April 2019
Tech for Good
Women in STEM
Age UK’s Chief Digital and Technology Officer, Lara Burns, says going digital improves services
Morgan Stanley’s Hilary Strong hasn’t let her gender hold her back!
Florin-Leonard Boldescu
Chief Digital Officer at BRD – Groupe Société Générale on accelerating business digitalisation
3rd & 4th of April 2019 LUXEXPO − THE BOX | LUXEMBOURG
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Presenting celebrity judges as featured on
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ur April edition of Digital Innovation Magazine is the perfect combination of engaging tech features and must-read interviews from a host of industry insiders – not least, our feature on Florin-Leonard Boldescu, Chief Digital Officer at BRD – Groupe Société Générale (p42). It was a pleasure for me to interview Florin and learn more about his take on digital transformation... Apparently, it’s just one small piece of the bigger business-wide business transformation puzzle! Plus, this issue, we celebrate our female tech leaders, with interviews courtesy of Hilary Strong, Confirmations, Client Statements and Correspondence Global Technology Lead at Morgan Stanley (p22), and Lara Burns, Chief Digital and Technology Officer at Age UK (p80). Both women have excelled in a male-dominated industry, so what’s their secret to success? With these ladies as role models, surely more and more young girls will be pushing to pursue a career in STEM? What’s more, we present the winners of the FDM everywoman in Tech awards (p6)… Congratulations ladies! And as if that’s not enough to keep you entertained, we bring you our reports on Dublin’s role as Europe’s largest data hosting cluster (p14), news that UK investment in AI from venture capital firms has reached record levels (p32), and the 3D printing project that sees plastic waste being recycled into quirky outdoor furniture (p62). Enjoy the issue!
Editor Anna McMahon
Managing Director Danielle Harris
editorial@digitalinnovationeu.com
d.harris@digitalinnovationeu.com
Senior Digital Designer Daniel May
Managing Director Tom Barnes
design@digitalinnovationeu.com
t.barnes@digitalinnovationeu.com
+44 (0) 203 890 1189 enquiries@digitalinnovationeu.com All rights reserved. Every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of material published in Digital Innovation Magazine. However, the company cannot accept responsibility for the claims made by advertisers or contributors, or inaccurate material supplied by advertisers. Digital Innovation is a trading name of HBL Europe Ltd. Company Registration Number: 10933897. Company Registered in England and Wales
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BRD’s Chief Digital Of digital transforma
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Dublin is Europe’s largest data hosting cluster CDTO Lara Burns of Age UK on using tech to improve services
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Congratulating the everywoman in Tech award winners
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Meet Morgan Stanley’s Hilary Strong 4
fficer on ation UK investment in AI from venture capital firms reaches new high
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3D printing project recycling plastic waste into furniture
IT and digital leaders supporting Energise Resources
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Cloud Gateway is April’s start-up of the month 5
AWA R D W I N N E R S
The winners of this year’s FDM everywoman in Tech Awards, an event that showcases women in the technology industry, have been announced.
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SPONSORED BY PROFESSIONAL SERVICES PROVIDER, FDM, AND RUN IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE TECH SHE CAN CHARTER, THE ANNUAL EVERYWOMAN IN TECH AWARDS AIM TO RAISE AWARENESS OF THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF WOMEN IN SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, ENGINEERING AND MATHEMATICS (STEM).
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sectors and from all walks of life. Their phenomenal achievements within the technology industry make us proud to announce them as everywoman ambassadors.”
Co-founder of everywoman, Maxine Benson, said, “This year showcased yet another selection of talented individuals from all around the world, across different
Sheila Flavell, Group Chief Operating Officer of FDM Group, added, “It’s fantastic to be part of an event that focuses on promoting and celebrating the incredible achievements of women in technology. This is an important platform to recognise and inspire gender diversity within such a dynamic and fast-growing sector.”
ith a lack of industry role models cited as one of the reasons why young girls do not choose careers in technology, many believe it is becoming increasingly important to give women in tech a platform by which to make themselves more visible and accessible.
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CONGRATULATIONS
TO THE FDM EVERYWOMAN IN TECH 2019 AWARD WINNERS WOMAN OF THE YEAR AWARD Felicia Meyerowitz Singh, CEO, Akoni
equality. Her passion for helping small businesses thrive and succeed is what made her truly stand out to the judging panel. ACADEMIC AWARD Dr Apala Majumdar, Reader in Applied Mathematics at the University of Bath, OCIAM
On setting up her own finance business in India, Felicia identified a lack of resources available to SMEs and that banks didn’t offer decent interest rates to small businesses. This inspired Akoni, a digital cash management tool, specifically for smaller businesses, investors and charities. Felicia is dedicated to gender diversity in finance and technology, which is why she founded a ‘Female Founder’ group, offering mentorship to young female entrepreneurs, and dedicates her time to promoting gender
Dr Apala was promoted to ‘Readership’ in 2013, a permanent position with research, teaching and leadership responsibilities. She specialises in Liquid Crystals and has published over 40 papers to date. Apala inspires female researchers globally through mentorship and femaleempowerment events. 9
THE ONE TO WATCH AWARD Leslie Sarango Romero, Student, Harris Academy Bermondsey Leslie created a virtual reality game called Eduscape that can be downloaded as an app, and helps teens develop their interest in mathematics.
