Digital Innovation Magazine - April 2021

Scale up Driving forward the next generation of European tech giants

T-Mobile Netherlands The team talks mergers, an extensive IT transformation program, plus continued customer improvements in quality and efficiency

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We are thrilled to welcome you to the April edition of Digital Innovation Magazine, brimming with insightful interviews and must-read features for your reading pleasure. Our interviewees regularly expound the virtues of joining forces with the right partners, so we have been delighted to work with T-Mobile Netherlands, PricewaterhouseCoopers and Supermarché MATCH on three exclusive business interviews this month. Turn to pages 6, 48 and 86 to read them in full. T-Mobile Netherlands is our cover story – thanks to Kim, Maurice and Cristina for reliving their journey of the last few years. And what a journey it has been!

From big data (p36) to logistics (p108), we bring you the latest tech stories to hit the European technology market, along with a report on the impact of Covid-19 on the transformation of the healthcare sector (p64). It’s fascinating to hear how the pandemic has acted as a catalyst for change.

Plus, turn to page 76 to learn more about the EU’s plans to build a digital twin of our planet, as well as the launch of a brand-new initiative called Scale-Up Europe, aiming to drive forward the next generation of European tech giants (p100). It’s sure to be a fantastic success!

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Danielle Harris Director d.harris@ithink.media

Tom Barnes Director t.barnes@ithink.media

Daniel May Senior Digital Designer design@ithink.media

Last but not least, with the emergence of virtual networking, do check out this issue’s start-up of the month, live online events venue, Hopin (p118).

Have a great month everyone!

+44 (0) 203 890 1189 enquiries@digitalinnovationeu.com

Anna McMahon Editor editorial@ithink.media

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A new initiative to drive forward the next tech giants

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Hopin is this issue’s start-up of the month

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The EU plans to build a digital twin of our planet

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C OV E R STO RY

We discuss T-Mobile Netherlands with board member and Chief Tec (CTIO), Kim Larsen; Director Str and Director of Information 6

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s’ latest milestone achievements chnology and Information Officer rategic Planning, Maurice Ketel; Technology, Cristina Petcu.

Produced by Danielle Harris

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T-Mobile Netherlands phone company in The merged with Tele2 he challenge facing CTIO, Kim Larsen; Director Strategic Planning, Maurice Ketel; and Director of Information Technology, Cristina Petcu, was to integrate the two companies. And it was no mean feat, as Kim explains, “It really doesn’t just happen overnight.

There was a lot of planning and detailing beforehand, and a ton of preparation goes into such a merger. We believed that by consolidating our businesses, we could become a really strong challenger in the Dutch market, significantly improving our strength on mobile and giving us the size to become disruptive in the fixed broadband segment. This, we also committed to the Dutch consumer and our customers. A commitment we have more than kept.”

Once T-Mobile Netherlands had a formal date for the merger, the two companies could really start talking about how they planned 8

s is the largest mobile e Netherlands, having 2 in January 2019. to complete the integration and migration of customers, whilst getting the whole organisation involved in the process. Kim says, “We soon realised that our plans were based on quite optimistic assumptions. Many of the things that we thought would be easy to accomplish turned out to be more difficult or required a different solution than the one we originally had planned for. Whilst we could get started on some parts of the merger from January, other parts took up to six months before we had a credible plan that all stakeholders agreed to. No plan survives contact with reality.”

Maurice, responsible for the technology Tele2 post-merger integration program, continues, “First of all, you need to have an organisation that supports the changes, so getting the two companies acquainted with each other was a priority. We had previously acquired Thuis, owned by Vodafone, so there was also integration work on 9

HUAWEI IdeaHub brings collaboration closer with intuitive smart With whiteboard collaboration, high-definition projection and video conferencing, the Huawei IdeaHub helps deliver new styles of work As an unprecedented year draws to a close, it is clear to many businesses that some work styles that have been entrenched for years are going to have to change.

Whether working from home or with a gradual return to the office, many workers around the world would have learnt one thing – the urgent need for closer, more effective collaboration through digital means.

HUAWEI IdeaHub, a smart interactive whiteboard and screen that integrates many of today’s most important office productivity tools, is created with that need for enhanced collaboration in mind.

With it, staff can meet in a room to quickly share concepts and discuss ideas and plans for a new work year, for example. They can also connect with colleagues across the world who are linked over the cloud, allowing for a meeting that is as close to “live” as one can get today.

Everything on the Huawei IdeaHub begins with a modern, user-centric design, because the device is aimed at allowing humans to better work together. The design features a large 65inch or 86-inch 4K display that brings realism to a new level, enabling people to interact and share more convincingly.

To ensure that the collaboration is effective, the 4K screen offers smooth projection with its 60-frames-per-second and 4K H.265 video capabilities. This way, videos are clear and sharp.

The high-quality video capabilities here also enable a mouse to be pointed more accurately on screen to focus on a segment of a presentation or image, for example. This is a key difference from another large screens that may be less sharp and cannot show all the details that are important to a meeting.

Besides visuals, just as important in a meeting is the audio. For this, the IdeaHub delivers hifi-grade audio that will make the interaction as “live” as possible.

On top of this, the Huawei IdeaHub is able to smoothen out the common issues with meeting rooms, by cancelling acoustic echo and suppressing noise automatically. It also automatically enhances the voice of speakers so that each message comes across clearly.

Still on audio, a new technology called acoustic baffle enables meeting participants to define the sound pickup scope so they can eliminate the impact of ambient noise. In other words, this artificial intelligence-driven feature can create a personal conference space even if you are speaking in a large room.

How do all these features come together? Is it difficult to set up the Huawei IdeaHub? The good news is that it supports smart projection, so content can be projected onto the screen either through a wired or wireless connection for convenience.

If there is only one presenter, all he has to do is plug his laptop or smart device into the screen.

HUAWEI’S NEW COLLABORATION DEVICE FEATURES A BUILT-IN MICRO ARRAY THAT CAN PICK UP PARTICIPANTS FROM AS FAR AS 8 METRES A CAPABLE OF CLEAR, CRISP AUDIO WHENEVER EACH PERSON IN A ROO 10

When someone else wishes to share the screen, say, from a remote site, he will receive a prompt to allow that.

Wireless projection is another big plus, especially when groups of executives meet to share their content. The IdeaHub enables up to 20 projector sources, so 20 people can easily switch between presentations as they connect wirelessly to the screen.

Of course, showing a video or presentation is just one part of a great meeting.

Having the ability to easily interact with the content is key to delivering a compelling message.

For this, the Huawei IdeaHub offers “reverse control”, which means a user can control his PC from the screen as well. This way, he can simply double-tap on the touchscreen and, say, edit a document in real time. He can also flip pages on a Powerpoint presentation by touching the screen itself.

The interactivity extends to enhanced whiteboard collaboration as well. With a built-in digital whiteboard that enables easy annotation, for example, the Huawei IdeaHub enables participants both at a meeting room or joining remotely to have control of the contents of the screen.

latency offered by the Huawei IdeaHub means that a user can draw as easy as pen and paper.

With these groundbreaking features, the Huawei IdeaHub is ready to plug into the new work styles of the future, as workers begin to work more closely together in teams often spread out across the world.

To get ideas on a board and have them executed quickly, the first step could well be sharing them on a smart collaborative screen.

Find out how the Huawei IdeaHub can boost collaboration from your local representative.

Dirk Theed Anton Van Waardenburg dirkt.waardenburg@huawei.com

This way, a meeting becomes more interactive, with ideas shared more effectively and acted on instantly.

So, no more waiting for followup e-mails and other less effective tools.

It helps that the screen comes with a natural handwriting experience as well. The 35-millisecond ultra-low

OPHONE AWAY. IT IS OM SPEAKS UP. 11

that side to be done. We were therefore merging three networks, three ways of working, and three company cultures, all together in one clear plan. We also did not want to neglect our heritage, our existing customers, our history of being voted the best network in the Netherlands, and our mission to improve the experience of our 12

customers whilst increasing our operational efficiency.”

