equipment. Acquisition costs are

MARCH 2019

S U P P LY C H A I N

balanced against operational costs, end-of-life costs and labor costs. “I aim to give the total picture; a better appreciation of the decision they are about to make - and for our current customers we point out that trucks become more expensive with every year that passes.

They can consider minimal technology investments such as telemetry that can be added onto older trucks. This gives visibility into the way the truck is operating and the ability to measure and manage those costs. Our dedicated fleet management organization works as consultants and advisors to our E XE CU T I VE PRO FI LE

Gijo George Gijo brings over twenty years of experience in Procurement, Supply Chain, Sales, and IT Applications. He currently leads the Global Procurement function, responsible for both Direct and Indirect supporting 170+ facilities. He has extensive experience in Capital Expenditure Projects such as construction, automation, assets and systems upgrades and renovation as well as Goods and Services Procurement for categories like Energy, Consumables, Contingent Labor, etc. Prior to Americold, Gijo worked for Rock-Tenn, The Home Depot, The Hackett Group, GeP, and consulted for several Fortune 500 companies.

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HYSTER

STEEL THAT SUPPORTS THE WORLD

From our beginning in 1907, through our incorporation as Steel of West Virginia, Inc. in 1982, to the present as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Steel Dynamics, Inc., we have had a long tradition of product innovation and process improvement. As an ISO 9001:2015 certified manufacturer, we continue to expand and improve our manufacturing capabilities and production efficiencies. For our customers, this means we will always be the low-cost, high-quality producer.

Our structural steel sections are produced from electric furnace steel, continuously cast and hot rolled on highly specialized mills. We produce special shapes as well as standard beams, channels and MC channels. We also produce flat bars at the newly acquired SWVA-Kentucky rolling mill. These products are used by a wide range of OEM customers, including industrial truck and truck trailer manufacturers, rail, off highway equipment, guardrail, solar energy, and shipbuilding companies. We also have fabricating and processing capabilities, both at SWVA, Inc. and at our subsidiaries Marshall Steel, Inc. and Steel Ventures, Inc. SWVA, Inc. has been a long time supplier of forklift mast sections and hanger bars to Hyster-Yale. It has been a true partnership as our team designs our manufacturing systems to take care of this valued customer’s needs. We look forward to continuing our partnership well into the future!

CALL US TODAY 1 (800) 624-3492

MARCH 2019

www.swvainc.com

S U P P LY C H A I N

accounts in order to streamline and manage those costs.”

Hyster sale teams are also equipped to support smaller customers that are not ready to invest in large-scale fleet enhancement. They may not realize that they can adopt the latest and most appropriate electric, lithium-ion, hydrogen fuel cell or gas-powered units without heavy capital investment. “We have designed pay-per-use models that make it economically feasible for a ten-truck customer to take advantage of a hydrogen fuel cell solution that would yield 20% to 30% power gain and 10% to 15% productivity gains just from not having to refuel so much and the resultant downtime.”

Gijo George spends a lot of his time traveling the North American market to

“ We have some of the most comfortable platforms in the industry, designed to help minimize fatigue and absorb shock and vibration in a multitude of operating environments” — Gijo George, Business Unit Director for Food and Beverage, Hyster

learn at first hand what his customers in different industries really want. Its stakeholders, he has found, share the Hyster vision of an ecologically and economically sustainable end-to-end supply chain. “We deploy a number of strategies to collect customer feedback and identify their pain points.

At the same time, as an organization with manufacturing facilities globally,

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HYSTER

we leverage the expertise and experience of our best suppliers and solicit opportunities to work with them to add value to the product.”

CUBES TO LAKES Fluctuations in the U.S. and global steel economies are another factor that affects the thinking of equipment manufacturers. George maintains close contact with his financial, procurement and IT counterparts to focus on solutions that make best economic sense while optimizing lead times. “We utilize a lot 196

of just-in-time data management and data mining tools, moving us from ‘data

MARCH 2019

S U P P LY C H A I N

cubes’ to data lakes which can swallow the input costs, global price indices, tariffs, tax information and the like, to enable the best solutions and the best decision making across the business.”

By focusing on the food and beverage customers, Gijo George sits at the heart of the business. After all, this fast evolving, population-driven sector will never decline, and Hyster is positioned as a key player in its development.

A characteristic of operations in this space is that they have purchased piecemeal in the past, ending up with a stable of equipment from different suppliers. “Over time our customers acquired different brands of equipment.

Another aspect of my job is to help them understand how our brand is differentiated in the market and educate them on the TCO (total cost of ownership) that they would be returning to the business.”

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Delivering sustainability through a supply chain transformation WRIT TEN BY

DA LE BENTON PRODUCED BY

ARRON R A MPLING

MARCH 2019

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E M M E R S O N PA C K A G I N G

SERGE CORRIVEAU, VICE PRESIDENT OF SUPPLY CHAIN AT EMMERSON PACKAGING, EXPLORES HOW THE COMPANY’S SUPPLY CHAIN TRANSFORMATION DELIVERS ON ITS SUSTAINABILITY GOALS

A

cross the modern business landscape, the perception of procurement and supply chain management is undergoing

a dramatic transformation. Traditionally viewed as a business support function and merely a cost 200

center, businesses all over the world are currently investing into their supply chains as a recognition that it is now viewed as a true business enabler. For Emmerson Packaging, one of the leading flexible packaging solutions providers in North America, the supply chain has been built into the company’s core operations since it was founded back in 1956.

For Serge Corriveau, Vice President of Supply Chain, the supply chain management function of Emmerson Packaging is the ‘WD40’ of the business.

“We’re like a machine and as long as we’re well oiled, everything works and the business can continue to

— be successful,” he says. “My motto is be brilliant, be Serge Corriveau, brief and be gone. If we’re not moving, innovating Viceand President of Supply Chain, changing in a particular part of the business Emmerson Packaging then we look at that as a missed opportunity.”

Corriveau joined the business in 2013, initially MARCH 2019

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“ W E’RE LIKE A MACHINE AND AS LONG AS WE’RE WELL OILED, EVERYTHING WORKS AND THE BUSINESS CAN CONTINUE TO BE SUCCESSFUL” — Serge Corriveau, Vice President of Supply Chain, Emmerson Packaging

working as a business analyst before being given the role of change management lead for a new SAP system implementation. The implementation of SAP provided the opportunity for Emmerson Packaging to transform its supply chain vertical. “Once the model was presented, our CEO asked me if I would like to lead the charge in implementing the changes,” he says.