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THE APPRENTICE AWARD Tiffany Cooksley, Software Engineer, CGI
SOFTWARE ENGINEER AWARD Pae Natwilai, CEO and Founder of Trik
Tiffany played a significant role in ensuring one of the highest client satisfaction scores of 9.8/10 at CGI and has been promoted three career grades in just four years.
Pae designed software to help engineers inspect large structures using drones, by turning photos into 3D models. Throughout her career, Pae has also become a vocal advocate for programmes that support women in tech.
RISING STAR AWARD Mahek Vara, Founder and CEO of Code Camp
DIGITAL STAR AWARD Esther Kieft, Former Product Owner at Lloyds Banking Group
Mahek founded the charity when she was just 16 years old and studying for A-Levels. Code Camp provides children from all walks of life with the opportunity to learn how to code. Now 18, she has already helped teach more than 70,000 children in India, alone, how to code.
Esther completed the graduate scheme as a top performer after having delivered impressive strategic digital initiatives. She is now responsible for designing the mobile and tablet banking experience for over 10 million mobile users.
ENTREPRENEUR AWARD Joanne Smith, CEO and Founder of Recordsure Joanne left the comfort of an international corporate job and, despite having little technology expertise, founded Recordsure. The business now helps institutions collect and review the thousands of customer conversations that take place daily, to increase customer care and transparency.
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INNOVATOR AWARD Maureen Biney, Software Engineer at American Express Maureen is inspiring the next generation of female developers. She supports coding clubs at schools, and the CODE GIRLS programme in West Sussex. Maureen helped improve healthcare in Ghana by developing a system which stores life-saving patient information and is now implemented at four hospitals.
TEAM LEADER AWARD Sally Bogg, Head of Service Management at Leeds Beckett University Sally left school at the age of 17, before returning to education as a mature student at the age of 25, with three young children. As the first of her family to attend university, she inspired her children and husband into further education. She now leads the university’s Unified Service Delivery Model, which delivers support services to 2,900 staff members and 28,000 students, as well as
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leading the Student Women in Leadership initiative.
LEADER AWARD Amy Chalfen, Global Service & Delivery Director at Experian
MALE AGENT OF CHANGE AWARD Jim Bichard, Partner, UK Insurance Leader at PwC UK
Amy leads a team that ensures successful software implementation for the world’s largest financial institutions, insurance providers, and telecom companies. Since joining, Amy has helped the Decision Analytics sector of the business achieve 12 per cent growth and $700million in global revenues.
Jim introduced key diversity initiatives to empower colleagues, including the ‘Back to Business’ programme for returning mothers and the Women in Technology initiative. He also leads mentoring programmes aimed at helping high-potential female talent progress into senior roles.
INTERNATIONAL INSPIRATION AWARD Mujde Esin, Founder and Director of KizCode KizCode is a social enterprise which empowers young women in underprivileged communities through education, technology and coding workshops. Since the platform was established in 2016, it has taught coding and technical skills to over 5,000 girls and young women.
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D ATA C E N T R E S
The Irish capital has largest data ho
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s become Europe’s osting cluster.
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Dublin houses Europe’s largest d cluster, surpassing London with cent of the European market, acc a new report, and the capacity of centres is expected to double in four to five years.
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he report by Host In Ireland, a strategic global initiative created to increase awareness of the benefits of hosting digital assets in Dublin, and Bitpower, a digital information provider, shows that there were 53 data centres in operation at the end of last year. More than 1billion euros was spent on data centres in Ireland in 2018, and a further spend of some 1.3billion euros is anticipated this year. Ireland has become an increasingly popular location for the data centres of global technology firms, with Facebook opening a facility in Clonee, Microsoft ramping up construction in Grange Castle, and
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Amazon Web Services building in Clonshaugh and Tallaght. The fresh air required for cooling is said to be one of the reasons these companies choose to set up data centres in Ireland, bringing cloud services to European users. According to the report, 16 data centres became operational over the course of last year, with a further 28 in development, which is the highest level of activity the country has seen. The 53 data centres noted in the report typically have a minimum of 5,000 servers and are at least 10,000 square feet in size (although they are often much bigger), accounting for 72 per cent of the market.
data hosting h 25 per cording to f Irish data the next
Opening a facility in Clonee
Ramping up construction in Grange Castle
Building in Clonshaugh and Tallaght
Embarking on a â‚Ź150m expansion in Dublin
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16 data centres beca the course of last y 28 in deve
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ame operational over year, with a further elopment
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Google embarked on a 150million euro expansion project to their existing premises
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At the end of 2018, there were around three million square feet of data centre space in the Dublin Metro area, which is expected to increase to six million square feet, with a spend of around 4billion euros over the coming four-year period. Garry Connolly, President and Founder of Host In Ireland, said, “We expect 2019 to bring continued growth as Ireland continues to build its reputation.” Figures from the IDA show that the hosting industry had created about 2,800 jobs in Ireland as of May 2018, a figure that will continue to rise. Grange Castle Business Park and Profile Park in south-west Dublin are two of the city’s data centre hubs. At the end of last year, it was announced that global data centre business CyrusOne was granted planning permission to
build a 400million euro data centre at Grange Castle, while Google embarked on a 150million euro expansion project to their existing premises. The CyrusOne data centre is planned to extend over 349,000 feet and will be separated into two adjoining blocks. The project could involve up to 250 building personnel during an eight-month construction period. News of CyrusOne’s plans also coincides with Colt Technology Services’ strategy to expand its Dublin fibre footprint by 150km to an overall footprint of 300km of fibre capable 100Gbps bandwidth. As data centres in Dublin soar, more and more global technology firms are looking to acquire or expand existing sites to meet their requirements, as Dublin’s future looks secure as the data centre capital of Europe. 21
B U S I N E S S I N T E RV I E W
A Man’s World? Hilary Strong, Confirmations, Client Statements and Correspondence Global Technology Lead at Morgan Stanley, talks guest speaking, award ceremonies and women in STEM.
