Gigabit - September 2017 by Technology Magazine

WITH

TA L I NG

BIZ

September 2017

TOP 10 CHALLENGER

BANKS E X C L U S IV

SPRINT

A SUPPLY CHAIN SUCCESS STORY TRENDSPOTTING WHAT THE UK CAN LEARN FROM INDIA’S RAILWAY TRANSFORMATION

FROM ELECTRONICS TO TRANSFORMING

HEALTHCARE GIGABIT SPEAKS WITH PHILIPS’ DIRECTOR OF SUSTAINABILITY, MARCUS LAUBSCHER

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FOREWORD

WELCOME TO THE SEPTEMBER ISSUE OF GIGABIT. Sustainability is a keyword PowerPointed in many a meeting. Depending on context and the business, it can mean anything from efficient procurement to CSR. But for health tech giant Philips, it means all the above and is measured in lives. Philips’ Director of Sustainability Markus Laubscher embraces big data and circular-economic principles at the Dutch company, and explains how these efforts are driving down frontline costs and is powering the company’s goal of improving the lives of three billion people a year. The remarkable turnaround of US telco Sprint under the guidance of Chief Procurement Officer Mariano Legaz is another example of transformation through a focus on sustainability. Read about five initiatives that allowed the company to return to growth and dramatically shave costs while doing so. And if there’s any organisation very publicly struggling with its transformation, it’s the UK’s rail network. Part of the answer could be mobile technology, argues GSMA’s Marie Austenaa – and the clues are in India. Also this month, join us on a tour of the top 10 challenger banks disrupting the oldest of industries, and enjoy deep success insights from a truly global range of tech-centric businesses. Don’t forgot to sign up for the weekly Gigabit newsletter, and join us on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

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INSIGHT

TRENDSPOTTING: WHAT THE UK CAN LEARN FROM INDIAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S RAILWAY TECH TRANSFORMATION Written by: MARIE AUSTENA A , HEAD OF I D E N T I T Y B U S I N E SS D E V E LO PM E N T, G S M A

September 2017

THE UNITED KINGDOM’S TRAIN NETWORK IS ONE OF THE OLDEST IN THE WORLD; THE FIRST PUBLIC RAILWAY OPENING IN 1825. MORE THAN 1.7BN JOURNEYS ARE UNDERTAKEN EVERY YEAR IN THE UK AND LIKE MANY OTHER COMPLEX TRANSPORT NETWORKS, THE UK RAILWAY IS UNDER CONSTANT PRESSURE TO DELIVER AGAINST SKYROCKETING DEMAND FOR MORE TRAINS AND BETTER SERVICES. MAYBE INDIA HAS THE ANSWERS… THE BCG’S LATEST Rail Performance Index, which rates European railways on safety, quality of service and intensity of use, reports that UK railways have the sixth worst standard of service on the continent. According to the research, high fares and delays have pushed our network out of the Tier One band of “best-in-class” railway services offered by Switzerland, Denmark, Finland and others. There are many factors at play here, but digital transformation can go a long way in transforming the customer service experience offered by our railways. But rather than just looking to our neighbours in Europe for inspiration, we can look further

afield for examples of technology that is revitalising our railway services. We can look as far away as India, where mobile technology is leading the way. India’s travel industry is evolving. Over the past two years, rail minister Suresh Prabhu has announced new plans that will revitalise the country’s railway network, including increased investment of nearly 285%. One development that is already underway is the introduction of mobile ticketing on all trains. Not only are mobile tickets faster to buy and more convenient to carry than traditional paper tickets, but they are also widely used, given India’s love affair with mobile technology. 9

India has one of the fastest growing populations of mobile phone users in the world – 690 million by 2020, according to the GSMA. The UK, meanwhile, has 74 million mobile phone connections. It seems an obvious choice, but introducing mobile ticketing is just one way that smartphones could transform the UK railway network, just as they have enabled India’s railway revolution.

MOBILE ENABLES TRANSFORMATION Another pillar of the digital transformation of India’s railways is growing internet penetration. In India, the government aims to increase the number of stations with high-speed wifi services to 400 by 2018, allowing more passengers to stay connected as they travel. More than 1.5mn people in India already log on to Google’s free station wifi on their mobile phones – and that’s only available in 19 cities. As more high-speed services are rolled out in India, there is a huge opportunity for railway operators to improve customer service. The same could be true in the UK. Using social media or apps, operators can 10

September 2017

‘India’s travel industry is evolving. Over the past two years, rail minister Suresh Prabhu has announced new plans that will revitalise the country’s railway network’ provide real-time travel updates to passengers, informing them of any delays or confirming platform information based on their mobile ticket. Passengers benefit from convenient, personalised updates, fostering greater loyalty. Increased access to high-speed wifi also provides lucrative opportunities for retail businesses within train stations. Mobile is the perfect channel for retailers to provide personalised offers that can help drive footfall

to their stores. Using geo-location tracking, retailers can send push notifications to a shopper’s phone when they physically pass an in-store beacon. These notifications can interrupt traditional social media feeds and share targeted offers and content based on the shopper’s location in the train station. With so many passengers travelling through stations in India and the UK, phone in hand, retailers can more effectively market to these commuters.

IMPORTANCE OF AUTHENTICATION However, for any travel industry to successfully transform, it’s essential that these new services are supported by robust authentication. Despite growing adoption of digital services, many UK consumers have concerns about the security of the data they share with service providers. A recent study by Unisys revealed that half of all UK consumers are extremely or very concerned about the safety of their personal data. Maintaining customer 11

confidence in digital services is a growing challenge for any business. The solution lies in our pockets. Multi-factor authentication is the best way to protect customer data and using our mobile phones to do so ensures a smooth service for everyone. With the prevalence of mobile phones, using the same device to authenticate your identity while interacting with service providers is an incredibly simple way to lower friction and increase 12

September 2017

security. It also removes the need for consumers to remember an evergrowing number of online username and password combinations. The GSMA is already working with leading mobile network operators in the UK and India to roll out Mobile Connect, an operator-based authentication service that provides a convenient and secure login solution. Mobile Connect protects consumer privacy by using personal data held by the mobile operators, plus proven SIM

‘The solution lies in our pockets. Multi-factor authentication is the best way to protect customer data and using our mobile phones to do so ensures a smooth service for everyone’ security, to authenticate a transaction such as booking train tickets.

THE JOURNEY AHEAD In India, the government’s plans to transform railways are ambitious. If rolled out effectively, they have the potential to elevate India’s transport system to compete with those in Japan and others around the world. The UK’s rail networks could consider following suit, if operators want to deliver high quality

customer service to meet demand. Mobile phones are the best tool to support this transformation and offer a range of benefits to passengers and service providers. But passenger privacy must remain a priority. It is only by adopting a mobile authentication service that travel operators can ensure data is really secure and ensure consumer confidence when embracing new digital travel services. 13

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FROM ELECTRONICS TO TRANSFORMING HEALTHCARE

H E A LT H C A R E

ONE OF THE WORLD’S BIGGEST ELECTRONICS COMPANIES IS NOW TRANSFORMING THE HEALTHCARE SECTOR WITH SMART TECHNOLOGY. ITS AMBITION IS TO IMPROVE THE LIVES OF BILLIONS OF PEOPLE, SOMETHING IT’S ALREADY WELL ON ITS WAY TO ACHIEVING W r i t t e n b y : L E I L A H AW K I N S

H E A LT H C A R E

Philips has diversified its business in recent years

September 2017

P H I L I P S - T R A N S F O R M I N G H E A LT H T E C H

WE ALL KNOW Philips. At some point we’ve purchased one of its lightbulbs, DVD players, or televisions. However, fewer people are aware that the company is also a big player in the healthcare industry. In this sector it currently has the ambition to better the world’s healthcare, with a target to improve the lives of 3bn people each year. Currently it’s at 2.2bn. In doing so Philips has become part of the fast-growing circular economy, a system that is, and should, overtake how the world has so far been operating - i.e. the linear economy which, in other words, is taking, making, and throwing away. Circular economy is about making best use of what is available and wasting as little as possible, and in healthcare Philips refurbishes medical equipment for it to be used by clinicians, encouraging them to re-use these parts rather than buy new ones. However, as Markus Laubscher, the organisation’s Director of Sustainability, explains, this is nothing new. “The whole industry has been doing this for a number of years, and that is basically due to the nature of having large equipment in hospitals that

Markus Laubscher Philips Director of Sustainability requires a lot of effort to build.” It is also something that customers request because it makes products cheaper. “We see this as a strategic opportunity to keep material at a higher value and longer in use,” Laubscher says. “We can lower the overall costs by not shredding and throwing these instruments away, as was done in the past. “It really was a case of we produce new, we sell, and that’s basically it,” Laubscher says, “whereas now the situation is much more about equipment that is out in the field that 19

H E A LT H C A R E we want to maintain. We want to provide services to the customers around these installed instruments, and if a customer decides to upgrade, or a new technology comes out that delivers much higher medical performance, then we use the older instruments strategically.”

The global circle Philips has a refurbishment center in Europe and another two in the US, where its strips down the appliances, upgrades them and performs quality checks before shipping them out to customers around the world. “The refurbished market is very strong in Europe and in the US,” Laubscher says. “Mainly with smaller private clinics, so players who in the past had no access to this kind of equipment would have to refer their patients to bigger hospitals. Now they can afford these instruments and it’s fulfilling their needs for routine imaging and diagnosis. They can do it all in-house providing better services.” Meanwhile, other countries present a challenge for them to export refurbed products to, as they have trade barriers in place to protect their local industries. Laubscher 20

September 2017

cites China, Brazil and India as a few places with this strict legislation.

Smart healthcare Back in 1997, in partnership with Sony, Philips introduced DVD players to the general public. As de rigeur as these products became in people’s homes, they are now pioneering smart tools in the healthcare industry like portable ultrasounds that can be employed anywhere. By using ultrasounds on iPads, it’s possible for people to be diagnosed on the spot, whether on the road after a car accident, after suffering an injury at an event, or in a sports facility. When the person arrives at the hospital the medical staff will be fully prepared to treat them, which cuts down on time and cost, and generally improves the quality of the care. Big data is essential to all these initiatives. “It’s a really key element, because the circular economy is very knowledge-intensive,” Laubscher says. “You need to know a lot about the whereabouts of your products in order to plan how to use them most effectively.” To enable this to run smoothly, Philips commissioned the Future

At the cutting edge of medical technology

“WE CAN LOWER THE OVERALL COSTS BY NOT SHREDDING AND THROWING THESE INSTRUMENTS AWAY, AS WAS DONE IN THE PAST” – Markus Laubscher, Director of Sustainability 21

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Health Index, a study for governments and businesses to find out what healthcare needs will be in the future and where to concentrate resources while lowering costs. It was undertaken with surveys and case studies using the input of over 33,000 health and insurance professionals, along with members of the public from 19 countries across five continents. The research concluded that the necessary solution is digital technology, for people to manage their own health with initiatives like telehealth and remote monitoring. “What we see is that with care technology, digitalisation and big data, we can lower costs by knowing much better what’s happening with our devices and how they’re being used,” Laubscher says.

Transforming the world’s health Perceptions of sustainability are changing. Whereas in the past the concept was confined to environmental problems, people have now realised it’s an all-encompassing issue that affects everything from the earth’s resources to the economy, all the way down to people’s wellbeing. As a result there is a much greater awareness of the need for sustainable

practices, both among the general population and the world’s industries. “The healthcare space is actually coming quite late into the sustainability discussions,” Laubscher says. “In other sectors that are much more resource-intensive like the aerospace and IT industries, they were using assets in a different way much earlier. The healthcare industry is now catching up, and we see it as an opportunity to step into this relatively new field, learn from what other industries have been going through, and see where the sweet spots are to provide these assets as a service. “On the other hand a company like ours has for many years been a sustainability leader, and we see this as a way to differentiate ourselves from our competitors.” This includes the aim to transform the lives of billions of people through more efficient, personalized healthcare. “We see this as a contribution to the bigger picture of inequality of care, be it globally or nationally,” Laubscher says. “Improving lives for us means to help our customers get access to care. Moving it out of the hospital and into people’s homes is for us, the healthcare of the future.” 23

TOP 10

TOP 10 CHALLENGER BANKS When the 2008 Financial Crisis shattered public trust in banking institutions, the world’s most innovative financial entrepreneurs saw an opportunity. Banking had long been open to only a few players, but the political fallout from the crisis, combined with new technological developments, made it easier than ever for competitors to emerge.

Edited by: ANDREW WOODS

This marked the rise of “challenger banks,” or firms that upended the traditional playing fields by offering financial services through exclusively digital means. The following 10 challengers represent the most promising firms in the industry, with the potential to continuously redefine banking for years to come

TOP 10

10 Monese

Founded in September of 2015, this company does not yet have a commercial license, meaning it cannot provide loans or credit; it is currently limited to offering money transfers and ATM services. What Monese loses in the scope of its services, however, it more than makes up for in their span. The company offers transfers across multiple currencies to customers throughout Europe, making it invaluable for immigrants and migrant workers. It currently relies on mobile account and transfer service programs from Contis Group, rather than having its own platform. 26

September 2017

APS Financial

Short for “Advanced Payment Solutions,” APS is technically not a bank, but it offers many of the same services. The company was founded in 2006 for the primary purpose of facilitating e-money payments. It has since expanded its services, and in 2016 obtained a license to offer loans to consumers, traders, and small and medium enterprises. The company has processed £4 billion of payments so far. Combined with its long experience operating outside the traditional parameters of banking, this leaves it well prepared to thrive as a challenger.

TOP 10 CHALLENGER BANKS

Amicus PLC

Taking a more specialised approach to challenger banking, Amicus has focused on financing properties and assets. The company made a splash in 2015 when it offered a £100mn package made up of short-term mortgages, aimed at institutional investors who used the money to buy shares in home loans. Amicus is now expanding its operations to include a wider range of banking services. It hopes to have a banking license by the end of 2017, and will convert £30mn of debt from its lending activities into equity for banking.

7 Monzo Bank

A recent entry to the challenger banking market, Monzo Bank only gained its full license in February of this year. The company is notable for having developed its own banking platform. This platform offers the full range of banking activities and services, including reports on past spending habits, monetary transfers, and integration with other companies’ apps to facilitate easy payments. Monzo’s monetary resources are still small but are growing rapidly - the company raised a total of £22mn through a combination of venture capital and crowdfunding. 27

TOP 10

CivilisedBank

Another recent entrant, CivilisedBank received its lending license in May of this year. Instead of operating branches of its own, this bank will focus on connecting local bankers with businesses in their communities. This, it hopes, will forge stronger, more trusting relationships between bankers and creditors. The company offers its clients accounts that keep track of their transactions, deposits, savings, overdrafts, loans, investments, and foreign exchanges. CivilisedBank plans to include 80 bankers in its network within the first five years, generating £25mn in turnover. 28

September 2017

Tandem

Designed to offer banking services suited specifically to millennials, Tandem plans to provide current accounts, credit cards, and loans by the end of the year. The company has had trouble attracting funding, which is why it will not be able to launch savings accounts for the time being. Nonetheless, it has raised £100mn to finance its other services. Once it launches its main services, Tandem plans to differentiate itself as a company that helps its clients manage their money responsibly. This will make it invaluable to young customers seeking financial independence.

Starling Bank

Like Monzo, Starling Bank is designing its own mobile banking platform, but it has the benefit of having raised more than three times as much startup capital. The company currently has £70mn, much of which it received from the angel investor Harald McPike. Starling’s focus is on helping its customers manage their money more effectively, notably by sending them alerts when they are about to perform activities that will incur fees. Its platform also offers comprehensive information on spending, transfers, and accounts, with updates in real time.

TOP 10 CHALLENGER BANKS

Atom Bank

Originally offering fixed savings accounts and loans for small and medium enterprises, Atom Bank recently expanded into residential mortgages, obtaining its license to offer two-year fixed rate loans in December of 2016. The company currently has £135mn to finance its activities, and plans to raise £100mn more in the near future. It also has access to a network of 800 mortgage providers. The only major downside to Atom Bank is its platform. Rather than developing its own stack, the company relies on existing software from FIS, limiting its ability to provide personalised services.

