Gigabit Magazine – April 2019

P R O V IDING T HE T OOL S F OR DIGI TA L S UC CE S S www.gigabitmagazine.com

APRIL 2019

CONNECTING CUSTOMERS ACROSS THE GLOBE

DIGITAL DISRUPTION OF A TELCO

Intelligent digital transformation on a global scale Arlen Shenkman on how SAP is driving the experience economy

TOP 10

IoT trends to look out for

WELCOME

ello and welcome to the April

H

Elsewhere, Darren Mowry, Director

edition of Gigabit.

for Business Development at Amazon

technology giant SAP. Speaking to

the company has established itself as

Web Services (AWS), explains how

Our cover star this month is Arlen Shenkman, Executive Vice President for Global Business

a cloud computing titan. We also speak to Tien Zhou, one of the first business leaders to predict the rise of

Development and

the subscription economy.

Ecosystems, Gigabit learns how the

Now co-founder and

enterprise software

CEO of Zuora, he

company is gearing up

forecasts how

for future growth with strategic acquisitions and a winning portfolio.

Arlen Shenkman, Executive Vice President, SAP

“Our objective was to do

subscription services are set to disrupt almost every industry.

For our top 10 ranking this

transformative acquisitions,” said

month, we discover the top 10 IoT

Shenkman. “With Ariba, Fieldglass

trends you need to watch out for and

and Concur, SAP is the undisputed

we’ll also round up this month’s must

business network company.”

attend events.

Next, we sit down with RagingWire

Don’t forget to also read our exclusive

Data Centers’ Kevin Dalton and

digital reports on ADP, Coupa Software,

Joe Goldsmith, to learn how the

and more.

firm has established itself as one of the largest wholesale data centre providers in the world.

Enjoy the issue!

Laura Mullan. laura.mullan@bizclikmedia.com w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

03

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LAURA MULLAN

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CONTENTS

12

WRIKE: IMPROVING BUSINESS PROCESSES WITH TECHNOLOGY

68 INTELLIGENT DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION ON A GLOBAL SCALE

34 A CLOUD COMPUTING TITAN

46 How ADP is innovating beyond payroll to change the world of work

The world subscribed: HOW TECH FIRM ZUORA IS POWERING THE SUBSCRIPTION ECONOMY AND THE END OF OWNERSHIP

80 TOP 10 STRATEGIC IOT TECHNOLOGIES AND TRENDS

94 EVENTS

98

Ragingwire data centers

154

WestGUARD Insurance Company

166

Glidewell Dental

124

T-Mobile

140

Plymouth Rock Assurance

180 SGK

254

Finning International

200

Lufthansa

218

BKW AG

236

Gore Mutual Insurance Company

272

Ardene

286

Cirque du Soleil

300

SoftBank

346

Apollo Tyres

360 OSN

382 316

Old Mutual Insurance

HGC Global Communications

334

Sumitomo Chemical

396

Alizz Islamic Bank

Covering every angle in the digital age The Business Chief platforms offer insight on the trends influencing C and V-level executives, telling the stories that matter

CLICK TO SUBSCRIBE FOR FREE

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12

INTELLIGENT DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION ON A GLOBAL SCALE WRIT TEN BY

JOHN O’HANLON PRODUCED BY

CR AIG DANIEL S

APRIL 2019

13

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SAP

A comparatively recent strategy of inorganic growth at scale has significantly expanded SAP’s markets and furthered its ownership of the intelligent enterprise. We speak to the strategy’s architect Arlen Shenkman, Executive Vice President for Global Business Development and Ecosystems at SAP

S

AP is the defining enterprise software company of our time. Industry leaders in almost every sector, private and

public, were getting to grips with the concept 14

of enterprise resource planning (ERP) back in the 1990s when, in the face of determined competition, SAP succeeded in adapting to the rapid evolution that was taking place at the turn of the century. Not only did it expand its platform to embrace additional functionality, but it started to prepare itself for the exodus from on-premise enterprise software to the as-a-service model that resides in the cloud today. SAP’s is the fastest growing business cloud by a wide margin.

At its inception, the company had a strategy of having regional resellers but today it is reaping the benefits of having decided very early on that it was going to be a global company. It entered China in the early 1990s and now China is its fastest growing market APRIL 2019

15

in defiance of any gloom around its slowing growth. “We are not having challenges in China — we are doubling down in China,” declared SAP’s CEO Bill McDermott as recently as January 29th.

Arlen Shenkman’s association with SAP spans 15 years and in that time, he has helped evolve the company’s global growth strategy in a number of important ways. Trained in corporate law and corporate finance he brought with him broad experience with large international firms, much of it to do with mergers and acquisitions (M&A). In w w w.gi ga bi t ma ga z in e. com

JOIN THE BEST. Discover your path to digital transformation.

Around the world, leading companies and organizations are using cutting-edge technologies to transform their business, drive innovation, and win in an increasingly digital economy. These businesses are a cut above their competitors in many ways, but what sets them apart the most are the technologies they use to support themselves, as well as their industries and customers.

Platform technologies are helping these businesses reach their goals and discover new ones, regardless of the industry. Take a look at just some of the industries where leading companies are leaping ahead in innovative ways.

Manufacturing In a high-pressure, competitive industry like manufacturing, companies must make use of every possible measure to keep costs low and efficiency high.

Aligning its strategy with digital transformation processes, Bosch Group is focusing on innovative, service-based business models and the Internet of Things (IoT). To achieve this, Bosch deployed the SAP HANA in-memory database using SUSE® Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications on IBM Power. As a result, they streamlined SAP HANA operations and support, and maximized availability and business continuity of SAP HANA environments through innovative technology solutions.

To produce and distribute tires and rubber auto parts to a wide range of customers all around the world, JK Tyre required efficient manufacturing processes and low-friction methods of coordinating with Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs), as well as dealers and distribution networks. In the race to stay ahead of its competitors, JK Tyre decided to make the move to SAP HANA and SUSE Linux Enterprise for SAP Applications. JK Tyre boosts productivity by up to 30% and will now migrate to S/4HANA. Retail/Wholesales Companies in the retail/wholesale industry must offer great value and a seamless shopping experience.

Further, they need to give managers real-time insight into customer purchasing habits, profit margins and stock levels.

CarrefourSA decided to refresh its entire enterprise application landscape, introducing an integrated suite of SAP ERP solutions, together with SAP Business Warehouse (BW) powered by SAP HANA for ultra-fast analytics and reporting. SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications provides a reliable platform to support constantly growing operations at CarrefourSA and delivers consistently high levels of performance for even the most demanding SAP workloads.

As a major player in the wholesale business, Galexis wants to offer digital, real-time services to complement its logistics operations, as well as Alloga’s pre-wholesale operations. Galexis decided to implement SAP S/4HANA powered by SAP HANA running on SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications. Galexis improved business continuity with 50% faster, fully automated failover process.

High Tech Innovation also happens at the intersection of industries. Hosting provider FIS-ASP wanted to seize new business opportunities and broaden its service offering to address the evolving requirements of its customers, while also increasing efficiency. Previously, when FIS-ASP was managing systems manually, it typically took between 40 and 60 man-days to set up complex landscapes for customers, such as those featuring SAP S/4HANA applications, SAP Fiori, SAP Hybris and SAP Business Warehouse. By taking advantage of SUSE OpenStack Cloud, FISASP can now complete the same kinds of deployments in just five or ten days.

Can you win with a digital platform?

Companies across industries are using platform technologies to thrive in their industries – or transcend beyond their boundaries. Find more success stories on www.suse.com/c/success/.

About SUSE SUSE is the trusted and preferred open source platform for SAP customers who want to unlock data intelligence, drive innovation and run with the best. • Trusted: SAP’s in-house implementation platform • Open and Flexible: World’s largest independent open source provider, promising customers retain control and flexibility • Innovative: SAP co-innovation partner, enabling customers to run with the best.

SAP

18

APRIL 2019

CLICK TO WATCH : ‘SAP BUSINESS WOMEN’S NETWORK – DEFINE THE WAY’ 19 2005, he was invited by SAP’s then

activity at the center of future develop-

CFO Werner Brandt to build out an

ment. “Our objective was to do trans-

M&A practise for the company. Before

formative acquisitions. We really started

then, though it had made a number of

down that road in 2007 with the acquisi-

smaller acquisitions, SAP’s growth had

tion of BusinessObjects in the analytics

been largely organic and by strategic

space, and that expanded our address-

partnerships with technology compa-

able markets considerably.” The $6.78bn

nies, notably IBM.

acquisition of BusinessObjects was a watershed moment for the company

TRANSFORMATIVE ACQUISITION AT SCALE

commitment and because it brought

Brandt however recognized that to meet

business intelligence tools to SAP’s back

the challenges of the market and the

office transactional systems.

limitless potential presented by data it would be necessary to place M&A

both on account of the major financial

By 2010, SAP was ready to make its next transformational jump with the w w w.gi ga bi t ma ga z in e. com

Cisco and SAP Empowering intelligent enterprises everywhere.

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For enterprise businesses looking to maximize value and build the best foundation for a modern, flexible, and efficient SAP environment, Cisco connects SAP applications and users with adaptable platforms and dependable infrastructure. With enhanced functionality across the entire data management suite, Cisco ensures modern, flexible, and efficient SAP environments are easily deployed, managed, and optimized. Supported by world-class R&D and armed with a comprehensive approach to modernization and continuous innovation, Cisco consistently delivers new ways to innovate, drive business agility, and do more with data.

Cisco helps you maximize the value of your existing SAP investment and add valuable new cloud native capabilities to help your business thrive now and into the future.

Together, Cisco and SAP are empowering intelligent enterprises everywhere.

Click here to learn more

SAP

22

$5.8bn acquisition of Sybase, which

Concur, SAP is the undisputed business

gave SAP users the option of running

network company. We are redefining

their operations from mobile devices,

how businesses conduct commerce

paving the way for real-time analytics

across goods and services, contingent

and removing barriers between business

workforces, travel and entertainment.

applications and business intelligence,

With the SAP HANA platform, the pos-

says Shenkman. “We then went on with

sibilities to innovate new business

a series of acquisitions to expand our

models around Concur and the network

cloud capabilities, ranging from Success-

are limitless.”

Factors to Ariba and Fieldglass and

Following the successful completion

the travel and expense management

of this phase of strategic M&A activity

services company Concur.”

Shenkman served for two years as

The $8.3bn Concur deal in 2014

CFO of SAP in its largest market, the

coincided with the launch of the latest

USA, before being invited by the CEO

version of the S/4 HANA business

to work directly with him in the newly

suite. As Bill McDermott observed at

created role of Executive Vice President,

the time: “With Ariba, Fieldglass and

Global Business Development and

APRIL 2019

Ecosystems in May, 2017. His job, he explains, is to help the company get to grips with the opportunities it has to grow externally. “We tend to define that as inorganic growth: oftentimes that can be a new strategic partnership or an acquisition or a strategic investment, but in essence our charter is really to help the company put its arms around strategic initiatives with global partners. We’re looking for initiatives that enable us to expand our portfolio and continue to help our customers and our ecosystem with the digital transformation that most of them are going through.”

“ Data only has value when it helps you make better decisions and makes employees, customers and product users have a better experience with you” — Arlen Shenkman, Executive Vice President for Global Business Development & Ecosystems at SAP

E X E C U T I V E P R OF IL E

Arlen Shenkman Arlen Shenkman serves as executive vice president for global business development and ecosystems at SAP. He is responsible for business models, investments, and mergers and acquisitions. Before his current role, Shenkman served as CFO of SAP North America, SAP’s largest business unit, responsible for all finance functions in North America, including forecasting and planning, identifying efficiencies, and ensuring the region’s overall financial health. As part of the leadership team, Shenkman was engaged in driving new sales.

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23

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Different is bet

tter

25

THE INTELLIGENT ENTERPRISE

said, the most recent SAP acquisition

The word ecosystem in Shenkman’s job

($8bn) of Qualtrics has outlined a new

title reflects the realities facing business

category, that of experience manage-

today. A holistic view of organizational

ment (XM). The experience economy

activity as an organism or a living entity

is a reality – 80% of customers have

influenced by the activity and changes

chosen to switch brand because of

in every place, internal or external, that

a negative experience and the impact

touches it, is made possible by the

of yearly loss of trust due to abuse

convergence and management of

of data privacy and brand loyalty is

data in the cloud. We can see here

put at a staggering $2.5tn, and the est-

the beginnings of what SAP today

imated market size for customer exper-

describes as the intelligent enterprise.

ience solutions, platform and integra-

In this new world the notion of cate-

tion to operational systems stands

gories is perhaps invidious, but that

at $100bn. w w w.gi ga bi t ma ga z in e. com

SAP

26

“ One of the things that really excited us was the idea of creating a category around experience management” — Arlen Shenkman, Executive Vice President for Global Business Development & Ecosystems at SAP

APRIL 2019

27

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SAP

1972

Year founded

96,000

Approximate number of employees

28

Qualtrics is a technology platform

an employee’s, or a product user’s

that organizations use to collect, man-

experience. But Qualtrics is truly

age and act on experience data. Expe-

a horizontal platform that allows you

rience management may be described

to get feedback and information

as a system whereby teams, depart-

around the holistic experience from

ments and organizations can manage

all of these. This gets really interesting

the four core ‘experiences’ of business:

when you bring it together with our

customer, product, employee and

product portfolio, which links together

brand. “One of the things that really

that operational data with experiential

excited us when we were considering

data. How is it possible to have an

this acquisition,” says Shenkman, “was

intelligent enterprise without under-

the idea of creating a category around

standing how your customers,

experience management. This is often

employees, product users, and every-

narrowly defined as a customer’s,

one exposed to your brand, feel about

APRIL 2019

29

you?” It is hard to have a holistic view

real time – addressing issues like

without really understanding what

competitiveness drops, employee turn-

is happening to the business from an

over or customer churn before they

external perspective, and why that

have time to develop into a problem.

is happening.”

The integration of this ability with

Simply put, Qualtrics brings together

SAP’s ecosystem eliminates the old

the mass of experiential data trawled

distinction between front office and

from whatever source – customer,

back office. ‘Intelligent enterprise’

brand, employee or the product itself.

ceases to be a mere buzzword once

Rather than crunching these numbers

the business is viewed organically,

in the back office and subjecting them

rather like the human body or a natural

to traditional feedback and survey pro-

ecosystem in which latency can mean

cesses, it gives companies the ability

the difference between extinction

to adjust policy based on this data in

and survival. w w w.gi ga bi t ma ga z in e. com

SAP

DATA IN THE ECOSYSTEM Data, of itself, is dumb, says Arlen Shenkman. “There has long been a debate in large companies and among enterprise software specialists about the intrinsic value of data. My personal perspective is that data only has value when it helps you make better decisions and makes employees, customers and product users have a better experience with you. That can’t happen unless you know what they think about you.”

For 50 years SAP has been focused on customer success driven by the 30

quality of its products: that remains the focus, but today it’s no longer enough.

There’s no doubt that the acquisitions of the past ten years have deepened and broadened SAP’s reach. Innovation can’t happen in isolation, he insists.

“Without doubt M&A has driven a very robust portfolio of products, each of which enhances our focus on the success of our customers – and that, we believe, is the key to our own success as a global organization.”

So, it’s probably not quite the thing to regard the Qualtrics acquisition as a complete reinvention of the company.

SAP always had this focus, based on customer service delivered through APRIL 2019

its global presence and the global presence of the 18,000 partners that implement, build and innovate on its platforms. “This is where the complexity of our ecosystem comes in. We have very large global partners like Accenture, Capgemini, Deloitte, EY, and PWC. We work closely with the major public cloud providers, and hardware and software partners, and we have many smaller regional suppliers from around the world. The core of the SAP ecosystem is a very strong set of companies around the globe that develop software that resides and integrates with an SAP platform, whether on-premise or a cloud solution like SuccessFactors, Fieldglass, Ariba or Concur. Over the years, SAP has carefully cultivated our ecosystem.

Every partner contributes certain expertise that allows us to deliver a more intelligent enterprise.”

THE LANDSCAPE SURVEYED There’s no doubt though that Qualtrics is a bit of a game changer for SAP, and one that will take a while to settle in.

It is impossible to say never again, but the man with the overview of the ecosystem is able to claim a degree of satisfaction with its current state. “We love the w w w.gi ga bi t ma ga z in e. com

31

SAP

“ The core of the SAP ecosystem is a very strong set of companies around the globe that develop software that resides in and integrates with an SAP platform” — Arlen Shenkman, Executive Vice President for Global Business Development & Ecosystems at SAP

32

Qualtrics acquisition and we are really excited about building a category around XM, however I am not aware of any hole in our portfolio that would represent a strategic gap for us,” he says. “When we look over the landscape today, what our development teams have built and the cloud assets that we’ve amassed over the past eight years, we’re very comfortable with that portfolio.” So, no more large scale acquisitions are currently in his sights.

APRIL 2019

The breadth of the SAP portfolio is legendary of course with capabilities spanning ERP, procurement, CRM, HR, MRP and so on you’d be hard put to identify any weakness. There will doubtless continue to be smaller acquisitions as the potential of technologies like AI and IoT are realized, but from here on in, SAP can concentrate on its core mission.

“The journey for so many of our customers is digital transformation. SAP is helping them all the way, from finding the right place for them to start to deploy some solutions to implementing them. Some of the companies we work with are already through that journey; others are not. With 425,000 customers in 180 countries it’s not surprising they are on different timetables!”

The acquisition program since 2010 has hugely expanded what he calls SAP’s addressable markets. “We have crafted a strategy to ensure our customers go through their digital transformation and move to the cloud successfully, deploying SAP technology to become the best businesses they can be.”

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33

CLOUD COMPUTING

34

APRIL 2019

Amazon Web Services:

A CLOUD COMPUTING TITAN WRITTEN BY

L AUR A MULL AN

Amazon Web Services (AWS) has shown that when it comes to cloud computing, one firm reigns supreme. We spoke with Darren Mowry, Director, Business Development at AWS, to find out more about one of tech’s biggest players…

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35

CLOUD COMPUTING

I

n your opinion, what gives Amazon Web Services (AWS) a competitive edge in

the cloud computing market?

There are three things that are different about AWS. The first is that we’re unusually customerfocused. A lot of companies say this, but very few walk the walk. Most of the big technology companies are competitor-focused. That can be a very successful strategy, it’s just not ours. 90% of what we build is driven by what customers tell us matters to them. The other 10% are things we hear from customers where they may not articulate exactly what they want, but we try to read between the lines and invent

36

on their behalf.

The second is that we’re long-term oriented.

We’re building relationships and a business that lasts, and you do that by doing right by customers over a long period of time. An example that ties this all together is a capability in our support function called AWS Trusted Advisor. We’ll look at customers’ utilisation of our resources, and if they’re low or idle, we’ll reach out to them and say, maybe you don’t want to spend this money right now.

Over the last couple years, we’ve used AWS Trusted Advisor to tell customers how to spend less money with us, leading to hundreds of millions of dollars in savings for our customers every year.

APRIL 2019

“ We’re trying to build a longterm business that outlasts all of us, and you do that by doing right by customers over a long period of time” — Darren Mowry, Director, Business Development Amazon Web Services

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37

CLOUD COMPUTING

When we first started doing this, people thought it was a gimmick, but if you understand our culture, it makes perfect sense, because we don’t want to make money from customers unless they’re getting value. We want to reinvent an experience that hasn’t been a very good one for customers over the last several decades and we’re trying to build a long-term business that outlasts all of us, and you do that by doing right by customers over a long period of time.

38 Attracting and retaining talent is a challenge for any firm, particularly in IT. How do you get the best expertise on board at AWS? The most important thing is to hire people that fit your culture — and for us, that’s builders. By builders, we mean people who like to invent, people who like to look at different customer experiences and assess what’s wrong with them and reinvent them.

The UK, like many countries, has a well-documented skills gap. How can businesses tackle this and what is AWS doing to help?

APRIL 2019

CLICK TO WATCH : ‘AWS RE:START’ 39

We are seeing employers take own-

industry-recognised certifications and

ership of developing digital skills within

in-demand cloud jobs; AWS Educate,

their businesses by investing more in

which provides tools for students around

training and upskilling employees.

the world who are dreaming of a tech-

Developing cloud skills is helping to

nology career; AWSome days, a free

close the digital skills gap. In 2018,

online training event that provides a step-

AWS committed to continue giving

by-step introduction to core AWS serv-

access to AWS training programmes,

ices hosted by AWS technical experts;

at no charge, and to reaching more

AWS Tech Talks, which are live, online

than 100,000 people in Europe. Addi-

presentations that cover a broad range

tionally, we offer a number of training

of topics at varying technical levels;

resources and programmes such as:

and our AWS Free Digital Training plat-

AWS Academy, which enables educa-

form to prepare anyone interested in

tion institutions to prepare students for

a career in cloud for employment. w w w.gi ga bi t ma ga z in e. com

CLOUD COMPUTING

How can businesses encourage

Defence and others, AWS re:Start

diversity in the workforce?

offers training and job placements to

At AWS we are investing in STEM and

1,000 young adults as well as military

cloud computing education, alternative

service-leavers and their partners.

pathways to hiring, and creating products

We also offer a Returners Programme

and services that enable people from all

in the UK, which is designed to support

backgrounds to build successful careers.

individuals who have taken a break

For example, we launched AWS re:Start

from full time employment and help

to bring more qualified candidates with

transition them back into a permanent

cloud and software development skills

position with the skills and knowledge

into the UK workforce. Working together

they need for success. In April 2018,

with The Prince’s Trust, the Ministry of

AWS also piloted a new programme

40

APRIL 2019

called AWS Get IT in partnership with

gender, race, age, national origin, sexual

Future Foundations. The objective of

orientation, disability, culture, educa-

the programme is to inspire more young

tion, as well as professional and life

people, and girls in particular, to consider

experience. We actively encourage

a career in IT and gain digital skills.

employees to bring their authentic,

Innovation is crucial to our success.

Having a diverse workforce gives us

original, and best selves to work.

For us, it’s a business imperative to

a better understanding of customers’

make sure that our culture, across the

needs and is key to unlock-

board, is orientated around diversity.

ing ideas. Our diverse

That said, while diversity and inclusion

perspectives come from

are good for our business, our commit-

many sources including

ment is based on something more

“ It’s never been easier and less expensive to collect, store, analyse and share data than it is with the cloud” — Darren Mowry, Director, Business Development Amazon Web Services

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41

CLOUD COMPUTING

fundamental than that. We want to make sure that we are igniting as many people’s careers as possible in the technology industry.

Are there any notable trends or opportunities that you are seeing in the cloud market?

Cloud has become the new normal as companies of every size are now deploying new applications to the cloud by default, and looking to migrate as many of their existing applications as they 42

can as quickly as possible. For enterprises, the question isn’t “if” anymore, it’s really just “how fast can we move?” and “what are we going to move first?”

Not surprisingly, there is no one -size-fitsall, but we do see a few major patterns emerging among customers.

The first is development and test workloads. We have many customers who are running dev and test on AWS. For example, JustGiving is one of the world’s largest online sites for supporting charitable causes. The organisation turned to AWS to run its test and production environments and to host a new big-data analytics platform. With AWS, JustGiving has better access to APRIL 2019

‘ JustGiving is one of the world’s largest online sites for supporting charitable causes.

The organisation turned to AWS to run its test and production environments’

more data points and uses only the computing power it needs, helping the cost-conscious organisation save money.

Next, we see websites and digital properties, analytics, and mobile applications moving to the cloud. It’s never been easier and less expensive to collect, store, analyse and share data than it is with the cloud. The Financial Times (FT) has been using AWS to cut data warehousing costs by 80% and completely revolutionise how they offer content to customers. The FT now can run analytics on all their stories, in near real time, personalising their digital products and giving readers a more tailored reading experience.

The third set of applications are mobile as most companies have employees and customers that go between laptop or desktop and tablet and phone. Most applications weren’t built with those various interfaces in mind. Transport for London’s (TfL) has been able to build a website with a greatly improved user experience across mobile, tablet, and desktop that can scale up to 30x normal traffic in busy periods and now supports 81% of Londoners and over 20mn visits per month using AWS. w w w.gi ga bi t ma ga z in e. com

43

CLOUD COMPUTING

“ We’re going to see an explosion of voice applications over time” 44

— Darren Mowry, Director, Business Development Amazon Web Services

APRIL 2019

Where do you hope to see AWS in the next 5-10 years? What’s your vision for the future of the organisation?

We believe that the vast majority of computing is going to be done in the cloud. Very few companies in the fullness of time will own their own data centres, and those that do will have much smaller footprints. We can expect a lot of geographical expansion and huge investments in machine learning, artificial intelligence (AI), connected devices and the Internet of Things (IoT). Voice will become an increasingly larger percentage of the total applications out there. When we first started using applications on the phone, tapping a few times felt pretty handy. Then you use a voice-driven application, like Alexa and it actually seems really inconvenient to have to tap three or four times. We’re going to see an explosion of voice applications. In the longer term, we’ll see more and more organisations come to rely on the capabilities of AI.

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E N T E R P R I S E S O F T WA R E

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How ADP is innovating beyond payroll to change the world of work Innovation is rife in the lives of consumers, but could also change the world of work?

Jeff Phipps, ADP’s Managing Director for the UK and Ireland, believes so…

WRITTEN BY

APRIL 2019

L AUR A MULL AN

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E N T E R P R I S E S O F T WA R E

48

F

rom finance and marketing to

the payroll and HR market – it pays

manufacturing and retail, more

around one in six workers in the US and

and more Britons are entering

claims to be one of the largest provid-

the workforce. In fact, in 2018, the UK’s

ers of HR services across North America,

employment rate reached a record high

Europe, Latin America and the Pacific

of 75.6%, with 32.39mn people now in

Rim. The Fortune 500 company is known

work. This growing workforce may be

for offering a range of software solutions,

a positive litmus test for the economy,

equipping companies with the tools they

but it also spells out the importance of

need to tackle jobs like HR, payroll, talent,

ensuring that your businesses’ human

tax and business administration. It may

resources (HR) and payroll services

seem like these operations happen

are up-to-speed.

seamlessly behind the scenes, however,

Automatic Data Processing Inc. (ADP)

Jeff Phipps, ADP’s Managing Director

has quickly become synonymous with

for the UK and Ireland, points out that

APRIL 2019

“ Our clients want to come to an organisation that they know that they can trust and that has the right brandperception in the marketplace” — Jeff Phipps Managing Director, UK and Ireland, ADP

49

as businesses becomes more globalised,

erations, the challenge grows ten-fold.

it’s become an increasingly complex

“It’s not a surprise that compliance is

task. “All clients want the ability to do

one of the biggest challenges,” points

things differently: in their business, they

out Phipps. “There’s increasingly more

may reward their employees differently,

legislation to contend with like GDPR

they may have a different work culture

and anti-money laundering legislation.”

or pay their employees differently,” he

This has created a burden that many

observes. “They expect our solution to

businesses simply do not want to bear

work and meet their needs exactly, and

but, for ADP, it’s created an opportunity.

that can be challenging.”

