DigiBuzz 5th Edition

IT’S ALL IN THE CLOUD

THE STORY OF DIGICEL x MICROSOFT AZURE

DEEPER INTO DIGITAL

OUR 2023 TECHNOLOGY OUTLOOK

WHAT’S INSIDE

PG. 4

A NOTE FROM OUR GENERAL MANAGER

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IT’S ALL IN THE CLOUD: How Digicel Group’s Infrastructure Transformation led to the standardization of processes, increased stability and recoverability with Azure

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FUELLING GROWTH THROUGH TECH

Symptai CEO Urges Tech Investment, Bold Thinking and Intentional Leadership to Fuel Growth

PG. 14

DEEPER INTO DIGITAL OUR 2023 TECHNOLOGY OUTLOOK

PG. 19

SPOTLIGHT: Suzette Burley, Head of ICT Sales – Business Solutions

PG. 21 DB OUT AND ABOUT

Hello,

HelloHello A NOTE FROM OUR general manager

Welcome to the latest edition of our business magazine. This year, in keeping with the company’s digital outlook, we promise to bring you in-depth insights into the latest technology trends and developments that are set to shape the Jamaican business environment.

In this edition, we explore some promising advancements and innovations that are expected to influence the technology landscape in 2023. These include the continued growth of e-commerce, increasingly immersive digital experiences, and the adoption of new technologies such as AI and IoT to the role of government policies and initiatives. Consider this edition an important contributor towards driving digital transformation and sustaining the growth of the digital economy. We will also dive deeper and highlight the companies and individuals behind these developments and their impact on Jamaican businesses and consumers.

We hope you find value in this edition and inspiration to help you stay ahead of the curve in the ever-changing technology landscape.

Thank you for your continued support. We take pleasure in creating creative solutions for your organisation, combining with world-leading suppliers and technology to bring you cutting-edge business solutions.

Enjoy!

Darragh Fitzgerald Selby General Manager Digicel Business darragh.fitzgeraldselby@digicelgroup.com

IT’S ALL IN THE CLOUD

How Digicel Group’s Infrastructure Transformation led to the standardization of processes, increased stability and recoverability with Azure

The Digicel Group implemented an Azure Digital solution, along with their partner Maureen Data Systems, and is now completing the most extensive Azure deployment in the Caribbean. This move is part of the company’s Infrastructure Transformation to support increased business agility and cost control, augmenting their Digital journey. This, paired with the benefits of avoiding system outages and focusing on increasing scalability and stability, were key influencers in pursuing this change.

As a complete communications and entertainment provider, Digicel is delivering powerful digital experiences to consumer and business customers in 25 countries across the Caribbean and Central America.

For Digicel it’s all about keeping customers connected to the people and things they love. Digicel does that by providing world-class, superfast networks and services that provide customers with the ability to operate at the forefront of the global knowledge economy, right where they belong.

Having robust, scalable infrastructure is central to delivering the best experience for their customers. That’s where Microsoft comes in.

A step towards the cloud

One of the pillars of the Digicel IT strategy is to focus on a Cloud-First approach, which helps to prevent outages in on-premises data centers and focus on increasing scalability and improving stability in their infrastructure. As part of Digicel’s digital journey, agility and flexibility are core to the business model and enhance further IT development, standardization, security, and governance.

According to Melinda Lloyd, Digicel Group’s IT Program and Project Manager, Microsoft’s Cloud Solutions met with their extensive standards. “Microsoft is a longstanding partner with the most wholesome or complete approach and Azure offerings, including Edge Cloud. This factor was a critical component given the dynamic locations in which we operate. We made the right choice”, says Melinda.

The implementation started in 2019, supported by Maureen Data Systems, a Microsoft partner. The first step was to initiate a Cloud Transformation Program to migrate applications to the Azure Public Cloud, followed by a Data Transformation Program building a central Azure Data Warehouse across two geographic zones. The Digicel Cloud Transformation team later extended its Azure Platform to local Azure Stacks. While this expansion is in progress, it is already the most extensive Caribbean Azure Cloud Transformation program, being deployed across all 25 Digicel markets.