Kim adds, “Every organisation has its own culture – the set of norms, values and assumptions that govern how people act and interact every day. It’s ‘the way we do things around here’. One of the biggest challenges of nearly every

acquisition or merger is determining what to do about culture. We had the challenge but also, at the same time, the privilege, to take the best of the three worlds of T-Mobile, Tele2 and Thuis, and converge those towards a new culture actively.”

Maurice emphasises, “In support of all the defined plans for the

merger, an integration program was initiated. The goal of the program was to deliver on all aspects of the merger. One program supported by all parts of the company. The technical side of the program was focusing on consolidating the respective mobile and fixed networks, introduction of FMC capabilities 13

across the networks, and creating a Tele2-branded T-Mobile IT stack, supporting all customer migrations, all within budget and within time essential to deliver the committed synergies. In addition, the technical part of the program was aimed to support programs of our Finance, HR and Customer Operations teams. All parts aimed at increasing network quality, improving internal and external customer experience, and achieving synergies whilst keeping customer impact to an absolute minimum and never forgetting about operational stability. You can imagine that this was a very complex task.”

One of the first deliveries was hosting the company’s newly-acquired Tele2 customers on the T-Mobile network via national roaming. This enabled the customers to experience a huge step-up in quality, allowing for the Tele2 network to be switched off. The next big step was hosting more than one million Tele2 customers on the T-Mobile IT systems.

Cristina is responsible for T-Mobile Netherlands’ IT transformation programs.

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Build a Fully Connected, Intelligent World

HUAWEI IdeaHub Advancing the Collaboration Experience Modern work requirements The COVID-19 crisis reinforced the importance of having the right digital collaboration tools to help workers maintain contact with their colleagues when working remotely.

To meet the new reality of greater dependence on digital interaction, investing in new generation technology that can enhance the collaboration experience is important. This includes the use of high definition or ultrahigh definition 4K video at high frame rates.

The use of low latency connections and highspeed processors can also go a long way towards eliminating the lag often seen in presentations. And the process of creating and attending sessions should also be as simple as possible.

Audio quality has been designed to match, with a built-in microphone array that features an 8 meter sound pickup zone, and which can be extended through an external array.

For the listeners, the IdeaHub features active echo cancellation, automated noise suppression and automatic gain control, with additional audio enhancement technology that ensure the clearest audio experience for attendees.

Whiteboard collaboration enables interaction between local and remote users, and numerous apps come pre-installed with the IdeaHub. And when not being used or collaboration purposes it can also function as a digital advertising or bulletin board solution.

Conclusion

Exploration of HUAWEI IdeaHub These ideas are brought together in the HUAWEI IdeaHub, the flagship model the IdeaHub series, which integrates a variety of capabilities including intelligent handwriting recognition, high-definition projection, video conferencing, and open office applications.

By combining the latest in audio visual technology with high-speed network and advanced presentation functionality, the HUAWEI IdeaHub provides the perfect solution for organisations who wish to maximise staff productivity and collaboration without the expense and inconvenience of constantly bringing people together.

Find out how the Huawei IdeaHub can boost collaboration from your local representative.

Dirk Theed Anton Van Waardenburg dirkt.waardenburg@huawei.com

Sporting a modern look designed around user needs, the IdeaHub maximises visual interaction through the use of 4K video running at 30 frames per second, coupled with Huawei proprietary Video Motion Enhancement.

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DISCOVER MORE WITH CLOUD. The cloudification of IT has become super critical for 5G to thrive and churn revenue growth engines globally.

Over the last 2 years, Wipro has been a proud cloud migration partner to T-Mobile Netherlands — transforming their IT operations into a public cloud-enabled, nimble and secure business enabler, and helping T-Mobile Netherlands integrate Tele2 and other acquisitions seamlessly to become the #1 service provider in Netherlands.

Want to learn more on how we support other services providers globally? Visit https://wipro.com/cloud and take the cloud plunge with us.

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“Irrespective of th complexity of the m T-Mobile is focused transparency to it well as enhancing

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he migration, d on offering ts customers, as their experience”

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Intelligent automation: empowering telecoms companies to shape the future In the past year, the mass shift to remote working as a result of Covid-19 has clearly placed huge demands on telecom networks and contact centers all over the world. And more traffic doesn’t necessarily mean more revenue: quite the opposite in fact; higher call volumes can mean higher costs – and more pressure on agents.

This is where automation can make all the difference.

Robotic process automation has been around for some time: software ‘robots’ can automate simple repetitive tasks faster and more accurately than humanbeings, who are in turn freed from mundane work. Where automation becomes more interesting is when it’s combined with artificial intelligence – what we call ‘intelligent automation’ (IA). Now, the robot ‘learns’ and can complete more complex, non-linear tasks.

Intelligent chatbots This means that for telecoms companies, basic customer requirements such as identity checks or getting PUK codes (a mobile phone’s unique identifier), can be handled entirely by an intelligent chatbot that can work 24/7 via any channel (phone, laptop, tablet, even TV). The benefits for companies, agents and customers are clear: service is faster and round-the-clock, costs to companies are contained, and call deflection increases to relieve the workload.

Working with T-Mobile Netherlands, Atos has developed and deployed an intelligent chatbot to handle straightforward service requests.

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This is connected to T-Mobile Netherlands customer website and social media channels, as well as to customer and product databases, and has delivered returns on investment within its first year, with fewer calls to the contact center.

We’re now implementing an Agent Assist application, which puts a voicebot to work helping the agent. So, when a caller makes contact, the robot identifies them, gets their basic details and request, then directs them to the right agent, who already has this information at their fingertips to give the customer a faster, more proactive service.

Growing sales and selfoptimizing networks We’re also exploring the value of IA in other domains with T-Mobile. In marketing, for instance, we can use customer data to increase sales and grow customer relationships. Using intelligent automation, every customer touchpoint on every channel can be better targeted and tailored to individuals, such as personalized ads and alerts on specific bundles, subscriptions, upgrades and other personalized offers.

In the network domain, we can deploy IA algorithms to look for patterns within traffic and other data to monitor, detect and even predict any network anomalies before customers are affected.

With technologies maturing fast in this area, optimizing any aspect of the network,

even marginally, can make major cost savings – as well as improving performance and customer experience so that, in effect, the network becomes self-optimizing.

5G: a critical enabler While IA’s benefits are already emerging across all these applications, it’s perhaps the advent of 5G that brings them most sharply into focus.

Given the scale of change that 5G will bring – not least the shifts in capacity, complexity and demand – IA could be a critical enabler for companies to increase their revenue, compete effectively and deal with the high demand from volumes of 5G subscriptions and the breadth and depth of new products and services on offer. IA could help onboard 5G customers quickly and efficiently; it could handle most of the front-end 5G queries at contact centers to relieve busy on agents; and it could help manage network demand and dynamic bandwidth. And intelligent automation can deliver significant benefits within finance departments, with automated invoice processes and smart revenue collection.

Perhaps one of the most significant benefits of intelligent automation is that it releases talent. No longer do skilled and intelligent people have to carry out repetitive data-collection, wrestle with spreadsheets or deal with the same customer queries over and over again. They can

work alongside the robots and concentrate on what they do best and find most rewarding.

And they can be freer to be more customer-facing, thereby improving customer service and experience.

New hyperconnectivity Looking to where IA is headed, one fascinating development is the integration of vision in addition to voice and messaging. From digitally enhanced virtual meetings in which colleagues can clearly see each others’ expressions, to surgeons performing operations from the other side of the world, intelligent augmented reality and virtual reality applications will change the way people interact with the digital world. Again, the advent of 5G is key to the story: mobile networks will become more and more important in enabling the delivery of these new kinds of experiences.

While the exact need and application of 5G may still not be clear to customers themselves, what’s not in doubt is the step change for telecoms companies, with intelligent automation on the roadmap. The advent of hyperconnectivity heralds new possibilities that will change society itself; as both users and facilitators, telecoms companies have a critical role in shaping the future.