“I accepted the challenge and the rest is history.”

The new supply chain vertical consists of five departments within Emmerson Packaging including warehousing, logis-

202

tics, purchasing, production planning and customer service. The customer service department was added to the supply chain vertical in early 2018.

“Customer satisfaction is dependent on the supply chain, so this recent addition made perfect sense,” Corriveau says.

“Customer service is a fundamental part of any successful business and its very important in the supply chain because it’s the source of customer

— Serge Corriveau, Vice President of Supply Chain, Emmerson Packaging

information, it provides the customer with real-time information on product availability and distribution operations,” he says. “These departments are particularly important in ensuring

MARCH 2019

S U P P LY C H A I N

CLICK TO WATCH : ‘EMMERSON PACKAGING ON MARITIME MADE’ 203 a seamless supply chain and by oversee-

order to reach a state of control,” he says.

ing all five departments it ensures we

“Once we reache that level of control,

can support the overall strategy of the

you can step back and trust the team to

business.” Corriveau had previously

deliver. If something was to go sideways

worked with automotive giants Hyundai

then we’d react properly because we

and Kia and was familiar with working

are in control and being proactive. Clear

in a large-scale company with “tons of

communication internally and externally

resources and a very strict structure”.

is so important”.

But as Emmerson Packaging set about

With data monitoring and KPIs

building a supply chain vertical, Corriveau

established, Emmerson Packaging

realized that enhanced inventory plan-

created an element of control over

ning and control was required. “The first

inventory management and estab-

step before anything could be achieved

lished the same level of control over

was to look at data, create and track

logistics and purchasing. “Control

KPIs and make changes along the way in

means making everything resource w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

That’s why we’ve joined Project STOP. NOVA Chemicals is a Strategic Partner in Project STOP, a global initiative that brings corporations and governments together to keep plastic from reaching the world’s rivers and oceans through the development of waste collection services and a recycling supply chain.

The immediate focus of that effort is the countries of Southeast Asia, where fast-growing economies mean the demand for products packaged in plastic are outpacing

novachemicals.com

governments’ abilities to meet the challenge of waste management.

At NOVA Chemicals we’re passionate about sustainability.

That’s why, along with investing in Project STOP, we’re engaged in R&D work focused on developing packaging solutions that support a circular economy.

We’re proud to play a key role in Project STOP and its crucial efforts to build a better future.

Copyright NOVA Chemicals Corp. 2019, all rights reserved.

Imagine a future without marine plastic pollution.

It starts with making more plastics recyclable.

T

here is growing awareness and concern about marine plastic pollution—and there’s an increasing determination to put an end to it.

One part of the solution is Project STOP, a joint initiative started in 2017 by SYSTEMIQ and Borealis to help stop the flow of plastics and other materials into the world’s rivers and oceans.

Another part of the solution is to further develop infrastructure to collect and recycle plastic packaging, especially in the world’s fast-developing nations.

Of course, that also requires making plastic goods, particularly plastic packaging, more recyclable to

support a circular economy that puts more recycled plastics into new products—and less into places where they don’t belong.

Initiatives like Project STOP will test and develop new solutions with the potential to seriously slow—and eventually eliminate—the flow of plastics into the world’s oceans. Together with work to develop more recycling and recovery technologies and more recyclable products, we can realize the promise of a circular economy.

Below are some emerging trends that are yielding promising results.

More applications for recycled plastic material.

The more flexible, the smaller the footprint.

The plastics industry is investing in research and development centered around technology for creating “clean” recycled polyethylene and incorporating it into finished products with performance comparable to 100% virgin plastic.

Replacing traditional materials like cans, glass and cardboard with flexible plastic packaging significantly reduces packaging volume, reducing the carbon footprint during production and shipping.

Simpler is better for the environment.

One-piece closures for easier recyclability.

Many food packages are made with a mix of materials, making them difficult to recycle. Companies are now working with their suppliers to eliminate foil, nylon and other materials and move to single-material, recyclable flexible film structures.

Another important trend is the shift from two-piece, mixed-material closures to one-piece, recyclable closures in beverage and other containers.

The bottom line: Recyclable plastic packaging has value as recyclate, adding an incentive to implement new waste collection and recycling systems that can go a long way toward keeping plastics out of the world’s oceans.

What about food waste?

Advances in package integrity— improved barrier, toughness and seal —in polyethylene-based flexible film structures help improve package integrity and extend shelf life. That means less food is spoiled, which reduces landfill waste and even more importantly, helps to address world hunger. It’s a win-win.

E M M E R S O N PA C K A G I N G

206

based,” Corriveau says. “Data is key

to re-examine the perception of what

there as it cannot be disputed. We

the supply chain actually is, as Corriveau

break each department down into

felt there was often a misplaced belief

pieces and work through it one piece

that it was “just warehousing and

at a time and it’s been a successful

logistics”. “Supply chain for Emmerson

strategy for the company”.

Packaging is so much more than that:

The advantages of data analytics

there’s production planning, manufac-

are plain to see, allowing the business

turing, procurement, warehousing and

to —make smarter decisions and

the list goes on,” he says. “Production

Serge Corriveau, predictions, but building a supply chain Vice President Supply Chain, highlighted vertical in thisoforganization Emmerson Packaging

planning scheduling is the very heart of our organization. We have worked hard

to Corriveau that the data “just wasn’t

to nail down our data and forecasting

there yet”. This forced the organization

and are incredibly proud of where we

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S U P P LY C H A I N

207

are. With new insight we were able to

its commitment to sustainability as a

make changes across the business,

business and delivers on this not only

for example moving the releases of

through its internal commitment but its

warehouses from customer service

products – specifically recyclable and

to warehousing and logistics – this

biodegradable options. Corriveau was

streamlined the flow with our custom-

proud to go into detail around Emmer-

ers as the information to deliver on this

son Packaging’s SmartPack. Manufac-

promise resides in the supply chain”.

tured through a process that signifi-

Emmerson Packaging’s customer

cantly reduces environmental impact

base continues to evolve. The modern-

without compromising on quality or

day customer demands transparency

lead times, SmartPack proved how

in products and across supply chains.