Azure empowering the business

Digicel built a complete cloud adoption framework strategy, including hosting digital apps for its customers and a robust roll-out plan underpinned where necessary by local Azure Infrastructure to be able to host all applications. It also included the creation of a landing zone and a hybrid cloud environment using Azure Stack Hub and HCI in local markets for performance in a mixed physical and virtual environment.

Completing Project implementation and formalizing app modernization activities

“From a quantitative perspective, one of the benefits is the standardization of our internal processes, which is helpful in structuring how our operations will look and be governed after we complete this phase”, says Melinda.

The company has achieved what was intended with the standardization of processes, increased stability and recoverability, and Virtual Machine benefits of using the platform as a service; helping them align with IT security goals. A large number of servers and services are now operated by an Agile Cloud Services team, capable of doing more with fewer resources.

“We have increased agility, scalability, stability and patching automation, which helps us to minimize manual effort. The most significant benefit, however, is to be able to better serve our business and end customers, which is the main reason for this change and direction. As a company, security is essential to us and our customers as we need to meet global standards. This transformation helps us to achieve these goals.” Melinda adds connoting feedback from Digicel’s Group IT Chief Enterprise Architect, Gareth Hunt

With the Digicel internal IT Cloud Transformation well under way and reaping the benefits, Digicel is keen to showcase and help our customers achieve the same Cloud adoption level.

Source: https://customers.microsoft.com/en-us/story/1592461454769733852digicelgroup-telecommunications-azure-en-jamaica

Symptai CEO Urges Tech Investment, Bold Thinking and Intentional Leadership to Fuel Growth with Marlon Cooper

Symptai Consulting Limited, which offers technology advisory and assurance services in data privacy and protection, cybersecurity, anti-money laundering, and digital transformation, is rapidly growing. The company, which is now close to celebrating its 25th anniversary, has recently been energized by a strategic partnership with the Digicel Group. Marlon Cooper, the company’s CEO, describes himself as a servant leader who is passionate about ensuring employee wellbeing while maintaining a highperformance environment.

His focus for 2023 (and beyond) is finding better ways to serve Symptai’s customers throughout the Caribbean. In this issue of DigiBuzz, Marlon shares his views on intentional leadership, using technology to reduce risk and what business leaders should focus on to thrive in the post-pandemic era.

DigiBuzz (DB): What is the kind of leadership needed to navigate through a crisis?

Marlon Cooper (MC): I think leaders are now required to demonstrate humanity and authenticity. Whereas before, the focus was more on business acumen and emotional intelligence. Employees, customers, stakeholders all have different needs that must be considered. Many of those needs were not properly balanced previously.

Crises also reinforce the importance of culture. Many of the things you take for granted when you are together in the physical space, you have to be intentional in replicating in a virtual one. We also had to make sure that employee wellbeing was prioritized.

Many of our employees were working non-stop. We had to ensure that our people had well-equipped office spaces within their homes so that there could be a distinction between home and work. There was also a significant mental health impact, and we provided therapy for those who needed that support, including me.

DB: What is Symptai Consulting’s core advice for business leaders today?

MC: We are encouraging leaders to harness technology to safeguard their business, and by that I mean to build resilience. Technology is incredibly useful, but there are also bad actors out there who are using it for nefarious purposes. We are primarily a cybersecurity company, and 70-80% of breaches that happen from a cybersecurity perspective can be connected to a human. People are always the biggest risk because inevitably they will do things they are not supposed to.

Businesses should invest in educating employees to raise their level of digital literacy and security awareness. For example, Symptai does phishing exercises for our customers to test which employees will click an unsafe link and then conduct training sessions with those employees. We repeat that process periodically because the threats are continuous and evolving. Those threats can be mitigated as systems can be safeguarded, by training people who operate systems, and by putting in place rigorous protocols that are tested regularly.

DB: Where are you seeing opportunities for businesses in 2023?

MC: I think many CEOs were waiting for the pandemic to be over so that they can return to normal. That is a big mistake. What we thought of as ‘normal’ has changed, that’s

not the world we are living in today. Both employees and customers now have different expectations. A crisis creates massive disruption that will lead to greater opportunities.