Written by Anna McMahon • Produced by Danielle Harris 22
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Q. Can you discuss your role at Morgan Stanley?
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I manage a technology team at Morgan Stanley responsible for the automated creation of trade contracts, monthly statements and correspondence letters. It is a broad role providing crossasset services for the Institutional Securities Group and Wealth Management globally. I’m responsible for ensuring we meet our regulatory obligations and our client service targets. To support these goals, my team is taking on Agile DevOps working practices to better partner with our business and remain motivated and productive.
Q. What do you enjoy most about your job? A. I have always enjoyed solving business problems with technical solutions. I like being part of a multi-disciplinary team, understanding the big picture of what is required and considering
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both tactical and strategic options to support the business. My team is creative and I give them the autonomy to build the best solution. Seeing my team and other mentees succeed and grow in confidence to take on wider responsibilities is one of the most rewarding parts of my job. Last year, I contributed to the organisation of an internal ‘Women In Technology’ conference in London aimed at
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“There’s a c whether w advanceme be noticed 26
senior women in technology. Walking into an animated auditorium and seeing many new connections being made was gratifying and enjoyable.
Q. You work in a male-dominated industry. Has the industry changed in recent years? A. When I studied Computer Science in the 80s, the class was pretty evenly split between men and women. My first manager was a woman and, at my second job in a larger company, the local head of IT was female, so I had no preconceived notions that it was a man’s world. As computers were introduced at school, it became less attractive to young women. My daughters found ICT and Computer Science deadly boring at school – and it was; I saw their projects and homework. I think every subject should have an IT element, instead of teaching it in the abstract, in isolation. Code clubs are a lot of fun and less gender-biased, so
I see a new generation coming into technology through play and opening their eyes to possibilities.
Q. Are there more women in C-level technology roles? A. Yes, and we have seen significant growth in the number of women in senior roles within the firm. They have benefited from greater flexible working arrangements and improved connectivity tools that make it easier for women to continue to work during child-rearing years. Morgan Stanley’s ‘Return to Work’ programme has been running for six years now, and it has been great to see women restart their careers in a supportive environment. It is now just as common for a father, as for a mother, to ask to start later, leave earlier, or work from home. We are seeing a generation of ‘parents’ rising up the ranks. The pipeline of summer interns and graduate trainees is much more genderbalanced now. With continued
common belief that too few women – working in STEM or not – lobby for career ent or that their achievements only will with the help of personal marketing” 27
support from management and internal networking groups, I am very hopeful for the future.
Q. What advice would you give to girls looking to work in the technology sector? A. Look beyond the typical geeky stereotypes. Today’s successful technologists are team players, who collaborate with their business and other technical teams on a daily basis. If you get satisfaction from solving problems and like learning new things all the time, then this is a great career. It also fits in with life outside work, offering support for flexible working, such as working remotely or part-time hours.
Q. Do you do guest speaking? What are your go-to topics for discussion? A. I regularly speak at new hire orientation days, ‘Return to Work’ events and local schools. Usually, I talk about how to manage worklife balance, career opportunities, and why I like my job and why it is a great job for women.
Q. Are females represented at award ceremonies? A. Yes, and more so as more women take up roles in technology and their achievements are recognised. But, it’s worth noting that noone wins an award without 28
being nominated. That means teams around high performers are important in recognising their achievements and writing nominations for them when awards bodies seek candidates.
Q. What kind of problems are women in STEM facing? A. There’s a common belief that too few women – whether working in STEM or not – lobby for career advancement or that their achievements only will be noticed with the help of personal marketing. The result, too often, is women being passed over for promotion. Through a career management process, Morgan Stanley ensures that promotion criteria are widely shared and understood, and that an employee’s career goals are discussed regularly with managers. This is a shared responsibility. It’s not defined by gender, but supports progression for all staff. Morgan Stanley takes a proactive approach to inspiring the future generation to pursue STEM careers. We run a yearly programme called ‘Tech Step In, Step Up’ where we invite year 12/13 female students to our London and Glasgow offices for an insight into technology at Morgan Stanley. The insight day is designed to introduce the different technology programmes that Morgan Stanley offers, as well as giving participants the opportunity to partake in interactive
“Look beyond the typical geeky stereotypes. Today’s successful technologists are team players, who collaborate with their business and other technical teams on a daily basis” 29
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“I’m proud to say that since partnering with key schools, our volunteers have helped to improve exam resultS” challenges, panel sessions and career workshops. We also have school volunteer programmes for both primary and secondary school students in London. At primary schools, the volunteers run code clubs to engage younger children in technology and teach practical skills early on. We also run a programme in partnership with secondary schools in Tower Hamlets to help teach Computer Science students who are studying for their GCSE or A-Levels. I’m proud to say that since partnering with key schools, our volunteers have helped to improve exam results. Students also benefit from being invited to visit the Morgan Stanley offices and from learning more about the careers of the volunteers who are helping them to study.