crucial it is to have control over the entire

Emmerson Packaging prides itself on

supply chain. In order to achieve this w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

E M M E R S O N PA C K A G I N G

innovative and truly ground-breaking

We’re not willing to short change

process, Emmerson Packaging sought

the process and we ensure all of our

out a strategic partner, which it found

strategic partners are of the same

in Nova Chemicals. “I cannot stress

belief. Nova Chemicals agree with this

enough the importance of having trusted

sentiment, having worked with us on

partners in everything you want to

this SmartPack™ project and they

achieve through the supply chain,” says

were keen to move fast.” Moving fast

Corriveau. “We’ve been doing business

proves key for Emmerson Packaging

with Nova Chemicals for many years

as Corriveau notes that consumer

and they have been instrumental in our

demands are changing and in order to

success because of their commitment

be ahead of the curve they need to be

to innovation and our partnership.”

proactive. “The new era of customers

“We’ve had discussions with suppliers in the past that wanted to cut corners.

place a greater emphasis on the environmental impact of the products

We’re more than a transportation provider. We’re a business partner WHAT WE DO We create, proactively communicate, and flawlessly execute, innovative solutions that intertwine the needs of our clients and comingle them with our conveyances so that value is realized together.

— Serge Corriveau, Vice President of Supply Chain, Emmerson Packaging

OUR WHY, HOW & WHAT ARE SIMPLY DEFINED AS: Why: Adding Gray Matter to What Matters.

How: Developing Long-Lasting Tiered Relationships.

What: Create and Flawlessly Execute Innovative Solutions Flawless Execution is a disciplined cycle of stating our objective; planning the solution; proactive communication internally and externally; followed by continuous improvement through learned results

WHY ONE FOR FREIGHT? Visit our Site

MARCH 2019

Get in Touch

FIND US ON

S U P P LY C H A I N

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they buy, and are going to greater

demand,” says Corriveau. “We approach

lengths than ever before to ensure

everything with the notion that sooner

“they are not part of the problem, but

or later, the customer is going to ask us

part of the solution”.

to elevate our game and go beyond

The demands of the customer extend

SQF certification – so we can’t be

into certifications, with Emmerson

chasing.” Emmerson achieves this

having proudly achieved Safe Quality

through a three-pillar approach: safety,

Foods (SQF) certification, among

quality and productivity. “You can’t be

others. While for many businesses the

productive if you don’t produce quality

customer drives these decisions,

product.” he says. “And you can’t

Emmerson Packaging is proactive and

produce quality products if you don’t

has higher expectations of its supplier

do it in a safe environment.”

network and warehousing. “It’s about trying to stay ahead of the customer

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and internal reward systems designed to encourage employees to go above and beyond to be safe, produce quality products and be productive. Corriveau believes being safe is the most important out of the three. “Once you have employees who are working safe, quality products and productivity follow,” he says. “We want our employees to come to work in a safe environment and at the end of the day go home safely to their families.

We work hard to instill this quality into our employees so they are safe inside and outside of work.” Corriveau believes the results speak for themselves as the company has been recognized as one of Canada’s Best Managed Companies for nine consecutive years by Deloitte. For him, this recognition echoes Emmerson Packaging’s CEO’s sentiment that “our customers push us to be better” because the company looks to always be ahead of the curve, and therefore needs a workforce that is ready to go above and beyond.

Emmerson Packaging has three major markets: frozen food, pet food and towel and tissue otherwise referred to as “overwrap”.

Having two plants, one in the town of Amherst, Nova Scotia and one in the small city of Belleville, Ontario means that Emmerson Packaging’s supply chain needs to be best in w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

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E M M E R S O N PA C K A G I N G

class. “In some cases, there is a large geographical distance from these customers, so how do we compete? By being better, fluid, and by providing a seamless journey,” says Corriveau. “We work hard with trusted partners such as ONE For Freight, a solutions first transportation company that helps us achieve our goals. We can compete with anyone on lead time and service.”

As Emmerson Packaging continues its journey of supply chain transforma212

tion it does so with a key competitive advantage that no other current packaging producer has. Together with

“ W E’RE NOT WILLING TO CUT CORNERS AND WE ENSURE ALL OF OUR STRATEGIC PARTNERS ARE OF THE SAME BELIEF” — Serge Corriveau, Vice President of Supply Chain, Emmerson Packaging

trusted partners like Nova Chemicals, the company not only produces its own packaging but proactively works on innovative and new concepts in its own Research & Development department and in-house laboratory. Emmerson Packaging is also proud to be vertically integrated and converts its own products. Ultimately, the success of Emmerson boils down to its commitment to sustainability and its customers. “If our

MARCH 2019

S U P P LY C H A I N

1956

Year founded

450+

Approximate number of employees 213

customers are successful, then and

Emmerson Packaging believes they

only then do we get to be successful,”

can deliver a quality product to their

says Corriveau. “From the very first

customers that not only meets the

days of the company we’ve been

demands of the market but is also

extremely proud of how we operate

environmentally responsible”.

and how we continue to strive to reduce our impact on the environment.

Moving forward, it’s about looking at what more can we do for our customers, our employees and our communities. By focusing on sustainability, w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

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A DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION WITH KEY PARTNERS AT THE CORE MARCH 2019

TECHNOLOGY

215

WRIT TEN BY

DA LE BENTON PRODUCED BY

JA MES BERRY

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TRAFFIX

CARLOS TRIVINO, DIRECTOR OF IT, EXPLORES HOW PARTNERS AND PEOPLE PROVE KEY AMIDST TRAFFIX’S DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION

F

or more than 40 years, Traffix has provided comprehensive third-party logistics and transportation solutions to

customers across North America and established itself as a true market leader. Key to the company’s continued success had been a strong vision that 216

places its customers, carriers and internal teams at the forefront of everything it does. The company describes itself as ‘the transportation people’ and this in particular continues to be a true competitive advantage at a time where technology has completely redefined the industry over the last decade.