Here’s a shift that occurred for us - during the pandemic we doubled in size. Prior to that, anyone who wanted to work with us typically had be living around Kingston and coming into the office every day. Now we have people who live in other areas of Jamaica, even other countries,

opportunities emerging. In the financial industry, for example, we see the rise of digital wallets and mobile money throughout the Caribbean. The pandemic was an accelerant for the disruption now occurring in the traditional finance space. Today, every company is a technology company!

DB: Do you believe that there are opportunities for growth?

MC: We are in a moment when the focus is on a looming recession. For many businesses the thinking is let’s hold strain and tighten the belt. That mindset will not lead to growth.

The companies that will emerge doing well will first ensure that they are solid at their cost base but will equally be looking to take advantage of opportunities. That includes looking at possible mergers and acquisitions. Bold companies should think about how they can transform processes, how they realign their teams, leverage partnerships, and collaborate (even with competitors) to tap into what customers really want. They will also be looking for the best ways to use technology to move ahead.

and that’s where they work. The pandemic created an opportunity to onboard people who we wouldn’t have hired before and to use technology to work in new ways. Companies that thrive or make exponential leaps tend to do so in the space of disruption. We have to seize the opportunities that now exist. Customers know there are other ways to access products and services, and their consumption has shifted to having them on-demand. In every industry, you are beginning to see new

What we thought of as ‘normal’ has changed, that’s not the world we are living in today. Both employees and customers now have different expectations. A crisis creates massive disruption that will lead to greater opportunities.

After a period of rapid growth, economic uncertainty, rising cases of theft and vandalism of network resources, energy price shocks, and the normalisation of COVID-19-era consumption habits bared down on the technology sector in 2022. While the past year challenged us to be more resourceful and resilient, we remain optimistic as we continue to see signs of increased digital adoption, tremendous investment impact, and sustainable growth for new and emerging local innovations.

OUR 2023 TECHNOLOGY OUTLOOK

As 2023 unfolds, we expect government and private enterprises to continue many of their digital transformation initiatives, likely at a moderate pace, while they contemplate the ongoing impact of inflation, and prediction of a global recession this year. While consumers will also be considering the impact of these potential headwinds on their wallets, we predict that they will still be on the lookout for smarter devices and highly modernised virtual services that enable them to live their best digital lives.

Expect highly personalised AIpowered experiences

I predict that we will depend more on computer systems to perform additional tasks that normally require human intelligence, such as speech recognition, visual perception, decision-making, and language translation. Artificial Intelligence (AI) will become more commercialised in ways that will reinvent engagement with employees and customers, while opening up access to new markets in the digital space.

For Digicel, we are using AI to improve the customer experience when they chat with Ruby, our chat bot in the MyDigicel app; get answers to frequently asked questions; and, through lead generation when website visitors sign-up, submit information or show interest in our services.

AI is part of the broader lifecycle with customers that enterprises of all sizes and

on with business operators that are focused on going deeper into digital with their customers.

In this regard, the Government of Jamaica is also showing some encouraging signs through its rollout of a digital healthcare management system during 2023. We commend this effort, which, in addition to delivering operational efficiency, can also support the testing and development of AI technologies that enable faster response to public health emergencies, and treatment of a range of health conditions.

At the time of writing this message, Chat GPT (Generative Pre-trained Transformer), the latest AI innovation, is taking the digital highway by storm, using deep learning to produce human-like responses in the form of text, code, poems, stories and more. Millions of people have been tapping into the technology, which is already changing the way we present information as being the product of authentic human input. This, due to Chat GPT’s ability to, in seconds, write and rewrite thousands of variations of, for example, an essay topic.

App-ortunities in 2023

The latest State of Mobile 2023 review by data.ai, a leading digital analytics and data science provider to the mobile industry, highlight the growing influence of mobile apps influencing consumption across verticals, including gaming, retail, food delivery, ride hailing and sharing, EduTech and FinTech. According to data.ai, daily time spent on apps in mobile-first markets increased by 3% to five hours per user, or a third of our waking hours. New app downloads spiked by 11% to 255 billion, even as app store spend dipped by 2%. Advertisers spent 14% more or US$336 billion on in-app ads - another clear sign of the further shift towards targeting specific audiences, based on users’ preferences.