TOP 10

2 ZOPA

Founded in 2005, Zopa is designed to connect individual lenders with others who need loans. It has already facilitated £2bn in loans through such peer-to-peer financial services. It is now looking to expand

September 2017

its mobile services to include more traditional banking, and applied for a license in late 2016. Its experience handling large quantities of money and vast network of contacts gives it enormous potential as a bank.

TOP 10 CHALLENGER BANKS

1 The Contis Group Starting out in 2007 as a prepay company, Contis expanded into e-money services in 2010, debit cards in 2012, and full banking in 2016. What sets it apart from competing challengers, and puts it in first place on our list, is its superior

banking platform, which offers comprehensive information on card payments, transfers, and accounts for a variety of mobile devices. The Contis Group’s platform is so successful that other challenger banks, including Monese, have chosen to rely on it rather than develop their own.

Transforming Sprint’s S U P P LY C H A I N Written by: John O’Hanlon Produced by: Denitra Price

Take everything leave nothing Immersive, life-changing experiences for consumers through 5G. We create the technology to connect the world. nokia.com

More in touch all in reach Better connected to our health and human family through 5G. We create the technology to connect the world. nokia.com

SPRINT

AS SPRINT’S CHIEF PROCUREMENT OFFICER (CPO), MARIANO LEGAZ SITS IN A VERY HOT SEAT INDEED. There’s no more competitive or cut-throat business than the US telecommunications market, in which familiar names like AT&T, Verizon Wireless and T-Mobile present figures to claim their network is the largest or fastest growing

ariano Legaz has inhabited the frenetically evolving world of telecoms since he joined Verizon International in Argentina in 1995, at which time he was still a student. He moved to the United States in 2000, and it’s significant that he remained with Verizon until his appointment at Sprint in April 2016. He brought with him a deep understanding of the business, having served in senior roles in planning and engineering. He eventually became Verizon’s director of capital planning and analysis, managing an annual budget of $17bn. It was not until 2009 that he

September 2017

put on a specifically supply-chain hat as vice president of Strategic Sourcing and subsequently VP of global supply chain services. Legaz’s appointment was a key component in Sprint’s turnaround strategy. For 10 years, until 2015, the company had been losing customers and staff, burning cash and watching its margins dwindle. Since Japan’s SoftBank acquired Sprint in 2013 for $21 bn, and despite billions of dollars in investment by its new parent, Sprint continued to struggle and lay off employees.

“We think of 2015 as our

recovery year; last year

we call our comeback year” – Mariano Legaz, Senior Vice President and Chief Procurement Officer

Mariano Legaz Senior Vice President and Chief Procurement Officer

The transformation To achieve this, tightening up the supply chain management function was essential, and Legaz is happy with the company’s progress so far – his organization has contributed substantially to the company’s recovery, but he is the first to recognize a shared effort. “Over the last two years or so we have made great strides and have produced significant results,” Legaz says. “First, we have started growing again. We think of 2015 as our recovery year; last year we call our comeback year because we won back business, showed growth, and became cash positive for the

w w w. g i g a b i t . n e t

Mariano Legaz is senior vice president and chief procurement officer at Sprint Corporation. He is responsible for Sourcing, Procurement, Supply Chain management, and Real Estate operations across the organization. Under his leadership, Sprint is maximizing supplier relationships, driving operational efficiencies, and enabling their winning strategies. Before joining Sprint Corporation, Mr. Legaz was the Verizon Wireless Florida Regional President, where he was responsible for sales, operations, marketing, distribution, customer service, and financial performance. During his 20 years at Verizon, Mr. Legaz also served as Senior Vice President, Supply Chain Services; Vice President, Sourcing; Director, Capital Planning and Analysis, as well as several other roles in the network technology organization, both in domestic and international markets. Legaz holds an engineering degree in Electrical/Electronic Science and a postgraduate degree in Telecommunications from the Catholic University of Cordoba in Argentina. In addition, he received his EMBA in Economics from Cox School of Business at Southern Methodist University.

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Mariano Legaz – the career path to the CPO’s office • Educated at Universidad Católica de Córdoba in Argentina where in 1997 he obtained degrees in Electronics, Engineering and Telecommunications. • Moved on to Southern Methodist University’s Cox Business School to earn an executive MBA in 2003. • Between 1995 and 2015 worked at Verizon, progressing through director of Capital Planning and Analysis; VP Sourcing; senior VP of Supply Chain Services; and President of the Florida Region. • Appointed Chief Procurement Officer at Sprint, responsible for Sourcing, Procurement, Supply Chain Management and Real Estate Operations. Legaz says, “My job involves enabling the business while driving operational efficiencies, reducing costs, and maximizing supplier relationships – and getting better every day!” Lean credentials: Married and a father of three, Legaz is an accomplished distance runner and has participated in several marathons. Among his most recent achievements was a top three finish in his age group at the October 2016 Waddell and Reed Kansas City Marathon.

first time in a decade or more.” Customer churn - the ratio of customers switching away to new customers gained - is the key indicator in this business. In 2014 Sprint lost 1.5mn (net) customers, but in 2016 it got them back and gained 930,000 (net), reversing the negative churn. “The fact is that in two years we have gone from losing more than a million to gaining almost a million,” he adds. “Put another way, that was almost a 2.5mn-customer swing, and that is remarkable in our business.” Sprint’s rating has improved, he

September 2017

says, and it is rated the number-one voice network across the country. “Previously we were losing customers at a rate of 2% a month, but in 2016 our churn fell to about 1.5% and it is still coming down.” Just as important, brand perception surveys have raised Sprint to a four-year high, leading all competitors in places as diverse as Colorado Springs, Cincinnati, Portland and St. Louis. So much has been achieved already, and remember this is only year two of a five-year transformation program.

USA

WATCH NOW

Sprint’s Brand, 2017

Already Sprint has shown it can defy the odds and execute one of America’s most iconic turnarounds, not only in reversing its customer decline but in also now being recognized as one of the top places to work, according to The Atlanta Journal Constitution. The value of procurement One of the pillars of the transformation was necessarily cost reduction. Instead of the $30bn the company spent in 2013, it now spends about $22bn. “That means we’ve achieved a better than 20% reduction in our costs

during a time of growth. That is what I mean when I call it a transformation!” Although he is not minimizing the part his organization has played in this achievement, Legaz emphasizes that it has to be a company-wide effort with every individual and every department playing its part. “Throughout my career I was always being asked about how to validate procurement against cost savings value and efficiency. At Sprint the same questions also arise. Naturally we measure our internal productivity in light of negotiating savings and the

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SPRINT

Bottom lines

HIGHLIGHTS FROM SPRINT’S TRANSFORMATION • Fiscal year 2016 net operating revenues of $33.3bn grew for the first time in three years, including fiscal fourth-quarter net operating revenues of $8.5bn, which grew 6% year-over-year. • Fiscal year 2016 operating income of $1.8bn and Adjusted EBITDA of nearly $10bn. o Highest operating income in 10 years and highest Adjusted EBITDA in nine years (22% growth year-over-year). o $2.1bn of year-over-year reductions in cost of service and selling, general, andadministrative expenses in fiscal year 2016. o Fiscal fourth quarter operating income of $470mn and Adjusted EBITDA of $2.7bn. • Fiscal year 2016 net cash provided by operating activities of $4.2bn and adjusted free cash flow of $607mn.

internal processes of procurement, how we drive efficiency and the like. But when it comes to the precise savings, I can just look at our annual report and see operating expenses going down by a billion to $2bn every year, so there is no doubt that the job is being done! Procurement is just one component of this transformation. I do not by any means try to say we are driving all of those savings. Clearly a lot of savings are being

September 2017

generated at the company level, and we can happily point to those efforts and say we are a part of that.” Legaz says procurement has become an integral part of the decision-making process, a truly strategic function, embedded in the company to help balance its needs and expenses. That said, and despite his humility, in just over a year he has made identifiable and measurable improvements.

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#LiveUnlimited | Prince Royce, Lele Pons, Bradley Martyn, Rachel Cook, Gerard Adams “It was a surprise to me that the company didn’t have much in the way of procurement level metrics, so the first thing we did as a team was to develop a series of simple but meaningful high-level metrics to measure our productivity, our efficiency and our contribution.

For the first time in the company’s recent history, we were tracking sourcing savings at the project level and we were also tracking all the cost-reduction initiatives when negotiating new contracts.” This also meant a change in the

“We’ve achieved a better than 20% reduction in our costs at a time of growth. That is what I mean when I call it a transformation!” – Mariano Legaz, Senior Vice President and Chief Procurement Officer

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way Sprint acquired services or products. “We started tracking all of that at the project level,” Legaz adds. “We now have very good metrics. We can measure how much we are saving by organization, by project, and even by individual.” Creating these metrics gave Legaz visibility over the company’s costs. Additionally, he introduced regular meetings with key executives across the business to assess current demand, their forecasts, and the major

projects they had in hand. He strongly believes that his organization should support finance, marketing, HR and so on. Because traditional procurement is no longer a major driver of value, the relationship should be hands-off. “The procurement process doesn’t need to be exclusively led by the procurement team – we stay in touch, but we don’t always need to get deeply involved,” Legaz

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says. He is proud of the team he has formed over the last year, taking the opportunity provided by natural attrition to refresh the talent. It is now as lean and efficient as any. “I can put our team against comparable global teams and we will definitely come in the top quintile,” Legaz says. “With about 200 people handling procurement operations and also inventory management and logistics, we manage over $10bn of annual spend.” Note: This does not include the real estate side of the business,

which he also oversees. It’s a very active space as the company builds new stores across the country and converts the portfolio of former RadioShack stores it acquired from the latter’s restructuring. Much of the acquisition processes involved here are outsourced as Sprint increases its high street presence in under-represented locations. “We’re going after specific target areas to increase penetration in places we think we can do best – the market is responding really well to the quality of service we are now

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For sixteen incredible years, weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve partnered with Sprint to help their customers make connections and share experiences all across the country.

Congratulations to

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THE CPO CONTRIBUTIONS TO SPRINT’S TRANSFORMATION

Substantial (multimillion-dollar) savings from the negotiations of Radio Access Network (RAN) equipment. By working with several vendors and internal partners, the Sourcing team was able to produce a detailed cost breakdown of RAN elements. This effort, coupled with group benchmark exercises and bundle renegotiations, allowed the team to secure savings.

Issued an RFP to six suppliers for Sprint’s on-site health clinic and pharmacy business. After the RFP was complete, the savings amounted to 9%. To drive further savings Sprint performed an e-Auction. During the live e-Auction vendors bid against each other, as they were able to see what the leading bid was, and decide whether to lower their bid in order to win the bid package. The e-Auction drove an additional 13% saving.

Utility Rates Optimization – the Sourcing team obtained bids and negotiated agreements with alternate energy providers in 13 states and Washington, D.C., that offer deregulated electricity. The reduced utility rates will result in a 20% multimillion-dollar annual saving with the new suppliers.

Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO). Sprint issued an RFP to find a third party to assist with sourcing and recruiting efforts related to the aggressive expansion of the Sprint retail store footprint. The RFP was issued to six RPO firms. Negotiated a cost per hire rate, for the RPO, which is 35% lower than the internal cost per hire.

ADM Agreements. Sourcing achieved between annualized rate reductions between 5% and 10% for Sprint’s outsourced applications development and maintenance (ADM) contracts. Savings were achieved by benchmarking the onshore and offshore rates and using the data to negotiate and improve the rates with these outsourcing vendors.

Working Hand in Hand with Sprint to create the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s fastest and most cost effective network.

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Outside view Sprint retail store

offering,” Legaz says. However, real estate that supports network and transmission towers is all managed by a dedicated in-house team. Clarity through analysis Legaz’s team is now turning its attention to analytics as it revamps its spend analysis process, collecting, cleansing, classifying and analyzing expenditure data with an eye to cutting procurement costs further. At the same time, they are improving efficiency and monitoring compliance.

To this end, the team is creating a new ‘spend cube’ to give great insight into the relationship between commodity, cost center and vendor. At the beginning of 2017, Legaz pressed the button on an implementation that will, he is convinced, ensure that the new procurement strategies become firmly rooted. The existing strategic sourcing software suite was neither capable enough nor easy to use, so in June last year Sprint published an RFP to find the best replacement. In August

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2016, having reviewed all the available hands-off auctions,” Legaz says. “We software - considering supplier are currently working on finalizing registration, project management, business requirements for phase two sourcing, contracting, spend analysis (contracting, spend analysis, and and supplier performance from the supplier performance). We couldn’t point of view of usability and monitor supplier performance functionality - Sprint before, so we will made its choice. now have better The solution that visibility into our combined much supplier risk and better usability performance.” than the previous The Ivalua tool with better implementation functionality is is the big Ivalua, a world-class, sourcing story Sprint’s Annual end-to-end suite of of 2017 at Sprint, Revenue procurement modules. but refining the “Our focus during the first procurement processes phase was on simplifying the user and adding analytics functionality interface from our previous tool and is a never-ending quest. As clarity on taking advantage of extra things improves, gaps are identified so it offered like a more robust auction investments are being made and setup functionality to run more people hired to fill those gaps.

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“At the same time we are launching a full-curriculum training effort to give our people better tools and to increase their capabilities,” Legaz adds. “We don’t believe in dogmatic positions though. There have to be many ways of achieving goals in a diverse business like ours. Some processes are complex and specific to the business

unit that is dealing with them; some are, well, just commodities.” Diversity in supply Within Sprint there is clearly no bias when it comes to gender or country of origin: Legaz hails from Argentina, and Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure is Bolivian. Equal

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opportunities are at the heart of the company’s ethos, says Legaz, and he hasn’t had much to do to create a diverse sourcing policy. It’s more of a statement of his position: “We love to provide opportunities to small or minority-owned businesses. That is important because they are the engine of the economy. Over my career I have found that such companies tend to be the most innovative – in the way they do business and find efficiencies, they are a huge generator of new employment.” It’s very satisfying, he adds, to find that even the large technology corporations that partner with Sprint tend to be leaders in diversity, business ethics and equal opportunities. “But we at Sprint are leading the way,” Legaz states. “Even in the tough times this company never deviated from its ethical stance or its respect for social and legal responsibility. It is comforting to be a part of such a group.” As a provider of both telecoms hardware and networks, one very practical demonstration of this aspect of the company is the 1Million Project, which aims to provides devices and service to 1mn low-income students.

“We now have

very good metrics. We

can measure how much we are saving by organization, by project, and even by individual” – Mariano Legaz, Senior Vice Presidentand Chief Procurement Officer

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America’s students are facing a ‘homework gap.’ There are an estimated 5mn families in the United States with students who do not have access to the internet at home. With 70% of teachers now assigning internet-based homework, these students do whatever it takes to get connected. They go to hotels, restaurants and other businesses

to use Wi-Fi, wait in long lines at the library, or stand outside a school at night or early morning trying to get a Wi-Fi signal on their phone. Through the 1Million Project, Sprint and the Sprint Foundation will provide free wireless connectivity and a free device during high school to 1mn lowincome high school students who don’t have home internet access.

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SPRINT

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“Even in the tough times this company never deviated from its ethical stance or its respect for social and legal responsibility” – Mariano Legaz, Senior Vice President and Chief Procurement Officer

Download the 1Million Project brochure to learn more, or go to the website. Asked to summarize his philosophy, Legaz ponders for a moment before replying: “I believe in process excellence and in data and analytics being a huge enabler to making smarter decisions. A capable workforce is critical, but even more important and critical is to drive engagement and participation and the recognition for your talent. As an organization, we are committed to process excellence and customer satisfaction, but also to providing an environment where people are truly engaged and motivated.”