Carlos Trivino joined Traffix back in 2014 as Director of IT for the company, bringing with him an extensive history of experience in transportation, logistics and technology implementation. He joined the company with a simple mission of looking at how Traffix could increasingly utilize technology to better serve its customer base and he admits that joining Traffix was almost a no-brainer. “I had done some consulting with Traffix and after a while I just felt that it was a great company,” he says. “It’s a privately held company and has some key partners MARCH 2019

TECHNOLOGY

217

E XE CU T I VE PRO FI LE

Carlos Trivino With 28 years’ experience in various disciplines in the transportation industry, Carlos’ career has encompassed a number of roles from dock floor right through to management. With a passion for systems and technology, he took on the role of System Operator and his career path changed. As Information Technology Manager, Trivino was tasked with supporting the growth, design and development of new functionality within an in-house FMS (Freight Management System).

w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

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TECHNOLOGY

“ IT’S A PRIVATELY HELD COMPANY AND HAS SOME KEY PARTNERS WITHIN THE COMPANY THAT KNOW THE BUSINESS VERY WELL AND HAVE BEEN EXTREMELY SUCCESSFUL” — Carlos Trivino, Director of IT, Traffix

extreme pressure on the company as its existing technology architecture was only capable of handling the original number of users. This prompted the company to invest and embark on a digital transformation which would see Traffix respond to this growth spurt and be ready to experience further growth in the future. “We had to make a quick decision as to what type of technology we wanted and needed and what we were going to leverage to achieve our goal, which is to be one of the top logistics companies in Canada,” says Trivino.

Key to this growth plan, and to Trivino’s own remit, was striking strategic partnerships with technology vendors

within the company that know the busi-

which could accelerate Traffix’s growth

ness very well and have been extreme-

–this is where the company turned to

ly successful. Over time, as Traffix has

Gibraltar Solutions and Trimble Transpor-

grown and evolved, my role now looks at

tation and Logistics (TMW). As a leading

the technology partnerships, ensuring

Canadian technology provider, Gibraltar

that software and hardware partners

Solutions recommended Nutanix

are vetted and align to what we want

hyperconverged cloud infrastructure.

to achieve as a company.”

Nutanix will allow Traffix to leverage

In 2018, Traffix experienced signifi-

cloud-based technology to effectively

cant growth as its existing user base

monitor and manage a 24/7 operation

of 60-70 users skyrocketed to close to

across its entire footprint. It also allows

300 users at any given time. This placed

Trivino and his IT team to “focus more on w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

219

TRAFFIX

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With an intelligent ecosystem of products and services, Trimble Transportation enables customers to embrace the rapid technological evolution of the industry and connect all aspects of transportation and logistics—trucks, drivers, back office, freight and assets. Through the combined legacy of PeopleNet, TMW Systems and 10-4 Systems, Trimble Transportation delivers an open, scalable platform to help customers make more informed decisions and maximize performance, visibility and safety. ► Analytics

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transforms TECHNOLOGY THAT

TRANSFORMING THE WAY THE WORLD WORKS

TECHNOLOGY

221 the user experience and performance,

information and visibility and accurate

rather than worrying about the technol-

data within their systems. “They want

ogy and troubleshooting X or Y”, notes

to be able to do more analytics on their

Trivino. “We focus on the things that

side so that they can realize greater

really matter and that allows us to drive

cost savings and performance,” he says.

true value across the organization.”

“The information would historically be

Traffix also leverages Citrix’s digital

accessed by a server or a PC but now

workspace to deliver applications, which

it’s about remote desktops and hyper

allows the company to have greater

converged technology, which is where

access to and understanding of data

Citrix comes into play. The technology

flow. Trivino recognizes this as a key

through Citrix makes the data flow faster

trend across the industry. He notes that

and more efficient than ever before, not

companies and users were satisfied

only for end users to be able to access

with “minimal” information, but in recent

but for us to be able to produce that

years customers are demanding more

information.” In addition to Citrix Workw w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

TRAFFIX

“ WE FOCUS ON THE THINGS THAT REALLY MATTER AND THAT ALLOWS US TO DRIVE TRUE VALUE ACROSS THE ORGANIZATION” 222

— Carlos Trivino, Director of IT, Traffix

This is where TMW, through its TruckMate solution, has been instrumental.

“Trimble Transportation is pleased to be a critical part of the technology and application backbone helping to fuel Traffix’s explosive growth,” says Harald Fritz, Vice President, TruckMate.

“Traffix’s collaboration and partnership drive continuous improvement within the TruckMate TMS including Command Center, CRM, Agent Mobile Solution and several complimentary, 3rd party software solutions. Embedded business intelligence (BI) capabilities and KPIs provide critical data into the entire decision continuum, from Sales through

space, Traffix, with Gibraltar’s assistance,

execution to billing and the company’s

also deployed Citrix SD-WAN, a next

accounting and financials. Traffix is one

generation WAN edge platform that

of the most innovative brokerage and

provides high performance and consist-

logistics providers always challenging

ent application delivery to its branch

themselves and us to capitalize on

offices. Within the branch, Citrix SD-WAN

new opportunities.”

also consolidated expensive routing and

When it comes to scalability, the

security hardware, simplifying network

Nutanix platform holds the key to Traffix’s

management and reducing costs.

technology transformation, as it enables

In order to monitor and understand this

the company to stack and grow without

information flow it requires a comprehen-

“ripping everything out and buying a new

sive and proven multi-modal dispatch,

Storage Area Network (SAN)”. Through

operations and accounting system that

Nutanix, Citrix, Gibraltar Solutions and

truly enables efficiency and scalability.

of course TMW, Traffix can invest and

MARCH 2019

TECHNOLOGY

223

put more resources into its infrastruc-

is investing heavily in cloud solutions and

ture as the business continues its rapid

automated technology, but how does

growth with a significantly lower up-front

it ensure that this data is being stored

cost. For Trivino, it represents the value

securely and that customers can trust

both he and the company place in the

the company with sensitive information?

relationships Traffix looks to strike on

Traffix has a wide number of monitoring

its continuous growth journey. “We look

systems that look closely at system

to partner with people that want to

behavior. Should the system behavior

grow together with us. If we succeed,

seem out of turn or erratic, then it creates

the partner succeeds and so over time

an email response to the personal and

they become strategy partners with us.�

alerts them to it. Citrix also plays a key

With vast amounts of data and great-

role in the security of data, securing

er access to that data, the conversation

laptops and servers when out of use

inevitably turns towards security. Traffix

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TRAFFIX

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“WE ALWAYS LIKE TO LEVERAGE THE PEOPLE THAT HAVE BEEN WITH THE BUSINESS A LONG TIME. SOME HAVE BEEN HERE MANY YEARS, OTHERS ARE NEW. EACH AND EVERY PERSON BRINGS A LOT OF VALUE TO THE COMPANY” — Carlos Trivino, Director of IT, Traffix

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225

TRAFFIX

notes that restructuring the technology

1979

Year founded

300

Approximate number of employees

architecture of the company provided him with an opportunity to look a little closer at how Traffix could better monitor the security of its data and effectively build in a new level of threat protection.