“When I first got into this industry, a friend

Setting up a HR or payment system

of mine asked, ‘Well how hard can payroll

in one country is demanding enough

be?’ Everyone that I tell that story to

but when you’re dealing with over 74,000

now smiles and rolls their eyes to the

clients who may have multinational op-

heavens because they understand that w w w.gi ga bi t ma ga z in e. com

E N T E R P R I S E S O F T WA R E

50

“ All clients want the ability to do things differently: in their business, they may reward their employees differently, they may have a different work culture or pay their employees differently...”

— Jeff Phipps Managing Director, UK and Ireland ADP

APRIL 2019

getting an HR and payroll system working well in one country for one company is hard, getting it worked for lots of companies is really challenging.”

Phipps first joined ADP over three years ago, having earned his stripes at firms such as Hewlett Packard and Dell respectively. Today, he claims that the secret to ADP’s success is down to its global reputation for people-orientated service and expertise. “If you think about the HR and payroll data we’re looking at, it’s incredibly sensitive information.

Our clients want to come to an organisa-

CLICK TO WATCH : ‘ADP – INNOVATING BEYOND PAYROLL’ 51 tion that they know that they can trust

look at our operations not just from a data

and who has the right brand perception

security perspective, but also looking

in the marketplace,” he says. “There’s

at our processes to ensure that there’s

also our scale. Our clients know we can

no potential for risk,” he adds.

make the necessary investments to

Another advantage the firm has is

focus on security and product develop-

its financial heft. In its 2018 fiscal year,

ment. We’ve also really listened to our

the company recorded an impressive

clients and tried to keep abreast of the

$13.3bn in revenue and last year, it

things that they need because the

revealed that it had acquired Celergo

market is complicated.” Security is, by

to help strengthen its global payroll

all counts, an ever-present concern at

capabilities. “Getting the data from

ADP. As such the firm has a separate

a central client system to local coun-

security organisation, which creates

tries is the really challenging part. The

what Phipps describes a “Chinese wall

acquisition of Celergo gave us an

from the business.” “They essentially

enhanced ability to do that and it also w w w.gi ga bi t ma ga z in e. com

E N T E R P R I S E S O F T WA R E

$13.3bn Approximate revenue FY18

1949

Year founded

58,000 Number of associates

52 furthered our geographic coverage,” Phipps explains. As well as investing in acquisitions, ADP is also keen to ramp up its R&D efforts to promote innovation. This has helped to shape ADP’s portfolio into what it is today: offering services that allow companies to pay their employees, manage their annual performance, screen incoming recruits and more.

Yet, ADP doesn’t just pay bills and organise taxes, it also offers peoplefocused talent management services.

In the UK, the nation is in the grip of a skills shortage that’s costing the APRIL 2019

private sector an estimated £6.3bn every year, according to The Open University and, as such, this type of service is more important than ever.

“The phrase ‘war for talent’ has been around for some time,” observes Phipps.

“From an ADP point of view, onboarding talent has become a big part of our software solution so that we can help people find the best talent in the first place.” The firm also recently acquired The Marcus Buckingham Company, a Californiabased firm that delivers tools, research, coaching, and training programmes to drive engagement and performance within teams. “We’re looking at different ways that you can understand your employees, understand what they like and dislike about their job so that you can be better connected with them and hopefully that results in better outcomes,” Phipps adds. In the future, Phipps also predicts that big data will become a crucial tool for talent management, noting that it can help business get a more transparent understanding of the workforce. “There’s definitely a space for strong leadership skills, but combining that with better analytics and insights that show what’s going on with your workforce can really help you reward w w w.gi ga bi t ma ga z in e. com

53

E N T E R P R I S E S O F T WA R E

“ We’re looking at different ways that you can understand your employees, understand what they like and dislike about their job so that you can be better connected with them” — Jeff Phipps Managing Director, UK and Ireland, ADP

54

APRIL 2019

high-performing leaders and teams.”

With over 70 years’ of experience under its belt, ADP hopes to simplify and change the world of work. It has already onboarded big name clients including American Apparel, Nimax Theatres and Innocent Drinks because, as digital transformation becomes the defining the word of the decade, Phipps highlights how people don’t just want personalised, efficient service from their personal lives, they also want it from their work lives too. “If I want to buy something, I can buy it and get it within the next 24 hours without talking to anyone. I can use wearable technology when I’m cycling to track how far I’ve travelled or whether I’m getting faster. People are getting used to this type of experience in their personal lives and so it shouldn’t come as a surprise to us that business professionals are saying “‘Why can’t I have that in my work life as well?’”

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BUSINESS PROCESS IMPROVEMENT

Whether you’re generating a report or solving a customer query, you probably use dozens of business processes ever day — but are they efficient? Andrew Filev, Founder and CEO of Wrike, explains how technology could help…

56

IMPROVING BUSINESS PROCESSES WITH TECHNOLOGY WRITTEN BY

ANDRE W FILE V, FOUNDER AND CEO AT WRIK E

APRIL 2019

57

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BUSINESS PROCESS IMPROVEMENT

B

usinesses are generally judged by the quality of the products and services they deliver, not their

internal processes. This makes it easy for managers to kick the can down the road on improving them. “If it ain’t broke, don’t

fix it,” they may say, sweeping inefficiency under the rug and maintaining the mentality that a less-than-optimal status quo is easier and takes less time than redesigning workflows and investing in new technology to improve operations.

This mentality is ultimately harmful, 58

as illustrated by a study from the Harvard Business Review. Their findings from an extensive, 10-year study of 12,000 companies on the importance of Operational Excellence found that companies that adopted the best management practices increased their profits by an average of US$15mn, or 25%, which shows that companies that accept their bad processes are leaving huge amounts of money on the table.

Historically, marketing departments have led the charge, embracing new technologies and driving business transformation.

As the first touch point in the customer journey, and arguably the most crossfunctional department in an organisation, marketing is uniquely positioned to lead APRIL 2019

S TAT S

the charge toward

• According to Wrike’s Happiness Index, UK adults rank the importance of ‘doing meaningful work’ as their top driver in relation to job happiness.

• In a study about operational excellence by the Harvard Business Review, it found that companies which adopt best management practices increased their profits by an average US$15mn, or 25%.

• Used by more than 15,000 companies in 130 countries, Wike has racked up over two million active users and completed one a 100mn tasks for its customers

adopting good habits and achieving business transformation. But now, organisations of all sizes, particularly enterprises, are looking to invest in technologies that will help them run more efficiently and effectively in every department as part of their digital transformation strategy and plan.

Flexible platforms with advanced collaboration features, work management, and automation capabilities offer the most immediate benefits.

Almost every enterprise in the world is embracing technology to help improve business processes. Collaborative work management software creates a digital workplace that teams can do the bulk of their work within - think managing projects, leveraging templates, and automating workflows. Such assistance for these processes makes companies more efficient, but it also provides better insights into what’s working and what isn’t – and that can have the biggest impact of all. w w w.gi ga bi t ma ga z in e. com

59

BUSINESS PROCESS IMPROVEMENT

60

APRIL 2019

CLICK TO WATCH : ‘MANAGE WORK, COLLABORATE, AND TRACK PROJECTS WITH WRIKE’ 61

HOW TECHNOLOGY CAN HELP IMPROVE BUSINESS PROCESSES

often involve scrolling through endless

Business intelligence platforms can

that fail to keep the conversation

sound daunting and a little abstract but

within the context of the work being

in practice, they help tighten up even the

done, which leads to time wasted

most mundane process, project, or task.

searching for information and missing

Static spreadsheets are a good

email and messaging app threads

vital details for a project. In fact,

example of a popular yet antiquated

for teams, the biggest challenge for

part of current business processes.

flawless execution is that work is

They can’t be updated in real time, don’t

being done across too many systems

lend themselves well to being shared

which creates duplication of work

or viewed via mobile, and don’t have

and communication, according to

communication functions. Our current

the Wrike Operational Excellence

forms of communication in business

Report last year. w w w.gi ga bi t ma ga z in e. com

BUSINESS PROCESS IMPROVEMENT

62

“ B USINESS INTELLIGENCE PLATFORMS CAN SOUND DAUNTING AND A LITTLE ABSTRACT BUT IN PRACTICE, THEY HELP TIGHTEN UP EVEN THE MOST MUNDANE PROCESS, PROJECT, OR TASK” — Andrew Filev, Founder and CEO at Wrike

APRIL 2019

63

eliminates these issues and, when

BETTER BUSINESS PROCESSES EQUAL BETTER BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE

combined with a business intelligence

The data gleaned from a digital

tool, it can give your teams the

workplace can be collected and

information they need to be more

connected to a more robust business

agile and optimise these processes

intelligence solution, where it can

with automation, transparency,

be translated into actionable insights

and real-time workflow analytics.

on project efficiency and return

These tools are essential in making

on investment (ROI). Automating

your business more efficient and

and connecting work with business

bringing continuous improvement –

outcomes gives companies a better

fuelled by actionable data and metrics

understanding of which work makes

– into your culture.

the biggest impact (and which work

But the new digital workplace

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BUSINESS PROCESS IMPROVEMENT

“ C OMPANIES THAT EMBRACE BUSINESS TRANSFORMATION HAVE THE POTENTIAL TO DISRUPT THEIR CATEGORIES, AND DRAMATICALLY CHANGE THE COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE.” 64

— Andrew Filev, Founder and CEO at Wrike

is creating bottlenecks and wasting time).

For example, if a high-performing business unit shows signs of bottlenecks in a particular phase of work, that serves as a red flag that it’s time to boost the firm’s headcount.

Or if a major project isn’t moving the needle, it might be time to reassign the people working on it to more profitable projects.

Historically, these types of insights have only been made after problems have occurred, but technology today allows them to be made in near real time.

These insights are also valuable for the workforce, as they help to show what impact their work has had on the business. This is APRIL 2019

important because, according to Wrike’s Happiness Index, UK adults rank the importance of ‘doing meaningful work’ as their top driver in relation to job happiness.

Just like marketers use analytics to measure the ROI of an advertisement, other departments can now see how their work impacts specific company objectives. This can go a long way to increasing their happiness, productivity, and desire to stay at the company.

IMPROVE BUSINESS PROCESSES, IMPROVE BUSINESS SUCCESS Technology can certainly help to tighten up business processes. But the possibilities for the insights that executives can glean from implementing such technology are unprecedented in decision-making. Harnessing the power of digital technologies to improve business processes has never been more critical for organisations looking to discover new revenue opportunities, streamline operations, and distance themselves from the competition. Companies that embrace business transformation have the potential to disrupt their categories, and dramatically change the competitive landscape.

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65

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S O F T WA R E S U B S C R I P T I O N

The world subscribed: 68

HOW TECH FIRM ZUORA IS POWERING THE SUBSCRIPTION ECONOMY AND THE END OF OWNERSHIP Tien Tzuo was one of the first business leaders to predict the rise of the subscription economy. Now co-founder and CEO of Zuora, he forecasts how subscription services are set to disrupt every industry from aviation and energy to media and construction.

WRITTEN BY

APRIL 2019

L AUR A MULL AN

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S O F T WA R E S U B S C R I P T I O N

W

hether we’re watching our

favourite TV shows on

Netflix or cooking dinner

using a Blue Apron meal kit, we’re quickly becoming an economy of subscribers.

In fact, according to research conducted

by Zuora and YouGov, almost nine in ten people across the UK now have at least one subscription service.

Elsewhere in the US, research by McKinsey also found that 15% of online shoppers have signed up for one or more subscriptions to receive 70

products on a recurring basis.

Subscription services aren’t just isolated to consumer products though, they’re also shaking up the tech world through the rise of Software-as-a-service (Saas) Solutions. Take Salesforce, for example, which provides cloudbased CRM applications for sales, service, marketing, and more, all through a subscription service. It’s proven to be a successful business model for the firm, and it’s one that has since been replicated by other companies like Microsoft, Adobe and Oracle too.

Tech veteran Tien Tzuo is widely recognised as a key thought leader in the SaaS space. He cut his teeth APRIL 2019

71

at firms like Oracle and later joined Salesforce when it was just a startup, becoming the firm’s 11th employee.

During his tenure, he helped the company grow from the ground up serving as Chief Marketing Officer and Chief Strategy Officer respectively. Yet, for Tzuo, the most fascinating part of working at Salesforce was the fact that he was helping to turn the software business model on its head. “The most interesting part of the job was actually reinventing the business model for software,” Tzuo reflects. “We said to w w w.gi ga bi t ma ga z in e. com

S O F T WA R E S U B S C R I P T I O N

“ A light bulb went off and we realised that this is going to be a massive revolution: we call it the ‘end of ownership” — Tien Tzuo, Co-founder and CEO of Zuora

72

our consumers: ‘we’re not only going

work, he and some colleagues were

to take away all the hassles of managing

at a bar and questioned if a subscription

your own products, services and

model could apply to industries other

systems, we’re also going to change the

than software? Could the automotive

business model’. That service subscrip-

or aviation industry benefit from the

tion mindset was just as important for

subscription model, for example? What

our success. We fundamentally disrupt-

about energy or the construction sector?

ed the software sector and a few

They had heard of up-and-coming firms

decades later other software compa-

like Zipcar, Go Get and Netflix who

nies have gone in that direction. Now

were entering the fray with subscription

everyone wants to subscribe to software.”

solutions and suddenly it clicked — this

Fast-forward to around 2007 and Tzuo was convinced that software-as-a-service was the future. After a hard day’s APRIL 2019

could be the next industry shift.

“These companies were in completely different industries, but they were

CLICK TO WATCH : ‘SUBSCRIBED 2018 OPENING VIDEO – THE END OF OWNERSHIP’ 73

disrupting their industry in the same

was Tzuo launching a new cutting-edge

way Salesforce disrupted software,”

software platform, but he was also

recalls Tzuo. “A light bulb went off and

helping to usher in a new movement.

we realised that this is going to be

But why was now the right time for

a massive revolution: we call it the ‘end

subscription services? What sparked

of ownership.’ That year, Tzuo and his

the rise of this new model? Tzuo believes

colleagues helped to evangelise the

that, more than anything, the product

shift to a subscription-based model

economy is simply unsustainable. “The

by founding Zuora, a subscription

basic principle behind it is that you

software management platform that

shouldn’t have to own anything because

would allow companies to enter the

it’s a hassle,” he says. “If a product

subscription economy and address the

breaks you’ve got to fix it, if it’s obsolete

complex billing structure associated

you’ve got to buy another one, or you

with it. This was a big jump: not only

may just accumulate products that you w w w.gi ga bi t ma ga z in e. com

S O F T WA R E S U B S C R I P T I O N

don’t really want.” With the rise of the assembly line and mass production, the industrial revolution helped to pave the way for the product economy. During this period, a business thrived or died by how many products it could sell cheaply and effectively and it made economic sense. Though Tzuo believes that this all changed with the dawn of the internet and smartphones, which put the power firmly in the hands of

“ Customers are demanding greater experiences and they want that in all aspects of their life” — Tien Tzuo, Co-founder and CEO of Zuora

consumers and the customer experience. “In the old model, the finance 74

team were just counting the dollars and cents and calculating the cost that went into that unit,” he says. “That’s not important anymore. What’s important is how loyal are your customers and is your business model growing as your customers use more and more of

selves and create better offerings than

your service?

ever before. But this model isn’t just

“Customers are actually demanding

beneficial to customers, it also offers

greater experiences and they want that

a consistent revenue stream. Tzuo cites

in all aspects of their life,” he adds. “Why

Netflix as a pertinent example of how

should it just be limited to TV shows or

a subscription business model can

entertainment? They also want this for

offer a competitive advantage. “People

food, for clothes, for transportation, for

sometimes complain that Netflix

their vacations. They want it for every-

spends a lot of money creating

thing.” As customers demand more, it’s

content but the big difference

pushing companies to better them-

between Netflix and a major movie

APRIL 2019

buy new content. This ensures that users continue to enjoy the service and it helps them to acquire new customers.”

With clients such as the Financial Times, Schneider Electric, Ericsson, Ford, the Guardian and Trivago under its wing, Zuora’s customer base is a testament to the variety of industries where the subscription economy has taken root. Interestingly, Tzuo also points out how six of the top ten car manufacturers around the world also use Zuora’s services. “It’s unusual but it’s the same premise. Car ownership is declining because, thanks to companies like Uber and Lyft, people are realising that they can have a better experience elsewhere. With the rise of 4G and eventually 5G, McKinsey says there’s $1.5trn of house is that Netflix has recurring

new revenue streams that could be

revenue. Netflix has over 100mn

there for the taking for car companies if

subscribers that pay the company more

they can figure it out. It could be stream-

than $100 a year – that’s around $1bn

ing movies, it could be services that help

in recurring revenue. Hollywood has

you find a garage. It even could be

to gamble and say ‘We’ll spend

subscribing to a self-driving car service.”

$200bn on a movie and maybe we’ll

Shifting to a subscription business

make money, but maybe it’ll be a bust’

model not only requires a new way of

whereas Netflix already has already

thinking, but it also requires compa-

acquired customers. They can use part

nies to revamp the customer billing

of their $10bn in recurring revenue to

experience and address the rising w w w.gi ga bi t ma ga z in e. com

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S O F T WA R E S U B S C R I P T I O N

complexities that comes with that.

Traditionally, everything from quoting to ordering and fulfilling fall between two key systems: CRM and ERP. Yet, subscriptions aren’t as simple. Rather than a linear process, subscription or recurring billing needs an agile system that can respond to thousands of customer events a day. Anticipating that the impending move to subscription models would disrupt core operations, Zuora has built an end-to-end portfolio of SaaS applications that allows 76

companies to bring their entire subscription business under one roof.

“We’ve been 100% focused on building a set of applications that any subscription business can use. Specifically, we look at things like pricing, e-commerce, billing, payments, renewals and revenue recognition. It’s a complex system.”

Throughout his career arc, Tzuo has often been credited with coining the phrase ‘subscription economy’ and now, he’s also added a new forwardthinking statement to his repertoire.

“We coined the phrase ‘the end of ownership’ to encourage companies to stop obsessing about getting customers to own their products,” he APRIL 2019

“ When you build a business that is based on the loyalty of your customers and how much they love using your service, it’s a much more stable business” — Tien Tzuo, Co-founder and CEO of Zuora

says. “Instead we think they should focus on figuring out what customers want and delivering that. We believe that a world where we are getting what we need via a subscription service is much better than a product economy.

It’s more sustainable for the environment. It’s a better experience for consumers to have vendors that actually care about their experience and it’s actually a better business for companies, because when you build a business that is based on the loyalty of your customers and how much they love using your service, that’s a much more stable business and has recurring revenue that you can depend on.

“We’re incredibly excited about the subscription economy,” he adds. “It’s funny, we tell our story and customers start noticing that things are changing.

They look at their credit card statements and they look at how they consume things and they say, “You’re right. The subscription economy is everywhere.”

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T O P 10

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APRIL 2019

TOP 10

Strategic IoT Technologies and Trends From connected appliances to smart cities, IoT is set to reshape our daily lives.

According to Gartner, these are the top Internet of Things technology trends that we need to watch out for through to 2023.

WRITTEN BY

LAURA MULLAN

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T O P 10

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10

New Wireless Networking Technologies for IoT

When selecting IoT networking technologies there are lots of variables to consider including power consumption, bandwidth, latency or the quality of the service. CIOs should be on the lookout for new IoT networking technologies which offer choice and flexibility. For example, Martin Jones, managing director at LAN3, highlights how the new Wi-Fi standard, 802.11ax, will allow for a diversity of connected devices and a smooth user experience. “The changes that this new standard brings will completely revolutionise the way Wi-Fi networks work by leveraging technology which will dramatically improve capacity, provide better coverage, and even reduce congestion,” he says. “All of this will allow a far superior user experience”.

APRIL 2019

09

83

09

Silicon Chip Innovation

IoT endpoints often use conventional processor chips but these often aren’t well equipped to deal with complex tasks. “Humans typing on a keyboard generate a relatively small amount of data. By contrast self-driving cars, 5G phones, and other smart devices generate huge amounts of data,” Kevin Deierling, VP of Marketing at Mellanox explains.

“The existing ‘embedded processors’ are not equipped to deal with these IoT devices from either a throughput or latency perspective.

To address these limitations, there is tremendous interest in the new generation of SmartNICs, System on a Chip (SOC), and intelligent networking devices for edge and IOT applications.” Looking forward, CIOs should be aware of up-and-coming silicon chip innovations. w w w.gi ga bi t ma ga z in e. com

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08

Novel IoT User Experiences

Building an intuitive, user-friendly system is easier said than done, but when designing an IoT system the challenge increases tenfold.

With multiple devices, work flows and data streams to contend with, creating an intuitive and seamless IoT system is no easy task.

However, by adopting new technologies and perspectives, CIOs can ensure that they create IoT experiences which are smooth and which encourage usage and retention.

APRIL 2019

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07

Trusted Hardware and Operating System

From industrial IoT to connected cars and wearable technology, the possibilities for IoT are endless – but so are the risks. As more and more devices are interconnected, vulnerabilities can emerge. For CIOs today, creating more trustworthy and secure IoT systems should be of the utmost importance says Dermot O’Connell, Dell EMC’s VP & GM, OEM and IoT Solutions, EMEA. “The Internet of Things is really only useful if the data it carries is protected,” he says. “Businesses that want to deliver an innovative IoT service must think holistically about the modern security challenges they face, and connect IT and security teams together to ensure an efficient and secure project management process.”

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T O P 10

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06

Sensor Innovation

Whether gathering data about temperature and humidity or vibrations and pressure, sensors are a fundamental building block of IoT systems.

CIOs should also remain vigilant about new sensor innovations that could offer additional business value.

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05

IoT Governance

It’s no surprise that governance is set to become an important consideration when it comes to IoT. Governance may include tasks such as device audits and firmware updates, so CIOs should be prepared to tackle these important responsibilities. “A significant amount of IoT data has to do with human activity: sensors are used to track people, their activities and habits. But we need to think seriously about whether this collection and analysis of data infringes on people’s human rights,” adds Mas Tanaka, Chief Strategy Officer for Uhuru. “Since the EU’s GDPR data rules came into force, for example, use of this information has been restricted, especially in Europe. To help solve this problem, we need to formalise universal IoT data standards to ensure that corporations and public bodies are not infringing people’s human rights.” w w w.gi ga bi t ma ga z in e. com

T O P 10

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04

The Shift from Intelligent Edge to Intelligent Mesh

We’ve recently seen an industry shift towards edge architectures, but Gartner highlights how mesh networks will soon become an essential ingredient for any IoT platform, enabling more flexible, intelligent and responsive IoT systems. “A new networking design pattern, called service mesh, is designed to keep pace with modern applications,” explains Ranga Rajagopalan, Co-founder and CTO of Avi Networks.

“It is a persistent communication fabric that provides the consistent features that span across data centres and clouds to ensure network performance, visibility, and security. Service mesh technology is the critical next step in realising IoT, but I also believe that service mesh will eventually become the networking services delivery method of choices.”

APRIL 2019

89

03

Infonomics and Data

Many people say data is an asset but ‘infonomics’ takes this one step further by actually valuing it and treating it as one. Whilst many businesses already plan to sell the data collected by their products and services, infonomics stresses how we should see data as a strategic business asset that should be recorded in company accounts.

Recognising this value, George Slawek, CEO of Cyberus Labs, says that security is pivotal. “As the number of IoT devices grows exponentially so does the need to create ‘self-healing’ systems for device maintenance and replacement using accurate and real-time device data,” he says. “Monetisation and cybersecurity become two sides of the same coin.” w w w.gi ga bi t ma ga z in e. com

T O P 10

02

Social, Legal and Ethical IoT As IoT becomes more ingrained in our day-to-day lives, the ethical, legal and social issues surrounding this technology are set to become more important than ever.

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From ownership of data to algorithm bias, businesses need to be cautious of the dilemmas surrounding IoT. To tackle this, CIOs must educate themselves and their teams. They should also consider forming ethics councils or having key algorithms and AI systems reviewed by external consultants. Mark Blunden, partner and Head of the Commercial & Technology group at Boyes Turner also highlights how “legal assumptions around intellectual property rights begin to break down once the IoT becomes sufficiently independent of any human input.” “It is not clear, for example, whether copyright can subsist in AI generated works” he adds.

APRIL 2019

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T O P 10

01

Artificial Intelligence (AI) Gartner forecasts that 14.2bn connected things will be in use in 2019 which means that we’ll have reams of data at our fingertips. With the addition of artificial intelligence

92

(AI), the opportunities for this data are endless.

CIOs should prepare to take advantage of AI in their IoT strategies. “As the Internet of Things continues to expand, the quantity of data collected is soaring.

We should therefore ask ourselves how we can use AI and machine learning to make sense of it all,” says Maurizio Canton, CTO EMEA, TIBCO Software.

“A sea of data, when combined with AI, presents significant potential for making an impact, in particular by empowering businesses to take control of a messy and disparate data landscape and by moving some of the business processes computing to the edge.”

APRIL 2019

“As the Internet of Things continues to expand,the quantity of data collected is soaring ” — Maurizio Canton, CTO EMEA, TIBCO Software

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EVENTS & A S S O C I AT I O N S

We round up the biggest and best technology events and conferences from around the world… EDITED BY LAURA MULLAN

25–26 APRIL 2019

94

AI and Big Data Conference 2019

30 APRIL–01 MAY 2019

[ OLYMPIA, LONDON, UK ]

10th Smart City and IOT Expo 2019

The AI and Big Data Conference 2019

[ TORONTO, CANADA ]

is a showcase of next-generation tech-

Located in Toronto, Canada, this con-

nologies and strategies from the world

ference aims to combine the power

of Artificial Intelligence and Big Data.

of the Smart City conference and IoT

Taking place at the Olympia Grand,

expo on one floor to encourage peo-

London, the event provides the oppor-

ple to work towards smart cities and

tunity for attendees to explore and

urban planning technologies. In doing

discover the practical and successful

so, it provides the perfect backdrop

implementation of AI and Big Data. The

to brainstorm ideas about cities of the

conference will feature four co-located

future. The conference will cover top-

events, 21 conference tracks, 12,000

ics such as Smart Health, Industry 4.0

attendees, more than 500 speakers

Smart Transportation, Smart Govern-

and 350 exhibitions.

ance and more.

APRIL 2019

13–16 MAY 2019

09–10 MAY 2019

TECHSPO Technology Expo 2019

Internet of Things World [ SANTA CLARA CONVENTION CENTRE, CALIFORNIA, USA ]

[ NEW YORK, USA ]

Bringing together around 12,5000

TECHSPO Technology Expo show-

leaders and innovators, Internet of

cases the next generation of technology

Things World is one of the largest IoT

and innovation, covering topics such as

events, creating the ideal opportunity

augmented reality, virtual reality, IoT,

for networking and building partner-

wearables, mobile, internet, 3D printing

ships. The comprehensive event

and other emerging technologies.

boasts 150 sessions covering topics

Exhibitors have the opportunity to show

like smart home, smart cities, security,

off their companies to consumers,

edge computing, artificial intelligence

investors, hordes of press, the most

(AI), healthcare and more. Over 400

sought-after talent, and the greatest

speakers are expected to take the

pool of tech enthusiasts looking to

stage and more than 300 exhibitors

celebrate emerging ventures.

and startups will showcase at the event.