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The value of

DATA CENTRE

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Written by: Dale Benton Produced by: Tom Venturo

COLOGIX INC

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ith 26 data centre facilities across nine markets in North America housing up to 450 network service providers and more than 250 cloud service providers, Cologix is a data centre and interconnection company that stands at the centre of a rapidly growing industry. “Cologix focuses on the part of the data centre industry that is sensitive to, and finds value in, interconnection and connectivity,” says Grant van Rooyen, the company’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO). “Within most of our markets, we operate either a primary or secondary meet-me-room offering the broadest choice of network and cloud service providers within those markets.” As a network neutral data centre and interconnection company, Cologix prides itself on its “interconnection ecosystem” made up of a range of communities of interest that include: enterprises, media/content companies and financial institutions. “These businesses are attracted to our facilities because they have the option to choose from many different network providers and cloud service

September 2017

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COLOGIX INC

providers,” says van Rooyen. “This choice provides them with cost savings and scalability and the peace of mind knowing that if their strategy changes suddenly, they can switch providers as simply as changing a cross connect.” Columbus 3

The true value in Cologix’s data centre facilities lies in the interconnection and access to that ecosystem, as it enables customers to access substantially lower switching costs and a greater choice of providers. Cologix operates in markets

September 2017

that van Rooyen considers as “alternatives” to the largest Tier I markets. Instead of New York City, Chicago and Miami, Cologix hosts facilities in New Jersey, Minneapolis, Columbus and Jacksonville. For example, Columbus is a key, rapidly expanding market for Cologix, as the company has two large existing data centres there and is currently building a third – Columbus 3. At 160,000-SQF, housing four 20,000 sq ft halls with a capability of 20MW, Columbus 3 will be the most significant facility in Cologix’s current portfolio and the largest and most advanced multi-

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tenant data centre in the region. “Columbus is a fibre crossroads, where networks come together,” says van Rooyen. “Columbus 3 will not only be the most connected facility in Ohio, but will also enable the lowest latency onramp to Amazon Web Services (AWS) Direct Connect.” AWS Direct Connect enables customers to connect their infrastructure via a secure and private connection to the AWS Cloud to improve performance and reduce costs compared to onramps via the public Internet. Columbus 3 is earmarked

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company’s existing customer base. “It keeps all the connectivity within the family,” says van Rooyen. “Any carriers and cloud providers in our existing facilities will be immediately available to our customers using the Columbus 3 facility.” A changing market

Columbus 3 was born from the recognition of three major trends across the data centre industry, trends that Cologix needed to take advantage of in order to grow further. Large network service companies such as Google and Netflix are placing servers and switches closer and closer to the end users in edge markets – opting to choose locations such as Columbus as opposed to the larger cities in order to provide lower latency and performance. “This allows them to distribute content more effectively and creates huge demand for us as a business,” says van Rooyen. As these large network providers are moving closer, there has been an increase in cloud service providers and enterprises outsourcing

their data centre operations. Cloud service providers are proving to be the fastest growing segment in the industry, and they turn to Cologix because their data centres allow these companies to tap into the greatest reach in their markets. “Taking space in a data centre is a significant commitment, as the minute you bolt down servers to grow and connect them to networks you are committed to that location,” adds van Rooyen. “But what if something changes in their strategy? Trying to move a data centre is a very hard, painful and expensive process.” By using Cologix’s data centres, customers are exposed to the broadest supply of network and cloud providers. Should they require a new network provider, they do not have to move data centres or rip up those servers. This, van Rooyen believes, adds true value to what Cologix can offer. Spared no expense

Columbus 3 will not only be the

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COLOGIX INC

most connected data centre facility in Columbus and the broader Ohio region, but it will also utilise some of the most innovative technology solutions in the data centre space. One of the biggest challenges for any data centre provider and operator revolves around the issue of energy usage and the cooling systems in place. Cooling and heat has been identified as the largest source of energy usage. For Cologix, Columbus 3 has an answer for that.

“Every location where we build a data centre has a unique cooling application,” says Mike Putnicki, Vice President of Construction. “We have chosen an extremely scalable, efficient cooling application which we can easily increase capacity. We don’t have to operate a huge cooling plant and that provides substantial savings on upfront capital cost and energy usage.” Columbus 3 will feature a cooling system that allows for free cooling several months of the year.

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Grant van Rooyen

President & Chief Executive Officer Prior to forming Cologix, van Rooyen was CEO of IX Investments which was acquired by Cologix in late 2010. He was with Level 3 Communications for 10 years from 1999 until 2009 where he held a number of leadership positions, including President of the Content Markets Group, with responsibility for over $1.5bn of customer and product revenue. In addition to his Cologix responsibilities, van Rooyen is a Partner in vR Equity - a private investment firm. He has lived and worked around the world and holds a bachelorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s degree in economics and finance.

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COLOGIX INC

“It’s strictly dependent on the environment, so we pick the right solution for that environment,” says Putnicki. “For Columbus 3 we’ve used new technology that uses air cooled pumped refrigerant systems. It really is the most efficient scalable solution as it enables us to take advantage of the months of free cooling in Columbus. One of the specifications of Columbus 3 that may raise an eyebrow is its ability to withstand

an EF4 tornado. Not the first thought that springs to mind when considering a data centre facility, but it is this exact mindset that van Rooyen believes can make the difference. There is no other EF4 rated data centre in Ohio and in a market where customers place mission critical infrastructure with Cologix, this rating represents much more than simply tornado resistance. “Cologix’s philosophy is to go

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above and beyond to offer that extra degree of confidence for our customers,” says van Rooyen. “We’ve spared no expense because we understand that ultimately, our customers choose use because they trust us to keep their critical business infrastructure safe. That philosophy has transferred right through to Columbus 3.” The future of Cologix

With construction well under way, and users and network providers already lined up to populate Columbus 3, Cologix can turn to the future. With year over year of consistent growth that has seen major expansion across multiple geographies, supporting up to 1,600 customers to date, what’s next for the company? For van Rooyen, turning to

tomorrow starts with looking back. “The best indicator of the future is the past. We are a company which has grown in equal parts by acquisition and organic build, which will only continue into new markets,” he says. “I also expect a robust construction platform to continue whereby in every one of our markets we have completed major projects. Our first responsibility for our customers is ensuring they continue to have capacity to grow into, and that is a huge part of our construction capability. “Our builds are going to be larger in scale than they have in the past and that’s a reflection of the confidence and demand in our markets, and the efficiencies we can gain by building faster.”

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Iowa Communications Network TM

We speak with Iowa Communications Network Executive Director Ric Lumbard regarding the companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s transformation process, enacted to provide enhanced broadband services for its customers Written by: Catherine Sturman Produced by: Eric Lenhardt

The Iowa State Capitol in Des Moines, Iowa.

I O WA C O M M U N I C AT I O N S N E T W O R K

s the only state-owned broadband carrier in the region, Iowa Communications Network (ICN) consistently works to set itself apart from other broadband providers. As a government entity in a fee-for-service environment, State law permits ICN to deliver broadband services to government, education, public safety, and healthcare sectors. ICN routinely reviews its business operations and broadband services in order to keep costs low and provide exceptional services to its customer sectors. To guarantee the implementation of valuable services, and the delivery of a fast, automated, flexible network, ICN is undergoing a significant technological transformation, with the project estimated to total $15mn. Executive Director Ric Lumbard has been behind the companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s efforts to set forward a specific vision, provide overall direction, and deliver operational guidance within the agencyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s carrier operations since 2012. This has involved providing financial and technological insights and ensuring a timeless service delivery, in order to guarantee

September 2017

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ICNâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s new flexible carriergrade testing Lab allows ICN to operate efficiently as a carrier and establish a standards base approach to evaluate future technology.

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Cisco provides simplicity with end-to-end automation Cisco Network Services Orchestrator inserts speed into and takes cost out of managing your network. Network operators can create and change services faster without lengthy custom coding or disruptions. They can automate multivendor devices across their physical and virtual environments, and continually refine network services to meet new customer needs. To find out more about what Cisco Network Services Orchestrator enabled by Tail-f can do for your business, visit www.cisco.com/go/nso.

“We’re utilising this opportunity to release orchestration across the entire organisation, which includes not just the network, but all of our operations” – Ric Lumbard, Executive Director enhanced customer experiences. To take this even further, ICN is now undergoing a significant automation process throughout its entire operation to increasingly add value to its service operations and hence remain competitive. “There are two aspects to our automation - because we’re a broadband carrier, all the technology has to be automated,” Lumbard explains. “We’re also utilising this opportunity to release orchestration across the entire organisation, which means in a sense we’re creating a new automated culture and a new operation that includes not just the

Ric Lumbard Executive Director

As a veteran of over 25 years in the telecommunication sector, Ric Lumbard has served executive leadership in the private sector as Chief Technology Officer and telecom management; and in the non-profit world of International Missions and Aid. Lumbard joined the Iowa Communications Network (ICN) in 2006, served in the Business Services Bureau, then later the Operations and Engineering Bureau as the Director of Network Operations and Engineering. In January 2014, he served as ICN’s Acting Executive Director during the extended absence and eventual resignation of his predecessor. Lumbard led the ICN until the Iowa Telecommunications and Technology Commission (ITTC) completed its public Executive Director search and appointed Lumbard the new Executive Director in September 2014.

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I O WA C O M M U N I C AT I O N S N E T W O R K

The Iowa Communications Network is located at the Grimes State Office Building on the Capitol Complex in Des Moines, IA.

“We’re already seeing in America,

upwards of 70%

of the central office infrastructure is beginning to convert to data centre-type operations” – Ric Lumbard, Executive Director

September 2017

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network, but all of our operations – so, the orchestration goes across every area of the organisation.” Through this process, ICN has upgraded the hardware within its internal infrastructure to support 200 gigabit links, a hallmark of ICN’s entire network. As the telecommunications industry has begun to adapt in a similar mode to the IT space, Lumbard states that IT has the ability to be increasingly flexible, as “Local Area Networks (LAN) are easier to change”, but the process of changing tens and thousands of miles of fiber and infrastructure is an increasingly complex process. “We’re already seeing in America, upwards of 70% of the central office infrastructure is beginning to convert to data centre-type operations in order to implement virtual services and software-defined networking (SDN) type technologies. It’s very challenging for the telecom industry because we have been doing the same thing for many years.” However, seeing this as a growing trend, ICN began a shift in its internal operations back in 2012, and saw how

Philip Groner ICN Chief Operating Officer

SDN was emerging within the telco space. In order to keep pace with these developments, the organisation reserved resources so it could transform its service with minimum disruption for customers and end-users. “As a result, we’re now able to greenfield a brand new network, handle the upgrade at the same time, and implement SDN technology for the future of Iowa,” Lumbard says. Consequently, 48 current systems at ICN will be replaced with just four once

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I O WA C O M M U N I C AT I O N S NETWORK

“Customers could raise the

bandwidth, change security services, look up features, or

even see analytics”

Jessica Jensen ICN Executive Administrator

– Ric Lumbard, Executive Director

the process is completed, creating a more streamlined, efficient service. Positive feedback Through this automation process, ICN has also looked internally at its staff and its ongoing recruitment needs. With many loyal employees serving over 20 years in the organisation, ICN placed a hiring freeze for the first six months, enabling the agency to maximise

September 2017

the intelligent assets it already has in-house. It will also allow staff to become accustomed to these new ways of working, and support them through increased training opportunities, before looking outward to source new talent. “We have a very detailed process of how we are rolling this out,” comments Lumbard. “The first phase is the establishment of an away team, which will be the people who are going to

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go build this new culture for us. The transition team will then transition our people into that. Thirdly, the cleanup team will then turn down all the old operations in the old organisation, so it is, overall, quite an elaborate process.” Customer feedback These developments have been positively received by customers and it will give them increased control and flexibility. “The same way that customers can control a cellphone with an application that allows them to change the features on a cell service, should therefore be the exact same way that we operate a dedicated broadband service,” says Lumbard. “Customers could raise the bandwidth, change security services, look up features, or even see analytics. They will be able to see this from a portal on their phone, instead of having to call in to the helpdesk. We call this the process of going from 12 days to 12 clicks to provision services.” However, one might ask whether costs for such an advanced, flexible service could ultimately increase overall service costs for

Scott Pappan ICN Carrier Services Officer

customers. Lumbard quickly states that this is not the case – and is very much on the contrary. With a predicted decrease in capital expenditure spending, as high as 65% over time, he adds: “We are in a sense a government agency, which therefore runs in a cost recovery model. We can pass these savings directly down to the customers – in fact, we are already provisioning for rate reductions as we speak.” Nonetheless, despite

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EXPERIENCE THE AERITAE EDGE ADVANTAGE. AERITAE helps clients keep moving forward by maximizing performance, improving operations, and developing innovative new service solutions.

TECHNOLOGY

Inside ICN’s Broadband Information Center (BRIC). The BRIC empowers the ICN to collaborate more quickly with users and other agencies.

these successes, Lumbard is quick to add that ICN does not necessarily see these developments as a way of expanding its market, but will solely enable it to provide better services to its customers.

of flexible control over its services, in order to remain competitive. “I want things to happen in a matter of clicks, not a matter of days, and to guarantee that we’re as easy to work with as many mobile broadband providers out there today,” concludes Lumbard. “I think the mantra of telecommunications in general is going to be fast and flexible, and if we can obtain those two mandates in our organisation, we will provide powerful customer experiences.”

Flexible future ICN’s long-term vision remains simple: to provide exceptional services, enable the development of a strong virtual platform, all while ensuring customers have a high level

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Kconnected

eeping ansas

Written by: Nell Walker Produced by: Eric Lenhardt

Nex-Tech employees pause for a photo at the employee meeting held February 15, 2017, at the Russell Dream Theatre in Russell, KS.

NEX-TECH

Jimmy Todd, CEO of Nex-Tech, discusses the company’s dedication to fueling the technological needs of the local community, and what this level of support means for the business

Next-Tech Internet

For Nex-Tech, community is key.

he technology and broadband company began life as an off-shoot of Rural Telephone Service Co., a business which specialized in ensuring telecom services were accessible to the most remote parts of Kansas. Nex-Tech has kept those values close to its heart, using its advanced technological capabilities to ensure high-quality services and products are available for its consumers. Nex-Tech has acted aggressively in ensuring that the evolution of technology has matched the needs of the consumer, and this approach is made possible in part due to skilled staff. Chief Executive Officer Jimmy Todd has more than 30 years of experience in technology – at least 20 of which have focused on telecoms – and knows better than most the challenges of working in an ever-changing industry. “I’ve seen businesses move from stepping switches to electronic switches, and now IP-based

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switches which only take up a couple of rack units of space,” Todd explains. “Communications has transitioned so much, whether you started out as a phone company or a cable company. It’s all blending into an IP-based offering and continues to move at a very fast pace in that direction.” Todd attributes the success of keeping up with that fast pace to his team: “We have some brilliant folks on staff that are truly experts in what we do. They are constantly involved in working with our vendors to look at what is going to be available in the near future, how that fits in with the services we currently offer, and how it would be utilized or implemented. It’s a constant effort, not something you can do once and feel good about it for a few years. Today, you don’t buy a switch that lasts 20 years – you forecast for five years hoping that you’ll get three-and-a-half.” Todd also has a very strong executive management team, with whom he holds monthly meetings to ensure communication flows at all times: “I think it’s really important that whether you’re in charge of finance and accounting, regulatory, marketing, sales, or operations, everybody is on the same page.”

Jimmy Todd Chief Executive Officer

Jimmy Todd is the CEO/General Manager of Nex-Tech headquartered in Lenora, Kansas. From a rural cooperative founding, Nex-Tech is one of the largest and most progressive communications and technology companies in Kansas. Nex-Tech provides technology services to businesses across Kansas and the Midwest region. Todd has served the telecommunications industry for more than twenty years and has over thirty years of advanced technology experience. He is an active participant in industry associations, as well as regulatory and legislative efforts at both the state and national level through a variety of Board positions and key committees.