As the company continues to explore the possibilities of technology, the very core of the business remains the same. Part of the very reason Trivino joined the company was the way it invests in its people, and while Traffix introduces more new technology, such as automation, to its operations,

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TECHNOLOGY

these people will always remain key.

“We can strategically place them some-

“We always like to leverage the people

where where we can use their years of

that have been with the business a long

experience in another area, and they

time. Some have been here many years;

can focus more on the company itself.”

others are new. Each and every person

Trivino points to an example where the

brings a lot of value to the company,” he

business would place an employee

says. “In the artificial intelligence (AI)

in a Team Lead role and support new

space, we are looking at the repetitive

people coming in, helping them get to

nature of capturing information and

grips with the technology and overall

removing the person from that and

Traffix operations. “They are teaching

moving them into a role that will bring

the new employees and helping them

a different but more important value

understand that this is how we operate,

to the business.”

this is how we do things, and basically 227

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TRAFFIX

228

“EACH PARTNER HAS DIFFERENT TYPES OF SOFTWARE THAT WE CAN LEVERAGE FROM AND SO WE WILL LOOK MORE AT GETTING THAT DATA INTO OUR SYSTEM, AND VICE VERSA, TO BE ABLE TO GIVE OUR END CUSTOMER THE INFORMATION THAT THEY NEED A LOT QUICKER” — Carlos Trivino, Director of IT, Traffix MARCH 2019

TECHNOLOGY

overseeing that department and letting go of that repetitive task that is very mundane,” he adds.

Traffix’s digital transformation journey shows no signs of slowing down. In line with the company’s growth ambitions, Traffix will continue to invest and adopt innovative technologies in order to continue to achieve rapid growth and process information. 2018 proved a pivotal year for achieving this as the company focused on investing in its network infrastructure, laying down the foundation for the company’s digital future. “What we’re focusing on now is the user facing and customer facing technology, so more software development and more integration between key partners,” says Trivino. “Each partner has different types of software that we can leverage from and so we will look more at getting that data into our system, and vice versa, to be able to give our end customer the information that they need a lot quicker.”

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FROM E-MAIL ROLLOUTS TO BIOMETRIC SCANNERS:

230

TECHNOLOGY TRANSFORMATION AT THE CALGARY DROP-IN CENTRE We talk to Helen Knight, Director of IT, and Paul Twigg of Sierra Systems/NTT DATA Services, exploring their technological transformation of the Calgary Drop-In Centre to better the lives of its staff, volunteers and the city’s homeless community WRIT TEN BY

HARRY MENE AR PRODUCED BY

ARRON R A MPLING

MARCH 2019

TECHNOLOGY

231

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CALGARY DROP-IN CENTRE

H

elen Wetherley Knight, Director of Information Technology (IT) at the Calgary Drop-In Centre (The DI), has

always been excited by computers. “My parents met through computer dating,” she mentions, “so I’m the product of that technology from the early 70’s. I started programming when I was nine and I was very interested in technology, however, in high school, I learned that ‘tech was for boys’, so I backed away for a few years. Now, I am a pretty loud advocate for keeping women engaged in technology.” Knight has worked in IT for over 20 years, spending 12 of those years at Suncor 232

Energy while also running her own consulting business, Helen Knight Consulting Inc. During that time, she was also a regular volunteer at the Calgary Drop-In Centre in the city’s downtown.

Serving over 10,000 people a year, the DI provides essential care, health services, employment training and housing support to those in need. In 2018, the DI provided Calgary’s homeless population with over 100,000 pieces of clothing, served over 400,000 meals in its dining hall, and provided 420,000 individual nights of shelter. When, in 2016, the DI began searching for a new IT Director, Knight’s volunteering record put her at the top of the list. “There was a focus on having someone with non-profit experience. I was lucky to be considered because I had been a volunteer.” She explains: “That speaks to one of MARCH 2019

TECHNOLOGY

233

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CALGARY DROP-IN CENTRE

234

the opportunities at non-profits: there’s

profits, her current and future plans to

so much emphasis placed on non-profit

use cutting-edge biometric technology

expertise, and there are so few people

to increase efficiency and security, as

that have technical backgrounds with

well as putting confidential personal

non-profit experience, that the

data back into the hands of Calgary’s

technical needs of non-profits have

homeless population. In addition, Paul

gone underserved for years.”

Twigg, VP of Technology at Sierra

With the support of the DI Board,

Systems, an NTT DATA Services

Knight is effecting a four-year complete

company, serves as the centre’s

technology transformation at the

strategic partner and plays a large

Calgary Drop-In. She was keen to

role in helping Knight implement her

discuss how her team is approaching

ambitious technology transformation.

organizational change management

“I’m lucky that I walked in with years

across one of Calgary’s largest non-

of experience and a Master’s Degree in

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CLICK TO WATCH : ‘FUELLED BY KINDNESS’ 235

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CALGARY DROP-IN CENTRE

236

IT strategy, because there was a lot of

they liked and trusted.”

low hanging fruit,” explains Knight,

Knight admits: “I had a lot to learn

acknowledging that in the non-profit

about appropriately engaging this

sector, technology is difficult to invest

compassionate, service-focused

in without donor support. When she

audience with technology.” However, the

arrived at the DI only 70 of 270 staff

first steps of her technology transfor-

had email addresses, so the first task

mation quickly yielded fruit. By

was to roll out Office365 across the

calculating the opportunity cost of

organization. She notes, “I made a mis-

wasted time due to the DI using

take by just sending out videos on how

multiple free and donated tools and

to use the new tools – it took me about

databases, Knight was able to prove a

four months to realize that I would be

return on investment of US$1.5mn per

more successful supporting this user

year, and return 20 hours per week

group in a room with a human being

per person that could be spent manag-

MARCH 2019

TECHNOLOGY

“ IT’S A LABOR OF LOVE, BECAUSE I BELIEVE THESE TOOLS WILL EFFECTIVELY IMPROVE EVERY ASPECT OF THE STAFF’S LIVES” — Helen Knight CIO/Director of Technology Calgary Drop-In and Rehab Centre

ing relationships. “We went from our volunteer and donor department using five different calendars, answering the phone full-time and carrying the burden of disparate systems, to having a push system where the donors and volunteers engage directly by registering on a website, being onboarded by a system, and signing up for the shifts that they wanted, so the staff were able to focus on relationship building,” she recounts. “There was significant change management and it was a really careful process, but it’s a labor

E XE CU T I VE PRO FI LE

Helen Wetherley Knight, MBA Fighting poverty with technology, Helen is the Director of IT for the Calgary Drop-In Centre, the most effective Homeless Shelter in Canada.