Q. Does the industry continue to offer exciting workplace opportunities? A. Yes, for sure. We are getting better at delivering change
that businesses need using better partnership and collaboration. Still, improvements in the workplace need to catch up with the advances we’ve seen in home-technology user interfaces, where our devices are ready to answer questions and follow commands. We’re seeing users asking for better interfaces, including voicecontrolled ones, as well as better access to metrics data and deep-dive query tools. Automating mundane tasks is just the first phase for artificial intelligence and machine learning. It will only get more interesting for current technologists and the next generation of graduates. For me, it is continuing to solve business problems with technical solutions. For further information on Morgan Stanley, visit www.morganstanley.com 31
A RT I F I C I A L I N T E L L I G E N C E
UK investment in AI from venture capital firms reached a record $1.3billion last year, almost as much as the rest of Europe combined.
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The UK is splashing the cash on AI start-ups, so much so that investment is nearly totalling the figure invested by all of the rest of Europe.
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enture capital firms invested $1.3billion in 2018 in UK-based AI companies, according to market intelligence provider, Dealroom. In comparison, French AI companies raised £307million last year and Germany raised just £230million, while Israel was second place behind the UK with around £600million. Venture capital investment in UK AI has leapt almost six-fold in the last four years. There has been an upwards trend since 2014, when investment was just £153million. But, according to Dealroom’s figures, the biggest surge in interest in AI came between 2016 and 2017, when venture capital funding for UK companies almost doubled from £500million to over £900million. Dealroom recorded 82 venture capital fundraisings across UK
companies last year, compared with 70 the previous year. One of the biggest fundings was Bristolbased start-up, Graphcore, which raised £153million from a consortium of investors. Other UK AI companies that raised funds last year include Renalytix AI, a developer of AI for kidney disease, which raised over £22million through an AIM flotation; and healthtech company, Medopad (£20million). Investments in AI have been across all sectors, but fintech and healthtech have seen particularly strong growth. The UK counts at least five AI unicorns among the total number of private tech companies with a valuation of $1billion (£767million). These are Darktrace (£1.3billion valuation), Benevolent AI (£2.1billion), Improbable (£1.6billion), Graphcore 35
(£1.3billion), and Blue Prism (£997million).
portion of £13million in government investment.
And investment will continue to flow, as Business Secretary Greg Clark and Digital Secretary Jeremy Wright announced a nationwide programme of industry-funded AI postgraduate courses, as well as 16 new centres to ensure the UK leads the global revolution in AI. The move aims to drive up skills in the AI sector, with course places funded by businesses such as Google’s “We are determined to make the UK Deepmind, BAE Systems and Cisco. the best place to start and grow a A £100 million investment will support digital business, and through our these PhD students in using AI to modern Industrial Strategy, we are improve healthcare, tackle climate using the power of technology to change people’s lives for the better.” change, and create new commercial opportunities. Over 300 partners are involved including AstraZeneca, AI is growing at a faster rate than Google, Rolls-Royce, and NHS trusts. investment in tech more broadly, The private companies are investing and up to 40 UK AI and data a total of £78 million in cash or analysis projects have received a Digital Secretary, Jeremy Wright, said, “These statistics are further confirmation that the UK is Europe’s undisputed number one tech hub. Our success in artificial intelligence is thanks to a unique combination of talent, location, our businessfriendly environment, unrivalled access to capital, and world-leading universities.
“Artificial intelligence has great drive up productivity and enhanc throughout our economy, from m disease diagnosis to building sma Business Secretary, Greg Clark 36
t potential to ce every industry more effective art homes� 37
“THE UK IS NOT ONLY FATHER OF ARTIFICIAL BUT WE ARE LEADING AI INNOVATION HAS ET
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THE BIRTHPLACE TO THE L INTELLIGENCE, ALAN TURING, G THE WAY ON WORK TO ENSURE THICS AT ITS CORE” Digital Secretary, Jeremy Wright
in-kind contributions, while the universities are committing a further £23 million. This brings up the investment to over £200 million. Greg Clark said, “The UK has long been a nation of innovators and today’s package of AI skills and talent investment will help nurture leading UK and international talent to ensure we retain our worldbeating reputation in research and development. “Artificial intelligence has great potential to drive up productivity and enhance every industry throughout our economy, from more effective disease diagnosis to building smart homes.” The government will also fund a series of AI research fellowships at the Alan Turing Institute. Jeremy
Wright added, “The UK is not only the birthplace to the father of artificial intelligence, Alan Turing, but we are leading the way on work to ensure AI innovation has ethics at its core. We want to keep up this momentum and cement our reputation as pioneers in AI. Working with world class academic institutions and industry, we will be able to train the next generation of top-tier AI talent and maintain the UK’s reputation as a trailblazer in emerging technologies.” Tech Nation Chief Executive, Gerard Grech, said the figures prove the UK has “the strongest AI investment market in Europe”. The data follows similar achievements in the UK fintech scene, which hit a record $3.3billion in funding last year. 39
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“The Digital Innovation team are incredibly professional and it was my pleasure to be part of the August 2018 edition. At each stage, Danielle and her team were highly prepared and very thorough. I was impressed with the level of diligence and attention to detail that they paid throughout the whole process. It was good to work with a team who had an extremely high level of contextual expertise in the industry in terms of breadth and depth, and they had clearly done their research properly. I wish them every success and it was a real career high to be involved with the project, and I’d like to thank the Digital Innovation team for everything they have done for me” – Jen Stirrup, Director – Data Relish
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B U S I N E S S I N T E RV I E W
Florin-Leonard Boldescu, Chief Digital Officer at BRD – Groupe Société Générale, says digital transformation is just one piece of the business-wide business transformation puzzle.