As a mobile-first market, there are opportunities for Jamaica’s app developers and enterprises of all sizes to better position themselves in 2023 to monetise on the global boom that consumers’ increased in-app time and spending is creating. In addition to their traditional role as customer engagement tools, apps are evolving into powerful hubs

industries will take more seriously in 2023 as they leverage data-driven decision making to scale offerings, create hyper-personalised experiences, and increase the pace of product and service delivery to their customers. This is an aspect of business transformation that our team of innovators in Digicel Business have been actively working

for leads, sales and revenue generation.

As Jamaica’s digital operator, we have been supporting the HEART/NSTA Amber Coding Academy in their efforts to transform the country in the technological hub of the Caribbean, through skills training in coding and software development, mainly among young people. In 2023, I anticipate that we will continue to build on the innate talent and digital competencies of these budding innovators, to the point where they develop at least one breakthrough app that will top the download charts and influence the next wave of digital interactions. I remain confident that we can get it done.

IoTs and social will get more personal

Gadgets that help us to manage our homes efficiently and make our lives easier were among the top items shopped last Christmas. As they connect to our true fibre internet service, more consumers are able to lay the digital building blocks for their smart homes. The evolution will continue well into 2023, as Wi-Fi connectivity becomes standard on more home appliances. In addition, around-the-clock monitoring of homes and businesses will become commonplace, as remote cameras and sensors become more affordable.

Social media will use AI even more to tell short, impactful stories of our lives, based on the images and videos we record throughout the day. AI will go as far as to understand what our friends and followers would like to

see in those Reels and Stories by curating a select cut of photos and videos on our devices. Highly engaged Gen Z audiences are committed to creating more user-generated content that feeds proprietary AI algorithms with invaluable insights for mobile operators, advertisers, data analytics enterprises, digital retail channels, and app developers.

Greater opportunities for content creators to own their audiences

Subscription communities that have been setting up camp in the digital landscape will become ubiquitous and influential as they forge relationships that are more direct with the content creators they would usually follow on traditional platforms. By truly owning these relationships, content creators can also leverage new tech to further monetise on their interactions, and become an invaluable portal for sales leads – the result of AIgenerated insights on customer preferences and behaviours.

This is an exciting area for our local content creators to collaborate and build sustainable online communities that can help them to generate new revenues and evolve their business model.

Cybersecurity will remain top of mind

In 2023, threats will continue to proliferate, but best practice still provide the most robust form of protection. Cyber-attackers who saw the pandemic as an opportunity to exploit the vulnerabilities of households and organisations

have not yielded. Their persistence requires swift countermeasures, especially as more of us go deeper into digital with our banking, service delivery, business collaboration and transformation, and national utilities infrastructure.

On the defender side, at Digicel, our cyber-response teams, backed by the latest approaches, technologies and talents to tackle the most complex threats, will remain vigilant in offering the best defence and protection to our enterprise and government customers. We continue to work with them to identify vulnerabilities, while addressing new and emerging threats, even as we anticipate new extortion tactics from ransomware organisations. Consumers are a major part of our consideration; through engagements around Safer Internet Day, Cybersecurity Awareness Month, and, periodic cybersecurity tips @DigicelJamaica on social media, this year, we will continue to increase their awareness and protection.

Our investments will drive Jamaica deeper into digital

We began 2023 at the hallway mark for our huge commitment to building Jamaica as a digital hub with our massive US$200 million (J$31 billion) ‘Digital Jamaica’ investment. To date, we have spent US$100 million toward delivering superfast LTE data speeds and coverage, expanding our home and business fibre network into more rural parishes, including Clarendon and Manchester. In addition, we will complete the final phases of installing state-of-the-art broadcast facilities for SportsMax during 2023.

To date, our Digital Jamaica investment has delivered 99% LTE coverage and reached over 100,000 households or over 500,000 Jamaicans with true Fibre-to-the-Home internet and TV service. In the months ahead we will expand our deployment and strengthening of these networks as we provide the most robust and comprehensive connectivity solutions that will enable consumers and business to take full advantage of the tech trends that will emerge this year.