Leading an IT Transformation that will deliver annual savings of $1.5 Million USD, Helen is driving meaningful change for vulnerable Calgarians. Helen is also a passionate advocate for increasing gender diversity in IT, serves on two non-profit boards and was a Canadian CIO of the year finalist for 2018.

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237

Rooted in Community

We are proud to support The Calgary Drop-In Centre with innovative technology solutions that help make a positive emotional impact in the community, and in people’s lives.

sierrasystems.com

of love,” Knight insists, “because I

thing to do,” she reflects. “I fully accept

believe that all of these tools will

that my skill-set ends at the technology,

effectively improve the staff’s lives.”

and that the front-line workers are the

Knight stresses that the essence of her technological transformation at the

experts in client care” Twigg, who has been working along-

Drop-In is the empowerment of its staff

side Knight and her team to bring

and volunteers. “I’m not here to replace

Sierra Systems’ expertise to bear on

anybody,” she insists. “I’m here to take

the challenges of technological trans-

away busy work and pain. I think tech-

formation at the Drop-In, agrees. “It’s

nologists get into a lot of trouble when

not about cool tech. It’s about giving

they feel so confident that they reach

a person experiencing homelessness

past their level of expertise and start

a bed, a sandwich, a laundry service

making policy decisions, or feel that

and everything else that comes with it,”

just because they can prove something

he emphasizes. “All non-profits require

with data, that it’s the right and humane

technology. They just haven’t been

SECTOR

“ IT’S NOT ABOUT COOL TECH. IT’S ABOUT GIVING A HOMELESS PERSON A BED, A SANDWICH, A LAUNDRY SERVICE AND EVERYTHING ELSE THAT COMES WITH IT” — Paul Twigg VP of Technology Sierra Systems/NTT DATA Services

able to invest in it because the charity funding model makes it difficult to put money into technology even though it will save money down the line.”: Sierra Systems, an NTT DATA Services company, specializes in IT consulting in order to provide its clients with innovative, forward-thinking solutions.

The process of choosing a strategic partner was fairly unconventional. “We spent six months figuring out what the exact problems were that we wanted to solve instead of running to a bunch 239

E XE CU T I VE PRO FI LE

Paul Twigg Paul Twigg is the National VP of Technology for Sierra Systems an NTT DATA Services Company. He is an award winning IT business leader with executive and hands-on experience in delivering leading edge cloud, data and innovation services. He is a recognized speaker and thought leader in the technology field driving innovation and digital transformation ideas.

Paul is security cleared (Canadian Secret Level) and has vast experience creating technology strategy to develop creative and innovative data centric services tailored towards increasing efficiencies and reducing costs within an organization. He is a motivational leader who enjoys building successful and productive teams.

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CALGARY DROP-IN CENTRE

of vendors and doing multiple demonstrations,” Knight explains. “It’s the opposite of how teams engage vendors normally.” This approach helped Knight choose a company that would offer a complete service. “We were really looking at solving the entire problem,” she says. “The finance, the HR, the IT, the client relationship, the client service; the entire problem, instead of discrete solutions.” This is where Sierra Systems, a company already involved in donating and 240

volunteering at the DI, came into play.

After identifying Microsoft Dynamics as a customer relationship management system that could cater to the Drop-In’s needs, Knight considered two companies. “One brought me standard pricing, and Sierra, with evidence of being donors and volunteers, brought me their proposal at half price,” says Knight. “I knew they were in it with us. Sierra had the imagination that we needed.”

Since then, the relationship has evolved from client-vendor to much more. In addition to back office initiatives to improve efficiency and foster digital engagement within the DI’s staff, Twigg MARCH 2019

TECHNOLOGY

1.2mn Meals served in total

100,000+ Items of clothing distributed

420,000+ Individual nights of shelter provided

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CALGARY DROP-IN CENTRE

and his team have worked with Knight to bring one of their more cutting-edge initiatives towards maturity. For 10 years, the Calgary Drop-In has used fingerprint scanners in order to identify and admit its clients. “It took anywhere from about seven to 30 seconds to let an individual in,” says Twigg. “Considering that, since 2 February, it’s been about -30ºF every day here in Calgary, when you’ve got several hundred

“ GLOBALLY, ONE BILLION PEOPLE ARE WITHOUT ID, INCLUDING PEOPLE WHO NEED EMERGENCY SERVICES” — Helen Knight, CIO/Director of Technology Calgary Drop-in & Rehab Centre

people coming and going every day, upgrading the intake systems will make 242

entering the facility much more efficient.”

To solve this problem, Knight is turning

unique needs.” At the heart of the new

to more modern forms of biometric

biometric identification system the DI is

technology with higher accuracy rates,

trialing is the desire to not only improve

reducing admission times to around

the quality of patient care, but also to

three seconds.

“put the client in charge of their data”.

In addition, the nature of the DI’s

“There are 43 conflicting legislations

work requires it to keep client records.

and ethical agreements governing

“One billion people in the world don’t

client data,” Knight explains. “I’m

have ID, including people who need

a co-chair of a collaborative work group

emergency services, are victims of

trying to improve communication

crime, have been evicted, are human

between homeless-serving agencies

trafficking victims - maybe they’re

in the City of Calgary, and when we

using drugs or have mental health

tried to create a decision guide to

issues. Regardless of the client’s

navigate them, there was no way to

history, we need to know who they are

figure it out; they all conflict and there’s

so we can ensure we are meeting their

no way to prioritize the disparate

MARCH 2019

TECHNOLOGY

243 agreements.” By putting the decision

a solution. “We are designing an arch-

to share personal data back into the

itecture that implements blockchain to

hands of Calgary’s homeless popula-

allow a client’s health information to

tion, Twigg and Knight believe that

remain encrypted and afford the client

agencies serving vulnerable people

the ability to share that information as

across the city can improve communi-

they move between agencies, or

cation and build a shared database to

decide what can and can’t be shared.”

better serve their community.