Written by Anna McMahon • Produced by Tom Barnes
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BRD – GROUPE SOCIÉTÉ GÉNÉRALE IS A ROMANIAN BANK, MEMBER OF SOCIÉTÉ GÉNÉRALE GROUP, AND CURRENTLY THE COUNTRY’S THIRD LARGEST BANK BY ASSETS.
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he bank has signed several firsts for the Romanian banking system. For instance, BRD launched the first credit card in Romania, back in 1995. The bank is one of the initiators of contactless technology in Romania, has launched the first NFC technology pilot in the Romanian banking system, and offered innovative functionalities for its mobile banking app (‘Split the Bill’, money transfers to a phone number, money transfers
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between two mobile phones by touch, Romania’s first account aggregator). In 2018, the bank’s customers made more than seven million mobile and online transactions. The company’s Chief Digital Officer, Florin-Leonard Boldescu, is primarily responsible for accelerating business digitalisation, pushing forward production by building projects that have a direct impact on fast and consistent business digitalisation. Florin
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explained, “I have experience in innovation and driving digitalisation. It’s about looking outside and inside the organisation, finding new ways to do business, then testing them and trying to absorb them into the dayto-day business.” BRD is currently in the midst of a business-wide business transformation, in which digital transformation plays a part. The programme was launched around two years ago, incorporating all strata of the organisation. It outlines a list of projects,
“BANKS ALL OVER THE WORLD ARE NOW OPERATING IN A DIGITAL CONTEXT” Florin-Leonard Boldescu, Chief Digital Officer
initiatives, tactic and strategic directions, with the sole objective of improving the way the company does business for the benefit of its customers. Florin said, “Digital transformation is one element of the businesswide enterprise programme. It is delivered mainly by the Digital Hub, which is a place that gathers specific digital projects from all areas of the organisation, executed in agile methodology. The main objective is to accelerate the business digitalisation and improve time to market and the customer experience. At the same time, we need to diffuse this new way of working, supporting each other in order to have success.” The Digital Hub is therefore the main delivery arm of digital projects, but there are teams throughout the company working on digital projects. Outside the Hub, there are more than 30 teams working on projects. Florin added, “The whole company is changing, as well as the wider environment. Banks all over the world are now operating in a digital context.”
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“I AM ALWAYS ATTRACTED TO NEW THINGS. WE HAVE ACCESS TO FANTASTIC TECHNOLOGIES RIGHT NOW, AND IT’S A GREAT TIME TO BE WORKING IN THIS INDUSTRY” Florin-Leonard Boldescu, Chief Digital Officer
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ContALL was Romania’s first multiaccount navigator, launched by BRD in November 2018. The service allows BRD customers to manage all of their finances in one place, one app and one interface. There are currently eight national banks and two international banks involved in the project. Florin said, “We didn’t launch a fresh product in the traditional sense, but with fast experimentation, we were able to test the water and decide whether to scale up or down. It was one of the first agile projects for BRD. It was exciting to see this kind of working model in operation and having great results. Our vision for the future is to invest in it in terms of the
number of banks and the quality of service, building more value for our customers. I expect to see more and more examples like ContALL on the market in the next six to 12 months.” Open banking brings challenges for traditional banks, but BRD likes to put a positive spin on the threat by viewing it as an opportunity. Florin explained, “We live in a world where individuals want to be more mobile, have more access, and expect a frictionless experience. Open banking offers a natural way to take advantage of this kind of environment, finding and implementing new ways of doing business. It allows banks to share
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customer data, but I think is should also serve as a catalyst for a new way of financial innovation.” In the next three to four years, each of the top five banks in Romania will probably have around one million digitally-active customers, and this new banking world presents many challenges for them. Florin said, “Aside from the excitement of new products or services, we also need to figure out how to implement them, not just from a business perspective,
“TECHNOLOGY HAS A WAY OF CHANGING CULTURE AND BRINGING ABOUT DIFFERENT WAYS OF DOING THINGS” Florin-Leonard Boldescu, Chief Digital Officer
but also in terms of security or social responsibility, for example. It is essential to consider how the consumer will use the service, providing support where necessary. Every change involves some form of education, and we therefore need to discuss with our customers what we are doing and why. BRD is focused on talking about our products and services for our customers in order to support them, share experiences, and educate them on how they can enhance their lives.” Talking of enhancing lives, Florin said he is having the time of his life working at BRD at the moment! He explained, “I am always attracted to new things. We have access to fantastic technologies right now, and it’s a great time to be working in this industry. I love building new things, experimenting and driving change, but what is really exciting for me is to see how the people around me are adapting to this new game. Technology has a way of changing culture and bringing about different ways of doing things. For me, that is the really fun part!” For further information on BRD, visit www.brd.ro 53
AU G M E N T E D R E A L I T Y
Fails to Make a Profit The much-hyped UK tech start-up is in administration.
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Blippar, the $1billion tech start-up which specialised in AR, was once hailed as a shining light of the UK technology scene.