Visit www.atos.net/en/ industries/telecommunications

“The T-Mobile Netherlands partnership with Atos has unlocked the benefits of intelligent automation, initially with our new enhanced chatbot, through which we can offer an improved and more efficient service and a personalised and intuitive experience for our customers.

We look forward to working with Atos to further explore the potential of artificial intelligence and more opportunities in a range of business domains to enhance and enrich the experience of our customers.”

Kim Larsen, Chief Technology and Information Officer, T-Mobile Netherlands

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“We created a strategy that aimed to offer the best digital multi-brand and FMC capability at best-in-class cost base through consolidation and lean operation in our IT department” Cristina Petcu, Director of Information Technology

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Moving all those customers onto T-Mobile’s existing IT system was an immensely complex process, so the IT systems needed to be prepared. Cristina explains, “Running a big IT transformation during a merger is a huge undertaking.

When we started merging with Tele2, we were already in a favourable position because we had set ourselves an aggressive, daring and ambitious IT strategy. Just as our mobile network is the best network in the Netherlands (and the world), we had a very similar ambition for our IT landscape. We created a strategy that aimed to offer the best digital multibrand and FMC capability at best-in-class cost base through consolidation and lean operation in our IT department.”

“We started our transformation journey three years ago, so we had a good starting point to integrate the Tele2 customers.

Our priority was to keep business continuity, which was a challenge, from an IT perspective, because we had to ensure that all brands (i.e. T-Mobile, Ben, Thuis and newly-acquired Tele2) were running at full speed ahead. We have migrated most of our infrastructure to

the cloud whilst changing our sourcing model and suppliers at the same time. On top of this, we had to accommodate the integration, focus on our operational quality, and establish state-of-the-art multibrand IT architecture whilst converging rapidly towards a best-in-class, cost-efficient IT operation.”

Irrespective of the complexity of the migration, T-Mobile is focused on offering transparency to its customers, as well as enhancing their experience. Kim says, “During the last two years, we have consistently improved our customer experience scores, such as TR*M and NPS. I think that is a fantastic achievement, given all the transformation activities we also have been executing in parallel with our business as usual. It is one of the best mergers we have seen in terms of the execution quality and being sacrosanct of our customers’ experience. Part of that is how we have strived to use technology innovation to get us as far as we can go whilst keeping our business momentum.”

T-Mobile Netherlands made promises to be the first to launch 5G in the Netherlands, whilst simultaneously undertaking a merger, an extensive IT transformation 23

Netcracker Digital BSS Netcracker Digital BSS leverages the power of AI leverages the power of AI to deliver superior & personalized to deliver superior & personalized customer experience customer experience “Thanks to our valuable partnership with Netcracker, we have been able to deploy their Digital BSS to drive our initiative for fixed-mobile convergence with a clear focus on service innovation and a superior customer experience. Netcracker’s support of Agile and DevOps methodologies gives T-Mobile Netherlands the ability to simplify complex business requirements and foster growth. We look forward to our continued journey with Netcracker to unlock the potential of BSS and provide customers with a rich and unique experience.”

– Kim Larsen, CTIO, T-Mobile Netherlands.

Visit Netcracker.com for more information Visit Netcracker.com for more information

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program, as well as making continued improvements in quality and efficiency. As if that was not enough to take up the time of Kim, Maurice and Cristina, the coronavirus pandemic then struck! Kim continues, “Looking back at 2020, it is an amazing accomplishment that we have outperformed many of our expectations. At the start of the year, Cristina and her IT team needed to get all our employees out of the office and onto a digital domain in just a couple of weeks. Technology moved from being office-based in our execution to completely digital, coordinating all of our complex programs remotely, from our employees’ homes. This is not something that had been done before. What we have pulled off here in the Netherlands is world-class, and it has been recognised within the industry, as well as among our shareholders.”

Cristina adds, “It is a team effort and we really have a world-class team.

Complexity-wise, this has been extremely challenging, kind of like building a bigger and more modern aeroplane and changing the engines whilst you remain flying at your operational altitude.

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“When you have so many challenges, that is when our T-Mobile organisation comes together. We call it our Magenta heartbeat” Kim Larsen, Chief Technology and Information Officer (CTIO)

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We managed to do this and, as a result, have set a new industry standard.”

Kim stresses that it is thanks to the efforts of the entire organisation that the company has enjoyed such success. He says, “When you have so many challenges, that is when our T-Mobile organisation comes together. We call it our Magenta heartbeat.

There has been a great understanding of each other and what we needed to achieve. It impresses me and I get goosebumps when I think about how well all the different parts of our T-Mobile organisation have worked together to meet all the various challenges we have faced over the last two plus years. In all this, we never forgot our customers; we always kept our eyes and focus on our customers’ experience and quality.”

One such challenge during a merger is keeping the focus on the market. T-Mobile has been able to do this with price plans and new products that have traction, leveraging its strong mobile network. Kim says, “Clearly, it is a very competitive market, but doing what we have been doing does allow us to 29

On the journey to zero touch We are standing at the edge of a new era of transformation and unprecedented technological capabilities driven by Digitization, Industry 4.0, AI and, of course, 5G. The launch of 5G services in most of the countries in Europe, including The Netherlands, marks only the beginning of this era. Leveraging high throughput, ultra-low latency, enhanced reliability and connectivity will enable new applications for both business and residential customers, and for the first time use cases that are designed for specific industries. The underlaying technological enablers range from simple 5G NR [New Radio] access, to service-based 5G core architecture and CUPS and SDN enabled transport orchestration and whilst the full potential of 5G will be fully realized in the coming releases 16 and 17, one thing is becoming clear immediately, that network complexity will increase dramatically, which will make network management in the traditional way, impossible.

The challenge is scale. Current network management systems are designed for human operation, based on well-defined protocols, metrics and heuristics, and to support a limited number of services such as voice, data, video and VPNs, all of which have a limited number of configurable options. The operations support systems (OSS) are closed, built with adaptors to support multiple element management 30

systems (per domain) from multiple suppliers. Over recent years, SDN and NFV have driven a move toward standardized model frameworks and open interfaces to network elements, but manual control remains, augmented by scripted policies and templates.

Only by adding extensive analytics and automation, will real-time dynamic service delivery be enabled, which will fully realize the benefits 5G can deliver. A radical evolution toward zero-touch network and service automation is essential to provide the digital fabric for the next industrial revolution. Intelligent and predictive

Nokia is proud to be in T-Mobile´s transf automation will enable new levels of agility, responsiveness and efficiency for supporting the required automation and information services for a diverse array of industries and infrastructure. A new business and operations architecture will be created for network and service management, that will fully leverage data-driven machine learning, with common open-source frameworks. This will allow for resource control, assurance and the AI-based systems needed for

predictive orchestration, with dynamic network and service intelligence.

T-Mobile Netherlands took, as part of its digital transformation and the integration of Tele 2 Netherlands, a significant step towards zero-touch network by choosing Nokia to provide managed network operation services of its multi-vendor

e a trusted partner formation journey. and 5G cloud native network, as well as managed security services covering all network elements. Automation will be realized through cognitive services on the Nokia AVA AI-ML system, which will transform the overall efficiency of the network operation and guarantee the resilience required in the digital era.

In addition, the consolidation and modernization of T-Mobile Netherland’s existing DWDM networks into a single core and aggregation network, is leading

to a simplified network providing higher operational and cost efficiency.

This has been realized through Nokia’s WaveFabric service-ready platforms and software portfolio. The key for network automation lays in the Nokia NSP (Network Services Platform) that provides network automation for faster delivery of transport services, optimized network utilization and traffic engineering, as well as the dynamic assurance that is needed for operating the network with maximum performance and reliability.

The era of manually configured static, closed networks is at an end. The need to support a new virtualized network infrastructure, and millions of simultaneous virtual private services with dynamic flow identification and adaptation, will drive the implementation of cloud based intelligent automation a with deterministic performance.