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NEX-TECH

Corporate citizen Retaining staff may be a challenge inherent in any technology business serving a rural area, but this is where Nex-Tech’s dedication to community pays dividends. While there isn’t as large a talent pool to choose from as there would be in metro areas, the business has been fortunate enough to attract high levels of talent, often due to its close relationship with Fort Hays State University. “They have a good program for computer sciences, and that’s been an opportunity for us to bring some

of their students on in a part-time capacity,” Todd explains. “So they get an income throughout college, and at the same time they’re learning some real life skills. In some cases, that results in us being able to offer them a full-time position once they get their degree, so that’s worked out nicely.” Nex-Tech also involves itself in other community development programs to help local high schools with scholarships and internships, beyond the relationship with Fort Hays State University, by offering young people a stepping stone to

Next-Tech here for you

Nex-Tech’s Network Operations Center technicians manage and monitor your network by providing the level of expertise necessary to assure network stability. 96

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“I think it’s really important that whether you’re in charge of finance and accounting, regulatory, marketing, sales, or operations,

everybody is on the same page”

– Jimmy Todd, Chief Executive Officer

get involved with a STEM industry – something that is sorely needed. New generations of talented staff are necessary, and young people want to work for the business because it is a deeply attractive prospect. Why? Because Nex-Tech prides itself on quality of service – and rightly so. “We’ve got a lab and any time there’s new equipment or a new service, we test it on our network long before it goes out to the customers,” Todd states. “We have to know it’s going to work, otherwise you end up with a bad customer experience, which leads to a bad internal experience and negativity with our suppliers.” Suppliers are considered partners for Nex-Tech, and the

business likes to maintain close relationships. The suppliers know that Nex-Tech takes the time to evaluate equipment thoroughly in its lab, and open communication is encouraged to ensure those suppliers are part of the team. “Really that’s paid off hugely and gives us early insight into equipment that might be coming up for general availability,” says Todd. “It also allows us to make suggestions about what we think is going to be most beneficial to our customers. So, I think again, it’s about having good communication and strong relationships, and when new vendors come on board, we put them through the same wringer. If their equipment meets the specifications

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NEX-TECH

Norton Nex-Tech employees host a Chamber Chat event in Norton, KS.

we’re looking for, we put it in the lab – just like with our current vendors – and see if it makes the grade.” Ahead of the curve The powerhouse that Nex-Tech is constantly evolving into is consolidating its top-quality staff, partners, and dedication to the best technology to surge forward with increased capacity and breadth

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of service. Nex-Tech was an early adopter of fiber optic infrastructure, and has an active fiber network which is scalable based on the electronics at either end. “It costs a little more to build that way, but in the long run you’re not having to go back with the engineer and add fiber further into the network, not to mention additional labor costs down the road,” says

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Pictured is the registration center at Tech Edge. National vendors team up with Nex-Tech to host hands-on labs for the technically savvy, as well as education breakout sessions with live demonstrations.

Todd. “We’ve moved to an active strategy which in the long run sets us up for much greater success.” This success means Nex-Tech is able to further its reach, and it is always looking to advance into underserved areas. “That has been our biggest focus and will probably continue to be, because a fiber optic network is the infrastructure that is going to be in play for the

next 50 years,” says Todd. “Large communities will see more wireless go into play, but that’s still going to have to be connected to a fiber backbone. In rural areas like we predominantly serve, wireless is limited due to population and distance, so you find that the fixed connection is that much more important. We want to be able to facilitate both the wired and wireless utilizing our fiber optic infrastructure.”

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NEX-TECH

“We’ve moved to an active strategy which in the long run sets us up for

much greater success” – Jimmy Todd, Chief Executive Officer

It is Nex-Tech’s business technology services which will truly differentiate it for customers, as many of the SMEs it serves don’t have the staff expertise to handle a modern IT infrastructure. This enables Nex-Tech to act as an outsourced state-ofthe-art IT department which allows those smaller organizations to operate at maximum efficiency. “Then we’re the ones in the background making sure the equipment is up-to-date, always making the processing better and improving the service,” says Todd. “It’s difficult for a small business that

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doesn’t necessarily focus on technology to be up-tospeed on these changes, so we’re able to leverage that knowledge and experience to help our customers.” This focus also extends to digital ad services provided by Nex-Tech. Since the need for phone directories has begun to die out, Nex-Tech helps businesses find ways to advertise via the Internet and social media. This creates even more partnership value. The combination of these rich offerings undoubtedly cements Nex-Tech’s status as a multifaceted technology business which genuinely cares about its community and its people.

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Brad Wolf, Communications Technician, is pictured checking fiber connections at a NexTech Central Office.

334

Number of employees at Nex-Tech

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DATAPLEX IRELAND

THE DIGITAL LANDLORD Written by: Nell Walker Produced by: Lewis Vaughan

> Dataplex Irelandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s CEO, Eddie Kilbane, describes the ways in which the business overcame adversity to become a recognised choice for global giants, with simplified IT and strong partnerships

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ataplex Ireland is a newcomer to the data centre world and is already making itself known, having acquired worldleading businesses as clients and becoming the greenest data centre company in Ireland. Eddie Kilbane is the CEO and co-founder of the company, and has watched Dataplex flourish since 2009; the business signed its first client in 2012, in the B10 Data Centre in North west Dublin. Among other things, this signing allowed it to showcase its Green Energy cooling solution, a deployment that was years in advance of any other data centre in Europe. A turning point for the visibility of the business came when Dataplex won a contract in 2015 with a large global operator. “Having somebody on board with an internationally recognisable brand name gave it the validation through the global operator’s due diligence which we were struggling to get elsewhere,” says Kilbane. “The global operator’s data centre team was extremely tough and thorough in terms of their processes, so by winning that contract, we had an

example to show other customers.” Kilbane has a long history in the construction industry, as part of a management team on large projects such as Chelsea Harbour, Canary Wharf, and the Channel Tunnel. Whilst developing vast amounts of construction and communication network experience and gaining contacts, Kilbane saw the deregulation of the telecommunications market in Ireland as an opportunity to establish a company that would provide a turnkey solution of design, wayleave, construction and commission for the new telecomunications carriers. More companies would be moving to the country to build a new cable and telecoms industry, and in 1998, he moved his family there from the UK to become a part of it. While the inclusion of a global operator as a client did provide Dataplex with much-needed weight in the industry, it is elements of the company from within that have created the rising star it is today. For example, thanks to the temperate climate in Ireland, Dataplex maintains and operates the greenest data

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‘The company people want to work for and with’ Established in early 2005, Ethos Engineering is Ireland’s largest dedicated MEP consultancy. An award winning practice, winning Ireland’s Consultancy of the Year Award for three years running (2015, 2016, 2017), CIBSE’s coveted Employer of the Year Award and winner of the ACE European CEO Award 2016. Ethos Engineering is recognised as the leading MEP consultancy for Mission Critical projects. To date, we have over 550 MW of Data Centre designs completed in Ireland and Europe for a range of the world’s top software and colocation providers. Ethos Engineering is the Irish member of the First Q Network with direct access to over 2,500 engineers and technical knowledge sharing across 12 European countries “Ethos Engineering is a solid, trusted partner for design, pre and post contract” Dataplex Ireland’s CEO, Eddie Kilbane

‘People, Relationships and Quality’

www.ethoseng.ie

Check us out on Social Media

D ATA P L E X

centre business in the country. “We’re using a system to bring the cold air into the server room to cool it,” Kilbane explains. “In the middle of June it’s still 14 to 19 degrees outside, and these are not temperatures you’re going to see in many other parts of Europe. We’re lucky to have this weather for our business.” Sustainability is an ever-present issue and a factor that can make or break a choice for a customer, and Dataplex’s green status certainly allows it a competitive edge, “but ultimately it’s a combination,” Kilbane says. “Certainly, green capabilities are important to hyperscale companies who are looking at Ireland because the power availability and climate mean they don’t have to run very large cooling solutions. So it’s definitely a factor, but it’s no one thing that brings companies to Ireland. They make a huge difference to our economy by providing resources, and they become a catalyst for other companies to move closer to the source of these data centres.” “We’ve seen a rise in technology companies coming in and clustering

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“We’ve rolled back what our technology does, switching to a simpler method. We’ve got to make sure our clients can’t get touched, and that they know there’s no chance of someone hacking in and shutting us down” EDDIE KILBANE, CEO

around data centres. In this business park, we have PayPal, Xerox and Vertis, amongst others: all very good, strong breeds of companies who then feed off having this data centre local to them.” Simplified technology Another huge aspect of what makes Dataplex an attractive choice is

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EDPAC design and manufacture a full range of precision air conditioning equipment for the Datacentre, telecommunications, speciality storage and building service markets. EDPAC has been supplying products to a worldwide client base for nearly 50 years. Currently EDPAC are on site with some of the global industry’s largest and high profile Datacentre and collocation providers implementing large scale custom built Free cooling solutions. In recent years we have diversified into carrying out large scale Legacy datacentre CRAC unit and AHU upgrades. And have retrofitted modern components including EC Fans, VSD Compressors and Controls upgrades. Retrofitting energy efficient technology can reduce legacy data center cooling costs by up to 90% with minimal disruption to your data halls. Phone or email us for more detail.

For more information please visit our website www.edpac.com Tel: +353 (0)21 4540000 | Email: Sales@edpac.com

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its stripped-back approach to technology. In Kilbane’s words, “we’ve made our systems dumb,” meaning that the business offers a solid and reliable ‘vanilla’ service. “My business is purely to support the real technology, which is the client’s business,” he continues. “We are a technical landlord – as data centre operators, we don’t operate any data.” Dataplex simply offers the infrastructure which allows the data to flow. Its data centres sit in a silo; no information can be broadcast, ensuring a safe haven for customers. In the event of a malware attack, Dataplex doesn’t have to worry about vulnerability because its building systems and servers are not connected to the internet. “If we don’t connect to the internet, the internet can’t talk to us,” says Kilbane. “We’ve got to make sure our clients can’t get touched, and that they know there’s no chance of someone hacking in and shutting us down. We’ve rolled back what our technology does, switching to a simpler method. This is one

Dublin The location of Dataplex Ireland HQ

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“My business is purely to support the real technology, which is the client’s business, we are a technical landlord – as data centre operators, we don’t operate any data” EDDIE KILBANE, CEO

aspect of the business clients don’t have to worry about, so they can concentrate on their own data.” To allay any concerns regarding this process, Dataplex even allowed its larger customers to send their security teams to validate the security process put in place by Dataplex.

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As an extra level of support, Dataplex offers resilient N+1 specification, meaning that for every single plug a client requires, a second plug that matches it is independently cabled and wired back the main power. Everything becomes dual-powered, and that service is

EUROPE

enabled at all times, even during a service, meaning no downtime. Dataplex’s youth as a company is among the reasons it has thrived so well even after a slow beginning. With the lack of the ball-andchain of legacy systems behind it, Dataplex can be especially flexible.

“We’re not carrying any baggage, so we’re able to be a bit more daring,” says Kilbane. “We have to be different and push small buttons – enough that attractive companies come to us.” In some ways, Dataplex has already proven itself to have industrychanging potential. In terms of the

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cool air technology the company uses to save energy, “there was nobody doing that in 2012 when we started off, so we were quite ‘out there’, and we’ve continued to stay out there in terms of innovation with our suppliers. As a small company, that’s one of the differentiators we have in the market that attracted clients like the global operators to our front door, as opposed to our competition which may be more traditionalist.” Concrete partnerships None of this would have been possible without Dataplex’s trusted internal partners. Dornan Engineering enables the business to build what it needs to precise, well-negotiated specifications, allowing the best possible flexibility and speed to market. “Dornan even represented us at meetings early on, pitching business and working with our customers,”

Kilbane says. “They’re very much a partner rather than a contractor, and clients can be assured that they don’t have to wait three to six months for us to find a contractor – we already have one on board. It creates a very strong partnership.” Anord is Dataplex’s panel manufacturer and has also been working with the business since the start, ensuring deliveries are simple and smooth. EDPAC is the cooling partner creating bespoke solutions to a consistent quality, Schneider provides UPS’s and goes the extra mile for Dataplex regardless of its size as a company, and Ethos Engineering is a solid, trusted partner for design, pre and post-contract. This combination of reliable partnerships, high levels of innovation, and stable, simplified service will undoubtedly serve Dataplex well to create a bright future for Kilbane and his team.

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Supporting the

IT CROWD

Written by: Nell Walker Produced by: Andrew Lloyd

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Leon Etherington, CIO of Sheffield Hallam University, explains how he handles the challenges inherent in maintaining strong and consistent IT Services used by over 35,000 people

he world of technology can be challenging to traverse, and even more so in an environment like higher education. At Sheffield Hallam, technology is seen as an essential utility, like gas, electricity, or water; the University’s mission to transform lives depends on this technology utility being uninterrupted. With zero appetite for disruption in technology services, how does the University meet the need for potentially disruptive change against the fluctuating needs of 31,000 students and 4,000 staff? This is a question Leon Etherington, CIO at Sheffield Hallam University, has worked to address. Technology is ever-evolving, and students expect to attend university using the very latest developments; this year, some students begin their academic careers by accepting a place offered by the university

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via Facebook. But the breadth of underpinning technology services in any university is huge: “There are some 700 academic courses taught here, with each course has its own technology demands. These range from standard AV equipped classroom, to a techenabled Art School, to advanced games development labs and industry-leading tech in health, sport and science schools. “We need to roll out hundreds of teaching and learning software packages across thousands of machines every year, used in around 400 classrooms, covering two campuses with two Libraries. So in terms of the challenge, it’s about making sure that everything works every day for everyone.” This requires absolute consistency, regardless of how other industries may operate.

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“People claim digital disruption is amazing and it’s what you need to do, but if I disrupted 31,000 students and 4,000 staff, I’d become very unpopular very quickly,” Etherington states with a laugh. “Often the message from the industry is that we need a revolution in technology; that might be the case in certain scenarios, but it’s got to feel like an evolution to the consumer. Students and staff rightly expect high standards in the kit and in the services they use, and all of this requires a Technology Department which can manage services professionally and rapidly. ” To further complicate the issue of seamless technological evolution, the deployment of technology change has to fit around the rhythms of the academic year. Changes can’t occur during clearing or enrolment, they can’t disrupt graduation,

“IF I DISRUPTED 31,000 STUDENTS AND 4,000 STAFF, I’D BECOME VERY UNPOPULAR VERY QUICKLY” – Leon Etherington, CIO

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Are you ready for the digital generation? Logicalis is an international, multi-skilled solution provider offering digital enablement services to help customers harness digital technology and innovative services to deliver powerful business outcomes. With numerous Higher Education customers, Logicalis UK understands the value that an agile and reliable network provides, both for connecting the whole university community to cutting edge tools for learning and for laying the foundations for future growth andÂ opportunity. Logicalis UK facilitates forward-looking higher education establishments to become even more progressive, thanks to first class IT services and support fit for the digital generation that calls these institutions home.