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he company’s technology allowed users to look at realworld objects, enhanced with text, music, games and digital graphics, by pointing their smartphone cameras at them, receiving information about them
via the Blippar app. In this way, the technology provided a virtual overlay on the real world that offered additional information and opportunities to interact. This was the first AR digital ad platform of its kind, focused on branded AR ‘experiences’ visible through the app. Blippar Co-founder and Chief Executive, Ambarish Mitra, once described the product as being capable of educating the illiterate. It was used for a broad range of purposes, from education to advertising, but ultimately failed to make money, as AR began being seen by advertisers as a gimmick. News of Blippar’s collapse into administration follows reports that
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“Th pro rec of a
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the company was unable to secure the additional funding that it needed from one of its investors. The investor reportedly blocked a deal to help Blippar raise the funds even though they were not asked to participate in any further financing of the business. Blippar raised almost $132million to date, according to Crunchbase data, and its most recent funding round
he administration ocess can result in capitalisation or sale a business” arrived in September – a $37million investment led by Candy and Qualcomm’s venture arm. A statement on Blippar’s website said that the company’s services were likely to come to an end and all employees would be let go. A spokesperson for Blippar added, “We’re saddened to announce that Blippar has gone
into administration. We’re eternally grateful to all our team members, customers, partners, our board and investors who have been with us on this incredible journey. This is an incredibly sad, disappointing and unfortunate outcome.” Paul Appleton and Paul Cooper of insolvency firm, David Rubin 59
“Its latest accounts filed it lost £35million in the 12 months to March 2017 an brought in just £5million” and Partners, have been appointed as joint administrators by a UK court. The administration process can result in recapitalisation or sale of a business, but Blippar’s administrators said that they were exploring all possible options for the future of the business for the benefit of all stakeholders. The collapse highlights a dramatic shift for a company which once claimed to be valued at over $1billion by investors – a valuation that would have seen it rise into the ranks of Europe’s fledging unicorn companies, one of only a handful of UK tech firms to reach that status at the time. Founded by entrepreneurs, Ambarish Mitra and Omar Tayeb, in 2011, Blippar was a pioneer of promising secured funding from major investors. 60
Mitra once stated that what he was trying to build is bigger than the internet itself. But, the company never looked set to achieve those lofty aims, as it struggled to find a profitable niche and rumours circulated that users had deserted its platform. Its latest accounts filed it lost £35million in the 12 months to March 2017 and brought in just £5million.
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3D PRINTING
An ambitious new project gives residents the chance to recycle their plastic waste into outdoor furniture.
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ROTTERDAM-BASED STUDIO, THE NEW RAW, HAS JOINED FORCES WITH THE ZERO WASTE LAB IN A NEW RECYCLING INITIATIVE CALLED PRINT YOUR CITY, ALLOWING CITY RESIDENTS TO RECYCLE THEIR PLASTIC WASTE INTO OUTDOOR STREET FURNITURE.
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he project also takes help from food and beverage giant Coca-Cola in what could be a massive step forward in curbing environmental waste while creating public utilities. Print Your City offers local residents the services of a recycling facility for their plastic waste, along with the
choice of how they wish to reuse it, coming up with their own custommade designs. The facility employs large-scale 3D printing to transform the sorted plastic into public street furniture that everyone can enjoy. Options include urban benches, a planter, a bike rack, a feeding bowl for dogs or a bookcase, for example, all featuring metal tags that indicate
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how many kilograms of plastic waste went into each item. Users can also customise their furniture online, applying different colours and functionalities while selecting which public space in the city they would like to see it in. Upon selecting a design, the website estimates how much recycled plastic is necessary to print the object. Objects can vary wildly depending on the user’s requests, and the furniture can consist of multiple materials (but it is primarily polypropylene and polyethene plastics). A recycled plastic bench called the XXX has become one of the prime examples of eye-catching street furniture brought to life by the initiative. The designers came up with the shape of the unusual piece, which seats two people facing opposite directions and allows them to rock back and forth. The rugged plastic used to create XXX makes it exceptionally durable, which is perfect for its outdoor setting. While recycling plastic for 3D printing is nothing new, rarely has an initiative shown this much organisation and forethought. The company also sorts, washes and shreds the plastic before melting it and combining it with pigments. The 3D printing process allows each creation to take on a comfortable 66
A RECYCLED BENCH CALL HAS BECOME THE PRIME EX EYE-CATCHIN FURNITURE B LIFE BY THE I
D PLASTIC LED THE XXX E ONE OF XAMPLES OF NG STREET BROUGHT TO INITIATIVE 67
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“THE TECHNOLOGY OF 3D PRINTING ENABLES CLOSING THE MATERIAL LOOP OF PLASTIC WITH A SHORT RECYCLING PATH AND A ZERO-WASTE PRODUCTION PROCESS”
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ergonomic shape. Last summer, the first prototypes were placed in Greece (Thessaloniki’s waterfront promenade) for public use. As well as The Netherlands, the first quarter of 2019 will see citizen-submitted designs debut at Hanth Park in the centre of Thessaloniki. A spokesperson for The New Raw said, “The throwaway lifestyle of contemporary cities has increased the demand for single-use plastic packaging and plastic waste. In Amsterdam alone, residents
generate on average 23kg of plastic waste per person annually, enough to 3D-print one bench for every two Amsterdammers each year! “The technology of 3D printing enables closing the material loop of plastic with a short recycling path and a zero-waste production process. Furthermore, it can combine modular repair and mass customisation, making a more circular city feasible with more engaged citizens and fewer carbon dioxide emissions.” Print Your City offers an intriguing, new way to demonstrate the direct impact of recycling. In the future, when 3D printers are more widely available, people might even be motivated to use up as much plastic waste as they can find to create new objects to either enjoy or sell. An innovative take on redesigning today’s urban spaces, perhaps Print Your City will be coming soon to a city near you? 71
C A S E S T U DY
A Good
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CTO David Ivell says all professionals should use their skills to help charities and notfor-profit social enterprises.