Find out more about zero touch operations on 5G Operations | Nokia Networks 31

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be more aggressive and be more disruptive than what we otherwise could have been without Tele2 and Thuis. We already have a super-strong mobile network (e.g. for the fifth time in a row, the best in the Netherlands, and for the second time, also the best in the world). Our focus is now on bringing our fixed network to the same level whilst continuing to improve the quality of our mobile services.”

When everyone in the Netherlands moved from their normal business location to working from home, the levels of traffic in the network increased. Maurice explains, “Here we were with our plans for integrating the networks when, all of a sudden, it became of upmost importance to focus on keeping the same user experience for our customers. Our plans had to change insofar as we had to manage the integration, along with the additional capacity requirements. There were unforeseen capacity upgrades we had to perform immediately, whilst also keeping our longer-term focus in mind.”

T-Mobile’s suppliers have been instrumental in the company’s 33

transformation journey over the last few years. It is thanks to collaboration with a select number of key partners that the company has been able to fulfil its goals. Kim continues, “It is not something we could have accomplished alone. Our suppliers have contributed tremendously.

Huawei has enabled us to have the strongest mobile network in the Netherlands and also globally. They have always been aligned with our strategy and our view of being the best network. Nokia is running our complete network operations and has also made huge contributions to our transformation.

They, along with the strong support of Infradata on the IP side of our networks, are essential in safeguarding our customer experience and network integrity. Detecon helped us immensely with all the preparatory work leading up to the merger.

In the time afterwards, they continued to support us and update our plans, offering an outside-in view on how best to do things.”

T-Mobile Netherlands migrated to a new CRM in 2019. It was a huge 34

“Across the organisation, we all work in a collaborative fashion.

We expect people to take ownership and to be daring in their daily work. It is the only way to reach the level of success that we have attained” Maurice Ketel, Director Strategic Planning

operation, and Cristina and her team prepared with Salesforce for at least 12 months beforehand. She says, “We have been very selective in choosing our IT partners to contribute to our IT strategy. Salesforce have been incredibly supportive, while Atos, Wipro and Netcracker are all fully engaged in our objectives. You have to make your partners part of your plans from the start. I think the key to a successful partnership is the challenges we face also become their challenges.”

On a final note, Maurice says he believes that part of T-Mobile’s success story comes down to taking ownership. He concludes, “Across the organisation, we all work in a collaborative fashion.

We expect people to take ownership and to be daring in their daily work.

It is the only way to reach the level of success that we have attained. It is fair to say that we have all been on a fantastic journey!”

For further information on T-Mobile Netherlands, visit www.t-mobile.nl 35

B I G D ATA

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What are the challenges and opportunities presented by big data for people, businesses and the environment?

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Our use of electronic devices is increasing and production processes are becoming ever more digitalised. This means that vast quantities of digital data are generated daily in the economy and by people's personal and social activities.

530%

The European Commission forecasts the total global amount of data will grow 530 per cent by 2025 compared to 2018.

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ata is an important part of the EU's digital transformation. AI, an EU priority, relies on data and its development depends on how data will be managed in Europe.

Data is also an integral part of the digital services that shape our everyday lives and the economy. Parliament is working on data legislation to ensure people, businesses, recovery and the green transition benefit from an efficient data strategy.

So, what is big data? We are talking about big data when multiple sources (people or machines) generate large amounts of data very quickly, and the data is gathered and analysed to gain new insights. It refers to collected data sets that are so large and complex that they require new technologies, such as AI, to

process them. The data comes from many different sources; often they are of the same type.

For example, GPS data from millions of mobile phones is used to mitigate traffic jams, but it can also be a combination, such as health records and patients' app use. Technology enables this data to be collected very fast, in near real time, for analysis.

Where does big data come from?

• Big data can be produced by

people – in mobile apps, on the web, including social media and commercial transactions, e-government records etc.

• It can also be generated

by machines and collected through sensors in objects linked to the Internet of Things, including smart cars, factories, GPS satellites and satellites collecting weather data etc.

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Big data presents great opportunities in a number of areas: Industry – innovative products, improved productivity, economic growth Big data enables companies to innovate, either through better analysing people's needs and wants or by offering entirely new products. While personal data is central for the operation of apps and platforms that have become an important part of our lives and economy, better exploitation of industrial data could bring a new wave of innovation in the EU. Data can also boost productivity and help cut costs; for example, by predicting sales or maintenance in smart factories.

Environment – new solutions for climate change mitigation Satellite data can improve research and help the EU reduce greenhouse emissions and help in preventing and responding to natural disasters such as wildfires. Improving production efficiency in the industry should lower emissions and waste.

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"Big data enables companies to innovate, either through better analysing people's needs and wants or by offering entirely new products"

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Healthcare – better diagnosis and more successful treatments The analysis of large clinical data sets – for example, anonymised health records or data entered by patients in apps – can enable better diagnostics, treatment and development of medicine, while reducing costs.

Agriculture – improves food safety and use of natural resources Farmers can use data from satellites and sensors to better use resources such as water or sunlight and adapt crops to changing circumstances.

Public sector – increased efficiency and transparency

"data entered by patien better diagnostics, treat of medicine while

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Data and advanced analytics can increase the efficiency and effectiveness of public services, to improve transparency and offer better-tailored services.

Transportation – regulating traffic flows, preventing traffic jams Big data collected from GPS and social media can help mitigate traffic jams. Better regulation of traffic flows also contributes to savings in time and fuel and lowers CO2 emissions.

The EU wants to create a single market for data allowing data flow within the EU and across sectors, EU rules on privacy, data protection and competition law to be brought in, as well as fair, practical rules for access and use of data. The

nts in apps can enable atment and development e reducing costs"

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"Automated data-based assessments could mean individuals or groups are categorised, which could lead to them being excluded from, for example, professional opportunities or medical coverage"

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European Data Strategy will therefore be able to tackle some of the challenges posed by big data. Other challenges include: Missed opportunities If the EU misses the opportunity to exploit the potential of big data, it could hamper the implementation of major EU programmes, such as the Green Deal, and affect consumers, businesses and the economy.

Protection of rights As digital service providers obtain more information about users, an unregulated power imbalance might cause preferences and even weaknesses to be exploited for commercial or political gain. Highly targeted advertisements raise concerns about possible manipulation, where the preferences and even weaknesses of consumers are exploited. Automated databased assessments could mean individuals or groups are categorised, which could lead to them being excluded from, for example, professional opportunities or medical coverage.

Source: The European Parliament

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B U S I N E S S I N T E RV I E W

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Stefan Schrauf, Global Supply Chain and EMEA Operations Lead at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), takes us through his operations transformation journey.

Written by Anna McMahon • Produced by Jennifer Davies

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Stefan Schrauf is leading PwC’s operations transformation in EMEA, employing a number of key technologies in order to drive supply chain excellence. tefan tells us more; “Supply chains are changing from functional, sequential logic into more orchestration logic, so the technologies that we are now looking for enable collaboration and the free flow of information across the value chain.

This means companies are starting to build their own unique data network that connects to the customer through distribution, manufacturing and suppliers end-to-end. On top of this data network, companies are choosing more cloudbased technologies with systems of differentiation, such as technologies around planning tools, technologies around transparency and traceability, and technologies around advanced analytics 50

and improved decision making. These are the key technologies on which supply chain leaders are focusing.”

To develop a true ecosystem, Stefan says that companies must overcome two challenges; the first involves integration with the legacy system whilst the second is all about external integration. Stefan explains, “Connecting the different data cycles with each other into the data network is challenging. The traditional systems need to connect with the new cloud-based systems. The importance of integration is to ensure that everything in control of the company is connected and integrated. Then there is the integration externally. How do I connect to the data points from customers, as

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well as all the external data surrounding my products and services? How am I able to integrate this into my supply chain decision making? How do I integrate the data from my suppliers?

These are the areas in which companies are asking themselves how to effectively and efficiently integrate.”