While the life-changing impact of these investments happen throughout 2023, we look forward to leading an industry solution to address blocking of stolen phones on all mobile networks in Jamaica. We will also step up our advocacy for stiffer penalties for theft and vandalism of telecom equipment - we cannot afford to put at any further risk to all the technological gains that Jamaica has made over past decade.

In our opinion, 2023 will be the year that Jamaica makes great advancements towards creating a truly digitally connected society, bolstered by a conducive economic environment, enabling legislation, a growing cadre of digital creators, greater opportunities for digital learning and upskilling, and, a progressive digital mindset.

As I say goodbye to Jamaica and its extraordinary people, I wish to thank, in particular, our team of hardworking and committed employees, our customers, stakeholders and friends of the Digicel brand for being part of our phenomenal digital journey. I am confident that, working better together, our incoming CEO, Stephen Murad, and our highly motivated team will make a positive contribution towards securing Jamaica’s digital future.

Spotlight

OOften there are persons who are critical to us achieving seemingly impossible or complicated tasks. They help with a smile here, a joke there, no complaints and are reliable beyond compare. We’re taking some time to get to know - Suzette

Burley, Head of ICT Sales – Business Solutions

DigiBuzz (DB): What has been your professional experience with Digicel Business?

Suzette Burley (SB): My experience with Digicel Business has been one of enlightenment and growth. I have been able to learn from my peers to prepare for leadership. I have also learned how to be a leader and develop people to meet the companies objectives as well as their own personal goals.

DB: What would you like your next professional achievement to be?

SB: Balance of people management, strategy and innovation

DB: What do you like most about yourself?

SB: I have been told that I am tenacious in the pursuit of personal and team success

DB: How do you balance your career and family?

SB: When I started at Digicel I had a young son, so I had to determine what was most important each day in order to balance my familial duties with my work duties. Sometimes, because of how dynamic my work environment is, I’d have to call upon my family and friends when I couldn’t be present. Setting my priorities and surrounding myself with a strong support group are what kept my work-life balance stable.

DB: What’s a fun fact about you that many people may not know?

SB: I’ve flown an airplane before.

DB: What do you find most challenging and rewarding about your job?

SB: People management is most challenging. Managing a diverse team comes with its challenges but it is also the team’s biggest success as we are able to create a synergy that compliments each other. Most rewarding is when I am able to see personal growth in the individual I am managing.

DB: Who/What motivates you?

SB: I am motivated by my family. We are close knit and I get satisfaction from being a goal getter in every aspect of my life.

DB: What advice would you give your teenage self?

SB: Don’t be afraid to fail, step out of your comfort zone. This is when you will realize your true potential.

DB: Complete the sentence: The most important thing I learned about myself so far is….

SB: ...how resilient and adaptable I am. I work in a very dynamic environment that requires me to pull on various skills to excel. Very often at the end of a work week I am in awe of just how much professional gymnastics had to be done to make it all happen.

DB: What is your favourite part of being on the Digicel Business management team?

SB: 79% of the Digicel Business Management team are women and there are no glass ceilings. We all have a voice, we are treated equally and we all have an opportunity to create waves.

DB: If you could choose anyone as a mentor, who would you choose and why?

SB: It may seem cliché but Oprah Winfrey. Her evolution as a successful black business woman has been epic. She has been able to transform herself several times to become a leader in her own right and has created a legacy that will have generational change.

DB: What advice would you give to someone who wants to work within your team?

SB: Buckle up for an exciting ride. Within my team you will be challenged but supported, stretch beyond your comfort zone, however you’ll be able to grow. Hard work and determination is required but you will be rewarded.

DB: What is your motto or personal mantra?

SB: Live in the present, Learn from your past and Plan for your future!

OUT AND ABOUT

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“While the past year challenged us to be more resourceful and resilient, we remain optimistic as we continue to see signs of increased digital adoption, tremendous investment impact, and sustainable growth for new and emerging local innovations.”