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It has never been a m exciting time for tech professionals.
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dvances in digital technologies are converging to offer what many believe will be the 4th Industrial Revolution. Advances in AI, Robotics, Gene Therapy, IoT, Drones, Virtual Reality and Clean Energy have the opportunity to create huge good for our world. However, since the invention of the World Wide Web 30 years ago, we have lost over half the wild animals on the planet, and we are destroying habitats and food stocks through over-grazing and pollution.
safer and more beautiful world. But, charities and not-for-profit social enterprises desperately need expertise from within the IT and digital industries to make their ideas a reality.
To meet that need, a small group of CIO, CTO, security and digital specialists launched a social enterprise at the end of 2018 to bring together those within the digital industries who want to use their skills to make a positive contribution to social justice, mobility and the Our world population is growing environment. Energise Resources exponentially with also much longer (www.energiseresources.org) now anticipated lifespans, meaning has an impressive list of almost 200 increased pressure on our resources. of the top leaders from within the IT and digital industries working Not all will have the ability to invest in the technologies that will drive completely pro bono, commercial free. or benefit from this 4th revolution, and the gap in society could widen rather than diminish. There are some amazing initiatives in existence for creating a fairer, 74
more hnology
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“Energise Re charities like expertise, an
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Rebecca Galambos is Senior Director, SaaS Customer Success EMEA for Oracle. She said, “Skillsbased volunteering allows me the satisfaction of transferring my skills to deliver positive change for causes I care about. It broadens my network of contacts while challenging me to operate in a more lean and creative way. I often bring my learnings from volunteering back into the commercial world. Critical to success for skills-based volunteering is a clear, specific agreement of deliverables and
esources provides e War Child with digital nd that’s a game-changer” timelines agreed with myself and the war zones, whether that is helping charities leadership team.” Syrian children access education, rehabilitating ex-child soldiers in the Volunteers are currently providing Central African Republic, or seeking strategic support, helping justice for young people detained in address priorities, and identifying Afghanistan. opportunities with a number of charities. At War Child, as well as Sam Robertson, Head of Fundraising providing strategic support, they Strategy and Performance at War are running work-streams to identify Child UK, said, “Energise Resources where data science and CRM can provides charities like War Child with be used to better utilise their data digital expertise, and that’s a gameto assist children growing up in changer. Smaller charities like ours 77
do not have the internal capability or resources to hire in specialist digital skillsets. Energise Resources has helped us to unpick our digital challenges and follows through with the resources that help us take our first and most important steps to addressing these challenges.� Energise Resources has so far brought together volunteers to assist War Child from Oracle, Good Energy, IBM, GSK and the Children’s Society. At Solving Kids
access, as well as a number focusing on the environment. The charities and causes that Energise Resources work with are not short of ideas; they are short of the means of using digital technology to accelerate and bring their ideas to fruition. The team is actively looking for IT and digital volunteers, both in the UK and overseas. If you would like to join them, you can sign up via the website.
“Energise Resources recognis volunteers are busy people wi and life commitments, so the whether or not this is the righ Cancer, who support children and families affected by neuroblastoma, a rare form of paediatric cancer, the Energise Resources team initially ran an ideas workshop. This was led by a team of digital volunteers from Infomentum, Loxam, Shelter, Prism and Good Energy, identifying the need for a targeted look at impact measurement and data used in clinical trials. There are also projects currently underway to prevent trophy hunting in Africa, assist with disability 78
How does it work? When an engagement is received, it is distributed out to the network, and if the engagement is something inspiring and the volunteer has the time, they can then join the team. Energise Resources recognises that all the volunteers are busy people with day jobs, families and life commitments, so the volunteer decides whether or not this is the right project for them. If not, maybe the next one might suit them.
ses that all the ith day jobs, families e volunteer decides ht project for them�
For further information, visit www.energiseresources.org 79
B U S I N E S S I N T E RV I E W
Lara Burns, Chief Digital and Technology Officer at Age UK, expounds the virtues of using digital to improve services.
Written by Anna McMahon • Produced by Danielle Harris
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who has worked across sectors leading innovation, transformation and change programmes for 25 years, Lara Burns has headed up the digital shift at Age UK across staff, teams and leaders, 140 local partners, and millions of digitally excluded older people.