Externally, companies are looking more towards cloud-based connectivity, with a connection to the cloud that already has the preconfigured standard connections linked to the providers. Stefan does not dismiss the hype around blockchain technologies. He says, “What we are seeing is that in addition to providing more transparency, companies are already interacting in a secure partner environment dealing with known entities. Many of the cloud-based software providers have already integrated blockchain into their architecture, so I think blockchain is not the answer to every problem, but companies have already embedded it into their solution.”

On the question of what makes a digital champion,

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Stefan says there are a number of aspects to consider. He continues, “Firstly, you must ask how 1+1 creates superior value. When you start connecting your customer interaction models with future business models and efficient operations, we see that the companies that take a holistic view are developing a value proposition that allows them in an effective way to connect new customers, new customer experience and new business model with a more integrated operations.

When they think about operations, they are thinking about the entire value chain; not just supply chain, but life cycle management, the manufacturing process, sustainability, local to local supply chain flows, and how to distribute in an omnichannel environment.

To do this, they are not just looking at the use cases, but they are also looking at the technology and the people in the organisation.

So, to make it a true transformation, as opposed to a series of pilots, it is about the enhancement of the customer interactions and the business model, the digitalisation of the operations function, the

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technology stake, as well as the people and the training aspect.”

What should a digital transformation roadmap look like? According to Stefan, it largely depends on the starting position of the company.

“Coupa Software and other procurement platforms come into play to manage the ordering and delivering process in a more standardised way, with a software as a service mentality” He answers, “You have companies that are at the beginning of the digital transformation journey.

For them, it is important to ensure the right mobilisation, the right business case and the right prioritisation over where you start digitalising, also taking into account the proof points, pilots and testimonials. For the companies that have started 55

their journey and have already digitalised part of their agenda, they are focusing on accelerating the technology enhancement and technology stack, transitioning to a new cloudbased IT architecture, as well as looking at large scale deployment. They will have had some success stories, but they have not scaled it to every corner of the company and all regions, so deployment scaling is the big priority for the companies that are in the more mature stages. Once scaled, companies can look further at how they can innovate and collaborate with partners to drive innovation in all areas of the chain.”

“Before coronavirus, there were still people questioning if an ecommerce business model would ever come to their industry. Those discussions have all stopped because it is now reality”

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Digital transformation is dynamic, continuous improvement and innovation, so it needs to be embedded and part of the new company DNA. With this in mind, what are the typical challenges of a digital transformation? Stefan believes that technology is actually the smallest obstacle companies face. He explains, “Provided that the technology is working and the digital use cases are successfully brought to scale, the biggest challenge lies in the resources, commitment of the management team and securing the funds. Being able to change people’s ways of working and

getting their acceptance is key.

Successful companies have ensured the digital upskilling of their organisation, as well as the digital and cultural upskilling of the people, with training programmes and digital fitness apps, to bring it to scale.”

The Covid-19 pandemic has been a huge accelerator of digital transformation. Stefan says, “Before coronavirus, there were still people questioning if an ecommerce business model would ever come to their industry. Those discussions have all stopped because it is now reality. We also saw that people

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“Dassault Systèmes have workflows that allow flexible connectivity between the two companies that is unique to them” Stefan Schrauf, Global Supply Chain and EMEA Operations Lead

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do not need to sit together in the same room to do something meaningful, so collaboration with tools and technologies and the systems of the future can connect across boundaries of companies.

Supply chain has had a revival insofar as those companies that had an integrated supply chain model were better at ramping up and down and were able to take full advantage of the market opportunities. Those companies that were static and not very flexible were less successful, so companies are moving towards a more agile approach. Connectivity does not mean centralisation. You can be efficient in a decentralised or regional structure. In the past, you tried to manage excellent through centralisation, but that has now changed.”

Collaboration is crucial for Stefan and his team, working with a number of key partners to accelerate their operations transformation including Coupa Software and Dassault Systèmes.

On a final note, Stefan says, “Collaboration is so important.

Coupa Software and Dassault Systèmes are both cloud-based systems. They help companies to connect workflows between different entities and different companies. When you think about product development, a product sold in the market is engineered by different engineering departments including the suppliers. You would 60

“Connectivity does not mean centralisation.

You can be efficient in a decentralised or regional structure.

In the past, you tried to manage excellent through centralisation, but that has now changed” do a much better job if you can integrate design data and quality data with a more integrated lifecycle management of the product, along with feedback on the product when it is used in the market. This collaboration around the product connects to the suppliers that make up the final product. Collaboration on the product across the supply network is therefore a key capability. Coupa Software and other procurement platforms come into play to manage the ordering and delivering process in a more standardised way, with a software as a service mentality. Both Coupa Software and Dassault Systèmes have workflows that allow flexible connectivity between the two companies that is unique to them.”

For further information, visit www.pwc.com 61

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H E A LT H C A R E

Covid-19 has accelerated digital transformation across the healthcare sector and healthtech manufacturer, Philips, has responded.

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Digital transformation has been on the agenda for healthcare providers for many years. Yet, despite huge progress across the industry, fully rethinking healthcare for the digital age often remained an elusive long-term goal. That is until the pandemic struck last year.

Covid-19 has acted as a defining moment for all of us to reimagine healthcare, with a new, more efficient model of digital care delivery, founded on precise diagnostics and robust telehealth networks, and organised end-to-end around patient pathways that are centrally coordinated and based on real-time analytics, with workflows that adapt dynamically to rapidly changing circumstances.

What does this mean for patients, diagnostic service providers and healthcare IT leaders? Here are seven examples of how digital transformation in healthcare has shifted into a higher gear as a result of Covid-19, and the impact of these developments on the future of healthcare.

1. Digital engagement helps keep patients safe and personalises care With severe disruptions of care delivery and increased anxiety among patients, effective communications between care providers and patients have never been more important. Care providers such as the Boston Medical Center (BMC) successfully used remote patient engagement to communicate quickly at scale with patients whose care plans were impacted, while keeping their staff and patients safe. In the initial turmoil of Covid-19, BMC used personalised, automated text messages, emails and voice calls in four languages to deliver targeted and precisely-timed educational and instructional messages to over 400,000 patients via the Philips

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Medumo platform. These messages ranged from tips to avoid the spread of Covid, to instructions on how to receive prescription refills through the mail. BMC also adapted its existing pre-visit education program to transition patients from in-person visits to telehealth consults, sending out reminders to help patients show up on time and prepare for their virtual appointments.

As imaging services start rescheduling elective procedures, timely education and instructions will remain essential, with studies showing that automated reminders can lead to a 42 per cent reduction in patient no-shows and a 67 per cent reduction in poor patient preparation. For patients, receiving timely messages on their smartphones also brings the convenience they have come to expect in today’s digital world.

Spurred by the need for physical distancing, a ‘waitless’ waiting room for radiology exams is likely to become the new norm, providing up-to-the-minute text or voice scheduling updates to minimise lobby wait times, limit the chance of virus transmission, and allow patients to carry on with their busy lives right until the moment of their scan.

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2. Portable ultrasound brings diagnostics to the point of care The crisis has highlighted the value of portable ultrasound in bringing diagnostics to the point of care – in the emergency department, intensive care unit (ICU), or makeshift triage tents. When Covid-19 first struck in the Chinese city of Wuhan, physicians turned to handheld ultrasound systems to assess patients for severe acute pneumonia, the life-threatening illness associated with the most severe cases of Covid. In Italy, doctors followed suit as they were desperately looking for ways to quickly assess patients in danger of respiratory failure.