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95

EVENTS & A S S O C I AT I O N S

29–31 MAY 2019

Augmented World Expo USA 96

[ SANTA CLARA, CALIFORNIA, USA ] The Augmented World Expo (AWE) touts itself as the largest conference and expo on augmented reality in the world with annual dates in the USA, Asia and Europe. The three-day event brings together a mix of CEOs, CTOs, designers, developers, creative agencies, futurists, analysts, investors, and top press who are passionate about XR (that is, augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR) and mixed reality).

Around 5,000 attendees from all over the world will be at the event, with many representing Fortune 1000 companies.

APRIL 2019

JUNE 2019

MoneyLIVE Digital Banking 2019 [ LONDON, UK ] MoneyLIVE Digital Banking is the leading digital banking conference for innovators across the industry. With over 11 hours of content from more than 40 speakers, 2018’s event tackled the most pressing questions facing the banking industry today.

25–26 JUNE 2019 Women of Silicon Roundabout

04–08 NOV 2019

04–08 NOV 2019

Microsoft Ignite 2019

Through inspirational

GITEX Technology Week

keynotes, panel discus-

[ DUBAI, UAE ]

Microsoft Ignite is Micro-

sions, technical classes

Claiming to be one of

soft’s annual meeting

and more, the Women

the biggest technology

created for enterprise

of Silicon Roundabout

shows in the MENA and

professionals, services

aims to promote gender

South Asia region, GITEX

and products. Offering

diversity and inclusion in

Technology Week plans

everything from deep

the technology sector.

to investigate the latest

product dives to hands-on

In 2018, the event saw

technology trends, pre-

labs and immersive expe-

speakers from compa-

sent high calibre speak-

riences, Microsoft Ignite

nies such as Google,

ers and showcase prod-

will cover a wide range of

Groupon, SAP, and eBay

uct innovations from

topics such as deploy-

take the stage, attract-

across the globe. Over

ment, development,

ing more than 6,000

111,000 visitors and

architecture security as

attendees. Spanning two

4,800 exhibitors attend-

well as operations and

days, the event hopes to

ed the five-day show last

management. At last

inspire tech leaders and

year, making it a must-

year’s event, the keynote

help them supercharge

attend event for any

speaker was Microsoft

their careers.

technology professional.

CEO Satya Nadella.

[ EXCEL LONDON, UK ]

[ ORLANDO, FLORIDA, USA ]

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97

RAGINGWIRE MISSION-CRITICAL DATA CENTERS FOR HYPERSCALE CLOUD AND LARGE ENTERPRISES

98

WRIT TEN BY

JOHN O’HANLON PRODUCED BY

TOM VENTURO

APRIL 2019

RagingWire Sacramento CA3 Data Center Skywalk

99

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R A G I N G W I R E D ATA C E N T E R S

100

As part of NTT, RagingWire is one of the largest data center providers in the world, connecting customers to a global network of more than 140 data centers in 20 countries and regions

T

o say the world is facing an

RagingWire was one of the early

unprecedented explosion of

start-ups that helped create the data

information may be a cliché,

center colocation industry back in the

but it’s true. Globally, the data center

early 2000s. Since then, the company

market is estimated to reach revenues

has steadily grown its presence across

of around US$174bn by 2023, largely

the US, with campuses in the top data

driven by the massive growth in cloud

center markets of Ashburn, Virginia,

computing and the migration of large

Dallas, Texas, Silicon Valley, Chicago,

enterprises from in-house data centers

Illinois, and Sacramento, California.

to colocation facilities. These are the

In Ashburn, the #1 data center market

fundamentals behind the strategy of

in the world which is known as “Data

RagingWire Data Centers.

Center Alley” for its large concentration

APRIL 2019

101

RagingWire Ashburn VA3 Data Center – Security checkpoint of colocation data centers, RagingWire

data center campus which is home to

operates a 78-acre, securely fenced

a marquee 16 MW facility. Four more

campus with room for seven large data

large data centers are planned for the

center facilities, one of which is opened

campus, which would bring the campus

and two of which are under construc-

total to 144 MW of critical IT load.

tion now. Combined with two other data

In Sacramento, California, about

centers RagingWire previously opened

90 miles east of San Francisco and

in Ashburn, the company owns space

outside the earthquake zone of the

for a total of nine Ashburn data centers

Bay Area, RagingWire built three

which could offer a total of 236 MW of

data centers with a total of 53 MW

critical power.

of critical power, all running on 100%

In Dallas, RagingWire owns a 42-acre

renewable energy. w w w.gi ga bi t ma ga z in e. com

R A G I N G W I R E D ATA C E N T E R S

Recently, RagingWire announced

increasingly outsource data center

plans to build new data centers on

capacity to take advantage of greater

coveted land in Silicon Valley (Santa

economies of scale, efficiencies,

Clara to be exact), and in Chicago.

speed to market, security, space and

These new locations complete Raging-

reliability than they would have if they

Wire’s portfolio in the most popular U.S.

housed their mission-critical comput-

data center locations, but the compa-

ers at their own facilities.

ny is also planning developments in other emerging markets as well.

In January 2014, NTT acquired an 80% equity stake in RagingWire. Four years later in January 2018, having

102

NTT BRINGS GLOBAL CONNECTIVITY TO RAGINGWIRE CUSTOMERS

doubled RagingWire’s capacity, NTT

Today RagingWire is focused on

remaining shares.

meeting the demands of large enterprises and cloud providers which

exercised its option to purchase the By joining the NTT family, RagingWire became the platform for NTT’s

E XECU T I VE P RO FI LE

Joe Goldsmith Joe Goldsmith is Senior Vice President and Chief Revenue Officer at RagingWire Data Centers, responsible for all aspects of go-to-market strategy and execution including: sales, marketing, product management, business development, channels, and sales operations.

Goldsmith is a proven sales executive with more than 25 years of experience, including more than a decade in the data center industry.

APRIL 2019

“ Hybrid IT is the new world order and I don’t think you will find any CIO in America who has not contemplated or executed a cloud component to their overall strategy” — Joe Goldsmith, Senior Vice President and Chief Revenue Officer at RagingWire

RagingWire Dallas TX1 Data Center – Lobby w w w.gi ga bi t ma ga z in e. com

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R A G I N G W I R E D ATA C E N T E R S

“ The new data centers have to be super reliable of course, and scalable, but the one big consideration for hyper­scalers is speed to market” 104 — Kevin Dalton, Senior Vice President of Construction and Critical Facilities Engineering and Design (CFED) at RagingWire

RagingWire Sacramento CA3 Data Center – Lobby

data center business throughout the

huge market for the cloud and software-

Americas, and became part of one of

as-a-service (SaaS) providers, it’s not

the largest data center companies in

one in which most of the US-based

the world with strong financial backing

cloud service providers have deep

and more than 140 facilities in over 20

infrastructure. Being able to support

countries and regions.

them in the European and Asian

RagingWire’s customers value the

markets is really powerful for us.”

global reach enabled by NTT. Accorddent and Chief Revenue Officer Joe

EVERYTHING HYPERSCALE PLAYERS NEED, AND NOTHING THEY DON’T

Goldsmith, “Though Asia represents a

It makes less and less sense for

ing to RagingWire Senior Vice Presi-

APRIL 2019

105 E X E CU T I VE P RO FI LE

Kevin Dalton Kevin Dalton is Senior Vice President of Construction and Critical Facilities Engineering and Design (CFED) at RagingWire Data Centers, responsible for leading the team that designs and delivers world-class data centers.

Kevin is an expert in leveraging supply chain optimization and modular pre-fabricated construction techniques to drive rapid growth, improved quality, and speed to market.

Throughout his career, he has set the standard for next generation data center designs.

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107

RagingWire Dallas TX1 Data Center hyperscale cloud providers like Google,

include bringing their operating

Amazon, Alibaba or Microsoft to take

expenses down through more efficient

the time and expense to build the

cooling, better management of energy

capacity they require in a data center.

and the like,” Dalton says. “The new

The hyperscale players are driving

data centers have to be super reliable

the market right now, says Kevin

of course, and scalable, but the one

Dalton, Senior Vice President of

big consideration for hyperscalers is

Construction and Critical Facilities

speed to market. Demand is so intense

Engineering and Design (CFED) at

right now that these customers can no

RagingWire. “We’re meeting [the

longer meet it from their own resourc-

hyperscalers’] changing needs, which

es, which is why they are reaching out w w w.gi ga bi t ma ga z in e. com

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to organizations like RagingWire.”

We are in the early stages of a tech

As Goldsmith puts it: “The hyperscale players’ core strength lies in building

boom driven by huge opportunities

and developing software, infrastructure

with the Internet of Things (IoT),

and cloud services. There are many

artificial intelligence (AI) and big data,

markets where they simply don’t have

and nobody doubts that soon self-driv-

the ability to catch up with the demand.

ing vehicles and smart cities will

That’s where they can turn to a third

create new demands for data centers

party like us that can help them achieve

and the servers, storage, and network-

their business objectives by fulfilling

ing devices that live there. Combine

their data capacity requirement.”

these new and emerging demands

Goldsmith mentioned that enterpris-

with continued growth in enterprise

es like insurance companies, banks or

computing and the future looks bright

large manufacturers may still have

for RagingWire.

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109

Delivering mission critical services throughout the Lifecycle of your Data Center Recent Project News RagingWire SV1 Data Center: NTT Facilities Group led the design of a world class data center, coordinating an international team of Japanese and US engineering firms. The SV1 Data Center will be the first Base Isolated data center in Silicon Valley.

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“ We have been innovating in the area of modular design and supply chain, to both shorten construction lead times and to lower costs” — Kevin Dalton, Senior Vice President of Construction and Critical Facilities Engineering and Design (CFED) at RagingWire

To do this, he and Joe Goldsmith work closely with customers to understand their business plans and capacity requirements. “This is an iterative process for us in collaboration with our customers,” says Dalton. “Clearly, without access to reliable, cost-effective power and fiber connectivity you can’t have a data center. Cost of land and labor are other challenges.”

But these are secondary to being in the right location at the right time.

RagingWire is constructing, for example, a new four-story data center, SV1, in Santa Clara, California, in the heart of Silicon Valley. The 160,000 sq. ft. facility

center, but most are executing a hybrid

is going up on a 3.3 acre site, with 64,000

strategy that includes legacy applica-

sq. ft of data floor space and 16 MW of

tions, proprietary systems, private

scalable, critical IT power and will be

cloud, and public cloud.

operational in 2020.

“Hybrid IT is the new world order

New data center space in Santa

and I don’t think you will find any CIO in

Clara is rare. The vacancy rate among

America who has not contemplated or

at least 30 data centers in the area is

executed a cloud component to their

under 8%. There will be no lack of

overall strategy,” Goldsmith said.

takers for RagingWire’s new facility.

To be prepared for the ground-shaking

BUILDING DATA CENTERS BIGGER, SMARTER, FASTER

that is characteristic of the Bay Area,

Kevin Dalton’s job is to locate, design

a seismic-stability system used by NTT

and construct new data center space.

in its data center in Japan, a location

RagingWire’s SV1 Data Center will feature

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111

R A G I N G W I R E D ATA C E N T E R S

112

RagingWire Ashburn VA3 Data Center APRIL 2019

NTT (RAGINGWIRE’S PA R E N T C O M PA N Y )

$118bn+ Approximate revenue

283,000

Approximate number of employees

140

Data centers worldwide

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113

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prone to earthquakes. A subterranean

area of modular design and supply

pendulum isolation system protects

chain, to both shorten construction

the building from the ground moving

lead times and to lower costs,” Dalton

below it. Using the same system, NTT’s

says. “There are huge advantages in

Tokyo facilities were unharmed by the

having standard designs where we

catastrophic 9.1 magnitude earthquake

can pretty much drop in electrical and

and tsunami that devastated eastern

mechanical modules at any location

Japan in 2011.

around the country. Time to market is

This is a great illustration of one of

vital to the cloud providers.”

the advantages that RagingWire gains

With this approach, the equipment

from its parent group, however Dalton

for an electrical room can be reduced

returns to the agility RagingWire offers

to a couple of elements that fit on a

as the main differentiator across the

flatbed truck for delivery to a core and

USA. “We have been innovating in the

shell at any location in the country. w w w.gi ga bi t ma ga z in e. com

115

BUILDING BETTER

MODULAR ELECTRICAL SOLUTIONS FOR DATA CENTERS

www.fibrebond.com

“ Most of our customers have green policies so being able to offer them renewable energy helps them maintain those green credentials” — Kevin Dalton, Senior Vice President of Construction and Critical Facilities Engineering and Design (CFED) at RagingWire

are in place, installing the infrastructure should take no more than a few months. Purchasing agreements with global equipment manufacturers lead to volume discounts that can be passed on to customers.

“We do as much work in advance as possible to procure the equipment and ship it to the integrator so they can put it together for us, test it and hold it as inventory ready to ship,” Dalton explains.

It’s all about consistency in design, so that customers can deploy systems and RagingWire and their NTT colleagues can manage data centers worldwide.

Design drives operational synergy. The modular approach allows RagingWire to

Another advantage of partnering with

replicate facilities in different markets

vendors, he adds, is that they are willing

while tailoring the data centers to take

to hold an inventory of fully functioning

advantage of the unique characteristics

and tested modules – the old way of

of the geography.

build to order takes too long to meet hyperscale cycle times.

Close management of the supply

REDUCING TCO WHILE INCREASING RENEWABLE ENERGY

chain, allied to sophisticated forecast-

In a market that is expanding at the

ing, means that much of the construc-

rate of the cloud, total cost of owner-

tion can be done ahead of time.

ship (TCO) is a major consideration for

Customers need to know exactly when

providers when building a business

their facility will be up and running.

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117

R A G I N G W I R E D ATA C E N T E R S

biggest operational cost, and mechan-

now is to find affordable and reliable

ical systems such as cooling are the

renewable energy sources. RagingWire

largest consumers of power. In the

has taken a proactive approach to

data center industry, the ratio between

renewable energy at its three data

mechanical systems and computing

centers in Sacramento, Calif., which

equipment is assessed using the

together offer 680,000 sq. ft. with 53

power usage effectiveness (PUE)

MW of critical IT power. In Sacramento,

metric. “Efficient cooling systems lead

RagingWire now offers 100% renew-

to efficient data centers that reduce

able power that is 100% available and

your operating expense and ultimately

backed by a 100% uptime service level

lower the total cost of ownership for

agreement (SLA) to customers.

the customer,” explains Goldsmith.

Over the years, data center designs 118

have become highly efficient. The quest

APRIL 2019

Sustainability is a major priority for customers, emphasizes Kevin Dalton.

“Most of our customers have green

CLICK TO WATCH : ‘RAGINGWIRE DALLAS TX1 DATA CENTER VIRTUAL TOUR’

RagingWire Dallas TX1 Data Center – Lobby w w w.gi ga bi t ma ga z in e. com

119

R A G I N G W I R E D ATA C E N T E R S

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APRIL 2019

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policies so being able to offer them renewable energy helps them maintain those green credentials. In Sacramento, we work with our utility partner, the Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD), to ensure that our energy utilization is a combination of wind and hydro, solar and biomass. We are also working with energy providers in all of our locations to develop renewable energy options for our customers.”

Recycled concrete and repurposed steel are other ways he cites to reduce the amount of material sent to landfills.

EARNING A REPUTATION AS A TRUSTED, STABLE PROVIDER For Joe Goldsmith, a big benefit of being under the NTT umbrella is that the parent represents a single, stable, and substantial source of capital.

“Unlike a lot of the data center providers in the market today, especially the private-equity backed companies, we have a single source of capital,” Goldsmith says. “We don’t have to go from bank to bank when we want to come into a new market, raise debt, raid equity, look for investment partners, or manage to restrictive covenants. This

“ Efficient cooling systems lead to efficient data centers that reduce your operating expense and ultimately lower the total cost of ownership for the customer” — Joe Goldsmith, Senior Vice President and Chief Revenue Officer at RagingWire RagingWire Dallas TX1 Data Center – Data Floor w w w.gi ga bi t ma ga z in e. com

121

R A G I N G W I R E D ATA C E N T E R S

“ Unlike a lot of the data center providers in the market today, we have a single source of capital.

We don’t have to go from bank to bank when we want to come into a new market, raise debt, raid equity, look for investment partners, or manage to restrictive covenants” — Joe Goldsmith, Senior Vice President and Chief Revenue Officer at RagingWire

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RagingWire Ashburn VA3 Data Center – Showcase Conference Room 123 takes uncertainty out of the equation,

service. Customers don’t want the

and that is something the hyperscale

volatility that comes with new owners,

players really appreciate.”

new contracts, new pricing, and new

RagingWire’s capital plan is re-

operations. They like to know that the

freshed annually, and this gives its

site will be operated in a proven and

clients confidence that their future

consistent way by people they know

plans don’t depend on a company that

and trust.”

might run into difficulties. “Another thing in our favor is that we are not subject to the consolidation that is going on right now in the data center market,” Goldsmith says. “It’s too easy for a data center start-up to be more interested in their exit strategy than their growth strategy and customer w w w.gi ga bi t ma ga z in e. com

124

Customer centricity at the heart of digital transformation WRIT TEN BY

M ARCUS L AWRENCE

125

T- M O B I L E

T-Mobile, the Uncarrier network, has incorporated disruptive technologies to overhaul its internal operations and online presence to maximise customer centricity

B

ased in Bellevue, Washington, T-Mobile US has undergone a significant digital transformation process over the past

five years, in tandem with a drastic overhaul of 126

its business model. CEO John Legere, who took office in 2012, has reenvisoned the company’s operations by focusing on customer centricity.

Now known as the ‘Uncarrier’ network, T-Mobile has become wholly concentrated on maximising customer freedom, rewarding customers for choosing T-Mobile and showing appreciation for their continued loyalty through ongoing offers. The move has seen a series of departures from standard industry practice, with a level of success that has gradually molded the sector around T-Mobile’s vision. Mandatory fixed-term contracts, limited early upgrade options, international usage fees, contract termination fees and more have been upended at T-Mobile, both to the benefit of its customers and the growth of its subscriber base.

APRIL 2019

127

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Sometimes, it’s hard to see how IT teams can deliver game-changing initiatives when a significant amount of their budget and resources are spent on a vendor-dictated roadmap … a never-ending journey with costly software maintenance, mandatory updates and upgrades and ultimately a rip-andreplace move to the cloud.

In the end, funding their roadmap could mean not funding yours. Don’t lose sight of your options. Learn how Rimini Street can help.

Get your free software support assessment today.

It’s Your Roadmap.

Powering digital transformation with a Business-Driven Roadmap

By Glenn Cahaly

I spend most of my time talking to Oracle and SAP customers and the conversation is essentially the same these days: “To change the game, our company needs to put users first and technology second. The good news: Our leadership team has identified what we need to compete and grow the business, and we understand the IT initiatives required. The bad news: we have very little capacity for innovation because we spend the majority of our budget and time on vendordictated ERP roadmaps, which can include risky updates, costly upgrades and rip-and-replace projects to move to their cloud solutions prematurely.”

Whether you are a CFO, a CIO, an IT leader, Procurement or IT Asset Manager, these words probably sound familiar. The vendor’s product roadmap should be an input into your strategy; it shouldn’t be your strategy. Yet ERP applications are such an important component of the IT you use to run your business that it can be easy to fall into the pattern of letting your vendor call the shots. If you don’t upgrade, you can fall out of compliance. And regardless of how much you pay, you get progressively less value from each upgrade. All the while, the vendor is shifting its R&D investments away from the products it sold you and giving you seemingly no option but to continue to move. Unlike a vendor-dictated approach, a Business-Driven Roadmap starts with an organization's 3-to-5 year business strategy and then defines the game-changing IT initiatives that will support it.

Rimini Street accelerates clients' to adopt a Business-Driven Roadmap strategy by providing capacity that accelerates their ability to innovate and reduces vendor lock-in, allows them the flexibility to design a roadmap based on their unique requirements, and provides the agility to take an orchestrated approach to their technology strategy. When clients move to a Business-Driven Roadmap approach powered by Rimini Street, they are liberated from the vendor-dictated roadmap and enabled to take control of their IT destiny and future-proof their investment to accommodate continuous change.

Get your free roadmap assessment today

1

Learn More

Gartner - “IT Key Metrics Data 2018: Executive Summary” December 11, 2017

Free up IT capacity: According to Gartner1, as much as 90percent of the IT budget goes to ongoing operations (“keeping the lights on”).

That leaves a measly 10percent to invest in game- changing initiatives. Organizations becoming trapped in an endless cycle of enterprise software upgrades is a big reason why. If you’ve customized your ERP and integrated it with other software, you don’t dare upgrade without extensive testing. Free yourself from this busywork, and you can get back to making technology investments that make a difference.

Extend the lifespan of existing investments: Most enterprises have spent years implementing, integrating and customizing their ERP to meet business needs — only to have their vendors tell them it’s time to abandon all that in favor of a “new and improved” but immature platform. Vendors want to establish new revenue streams and reposition themselves for the cloud.

That roadmap serves vendors’ needs, not those of enterprises seeking to build on investments they have already made.

That’s why you need a Business-Driven Roadmap approach that includes third-party support for your ERP. Innovate with flexibility: Cloud computing should give you more options, not fewer.

Your ERP vendor has a roadmap to take you to the cloud — specifically, to its proprietary corner of the cloud. Fortunately for those wary of even deeper vendor lock-in, open cloud options exist to improve the cost and performance of your ERP operations while keeping you in control. You won’t find many on the vendor’s technology roadmap; you need to follow your own and we can help you get there.

Design with your future enterprise in mind: How are you rationalizing your software decisions? You won’t find the answer exclusively on one vendor’s roadmap, unless you’re convinced it has the best product in every category.

Born-in-the cloud software represents some of the greatest innovations in enterprise technology. The best of them come with APIs that allow you to connect them to other APIs and to your installed base of software. Rather than struggling with laborious integrations, you have the opportunity to orchestrate software around the use cases that matter most to your business.

Learn why over 2,600 clients chose Rimini Street’s ultraresponsive service, breaking free from the burden of vendor support so they can focus IT resources on initiatives that support their Business-Driven Roadmap strategy.

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Drive digital strategies.

Deliver competitive advantage.

The future of procurement awaits.

Turn disruption into opportunity by innovating procurement with digital capabilities, advanced analytics, agile operations, and optimal experiences for customers, suppliers and employees. Learn more at read.kpmg.us/FutureProcurement

Anticipate tomorrow. Deliver today.

©2019 KPMG LLP, a Delaware limited liability partnership and the U.S. member firm of the KPMG network of independent member firms affiliated with KPMG International Cooperative (“KPMG International”), a Swiss entity. Some of the services or offerings provided by KPMG LLP are not permissible for its audit clients or affiliates or related entities. 181205

CLICK TO WATCH : ‘T-MOBILE – HOW WILL 5G CHANGE EVERYTHING?’

Nielsen Mobile Insights reported in

subscriber base continues to boom.

early 2017 that T-Mobile had ranked

In January 2019, T-Mobile’s Q4 2018

first in customer service satisfaction

report highlighted the net addition of

through the entirety of 2016. In the

2.4mn subscribers to its network, mak-

company’s press release at the time,

ing the quarter its best ever for acquir-

Legere said: “We have the best care

ing new customers. Since 2013, at

team in the business – at this point,

the advent of the Uncarrier marketing

that’s not even up for debate. But, like

strategy, T-Mobile’s customer base has

everyone else at this company, our

rocketed upwards by 46mn, bringing

care team takes ‘we won’t stop’ pretty

the total to 79.7mn at the end of 2018.

literally. They’ve got their sights on

In the same report, T-Mobile noted:

being the #1 care team in any industry,

“Not only are customers coming to

anywhere – not just wireless.” T-Mobile

T-Mobile, but they are also staying

has made good on this promise as its

longer. T-Mobile posted its bestw w w.gi ga bi t ma ga z in e. com

131

Reimagine the impossible

Bring together people, data, and processes to transform your organization.

With the latest in AI technologies, you can engage your customers in new ways, empower your employees more than ever before, and optimize operations to become an industry leader. Start your digital transformation today.

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133

ever fourth quarter branded post-

past five years, with its Lightning and

paid phone churn result this quarter

Pardot platforms aiding significantly in

showing the power of the company’s

the automation and personalisation of

value proposition.”

the online customer experience. In a

The digital transformation that has

Dreamforce 2017 interview with John

accompanied and facilitated this

Carney, SVP of Communications and

drastic change of operations, and

Media at Salesforce, T-Mobile’s EVP of

subsequent success, has seen the

Marketing and Experience, Nick Drake,

incorporation of a host of exciting,

described the firm’s use of the Sales-

disruptive technologies that focus on

force platforms in driving the innova-

maximising the quality of T-Mobile’s

tive operations from an internal base.

service offering. Salesforce has been

“We are now incredibly excited about

a key partner for T-Mobile over the

the implementation of Lightning that’s w w w.gi ga bi t ma ga z in e. com

Rewiring the T-Mobile Supply Chain with Digital Technology platform

Whilst the idea was to shatter the architectural monolith, the efforts were centered around “ Small and RoI-driven” bets among the others which include Inventory serialization, reverse logistics serialization, IMEI tracking, and applications that were delivered successfully through 100% agile mode of execution.

T-Mobile is known for its resolute pursuits and unwavering focus on customer experience. Digital Transformation was the preferred strategy and supply chain was one of the chosen areas for transformation in order to build foundational capabilities. The tenets of the Digital Supply chain transformation included Customer Centricity, Real-time Inventory visibility and Asset traceability, Time to market and integration with other partner ecosystems.

The resulting KPI’s were higher NPS, reduced time to market, reduced inventory cycle time and better control over operating costs. The next time a customer connects with any T-Mobile touch point and is able to access real-time inventory, check product availability, trade-off an old phone for a new one in a frictionless manner, it is the Digital transformation in action, enabled by a robust T-Mobile - Tech Mahindra partnership.

Tech Mahindra, #15 in the Forbes Digital 100 ranking 2018, collaborated with T-Mobile to take up the challenge of going beyond the brief through architectural simplifications and automation through a co-created framework for transformation.

Tech Mahindra’s ability to deliver value to the business with a state-of-the-art digital platform and transforming the culture of the operations has helped T-Mobile achieve digital maturity in a record time.

To learn more visit us at, https://www.techmahindra.com/cwce.html

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just occurred, as we’re seeing radical

“ We have the best damn care team in the business – at this point, that’s not even up for debate” — John Legere, CEO at T-Mobile

efficiency appearing in our business,” Drake said. “From a lead generation perspective, we’re using Pardot to prioritise who we should be contacting, Einstein is going in in the near future to help us become more intuitive and predictive about who we should be calling and what our most qualified leads are,” he continued. “It’s enabling our teams to put the next natural customer experience step into place.” Lightning has enabled T-Mobile to personalise the w w w.gi ga bi t ma ga z in e. com

T- M O B I L E

136

T-Mobile Chief Technology Officer Neville Ray, second left, and executives including Executive Vice President of Communications and Community Engagement Janice Kapner President Mike Sievert, center, CEO John Legere, second from left, and CFO Braxton Carter

C O M PA N Y FACT S

• T-Mobile’s customer base has increased by 46mn since 2013, reaching 79.7mn at the end of 2018

Salesforce CRM platform to its brand, as well as significantly increasing the efficiency with which its representatives can manage pipelines through a deeply intuitive user interface. Pardot,

• T-Mobile added 2.4mn subscribers to its network in Q4 2018, its best quarter ever

Salesforce’s CRM-integrated B2B

• T-Mobile has tripled its 4G LTE coverage since 2015

launch, and manage campaigns and

• Revolutionary CEO John Legere took office in 2012

marketing automation solution, enables T-Mobile’s marketers to create, initiatives with ease, ramping up their lead generation rates.