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he is passionate about digital transformation, which Lara defines as the application of digital technologies, tools and platforms to change or improve the existing ways of doing things. Lara explained, “The process always needs to start from the user, whether it’s the end user or people working inside your company. A lot of the work we have been doing has been about improving and transforming internal processes; so looking at what people are trying to do, where they have the pain points, and how we can make things better. That’s the key for me.” Age UK has been focused on using digital technology to enhance
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service delivery over the last few years. The charity’s Call in Time telephone befriending service, where volunteers call older people in a weekly scheduled phone call, has been hailed as one of the team’s big success stories. Lara said, “Previously, this service was managed completely non-digitally, which was very time-consuming because we have to check the volunteers and ensure calls are done appropriately. We have to check people have something in common to talk about to encourage a friendship, and we have to train volunteers to make sure they are able to pick up issues such as mental health problems or signs of dementia. We have now digitised
Watch how Rose and Sarah met through Age UK
Call in Time telephone befriending service Volunteers call older people in a weekly scheduled phone call
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“We often find we have underestimated the cultural challenge in introducing people to tech that could help them� Lara Burns, Chief Digital and Technology Officer
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the whole process end-to-end. From the minute a volunteer signs up via our website, they are taken on a digital journey through the training, safeguarding checks and references.” In addition, the calls are connected through the website, so the charity no longer needs to give telephone numbers to volunteers, so the use of digital technology improves the user experience not only for the volunteers and the older people, but also for the administrative team who can now manage this complex process more efficiently, saving both time and money. Lara said, “From a user point of view, they need to have a good experience. If the volunteers found the process irritating or annoying, they could potentially drop out. The user experience is absolutely paramount.” Age UK has benefitted from some fantastic pro bono work from corporate partners with whom the charity has enjoyed longstanding relationships. Rather than simply providing funding, some of these companies have offered time with experts, sharing their skills and knowledge with the Age UK team. Lara explained, “Recently, we worked with one of our corporate partners to run a two-day hackathon with their data engineering team. They came up with an AI solution, giving us a
dashboard to help with our call listening. We can’t physically listen to thousands of hours of calls, so we used to spot-check in the past. The team translated thousands of hours of calls from voice to text and built an AI algorithm, which allows us to flag up calls where there may be a safeguarding issue based on combinations of key words. This is a brilliant example of how we can use pro bono help to enable us to be innovative without cost and time pressures.” But, the challenge for Age UK has not been coming up with innovative ideas. Rather, the challenge has been in scaling them. Lara explained, “We often find we have underestimated the cultural challenge in introducing people to tech that could help them. For example, we developed a tool to help volunteers have a conversation with an older person to try and find out how we could best assist them. What we were finding was that the challenge comes with scaling it. This shows the importance of investing enough time in training, support and education. It’s not about coming up with great innovative ideas; it’s about how you embed them your day-to-day processes.” As well as the charity’s telephone befriending service, the Age UK digital team has created a number of award-winning projects, 85
enabling improved support for older people, including its virtual advice assistant, the ‘Steps’ app for planning support, and a shared CRM solution to join up services for local Age UK partners. The awards are simply icing on the cake for Lara and her team. She said, “The project that has received the most awards has been Call in Time. It has won five or six awards for innovation, in both the charity and digital sector. We are really proud of those. People want to hear the news stories where tech is being used for good. We also won Digital Charity of the Year last year at the Digital Leaders 100 Awards. This was all about the development work we are doing with our teams and the cultural change in putting digital into everything we do. Digital is a mind-set not a skillset. We have a network of around 140 local Age UKs throughout the country, so it’s also about how they can deliver their services in a 86
different way. I think that is why we were recognised as Digital Charity of the Year.” Lara is a regular speaker at conferences, taking the main stage at the Institute of Fundraising Conference last year, and speaking to 300 people at the Women of Silicon Roundabout conference. The subject of women in tech is an area that is very close to her heart. She added, “The point is it is not about treating women differently or pushing them ahead of men in the queue for jobs. It is a fact that there are fewer women in the tech sector than men. I think women have got skills that they can contribute as well as men, and it’s important to encourage women who are starting their careers to see that it’s a great career option.” For further information on Age UK, visit www.ageuk.org.uk
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IN THE SP OTLIGHT
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loud Gateway is an innovative UK-based start-up, providing businesses with both the mechanism and resource support to adopt, develop and operate cloud, hybrid cloud and multicloud environments. Founded in 2017 by Justin Day and Neil Briscoe, the platform was designed to address the ever-increasing gaps forming between an organisation and the industry trend towards ‘everything cloud’ and on-demand service consumption. In simple terms, it provides a platform between traditional networking infrastructure and cloud services. It facilitates secure connectivity in a centralised fashion, enabling the production of reports, which help ensure regulation and legislation compliance, specific to your business.
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STARTTHE M
It’s the turn of award-w connectivity platfor Gateway, t
The platform encrypts network traffic, managing its movement through a central enforcement point, from the business to any or many cloud service provider, including the PSN, seamlessly and
-UP OF MONTH
winning hybrid cloud rm solution, Cloud this issue.
without disruption or impact to users. The challenge of transitioning services from the PSN to cloud provision requires flexibility, control, security and visibility, and this is only possible with a service that can connect with the PSN and multiple cloud providers. The company has recently been appointed to lead the UK government’s migration to the cloud. The appointment follows the government’s recognition that the PSN is no longer the most appropriate and cost-effective option, with Cloud Gateway providing a solution to modernise the government’s IT infrastructure. As the government breaks away from the PSN and completely
transforms its digital infrastructure, it needs a secure connectivity platform that can integrate different cloud environments, together with existing PSN services, without users or providers experiencing any downtime. By using Cloud Gateway, service providers on the PSN will be able to continue providing services while migrating to the cloud, and simultaneously interact with existing services on the PSN. Service consumers will be able to securely access and use the services they need, completely uninterrupted throughout the migration process. Justin Day, CEO of Cloud Gateway, said, “Embracing the latest technologies is essential for any organisation to remain efficient and competitive, but connecting them effectively can be a huge challenge. Working with the government, we can ensure that everyone can securely access and use the services they need to ensure business remains as usual. It’s great that the government is setting a precedent for using a hybrid cloud approach, and hopefully this will encourage other businesses to follow suit.” For further information on Cloud Gateway, visit www.cloudgateway.co.uk 89