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and they can’t happen during term time or processes such as the end of the financial year. Etherington and his 180-strong team have focussed on deploying change rapidly and with minimum disruption to the business, thinking of recruitment in almost retail terms. Etherington says: “No retailer would make a change to its systems in December risking its Christmas sales. Why would we risk the experience of our students during recruitment or exams?” To make the entire process of IT management run more smoothly, Etherington’s team introduced a ‘Service Improvement Programme’ which is being rolled out across

the Department and University. This ‘professionalisation’ of Service Management focuses on meeting the University’s diverse needs in repeatable, achievable and economic ways. “What we found was that we were trying to be everything to everyone,” says Etherington. “As such we were finding it almost impossible to standardise our provision and proceduralise our support of that provision. In any business you grow organically, but we knew we had to partner with the wider University to agree a sustainable technology provision. The alternative would mean technology costs quickly becoming

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“IF EMAIL IS DOWN IT’S SEEN AS A BUSINESS CRITICAL ISSUE, AND TECHNOLOGY NOW IS SEEN AS BEING AS VITAL AND AS BASIC A REQUIREMENT AS WATER OR ELECTRICITY” – Leon Etherington

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unsustainable and worse, that the performance of the whole technology stack would begin to fail. “Therefore, we set out this programme to achieve service management best practice, to meet customer needs in a very transparent way so that they – the student or member of staff – know where to get help via a standard set of channels.” Etherington notes that this is a long road and there is a need to demonstrate quick wins. Furthermore, the focus on service professionalism is complemented by a wider Technology Strategy which will improve the overarching Technology stack used by the University. This wider work picks up major themes such as Cloud, Cyber Security, Data integration and sourcing, but the emphasis is always on the people and the customer, not the technology. For Etherington, success in delivering technology change is nothing without people,” the technology is easy, but unless you have vital partnerships across the business and a close and collegial relationship with staff and students, the technology – no matter how good it is – will fail.” The ‘people first’ approach has also led to Etherington avoiding silver bullet technology solutions. He recognises that change is complex, requiring a mix of innovative yet sustainable and stable solutions used by a workforce that acts as partners; this technology development led to the creation of a continually improving consistent and

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secure technology architecture. Sheffield Hallam transforms lives via its teaching and research and it has to look closely at what its students need in order for them to succeed. “We always try to make sure we’re hitting that mark,” explains Etherington. “We’re very much focussed on the student experience. Our student satisfaction ratings have gone up but we can’t be complacent. If students aren’t happy, we’ll know very quickly that we’re doing something wrong, and we have to respond and fix what’s

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wrong to build upon what’s right.” The IT Department maintains a strong relationship with the student union and with professionals in Finance, in Estates and in the Strategic Projects teams in order to listen closely to what customers want from it, creating a sense of partnership for deploying large scale improvements seamlessly. “If you notice the technology, something’s wrong – it should just be there,” says Etherington. “That’s a very difficult thing.” Sheffield Hallam is delivering

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transformational change, with projects including the deployment of Windows 10, Office 365, Azure Cloud solutions and co-located Data Centres, not to mention major improvements to student records, Finance, Wi-Fi and virtual learning environments. In this activity-rich environment, IT and its partners across the University are achieving great things, and there have been huge successes. “We’ve got major suppliers, which include people like Microsoft, Blackboard, Crimson Consultants and PROACT, and we’re saying to them, you’re a partner in this, you’ve got to help us succeed, and they’re stepping up to the plate.” By using the right suppliers, the right solutions and by focussing on the people, Sheffield Hallam can deliver transformational change seamlessly: “If email is down it’s seen as a business critical issue, and technology now is seen as being as vital and as basic a requirement as water or electricity. The whole business mission at the University is about transforming lives, so

it’s important to make sure we have the right tools to do that.” Another of the ways in which Sheffield Hallam is transforming its technology provision is in its hybrid approach to resilience. Recognising that the dual data centre approach to resilience isn’t always the most effective approach, the University is now delivering a Cloud, on premise and co-location approach. With resilience, as with security or as with application provision, there is no single solution to the University’s needs. “With technology trends, it’s often about extremes,” Etherington explains. “What you’ve actually got to do is be balanced about your strategy and look at it in the long-term.” As such, Sheffield Hallam is using Azure for its cloud platform supported by an on premise data centre, and this resilience will be supported by a secondary data centre 40 miles away in Leeds which will be managed 24/7. While this approach creates network challenges, it is important for the University that it uses a range of resources to meet the challenges it faces.

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“Like many businesses we are focussing on surrounding ourselves with the best solution providers,” says Etherington. “We cannot do everything ourselves anymore, we have to be experts at supplying a

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general IT service and have partners who are domain experts in things like Cloud or Data Centre provision. I think we’re getting the balance right. Our ethos is 100% availability of service; even when we shut down one data

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“LIKE MANY BUSINESSES WE ARE FOCUSSING ON SURROUNDING OURSELVES WITH THE BEST SOLUTION PROVIDERS” – Leon Etherington

centre and moved it to a new stateof-the-art facility, there was zero disruption. Nobody noticed. We focus on this kind of professionalism.” A challenge for businesses, no matter the sector, is finding

and retaining skilled IT staff and developing high performing teams who can deliver consistently in challenging environments. Sheffield Hallam needs the best people to meet the demands

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“WE CAN’T INCREASE THE SIZE OF OUR WORKFORCE WITH EVERY PIECE OF WORK WE DO, SO WE HAVE TO WORK DIFFERENTLY” – Leon Etherington

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of transformation. For Etherington, the key to these challenges is being authentic with staff, engendering a belief in a common purpose and focusing on people and customer service. The difficulty of this balance is in communicating with everybody and making sure they maintain faith in the vision. Sheffield Hallam has gone from undertaking a discrete number of projects a year to implementing a diverse and challenging portfolio of programmes and projects, which are only set to increase. “We can’t increase the size of our workforce with every piece of work we do, so we have to work differently,” explains Etherington. “We have to seek solutions, phase work, prioritise it, seek not to gold plate work but be realistic where we can. Also, to engage with partners who we can trust so that we can deliver on multiple fronts whilst protecting the

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essential day to day of University life.” Interpersonal relationships between his staff and University partners is something Etherington has a large stake in, so he also concentrates on testing out the emotional intelligence of people before he hires them to ensure strong partnerships. “We really value not just the tech expertise, but also that balance of being able to work with people and to deal with challenges under difficult circumstances. They’re the traits we focus on. “If you apply reasonable service management and implement a balanced technology stack, underpinned by a commitment

for excellence across everything you do, you’re going to be able to enable the growth of the University, and that’s a privilege.” Sheffield Hallam University is doing things right. Student satisfaction with the University is improving and the University’s students, its partners and its research are changing the region and the world in real ways. There is a focus on service that transcends the IT team to permeate the entire University. To quote Professor Chris Husbands, Vice-Chancellor, in the opening letter of the University’s new Strategy, it is “an innovative, imaginative University unafraid to take risks to make a difference.”

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Putting Luxembourg on the internet map Written by: Nell Walker Produced by: Lewis Vaughan

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Roger Lampach, CEO of LuxConnect, describes the company’s enormous contribution to Luxembourg’s data security and ever-strengthening connectivity

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estled within the tiny nation of Luxembourg lies a powerhouse of innovation in the form of LuxConnect. Fully owned by Luxembourg’s government, LuxConnect was established in 2006 with a view to improve the country’s connectivity. Now, the company runs four multi-tier data centre facilities – boasting 14,700sqm of server space – and has introduced at least 1,300km of optical fibre to the nation. “Dark fibre as a product was not really available when we started deploying fibre in 2007,” says Roger Lampach, Chief Executive Officer of LuxConnect. “Therefore it was a very important product for new players coming into Luxembourg, such as telecommunications operators. International operators started employing their own dark fibre networks over Luxembourg, but in the end they all stopped their projects because it was such a small market and the effort to bring dark fibre in was very high. “We saw that this was a product that was really

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LuxConnectâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s fourth DC in Bissen

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Low voltage distribution by Köhl

needed in the market, and started deploying it. As of two years ago, we are doubling the infrastructure on the data highways where the demand is the highest. With LuxConnect we’ve succeeded in bringing this product into the market, and we now have close to 30 carriers in our buildings using our infrastructure.”

Having attended the University of Munich, Lampach began in engineering, specialising in high frequency and telecommunication. He continued along various veins of the industry – including maintenance, systems engineering, broadcasting, and industrial automation – before bringing his technological expertise

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to LuxConnect as Chief Technology Officer in 2007. Eight years later he was appointed CEO, and having been part of the team almost since its inception, Lampach was better placed than anybody to lead the business in the right direction. “At the beginning our mission was to bring Luxembourg onto the internet map,” he explains. “While there is an exchange point in Luxembourg, to have a growing exchange point you need bigger centres and connectivity, and connectivity is mostly based on fibre.”

THE APPEAL OF LUXEMBOURG LuxConnect’s sterling work in making the country connected has ensured that Luxembourg is an even more attractive prospect for data centre space than the nation already was. It is in fact the safest country for data privacy and storage in the European Union, with an average risk score of just 2.6%. Location makes LuxConnect an even stronger competitor in

Cold water production by Sperber

“With LuxConnect we’ve succeeded in bringing dark fibre into the market, and we now have close to 30 carriers in our buildings using our infrastructure” – Roger Lampach, CEO

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the market, and carriers can rest assured that their data is secure. “We are based in the centre of Europe and the latency is quite low,” says Lampach. “That’s important because it means that any business choosing Luxembourg for a major installation would be able to cover everything around the country, even down to Italy. For online gaming for example, from most parts of Europe, Luxembourg is well-placed to keep the game functioning.” LuxConnect’s data centres with high levels of security are further enhanced by the presence of Faraday cages, which protect the facilities from electromagnetic interferences. The business is a specialist in this domain, as it is unusual for data centres to be protected in this way, and so Lampach relies on his talented staff – as well as partners – to keep LuxConnect at the forefront of technology. “You have to be very accurate and have full control in this industry,” Lampach explains. “So much of that is down to the operational side and we have really professional people here in the data centre domain; it’s better

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to have a small but highly-motivated team which is also open to listen to the customer and ask how they’d like things handled. We try to keep our staff happy and when potential customers visit, they say they have felt welcome and that we are open and transparent. Transparency with customers is key for us.”

KEEPING GREEN Sustainability is a vital component of the data centre world for the company and customers alike. LuxConnect considers itself one of the greenest in Europe, and that dedication starts from the infrastructure itself. “I think you have to push to a customer that you are taking care

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LUXCONNECT S.A

“More and more out partners and customers are requesting higher services targeted to the IT domain, and we are looking to prepare LuxConnect for the future” –Roger Lampach, CEO

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LuxConnect’s server room

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about energy, because wasted energy results in cost for the customer,” Lampach says. “So from day one we tried to have very good efficiency of the building. Our first building’s efficiency was 1.6 and nowadays the latest building is 1.3.” Alongside buying hydroelectricity from Scandinavia, LuxConnect makes use of the KioWatt project, a cogeneration plant where waste wood is used to produce electricity via waste heat. LuxConnect utilises this heat transformed into cold that would otherwise be lost

MULTI-TIERED LuxConnects boasts the ability to offer a variety of tiers in its facilities but, unusually, it started with the most complex tier and worked backwards in response to customer demand. “When LuxConnect started it was Tier IV only, but over time we learnt that customers don’t always require the highest standard for all their applications,” Lampach says. “This opened up more opportunities. We can separate our Tier IV concept into two Tier II’s; in the Tier IV case

there are two separate installations feeding into the server room, but for Tier II there is just one, so that was quite easy to establish. From the operational side this is easy to do too, because we know exactly how to do it. The same goes for Tier III.” In fact, LuxConnect is the only data centre business in the world to offer this range of tiers, and has its partners to thank for much of its technical capability. For the physical infrastructure, LuxConnect enlisted GHMT, a business which Lampach describes as “real professionals in their domain” and that supported LuxConnect during every step of construction. GHMT developed the concept for the Faraday cages, ensuring that all of the necessary wire mesh had bonded correctly with the concrete and supervising alongside LuxConnect. Köhl, a long-term partner of LuxConnect, provided and installed many of the materials involved in the company’s facilities. Lampach says: “They are professionals, and the advantage is that they are a known manufacturer. They

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create the cabinets we need in line with European regulations and installed the lighting system. Using an installer which is active outside Luxembourg in the industrial domain made us see data centres as an industry – you can’t operate these buildings like a normal office.” Bobinindus Power Systems is also a valued partner for LuxConnect, delivering and maintaining all of its generator sets (gensets). “They use very good brands out of Germany, so they have real experience,” Lampach says. As for Sperber, this business was in charge of heating, ventilation and air conditioning – a vital aspect of a green business – for all offices and server rooms.

LUXCONNECT’S FUTURE For LuxConnect’s future, Lampach plans to expand its services to ensure the business remains trusted and relevant.

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“Up until now our business model has been one where we offered the infrastructure or the dark fibre network,” says Lampach. “We are convinced that for the future we have to enlarge our offer. “We hope to not only be present in Luxembourg, but to set up with other data centre providers – we have chosen two already, one in London and one in Frankfurt – and set up a match network between operators, which brings forward the whole industry. Currently in Europe, there is an initiative from the European Commission to focus on high performance computing, so in the end we will have to have an HPC network in place that brings connectivity and data centres together. “More and more out partners and customers are requesting higher services targeted to the IT domain, and we are looking to prepare LuxConnect for the future.”

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Roger Lampach CEO

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Star of Bosphorus

At the forefront of sustainability and security Written by: Laura Mullan Produced by: Lewis Vaughan

NGN Group’s VP, Technology Ufuk Yasibeyli and Marketing Director Secil Kocoglu describe how the Star of Bosphorus is raising standards in the data centre industry, by offering an energy-efficient, environmentally-friendly, and seismically protected option for global giants

ustainability and security are just some issues that are driving today’s data centres towards change and innovation. NGN Group is meeting these challenges face on; setting new standards for the industry with the Star of Bosphorus - one of the most advanced facilities of its kind in Turkey. “Our team has built many data centres but none of them has been so ambitious,” says Ufuk Yasibeyli, VP, Technology - and it’s clear to see why. The facility aims to be NGN group’s

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most pioneering project yet, offering clients access to a Tier III certified, energy-efficient, environmentallyfriendly, and seismically protected data centre near Istanbul, just in sight of the Bosphorus narrows in Turkey. “This data centre is our dream on the shore of Bosphorus,” says Yasibeyli. “We conceived it as the world’s best data centre of unparalleled reliability, ease of operation, and beauty. “Therefore, it is deeply symbolic that it is called The Star of Bosphorus, with two blocks, Vega and Sirius. It is a pioneer in engineering solutions, including seismic protection, and, as we believe, a future leading commercial data center in Turkey.

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Ufuk Yasibeyli VP, Technology

Ufuk Yasibeyli has been working in the IT and Telecommunications industries in areas of practice including IT Management, Software Development, Database Design, Network Design/Management and Datacenter/Cloud services with a total experience of 28 years. He holds a BS in Electrical Engineering from Bogazici University â&#x20AC;&#x2122;90. Since his graduation, he has worked for many companies in various areas, including Finansbank, Cisco Systems, Sabanci Telekom, Borusan Telekom, Turkcell Superonline and Ericsson. Currently, Yasibeyli is working as VP, Technology at NGN, responsible for project management, project delivery and aftersales support&maintenance functions in NGN for Infrastructure, Datacenter/ Cloud and Software lines of business.

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In addition to being a pioneer in engineering solutions, it will also be a pioneer in cloud and managed services. As a leading system integrator in Turkey and Middle East, NGN’s expertise in managed services will be the most important value add for cloud and data center customers.” With a size of about 24,000sqm and a total power of 16MW, Star of Bosphorus operates over 2,000 standard racks and is secured with two external power feeds and 24/7 maintenance. However, perhaps one of the most impressive aspects of the facility is that it is seismically protected, meaning that each building nearly floats over the possible earthquake thanks to a single monolithic slab serving as a foundation resting on seismic isolators known as friction pendula from EarthQuake Protection

Secil Kocoglu

Marketing and Communications Director

Secil Kocoglu is an expert in marketing and communications with extensive experience in marketing communications, strategy and brand management. Prior to NGN, Kocoglu has held range of senior marketing and strategy roles in esteemed companies such as Dogus Holding, Benetton and JCDecaux Group. She has a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration from Marmara University and a Master’s Degree in Marketing Communications from Galatasaray University. Kocoglu is responsible for all NGN’s marketing activities and operations including advertising, digital marketing, partnerships, public relations and events.

S TA R O F B O S P H O R U S D ATA C E N T E R

‘With a size of about 24,000sqm and a total power of 16MW, Star of Bosphorus operates over 2,000 standard racks and is secured with two external power feeds and 24/7 maintenance’

Systems (USA). Yasibeyli says: “We consulted local specialists and professors of seismology, and ARUP (USA) was involved into peer review of structural design and seismic isolator design. Today, we are sure that Star of Bosphorus is one of the best seismically-protected data centers in the world.” “Our constant challenge is to ensure we comply with the highest quality, safety, and reliability standards at all construction phases - from design to equipment selection and installation,” adds Yasibeyli. “Yes, it takes time and resources, but when standards are high, there is no place for trade-offs.” Professor and NGN’s consultant as seismic expert, Dr Barış Erkuş, was also highly excited by the facility’s structural and seismic design.

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“What makes Star of Bosphorus Data Centre genuinely unique is the seismic design of the facility,” says Erkuş. “We implemented the best seismic protection system which ensures keeping the data center operational during earthquakes with a probability of one-in-every 2,000 years, which also established a new standard for future projects in the region.” The facility was awarded a LEED Gold certification, the most popular green building certification, thanks to its innovative equipment and systems which ensure environmental safety. By using free cooling technology when available, the data centre has achieved a Power Usage Effectiveness rating

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CONSTRUCTION

of 1.3, making it the most energy efficient facility in the region. The Star of Bosphorus is also leading the way as the first ‘carrier neutral’ commercial data centre in Turkey, with Tier III design and facility certificates. NGN’s Marketing and Communications Director Secil Kocoglu emphasizes: “Turkey’s data centre market is one of the fastest growing markets worldwide, and our group is poised to be a leading pioneer in the industry. Situated in Istanbul, Star of Bosphorus data centre is able to tie together markets from across Asia, the Middle East and Europe which should attract a lot of global businesses to the facility.” NGN Group has big ambitions for the Star of Bosphorus, but in an industry that is constantly evolving

how does NGN stay ahead of the curve? “The answer is simple,” notes Kocoglu. “We are learning. “We are experts in system integration business, which means dealing with new technologies and solutions is our daily life. We are learning on each and every project, be it constructing data centres for customers, deploying clouds, or creating engineering infrastructures for various facilities.” Named after the stars, the Star of Bosphorus Data Centre is an ambitious endeavour for NGN Group. However, the pioneering efforts of the company have not gone unnoticed. By creating an environmentallyfriendly, seismically protected, and carrier neutral facility, it seems that the future is bright for the company.