This technological focus on the customer, coupled with T-Mobile’s

APRIL 2019

137

pioneering subscription strategies and offers, is further strengthened by its asynchronous messaging capabilities launched in 2016. Provided by LivePerson, a market leader in conversational commerce solutions, T-Mobile’s Team of Experts service enables its customers to continue through each stage of their digital journey with the same representative, providing a continuity of service that is often sorely lacking across other live chat services. In a September 2018 press release from

$40bn+ Approximate revenue

2002

Year founded

44,000

Approximate number of employees w w w.gi ga bi t ma ga z in e. com

T- M O B I L E

LivePerson, Drake said: “The frustration of endless robotic phone menus and transfers from rep to rep can ruin a customer’s experience – so we ended it. Now with T-Mobile’s Team of Experts, our customers can get assistance when and how they want to – including via messaging.”

In Drake’s interview with John Carney, he noted that the decision to introduce this service was driven by an understanding of modern smartphone usage, particularly the focus on messaging 138

and video streaming. Today, the commitment to T-Mobile customers’ love for watching video on their smartphones has seen the firm launch a free Netflix subscription with its T-Mobile ONE family package. This attention to detail can be traced back to John Legere’s influence as CEO, who has reportedly instructed each of the company’s executives to speak to customers every day, thereby instilling the laudable culture of customer-centricity through consulting with those customers about what they want from their network provider.

T-Mobile’s next major step in its digital journey is no secret: the muchAPRIL 2019

anticipated leap to 5G. Not only has the firm tripled its 4G LTE coverage since 2015, it has been working hard to ensure it is one of the first to market with its own 5G network. The firm has laid out its 5G Vision, promising the gigabit-speed network standard for everyone, everywhere. Industry experts anticipate that 5G will be one of the most transformative leaps in wireless technology’s history, and T-Mobile says it is the only carrier in the US capable of establishing a strong and well-distributed 5G network in the early years of its release. With T-Mobile set to launch its 5G coverage this year, it says that the network will not only offer significantly faster download and upload speeds but that it will also enable it to offer lower prices per gigabyte for its customers. Highlighting this promise of bringing down its prices is emblematic of T-Mobile’s bold strategy since Legere took the reins, knowing and proving that investing in customers will continue to draw subscribers like never before.

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140

Digital transformation and innovation at Plymouth Rock WRIT TEN BY

OLIVIA MINNOCK PRODUCED BY

ANDY TURNER

APRIL 2019

141

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P LY M O U T H R O C K A S S U R A N C E

Tom Lyons, Chief Operations Officer of Plymouth Rock Assurance’s Direct Response Channel, discusses how an agile, creative approach has allowed the insurer to adapt its offering to a changing market

142

T

oday, customer service is all about choice and innovation and the increasingly competitive insurance sector is no

exception. Consumers want to communicate in the most convenient way for them, and they expect personalized service as well as products tailored to their specific needs. Across an increasingly demanding landscape, auto and home insurance carrier Plymouth Rock Assurance has stepped up to this challenge and adapted its offering to survive – and thrive. Tom Lyons, Chief Operations Officer of Plymouth Rock Assurance’s Direct Response Channel, has closely watched the changing industry over his 12 years at the company. He has observed key consumer habit changes and notes an important shift: consumers increasingly want the ease of doing business through a distribution channel of their choice. This is the very reason the Direct Response Channel for Plymouth Rock was born.

APRIL 2019

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P LY M O U T H R O C K A S S U R A N C E

“ That’s the key to direct distribution: how do we make it easy for the consumer to buy the product, while still feeling well informed?”

— Tom Lyons, Chief Operations Officer, Direct Response Channel, Plymouth Rock Assurance

“In New Jersey, property and casualty insurance market share has evolved from being independent and exclusive agent dominated to more direct dominated,” Lyons explains.

For example, in 2003, New Jersey was 71% dominated by independent and exclusive agents. Today those same agents make up around 47% of the market. In comparison, the Direct market share in 2003 was 29% and now stands at 53%. Plymouth Rock has had to adapt to this transformation in the industry while continuing to invest in and support its independent and

144

Prudential exclusive agent networks.

Traditionally, the insurer distributed its products solely through an agency model. In order to step up and compete with the evolution of direct writers, a key element of Plymouth Rock’s transformation was to build a direct capability that complemented and strengthened its agency distribution offering. “Within our geographic footprint, you’ll see that a lot of the big, national direct writers entered our markets and began gobbling up market share from the agency channels,” Lyons comments. “To combat that, we piloted building out a direct-to-consumer APRIL 2019

CLICK TO WATCH : ‘PLYMOUTH ROCK ASSURANCE 30 SECOND TV SPOT’ 145 response channel about 10 years ago

its agency channel, as opposed to

to see if we could make the economics

a competing business. “From the initial

of growing through direct distribution

launch of the Direct Response Channel

work. We also needed to help our

through today, our focus has been

agency channels compete in a digital

helping the Plymouth Rock Enterprise

marketplace.” While initially a pilot

compete in this evolving digital land-

venture, failure was not an option.

scape. We are continually on the hunt

Plymouth Rock needed to build an

for new marketing sources, partners,

economical and scalable direct

and technology to leverage for the

business to compete in the market-

benefit of our agents,” says Lyons.

place and to fuel growth. Over the past

Since being founded in 1982,

decade, it has transformed into

Plymouth Rock has expanded signifi-

a multi-channel distribution model.

cantly across the northeast US. Initially,

Plymouth Rock’s goal is for its Direct Response Channel to be a partner to

Plymouth Rock distributed its products in Massachusetts and eventually w w w.gi ga bi t ma ga z in e. com

P LY M O U T H R O C K A S S U R A N C E

146

moved into New Jersey in 1992. It also

have economies of scale in terms of

has been active with independent agents

their marketing and telesales acquisition

in Connecticut and New Hampshire for

dollars,” says Lyons. “In many cases,

more than 20 years. Currently, Plymouth

they have thousands of sales reps

Rock’s Direct Response Channel is

in their sales centers and very large

actively writing in New Jersey, Pennsylva-

national advertising budgets.

nia, Connecticut and New Hampshire.

To compete with that, we have to be

The company plans to enter New York

extremely targeted and selective about

in the latter part of 2019.

where and how we spend our marketing

As the market changes and develops,

dollars and how we sell our product.”

Plymouth Rock no longer just competes

In many ways, Plymouth Rock is

with local rivals. National and global

maintaining an entrepreneurial startup

companies also have become competi-

mentality as it grows. It is careful how

tors. “Our direct national competitors

it spends its money and the relationships

APRIL 2019

it forms, and it is adept at listening to

or tablet and buy the product online or

each colleague within the fast growing

over the telephone. However, they still

organization.

seek the comfort and confidence of

A significant advantage for Plymouth

knowing that there’s a licensed agent

Rock is its deep understanding of the

ensuring they make the right decisions.

market and how consumer needs and

That’s the key to direct distribution.

expectations continue to evolve. Lyons

How do we make it easy for the

is keenly aware of the shift to self-serve

consumer to buy the product, while still

in the market and what this means for

feeling well served and well informed?”

his organization. “Back in the old days

In order to provide the best possible

of insurance, it was routine for customers

experience for customers in a changing

to go to their local agent to buy insurance

landscape, Plymouth Rock has worked

products, face to face. Nowadays,

with innovative startups that might

many customers want to be able

otherwise be seen as disruptive

to transact right from their smartphone

competition. “We’ve worked with a lot

E XE CU T I VE PRO FI LE Tom Lyons Tom Lyons is the Chief Operations Officer of the Direct Response Channel for the Plymouth Rock Management Company of New Jersey.

He is responsible for all aspects of Plymouth Rock Assurance’s auto direct‐to‐consumer marketing and sales efforts, marketing analytics activities, and inbound and outbound Sales Center operations.

He also oversees all aspects of Teachers’ Insurance Plan of NJ. Tom joined Plymouth Rock in 2007 as a Marketing Representative in the Prudential Agency Management Division.

The following year, he became the first Supervisor of Plymouth Rock’s Direct Sales Center, eventually being promoted to the Director position. In this capacity, he built out and oversaw the growth of the inbound, outbound and telemarketing sales operations. tlyons@plymouthrock.com

w w w.giga bit ma ga zi n e . c o m

147

Welcome to the un-agency.

Think Digital is a data-driven, digital marketing agency focused on driving business results. We believe that we succeed when our clients succeed, so we make that the foundation of every relationship.

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“ What sets Plymouth Rock apart from our competitors is that we try to form really strategic partnerships with these companies: it’s not just one size fits all” — Tom Lyons, Chief Operations Officer, Direct Response Channel, Plymouth Rock Assurance

and how we integrate with them,” Lyons emphasizes. There’s a fine line to those arrangements, but several have worked out well for Plymouth Rock and its partners. “Transparency and collaboration is at the forefront of how we form these strategic partnerships to ensure win-win relationships,” says Lyons.

As well as startups, Plymouth Rock maintains relationships with more established tech partners in order to leverage the latest technology for a truly superior customer experience.

Working with Salesforce.com, a customer relationship management

of insurtech companies both from a

(CRM) system, gives the company a

technology and a distribution perspective,”

unified 360-degree view of both

says Lyons. “What sets Plymouth Rock

current and prospective customers.

apart from our competitors is that we

“We monitor the customer journey all

try to form tailored strategic partnerships

the way throughout their lifecycle with

with these companies. It’s not just one

us through every touch point,” Lyons

size fits all.” For example, the insurer

explains. “We understand if they like

has partnered with other alternative

to communicate with us via email, chat,

distribution partners, which it calls

text or phone, so we can tailor the

Super Agents, throughout the country.

customer experience specific to those

The company has integrated with these

individuals. In addition, partnerships

partners through LeadCloud, a leading

with IBM and Acxiom are instrumental

data integration partner. “Regional

for data management. We are pursuing

direct writers need to be scrappy

multichannel marketing, where we

and agile in how we form partnerships

execute a variety of different marketing w w w.gi ga bi t ma ga z in e. com

149

P LY M O U T H R O C K A S S U R A N C E

channels to fit customers’ needs.

Some consumers would prefer we market to them through email and display advertising, whereas others prefer direct mail or social media advertising. It’s about tailoring our messaging and approach to fit the needs of the customer.”

Another interesting area of partnership Plymouth Rock is beginning to explore is with financial institutions.

“This is an area of expansion and growth,” says Lyons. “We’re finding that these financial institutions are 150

able to round out their client base by offering a Property and Casualty insurance product with us, and in doing so, improve their customer retention.

The strategic partnerships we form are key to what Plymouth Rock does.

Our partnerships are not about ‘you do this and we do that’ – they are creative and agile. Plymouth Rock is currently working with many financial institutions in this regard and is actively seeking out new partnerships to advance our respective businesses.”

Internally, Plymouth Rock’s research and development team is always on the lookout for emerging technologies.

Its agile, flexible approach allows new APRIL 2019

“ Regional direct writers need to be scrappy and agile in how we form partnerships” — Tom Lyons, Chief Operations Officer, Direct Response Channel, Plymouth Rock Assurance

ventures and solutions to be piloted quickly before successful initiatives are rolled out across the organization.

Every innovation implemented is measured in relation to its impact on customer experience, which is closely monitored. “We do customer surveys and focus groups to understand what customers like and don’t like about being insured with us, and we often make changes based on that. Keeping our finger on the pulse of consumers and being responsive to their needs helps keep us competitive and at the cutting edge of innovation,” Lyons says.

Another key element to finding the best solutions for its business and customers is Plymouth Rock’s culture of collaboration. It is not only external, but permeates the internal organization as well. “We have a culture where everybody in the organization, regardless of rank, feels empowered to give recommendations or suggestions,” Lyons says. For example, the popular Get Home Safe® benefit that’s unique to Plymouth Rock allows the company’s customers access to a free taxi ride home as a safer alternative to driving when necessary. This innovative service was suggested to the CEO w w w.gi ga bi t ma ga z in e. com

151

P LY M O U T H R O C K A S S U R A N C E

1982

Year founded

1,800+

Approximate number of employees

HQ

152

Woodbridge New Jersey

“ Plymouth Rock was founded on the principle of putting service first. That is still part of our DNA.” — Tom Lyons, Chief Operations Officer, Direct Response Channel, Plymouth Rock Assurance

by an employee in the lunchroom many years ago. It has now been rolled out across the enterprise. “We have a culture of collaboration and transparency across our various business units,” Lyons says “These units empower an entrepreneurial spirit and an innovative approach to all of our business initiatives.

And there is always collaboration to ensure the best practices of the various groups across Plymouth Rock.”

Through this entrepreneurial spirit and a commitment to collaboration,

APRIL 2019

153

the Plymouth Rock Direct Response

“Plymouth Rock was founded on the

Channel has grown significantly.

principle that a higher standard of

“We plan to grow our business quite

customer service would make us stand

rapidly over the next several years

out in an already-crowded industry.

and feel our multi-channel approach

Treating our customers with courtesy,

to distribution should fuel growth in

valuing their time, and understanding

these new states for both our direct

and empathizing with their issues has

and independent agent channels,”

been crucial to our success. That is still

Lyons explains. Throughout this

part of our DNA. We respect the brand

journey, he is confident the organiza-

equity that Plymouth Rock has built since

tion will not lose the unique touch that

day one and honor our cultural values.”

led to this success in the first place, with customer service being at the forefront of everything it does. w w w.gi ga bi t ma ga z in e. com

LOGO HERE

154

The secret behind Berkshire Hathaway GUARD Insurance Companies’ growth WRIT TEN BY

L AUR A MULL AN PRODUCED BY

ANDY TURNER

APRIL 2019

155

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B E R K S H I R E H AT H A W AY G U A R D I N S U R A N C E C O M PA N I E S

Competition may be rife in the insurance sector but Berkshire Hathaway GUARD Insurance Companies is proving it has the right strategy for success

P

erhaps no greater question faces companies today than: ‘How do I scale my business?’

Nowadays, business headlines are inundated with

stories touting the best tips and tricks for growth but surely, more than anything, it’s better to follow in the footsteps of a company which has done it before? Insurers searching for the best tried-and-tested methods to scale their business need look no further than Berkshire Hathaway 156

GUARD Insurance Companies, a fast-growing trailblazer in the US insurance market.

Preparing the foundations for growth Since its founding in 1983, GUARD companies have gone from strength to strength and today, now known as Berkshire Hathaway Guard Insurance Companies, the business stands as a prominent subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway – underwriting through its insurance companies: WestGUARD, AmGUARD, EastGUARD, NorGUARD and AZGUARD. The group provides commercial (and, most recently, personal lines) insurance coverage and services to businesses of all types in the US. In fact, in 2017, the group issued over 250,000 policies to businesses across the country. However, this success wasn’t achieved because of luck or ‘just good timing’: throughout its history Berkshire Hathaway GUARD has worked hard to redefine and reshape its strategy, APRIL 2019

157

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B E R K S H I R E H AT H A W AY G U A R D I N S U R A N C E C O M PA N I E S

“ We’re growing every year by 20-25% which shows that this is not a steady state company” — Sy Foguel, CEO and President, Berkshire Hathaway GUARD

in 2012, the organization changed hands again and became a whollyowned subsidiary of National Indemnity Company, which is part of the Berkshire Hathaway Group. “Today, we are a $1.6bn company,” Foguel adds.

COO Carl Witkowski, who has been with the company in different roles since 1989, adds that before gaining the backing of Berkshire Hathaway, GUARD first had to forge its own path in the insurance market. “We were a small regional company and there

158

aligning the organization to achieve

were two key things we had to offer:

meteoric growth.

superior service and efficiency,” he

The CEO, Sy Foguel, joined the

observes. “Our retail agents are a key

company in 2007 when the group

part of our DNA – they’ve been our

was acquired by Clal Insurance

distribution force.” Like any small

Enterprise Holdings Ltd., an interna-

operation, efficiency has always been a

tional insurance group of which he

well-versed mantra at GUARD. “We

was Executive Vice President. “At the

needed to be efficient to survive

time the company was writing around

as a company and so our expense

US$200mn of Workers Compensation

ratios needed to be managed,”

premium in a dozen states,” he recalls.

he continues. “When we were later

“Our vision from day one was to use the

acquired, it was a great example of

company as a platform to become a

when preparation meets opportunity.”

one stop shop for the insurance needs

Critically, as the insurer has continued

distributed by our agents. We started

on its upward trajectory, it has taken

to introduce additional lines of coverage

care to retain this same start-up

and built all the infrastructure.” Later

philosophy and mentality.

APRIL 2019

159

SPEARHEADING DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION

accomplishments partially enabled by

“In 1989 GUARD was a small two-state

our R&D approach to technology

company,” Witkowski recalls. “I was

yielding over a dozen patents.” With

brought in to hone its processes, create

a wealth of experience in insurance,

efficiencies and develop a managerial

Witkowski has witnessed firsthand how

infrastructure.” As part of this process,

the sector is moving from the paper-

the enterprise re-platformed directly

based work of the past towards a new

onto a browser-based modern architec-

age powered by technology and data.

ture and went increasingly paperless

insurance companies, with both

Many businesses contend that data

– readying itself for a digitally-savvy

is the ‘new oil’ and the same sentiment

future. “We probably had one of the first

rings true at Berkshire Hathaway GUARD.

browser-based client systems in the

With reams of data at the insurer’s

United States,” adds Witkowski. “We

fingertips, Foguel, who is an actuary by

also became one of the first paperless

profession, believes that this appreciation w w w.gi ga bi t ma ga z in e. com

B E R K S H I R E H AT H A W AY G U A R D I N S U R A N C E C O M PA N I E S

160

of data gives the organization

consumed when companies decide

a significant edge. “Whether it’s for

to replace their policy administration

claims processing or policy selection

system, portals, claims system,

and pricing, we always manage data

or spend their time integrating multiple

down to the scintilla level. This means

third-party systems” observes Witkowski.

we can provide our analysts and actuarial

“It distracts the business and slows it

staff the data they need to make good,

down. Because of this, we don’t

real-time decisions,” he explains.

replace any systems. Instead, we

Digital transformation can put a

evolve our systems. Therefore, we

strain on any business’ wallet but at

don’t waste the resources and we don’t

Berkshire Hathaway GUARD, the

throw away that investment. However,

enterprise has shrewdly taken a build,

we still must make the system very

rather than buy, approach. “A lot of

easy for an agent to use, as we don’t

resources, time and effort are

work directly with consumers.”

APRIL 2019

E XE CU T I VE PRO FI LE

Sy Foguel As Chief Executive Officer and President, Sy Foguel leads the strategic planning and positioning of the organization, helping to promote initiatives that make realization of both short- and long-term goals possible. His involvement with the company has been marked by numerous accomplishments. While at Clal Insurance of Israel, he was the individual who first recognized the potential of a small, regional monoline carrier (i.e., GUARD in 2006) and was instrumental in the acquisition of this organization in 2007, which ultimately resulted in him being named Chief Executive Officer and President of GUARD. Since 2007, the company’s annual premiums have more than tripled (despite very challenging economic times) while maintaining a combined ratio well below industry peers and diversifying into new lines of property and casualty coverage. In 2012, he then helped orchestrate the profitable sale of GUARD to Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (specifically National Indemnity Company) and has continued in his role as CEO/President — rebranding the group as Berkshire Hathaway GUARD Insurance Companies and becoming a nationwide carrier Prior to his current tenure, Foguel had accumulated diverse international, executive-level insurance industry experience, including roles as CEO of IDI Bituch Yashir of Israel, Executive Vice President of Clal Insurance of Israel, and Senior Vice President of Arch Insurance in the United States as well as being in charge of other international insurance ventures such as a Lloyd’s Syndicate and a Romanian entity.

Sy is an honors graduate of the Computer Engineering and Mathematics Faculties at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, is a certified actuary in both the US and Israel, and is a member of several actuarial societies in both countries (ACAS, FILAA).

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B E R K S H I R E H AT H A W AY G U A R D I N S U R A N C E C O M PA N I E S

E X ECU T I VE P RO FI LE

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Carl Witkowski Chief Operating Officer Carl Witkowski joined the organization in 1996 after working for nearly a decade as a consultant. Throughout his tenure, he has spearheaded numerous initiatives such as transforming the organization to 100% paperless processing in the early 2000’s and leading the re-platforming of our proprietary systems to a browser-based environment. Similarly, Witkowski’s prior leadership experience in the health care field has enabled him to serve a key role in formulating and shaping managed care strategies that have allowed Berkshire Hathaway GUARD to excel in delivering superior claims service that provides quality care to injured workers while containing costs. As current President of GUARDCo, he ensures standards of excellence and best practices are achieved.

As part of his current duties, he leads Berkshire Hathaway GUARD’s information and technology group and is also “curator” of the company’s “human capital” and culture. In 2001 (the only year the company participated), GUARD was named the second Best Large Place to Work in Pennsylvania. All operational units currently fall under Witkowski’s leadership, including Claims processing, Small and Intermediate Business Unit underwriting, and Customer Service and Support functions.

Witkowski has extensive past management, executive, and leadership experiences. He exited his two-decade career in behavioral health as Clinical Director of one of Pennsylvania’s most diverse behavioral health organizations. He was also engaged in private practice (providing both clinical counseling and management consulting), was a graduate faculty member of Marywood University for 12 years, and is a frequent presenter on information technology and human capital topics at national conferences.

APRIL 2019

“Our retail agents are a key part of our DNA – they’ve been our distribution force” — Carl Witkowski, Chief Operating Officer and Executive Vice President at Berkshire Hathaway GUARD

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B E R K S H I R E H AT H A W AY G U A R D I N S U R A N C E C O M PA N I E S

LEADERSHIP AND COLLABORATION: A PERFECT MIX Technology may be a fundamental cog in any business growth strategy but when it comes to true success, it’s ultimately down to the people. Abandoning hierarchies in favor of a culture that “rewards individual performance and celebrates team accomplishment”, Foguel points out how “everyone treats this company as though they have ownership in it – there’s respect for one another”.

“There are never more than three 164

1983

Year founded

500+

Approximate number of employees

HQ

Wilkes-Barre Pennsylvania

or four degrees of separation in the company,” he notes. “Our greatest success is our ability to make decisions quickly. We’re also flexible enough to implement them on a very quick timeline.”

The insurer has taken this positive work culture one step further using technology: by creating a robust agency portal and leading call center, the firm has strived to create a close-knit culture between the company and its agents.

In all aspects, it seems agility is interwoven into the company’s DNA. This not only applies to technology: indeed, Berkshire Hathaway GUARD has worked diligently to offer bigger and better product propositions to APRIL 2019

“ We don’t replace any systems.

Instead, we evolve our systems” — Carl Witkowski, Chief Operating Officer and Executive Vice President at Berkshire Hathaway GUARD

165

its customers. “GUARD itself is not

and fleet management systems (FMS)

a new company but in the last decade

technology for its commercial auto

we’ve acted like a fast growing startup,”

lines, and a project with Plank Re to use

enthuses Foguel. “We’re growing every

AI to further automate the workers’

year by 20-25% which shows that this is

compensation underwriting process.

not a steady state company in any form.

Berkshire Hathaway GUARD is truly

We’re always innovating and we always

a strong role model for how to profitably

have four or five projects on the go.”

scale quickly and steadily. Businesses

In fact, just last year the firm announced

should keep an eye on the firm to see

various partnerships with IoT companies

what they’ll do next.

and AI applications, including a pilot with Safe Drive Systems (SDS), to create a collision avoidance system w w w.gi ga bi t ma ga z in e. com

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RESOURCING DENTISTRY, TRANSFORMING BUSINESS WRIT TEN BY

JOHN O’HANLON PRODUCED BY

CR AIG DANIEL S

APRIL 2019

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G L I D E W E L L D E N TA L

Glidewell Dental, on the cusp of its 50th anniversary, has transformed its business model to become a technology company that acts as a virtual extension of the dental practices it serves

J

ust how did Glidewell Dental become the largest privately owned dental laboratory in the world? In 1970, spurred by a desire to

make rehabilitative dentistry accessible to all, Jim Glidewell, CDT, applied a unique blend of technical 168

knowledge, business principles and marketing philosophies to expand his one-man kitchen table operation into a multifaceted technology company among those at the forefront of the oral health industry today. His focus from day one has been on developing new equipment and techniques with the objective of keeping dentistry affordable for both clinician and patient. He has consistently reinvested the profits of the business into its industry-leading R&D department (in which Glidewell himself remains heavily engaged) which has given dental practices access to many award-winning products, such as BruxZir Solid Zirconia restorations. There can’t be that many founders and CEOs still leading their company half a century on, yet preparations are underway for a yearlong 50th anniversary celebration in 2020.

APRIL 2019

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G L I D E W E L L D E N TA L

“ How could Glidewell guarantee consistency of the products?

For me that was the starting point in our journey toward digital 170 transformation” — Mike Selberis CTO, Glidewell Dental

APRIL 2019

Mike Selberis joined Glidewell as CIO in 2008, just a year before the first BruxZir product hit the market. In that role he has overseen the increasing adoption of technology platforms to run the business; however, he also sits on the American Dental Association (ADA) and ISO Standards Committees for CAD/CAM, and leads a team of automation specialists responsible for a growing number of innovations in the field of mass customization. As we’ll see, this is central to the company’s future growth and relevant to Selberis’ promotion in 2016 to Chief Technology Officer (CTO), which extended his oversight to

hardware engineering, CAD/CAM

neered restorations to monolithic

software and material sciences.

ceramic crowns and bridges.

The launch of BruxZir solidified Glidewell as the leading manufactur-

ENTER GLIDEWELL.IO

er of zirconia materials for the dental

Far-sighted investment in material

market. Zirconia (zirconium oxide) is

science made in the first decade of this

an ideal material for making dental

century paved the way for the develop-

restorations thanks to its tooth-

ment of the software- and hardware-

colored shading and impressive

based technology that is transforming

durability, and BruxZir is the top

Glidewell Dental, and disrupting global

selling brand in the United States,

dentistry, Selberis believes. When it

having been prescribed for more

comes to restorations, dentists expect

than 18mn restorations. Its rapid

reliability, speed and consistent quality.

adoption by dentists and patients

Traditionally they are accustomed to

alike has spearheaded a global shift

dealing with small dental laboratories

from full-cast and porcelain-ve-

employing five people or fewer, where

E XE CU T I VE PRO FI LE

Mike Selberis Mike Selberis graduated from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, in 1987 with a B.S. in Electrical/Computer Engineering and joined Glidewell in 2008 as CIO. He has more than 22 years of engineering and management experience. Selberis currently holds a seat on the ADA and ISO Standards Committees for CAD/CAM, assisting in the development of an industry standard for CAD/CAM interoperability. In 2016, he was promoted to CTO.