In addition, the biometric data record-

Ensuring the potential for privacy

ed by the DI’s new systems, Knight

and control remains in the hands of the

explains, is anonymous by design.

client, however, is a top priority for the

Another place where Knight wants to

venture. “There’s a lot of personal

deploy biometrics down the line is in

identifiable information that can’t be

the way clients at the shelter supply

shared between agencies,” says Twigg,

personal information, as well as book

whose team has been collaborating

medical and other appointments. “I’m

with Knight and the working group on

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CALGARY DROP-IN CENTRE

“THE CLIENT OWNS THE KEY, AND THE DATA IS ANONYMOUS WITHOUT THEM BEING THERE” 244

— Helen Knight CIO/Director of Technology Calgary Drop-in and Rehab Centre

a system than a person,” she admits.

“On 3 January, we put a client selfserve kiosk in the dining hall of the Calgary Drop-In Centre. The feedback from the clients has been very positive.

Wedesigned this kiosk with our wood shop, where our clients learn woodworking skills, added a touchscreen monitor, and a donated PC. We built it so that you could use a wheelchair or a chair, so we didn’t have to move the screens around to account for height differences. All it does right now is two things: it plays a video on data sharing, why we want your data, and that it is safe and secure; and it presents a form where you can tell us what your barriers are to finding housing.”

The form asks questions used to identify the client’s barriers to housing: “For example, are you comfortable talking to a landlord?” says Knight.

“Some people can be afraid of authority and may not be comfortable speaking to a landlord. If we identify that is a barrier, we’ll go with them.” Knight notes that a client’s mistrust for human authority may result in a reluctance to reveal the information that would result in them receiving help – but the kiosk

MARCH 2019

TECHNOLOGY

CLICK TO WATCH : ‘ROOTED IN COMMUNITY, SUPPORTED IN THE CLOUD - CALGARY DROP-IN CENTER AND SIERRA SYSTEMS’ 245

has built in anonymity and lacks a human

biometrics in the kiosks, so clients can

element. “Through a touchscreen com-

choose to opt in and receive personal-

puter, we’re reaching a vulnerable

ized services: book things like laundry

clientele and are serving them in a new

and medical appointments, find out

way,” she says. Knight has now ordered

when they’re meeting a landlord - they

two more kiosks based on this success.

would have a portal to their lives.”

“We are fulfilling an unmet need for some

Clients would also be able to opt out of

clients and finding new ways to build

the biometric customization. “We put in

relationships,” she adds.

this fabric flap,” she says, “so clients

Knight and Sierra Systems’ plan to

know for a fact that they’re not being

use biometric identification in the DI

recorded, and still have access to

also extends to the kiosks. “Once we

helpful information, opening hours,

finish a comprehensive privacy impact

times and maps.”

assessment,” Knight says, “we can put

Knight’s plans for the DI are extenw w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

CALGARY DROP-IN CENTRE

I N F O R M AT I O N

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The Calgary Drop-In Centre (the DI) is more than an emergency shelter. They provide essential care as well as health services, employment training, and housing supports to people who need help. Their programs and services connect people to permanent housing that meets their individual needs. To donate to support this project please visit calgarydropin.ca/tech

sive and ambitious, but she and Twigg are eager, excited and optimistic.

Knight is working with the University of Calgary and the University of Taiwan to test biometrics with the potential to detect sepsis and necrotic wounds, as well as planning on using the proposed transformation of the DI’s HR system, in conjunction with weather and environmental data, to predict workload.

“Helen’s a fantastic advocate, not just for the Calgary Drop-In Centre, but for the homeless community across MARCH 2019

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247

Canada,” says Twigg. “It would be our

over other agencies in Canada. “Non-

dream if Helen was at the Calgary DI

profit, especially the homeless-serving

for the next 10 years, because we

sector, is ripe for disruption, transfor-

believe we could solve amazing

mation and return-on-investment,” she

problems together. She understands

says. “I see nothing but opportunity.”

how to solve big problems, and we believe we can match those ideas with the technology and the thought leaders that we have at Sierra Systems and NTT DATA Services.” Knight makes it clear that the technology transformation she’s bringing to the DI isn’t about giving the DI ‘competitive advantage’ w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

TM

INSURANCE LIMITED

248

TECHNOLOGY

Rewriting the rule book for Canada’s insurance brokers WRIT TEN BY

L AUR A MULL AN PRODUCED BY

GLEN WHITE

249

PBL INSURANCE LIMITED

Delivering one-to-one insurance services with cutting-edge technologies, PBL Insurance is reshaping the way Canadian insurance brokers do business

D

igitization is shaking up industries across the globe and it seems the insurance sector is no exception.

For PBL Insurance, which has provided risk and insurance services to Canadians for almost a century, there was no doubt that digitization would be a central pillar of 250

its strategic plan. The firm’s Director of Technology, Joey Faraone, says that by undertaking a root-and-branch digital transformation and overhauling its legacy systems, PBL Insurance is “re-writing the way insurance companies do business in Canada”.

“I would say that technology is playing a very big role in driving PBL’s transformation,” he explains. “We went from having some very old technology pieces running our network to understanding that now is the time to invest and prepare the company for the next 20 years of the technology curve.”

Previously, Faraone says that PBL Insurance didn’t have a focused internal MARCH 2019

TECHNOLOGY

251

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TECHNOLOGY

technology direction and so the Canadian firm decided to bring its digital strategy in-house. “The company wanted to get a better grasp on today’s technology and look at where technology will take the insurance industry in the future,” he says. “I was brought in to lead the development and management of new technologies and ensure that they align with the company’s business strategy.”

Becoming a digital broker is no easy feat, but this transformation was firmly at the top of PBL’s agenda. Starting from the ground

253

up, the Ontario-based company set up brand new back-end infrastructure, including new fiber circuits, routers and E X E C U T I V E P R OF IL E

Joey Faraone is a dedicated, dynamic and enthusiastic certified IT professional who specializes in project managing innovative data solutions to improve system stability, functionality and efficiency.