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iSON GROUP:

Enhancing lives of a continent and building communities through technology Written by: Dale Benton Produced by: Vince Kielty

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iSON Group continues to innovate in the disruptive and volatile market of Nigeria to remain as a growing IT and IT enabled service provider. The company is continuously expanding its footprint and portfolio across all of Africa

any companies achieve substantial growth and success but the real test is in their resilience during turbulence and how efficiently they face and adapt to it. For Ramesh Awtaney, Founder and Chairman of iSON Group, one of the largest IT and ITeS company’s in Africa, discovering the joy of resilient and proactive employees weathering through disruptive markets proved to be a cornerstone moment last year. “It may not sound profound, but as the founder of the company, when you find your company can withstand these storms and has the resilience built into the system, it is extremely satisfying,” he says. So, Ramesh mush be contented surely? “As satisfying as it was,” he adds, “there is so much more to do,”

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Market volatility iSON Group’s African headquarters is located in Lagos, Nigeria. For Awtaney; the market volatility of Nigeria presented the company with the biggest test of its fortitude. A large part of iSON Group’s business and profit is generated from Nigeria and over the last 12 months the company suffered headwinds with major currency devaluation across the country and wider Africa. “This also meant that our customers cut down on their budgets” points Awtaney. He adds devaluation and reduced customer budgets meant substantial operating profit challenge, nevertheless the company weathered the storm and continued to grow. iSON Group’s ability to adapt, change and continuously innovate in

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Ramesh Awtaney

Founder and Chairman, iSON Group Ramesh Awtaney, a dynamic entrepreneur, an Indo-African business magnate, investor and philanthropist has deep business interests across Africa and Middle East. He carries more than 28 years of rich experience in global technology, market development and business process outsourcing across Telecom Providers and other Verticals. Since 2014, Awtaney has embarked on a journey to create ISON 2.0, an innovation driven enterprise that would employ 40,000 people by the year 2017 and acquire an expanded footprint across 35 Sub Saharan African countries. Ramesh is married and lives in Dubai. His son has studied digital management and is currently working with 10 African Start Ups as an entrepreneur in residence for UX/design at Startupbootcamp, Cape Town, and his wife runs an up market boutique in New Delhi.

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these trying times with ears close to what customers want has enabled stronger relationships with key customers. iSON has also acquired a new base of operations in Durban, South Africa. This really broad bases the risk while representing a major step in expanding the company’s footprint throughout Africa. Expansion As Awtaney oversees a major expansion of the company’s national footprint, iSON Group continues to be a fast-growing company. iSON has four verticals, iSON BPO, iSON Technologies, iSON Innovation & Investments (i3) and now iSON Foundation. “Through our growth and resilience in that difficult period, we’ve really been able to diversify and expand our portfolio offerings for new IT solutions and customer services in different verticals,” says Awtaney. iSON Group has also embarked aggressively on iSON Innovations and Investments. i3 is a vertical through which the company seeks out and invests in small start-up companies, enabling them to grow and scale throughout Africa by providing infrastructure support, capital, mentorship and management support. Last year i3 invested in

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iSON GROUP IS BASED IN LAGOS, NIGERIA

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It may not sound profound, but as the founder of the company, when you find your company can withstand these storms and has the resilience built into the system, it is extremely satisfying Ramesh Awtaney Founder and Chairman

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Pravin Kumar

Global CEO, iSON BPO Pravin Kumar is an industry veteran with more than 35 years of experience during which he has been credited with the creation of three large business empires. He is a widely respected name in the Business Process Outsourcing space and is regarded as a pioneer in call center services. Kumar is a Board member of iSON BPO - the leading ITeS services company in Africa. Under his strong leadership, iSON BPO now has operations in 16 countries in Africa and ASEAN regions with about 10,000 employees within three years of iSON BPOâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s establishment.

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a taxi hailing app business: Mondo Ride, 2016 also saw investment in a hyperlocal search and discovery platform -Oliza, and a platform aggregator for golfers – Golflan . Recently, i3 has been evaluating investments in speech recognition technology enabling companies to support in growing BPO business followed by collaboration in the field of chat bots; thus, leveraging the power of natural language processing and Artificial Intelligence. The process of selecting these companies is no different to any large company investing in a start-up. For Awtaney, the differentiator is in one simple question. “How can we add value to this company, which in turn will add value to Africa?” he says. “We have a very significant presence in 25 African countries, so we look at how these companies can benefit from that significant platform.”

Smart investing One particular start-up that the company has invested in is a ride hailing service called Mondo Ride , in Kenya. With Uber already operating in Nairobi, Mondo will utilise the infrastructure and support of iSON Group as a platform on which it can build through its unique business model that aims at the corporate world of Kenya. Mondo has signed around 40 transport rights contracts with several organisations, including The Kenya commercial bank. These corporate employees will also use Mondo for personal requirements. This is the added value that iSON Group seeks out in start-ups. Through investment and infrastructure support, iSON can enable Mondo to scale and expand beyond Kenya. “We feel that once Mondo is successful and gets its big business

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@OracleAfrica @Oracle_Africa

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iSON BPO , the BPO business unit of iSON Group was awarded with 2016 West African Frost & Sullivan Award for Competitive Strategy, Innovation and Leadership during an awards ceremony at Growth Innovation and Leadership Event at The Table Bay Hotel, Capetown on 17th August 2017. Ramesh Awtaney, Founder and Chairman, iSON Group receiving the award from Hendrik Malan, Operations Director for Africa, Frost and Sullivan.

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THE NUMBER OF STAFF WORKING AT iSON GROUP

break in Kenya, then you can lift that up and move into different countries where we [iSON Group] are already operating – because our core system and infrastructures are already place,” Awtaney says. Having that national footprint spread across 25 countries allows iSON Group to play the role of a “trusted advisor” with the knowhow to tap into the African market and help emerging companies with innovative technologies succeed. “We have supported global majors such as Huawei, Oracle, IBM, AVAYA as knowledge partners for doing business in Africa which is set to grow further with new partnerships to be announced with global technology majors and leading

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Akshay Grover

Chief Growth Officer, iSON Technologies Akshay Grover is the Chief Growth Officer, iSON Technologies. He is responsible for formulating and executing the go-to-market strategy of the company. This includes new customer acquisitions, customer retention strategies, building technology-led partnerships, new product roll outs and inorganic growth initiatives. Akshay has been focused on the TMT sector across Europe, India, Middle East and Africa. During his stint as an investment banker and a private equity professional he has closed transactions over ~USD 5 billion and led multiple strategic initiatives for several players in the sector.

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enterprise software vendors.” “Not many companies can add the momentum that we do from our footprint from Nigeria to Ethiopia,” Awtaney continues. “If a start-up wants to think about solving a PanAfrican problem, it’s going to need a trusted confidant who can take it to 25 countries. Similarly if you’re a large company in America or elsewhere but do not have the know-how to tap into Africa, then you need a trusted advisor who is present in 25 countries and can execute for you.” Platform of growth This presence is what provides iSON Group with a crucial advantage. A pan continent footprint becomes the unique selling point above all else as the company has the understanding of local regulation, local challenges and the ability to successfully operate in 25 different countries with 13 new clients last fiscal year. “The real unique thing that iSON offers is the platform across those

countries and the ability to combine that presence with these start-ups and build and scale from that,” Awtaney says. Throughout its four verticals iSON Group has made significant investments in order to grow as a smart technology company, but for Awtaney, one particular area of growth is something that is very close to his heart – iSON Foundation. Through iSON Foundation, which hasn’t been officially formalised just yet, iSON Group has partnered with a number of non-for-profit charities to work with and support local communities. Spearheading this mission jointly with the foundation is an organisation called Girl Effect . The Girls Connect pilot program, launched in July 2016 through an initial pilot phase, is a pioneering platform that allows girls to access information, conversations and oneto-one mentoring that is designed

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iSON Group wins ASSOCHAM India- Africa Champion in Biz Awards for "Disinguished Achievement in IT & ITeS category" during the Indo-Africa Summit in 2015 and consecutively in 2016 during India Africa Trade and Investment Forum

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If a start-up wants to think about solving a PanAfrican problem, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s going to need a trusted confidant who can take it to 25 countries. Similarly if youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re a large company in America or elsewhere but do not have the know-how to tap into Africa, then you need a trusted advisor who is present in 25 countries and can execute for you. Ramesh Awtaney Founder and Chairman

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www.isontechnologies.com

ISON TECHNOLOGIES’ NETWORK OPERATIONS CENTRE

24/7 22 countries support to

24/7 Hours

Days

in Africa. The team comprises

600+

of employees of different nationalities. to enrich their lives. The pilot phase saw over 50,000 girls sign up over a two-month period and as the second phase of testing takes place this year, the target is over a million. Awtaney names this endeavour as “One Million Unheard Voices” iSON Foundation represents the company’s vision of adding value to Africa, not only through business foundations, but through programs and initiatives with Girl Effect. “Trying to transform the lives of marginalised people, through Girl

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NOC SUPPORT

Effect is very close to my heart and special. This is what life is really about and keeps you going. Take time, every day from your work and think about giving back” Awtaney says. Using digital innovation to go further faster and deliver change at scale, iSON Group and Girl Effect have come together to deliver Girls Connect: a breakthrough resource for vulnerable girls. “We’re proud of our groundbreaking partnership with iSON Group,” says Farah Ramzan

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Rahul Srivastava

Chief Operating Officer, iSON Technologies Rahul Srivastava is the Chief Operating Officer of iSON Technologies and is responsible for key account management, project delivery, SLA based operations and support functions globally. His core expertise is managing large complex engagements and articulating a unique and compelling value proposition.

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With the iSON Foundation, the Group has partnered with a number of nonfor-profit charities to work with and support local communities.

Golant CBE, CEO of Girl Effect. “Working with them has given us the technical expertise and infrastructure to make our pilot a real success. Girls have already told us that they have applied their learning from Girls Connect to open a bank account, to stay in school or even to become a trade apprentice. We’re challenging conventional beliefs in how effective, with the right training and support, distance role modelling can be.” As the company continues to grow and expand its footprint across Africa, Awtaney has ambitions for

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the company becoming synonymous with building local competence, local knowhow and bringing the efficiencies it has gained through other markets and locations and bringing them into emerging markets such as Africa. “Our mission is to use our services competence onshore to smartly transform and benefit customers. We’re not a company with billions of dollars at our disposal, we are a young company focused on our model, our training of people and adding true value to Africa and the countries we operate in.”

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We at iSON Group, are deeply committed in purposely enabling industries and societies with the help of technology. The upliftment agenda using smart technologies and customer centric theme is core to our principles and our hearts as we continuously evovle. Experience us and feel the difference. Ramesh Awtaney Founder and Chairman

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East Africa Data Centre: critical connectivity Written by: Dale Benton Produced by: Richard Deane

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EAST AFRICA DATA CENTRE is the most connected data centre space in East Africa. Its challenge is to continue to innovate and meet changing market demand

DAN KWACH GM of EADC

s the first commercial and carrier neutral facility built in Eastern Africa, at 2,000sqm, East Africa Data Centre (EADC) remains the largest data centre in the region. The data centre market in Africa is growing as IT becomes an enabler for businesses to improve efficiency and introduce automation across their operations. This has seen major cloud and content players turn their attentions towards data centre providers in Africa. These include the likes of Microsoft, which has recently added data centre space in South Africa to host Microsoft Cloud as a direct response to market demand. Watching over this trend is the General Manager of EADC, Dan Kwach, who believes EADC is strongly positioned to meet the growing demand for data centre space in Africa. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Currently, larger data service and cloud providers

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Powering a Brighter Future With over two decades of experience, Specialised Power Systems Limited has grown from strength to strength, building a reputation founded on excellence. We manufacture and assemble low voltage switchboards, motor control centers and related control panels of various complexities amongst other related products. We are dedicated to staying at the forefront of the industry and believe in only sourcing products that meet the highest quality, reliability and safety performance standards. We ensure that we are up to date with the latest products and technologies available. For more information please visit our website: www.spsafrica.com

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reach out to DC operators, like us, so This allows EADC to have the that they can meet more of their client widest possible reach. needs in Africa,” he says. “That’s why “You cannot build a data centre we must align what we do with the without networks,” Kwach says. “The expectations of these large players.” more network service providers you EADC is located at Sameer have, the better it is for customers.” Industrial Park, Nairobi. This is described as the “perfect hosting The mystery of a data centre location” due to its access to Kwach comes from a carrier networks across background in network Kenya, including engineering and Mombasa, Uganda, core network Tanzania and Rwanda. configuration. This location This brought him presented EADC into contact with with the opportunity various vendors and Size of East Africa to become the most OEMs and he gained Data Centre connected data centre hands-on experience site in Eastern Africa, and of critical network failures was recognised for being so and problem solving. with a GTB Innovation Award in 2014. Confronted with the challenge “Connectivity and security are to design and build a data centre, critical components to hosting the first task for Kwach was to services. The EADC is carrier-neutral “identify and demystify” the very and having that open access model concept of a carrier grade or is also critical,” Kwach says. industry standard data centre. EADC hosts all of the local “What are the features of a carrier providers and ISPs in Nairobi as grade data centre facility? Which well as 20 international networks. are the ideal industry standards and

2,000sqm

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Inside the East Africa Data Centre

what is meant by Tier I, II or even III? We had to really educate ourselves on what we were getting into,” he says. Part of this process saw Kwach travel the world and explore data centres in the UK, South Africa and Dubai. “My other challenge was to understand what the value in a commercial data centre was, not just from a technical aspect but to ensure

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alignment to a customer need.” As product manager, Kwach was tasked with developing a business plan and commercial strategy for EADC. The first task? Settling on a colocation site, which could host multiple network service providers and offer primary or secondary hosting to enterprise customers. EADC was the first carrier neutral

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“Currently, larger data service and cloud providers reach out to DC operators, like us, so that they can meet more of their client needs in Africa” DAN KWACH GM of EADC

facility built in the region, and it just hit another milestone having joined an elite list of independently certified data centre facilities by Uptime Institute – the leading data centre certification and accreditation body. “This is a stamp of approval for EADC having met Tier III requirements as a concurrently maintainable facility,” says Kwach The facility is currently in the process

of completing the requirements for ISO 27001 Certification – a globally acclaimed information security management standard that forms a basis of securing critical operations, functions and businesses against risk. Evolution But the work is not over for EADC. As competition heats up in the data

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REMAX CONSULT LTD The Company’s main fields of activity in East Africa can be classified under the following Service Lines: • Water and Sanitation • Safety, Health and Environment • Electrical & Mechanical building Services

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centre space, EADC must ensure connected facility in the region but it has a strategy to maintain its it also has a wealth of experience position as a regional market leader. in the data centre space, which “We are thinking more gives it an advantage in supporting and more about our product customers and continuously development,” says Kwach. upgrading its products and services. To ensure it has a long term strategy, “It provides us with comfort EADC is finding ways to add value now and in the near future with added services, build and offer regards to our position in the enterprise grade IT services market,” says Kwach. and meet the demands of leading content A hot topic and cloud services. As the data centre The company industry continues is also thinking of to grow so does The location of expanding into new the need for greater the East Africa geographies and energy efficiency. Data Centre markets to remain at More than 90% of the cutting edge of hosting the energy output in a services regionally and globally. data centre is through heat Increasingly companies are starting and power generation. EADC sources to recognise the hosting opportunities its power from Kenya Power; a supplier in Kenya and the rest of East Africa. and operator of electricity distribution “We have the first mover systems throughout Kenya. advantage, which has presented us A large proportion of electricity with a number of opportunities and in Kenya is generated through helped us capture of a large chunk hydroelectric power generation. of the market share,” he says. “The most critical element of Not only is EADC the most our commercial success evolves

Nairobi

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around cost management,” Kwach states. “The cost of that power is very high, so we are often thinking about alternative sources of energy. It’s a really interesting space right now.” EADC is already looking at introducing solar panels and how it can improve its energy efficiency and carbon emissions. But it won’t stop there. EADC is also advising customers to use IT equipment that has been manufactured with biodegradable materials as part of a green initiative. So where next for the EADC? Kwach aims to keep it simple. “We go where there is opportunity and where there is demand,” he says. “Our connectivity and value-added services provide a one-stop shop to meet the already significant and growing demand that we see. Our challenge is to innovate and broaden our geographical reach so that we support all our customers, employees and governmental and non-governmental organisations in their digital journey. In doing this we are delivering our vision of “Building Africa’s digital future.”