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171

CLICK TO WATCH : ‘GLIDEWELL.IO™ IN-OFFICE SOLUTION WITH CHAD C. DUPLANTIS, DSS’ 173 there is a limited amount of variation

way that would work for both clinician

from one restoration to the next. Glide-

and patient. Traditionally, someone

well, however, has always aimed to

needing a crown would visit the dentist

provide premium restorations on a large

for a physical impression of their teeth,

scale to help meet public demand. “How

which was then sent to the laboratory

could Glidewell guarantee consistency

where the prosthesis would be made.

of the products?” Selberis ponders. “For

The digitization of the manufacturing

me, that was the starting point in our

process was essential to eliminating the

journey toward digital transformation

variability inherent in the old system;

utilizing software with technologies such

however, the patient would still have to

as artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics

book a follow-up appointment to

in order to predictably produce the

receive the final prosthesis.

optimal outcome for each patient.”

The challenge was to provide a personalized service in higher volumes, in a

Imagine if you could book a single hour-long appointment and leave the dentist’s office with a zirconia crown in w w w.gi ga bi t ma ga z in e. com

G L I D E W E L L D E N TA L

place! By eliminating unnecessary appointments, the dentist can limit administrative work and maximize his or her chair time, while the patient will have to take less time off work and undergo less stress. So Glidewell’s R&D came up with a solution that could deliver just that. “Last year we launched the glidewell.io In-Office Solution, which allows a dentist to produce a BruxZir zirconia crown that can go straight into the patient’s mouth when the tooth is prepared. That’s something only our company has been able to achieve!”

174

Instead of taking a traditional impression, dentists using glidewell.io capture a digital rendering of the patient’s dentition using an intraoral scanner. For this entry point of the process, Glidewell secured an alliance and distribution agreement with Align Technology, whose iTero Element intraoral scanning system leads the North American market. Glidewell Dental has provided digital laboratory fabrication services for hundreds of thousands of iTero restorative cases, and was familiar with its advantages.

Once the patient has been scanned, Glidewell’s fastdesign.io software is able to automatically propose a design APRIL 2019

“ glidewell.io allows a dentist to be able to produce a zirconia crown that can go straight into the patient’s mouth in a single visit, while the patient is still in the chair” — Mike Selberis CTO, Glidewell Dental

for the restoration, which the dentist

have to cure in a furnace for some

can accept or revise according to

hours, but as supplied with the fastmill.io

preference. From the same software

it is pre-hardened. Nobody else has

interface, the dentist can either prescribe

been able to mill zirconia in its hard-

and request a restoration from Glide-

ened state, he adds with pride.

well Laboratories, or send the design

“It’s thanks to our vertical integration,

direct to the fastmill.io In-Office Unit for

because we are the source of the

immediate chairside milling.

material, develop the CAD/CAM soft-

This package effectively provides the

ware and the AI piece, and engineer and

dentist laboratory capabilities in the

manufacture the in-office mill, that we

comfort of the office, explains Selberis.

are the only company that can bring

“We allow them to take the strongest

this purpose-built system to market.”

industry-standard material, a BruxZir zirconia crown, and mill it without

CLOUD FORMATIONS

having to put it into a furnace.” Normal-

Glidewell has created an ecosystem

ly, at the laboratory the crown would

with a single focus, to make the

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175

G L I D E W E L L D E N TA L

experience more pleasant for the patient and more efficient for the practitioner. By compressing years of

1970

Year founded

lab expertise into a small form factor, glidewell.io has attracted high demand since it came on the market in March 2018 – not surprising when the clinician’s investment can be recouped within a year. “Because of our vertical integration we’ve been able to develop this technology at a system level, at a much lower price. To allow this, we developed our all-in cloud strategy together with Amazon Web Services 176

about five years ago, when we began developing our CAD/CAM software on their cloud and this allows us to very easily extend the benefits into the dentist’s office.”

And yet the synergy between clinician and lab goes much further than this. “glidewell.io is an ecosystem that provides the solution in the dentist’s office but also networks seamlessly with our laboratory,” he explains. “So, for the things that they can’t do chairside, they can communicate with us much more easily. We have provided this platform as an extension of the laboratory, as if it were another member of their treatment team. We have made APRIL 2019

HQ:

Newport Beach California

it much easier for them to consult with us as needed.” For unusual cases featuring added complexity, Selberis emphasizes that today’s automatic design proposals may not be the sole solution. “As much as we’ve done to simplify a significant portion of everyday casework, there are always outliers requiring the sophistication of a human technician. Through digital transformation, we make it simple for them to gain assistance from us however they choose, marrying human and artificial intelligence to provide the best crown possible for each individual patient.”

TECHNOLOGY INNOVATIONS Raising that experience to a yet higher level Glidewell has introduced an IoT button along the lines of the Amazon Dash button. “Our Glidewell Wi-Fi connected pickup button has one job only. As things stand when you send cases to the lab either their driver comes out or a carrier will be booked.

Typically, dental practices do business with up to four different labs so they spend a lot of time on the phone and there’s a lot of scope for delay and error.

I looked for a way to simplify that and that is how the Glidewell Pickup button w w w.gi ga bi t ma ga z in e. com

177

G L I D E W E L L D E N TA L

was born. When you have one or more cases ready you just press the button to automatically schedule the case, generate a shipping label, and it will be picked up by a FedEx or UPS driver within a couple of hours.” glidewell.io and the Pickup button are important milestones on the company’s journey towards fuller automation. It’s all about providing a simpler, more personalized customer experience. To help decide the ‘next best action’ for assisting 178

an individual customer, Glidewell has partnered with customer

“ It’s our ability to take all the knowledge we have gained over the years and turn our data into a tool that will enable us to further enhance the dentist and patient experience” — Mike Selberis CTO, Glidewell Dental

APRIL 2019

experience and automation specialist Pega, to provide an AI solution with the goal of servicing a ‘segment of one’.

“Big Data and analytics are a start, but the real value comes when you can turn data into insight, into action, which means making coordinated decisions in real time, across all channels,” says Mike Selberis. “We probably service over half of the USA’s dentists, so to take the most appropriate actions at the right time for each customer we need a system that is automated, and that is a part of our digital transformation.”

179

50 years on, Selberis remains

leverage the work we have started,

convinced that technology will deliver

But it’s our ability to take all the

still better outcomes for dental

knowledge we have gained over the

patients. Work continues on a 3D

years and turn our data into a tool that

printing solution that allows dentists

will enable us to further enhance the

to design and create, using the

dentist and patient experience. So we

glidewell.io platform, a temporary

will surely become more of a knowledge

crown or bridge from composite

and technology driven business.�

material, nightguards, surgical guides, and study models, again at a single visit. Furthermore, definitive restorations featuring additive manufacturing techniques are almost certainly in the future. “It will likely take years to fully w w w.gi ga bi t ma ga z in e. com

LOGO HERE

180

SGK: optimising brand performance through digital transformation APRIL 2019

181

WRIT TEN BY

CATHERINE S TURM AN PRODUCED BY

CR AIG DANIEL S

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SGK

The need for omnichannel solutions is providing ample opportunity for the marketing supply chain industry. Chief Technology Officer at SGK, Francois Estellon, tells us more‌

S

upporting clients in optimizing their brand performance through customized content and packaging solutions,

SGK has successfully blended the right 182

combination of talent, services and technology in the management of infinite content requirements across ever-growing brand touchpoints.

Knowing that even the best ideas are only as good as their execution, the business has applied this knowledge across the entire brand ecosystem, spanning multiple channels, contents and geographies.

Transforming the way brands relate to their customers, SGK rethinks how brands are created and sold, and how their assets are produced to protect their equities to ensure a fully optimized investment.

Spearheading a multitude of technology-led initiatives, and benefitting from an extensive career across manufacturing and supply chain product development, SGK’s Chief Technology APRIL 2019

183

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“The AWS platform enables the flexibility and speed IT needs to transform Matthews International, with the technology leadership for us to innovate for the future of our business�

Davor Brkovich Head of IT and CIO Matthews International

www.BuildOn.aws

“ WE ARE THE IT PEOPLE WITH LABELS & PACKAGING KNOWLEDGE AND THE LABELS & PACKAGING PEOPLE WITH IT COMPETENCE”

Modular production workflow suite for …

• File processing • Asset management • Soft proofing • Workflow automation

• The Standard in PDF Editing • Designed for Labels & Packaging

Design: www.gd90.de

• OS X and Windows

www.hybridsoftware.com

CLICK TO WATCH : ‘SGK CONTENT SOLUTIONS’ 187 Officer (CTO) Francois Estellon jumped

our organization can help them and

at the chance to take on a new challenge

how it should drive our technology

in a sector which he had yet to explore.

focus. Our customers have real

“SGK was a new industry to me. I love

challenges that need solving urgently

to try to draw differences and parallels

and we need to focus on this as

between various industries. A third-par-

a tech-driven organization. In the

ty view on operations and the way we

marketing supply chain industry,

do business can bring different

we are one of the most established

perspectives. You have to maintain a

businesses and collaborate with great

balance between learning something

global brands. Mars, Coca-Cola,

new while trying to inject some knowl-

Pepsi, Procter and Gamble, Unilever,

edge from your previous life,” he explains.

Apple… you name a global consumer

“I like to spend time with our clients

product or food company, and we

and our talented client-facing team

probably do business with them.

to understand their challenges, how

It’s a pretty interesting space,” he adds. w w w.gi ga bi t ma ga z in e. com

SGK

INNOVATIVE SOLUTIONS

marketplace, SGK’s long-term

Through an effective blend of creative,

technology roadmap has focused on

technical and business-orientated

simplifying, standardizing and automat-

individuals, SGK has built a collaborative

ing services, applying a manufacturing

culture which places technology firmly

approach to the creation of marketing

at the center. Developing products,

deliverables. “This removes unneces-

such as packaging and ads, as well as

sary hidden-factory costs by creating

PDF files, renders, metadata and more,

and managing content seamlessly

the company’s creative brands such as

across systems and marketing

Brandimage and Anthem support the

channels while offering greater agility

establishment of brand identities and

in the creative development process,”

effective marketing communications

affirms Estellon.

and programs that enable its clients 188

“The guiding principle of our road-

to strengthen their overall positions

map is to embrace leading-edge

in their chosen market.

concepts without carrying legacy debt

“Our Equator brand focuses on the unique needs of retailers, while IDL creates exciting and interactive instore displays and immersive brand experiences. Our production brands also bring strategies and ideas to life.

Schawk produces brand assets and protects brands, ensuring flawless execution and consistency, while Saueressig delivers rotogravure solutions and technical expertise in the reproduction of brand assets,” says Estellon.

As brand owners continue to experience complex demands stemming from a rapidly evolving APRIL 2019

to what has come before. This is on top of generating revenue from new digital products and services, reaching new markets and opportunities to supply different customer outcomes though technology. We also want to improve our speed to market, and enhance quality through automation. Production is a big part of our DNA and we need to continue improving.”

Partnering with a number of companies which share SGK’s guiding principle for technology, the business has become cloud-first (utilizing Platformas-a-Service (PaaS) for running existing applications, managing artwork and content file storage and shares), alongside an API-first, User Experience and User Interface Design (UI/UX). The adoption of artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML) and national language processing (NLP) will also be additional accelerators for SGK’s production teams.

RETAIL EDGE Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) in particular may face significant disruption in the coming years, and with the race to provide consumers choice through omnichannel sales w w w.gi ga bi t ma ga z in e. com

189

SGK

options, brand products will need to be available not just through traditional packaging, but through a multitude of e-commerce channels. The marketing supply chain will therefore need to become nimbler in providing marketing assets. This, coupled with store brand competition and changing consumer tastes and behaviors will provide brands with increased opportunities to utilize innovative, connected packaging solutions, and differentiate themselves with the types of experience and information offered.

“The time to produce assets has also

190

been impacted, not only as a result of technology, but shifting market expectations,” says Estellon.

“For example, we’ve been able to build a supply chain for easy access production. Historically, if you see a picture of a liquor in a magazine, this seems to be a photography asset.

We would book a photographer, a studio, and take a picture of the assets. These are renders now. We take models to bottles, take the models to liquid, we take the packaging we develop, and we build a render for all the liquor brands in the world. We are able to build a supply chain in weeks. Eight or nine projects, that’s APRIL 2019

E XE CU T I VE PRO FI LE

Francois Estellon As Chief Technology Officer for SGK, the brand solutions division of Matthews International Corporation. Francois Estellon is responsible for defining the vision of the role that technology plays in the development of our products and services, for enhancing the delivery of our current and future products and services with software solutions, and for leveraging the data in our business to create more value for our clients.

Estellon sits on the Advisory Board for the special interest group on digital transformation at Penn State called CODE (Consortium for the Digital Enterprise), a research and advisory group focusing on Digital Trends within Enterprise Computing. He is also a Board Member for the Pittsburgh Technology Council. Estellon was twice named a Pittsburgh CIO of the Year award finalist and a Top 100 Technology Leader by Computer World in 2016.

Prior to joining SGK, Francois Estellon worked for PwC Germany as a Senior Consultant for a large company’s global ERP implementation.

Eventually, he started his own consulting firm which quickly grew into a multi-million dollar operation across Germany, France, Canada and the U.S. The company was sold in 2006 and Francois took a leadership role in the newly formed global consulting footprint.

In 2008, Estellon joined Caterpillar Global Mining, a division of Caterpillar, Inc. as Director for Global Application, and soon became Global CIO for the $5 billion company. Moving forward in 2013, Estellon joined Gardner Denver, a $2.5 billion private equity-owned engineering conglomerate.

As CIO for the company, he was responsible for the global IT footprint.

Gardner Denver successfully completed an IPO in early 2017.

Estellon studied industrial engineering at the Grenoble Institute of Technology in France and received a master’s in supply chain and manufacturing management from Linkoping University in Sweden.

Francois Estellon is a sought-after thought leader and speaker by the technology industry and regularly publishes on the topic of leadership in technology at: www.cio.com

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SGK

huge from photographic assets to free assets. Now it takes weeks instead of years, so that’s important for us.”

With growing demand for increased information to be placed on packaging, SGK is driven equally by creative content and data. Estellon explains that creating a new package requires a significant amount of metadata: from nutrition, ingredients, barcode and QR codes, all the way through to brand and allergy statements, and often in a multi-language environment. “Using technology to recognize, capture and 192

enhance data sets is therefore critical for us and for our clients. As an industry leader we are also working to establish standards in taxonomy and metadata definitions for the verticals we serve.”

The way in which consumers interact with brands has clearly led SGK to

APRIL 2019

transform its service offerings.

Restructuring teams to remove all internal silos between development and deployment has seen the establishment of integrated, holistic solutions, where teams can gain greater understanding of the brand ecosystem outside their particular area of expertise, become more flexible to clients’ needs and identify optimisation opportunities to develop innovations which address marketplace demands.

By improving brand and business performance in relation to cost, speed and market share, these tools have all proven invaluable to SGK’s clients.

FOUR PILLARS All industries are being driven towards more digital engagement, leading SGK to provide a user centered experience which remains contextual for a client’s business. Building four platforms which provide strong foundations for its end-to-end supply chain operations, the company has developed a new Service Delivery Platform, HubX. This platform is not only scalable, but fully covers the end-to-end supply chain and delivers a complete, user-centric client experience. w w w.gi ga bi t ma ga z in e. com

193

“HubX will put users in control of their content workflow, simplifying tasks through automation, connecting to back-end systems and enriching project data points, guaranteeing process efficiencies” — Francois Estello, Chief Technology Officer

enrich project data points, driving process efficiencies. It also delivers real time reporting, and showcases project data and spend, revealing quality insights.”

“Previously, we didn’t have a global ERP system. We now utilize SAP as our middle office to produce a single view of data. We’ve been transforming our production line, and partnered with Hybrid to revamp our digital production environment,” he adds.

“We want to focus on operational improvements that bring customer value: efficiency, quality of artwork and velocity/responsiveness.

This extends towards simplifying, streamlining our processes, and empowering employees with digital tools to help deliver better customer outcomes. HubX brings the value of

“HubX is an interface which grants clients greater control, visibility,

that investment directly to our clients.”

The transformation of SGK’s digital

efficiency and access to data for

infrastructure has been fully tied

all content projects, from brief to

together through its strong Application

asset release, and will bring a number

Programming Interface (API) system.

of innovations to the fore,” explains

Leveraging readily available micro-

Estellon. “HubX will put you in

services from Amazon Web Services

control of your content workflow by

(AWS), the company has even built a

simplifying tasks through automation,

robotic process automation (RPA) tool

connecting to back-end systems to

called Logic Builder to complement w w w.gi ga bi t ma ga z in e. com

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SGK

“We collaborate with great global brands. Mars, Coca-Cola, Unilever, Apple… you name a global consumer product or food company, and we do business with them” — Francois Estello, Chief Technology Office

196

APRIL 2019

CLICK TO WATCH : ‘SGK HUBX’ 197

HubX’s capabilities. “It’s a little bit like

OPERATIONAL AGILITY

Lego bricks – we have the base bricks

The business is continually looking

and can now build solutions to benefit

at the next trend or technology to

our customers by shuffling these

support its evolution, and is now set

around and building new ways of

to launch a new solution to further

leveraging our investment. It gives us

improve customer connectivity,

the ability to innovate and scale rapidly,”

Estellon refers to it as “a platform

depicts Estellon. “For example, we

that is built on our combined expertise

were able to build a supply chain for

in software development”.

our 3D assets production in a matter

“A lot of people in our marketplace

of weeks by leveraging our customer

have a software solution but it remains

front end, our production workflow

independent from their business,”

and render software, all secured

he explains. “They cannot sell it as

through our API system.”

software. If clients work with us, they w w w.gi ga bi t ma ga z in e. com

SGK

198

gain access to the platform. I think it’s

of content consumed, which all filters

really game changing in our industry,

into a company’s brand strength.

where we want to change the way our

To counteract this, SGK has

clients do business with us.”

successfully launched an array of its

However, although sales are a vital

own internal startup brands, enabling

part of overall brand performance,

clients to address specific tools across

accessing metrics such as views,

the supply chain, either independently

clicks and likes all factor into how

or in conjunction with the company’s

consumers now engage with digital

other services. “ColorDrive, for

content. Consequently, brands will

example, helps clients manage their

need to take a closer look at the array

print quality by providing a cloud-based

APRIL 2019

internally is that they allow us to broaden and deepen our partnership with clients by helping them solve complex issues. From a client perspective, they have access to tools that can ease their management of the supply chain and ensure their brands are more consistent and accurate on the shelf.”

Reinforcing smarter content and packaging solutions, and remaining increasingly efficient, connected and global, SGK creates content and packaging ecosystems capable of humming with extraordinary efficiency, as it turns brand activities into connected content experiences which inform, entertain and delight consumers in unexpected ways. solution that allows for easy evaluation

Its ability to scale will allow the

and comparison of printer performance.

business to leverage resources and

It makes complex print analyses more

local talent to deliver better brand

digestible for those who may not have

consistency, operational agility and

highly specialized print expertise,” says

process efficiency, where technology

Estellon. “5Flow is also an independent

will be the key driver in cementing

software company within our holding

SGK’s ongoing position across an

– they develop configurable workflow

evolving competitive landscape.

platforms for clients to manage their artwork supply chain and approval.

The key advantage of these tools w w w.gi ga bi t ma ga z in e. com

199

LUFTHANSA CARGO AG

200

Lufthansa Carg ation into a full industry leade APRIL 2019

201

go’s transformly-digitalised er WRITTEN BY

HARRY MENEAR

PRODUCED BY

LEWIS VAUGHAN

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LUFTHANSA CARGO AG

Jochen Göttelmann, Chief Information Officer, and Boris Hueske, Head of Digital Transformation, share the story of Lufthansa Cargo’s simple, intelligent digital transformation

A 202

s one of the world’s leading air freight carriers, Lufthansa Cargo provides tailored logistics solutions to customers in over 100 countries,

transporting an average of 1.6mn tons of freight and mail each year. With over two decades of experience at Lufthansa Cargo between them, Jochen Göttelmann, Chief Information Officer (CIO), and Boris Hueske, Head of Digital Transformation at Lufthansa Cargo are bringing together technology and business to better serve the company’s customers. “Mostly I’ve worked in roles where new services, solutions and strategies needed to be developed, as well as setting up new companies for Lufthansa Cargo. Now I’m transforming our business into something much more digital than it was in the past,” says Hueske. He explains that “the level of technological adoption in B2B business models has traditionally progressed more slowly than in the B2C space. In the context of B2B, air freight is lagging behind other B2B environments.”

We sat down with Hueske and Göttelmann to find out about the ways in which Lufthansa Cargo’s simple, APRIL 2019

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1994 Year founded + 4,500 Approximate number of employees globally

+ 300 Locations served in over 100 countries

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LUFTHANSA CARGO AG

“ There is no innovation without technology.

Sometimes technology is driving innovation and sometimes it is enabling it, but without technology there is no innovation” — Jochen Göttelmann, CIO, Lufthansa Cargo

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intelligent digital transformation will close that gap and maintain the company’s position at the leading edge of the air freight sector. “The speed and momentum we are currently gaining in our industry is tremendous”, says Göttelmann, who believes the digital gap between the air freight industry, like other B2B sectors, and B2C businesses will be closed in a couple of years. Göttelmann is a firm

CLICK TO WATCH : LUFTHANSA CARGO – ‘LOGISTICS OF THE FUTURE – DIGITAL CHALLENGES?’ 205 believer in the need to increase

the move from paper into data: that’s

technology saturation throughout the

what we did over the past few years,

company. “There is no innovation

starting with one of the basic docu-

without technology. Sometimes

ments we use in our industry, the air

technology is driving innovation and

waybill.” Waybills are a form of receipt

sometimes it is enabling it, but without

issued by airlines for the transportation

technology there is no innovation.”

of goods. “Over the past few years, we

As the head of Lufthansa Cargo’s

have achieved a high rate of electronic

digital transformation, Hueske is taking

air waybills,” says Hueske. “We started

a methodical, step by step approach,

over 10 years ago with just the waybills

leveraging simple steps to produce

and now about 80% of all the compa-

effective results. “The process of

ny’s documents are electronic. That is

change obviously starts with some

not only important for our processes,

basic things,” says Hueske. “More

but now we also have data through

digitisation, for a start. We’re making

which we can, for example, offer new w w w.gi ga bi t ma ga z in e. com

LUFTHANSA CARGO AG

services to our customers. We saw the same thing on the passenger side with the adoption of electronic ticketing and everything that followed that, like self check-in and mobile apps.” Lufthansa Cargo is now effectively developing services for customers based on data and technology. “We also invested in improving our IT capabilities using a new backend handling system,” Hueske adds. “We’re investing in

“ We’re making the move from paper into data and into data commercialization through new services and more efficient processes” — Boris Hueske, Head of Digital Transformation, Lufthansa Cargo

a new booking engine, which is the core system we use to offer our

E X ECU T I VE P RO FI LE

Jochen Göttelmann Jochen Göttelmann joined Lufthansa Cargo as Chief Information Officer in 2015.

Prior to joining Lufthansa, Jochen worked as an IT manager in the financial industry for Dresdner Bank, Credit Suisse and Allianz Global Investors.

Jochen holds a PhD in mathematics and also has a strong background in computer science, physics, and business administration.

APRIL 2019

Destination: Cloud

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As one of the world’s largest independent provider of IT and business services, we’ve also racked up many years of experience in cloud architecture, security, governance, and operations. Independent experts have confirmed our industry-leading expertise: the ISG Provider Lens™ has awarded us “leader” status in the “Public Cloud Transformation” and “IaaS – Enterprise Cloud” categories in 2019.

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services to customers. They can

You see your price, you push the button,

already book online, but we’re upgrad-

and then it’s booked. That is not yet

ing to a modern version, which is really

available in the air freight industry, and

helping us offer a kind of e-commerce

that’s what we are working on: enabling

solution for air freight transportation

customers to book directly through our

services.” The new booking system

own e-portal.”

uses online spot pricing, allowing

Lufthansa Cargo’s core system is

customers to enter capacity requests

developed and maintained by IBS

and receive price quotes immediately.

Software, a provider of IT solutions to

“It sounds a little bit strange, but in our

the travel, transportation and logistics

industry, this is not widely available yet,”

industries. “With IBS, we do not just

Hueske explains. “In the passenger

have a traditional provider relationship,

industry you can easily go online and

but rather a partnership on eyes’ level,”

see if your family gets seats on a flight.

says Göttelmann. “IBS is one of the

E XE CU T I VE PRO FI LE

Boris Hueske, Head of Digital Transformation Boris Hueske is responsible for the Digital Transformation of Lufthansa Cargo. He has a degree in business administration with a focus on logistics.

Within 18 years industry experience in logistics and airfreight he took over management positions in supply chain management, strategy, finance, revenue management and digitalisation. Since 2018 he is responsible for defining and securing the achievement of the Digital Transformation approach of Lufthansa Cargo with activities in automation, new digital services and business models.

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209

When our clients want to move fast and make things, they turn to us!

Nagarro drives technology-led business breakthroughs for industry leaders and challengers. Some of our clients include ASSA ABLOY, the City of New York, DHL, GE, Lufthansa, Siemens and T-Systems.

Working with these clients, we continually push the boundaries of what is possible to do through technology, and in what time frame.

Today, we are more than 5,000 experts across 21 countries. Together we form Nagarro, the global services division of Munich-based Allgeier SE.

“We need partners like Nagarro who help innovatively and technologically to take place in the digital transformation.”

Dr. Roland Schütz, CIO of the Lufthansa Group, talks about the secret sauce of this successful and trusted partnership.

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“ The speed and momentum we are currently gaining in our industry is tremendous” — Boris Hueske, Head of Digital Transformation, Lufthansa Cargo

partner especially for individual software projects and major IT service packages like the complex BI and Analytics environment, or the specific Cargo revenue accounting.

Hueske and Göttelmann are positive that this transformation will be beneficial to both Lufthansa Cargo and its customers. “The traditional process would involve the shipper using a forwarder to send something to its consignee, picking up the phone, asking for quotes, getting back quotes, deciding routes, confirming shipment details, ordering the airline and so on,”

most important partners to keep up our

says Göttelmann. “There will always be

momentum. Although it’s a standard

a physical flow. Shipments will be

product, they are still highly willing to

trucked from the shipper to the airport,

invest in further product development.”

flown from Europe to Asia or America

Another important partner for the

etc., and then need to be trucked again

digital transformation is Nagarro,

from the airport to the consignee. This

a software and business consulting

won’t change as long as physical

firm headquartered in Munich. Göttel-

goods are being shipped.” However,

mann describes Nagarro as “the main

alongside the movement of physical

providers for our internet portal, and

goods is a flow of information, tradi-

one of the two leading providers of our

tionally taking the form of “some paper”

booking engine”. But Lufthansa Cargo

attached to the shipment. By moving

doesn’t need to rely on external

away from analogue record-keeping

vendors only. With Lufthansa Industry

and other paperwork, Lufthansa Cargo

Solutions they have a strong captive

is accelerating the process through w w w.gi ga bi t ma ga z in e. com

211

212

which its clients can “request and receive quotes, confirm capacity and prices online”, Göttelmann notes.