In response to those rapidly emerging needs, Philips recently received an industry-first FDA clearance for the use of its ultrasound portfolio – including Lumify handheld ultrasound – to manage Covid-19-related lung and cardiac complications. By imaging Covid-19 patients at the point of care, physicians can perform diagnosis on patients and monitor progression of associated conditions without the need to move them around the hospital, helping to reduce the risk of virus transmission. Images can be automatically transferred to the electronic medical record,

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accompanying patients throughout their care journey.

easy-to-follow protocol at hand helps to promote consistent image quality for first-time-right Further uptake of portable diagnosis or reliable disease ultrasound beyond Covid-19 tracking over time. Similarly, can be anticipated, as basic the Lumify portable ultrasound diagnostic capabilities move into system comes with tissuenew sites of care closer to the specific presets that support the patient. At the same time, we will examination of specific organs, also continue to see increased such as the lungs or the heart, demand for X-ray and CT scans, allowing clinicians to quickly with healthcare providers using obtain relevant images at the the full gamut of imaging to point of care. diagnose patients, and to monitor disease progression Philips is working with clinical throughout the patient pathway. partners around the world to adapt and expedite protocols in MR, now that imaging centres 3. Standardised presets and are facing a hefty backlog of protocols help perform diagnosis elective exams. For example, by first-time-right incorporating an acceleration technique that shortens MR Because healthcare exams by up to 50 per cent, professionals face a previously radiology departments can unseen threat in Covid-19, scan more patients and alleviate making the right diagnostic some of the burden on staff equipment available in the who must deal with new, Covidright place is only part of the related standards of care and solution. Equally important is disinfection. that the equipment is quick and easy to use, even for less 4. Remote image reading surges experienced users, to help them and enables real-time virtual get consistent results under collaboration highly stressful circumstances.

For example, in an effort to One massive change brought support radiology staff with fast about by Covid-19 is that many acquisition of CT scans, Philips radiologists, cardiologists and developed CT chest protocols oncologists were suddenly for suspected Covid-19 patients. forced to work from home, With staff sometimes reduced creating an unprecedented need to one technician to reduce risk for home PACS workstations of exposure, having a clear and and secure clinical informatics 70

“Philips collaborated with the Dutch government and two leading hospitals to create an online portal that connected 95 per cent of all Dutch hospitals for digital exchange of Covid-19 patient data”

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“By using a teleultrasound platform, clinicians at the point of care are able to share ultrasound images and consult with a remote healthcare professional in a safe and secure way, all in real time”

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solutions that allow them to read images remotely. Interestingly, one recent survey among radiologists indicated that more than half of them saw enough benefit in their current workflows to consider continuing them post-Covid-19, with 65 per cent reporting decreased stress levels.

As one of the early pioneers in digital transformation in pathology, Philips reports a similar surge in remote reviewing of pathological cases, with the support of regulatory agencies who adapted regulation in the wake of the pandemic. The ability to share images instantly also creates new forms of collaboration.

For example, by using a teleultrasound platform, clinicians at the point of care are able to share ultrasound images and consult with a remote healthcare professional in a safe and secure way, all in real time.

5. Central coordination is critical in adapting to demand and capacity changes As distributed ways of working take hold, central coordination will be the linchpin for dynamic adaptation to changes in demand, capacity and clinical conditions across sites, both inpatient and outpatient.

In recent years, centralised command centres already started gaining traction. These centres

integrate data from various sites to steer clinical and operational decision-making in real time, much like other industries manage dynamic and complex operations in one place. In healthcare, the need for central coordination has become even more pronounced because of Covid-19. During the crisis, we have seen clinical and operational management teams emerge, working closely together to respond to uncertainties in a highly agile way. These ad-hoc teams will evolve into established (virtual) command centres to coordinate diagnostic services.

Staff will remain distributed across sites, but all relevant data will be in one place, to help enable real-time analytics and decision making.

6. Interoperability and patient data exchange are more vital than ever When it comes to data sharing, Covid-19 has challenged healthcare providers in another way too. Overwhelmed by the rapid outbreak of the virus, limited ICU capacity prompted hospitals in many countries to transfer patients to hospitals beyond their networks. This created an immediate need for seamless, secure sharing of medical information, while safeguarding patient privacy.

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“Having all relevant patient data to hand goes a long way towards precision diagnosis that guides the right treatment decisions at the right time, but data without intelligence can leave healthcare professionals even more overwhelmed” Philips collaborated with the Dutch government and two leading hospitals to create an online portal that connected 95 per cent of all Dutch hospitals for digital exchange of Covid-19 patient data. An agenda of greater interoperability between platforms and increased sharing of patient data is paramount, while protecting patient privacy, to ensure that digital patient data is used to its fullest potential.

7. AI helps turn data into fast and meaningful insights Having all relevant patient data to hand goes a long way towards precision diagnosis that guides the right treatment decisions at the right time, but data without intelligence can leave healthcare professionals even more overwhelmed.

In an effort to aid the rapid diagnosis of Covid-19, Philips partnered with Shukun Technology to jointly deploy an AI algorithm that can quickly characterise affected regions in the lungs based on chest CT, translating a scan into a report 74

within 30 to 120 seconds to support the radiologist. Used by more than 20 hospitals in China in over 20,000 patient cases, the AI algorithm can also help analyse patient scans over time, enabling physicians to monitor disease progression in order to decide on patient discharge after successful treatment. The value of AI in precision diagnosis goes beyond image analysis, however.

AI is really about empowering the radiologist, the technologist and the physician at every moment in the diagnostic journey.

Innovations in image-guided therapy and connected care are introducing new ways to support caregivers and patients from the hospital to the home, across the health continuum, all building on interoperable digital platforms.

This goes to show how the pandemic has been a lightning bolt for digital transformation in healthcare, bringing healthcare professionals, scientists and IT experts together to turn necessity into invention.

For further information on Philips, visit www.philips.com

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ENVIRONMENT

EU announces pla to build a digital tw of our planet.

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ans win

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Destination Earth, or DestinE, will pull in an unprecedented amount of real-time data from climate, atmospheric, meteorological and behavioural sensors, to construct a high-precision model of the planet.

By rendering the Earth’s atmosphere to a one-kilometre scale, DestinE’s supercomputing capacity will go far 78

beyond today’s modelling infrastructure.

Europe’s current climate forecasting model, led by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), runs at the comparatively coarse scale of nine kilometres.

Johannes Bahrke, European Commission spokesperson for the digital economy, said, “DestinE aims to develop a very high precision model of the Earth to anticipate, monitor, better 79

understand and react to the climate change challenges ahead of us.”

It is hoped that this digital twin will give policymakers the computing power necessary to gauge how climate change will impact society, and at the same time, visualise how the decisions we make as a society could alter the trajectory of climate change.

We can think of DestinE as the supercomputer behind the European Green Deal, which aims to make Europe the first climate-neutral continent by 2050.

Johannes added, “This cannot happen without its twin objective: the digital transition. Europe needs ambitious projects to be up to this commitment.”

An intercontinental race is currently underway to develop ‘exascale’ computing systems – the holy grail of computing power, capable of performing one billion calculations per second. The USA and China have traditionally been front-runners, but the EU has now entered the race. Building the necessary computational power to run DestinE is a key challenge 80

Flood, dro heatwave m paired with migration, and envir pollu

ought and models can be h models of economics ronmental ution

for the EU, but with DestinE's announcement comes signs of progress. On 18th September 2020, it announced an €8 billion investment to build the next generation of supercomputers, assembled under the European High Performance Computing Joint Undertaking. Until then, it will make do with recent acquisitions of three advanced (but not quite exascale) systems totalling €830 million, which should be operational by 2021. When active, they will multiply the EU’s computing power by a factor of eight.

For climate scientists, the EU’s investment offers a way to make use of underutilised climate data.

Björn Stevens, Director of the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology, said, “We already collect huge amounts of data, but most is thrown away because existing climate and computational models aren’t powerful enough to digest it. There are many sources of data that we don’t even try to assimilate. The challenge is to bring this into models, and that’s where DestinE comes in. It can open up a new dimension of trying to find information in data that we already collect.”

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The first step towards launch is to develop the core digital modelling platform, which is hoped to be operational by 2023. By 2027, the EU aims to have developed the full digital twin. Once it’s up and running, DesintE should have a wide range of uses. For meteorologists, it could be used to anticipate natural disasters before they happen, and with higher precision and granularity; climate scientists could use it to peer into the future of our climate; and biogeographers could continually monitor the health of the planet by pulling in real-time biodiversity and land-use data.