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EADC is the largest in the region

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â&#x20AC;&#x153;Our challenge is to innovate and broaden our geographical reach so that we support all our customers, employees and governmental and non-governmental organisations in their digital journeyâ&#x20AC;? DAN KWACH GM of EADC

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FNB NAMIBIA

> Leading the

way in Namibiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s modern banking

Written by: Leila Hawkins Produced by: Vincent Kielty

Namibia’s biggest bank is transforming how the population does financial transactions thanks to a digital revolution

amibia’s biggest bank is transforming how the population conducts financial transactions thanks to a digital revolution. The First National Bank of Namibia (FNB) was founded in 1907 as Deutsche Afrika Bank, and over a hundred years and many takeovers and mergers later, today it is the country’s largest bank, transforming how the population transacts through digital technology. The digitisation of banking One of FNB’s biggest innovations has been the introduction of the eWallet and, in fact, it was the first bank in Namibia to implement this. It makes transactions much easier for customers by enabling them to send and receive money instantly via their mobile phones. This payment method works on any mobile phone, at any time of the day or night, and means

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Part of the FNB team

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“With some systems you can only do so much, and then you have to hand it over to a vendor for support. In our case, the support sits with us, so we can chop and change it as the business and the market landscape prescribes. That gives us the edge” Reckliff Kandjiriomuini, Chief Technology Officer, FNB

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money is immediately available to the recipient. Customers can also check their bank balance, pay bills and buy electricity with it, and coupled with FNB’s extensive ATM network across the country that act as pay-out points eWallet has really moved the needle in driving inclusion of the unbanked and allowing access to money in a fast and efficient manner. Reckliff Kandjiriomuini, FNB’s Chief Technology Officer, explains: “eWallet has been a revolutionary change in allowing our customers to transact from anywhere and do instant payments. The product uptake and usage has been phenomenal and in accordance the resultant transactional growth pushed us to accelerate infrastructure refreshes to ensure the business is well positioned for growth and future demand.” The bank, as part of its digitalisation strategy, is introducing more selfservice outlets and enriching its offerings at self-service devices to allow customers the convenience of banking from anywhere and being empowered to do banking on their own, according to Kandjiriomuini

It has a continuous focus on improving its customer service, and to this extent looks at where it can improve on processes and raise efficiencies. In the branch space it recently adopted a new system that enhances and shortens the time it takes for customer account opening, loans and other products significantly. This is underpinned by digitalisation and system automation. All of these products have been adopted and are in line with the bank’s approach of making banking easier, giving customers the ability to transact from anywhere and finally raising operational efficiencies. FNB Namibia remains committed to expanding its digital offering to clients, and the successful acquisition of EBank is an opportunity to expand services and solutions to all corners of Namibia through an affordable and convenient digitised partnership model, thereby including all business and consumer customers in the formal world of banking. Keeping banking local In the 1980’s the FNB Group acquired

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the rights to do its own development on its core banking system from Hogan, a company that creates high performance banking software. This allows FNB to drive innovative solutions and deliver these solutions to the market quicker. “In the past, our core banking system was hosted and run from our parent group in FNB South Africa,” says Garth Kleintjes CIO of FNB Namibia. “But in 2009 we localised this, which means we now host all infrastructure and run the day to day operations of this in country this has allowed for growth and new opportunities in the Technology space. “Being part of a bigger Group that embraces innovation has allowed us to leverage this, and through strong partnerships we can ensure new products and technologies are quickly adopted or tailored for our in-country needs. This will, in turn, help us to be a market leader in delivering cutting edge solutions.” Shifting away from challenges While FNB is Namibia’s biggest bank

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The Maltas Club at Namibia’s 7th Can Run, in support of cancer awareness. with the greatest market share, the industry is extremely competitive. With a population of just over 2.5mn, Kandjiriomuini cites three major rivals as Bank Windhoek, Standard Bank and NedBank Namibia, and there are also a number of smaller banks that are currently establishing their footprint. “It’s an attractive market,” he says. “We do have economic challenges like the rest of the world, but are

favoured with political stability. Considering the regulator’s perspective, they want to introduce competition and attract new players. As a large bank in this competitive industry, there are naturally plenty of factors impacting its operations of which regulation and the economy are of the major ones. The political turmoil in South Africa has had a knock-on

effect on the Namibian economy – an economy which is very dependent on South Africa due to it being Namibia’s biggest import partner Cybersecurity and financial fraud is a global concern that has not left Namibia unscathed. “In this connected age and by virtue of having

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various digital banking offerings the cyber risk is real for any bank and as such it is an important focus for us,” Kandjiriomuini says. To address the cyber risk, FNB Namibia has had to make certain changes to its security operations. “The bank has an extensive security programme that focuses on managing all the aspects of cyber security and hardening security on its internal systems, and included in this is driving awareness at all levels. The IT spend on security has significantly increased in the last years and these investments will continue,” says Kleintjes. Its unique use of technology means FNB is leading the way in shifting Namibia’s banking from traditional to digital. As Kandjiriomuini explains, this is the bank’s biggest driver. “We are known as the technology bank that delivers lifestyle changing solutions,” he concludes.

FNB promotes products and services at the annual Rock n Run (used to raise awareness for Cancer)

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GOING FORWARD WITH

FWD Written by: Fran Roberts Produced by: Kiron Chavda

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Market newcomer FWD Insurance has already disrupted the Philippine insurance sector with its innovative IT developments as the company looks to change the industry’s image

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he Philippine life insurance industry is poised to post one of the fastest growth rates in the next nine years among emerging markets, and is expected to register a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 9.1% from 2017 to 2025. FWD Life Insurance is certainly looking to leverage on this predicted growth, as Rogelio ‘Nooky’ Umali, CTO, explains: “There’s a distrust of insurance companies – only about 3% of Philippines have life insurance. This is a market prime for FWD because we are changing that perception.” Indeed, a 97% market penetration opportunity is one that will appeal to any company. FWD Insurance’s advantage is how it utilises disruptive IT to offer unique products to its clients, as well as offering them first-class customer service. CREATING RIPPLES Headquartered in Hong Kong and with a pan-Asian presence, FWD Insurance is a comparatively new player in the Philippines, having

ASIA

commenced operations there in 2014. Despite this, the company is already having a dramatic impact. “In the Philippines, there are a lot of terror activities and insurance companies were not covering those. We became the first company to offer financial coverage for this through our Peace plan options. That created a ripple in the industry,” comments Umali. Peace is not the only coverage plan to disrupt the Philippine insurance industry. “Another one is the Set for Health product. In medical insurance, there are normally long list of exclusions – for example, no extreme sports. We cover those. We want you to forget about the worries of extreme sports and let us do the worrying for you,” explains Umali. “Additionally, we offer Fight Plan – this covers you upon diagnosis of any type of cancer at any stage. When this product was launched it raised a lot of eyebrows. The industry does not cover such critical illnesses, but we were the first. “These medical financial products are disrupting the industry and

others are now asking, ‘How is this working for FWD?’ It’s eating up their share,” Umali continues. “Three years ago, we were nobody; last year we were already number 12 in the Philippines. This year we intend to break into the top 10. Our track record speaks for itself. We are getting noticed, not just in terms of revenue and customers, but also ranking.” A CHALLENGER BRAND Some competitors have begun to adopt FWD Life Insurance’s practices as their own. “We look at our competitors. We have seen their processes and found some very similar looking e-commerce functions to ours. The best praise is that if we are being copied we are clearly doing something good,” notes Umali. In fact, such actions by competitors only increases FWD Life Insurance’s drive. “It makes us realise we should not rest on our laurels,” Umali states. “We shouldn’t forget our start-up mentality, we should remain a

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REINVENTING INSURANCE DISTRIBUTION. TRANSFORMATION ASSURED. FWD group began its journey in Philippines Insurance market as a new entrant in the Insurance landscape. FWD group’s vision was to create a new technology driven insurance enterprise with ability to adapt to “New Age Disruptive Operating Models”. FWD Philippines aspired to have a ready Omni-channel Platform to leapfrog ahead of established insurers in a short time. C2L BIZ Solutions - a leading insurance business solutions company in Asia, has been a partner of choice for FWD group since its inception. The alignment of FWD group’s technology leadership vision and C2L’s transformational solution components has been the cornerstone of the alliance between FWD and C2L BIZ. To maximize the impact, strategy focussed on very aggressive roll out timelines. Thus, the focus from day one was to leverage the “ready system” to launch the business rapidly. For the FWD group, C2L’s Insurance domain knowledge and its unique Insurance distribution focussed - SymbioSys Solutions Suite were a key to its strategy to bring in the necessary agility and sustainability to the digital ecosystem. Challenges were galore. In addition to aggressive timelines, the key challenge was to attract and retain new breed of advisors and channel partners to the FWD organization. It was thus mandatory to provide exemplary service levels, with a paperless office. Also, to support the growing business dynamism a proven system with configuration driven agility was critical for business success of FWD in Philippines. To achieve the same, the focus from day one was to leverage SymbioSys Suite’s best practices & features “as-is” and gradually adapt to unique business needs of the Philippines markets later. The field sales force empowered with proven point of sale tool like SymbioSys Sales Tools. To complement the said field force enablement - the SymbioSys New Business solution with its embedded SymbioSys Underwriting Engine provided the critical underwriting automation. SymbioSys Underwriting Engine not only provided the best Straight Through Processing (STP) but also provided seamlessly integrated and decentralized “Expert Underwriting” decisions. To provide unique discerning service adaptation to its channels, another of C2L’s flagship solution - SymbioSys

DMS (Distribution Management System) played a crucial role to attract, quickly onboard, and even differentiate services for different segment of partners. It was also able to quickly launch many innovative campaigns and contests, leveraging the powerful configurability in C2L BIZ’s SymbioSys DMS. In addition to the automated distribution management, for channel /customers self-servicing, needed enterprise-wide integrated view of relationships which was consolidated through C2L’s SymbioSys Insurance Operational Data Store (ODS). SymbioSys ODS thus provided a single consolidated data repository for all downstream systems and MIS needs. After successful entry, focus shifted to leverage the rapidly emerging digital ecosystem by learning quickly and rapidly adapting the products, processes and rules to the digital ecosystem. C2L’s SymbioSys Solutions Suite has not only helped FWD set new norms to conventional operating model but also provides a new age services oriented platform to thrive on the rapidly emerging digital omnichannel ecosystem. At the end of the 3 years journey, FWD Philippines has been rated high in the Digital Business. FWD Philippines has not only been able to attract and achieve largest growth of agents, but has also recorded one of the highest new business issuance growth rate in Philippines. With 100% paperless and intelligent decentralized processing, the NIGO (Not in Good Order) ratio is significantly lower than industry average. With comprehensive self-servicing and automated communications, the channels could maximize feet on the street. FWD has not only been able to live up to its promises to its’ young and aggressive channels, but exceed the same by providing best of breed services and flexibilities to its channels. The above has yielded in aligning the business growth to a more profitable and sustainable long term business for FWD. Both FWD and C2L BIZ teams embarked on this journey demonstrating exemplary collaboration, realizing the FWD group’s vision, ably supported by a sustainable, flexible and transformational SymbioSys Solutions Suite from C2L.

www.c2lbiz.com

FWD INSURANCE

Rogelio ‘Nooky’ Umali CTO Nooky has been in the IT Industry for 25 years. Specializing in the field of Applications Design & Development, Business Intelligence & Project Management covering the Government sector, Financial / Banking and Telecommunications Industry. He started his IT career in the public sector working as a programmer for the Philippine Navy Computer Center in 1992. He later moved to the private sector in 1994 by joining the Banking Industry. As AVP for IT, he was in charged of the development and maintenance of core Mainframe applications for Financial Systems (CASA, ATM, Loans and GL). He also worked as a technical consultant for the largest banking consortium in the Philippines working on Inter Bank Fund Transfer systems and policies. He was part of the elite Core Committee acting as Technical Advisors for the automation requirement of the biggest banks in the country. After his successes in the Banking industry, he wanted to try new IT challenges in the exploding industry of telecommunications. He joined the biggest Company in the Philippines in 2007 starting as a Data Operations Manager manning the 24/7 team for the Financial Services group. After a year in Operations, he moved back as a Development Manager overseeing a 60 man team of Database, Web, Portal & Report Developers and Business Analysts. In 2011, he focused on Project Management handling a team of Technical PMs covering Financial, Telecommunications and Digital technical projects. His team created the Technology storyboard which became the blueprint for the Technology Roadmap for Services. He manages a portfolio of technical projects in excess of 2bn Pesos (50M USD). In 2013, he was tasked to oversee a new growth area in the company by managing the Mobile Applications (Apps) and API Program of the Tech Group. He was mandated to lead the innovation of Mobile Apps development.

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In 2015, he returned to the Financial Industry, serving as IT Director for Manulife.

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challenger brand, regardless of how well we are growing. We want to be within the top five within five years in the Philippines, and we are well on our way to achieving that.” OVERHAULING THE INDUSTRY The main driving force for FWD Life Insurance, however, is working to change the perception of the industry within the Philippines – something that initially enticed Umali to join the business. “What drew me to the company was the vision – the company wants to change the way people feel about insurance. That’s a strong statement for me,” comments the CTO. “What also drew me here was the work I have done in the last four years of my professional life, looking at disruptive solutions for the market. FWD has the same approach, they want to overhaul the industry. Insurance carriers are deemed as traditional villains by the people. They are only after the money – that’s the assumption – and that they do not truly care about

the customer,” Umali continues. BUILDING TRUST In order to change the perception of the industry, FWD Life Insurance has worked to change the way that customers feel when they interact with Umali reveals. “Technology played second fiddle, the primary change was in the people. In order for you to change the way people feel about insurance you must change the way people feel about IT. You must find and include people who feel strongly about

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WE HELP INSURERS AND BANKS CONNECT THE DOTS BETWEEN ENTERPRISE AND DIGITAL We are an IP-led technology firm that helps insurers streamline operations and better engage with their customers. Our products span: • Process automation platforms and frameworks, which include products that leverage Robotics Process-Automation (RPA) • Customer Engagement Platforms that leverage machine learning and enable omni-channel engagement. The platform includes an AI based Chatbot for both customer service and sales • Digital point solutions, including Product Configurator and Legacy Modernisation (green screen modernisation) Tools • A Blockchain solution for Smart Contracts

Get in touch with us to: • Explore chatbots and an omni-channel presence online • Modernise legacy systems • Gain intelligence from customer data Connect With Us

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The annual revenue for FWD Insurance in USD

22 bn

creating solutions for people.” Having hired employees to focus on the problem, not the solution, FWD Insurance then looked at technology. “C2L BIZ has been a strategic partner for our digital transformation initiatives. Their one of the flagship mobility solution “SymbioSys Sales Tool” that allowed our sales team to sell our insurance products using tablets. This paper less process allows the customer to digitally sign an application form and view sales quotations on the devices. Digital images of the documents are processed by the new business

and underwriting teams of FWD using C2L BIZ’s “SymbioSys New Business” and “SymbioSys Underwriting” solutions. Agents hierarchy, performance and compensation are also monitored with “SymbioSys Distribution Management” using flagship solution of C2L BIZ. As well as C2L, the company has also worked with Candela Labs to advance its technological transformation. “Our partnership with Candela Labs (formerly AWPL) greatly contributed to our digitalisation efforts. FWD has been using AWPL workflows

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FWD INSURANCE

to automate our new business processes. We also conducted a number of digital experiments to beef up customer experience and our product line up,” advises Umali. “We also have a number of digital experiments conducted jointly by FWD R&D team and Candela Labs that will disrupt the insurance business and obviously we cannot reveal them yet. However, I am excited to share that we are beta testing another innovative service for our CX team that utilises AI and deep learning algorithms that will complement

our existing live chat service.” DEVELOPING FASTER Technological transformation has also occurred on the non-customer facing side of FWD’s operations. “Previously, the developers preferred to use old methods – the ‘hammer and nail’ approach,” recalls Umali. “They were using their own tools in their native and comfortable programming language, but it would take them a long time to build from scratch.” Umali – a developer when he first entered the industry – set out to

“Three years ago, we were nobody; last year we were number 12 in the Philippines” ROGELIO ‘NOOKY’ UMALI, CTO

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change this. “Before we got into the rapid application development tools, we had to ensure that the developers were going to use it. We had to let them test it and to create proof points from these new tools – we refer to this as the ‘nail gun’ method, which allowed us to develop faster.” INSTILLING CHANGE Development is significantly quicker using this method – the Peace product was developed in 21 days, in stark contrast to FWD Life Insurance’s previous turnaround times. “When I joined FWD, the last product launch was two years prior to my joining. That was a big challenge for me, having been used to a two weeks’ cycle in the

telecoms industry to every two years – that’s worlds apart,” reveals Umali. “I don’t like that pace, I want it faster.” Despite already shortening the development times, Umali wants the cycle to be even faster in the future. “I want to be able to launch or evolve products every two weeks – from concept to launch. That’s my dream, that’s what I want,” he advises. “We want to instil change in the industry. Sometimes we are labelled as an Insurtech, and not an insurance company, but we aren’t. We think like an Insurtech, but act as an insurance company. We are grounded by insurance, but we happen to be tech guys,” concludes Umali.