“Here, spot pricing is one of the important factors. Clients receive a quote according to shipment dimensions, weight, loadability checks, embargoes, regulations – whatever is necessary to fly that shipment.” With Lufthansa’s new online portal, customers will receive all relevant information in a matter of seconds. Hueske says: “The whole development from this analog business – this manual transfer APRIL 2019

CLICK TO WATCH : ‘HORSES AT THE LUFTHANSA CARGO ANIMAL LOUNGE’ 213

of information, paper and documents between all parties involved – to a digital one, is a severe change. It’s an evolution, but it is happening at an everincreasing speed, and that makes it so significant.” At the core of Lufthansa Cargo’s front-end transformation is the drive to be convenient and efficient for customers. “We have to be efficient on the B2B side with lean, digital, automatic processes, and being convenient for human beings booking our services,” says Hueske.

In addition to Lufthansa Cargo’s w w w.gi ga bi t ma ga z in e. com

Lufthansa Industry Solutions: Your Partner for Digital Transformation Whether you need to develop a company-wide digitization strategy, connect machines using IT services or provide mobile platforms for cross-company collaboration: If it is a matter of company digitization, Lufthansa Industry Solutions is the right partner.

Our customers come from a wide range of different areas. These include air travel, logistics, transport, manufacturing and automotive industries. But no matter their industry, they all face the same, huge challenge of our time: They have to structure their IT all along the value chain in such a way that it reduces costs and simultaneously increases revenues and efficiency in the long run.

Lufthansa Industry Solutions helps companies to digitize and automate their business processes – from medium-sized to listed companies. In doing so, we do not just focus on the IT needed, but on our customer’s business as a whole, including its internal and external challenges. This is because digital transformation affects a company’s entire structure and culture, and reaches beyond company borders to collaboration with partners, customers and suppliers.

Our project experience and industry expertise.

We have been working with many of our customers for numerous years. We combine the project experience and industry expertise we have gained with our com-

prehensive services and technology portfolio. Especially, Lufthansa Industry Solutions has many years of expertise in the field of air cargo and, in particular, supports its sister company Lufthansa Cargo in the digitization of sales, handling and financial processes. We work together in agile interdisciplinary teams. Whether your need is Internet of Things, Data Analytics or to bring your IT systems into the Cloud – as an IT consultancy and systems integrator, Lufthansa Industry Solutions covers the entire spectrum of IT services. We always make the highest demands on security and quality – especially because our roots are in aviation, a highly digitized, security-sensitive industry.

Take advantage of the growth opportunities offered by automation and digitization.

Lufthansa Industry Solutions division has been steadily growing since 1998. In the spring of 2015, the company was spun off from the former Lufthansa Systems AG and now does business as an independent company within the LUFTHANSA GROUP. As we are a full-service provider, we can help our customers take advantage of the growth opportunities offered by automation and digitization.

Learn More Contact Us

Visit us and follow us:

redesigned customer experience, the company is digitally transforming behind the scenes. “The whole Lufthansa Group, not just Lufthansa Cargo, is adopting a future-proof IT strategy”, says Göttelmann. “We’re moving from a dedicated, on-premises data centre to a multi-cloud environment. With this we can scale up performance instead of running through lengthy ordering processes, installing servers in the rack and de-installing again. We’ll be using IT infrastructure resources as we need

215

them. It’s capable and elastic, and it goes hand in hand with the introduc-

weak point in the system is not the

tion of Office 365 and Dynamics 365

computer or the network; too often it’s

as web-based workplace environment

a user who falls into a tech trap,” says

and CRM tool.” CGI, a Canada-based

Göttelmann. “We’re investing on all

software and service company with

levels,” he confirms.

global delivery capabilities, is one of

In all cases, a transformation of the

Lufthansa’s partners for the cloud

technology used by a company

transformation.

equates to a transformation of the

Lufthansa Group is also updating

culture within that company. At

its cybersecurity measures in order

Lufthansa Cargo, both Hueske and

to match the emerging threats of a

Göttelmann agree this is the case.

digitalising industry. “We’re investing

“There is a cultural shift necessary,”

a lot in processes, hardware and

says Hueske. “One important thing is

software protection, and, particularly,

to really instill the idea of IT as a

training and awareness. Usually, the

production factor. It is important that w w w.gi ga bi t ma ga z in e. com

LUFTHANSA CARGO AG

216

we as a company understand the value generation through software in a digital world.” After the introduction of agile project methods in the last two years, now Göttelmann and his leadership

to top flight talent in the tech sector. “If

team are taking the next steps. An

you look at universities, hardly anybody

adoption of DevOps principles will help

knows about the air freight business,”

to make internal processes leaner,

says Göttelmann. “Hardly any other

increase software quality and shorten

industry has such challenging prob-

release cycles.

lems to solve in the coming years.

Lufthansa Cargo’s digital transfor-

Every potential candidate should be

mation will carry the company forward

keen to knock on our door and ask to

into the next three years with an eye to

work for us. We want to be acknowl-

becoming a more attractive employer

edged and perceived as one of the

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217

most attractive employers in the industry.” As for Lufthansa’s technological future beyond 2022, Hueske laughs: “I think, considering the dynamic world we live in, we shouldn’t be doing perspectives more than three years in advance.”

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ADAPTING TO THE MODERN ENERGY SECTOR THROUGH DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION WRIT TEN BY

M ARCUS L AWRENCE PRODUCED BY

LE WIS VAUGHAN

APRIL 2019

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BKW AG

BKW’s CIO,Thomas Zinniker, discusses the energy and infrastructure services company’s digital transformation journey and how technology is driving optimised and sustainable business operations

A

s the energy industry becomes increasingly focused on decarbonisation, digital transformation is vital to many

companies’ current and future relevance. One 220

firm that stands at the forefront of this industry wide shift is Swiss multinational BKW. “Digital transformation is the answer, it’s not a hindrance,” says Thomas Zinniker, CIO at the energy and infrastructure company. Zinniker believes that decarbonisation is the market’s biggest driver of digital transformation, and that the diversification this has inspired at BKW necessitates an IT overhaul to cater to its broader structure and wealth of new employees and data sets. The company has undergone a significant expansion over the past five years which has seen its employee headcount more than double to reach over 7,000 through acquisitions, as well as growth of the main business. Adoption of digital solutions has not only facilitated this growth but also enabled the firm to maintain a decentralised approach APRIL 2019

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AN INNOVATIVE APPROACH TO INTERNATIONAL SITE NETWORKING UPC Business operates a software-defined global WAN for BKW. Stephan Ging, Director Solution Business Sales, outlines in the following interview why Managed SD-WAN is the ideal solution for the energy and infrastructure services group.

UPC Business is a leading provider in the area of site networking in Switzerland. How is business developing in the large enterprise segment?

We are present with our fibre optic network not just in the urban centres, but in all regions of Switzerland. This makes us an attractive partner for WAN solutions for large-scale enterprises from all sectors.

Over the last 20 years we have grown steadily, over the past financial year alone by 9.2 percent. We are especially pleased that we were able to expand our share of the market in the security-sensitive financial sector. Our customer base includes more than half of all cantonal banks. We have succeeded in winning renowned customers in other sectors as well, such as insurance, industry, retail, energy and health.

“ THE DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION CALLS FOR TOP-QUALITY NETWORK SERVICES.” The digital transformation challenges companies on all levels. What kind of support does UPC Business offer?

The digital transformation calls for topquality network services. The quality requirements for networking are rising. A communication failure can have a devastating effect on the affected company, both financially and with regard to its reputation. As a corporate network carrier we not only have the duty of supporting all forms of connectivity, but must also ensure that the data and applica-

Stephan Ging Director Solution Business Sales, UPC Business

tions in the data centres and in the cloud are always available at every desired location and on every terminal. In addition, our clients have every right to expect that security is guaranteed at all times. We know our customers’ requirements very well, because we inform ourselves thoroughly about their business models and analyse their needs exactly. In this way we can together develop the optimal solution. From the very beginning we point out what is feasible, and in cooperation with our partners, we offer individually designed overall solutions with significant added value.

Software-defined networks are in vogue and are replacing older technologies. What does this development mean for company networks?

The trend is moving toward networks which need to “understand” the applications. So beyond the actual transport of data, it’s also about supporting the continual operation of the applications in the best possible way. The SD-WAN technology used by BKW ensures this in an optimum way. Regarding digital

“SECURITY IS AN INTEGRAL PART OF SD-WAN SOLUTIONS.” transformation, the topic of security also plays a central role. Security is an integral part of SD-WAN solutions. With them, the traditional separation between network and security vanishes. This is a great advantage for companies which are currently in the process of digital transformation. Other advantages: simpler integration of international sites, more flexibility, more efficient and powerful management, etc. SD-WAN uses primarily the Internet as the communications infrastructure and upgrades it with company-specific intelligence with central management.

UPC Business has been operating an SD-WAN for the energy and infrastructure services group BKW since 2018. With which needs did BKW approach UPC Business?

As a rapidly expanding and diversifying group with locations in Switzerland and abroad, BKW was looking for an agile solution for site networking with cloud and security integration. After the first invitation to tender we withdrew at first, because

from our point of view the SD-WAN market had not yet reached the maturity necessary for the defined requirements. BKW subsequently engaged in constructive dialogue with us, after which the invitation to tender was revised again. This final invitation to tender included a total of three parts: access, SD-WAN and security.

Regarding SD-WAN, Cisco best met the demands. We offered the entire package, and in the end prevailed over our competitors. The deciding factor was ultimately the fact that both contracting parties were willing to set forth on a path for which the goal was clearly defined, although the way to get there was still unknown. In the course of realisation it became evident that BKW and UPC Business were agreed on one crucial aspect: We can and will pursue trailblazing solutions!

UPC BUSINESS 20 YEARS OF CONTINUITY AND INNOVATION Since 1998, UPC Business has gradually developed into a full-service provider for business customers. The spectrum of the innovative ICT offering ranges from compact standard solutions for SMEs through to customised project solutions for complex company networks. As a general contractor with an extensive partner network, today UPC Business meets all telecom and IT requirements of SMEs and large enterprises.

The company’s own broadband network, which consists of 95% optical fibre, facilitates network connections throughout the whole of Switzerland with transfer capacities of up to 100 Gbit/s. Mobile voice and data services are provided by an outstanding Swiss mobile network in top quality.

UPC Business stands for customer proximity, innovative technology, an established partner ecosystem and high customer satisfaction. Today, tens of thousands of companies from all lines of business rely on the services from UPC Business. upc.ch/business

Which specific advantages does SD-WAN offer for BKW? BKW can use a variety of connectivity options and cut costs in the area of access.

The SD-WAN creates homogeneity throughout the group — for the communications capabilities, application performance, cloud access, Internet access, and security. BKW has a homogeneous overview of the service behaviour. Other benefits are the central management and the visibility it brings, the simple handling of adaptations and the easy access to cloud services. Over the long term, BKW will benefit from the innovative potential of a market-powerful software developer.

Which reasons are in favour of Managed SD-WAN? At the forefront is easing the burden on the IT department. When it no longer has to take care of planning, implementation and operation of the WAN, it has more time for the needs of users. In the end, satisfied users are more relevant for the success of the digital transformation than operation of a WAN infrastructure is. It merely helps to create the ideal technical conditions.

What is your impression of the journey so far with BKW? What are the most important factors which led to the success of the project?

For both companies, adopting new technology involved special challenges from the very start. So far we have mastered these challenges well, because we work closely together and communicate openly.

BKW AG

“ Our credo is to be as decentralised as possible” — Thomas Zinniker, CIO, BKW AG

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CLICK TO WATCH : ‘THE YEAR 2018 IN NUMBERS | ANNUAL RESULT’ 225 to its operations through networking

planning cycles. “We’re using a Scaled

rather than integration. “We do not

Agile Framework (SAFe) to manage

intend to integrate the acquired com-

the whole portfolio of projects, we’re

panies completely, so our approach

using Scrum as an agile implementa-

is to network the acquired businesses

tion methodology, and we’re using

and benefit from the various unique

Design Thinking methodology to define

skills each company brings,” says

and develop new products and busi-

Zinniker. “Our credo is to be as decen-

ness models,” Zinniker explains. This

tralised as possible, and only centralise

gears BKW’s workforce to a level of

when absolutely necessary.”

flexibility that enables it to make the

Within the core business, Zinniker

most of the speed afforded by newly-

has overseen the adoption of a host of

implemented technologies. “In the

modern methodologies to enable the

past, the planning cycle at BKW was

firm to focus on the essentials and

in decades, and we have now restruc-

significantly mitigate the length of its

tured to plan in quarters. Today what w w w.gi ga bi t ma ga z in e. com

BKW AG

226

really matters is what is happening

for smart metering and Microsoft on

next year.”

the Cloud side.” BKW has also part-

This forward-thinking laying of foun-

nered with the Business Branch of

dations is augmented with a potent

UPC Switzerland (UPC Business), the

array of partnerships, driving success

country’s largest cable operator, to

across each of BKW’s business units.

power its connectivity with speed, sec-

“Partnerships are essential for our

urity and reliability. “UPC Business is our

success, because speed is key today,”

partner for the whole network and

Zinniker notes. “Special knowhow is

interconnectivity. It is vital for the newly-

essential. We have a number of part-

acquired businesses to be connected

ners for specific areas, like Siemens

to our network rapidly, so we are using

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1898

Year founded

7000+

Approximate number of employees 227

E XE CU T I VE PRO FI LE

Thomas Zinniker Thomas Zinniker joined BKW in 2016. As CIO he is responsible for developing the ICT services supporting the change of BKW from a pure utilities company to an international Infrastructure Services Supplier. Thomas Zinniker has a degree in Computer Science and Business Administration. Prior to BKW, Thomas worked in different global companies as software engineer, consultant and CIO

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228

software defined virtual networks to enable this.” It is also planned that BKW’s partnership with UPC Business will provide the essential capacity to manage its Europe-wide wind park network with efficiency, as well as facilitating asset integration into the network. This integration will provide BKW with sharper insights into productivity and maintenance necessities. “The connectivity of those wind parks is absolutely essential, as you can’t have your own guys under each windmill monitoring and maintaining them all the time,” Zinniker comments.

APRIL 2019

In the wind business, its WindLog tool incorporates AI to monitor wind turbine components, such as oil temperature and gear box integrity.

Another core partner for BKW’s digital strategy is Microsoft, which drives the firm’s Cloud capabilities, powering its core IT functions through the Office 365 platform and providing a customer relationship management (CRM) platform in Microsoft Dynamics. “Our use of Cloud technology is very broad, and we are planning to offload further processes from our data centre into the Cloud wherever it’s useful,” says Zinniker.

When selecting Siemens for its smart metering system, Zinniker notes one of the core requirements for the smart metre management system would need to be based on Cloud technology for flexibility, agility and scalability. “The smart metre produces roughly 40,000 times the amount of data over a traditional metre,” Zinniker says, highlighting the importance of the system being built using technology capable of managing vast data volumes. Big Data is a historic component of BKW’s operations, with a digital twin of the whole grid having been in operation for the past 10 years. This enables BKW to w w w.gi ga bi t ma ga z in e. com

229

BKW AG

230

simulate loads and scenarios to enable

BKW has in its employees, placing new

data-driven management of the system

tools in their hands and asking how

to optimise maintenance and expansion

best they can augment their roles with

of the grid under various scenarios in

the new technologies. “We support our

the near term and to strategic level up

staff with adapting to and embracing

to 25 years. With its expansion over the

new technologies,” Zinniker reflects.

past decade, BKW has access to

“The Office 365 rollout throughout the

a wealth of new data sets through its

organisation is one example where we

acquired engineering companies. “By

actually said: ‘We’re not going to tell

combining that data, we have the cap-

you how you have to work. Here is

ability to develop completely new

a toolbox. Just use it. Play around with

products to help our customers to make

it. We will help you to understand it, but

better decisions, or support them with

you have to find your own way of working.’

deciding where to build new streets,

Through this method, people could see

new grids, or whatever infrastructure is

for themselves that the tool would help

necessary,” Zinniker says.

them to manage new challenges in the

Change management throughout the expansion has illustrated the faith

APRIL 2019

market.” In action, the wider internal benefits of the technologies have bec-

231

ome clear. “It’s the new way of working,”

provide any kind of information they

Zinniker adds, discussing the capacity

need on the spot,” says. “We deliver

for remote work afforded by disruptive

vital information for firefighters when

solutions. “Employees have much more

they are tackling a fire in a building,

freedom. Work wherever you are, when-

because electric installations can be

ever you like, having access to all the

quite dangerous for firefighters,” he

data to work on topics whenever it’s

says. “They can see the data immedi-

feasible.” For end-users, there are

ately on a tablet, look at what’s installed

myriad boons to their relationships

there, where to find the nearest point

with BKW services and solutions, and

where they can switch off the electric-

Zinniker mentions an intriguing exam-

ity for the street, or for the block.”

ple of the positive impact of big data

Zinniker says that BKW’s adoption of

to firefighter decision-making. “With

emergent technologies shows no signs

mobile tools we have the capability to

of slowing. As it continues to invest in w w w.gi ga bi t ma ga z in e. com

BKW AG

232

“ Connectivity of those wind parks is essential; you can’t have your own guys under each windmill monitoring and maintaining them all the time” — Thomas Zinniker, CIO, BKW AG

APRIL 2019

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BKW AG

C O M PA N Y FACT S

• BKW’s employee headcount has more than doubled since 2014, reaching over 7,000 • Around 50% of Europe’s energy is consumed within buildings • The smart metre produces roughly 40,000 times the amount of data over a traditional metre

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renewable energy solutions, BKW is also increasing its potency in the efficient building sector. “We are developing a large business for building solutions and installations, as around 50% of Europe’s energy is consumed within buildings, says Zinniker. “We are helping companies and consumers to be much more efficient within their buildings, and therefore save energy.

In the engineering business, we have a number of engineers specialised in energy efficiency who will drive uptake of new technologies that manage energy far more sustainably.” Zinniker stresses that digital transformation is not seen as a hindrance or burden at BKW, but that it is instead the answer to many questions asked of the energy and infrastructure sector by the modern world.

“I think our sector was perceived 10 years ago as a dull, slow industry,” he says. “It has now become one of the most interesting through the adoption of technology, the changes of the markets, and new players coming in. It’s extremely interesting to be here.”

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236

DIGITALLY DISRUPTING THE CANADIAN INSURANCE SPACE WRIT TEN BY

L AUR A MULL AN PRODUCED BY

JA K E MEGE ARY

APRIL 2019

237

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GORE MUTUAL INSURANCE

Gore Mutual Insurance may be Canada’s oldest property and casualty insurance firm but thanks to its latest digital transformation it’s more agile than ever 238

F

ounded in 1839 – 28 years before the founding of modern Canada – Gore Mutual Insurance is defined by its rich

history. The insurer has borne witness to two world wars, having pledged $50,000 and $100,000 to support the Canadian war effort in WWI and WWII respectively. The Canadian insurance company has also seen the advent of automobiles, offering automobile insurance for the first time in its centennial year, and then went on to help the victims of the catastrophic Grand River Flood.

Later, in 2015, when new legislation offered the chance to demutualize, the firm decided against this, harking back to its long held desire to help communities in their times of need. Rooted in a tradition of courage and cooperation, Gore Mutual may be Canada’s oldest property and casualty (P&C) insurer but it isn’t bound by its historic legacy.

APRIL 2019

Gore Mutual employees on site

239

In fact, in many ways, it has always been at the forefront of innovation.

With almost two decades of experience at Gore Mutual, Jamie McDougall, Vice President, Business Intelligence & Analytics, has had a lasting impact on the firm’s digital and insurance footprint. Marrying his innate knowledge of the claims and underwriting business with a zeal for technology, he affirms that digitisation is helping the company “enable our broker partners in an increasingly digital world”. “We are using the w w w.gi ga bi t ma ga z in e. com

Impacting Business Results For almost two decades, Earnix data scientists, financial experts, and software engineers have worked to create a comprehensive analytics software solution that solves some of the most difficult product, pricing and channel challenges faced by financial institutions. With Earnix insurers, lenders, and other financial institutions can now incorporate into their product, risk, and delivery systems the same advanced analytics that make personalization possible for the tech giants.

www.earnix.com

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Gore Mutual Insurance Partners with Earnix to Improve Analytic Agility and Speed Time to Market Gore Mutual, a Canadian mutual insurance company that has provided community protection to personal and business customers for over 175 years, has partnered with Earnix to provide the best service possible to their broker network and customers. As part of an initiative to better understand their end customers and improve responsiveness to a constantly changing market, Gore has partnered with Earnix to continually improve analytical processes and better operationalize the speed of rate deployment to the marketplace.

Analytical Process Improvement.

Gore traditionally has done risk and demand modeling, in order to understand customer propensities and exposure and determine the appropriate costs of risk transfer. As Gore has advanced to managing this modeling process holistically, through the use of an end to end data management, analytics, and pricing platform, they have realized the ability to understand their customers at an even deeper level. Gore utilizes predictive analytics to derive insight from the information that they receive, and in turn support the effective underwriting of risk accepted. Understanding and applying risk and demand thresholds to customer segments enables a more effective insurance transaction for all stakeholders.

Speed Rate Deployment.

Managing the rate deployment process at organizations like Gore requires accounting for many variables. Price changes must be made, approval and governance of changes must be received, and proposed changes must then be deployed to the market. Gore knew that only an end to end system with real time rating engine capabilities, integration to touchpoints such as core and policy admin systems, and the ability to monitor rate change performance would be the best solution for them.

Gore has turned to Earnix as a partner to provide an end to end pricing and personaliza-

tion platform, which takes their operationalization of analytics to the next level. Earnix will provide a real time rating engine that is connected to all of Gore’s core platforms – including policy admin systems in the back office, and customer interaction systems in the front office. The ability to develop, execute, monitor, and refine multiple pricing structures and strategies with high performance and reliability allows for improved governance and control. For Gore, the capability to deploy rates and rate changes in real time allows the pricing process to be operationalized very quickly.

As Gore works to distribute these analytic and time to market improvements across the business, many other future advancements are being considered as well. Machine learning tools and capabilities are being researched, as a way to automate processes and understand their customer base even further. Being able to use the Earnix rating engine capabilities to take any analytical model developed by any tool and use it in a real time manner is also an exciting possibility. The partnership between Earnix and Gore is creating a strong foundation for future advancements, including the use of analytics and personalization in every project that Gore undertakes.

GORE MUTUAL INSURANCE

1839

Year founded

500

Approximate number of employees

242

explosive developments in digitization

the aim of making its use more

data, business intelligence (BI),

pervasive in the business, Gore Mutual

self-service analytics, machine

established BI and analytics as a sepa-

learning (ML) and artificial intelligence

rate entity and asked McDougall to

(AI) to enable a mature business

take on the role of Vice President of

transformation that is both genuine

Business Intelligence and Analytics. In

and thoughtful,” he explains.

doing so, Gore Mutual has sought to

The handling of data is nothing new

put more meaningful data, analytics,

for the insurance industry, but disrup-

insights and information at its leaders’

tive technologies are helping to

fingertips so that they can make better

uncover endless new opportunities.

decisions whilst enabling conversa-

Gore Mutual Insurance has identified

tions across the business. “Ongoing

BI and analytics as one such innova-

advances in data analytics allow us to

tion which is a “strategic priority”. With

be more agile and gather insights in

APRIL 2019

Gore Mutual employees assessing fire damage E XE CU T I VE PRO FI LE

Jamie McDougall Jamie McDougall is responsible for advancing Gore Mutual’s business intelligence, analytics and actuarial capability, which are central to the company’s ability to continue providing leading products and solutions to its customers. His previous experience as Gore Mutual’s Vice President of Claims and Vice President of Personal Insurance are key to his current role, which also involves leadership in the implementation of major data and systems transformation across all lines of business. Prior to joining Gore Mutual, he spent several years as a Management Consultant in process improvement and performance management with a boutique consulting firm and completed his MBA with the Haskayne School of Business at the University of Calgary.

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TRANSFORMING THE INSURANCE WORLD

Visit our Site

FROM INFORMATION TO INSIGHT What gives Opta Information Intelligence a competitive edge in the market? What makes it unique?

I believe our number one competitive edge is that our people possess an extraordinary amount of information about the Canadian market and specifically the Canadian insurance industry. In addition to this, we’ve also amassed the largest property data set in commercialized property. By utilizing the wealth of our dataset and our analytical capabilities, as well as our ability to understand the Canadian insurance market we have a unique perspective in the market.

What advantages does the company’s technology offer? What outcomes can customers expect?

We offer superior property information intelligence for underwriting purposes. Canada is the second largest country in the world; there are varying degrees of elevation, areas where there is floodplains or unprotected fire zones and then there are urban centres which have their own risks. We understand the Canadian geography and are the number one data provider to help organizations turn this into actionable insights.

How has Opta Information Intelligence supported Gore Mutual Insurance in its latest digital transformation?

Gore Mutual Insurance has been a very strong partner and believer in Opta’s solution. The company has also been a very helpful co-development partner in services that we’ve brought the Canadian market such as iClarify, which is the number one personalized property under-

writing quoting tool in the country. With Gore’s digital transformation, I believe that we were able to understand its unique position in the Canadian market place and respond with solutions in a customized fashion that help improve efficiency and drive improved underwriting results.

Could you provide another example where Opta Information Intelligence has helped to enable digital transformation?

When the Fort McMurray fire happened in Canada, nobody was able to really understand which properties were total loses and damaged or which ones weren’t. This was because you weren’t able to get on site for weeks after the fire. We were able to utilize advanced artificial intelligence (AI), satellite imagery and train computers to recognize which homes were lost and how much those losses would be. We hired a satellite to go over the area and within days of the fire, we were able to deliver a solution which demonstrated to a lot of insurers, the power of artificial intelligence, the potential of data and the realm of the possible.

What does the future hold for Opta Information Intelligence? Are there any upcoming developments we should watch out for?

We’re exploring opportunities within Fintech and Municipal markets within Canada. Our massive amount of data and professional attributes can offer new insights to different markets but ultimately our number one goal is to always be a relevant and meaningful partner to our Canadian insurance customers.

GORE MUTUAL INSURANCE

CLICK TO WATCH : ‘GORE MUTUAL’S DISCOVERY CONCOURSE TOUR’ 246 the business,” says McDougall. “It

digital transformation efforts. “We’re

helps us improve our broker experi-

heavily focused on creating curated,

ence and the experience of our

quality data assets to build trust in the

consumers. We’re becoming more

information,” says McDougall. Forging

proactive and not just reactive. We are

a promising partnership with Informa-

driving improved claims and underwrit-

tion Builders, the Canadian business

ing operations,” he adds. “The new

has worked hard to master its data

entity is ensuring clarity of focus. It

and build quality data assets. “We

indicates to the organization that this

utilized their platform as a way to

is an enabling set of technologies and

distribute information and insights to

we recognize their value in the

the appropriate individuals so that we

insurance space.”

can make better and more informed

Good BI requires good data – and

business decisions,” he adds. “It has

this was top of the agenda for Gore

absolutely delivered concrete value to

Mutual as it embarked upon its latest

our consumers, to our brokers and to

APRIL 2019

our business.” This has allowed Gore Mutual to provide more sophisticated pricing to the market, whether offering auto insurance or even flood and earthquake insurance. Gore Mutual has also developed close ties with integrated software company Earnix, using its software to further empower the organization.