It also offers new opportunities to integrate disciplines. Currently, climate scientists extract information from models and pass it to experts in agriculture, economics or sociology, who separately seek to understand the data’s relationship with human behaviour. DestinE will be capable of integrating these fields into a single platform – flood, drought and heatwave models can be

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paired with models of migration, economics and environmental pollution.

This integration of human and climate data is key to guiding the EU’s Green Deal. For years, governments have sought a way to assess the impact and efficiency of environmental policies. The European Commission says that DestinE will provide a solution.

Proposed legislative measures at the EU and national levels will soon be simulated using DestinE. Their effectiveness will be evaluated against alternative approaches, steering the commission’s path to net zero carbon.

Many challenges still remain. Even with the requisite computing power, digesting the resulting data into usable information will not be easy.

A new type of modelling code may have to be developed to deal with the scales of atmospheric, climate, behavioural and environmental data that DestinE will process.

A Japanese team running a 1 km scale meteorological system

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To me, the Anthropocene is the time period where individuals can influence the Earth at global scale. DestinE can give people the tools to see how local actions can scale to global effects Björn Stevens, Director of the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology 84

took half a year to extract useful information from data collected over just a few days. Plus, the US is hot on the tail with their ‘Aurora’ exascale computing system. The US Department of Energy (DOE) has also made significant progress in a similarly ambitious project to DestinE called E3SM, which is aiming to advance the US’ own computing power through the goal of producing an exascale Earth system model.

DestinE differentiates itself from E3SM through its planned usability for the public. ‘Everyday’ public users, business and land owners will be able to access DestinE via the cloud, running the interface from desktop or tablet, and using it to model their own climate and environmental interventions.

For Björn, democratising climate modelling in this way is key to achieving the scale-up of climatefriendly practices that are too easily dismissed as ‘drops in the ocean’. He concluded, “To me, the Anthropocene is the time period where individuals can influence the Earth at global scale. DestinE can give people the tools to see how local actions can scale to global effects.”

Source: Geographical

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B U S I N E S S I N T E RV I E W

Laurent Vanden Brande, Supply Chain & ICT Director at Supermarché MATCH, delves into the company’s successful supply chain transformation strategy.

Written by Anna McMahon • Produced by Jennifer Davies 86

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Supermarché MATCH is a European supermarket chain, with around 92 supermarkets in Belgium, 115 in France, and 28 in Luxembourg.

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or the last five years, Laurent Vanden Brande has been Supply Chain & ICT Director for Belgium and Luxembourg, focusing on finding a solution to support the transformation of the company’s supply chain operations.

Laurent says, “The idea was to give our customers a better service by reinventing the wheel in terms of our logistics operations. We were not thinking about moving operations, but more along the lines of a full transformation.”

In doing so, Laurent and his team have concentrated their efforts on a number of key strategies including strengthening local anchoring, moving towards unified omnichannel ecommerce, and leveraging new technologies. He explains, “Luxembourg is a small but dynamic country, so we tried to reinforce local anchoring involving third-party partners. We prepared for unified ecommerce (aka omnichannel) enabling operations because we strongly believe that these are the foundations of a good business.”

In terms of leveraging new technologies, Supermarché MATCH makes the distinction between pure logistics technologies and technology related to IT. Laurent says, “Intralogistics technology has been enabled by very narrow aisles (VNA) and STILL manu-up trucks.

It has played an important role in 89

achieving a much higher density in the warehouse and improving productivity. At the same time, a decision was made to fit pickers in the warehouse with Honeywell mobile devices from Reverse IT for receiving and confirming their tasks.

This allows very fine steering of their activities and real-time tracking of their progress. The warehouse management system (WMS) therefore had to be of a newer generation in order to support the transformation and offer more rhythm to the workers.”

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“If you order more stock, but if you order not as fre high volumes and the ass as well as issues with sh It is a catch 22 situation, that we must, and do now

Laurent Vanden Brande, Supply C Supermarché MATCH

, it will work out cheaper, equently, you will have sociated financial burden, helf life and freshness. a real balancing act w, overcome”

Chain & ICT Director at

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Supermarché MATCH has optimised every square metre of its 12,000 sq. m. warehouse space in order to maximise its activities. Laurent continues, “The VNA is one metre thinner than the width of a normal aisle. We are able to put more goods in fewer square metres.

This makes us more efficient and has a positive impact on operational productivity. The starting point for us was to think about all the processes we can put in place to help us be more productive, as well as ‘details’ such as having a super-flat floor. Cherry picking is another more efficient way of working. It offers the opportunity to have operators picking multiple items in a collection process. The less time it takes to move a parcel, the more efficient we are. We prefer to save time and money on our operations so we can invest in the customer experience.”

“STILL is a market leader in trucks technology.

They are very good at what we call intralogistics and have helped us significantly”

Supermarché MATCH has focused on optimising its procurement function by introducing a new approach comprising supply systems supported by AI. Laurent explains, “In retail, it is not traditional procurement. It is more about replenishment.

We already had very complete inventory optimisation, but the new focus gave us a different way of looking at it by using 93

more advanced techniques. The idea is to bring in fact-based decision making, as opposed to using our gut instinct. It is getting right into the objectives behind a replenishment decision. Fast forecasting as a service also brings in an architecture for the inventory management to plug onto a forecasting engine, providing sales predictions for items over a set period of time.

This is designed to evolve, and it is leveraging open source, so there is a huge community of people working on it.”

The ‘fresh part’ of the process now involves fully digital x-docking allocation, where fresh produce

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We are proud to work alongside Supermarchés MATCH and aXialyze

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“We are very satisfied with Openbravo WMS as it has given us the agility we needed at a very competitive cost, allowing us to transform operations in record time” Laurent Vanden Brande, Supply Chain & ICT Director at Supermarché MATCH

Move faster to true omnichannel retail and boost agility for better customer experiences and more resilient operations.

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Single view of clients, prices and promotions across channels.

Mobile POS, clienteling and self-checkout in the stores.

Click and Collect and other omnichannel scenarios.

Centralized, real-time management of all your inventory.

Omnichannel reporting and retail data warehouse integration.

Fully modular and adaptable technology in the cloud.

suppliers deliver in bulk and items are allocated to the different stores overnight, bringing economic advantage by mixing several suppliers together.

Furthermore, Economic Order Quantities mean orders are no longer based on historical decisions. Instead, orders are placed when needed and quantities are chosen with economics in mind, paying close attention to the trade-off between the cost of placing the order and the cost of holding it. Laurent continues, “If you order more stock, it will work out cheaper, but if you order not as frequently, you will have high volumes and the associated financial burden, as well as issues with shelf life and freshness. It is a catch 22 situation, a real balancing act that we must, and do now, overcome.”

The IT ecosystem for any retail business is very complex, combining many different solutions, so when you plug in a new component of a new generation, you can expect to face a number of challenges. How can you take advantage of a new WMS, for example, without having to redo the entire ecosystem?

Laurent answers, “The strategy we used was to mimic as much as possible the historical WMS from an interfacing perspective. The technology was put in place to 97

virtualise the new system, but the backbone does not know it is any different. They still use the same ‘language’ in the interface, which enabled very fast deployment of the project. It is now running with serenity, and on a path that allows us to evolve the interface with the existing ecosystem.”

Laurent started using cloud on the project because it was the only system offering the agility and flexibility he needed. He explains, “Cloud was the best way to give the business the required flexibility. The procurement cycle for a production environment for a mission critical system would usually be months – up to four, five or six months sometimes. In this case, it is more like hours, which has, of course, made the project more agile.”

In addition, the company has built an ecosystem of strong partners to work alongside it on its transformation projects including aXialyze, STILL and Reverse IT. Laurent says, “We have worked with international business consulting firm, aXialyze, from the beginning. We wanted

to find the best company to help us think about our company needs and the best ways to enhance the customer experience. STILL is a market leader in trucks technology.

They are very good at what we call intralogistics and have helped us significantly. I also highly recommend Reverse IT. They have supported us by offering Honeywell mobile devices, which have dramatically transformed our warehouse operations.

All of these operations must be based on the operational excellence of third party logistics. In this logistics case, Arthur Welter.”