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Jack Cooper and the road to

SUCCESS Written by: John Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Hanlon Produced by: David Kulowitch

JACK COOPER HOLDINGS

The most important keyword at Jack Cooper, one of North America’s oldest and most trusted logistics companies, is integrity: a core company value that it’s determined to retain into the digital age

here isn’t, surely, a single large and growing enterprise that has not been transformed by technology – a transformation that is never complete, since technology never stops evolving. This has presented challenges, as it’s easy to lose sight of the importance of human relationships in a world of automation: Jack Cooper, the largest over-theroad transporter of light vehicles in both the US and Canada, is one company that has met this challenge.

Jack Cooper is a household name throughout the North American car industry fulfilling since its foundation in 1924 the key task of delivering finished automobiles from plants to dealers. Today it has a network of 51 strategically located terminals, across the United States, Canada and Mexico: its largest customers

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being General Motors (the OEM it started with, as a carrier from GM’s Leeds Assembly Plant in Kansas City, Missouri), Ford Motor Company and Toyota. As well as taking cars from North American plants, its fleet of specialised transporters moves shipments of imported vehicles, and its logistics arm has a major presence in the rental and lease markets. If you buy a new or used car in North America, chances are Jack Cooper had a hand in delivering it to you. When Kirk Hay the company’s Chief Information Officer (CIO), started his career in IT over 30 years ago, computer enabled systems and technology were very much a back office function, a service to make easier the work of departmental managers – who largely dictated what the IT guys

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“IT leadership needs to spend 60 percent of its time outside the organisation but it’s rare for that to happen” – Kirk Hay, CIO

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spent their time doing. “It was all about being a service provider. IT was viewed as a utility keeping the lights on and the power going.” Of course the lights do still have to be kept on, and his IT team at Jack Cooper will never lose sight of their service imperative, “IT must continue to digitise and innovate, but if you fail as a service provider you won’t be successful as an innovation provider,” he emphasises. Today his role is a strategic one and he is part of the executive team

reporting directly to the CEO: no major investment or expansion is considered without considering the IT implications. “IT has evolved into a partnership and much more, a strategic relationship with those we serve” he says. At Jack Cooper, ‘those we serve’ is code not just for the customers but for every one of the company’s employees, an attitude that underlines another change that has taken place throughout the IT world, the ‘flattening’ of the entire organisation.

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“What has changed is that even my more junior staff work directly with people in the field.” In fact IT staff are required to visit the company’s terminals regularly, where they spend a couple of days interacting with the staff on the ground. They invariably return with ideas and suggestions that no amount of central office brainstorming would have picked up says Hay. Maximising the utilisation of fleets and facilities can make the difference between operating

Kirk Hay

at a profit or a loss. This is where IT makes a huge difference. “One of the biggest things we are doing is pushing forward the availability of data alongside its quality – making it a highly valued commodity just like the vehicles we move.” Hay believes the data revolution means putting information into the hands of team members and customers alike. Gathering information about vehicles through telematics is something the freight industry has been doing for decades.

CIO

Kirk Hay is the Company’s Chief Information Officer and is responsible for Jack Cooper’s Information Technology function. Hay has over three decades of experience leading IT departments of public companies in a variety of industries. His industry experience includes technology services, financial services, quick service restaurant, transportation logistics and insurance. During his career he has led both small, startup and large, established IT shops determining and fulfilling strategy in support of corporate objectives, regulatory compliance and aggressive M&A activities.

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Hay points out that in this respect the industry has a head start on the internet of things (IoT) with its ability to pull data on engine performance, truck safety, fuel usage (one of the company’s largest operational costs), location through GPS and the like. “I think the challenge in our industry is making the very large amount of data that is available to us more actionable. To present it to our team members in the field so they can use it to work smarter. Then beyond that to make it predictive. When you talk about business intelligence there are three aspects, what happened before, what is happening now and what is going to happen in the future.” One example of applying business

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intelligence is the ability to do preventive maintenance when it is needed, rather than when the book says it should be done. Another example is analysing production data, so that it’s known how many vehicles are coming off the line in a given period and where they are destined for right from the start of the assembly line. Hay says: “The further ahead we can look the better job we can do in optimising the mix of freight that we put on a truck with as many cars going to the same place or the same city, and filling them on the return as well as the outward journey. It all helps us hold down our costs.” Apart from the environmental spin-off, optimising the trucks has the effect of increasing capacity.

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Jack Cooper truck, loaded

“THE FURTHER AHEAD WE CAN LOOK

the better job we can do in optimising the mix of freight that we put on a truck”

– Kirk Hay, CIO Jack Cooper has an increasingly mobile workforce, whose time is saved and job satisfaction improved if they can pull up information on a mobile device rather than having to go into an office to look it up. Jack Cooper has adopted a hybrid cloud approach to this challenge, using a combination of private cloud hosted within the business, and public cloud provided by a third party, in this case Microsoft. Jack Cooper has always been innovative in its thinking. It was an early adopter, for example, of

electronic proof of delivery from the cab, something that is today commonplace among delivery companies. “All our drivers have their back office in their back pocket!” says Hay. “They can go out and find their next load, locate where those vehicles are loaded at the yard, and look at complete information all the way out to the delivery point where they can collect information, signatures and photographs as required.” In this way information is made available to employees and customers alike, in real time

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Jack Cooper archive photograph

and across all platforms, using a laptop, a tablet or a smartphone As we saw earlier, the IT team is hands-on where serving the business is concerned. Nevertheless Hay encourages an outward-looking approach to problem solving. “IT leadership needs to spend 60 percent of its time outside the organisation but it’s rare for that to happen. This is something we are working on – keeping regular interaction with executives and key leaders in Jack Cooper while maintain contact with groups

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of people outside of the firm, or even the industry, in order to learn how to do things better.” The IT team uses a bimodal approach, focusing on both the known and the uncertain. When it comes to innovation projects, he tends to call in the help of a limited number of trusted third parties (“I call them arrows in my quiver!”) to get projects set up quickly, so they can be tested and if necessary adapted. “When innovating, you need to determine the likelihood of success early on. If you are

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going to fail, you want to fail fast!” Examples that did not fail include a new application for the large volume of vehicle inspection work the company does and a mobile app to identify vehicles in the field. These were developed and are being trialed using third party ‘boutique’ firms that have worked with Jack Cooper for a number of years. Hay is leading many efficiency projects which are delivered by the digital transformation. For

example, over the years, Jack Cooper’s footprint had grown through acquisition, accruing multiple telecoms, voice and data as well as hardware vendors. With over 80 locations to manage, communications is a very major cost factor to the business. By consolidating this supply chain and, he and his team reduced the overall cost of communications by 40 percent while actually increasing bandwidth and redundancy.

Jack Cooper Truck

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Transforming the workplace in Canada and around the world Written by: Leila Hawkins Produced by: David Kulowitch

AVI-SPL

AVI-SPL IS THE TOP END-TOEND PROVIDER OF AV AND COLLABORATION SOLUTIONS FOR ORGANISATIONS OF ALL TYPES IN CANADA AND THROUGHOUT THE WORLD

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ounded in 1979, as technology has evolved over the last 40 years naturally, so too has AVI-SPL and the needs of its customers.

John Zettel, the organisation’s CEO, explains: “There are many companies undergoing workplace transformation and our constant goal is to provide innovative technologies and solutions that enhance the collaboration and improved business outcomes that come with it. While technology has certainly been the catalyst for workplace transformation, what’s really driving it is the workforce itself, the millennial and digital natives that are currently in, or

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entering the workforce. By 2020, they’ll make up half of the workforce and their demand is for different experiences in the workplace compared to earlier generations. “We moved deeper in terms of collaboration and seeing somebody’s face,” he says, “not only how you see content but how you work on it and how you get work groups in disparate locations to come together. Not just talking about a worksheet but physically working on it at the same time. Without the resources that make these things possible, vital

functions like talent acquisition and retention, project management, and company culture begin to suffer.” Meeting customers’ workplace needs

In recent years, the company has made several big acquisitions enabling it to expand its capabilities to meet the needs of the changing workplace and workforce. In 2012 it acquired managed services provider Iformata and, most recently, bought VideoLink LLC to offer broadcast quality video and production as the enterprise video

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ARE YOU

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visit crestron.com/mercury All brand names, product names, and trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Certain trademarks, registered trademarks, and trade names may be used in this document to refer to either the entities claiming the marks and names or their products. Crestron disclaims any proprietary interest in the marks and names of others. Crestron is not responsible for errors in typography or photography. ÂŠ2017 Crestron Electronics, Inc.

CANADA

market continues its rapid growth. The acquisition of Iformata signified the future of AV and its convergence with IT, including the emergence of Unify ME Symphony Platform, the cornerstone of AVISPL’s its award winning managed services, according to market researcher Frost & Sullivan. The present and future of workplace collaboration, Symphony is a vendor agnostic platform that monitors and manages an organisation’s new and existing AV systems to improve the quality of experience during meetings. Symphony runs diagnostics on those systems, troubleshoots and creates custom alerts, schedules and launches video calls, among other critical processes

to enhance the company’s collaboration and productivity. The platform makes meeting management efficient, and as Frank Mehr, Senior Vice President of research and development explains, it is a valuable extension of a company’s IT department. “If you go to a meeting and the first ten minutes are people trying to use the technology, you’re just wasting corporate resources and frustration builds up. Problems occur, but you must be proactive to prevent them, or reactive if an unforeseen event happens in the middle of a call. “With Symphony, our

We felt there was a clear need in Canada for a LOCAL PROVIDER WITH GLOBAL CAPABILITIES. – Boris Koechlin, Managing Director, Canada w w w. g i g a b i t . n e t

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customers have support behind them that quickly explains exactly what to do, before or as it’s happening. It saves organisations a tremendous amount of time and increases their employee’s and customer’s satisfaction,” he adds. A local force around the globe

In 2013, AVI-SPL exploded onto the global scene, becoming the first multinational AV systems integrator and collaboration solutions provider when the company expanded into the UK and Canada, and into Germany three years later. “We saw this as an opportunity to be global providers and differentiators compared to our competitors,” Zettel says. “Our customers responded well to that, and then of course market expansion has done very well for us. All of these solutions are connected, and our service platforms that monitor everything are all connected. The global presence

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is clearly important to be able to ride a consistent and timely response to our customers on a global platform.” Although it has a global reach, AVI-SPL still operates on a local level. “We felt there was a clear need in Canada for a local provider with global capabilities,” explains Boris Koechlin, Managing Director in Canada. “We can go to our Canadian customers, many of whom are multinational organisations, and talk about how the local AVISPL in the UK or Germany, for example, can implement and standardise their workplace transformation throughout Europe. If not there, then the US or the Middle East, or Asia. Wherever in the world they need to go.” The company has achieved a lot since it’s been in the Canadian market, and is currently doing business with nearly half of the Canadian Fortune 50 companies. “We’ve done campuses for Imperial Oil, including its global headquarters in Calgary,” Koechlin says. “We’ve carried out work for Deloitte, a top financial services

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corporation in Toronto, and it’s won awards for creating a transformational workspace.” Koechlin explains what a transformational workspace is: “Most of us can picture the classic miles and miles of cubicles, and everybody has a desk or an office assigned to them. Deloitte has 19 floors of downtown real estate, and there’s not one office, boardroom or workstation assigned to anybody. Every day thousands of people arrive for work, scan the open space, decide what kind of work they’re trying to do that day, what kind of mood they’re in, and select a place to go to work. It’s the new way of thinking about how you arrange an office to enhance collaboration and productivity.” Mehr cites a leading pharmaceutical company with a presence in over 50 countries as a particularly successful project. AVISPL was asked to manage its video and AV devices, as well as transform all the back and front end systems. It was done in a seamless, transparent

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2,000

Number of employees at AVI-SPL way to the point where nobody noticed. “As the AV devices were removed, there was nothing for managing and monitoring these devices that became unknown,” Mehr explains. “The interface, the front end, everything remained exactly the same - the only difference was the vendor’s name on a device, like Crestron, for example.”

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The Canadian market today

The Canadian market is hugely competitive. “The industry is very saturated,” Koechlin says. “The economy is doing fairly well right now, and there’s a lot of opportunity out there. “We are increasingly useful in helping Canadian companies expand their global footprint, both directly in the traditional work we do, but also as leaders in the industry. One of the things we talk about regularly are interesting applications that we‘ve identified as potentially interesting to our customers around the world. That commitment to a global community, and the

extent to which we execute that, means everybody wins because it’s a bigger audience.” Partnering up with today’s tech leaders

Mehr says that one of the company’s key elements is having strong partnerships with major manufacturers. “We have to be flexible to provide an environment that is comfortable and works for everybody. “We have partnerships with Crestron, Microsoft, Cisco, Polycom and many other top brands. And what happens a lot of the time is we go in as the trusted advisor to a

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lot of our customers, because they want to invest in the technology, and want to know what research we have done, and what we recommend, and they appreciate us being well-versed in all of these important aspects,” he adds. Each year AVI-SPL holds their signature TechX, a customer event that Zettel explains is very important to the company. “We select different cities where we have a local presence and invite technology decision makers to get a chance to interact with not only our team, but with select technology providers, and the latest products on the market. It gives them a chance to get

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really cutting edge information on topics that are pertinent to them, and an opportunity to see, touch, and play with today’s innovations that could benefit their organisations.” Training, certifications lead differentiation

According to Zettel, another key differentiator is the organisation’s training, which has been a significant factor in creating a highly-qualified workforce with the most industry certifications in the space. With AVI-SPL’s advanced training, along with strategic direction, the company’s accomplishments have been recognised numerous times

CANADA

in recent years. Among the ones Zettel is most proud of is Frost and Sullivan’s North American Managed Services Company of the Year, multiple Vendor Partner of the Year awards, and being ranked number one by Systems Contractor News the past 11 years. “Those really mean a lot to us,” he says. “Ultimately, the whole of our company is the sum of its parts, and it takes a lot of people moving together to get to where we’ve come. The quote I like to use is that being the biggest hasn’t made us the best, being the best has made us the biggest. “It really speaks to every employee

in AVI-SPL about the dedication to progress, to being forwardthinkers and pioneers in our industry, and not letting complacency sink in. Technology will continue to advance, the workforce will continue to change, and we take great pride in our ability to evolve to meet the present and future needs of our customers and their transforming global workforce.”

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