In the fast-moving world of technology, close collaboration is everything. Championing this spirit, last year Gore Mutual built its

“ We’re becoming more proactive and not just reactive. We are driving improved claims and underwriting operations” — Jamie McDougall, Vice President of Business Intelligence and Analytics, Gore Mutual Insurance

Discovery Concourse in its campus

Gore Mutual – Innovation Lab

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247

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Claims knows where to cut leakage, tighten steps, and improve service

Information Builders can help.

We bring clear, actionable, and complete data – fast – to your executives, brokers, managers, and underwriters.

With one unified, historical view of your business, you can drill down to address risk, pricing, and market segmentation. Shift from product-centric to customer-centric views of your business – giving a unique view to insured parties, brokers, policies, underwriters, assets, and claims.

Just like that, your entire team can leverage all of your data to manage your book of business more effectively.

See the impact we’ve made for other P&C companies informationbuilders.com/omni-insurance

“ In our business, responsiveness to the consumers’ needs is critical: we want to be there when they need us” — Jamie McDougall, Vice President of Business Intelligence and Analytics, Gore Mutual Insurance

to transform with it, not only to remain commercially viable but also to protect customers. “In our business, responsiveness to the consumers’ needs is critical: we want to be there when they need us,” notes McDougall. “If we know that a dramatic storm is coming or a forest fire is burning, we can be proactive and identify the exposure, policies, and those consumers at risk.

At times we have proactively called brokers, identified the consumers in their portfolio that are at risk and then proactively contacted them to ensure that they’re okay and that they didn’t

in Cambridge, Ontario. This is a spot

experience loss. This data offers

where continuous innovation seems to

transformative value that we can bring

be in the air and where the hands-on

to the business.” As well as using its

creation of insurance solutions is

own analytics, Gore Mutual has

commonplace. Featuring a high-tech

worked shoulder to shoulder with Aon

innovation lab, McDougall says this

to try and understand the “complexity

area acts as a hub where “brokers,

of catastrophic loss protection” when

insurtechs, reinsurers, technology

creating models for flood or earth-

partners and Gore Mutual employees

quake risk. The firm has also forged

from different departments can

ties with DMTI for detailed location

collaborate on solutions to solve

information, which McDougall

industry issues”.

describes as “a quality data provider”.

This proactive stance is a must in the

Another key insurance industry data

insurance world. The nature of risk is

partner, OPTA Information Intelligence,

ever-changing – and insurance needs

has enabled Gore Mutual to improve w w w.gi ga bi t ma ga z in e. com

249

GORE MUTUAL INSURANCE

Gore Mutual – Discovery Concourse

Model with confidence in Canada Impact Forecasting’s enhanced flood model for Canada, covering both fluvial and pluvial flood perils, enables insurers to delve into the latest scientific data to support both primary underwriting and portfolio risk management. Moreover, high resolution flood hazard and risk maps provide detailed and methodologically-consistent insights into flood risk across populated Canada. How can YOU benefit from partnering with Impact Forecasting to tackle risk assessment for this increasingly important peril?

NEW! We are working on an earthquake model in collaboration with Global Earthquake Model foundation to leverage the state-of-the-art local science and data to complement our suite of products available for Canada – watch this space!

If you would like to demo our catastrophe modelling solutions and risk mapping products, please contact sarka.cerna@aon.com

251 its assessment of risk through advanced information tools as well as through OPTA’s developing of advanced analytics and modelling. Gore Mutual’s openness to enhancing its abilities through quality partnerships is a credit to the insurer and a recognition that in advanced analytics there are many paths to success.

As well as industry partnerships, McDougall is keen to shout about Gore Mutual’s remarkable network of brokers as well as its internal team.

Attracting and retaining talent may be a challenge for some businesses, but

“ Our value proposition for attracting and retaining talent is about creating a very complete and holistic value proposition for employees” — Jamie McDougall, Vice President of Business Intelligence and Analytics, Gore Mutual Insurance w w w.gi ga bi t ma ga z in e. com

GORE MUTUAL INSURANCE

at Gore Mutual McDougall asserts that individuals seeking “breadth of scope, accountability and ownership” are easily attracted to the firm. “We’re large enough to be dynamic and creative,” he adds. “Our value proposition for attracting and retaining talent is about creating a very complete and holistic value proposition for employees.” McDougall has evidence to back up this claim: last year Gore Mutual was awarded for being a ‘Best Workplace in Canada’ and also 252

recognized as a ‘Best Workplace in Financial Services and Insurance’ by

“ I’m confident that Gore Mutual will continue to evolve to become an increasingly analytic yet always human business” — Jamie McDougall, Vice President of Business Intelligence and Analytics, Gore Mutual Insurance

APRIL 2019

Gore Mutual – Cambridge Campus the Best Workplaces Award and Great Place to Work® Canada respectively.

In February 2019, the business was named an ‘Employee Recommended Workplace’ for putting employees’ health, wellness and workplace experience at the forefront of its operations. McDougall is confident that 2019 will remain a banner year for the firm as there has been a “resurgence or recognition of the mutual proposition”.

On the road ahead, Gore Mutual is set to keep its finger on the pulse of the

253

latest technology trends as it constant-

“We continue to grow and invest in our

ly evolves and grows into a leading

people, our business and our commu-

mid-market modern mutual insurance

nities. I’m confident that Gore Mutual

company. Yet it’s clear that despite this

will continue to evolve to become an

bright future, the firm won’t forget its

increasingly analytic yet always

historic legacy any time soon. “Gore

human business.”

Mutual will be 180 years old this year and we’re very proud of our history,” concludes McDougall. “The organization started as a district mutual fire insurance company and has become ingrained in the communities where we live and work – it’s part of our story.”

“We’re a modern mutual,” he asserts. w w w.gi ga bi t ma ga z in e. com

FINNING INTERNATIONAL 254

A digitally–led cybersecurity transformation WRIT TEN BY

CATHERINE S TURM AN PRODUCED BY

JA K E MEGE ARY

APRIL 2019

255

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F I N N I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

Finning International has transformed its cybersecurity efforts, built strong partnerships and created a culture built on collaboration — Chief Information Security Officer Suzie Smibert tells us more

I

ndustry 4.0 is changing the game for the traditional industrial sector. New technologies and innovations have seen original

equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and suppliers turn towards new solutions to ensure greater efficiency, improve safety, meet compliance requirements and guarantee substantial savings. However, such advances come with additional risks that can threaten 256

the security of consumer and machine data, with breaches found to be the most costly in the United States and Canada by the Ponemon Institute.

With firm routes in Canada, Finning International now amasses an impressive global footprint, spanning three geographies. Employing more than 13,000 people worldwide, the business has accrued a world class network of product support services across British Columbia, Yukon, Alberta, Saskatchewan, the Northwest Territories and a portion of Nunavut, as well as the United Kingdom, Ireland and South America. Its formidable reputation in industrial markets, such as mining, construction and agriculture, has enabled the company to become a key figure in working with customers to achieve the lowest equipment owning and operating costs while maximizing uptime across their operations.

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F I N N I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

“ We’re seeing a lot more digitization, connected assets and abilities to enhance performance solutions”

258

— Suzie Smibert, Chief Information Security Officer

However, to counteract the growing threat of cybercrime across Finning’s international footprint and remain ahead of the curve, Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) Suzie Smibert has looked to place security at the forefront of every employee’s mind. Demonstrating effective leadership as Finning looks towards its long-term vision and digital strategy, Smibert has been key in transforming its image of a sole reseller and service provider to that of an innovative, technology led company.

“My background is primarily in information security, which knows no sector boundaries. Finning was an interesting company to me when it was presented as an employment option as it was an industry I had never been part of previously. It’s an organization with impressive reach with of the potential to transform how heavy machinery is used on a global scale,” says Smibert.

“One of the things that gets me the most excited about this company is that we are not afraid of thinking outside of the box, creating technology, thinking of how can we optimize our customers’ fleets and how we can provide customers with the best equipment,” she adds.

“When you are a CISO, oftentimes you

APRIL 2019

CLICK TO WATCH : ‘FINNING PERFORMANCE SOLUTIONS’ 259 have your recipe that you use in one

its operations, which will filter into

organization, move on to the next and

its long-term aim to promote digital

use the same recipe with slight modifi-

innovation and engage further with its

cations for that specific business. As

diverse customer base.

Finning represented an industry I’d never

“In information security there is a lot

worked in, I didn’t know if my recipe

of convergence happening. Currently

would work. So, it was more exciting

there are an unsustainable number of

not to just ‘rinse and repeat’, but push

products and tools on the market which

myself towards something new.”

make it difficult to manage budgets,

With damage related to cybercrime

complexity and maintain the skills to

projected to hit US$6trn annually by

manage, in some cases as many as 50

2021, it has been essential for a leading

platforms at a company. I’m also seeing

company such as Finning to take

tools that are providing the right amount

a closer look at updating its systems,

of security, but could be better utilized

remove redundancies and streamline

and leveraged, whether inside of outside w w w.gi ga bi t ma ga z in e. com

F I N N I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

260 of the security portfolio, across multiple

around how data is used, whether the

stress factors,” explains Smibert.

right level of consent has been granted,

“At Finning, our customers are evolving.

and whether the correct contractual

We are seeing a lot more digitization,

agreements are in place, all to guaran-

connected assets and abilities to

tee consumer trust and transparency.

enhance performance solutions for

“Security, compliance and regulation

how our customers manage fleets and

can be a necessary evil. It can take

utilize our equipment,” she adds. “An

time to explain and demonstrate that

example of this is, instead of just having

having security controls to protect our

a driver unit, now we can optimize how

customer data, employees’ data, meet

the machine is functioning by leverag-

privacy regulations wherever we are

ing data.” The monetization of data is

operating,” she reflects.

being seen across every industry, yet

“Internally, it takes a lot of relationship

Smibert is driven, and rightly so, to ensure

building amongst teams to help them

that the business remains pedantic

realize that we’re not going to slow

APRIL 2019

them down or prevent a product from

Protection Regulation (GDPR) across

being launched. We’re going to make

its European operations has seen

sure a product is not recalled because

Finning join the UK government’s Cyber

it was secured at the engineering stage

Essentials scheme which supports

and conception stage, as opposed to

businesses in protecting themselves

when it goes live. Reassurance that our

against common cyber threats. However,

role is not a showstopper to business,

most importantly, it works to ensure that

but is a enabler and can help us win

the business adheres to what Smibert

more business by demonstrating to our

coins as “the most stringent” framework,

customers that we are serious about

where the business has mapped each

their data, their privacy, and are taking

control it needs to follow, and has

control that is above the industry

selected the hardest to achieve, applying

standard. Having these controls in

this to its operations not just in Europe,

place is an incentive for our customers

but worldwide.

to consider us as a provider rather than going elsewhere.”

“We figure that if we set the bar high and require ourselves to meet the most stringent requirements everywhere, and

ROBUST SECURITY

by transforming our behavior, thought

The establishment of the General Data

process and policies, we will be able to

E XE CU T I VE PRO FI LE

Suzie Smibert Suzie is a security practitioner with more than 18 years of experience and is currently Finning International Chief Information Security Officer. Working with the leadership team, Suzie provides leadership, vision, strategy and experience for all things security. She and her team are responsible for managing information security risks, protecting information and technology resources globally for Finning.

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261

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“ Our role is not a showstopper to business, but is an enabler and can help us win more business” — Suzie Smibert, Chief Information Security Officer

talent” predominately from Calgary, she has been leading the transformation of Finning’s security and enterprise architecture services and embedded next generation multi-tool sets, allowing the business to improve its response, detection and management capabilities.

“We have security individuals assigned to squads in the DevOps team. While they don’t sit in DevOps, they do report into the management team and exist as a service provider to that group, and continue to report into my organization.

“We do security as code. A lot of our tasks

tell our users the same story wherever

and requests are automated, when they

they work in the world,” states Smibert.

are deemed low risk, it goes straight

“I travel to our operating regions frequent-

into code.”

ly, and many of my coworkers are also nomads, working from every one of our

PROMOTING COLLABORATION

facilities, different regions, different

As the business continually evaluates

countries. We can’t expect them to know

emerging products and technologies

which behavior to adopt wherever they

which could drive greater value, Smibert

travel. If we tell them one set of behaviors,

explains that the business undertakes

one set of policies to meet, it makes our

whole-market evaluations in advance

job easier in the back end, and makes it

of a product’s shelf life in order to remain

much easier on our workforce.”

resilient, and looks not only to long-

By harmonizing, centralizing and

standing players in the market, but also

simplifying Finning’s digital infrastruc-

to innovative startups that can bring

ture, Smibert has looked to promote

something unique to the table. “Many big

cross-collaboration and rework in-region

companies only work with organizations

management teams. Hiring “tremendous

that are tried and tested. At Finning, we w w w.gi ga bi t ma ga z in e. com

263

F I N N I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

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Transform your security initiatives with IMagosoft Identity Management Solutions Inc., a proven security partner that brings integrated “best of breed� Identity and Access Management tools to the enterprise through strategic partnerships and talented, experienced security experts. IMagosoft works within your unique requirements to help you reach a cost-effective outcome to your Identity Management needs.

IMagosoft offers a team of Identity and Access Management specialists that can engage at any point in the lifecycle of your IAM program.

Our services include business case development, IAM transformation, development of program/product roadmaps, proof of concept implementation/review, pilot projects, implementation of IAM solutions through our professional services model, and operational support of Identity Management products.

CONTACT US

APRIL 2019

LEARN MORE

265

take well-calculated risks and work with

the business to embed next-generation

startups, or we consider open source

antiviruses across all of its digital

products after careful evaluation so that

environments, and gain chip intelligence,

we can get the best return on invest-

security protection and detection at all

ment and efficiency in our protection

of its endpoints. Not only that, it has also

and detection capabilities,� she says.

helped Finning practice better internal

Partnering with established players,

collaboration with broader technology

as well as pioneering startups, is

teams, identify applications or software

something to which Finning remains

that are no longer used and manage

thoroughly committed, in order to drive

its license with more efficiency.

further growth across the business

“We were able to not impact the end

and strengthen its security operations.

user, give them the visibility and tools

Collaborating with cybersecurity leader

they needed, but in the back end, save

CrowdStrike, for example, has allowed

a significant amount of money not only w w w.gi ga bi t ma ga z in e. com

F I N N I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

with our security portfolio, but our data science team, employee productivity services team and networking teams. It’s been quite powerful for us. CrowdStrike’s main play is security, but we’re using it outside of what it’s normally known for.”

WELCOMING DIVERSE TALENT Additionally, observing technology as an enabler and not a sole tool in the creation of a thriving collaborative culture, Smibert has worked alongside the communications team and change management group as the business continues on 266

its transformation journey, providing exceptional support to employees as well as ample opportunities for personal and professional development.

“As part of our awareness program, we’ve enlisted a psychiatrist to help us define how our people learn and how they retain information. Instead of having an article on our webpage every couple of months, we have videos, face-to-face, gamification, and a variety of approaches to reach and engage our employees.

Not everybody learns in the same way, so with change management and psychology, we’ve transformed our communication to craft a message in a way that is not too techy, rather it is APRIL 2019

C O M PA N Y FACT S

• Finning has accrued a world-class network of product support services across Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland and South America.

• Embedding next generation multi-tool sets has seen the business to improve its response, detection and management capabilities.

• Finning looks not only to longstanding players, but towards start-ups that can bring something unique to the table.

• Collaborating with CrowdStrike has allowed Finning to gain chip intelligence, security protection and detection across its endpoints.

approachable and relatable,” she explains.

At Finning, Smibert is keen to stress that its employees are its strongest assets, and so upskilling its workforce will not only benefit employees but will also protect the organization, leading the business to avoid common cultural pitfalls across its various geographies. “We are in different countries in South America, and for someone that’s not going very frequently, they might think a Chilean and an Argentinian think the same and both speak Spanish, so everything should then be the same.

In reality, it’s not,” she

states. “There are subtleties, even if they both speak the same language, operate and retain data. Our communications groups were fantastic in helping us avoid addressing employees or w w w.gi ga bi t ma ga z in e. com

267

F I N N I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

1933

Year founded

12,000+

Approximate number of employees

268

teams in a way that would not resonate

Across each of its operating regions,

with them. When you think of aware-

the business has sought to inspire the

ness and how you can really reach

innovators of tomorrow by supporting

and influence your employees, it gives

the growth in STEM-based roles.

you massive return on investment.�

Partnering with leading STEM outreach organization, Actua in Canada, Finning

LONG-TERM OPPORTUNITIES

provides financial support, volunteering

With such a global footprint, Finning

and hands-on opportunities to those

remains committed to contributing to

interested in areas such as program-

a number of charitable causes, but one

ming and coding.

key focus has been behind the delivery

“Finning wants to see more influx of

of science, technology, engineering

inclusive and diverse talent in the field

and mathematics (STEM) education.

of STEM, so we partnered with Actua,

APRIL 2019

269

which is a camp for students and young children, hosting engagement events

and the field of STEM.” Looking at further opportunities, the

on university campuses. I volunteer to

business has also recently acquired

help students understand the world

100% of 4Refuel Canada and 4Refuel

of technology and the world of cyber

US. As a leading mobile on-site refueling

security. In the past year, we did exercis-

company supporting customers across

es involving coding machines, allowing

the construction, transportation, power

them exposure to technology,” says

generation and oil and gas sectors, it will

Smibert. “Some of my coworkers have

provide a multitude of advantages for

invited students to come into a branch

Finning, as more than 95% of 4Refuel’s

to see the heavy equipment and what

profitability is generated in Canada.

a power systems engineer might do, so

“By having 4Refuel join us to serve

that they get attracted into the culture

customers across the different geograw w w.gi ga bi t ma ga z in e. com

F I N N I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

phies where our customers operate, we’re going to reduce their potential downtime because they will have access to fuel to keep their operation going, as opposed to having to wait for delivery, or having a site that might not have all of the fuel capacity that they need.

This is definitely one element where this acquisition will help us ensure our customers are up and running as much as they want, allowing them to be more nimble and at the end of the day, profitable,” says Smibert.

“Additionally, having 4Refuel will 270

allow us to expand in some of our customer fleets where we might not have a service contract, primarily non-Caterpillar equipment. This will give us visibility in terms of the other assets that are used by our customers,

and how they’re utilizing the other equipment. It is our hope that by

“ I volunteer to help students understand the world of tech– nology and the world of cyber security” — Suzie Smibert, Chief Information Security Officer APRIL 2019

providing holistic service that customers will think of us as the first place to buy their next piece of equipment.”

Finning’s continued drive to fully expand its product and service offerings across Canada will see the business work towards a goal of acquiring 100% connected assets to deliver further support, and allow its data science and analytics teams identify business

271

opportunities to partner with its

ourselves in uncomfortable positions

vendors and customers and create

to achieve greater good, and do better

long-term opportunities.

for our customers, is something I’ve not

“Our next aim is to connect everything

seen elsewhere. It’s an inspiring part

and create new technologies that are

of our culture and a big part of what

going to transform and empower our

keeps me engaged in working here.”

customers and their partners to build and power a better world,” adds Smibert.

In many places, once you have your initial transformation things slow down.

The leadership at Finning hasbeen tremendous, and the willingness to put w w w.gi ga bi t ma ga z in e. com

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APRIL 2019

A journey toward CSR leadership in the fast fashion industry WRIT TEN BY

HARRY MENE AR PRODUCED BY

CR AIG KILLINGBACK

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273

ARDENE

Canadian fashion retailer Ardene is on a journey to become a corporate social responsibility leader through greenhouse gas mapping, supply chain accountability and innovation

E

very business faces the constant challenge of remaining true to its core values, particularly when growing at

speed. Over the past 37 years, Canadian apparel retailer Ardene has grown from a single 500 sq ft 274

accessories and jewelry store in Montreal to a network of over 375 stores across North America and beyond. Since the company’s inception, Ardene has had one key principle in mind: to “do good business, while also doing good in the world.”

Today, Ardene is working harder than ever to ensure it is a leader in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and sustainable supply chain practices.

In addition to waste reduction strategies, community outreach initiatives and health and wellness programs for its employees, Ardene is currently embarking on an ambitious project to completely map its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, in order to more effectively understand the next phase of its sustainability journey.

We spoke with representatives of Ardene’s CSR team to explore the company’s core APRIL 2019

275

sustainability goals: complete GHG mapping, increase supply chain accountability, product innovation and, most importantly, sharing Ardene’s message about a sustainable future.

“As a family company with a young workforce, upholding ethical practices is part of our DNA; it is important for us to take care of our people, our customers, and of course the world we live in,” says a representative of Ardene’s CSR team.

With all of the company’s sustainable initiatives rebranded under the name w w w.gi ga bi t ma ga z i n e. com

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CLICK TO WATCH : ‘ARDENE IS A FAMILY-OWNED CANADIAN VALUE FASHION RETAILER BASED IN MONTREAL, QUEBEC’ 277 Ardene Collective, the company’s CSR team is emphasizing the fact that sustainability “will not be a simple effort, but will require that we all continue to shift our frame of mind and daily thinking as one collective team”.

Ardene organizes its sustainability initiatives into four pillars: People, which includes the wellness of its workforce, including extended partners; Planet, which covers recycling, waste, energy and water; Product, which deals with merchandise, packaging and supply chain efforts; and Policies, which includes compliance and certifications.

‘Sustainability will not be a simple effort, but will require that we all continue to shift our frame of mind and daily thinking as one collective team’ w w w.gi ga bi t ma ga z in e. com

ARDENE

ARD E N E F O U N DAT I O N

The Ardene Foundation is the company’s dedicated charitable organization, dedicated to enacting its corporate social responsibility and community goals. To date, the foundation has donated over 1mn articles of clothing and footwear, and raised more than $4mn for non profits.

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APRIL 2019

$4mn

Raised for non-profits

1mn

Articles of clothing and footwear donated

279

w w w.gi ga bi t ma ga z in e. com

ARDENE

‘In areas of empowerment, poverty, education and health, we leverage the strength of our communities and try hard to shape a better world’

Congratulations to Ardene on your world class Sustainability Transformation and CSR efforts.

We are proud to be your Partner.

Visit our Site

281 “Because of our presence and brand awareness, we have the opportunity to bring about big changes with regard to

chain to be more sustainable and efficient.

“In the past it was very easy, especial-

sustainability,” says Ardene’s repre-

ly in the fashion world: you need it, you

sentative. “We already have programs

ship it. Today, one of our first thoughts

we’re proud of, like community engage-

is: ‘How can we do this better? How

ment, our garden, the end of single use

can we create fewer emissions from

plastic and Styrofoam, store hanger

our transportation?’” explains Ardene’s

re-use programs and more. But we’re

representative. “We’ve already scaled

ready to make an even bigger impact.”

back and consolidated all our ship-

These changes range from small-scale

ments in order to optimize the move-

steps, like replacing plastic water

ment of merchandise. Now our

bottles with boxed water in stores and

products move as directly as possible

offices, to large-scale operations like

from the source to the end store, and

analysing the company’s entire supply

we have dedicated weekly shipping w w w.gi ga bi t ma ga z in e. com

ARDENE

‘Because of our footprint and brand awareness, we have the opportunity to bring about big changes’

282

reducing the company’s carbon emissions.

In order to fully understand and further reduce its carbon footprint today, Ardene is mapping its GHG emissions according to the Greenhouse Gas Protocol, a set of standards days. Air freight has also been de-

employed by 90% of Fortune 500

creased tremendously through smarter

companies. Ardene believes that full

planning, as well as vessel shipments

knowledge of its supply chain will help

and trucking.” Furthermore, all of

combat the unsustainable elements

Ardene’s international shipments now

inherent in the apparel industry.

travel directly from the company’s vendors to their destinations, drastically APRIL 2019

Additionally, the company has partnered with the Sustainable Apparel

CLICK TO WATCH : ‘ARDENE FOUNDATION IS ARDENE’S DEDICATED CHARITY ORGANIZATION’ 283 Coalition (SAC), a global alliance of

there hasn’t been a lot of progress in

retailers, brands, suppliers, advocacy

the process of garment construction,

groups, labour unions and academics

which still tends to be very resource-

that aims to mitigate the environmental

and labour-intensive work. In the past,

impact of the industry. “This alliance

many companies didn’t have any social

can help us make real change in our

or environmental record of what

company and our supply chain. The

vendors overseas were doing. Now,

SAC offers tools, such as the HIGG

Ardene has systems in place to ensure

Index, that enable brands, retailers and

our factories are socially and environ-

facilities of all sizes – at every stage in

mentally compliant, and we continue to

their sustainability journey – to accu-

improve these through our partner-

rately measure and score a company or

ships with the SAC and others. We have

product’s sustainability performance,”

a code of conduct and conduct audits,”

says Ardene’s representative.

says Ardene’s representative. “Next,

“If you go back even a hundred years,

we’re looking at raw materials and w w w.gi ga bi t ma ga z in e. com

ARDENE

4,500+

Approximate number of employees

1982

Year founded

375

Number of stores worldwide 284

packaging too. We have begun the

organizations both at home and abroad

process of product and packaging

to ensure our customers and staff

innovation, whether in the fabrics and

understand that giving back and doing

material choices we make or the way

good is a hands-on part of our culture.

we package goods.”

Whether it be in areas of empowerment,

Ardene also works to ensure its

poverty, education and health, we

positive impact on the world through

leverage the strength of our communi-

the Ardene Foundation, a division of the

ties and try hard to shape a better

brand dedicated to enacting positive

world,” says Ardene’s representative. In

change across the globe. Ardene has

select stores and through its site,

donated over 1mn units of apparel and

Ardene sells its line of biodegradable,

footwear and raised over CA$4mn for

eco-friendly shoes, which are made

various charitable organizations.

from antibacterial, moisture-wicking

“We work with multiple charitable APRIL 2019

and pesticide-free bamboo rayon. The

that turn used merchandise into raw material to be re-used, further decreasing waste.

Looking back over the past decade, Ardene has made great strides along its sustainability journey. Looking forward to the future, the company is hitting the ground running. Ardene’s representative concludes: “Our sustainability and CSR efforts are an ongoing journey. In the short term, we will continue with our new and existing initiatives, the largest being our greenhouse gas emissions mapping and reduction, and our efforts in supply chain accountability, product innovacompany continues to grow its selection

tion and education. In the future, we

of sustainable products under the name

foresee more sustainable raw materials

Ardene Collective.

in our products, a closed loop through

Ardene recently launched a donation

increased upcycling initiatives, sustain-

box program in select stores, where

able building initiatives and more. We

customers can ensure gently used

are optimistic about the future.”

clothing and shoes avoid landfills. The business also continues its policy of refusing to incinerate post-season clothing and continually donates used products to charities at home and abroad. According to a CSR representative, the company’s next steps are to partner with upcycling organizations w w w.gi ga bi t ma ga z in e. com

285

286

CIRQUE DU SOLEIL: BREAKING THE SILOS WITH DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION WRIT TEN BY

SOPHIE CHAPM AN PRODUCED BY

ARRON R A MPLING

APRIL 2019

287

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CIRQUE DU SOLEIL

With her team of costumers and operational buyers, Fulya Oguz reveals to Business Chief how Cirque du Soleil manages unique procurement on its digital transformation journey

W

hat we do is very unique,” reveals Fulya Oguz Operational Procurement Manager, Supply Chain at Cirque

du Soleil. “On a day-to-day basis I might be talking with an operational buyer about a lift 288

that will pull up a 25-ton tent in one corner of the world, and then move on to discussing the lingerie required for our Zumanity show.”