In addition, Supermarché MATCH partnered with Openbravo earlier this year in a bid to drive its supply chain transformation and improve customer satisfaction, since the retailer needed a more sophisticated warehouse management solution to support the modernisation of its warehouse operations.

Laurent concludes, “We are very satisfied with Openbravo WMS as it has given us the agility we needed at a very competitive cost, allowing us to transform operations in record time.”

For further information on Supermarché MATCH, visit www.supermarchesmatch.com 98

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TECH

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he aim is to accelerate the rise of global tech leaders born in Europe, in the service of both progress and technological sovereignty, driving more money to the start-ups.

Gathering a select group of 150 of Europe’s leading tech founders, innovators, investors, researchers, corporate CEOs and government officials, the founding members convened for the first time last month to kick off a collective debate, and will continue the discussion in

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the coming months through a series of workshops and open consultation. Together, they will define an actionable strategy and roadmap to be presented to European heads of state later this year on scaling the tech ecosystem to the next level.

Despite the challenges of the global pandemic, 2020 was a good one for European startups and technology. There was record venture capital investment into innovative new companies and the digital transformation of larger corporations continued at pace.

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At the same time, startup-friendly reforms by governments and an ongoing change in how talented young graduates see entrepreneurship has put Europe in a better position than it has ever been to capitalise on digital trends.

But Europe still lags behind the US and Asia in areas such as investment and the development of key technology, so if the region is ever going to close the gap, it needs to up its game another level.

Discussing how to make this happen, Scale-up Europe’s

tech community plans to continue the conversation over the next few months. The founding members who met at the first event in Paris include Atomico’s Niklas Zennstrom’s, French digital minister Cedric O, and entrepreneurs like Alan’s Jean-Charles Samuelian.

Ecosystem partners for the initiative also include Sifted, La French Tech, Hello Tomorrow, Station F, and Viva Technology.

Launched by French president, Emmanuel Macron, Scale-Up Europe has highlighted the aforementioned four key areas where officials believe action most needs to be taken to help turn European start-ups into

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future global tech leaders. To get more investors, as well as international talent, to notice Europe, the region needs to better deploy competitive advantages to a market that potentially spans over half a billion consumers. And it needs to get well-established corporations on board with the next digital revolution too.

Developments in the fields of AI, quantum computing and

cybersecurity, among others, are viewed as essential, not just to economic growth in the coming years, but also in having wider strategic, political and social implications.

That’s ultimately what’s at stake for Europe, and why it’s battling to scale up – in order to gain an edge in technological innovation and grow tomorrow’s digital champions.

For further information on Scale-up Europe, visit www.scaleupeurope.tech

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Emmanuel Macron discusses Scale-Up Europe with Niklas Zennström

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LOGISTICS

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Transporeon is partnering with Peripass to offer enhanced Yard Management Solutions and launch Real Time Yard Management.

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TRANSPOREON HAS ANNOUNCED A STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP WITH PERIPASS, A COMPANY DEDICATED TO HELPING COMPANIES DIGITISE AND OPTIMISE THEIR LOGISTICS PROCESSES, IN ORDER TO OFFER DIGITAL YARD MANAGEMENT SOLUTIONS. 110

he largest logistics platform in Europe, Transporeon is therefore moving one step closer to becoming real time in everything they do by expanding its visibility solutions into Real-Time Yard Management.

Today, most transport or warehouse activities are often

optimised with Time Slot Management. Combining Time Slot Management with RealTime Visibility information allows dynamic rebooking of time slots and provides a real-time view on yard activities. Only few companies have invested in digitising their entire yard operations in real time.

Nevertheless, yard management 111

is key to gaining total visibility of the entire digital supply chain. Yet, for many companies, this is still a missing link. Although transport or warehouse activities are often optimised or automated, relatively few companies have already invested in digitising their yard operations. The yard is where a lot of additional value is ready to be collected. This fragmented

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and reductionistic view and management of the yard makes it very difficult for shippers, retailers, carriers and logistics service providers to utilise all available resources in the best possible way, leading to reactive processes, a lack of flexibility, and also increased waiting times.

Transporeon’s launch of Real

Time Yard Management will deliver an experience of simplicity in a fully automated real-time yard, ensuring hassle-free logistics and augmented visibility. A solution that aims to ease yard management and automate different visitor and logistic flows will enable significant efficiency, cost savings, and safety and security improvements for all shippers, retailers, carriers and

logistics service providers running warehouses and cross-docks in Europe.

Stephan Sieber, CEO at Transporeon, said, “Launching Real Time Yard Management and partnering with Peripass will deliver tremendous value to carriers, shippers and forwarders.

By combining the two best

“TRANSPOREON’S LAUNCH OF REAL TIME YARD MANAGEMENT WILL DELIVER AN EXPERIENCE OF SIMPLICITY IN A FULLY AUTOMATED REAL-TIME YARD, ENSURING HASSLE-FREE LOGISTICS AND AUGMENTED VISIBILITY”

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“TRANSPOREON’S MANAGEMENT WI OF SIMPLICITY IN TIME YARD, ENSU AND AUGMENTED

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S LAUNCH OF REAL TIME YARD ILL DELIVER AN EXPERIENCE N A FULLY AUTOMATED REALURING HASSLE-FREE LOGISTICS D VISIBILITY”

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“THIS INTEGRATED SOLUTION INCREASES REAL-TIME VISIBILITY BETWEEN TRANSPORT AND YARD OPERATIONS. THIS IS AN ABSOLUTELY UNIQUE OFFERING FOR THE DIGITAL LOGISTIC MARKET AND PERIPASS IS PROUD TO BE PART OF IT” Leander Naessens, CEO at Peripass

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offerings approaching the yard from the timeslot and from the physical yard and all in real time demonstrates the strength of our platform and delivers a fully integrated experience to our customers. The whole Transporeon team is excited To find outthe more about with a about cooperation Peripass, visit www.peripass. thought-leading and dynamic comteam at Peripass that shares our passion (for) delivering outstanding value to our customers.”

Leander Naessens, CEO at Peripass, added, “By offering a combined solution, we join forces, with innovative Yard Management Solutions from Peripass and dynamic time slot management capabilities from Transporeon. This integrated solution increases real-time visibility between transport and yard operations. This is an absolutely unique offering for the digital logistic market and Peripass is proud to be part of it.”

Transporeon has been working on this co-innovation with key pilot customers in Europe and plans to release the product and make it generally available this year.

For further information on Transporeon, visit www.transporeon.com 117

IN THE SP OTLIGHT

START-UP OF THE MONTH Introducing Hopin, the virtual venue for live online events. opin is a virtual venue with multiple interactive areas that are optimised for connecting and engaging.

Designed with the aim to give organisers the ability to recreate the in-person event experience as closely as possible, but all online and in one place, you can create live online events that are both interactive and personal to you.

A Hopin event is unique thanks to a host of innovative features. Attendees can network one-to-one over live

video, connect and exchange virtual business cards for following up later, join breakout sessions and participate in groups, watch keynote presentations on stage, send chat messages, fill out polls, and explore interactive expo areas. There’s also a private virtual backstage for speakers and branding placements for sponsors.

Whether you’re hosting a live training workshop, bringing your company’s remote team together, or launching a full-scale digital conference, hundreds of thousands of people have created engaging virtual Hopin events that feel just like the real thing!

Launched in 2019 as the first virtual venue for live online events, what made Hopin unique was it enabled meaningful interactions and networking between people online, focusing on engagement

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“Whether you’re hosting a live training workshop, bringing your company’s remote team together, or launching a full-scale digital conference, hundreds of thousands of people have created engaging virtual Hopin events that feel just like the real thing!”

rather than content. Organisers have the tools for building highly interactive online experiences, ensuring flexibility and scalability at the same time.

And since virtual events are sustainable, carbon-neutral and 100 per cent online, Hopin is continuing with its mission to provide a safe, environmentallyfriendly and accessible way for people to host and attend events by building the best online events platform in the world!

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