Faraone is quick to familiarize himself with the latest technologies and industry developments while demonstrating a logical and analytical approach to solving complex problems and issues.

Faraone is the Director of Technology at PBL Insurance where he possesses excellent interpersonal and communication skills and the ability to develop and maintain positive internal and external relationships.

w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

PBL INSURANCE LIMITED

254

switches. “We’re wiping the slate clean

software. In using a cloud-based,

and redesigning everything. We’re rolling

analytics-driven system, Faraone says

out new technologies to help us minimize

it’s reducing administrative burdens

the equipment footprint but not sacrifice

while simultaneously enhancing the

the service to our clients,” says Faraone.

visibility of its operations.

One of the company’s most cogent

“We are the first Canadian company

uses of technological innovation has

to move to the TechCanary platform,”

been how it has selected a new cutting-

notes Faraone. “You could say there’s

edge broker management system. By

a lot of eyes on us to see how the

adopting TechCanary, a solution based

solution is being rolled out in the

on Salesforce’s platform, PBL Insurance

Canadian market.” With such a wide

is breaking away from the confines

range of clientele and data, Faraone

of traditional insurance technology

believes that the platform will help

MARCH 2019

TECHNOLOGY

“ We have a one-on-one direct relationship with our clients. Our brokers, our account executives and our staff treat our clients and customers as one of their own” — Joey Faraone, Director of Technology

255

the company meet its customers’ needs

data optimization and analytics while

and see what else it can do for them as

leveraging a breakthrough in routing

an organization. “It means that we don’t

efficiencies, enhancing performance

have a one-way path for our clients, we

and reliability with the flexibility and

can have a four-lane highway,” he notes.

affordability of a cloud service.

Shifting away from costly, hardware-

“With our new network being rolled

defined private networking solutions,

out, we’ve also put a lot of new con-

PBL Insurance has also implanted

tracts in place and we’ve implemented

a new software-defined wide-area

a new managed service provider (MSP),”

network (SD-WAN). This gives PBL

Faraone says. “This is helping us roll

the ability to leverage efficiencies and

out our network and enhance our user

create a more reliable network. It also

experience internally. The experience

gives the broker the option to use

that our internal staff has been used to w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

PBL INSURANCE LIMITED

versus where they are today has been

know where all of our data is and that

a complete 180-degree turnaround.”

it’s accessible to us at a drop of a hat.

Cloud technology has been a major

“It’s promoting efficiency and produc-

trend in the insurance industry. Aside

tivity, but it will also change the customer

from its ability to lower costs and boost

experience,” he continues. “By using

productivity through mobile working,

cloud technologies like TechCanary,

it also offers a business continuity plan

our customer will be able to get faster

and security. Not one to stay in the

quotes and faster service while we tie

shadows, PBL Insurance is embrac-

everything together.”

ing cloud technology through its new

256

With cutting-edge technologies being

broker management system and

rolled out every day, technology partner-

colocation site.

ships have become critical to any digital

“We are moving towards the cloud

transformation. Faraone believes that

more and more every day,” Faraone

the company’s alliance with technology

says. “There’s no downtime and there’s

innovators like MicroAge is helping to

no lag, so efficiency is huge with this roll out. It’s ensuring that slow technology isn’t being used as a scapegoat.

Our new broker management system also uses cloud technology which means our Account Executives can log into our system from anywhere and do business right on the spot.

“We also have a very good system where we back up everything on our network nightly and then we move it to a colocation site which has its own back-up there. Then we move it to the cloud,” he continues. “It may sound like there’s a back-up of a back-up, but it’s very important to make sure that we MARCH 2019

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257

“ We are the first Canadian company to move to a TechCanary platform.

You could say there’s a lot of eyes on us to see how TechCanary is being rolled out in the Canadian market” — Joey Faraone, Director of Technology

w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

PBL INSURANCE LIMITED

drive new ways of thinking. “MicroAge is a global company which provides insights with network engineers,” Faraone explains. “We collaborate to work on developing and understanding the latest technologies to see how we can implement them here at PBL Insurance. We have continuous improvement sessions on how we can cut a little here, add a little there. This ensures that we run in a very lean but efficient way.”

Behind any successful transformation is the right team and a culture that fosters innovation. With this in mind, 258

PBL Insurance strives to engage staff by asking for opinions on the direction they’d like to see the company go.

“When we decided to change broker management systems there were a lot of discussions, not just at the top but among all users about who is going be impacted by it. It’s changing the complete way our staff do work on a day-to-day basis,” comments Faraone. “The system was received very well. I think the fact that we are evolving our technology and our way of doing business is helping to attract top talent to the company because they want to be part of this journey.”

MARCH 2019

TECHNOLOGY

CLICK TO WATCH : ‘TECHCANARY OVERVIEW’ 259 With over 200 employees and 10 offices spread throughout the province, PBL prides itself on being uniquely Ontario based. Driving efficiency and productivity with its new digital tools, Faraone says that this transformation is not just reducing costs and administrative burden, it’s also freeing up more time so that it can give its clients the personable and responsive service they expect.

“We have a one-on-one direct relationship with our clients,” notes Faraone. “I think that’s where we differ from other brokers. With 10 strategic w w w.busi ne ssc hief. com

PBL INSURANCE LIMITED

260

“ We’re wiping the slate clean and redesigning everything.We’re rolling out new technologies to enable us to minimize the equipment but not sacrifice the service to our clients” — Joey Faraone, Director of Technology

MARCH 2019

TECHNOLOGY

office locations throughout the province, we have the ability to service our clients locally, and we take pride in servicing communities big and small in Ontario. Our brokers, our Account Executives and our staff treat our clients and customers as if they are one of their own.”

Technology and customer service go hand in hand at PBL Insurance, and as the industry shifts under the influence of the technological revolution it seems the company is ready for any dynamic changes that may come its way.

“In five or 10 years, I expect PBL Insurance will be the top broker in Ontario, building partnerships yearly with other brokerages in the industry,” predicts Faraone. “I believe we will be a leader in innovation and that we will be an example to other brokerages on how they can leverage the latest technology to their advantage. It’s not always about spending the most money and getting the latest and greatest, it’s about understanding and fine-tuning technology to your company’s needs.”

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