The Canadian entertainment company was established in Montreal, Quebec, in 1984.

In the past 35 years the business has expanded on a global-scale, having offered shows to more than - 200mn viewers globally across 450 cities.

Due to the colorful nature of the performances, the procurement team is often required to source non-conventional products in order to achieve the high-quality productions promised in its reputation.

“Our goal is to invoke imagination, provoke fantasies, and evoke emotions. In order to enable that APRIL 2019

289

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CIRQUE DU SOLEIL

“ Operationally we have to be efficient and operationally we have to be on time” — Fulya Oguz, Operational Procurement Manager, Supply Chain at Cirque du Soleil

290

APRIL 2019

CLICK TO WATCH : ‘BEAUTIFUL, INTRICATE COSTUME DESIGNS AND MATERIALS OF CIRQUE DU SOLEIL’ 291 we buy extremely specialized and

is to ensure all internal business units

unique, custom-made products,” says

are supported with solid contracts,

Fulya.

efficient procurement processes, and

Fulya manages the operational pro-

good risk management. For Cirque du

curement team within the company’s

Soleil, efficiency is important in ensuring

supply chain operations, which focuses

all the customer-facing aspects of the

on strategic sourcing, travel manage-

company function perfectly. “Operation-

ment, customs and logistics. “My team

ally we have to be efficient and we have

consists of project managers and oper-

to be on time,” Fulya explains. The live

ational buyers that specialize in different

shows require reliable equipment and

commodities. Essentially, my team sup-

bold sets and costumes, and without

ports all the Cirque units, including

efficiency from the procurement team

studios, buildings, IT, touring shows,

these may not be readily available.

production and of course costumes

Innovation is a key driving force behind

workshops,” she states. Her mandate

functions. With growth influencing operw w w.gi ga bi t ma ga z in e. com

CIRQUE DU SOLEIL

292

ations, the team is introducing new

do we have to do it even more efficient-

technologies to manage procurement

ly and effectively,” explains Fulya. With

and ensure vital efficiency. “As our

growing demand, the team is focusing

President Daniel Lamarre has said ‘At

on introducing new, creative solutions:

Cirque du Soleil we don’t talk about

“It’s a creativity-driven business. We try

diversity, we live it every day with diff-

to acquire the best and brightest talent

erent nationalities influencing our

in the field of procurement, while capit-

growth.’ I think it is very important as

alizing on the highest technological

we’re a worldwide company and our

advancement and tools available.”

global presence has increased con-

In order to introduce new technolo-

siderably over the years. And, of

gies, Cirque du Soleil began by ques-

course, this growth influences and

tioning how it conducted business. By

impacts all of its business units and

addressing what could be eliminated

their operations. So, everything we

from everyday operations, it could then

APRIL 2019

293

E XE CU T I VE PRO FI LE

Fulya Oguz Fulya Oguz joined Cirque du Soleil Entertainment Group in May 2011 as the Operational and Costume Procurement Manager.

Fulya leverages her more than 20 years of industry knowledge and experience to lead the charge on countless projects across the world. As a leader within the rapidly growing company, she manages critical relationships throughout all internal divisions of the business, in support of operational procurement. Fulya helps support many of Cirque’s largest shows, handling pivotal enterprise processes for negotiation, budgeting, purchasing, inventory logistics, operation management and vendor intelligence. Having worked within the IT, retail and online spaces like Oracle, Ice.com and Diamond.com, she brings a unique and vital business and technological perspective to Cirque’s continued growth.

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decide where to start investing. “To

also found that the solutions enabled

support our supply chain transformation,

statistic tracking, analysis and trace-

we invested in an e-sourcing cloud

ability, while connecting different

platform, shortly followed by an e-pro-

departments. “We can invite different

curement cloud platform. The e-sourc-

partners within the same tool – it breaks

ing platform was introduced with the

the silos. Everyone can participate,”

intention of streamlining our communi-

Fulya continues.

cations. As a buyer, we receive requests

Innovation is not the only priority for

in all forms – from emails to verbal.”

Fulya, with Cirque du Soleil also ensuring

Cirque du Soleil has been able to process

it sources its products in the most sust-

an increased volume without increasing

ainable ways. “As a citizen of the world

the team. The cloud has enabled time-

we have to value sustainable methods

efficient operations, allowing Cirque

and watch our footprint. We have to

du Soleil to communicate globally and

integrate these principles in our procur-

shorten its response time. The team

ement practices,” says Fulya. “Today

1984

Year founded

4,500

Approximate number of employees

295

w w w.gi ga bi t ma ga z in e. com

CIRQUE DU SOLEIL

296

“ As a citizen of the world we have to value sustainable methods and watch our footprint.We have to integrate these principles in our procurement practices” — Fulya Oguz, Operational Procurement Manager, Supply Chain at Cirque du Soleil

Photo © Cirque du Soleil – Suspended Pole act from the show CORTEOD APRIL 2019

297

Photo © Cirque du Soleil – Hoop Diving from LUZIA Photographer © Matt Beard

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CIRQUE DU SOLEIL

CLICK TO WATCH : ‘A BOOST OF ENERGY WITH...VOLTA | OFFICIAL 2018 CIRQUE DU SOLEIL SHOW TRAILER’ 298 we have performances all over the world and we have to showcase unique products, meaning the fabrics and props we use are not readily available or reachable.” In 2017, the company transported fabrics from France to Canada on the Avontuur sailboat. The successful journey emitted zero carbon as the engineless boat required no fuel.

This led to the firm committing to making at least five journeys through this method by 2020 in order to reduce its environmental damage when acquiring its specialized materials. When creating the LUZIA show, the firm used 6,000 litres APRIL 2019

of water per performance. In order to offset the huge quantities used, Cirque du Soleil would ensure that every liter would be recycled during the duration of a stay in a given city. “When we say sustainability and the environment are very important to Cirque, we really mean it,” Fulya adds.

Since joining the company eight years ago, Fulya has helped transform the operational procurement team. As she continues to break the silos and be a part in ensuring the company’s shows

Photo © Cirque du Soleil

are staged on time, the head of the operational department aims to ensure the solutions – allowing this to happen – are implemented across the world. “In regards to technology, we have already decided what we’re going to use and we’re working on it. The next step is making sure the cloud platforms are accessible all over the world,” states Fulya.

“That’s an extraordinary responsibility in a magical environment.”

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299

300

Providing the tools for digital transformation success WRIT TEN BY

M ARCUS L AWRENCE PRODUCED BY

K RIS PA LMER

QR Code-based mobile payment platform, a joint venture with Yahoo Japan, using Indian Paytm’s technology APRIL 2019

301

w w w.gi ga bi t ma ga z in e. com

SOFTBANK CORP

SoftBank has established itself as one of the world’s leading digital transformation providers, driving the uptake of disruptive technologies with a comprehensive offering

T

he SoftBank Group, founded and led by renowned business leader Masayoshi Son, is one of the country’s largest and

most prolific companies. The conglomerate is one of the largest telecommunications providers in the world, and has become a regular and signifi302

cant tech investor for firms globally. Its US$100bn Vision Fund, for example, has invested heavily in companies around the globe to drive technological advancement. SoftBank Corp., a subsidiary of SoftBank Group Corp., is also one of the leading providers of digital transformation services and solutions, and has become a go-to for companies worldwide for products and solutions including including its Internet of Things (IoT) platform, cloud technology, artificial intelligence (AI), automation, robotics, data analysis, cybersecurity, Fintech and Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS).

SoftBank believes that data should be the key driver in all business decisions, and as such offers a suite of solutions that APRIL 2019

Ken Miyauchi President & CEO

303

Softbank provides a coworking space in Japan at WeWork Japan, through a joint venture with The We Company

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The Tupl approach is unique: operators provide their most pressing manual work problems, and Tupl automates those processes. Use cases range from customer care to network optimization, automated alarm handling, even to construction management and prediction.

Tupl is the leader in operations automation by AI. We are headquartered in the United States, with presence in Spain, Mexico and Japan.

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Digital Transformation Case Study: TUPL Network Advisor Get ready for 5G by Automating Your engineering & Optimization work by AI. There is a simple reason why certain high-complexity repetitive work has not yet been automated; it has been considered too difficult. Case in point: armies of engineers continue to do complex and exhausting troubleshooting and optimization tasks, day in day out.

To make matters worse, this manual way of working will not be possible when you throw in another “G”, namely 5G, with network slicing and IoT complexities to boot.

ENTER TUPL NETWORK ADVISOR Award-winning Tupl Network Advisor helps network engineering teams unlock the power of AI to automate processes and scale up accumulated human expertise. This is accomplished by helping engineers do root cause analysis and actions which are dependent on the network operators’ overall strategy. This is the approach to use AI technologies to turn accumulated engineering knowledge into digital knowledge for scaling, speed and consistency.

Tupl has been running Network Advisor implementations with several major wireless carriers from the US, Europe, Latin America and Japan with very successful results that show not only efficiency gains, but significant side benefits from Intelligent Process Automation: 1. 90% Machine Learning accuracy, with intuitive and fast data labeling (supervised & unsupervised).

2. 80% overall automation. The remaining 20% are the most complex problems and should stay in open loop.

3. Performance gains of 50%-80% when executing the recommended actions by Network Advisor.

4. Enabling Customer Experience data to drive network optimization tasks, automatically.

Might just be first time in the world these two domains work seamlessly together.

5. 100% consistent, and reducing human errors.

This proves the power of Network Advisor’s capability as the perfect Staff Augmentation solution for any advanced operator. Based on the early results in one major operator, staff augmentation was calculated to a level of 40%, creating an annual value of $20M for the efficiency gains alone.

Furthermore, consistency in AI decision making enable unique analytics for strategic decisions across the network, and frees engineering time for the most complex and important issues.

For more information on Tupl and their Network Advisor, please see www.tupl.com.

SOFTBANK CORP

306

© Taka – Fotolia

enable firms to harness the latent insights of their data sets. Data centres form a core part of SoftBank’s digital transformation offerings, providing colocation and hosting services for firms looking to offload operations to stateof-the-art cloud environments. Its White Cloud Software as a Service (SaaS) provides the hosting capability for enterprises: a dedicated server platform that provides web, mail and database functions. Outside of the data centre, White Cloud ASPIRE is SoftBank’s Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) solution APRIL 2019

‘SoftBank enables its customers to leverage the strongest cloud offerings from around the world through its Cloud Access service’

CLICK TO WATCH : ‘SOFTBANK TVCM – “SPEED ​​L IMIT MAN”’ 307

that offers flexible on-premise cloud

and relationships within and between

environments for customers.

their data sets whilst offering a straight-

A joint venture (JV), called SB Cloud,

forward user interface (UI) to minimise

formed in 2016 between SoftBank and

disruption to businesses adopting the

Alibaba saw the launch of Alibaba’s

technology. DataV also displays and

cloud capabilities in Japan, leveraging

monitors data simultaneously, maxim-

Alibaba Cloud technology in a partner-

ising the efficiency of its analysis, as

ship that continues today. SB Cloud

well as offering a strong degree of

enables SoftBank customers to take

immediacy. SoftBank also enables its

advantage of a host of capabilities to

customers to leverage the strongest

make the most of their data, including

cloud offerings from elsewhere around

the DataV visualisation and analysis

the world through its Cloud Access

platform. The tool enables firms to id-

service, providing a direct gateway to

entify and interpret trends, patterns

those offerings through its own secure, w w w.gi ga bi t ma ga z in e. com

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Mobile stock trading app, with simple UI enabling all smartphone users to start from small amount of money closed network. Through SoftBank, customers can use Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services platforms, ensuring that clients can tailor their selection to the needs of their business or to align with existing technologies used in their operations. In keeping with its commitment to advancing the

ÂĽ3.6bn+ Approximate revenue

1981

Year founded

17,300

Approximate number of employees

technological capabilities of Japanese

management, and generation of action-

infrastructure, SoftBank announced on

able insights for enterprises countrywide.

20 March 2019 that it has entered a JV

In addition to the cloud services and

with Cohesity, the market leader in the

platforms that SoftBank provides, it

hyperconverged secondary storage

offers a variety of cybersecurity solutions

space and a member of the Vision Fund’s

to ensure the platforms have appropri-

portfolio. The JV is set to facilitate the

ate measures in place to keep data in

advent of a modern data infrastructure

the right hands. One example of these

in Japan that will drive backups, storage,

solutions is the Cybereason security w w w.gi ga bi t ma ga z in e. com

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SOFTBANK CORP

platform, which detects threats in real time and ensures administrators are informed immediately so that action can be taken before the breach causes harm. Automated processes within the platform enable it to assess the severity of threats independently whilst actively following movements across the network that could develop into malicious activity.

The Cybereason solution is designed to minimise input from the client, enabling smooth deployment with little disruption. Cybereason can be integrated 312

into clients’ cloud platforms alongside Dome9, a visualisation service that presents the cloud environment’s settings to boost compliance as well as identify and rectify human errors.

SoftBank says that around 40% of companies are considering IoT for advancing their data collection capabilities, irrespective of industry, and it is working hard to both encourage and cater to this trend.

Harvesting data from myriad sources can be achieved through SoftBank’s rich catalogue of (IoT) solutions and its tailored offering to APRIL 2019

Providing a coworking space in Japan through WeWork Japan, a joint venture with The We Company

each client. Gateways and sensors required for data collection are lined up against cost, power consumption, and long-distance communication, and are tied together with its low cost IoT platform capable of supporting an array of networks securely. SoftBank’s IoT devices collect information pertaining to facility operation, facility usage and vehicle usage statuses. This data is collated and housed within SoftBank’s secure IoT platform which includes its API and API management technologies that facilitate linkage and cross-referencing between data

Truck fleet auto-control experiment by 5G network

sets, enabling customers to leverage powerful data-driven insights like never before. The firm divides its solutions between manufacturing, transport and social infrastructure, meaning its offering is broad in scope and applicable for the majority of companies undergoing digital transformation.

The company is also dedicated to maximising the value of staff by revolutionising internal processes. SoftBank’s SynchRoid solution enables automation of simple administrative tasks and processing procedures, freeing up w w w.gi ga bi t ma ga z in e. com

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SOFTBANK CORP

‘SoftBank has established itself as a leading digital transformation solutions provider’ 314

APRIL 2019

employees’ time for increased focus on more skills based tasks. This boost to operational efficiency not only ensures work is done sooner but also mitigates labour costs. The technology is also more accurate over the long term, eliminating the risk of human error for important tasks such as data input, counting and processing, and ledger management. SynchRoid is capable of functioning in myriad departments and roles, including finance, general affairs, human resources and sales.

In sum, SoftBank has established itself as a leading digital transformation solutions provider.

Through a host of innovative solutions, products and strategic partnerships that transcend borders, companies can leverage integrable technologies that both minimise disruption and enable the seamless flow of data from collection through to actionable insights within secure, tailorable and flexible cloud platforms.

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HGC GLOBAL COMMUNICATIONS:

REMAINING RELEVANT IN THE DIGITAL ERA WRIT TEN BY

DA LE BENTON PRODUCED BY

K RIS PA LMER

APRIL 2019

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H G C G L O B A L C O M M U N I C AT I O N S

How a digital transformation allows HGC Global Communications to leverage core technologies, infrastructure and services to enhance connections among people and businesses on both a domestic and international scale

T

he digital era is upon us and organisations all around the world are investing more than ever before into technology and innovation

to improve their operations and stay relevant for an evolving customer base. HGC Global Communica318

tions (HGC), a telecommunications company based in Hong Kong, owns an extensive fibre-optic network within the city and has five cross-border routes integrated with three of mainland China’s tier-one telco operators. This is on top of housing a world class international network and the first interconnection on the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge, linking HGC to the Greater Bay Area.

The company’s main mission is centred around leveraging core technologies, infrastructure and services to enhance connections among people and businesses on both a domestic and international scale. A ‘new’ HGC was formed in 2017 and Andrew Kwok, the new Chief Executive Officer, began to embark on HGC’s journey of digital transformation.

“I remember when we met,” recalls Chief Digital Officer (CDO) Jacqueline Teo. “He had a firm view APRIL 2019

HGC headquarters in Hong Kong HGC owns an extensive fibre-optic network within Hong Kong

319

about the need for HGC to transform itself as a business in order to be relevant in the new digital world. The role of CDO was created to lead us on this crucial journey and define new paths for growth and success in the digital era.�

Teo joined the business back in 2018 and brought with her extensive global experience in digital enablement, disruption and transformation.

Over the course of her career, she has played key roles in product innovation, managed complex technology busiw w w.gi ga bi t ma ga z in e. com

“ The role of HGC’s Chief Digital Officer was created to lead the digital journey and define new paths for growth and success in the digital era” — Jacqueline Teo, Chief Digital Officer at HGC Global Communications

me to think differently,” she says.

“What are people really looking for the technology to do? Then, how do people make decisions around technology that are not only based on the technology? How many ROI factors can I satisfy with this technology? These are multi-faceted questions and my experience has allowed me to empathise and be curious about financial, emotional, human, intellectual and rational aspects of the decision. Adding another layer that takes into account

nesses and their expansions in the

the diverse backgrounds of people

Asian market, and led multiple signifi-

whether it be age, gender, experi-

cant organisation wide transforma-

ence, nationality etc – this completely

tions. She also led the global technol-

applies to HGC’s digital journey.”

ogy integration and transformation

HGC’s digital transformation fo-

of a US$697mn acquisition, and has

cuses on two key areas: an internal

led the ground up establishment of

transformation of culture, technol-

several billion-dollar telecommunica-

ogy and process; and an external

tions startups in Asia and Australia.

transformation of brand, services

For Teo though, the most valuable

and experience that will see tech-

experience she has gained is an

nology as an enabler for its cus-

understanding of the “business of

tomers own digital journeys. Teo’s

technology”. “I look at technology as

remit covers digital businesses and

a means that will provide a positive

services, cybersecurity, data, cloud,

experience to the user, and having an

operations support system (OSS)

understanding of the importance of

and business support system (BSS).

that return of investment (ROI) allows

Teo describes having open, agile w w w.gi ga bi t ma ga z in e. com

321

H G C G L O B A L C O M M U N I C AT I O N S

CLICK TO WATCH : ‘HGC GLOBAL COMMUNICATIONS CORPORATE PROFILE’ 322 platforms as key to what a telecom

end, she immediately enhanced HGC

provider is capable of offering to its

with agile and scrum, multi-cloud

customers. “As we evolve more in this

management, DevOps and site

digital world, things collide and interact,”

reliability engineering skills. “Our first

she says. “You can’t look at one thing

major project as the new HGC was

and not look at others simultaneously.

extremely agile, cloud native, set up for

For example, you need to enrich cyberse-

continuous integration and continuous

curity with data and core OSS or BSS

delivery (Devops), and supported by

needs. To help our customers transform,

hybrid cloud methods from the start.

we need to transform ourselves. My

The team didn’t know any different, so

role is therefore to balance all these

we set up a culture of continuous

competing and sometimes conflicting

learning and agility to fail and fix quickly

demands, and ensure we have incorpo-

and everyone just got used to the pace

rated the right technology at the right

of speed and change. This first project

time for the right outcomes.” To this

was the establishment of our API and

APRIL 2019

Microservices hub with Axway to

approach, fail fast with HGC and have

open up our platform and it took us

the courage to push the boundaries

just three months to achieve. A year

of their technology.

in, this is the only way we will launch any new capability.”

In order to bring about change, Teo looked at where technology could be

To support HGC’s digital journey,

successfully implemented and that

Teo also sought partners who can

in itself required a rethink about the

work flexibly with HGC within a

value of technology to HGC. She notes

fast-paced environment, and remarks

that the current global perception of

that “it was more important they fit us

digital technology shows businesses

culturally first than have the cheapest

don’t really understand the depths and

price or the fanciest technology”. She

breadths of modern technology capabili-

cites partners like Enxoo, Axway and

ties. “They think it is easy because of

Cloudsmartz who have a ‘can-do’

own their digital experience, and they

E X E C U T I V E P R OF IL E

Jacqueline Teo Jacqueline Teo is Chief Digital Officer, responsible for technology and digital capabilities in the service of customers and internal staff. Her remit covers strategy, roadmapping, architecture, delivery and support, as well as accountability for P&L, and she has led significant technological transformation projects for large and complex organisations.

During a career that stretches back 25 years, Jacqueline has held a number C-level posts in the global telecommunications, media and entertainment industries, and has earned a reputation for spearheading game-changing initiatives on behalf of customers.

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323

“Smart cities, smart workplaces, smart cars, etc... Those areas all need thought leadership in the technology space to actually understand how the enablement of these technologies can support meaningful business models” — Jacqueline Teo, Chief Digital Officer at HGC Global Communications

325

just want it and they want it fast,” she

space to actually understand how the

explains. This is where her experience

enablement of these technologies can

comes into play, as she is able to marry

support meaningful business models.

her background in finance with her

A good digital leader has to know how

business knowledge and understand-

to use technology as a progressive

ing of technology to optimise the

enabler and a disrupter – yet advocate

benefits to HGC and its customers.

for the customer while providing

She adds that thought leadership

universal benefit and work all positions

is crucial in achieving any form of

seamlessly to grow. You don’t always

success in a digital transformation.

need to be the smartest person in the

“Everything is smart these days,” she

room, but you do need to know who is

says. “Smart cities, smart workplaces,

and then create the environment

smart cars, etc. Those areas all need

where each strength has a voice to

thought leadership in the technology

shape the outcome.” w w w.gi ga bi t ma ga z in e. com

H G C G L O B A L C O M M U N I C AT I O N S

326

A staff walkathon was organised. For every two employees who finish the walk, HGC will donate a 12-month free broadband service plan to a local grassroots student

Such leadership is fundamental

of this evolution,” she says. “A consum-

for a business like HGC which serves

er for a telecommunications service

a wide range of market segments on

has a different set of needs to one of

a local and international scale. With

the large corporates we serve, and

such a large mass market, Teo recog-

the way they’re perceiving things can

nises that transforming and digitally

be at very different extremes. Staying

enabling each and every facet in order

relevant to a customer that continues

to remain relevant is a challenge. She

to be empowered and has more

is keen to stress the need to have

access to information than ever before

empathy for those going through such

requires an understanding of just how

transformations and the challenges

much that customer has changed and

they face. “They’re at different stages

will continue to change.” HGC’s varied

of their own journeys of relevance and

market segments creates an incredibly

they’ve got customers at different cusps

diverse set of demands that it has to

APRIL 2019

CLICK TO WATCH : ‘VOLVO OCEAN RACE HK STOPOVER RECAP’ 327

be aware and ahead of. “People are

change management innovatively

changing at different rates, in different

to enable a new way of thinking, asking:

ways,” says Teo. “My take on this is to

“Where is that shift that will make our

put your customer in the middle of eve-

people look at and think about things

rything you do and start from the idea

a little differently?” and “How do I create

of ‘what is going to make my customer

a safe environment for our people to

successful today, tomorrow, next year,

collaborate and stay genuinely focused

in 10 years?’ Next,work backwards

on the customers’ needs?” Challenging

and challenge the way you think about

the company’s own thinking bias and

making your customer happy. Then

allowing people to be openly uncom-

and only then, how and which technol-

fortable about the impending change

ogy can enable that.”

has been essential. “It’s about having

In order to overcome this challenge, Teo approaches education and

different conversations, looking at how our customers and our partners will be w w w.gi ga bi t ma ga z in e. com

Innovate to accelerate digital transformation Customer-obsessed innovators are tapping into the power of data to invent new digital experiences that transform the business. They are the “unicorns” that change the world and reach new heights of success.

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axway.com/api

“ I made a strategic decision to enable AI capabilities to drive our sales from day one.

This includes chatbots for the consumer market and AI driven sales for all our direct sales teams” — Jacqueline Teo, Chief Digital Officer at HGC Global Communications

frictionless engagements with its customers, suppliers and partners.

Teo looks at artificial intelligence (AI), virtualisation and infrastructure as the key technologies defining this journey.

“Data becomes much more meaningful with AI,” she says.

“I made a strategic decision to enable AI capabilities to drive our sales from day one. This includes chatbots for the consumer market and AI driven sales for all our direct sales teams.” The next set of digital functions to benefit from AI are already in progress and Teo would like to see this extended to its customers as well.

affected and how we can tackle these

Additionally, Teo believes that the

challenges in different ways,” she says.

edge will become increasingly impor-

“Change is a certainty in this digital era

tant to all segments as we enter a world

and we must continuously look at where

of high volume, micro transactions

the dial needs to be in order to remain

driven by our growing love for all things

meaningful as a business and ultimately

‘smart’, the internet of things and 5G

to our customer.”

services. Functionality and intelligence

HGC’s customer requires an increas-

at the edge will increase and drive how

ing number of touch points with more

HGC continues to virtualise access

direct connectivity and access. In

to cloud and network resources while

response to this, HGC is exploring

enabling customers to virtualise their

ways in which it can build out from its

processes, prioritise their usage and

open platforms and leverage its data

dynamically use edge to optimise

capabilities to better create true

efficiency. w w w.gi ga bi t ma ga z in e. com

329

Data Center ConneX™

Enabling Data Center Transformation Interconnect

Cross Connect

Cloud Connect

Enterprise Customers Want Flexibility & Control – TODAY Data Center ConneX™ is powered through CloudSmartz’ Acumen360 LSO & DCX foundational platforms – enabling Data Center Interconnect, Cross Connect, Cloud Connect for the Software-Defined Data Center (SDDC) CloudSmartz enabled Hutchison Global Communications (HGC) with point-to-point connectivity and Cloud Connect in Q1 2019.

“CloudSmartz utilized its Acumen SDX platform to design and develop the HGC ‘network-on-demand’ products.

Everything from initial design to hardware deployment and service launch along with 24X7 support was completed in record time”, says Manjeet Dhariwal, Co-founder & CTO, CloudSmartz. “Multiple network-on-demand services are available to customers today and this platform will serve as the launchpad for all future SDN and on-demand, zero-touch provisioning services."

CloudSmartz enables digital transformation for Next-Generation Service Providers to deliver the benefits of flexibility and control with the self-service consumerization of network services.

ENTERPRISE

PARTNERS

DCX Portal

OSS/BSS

Analytics

Inventory

Multi-Tenant

Orchestrate

CloudSmartz Data Center ConneX™ Metering

OpenFlow

Telemetry

OpenKilda SDN Controller Programmable Data Plane

SERVICE PROVIDER BENEFITS: 1

Enable on-demand products to be offered to customers via Data Center Interconnect

2

Create a marketplace between customers and the DC via automated Cross Connect

3

Offer automated self-service cloud connectivity to customers via Cloud Connect For more information please visit our website www.cloudsmartz.com or email info@cloudsmartz.com.

1995

Year founded

1,500

Approximate number of employees

New HGC celebrates its first anniversary with a HK$1mn broadband donation to grassroots student

331

Software enabled infrastructure

service providers (CSPs) to enable this

(software defined networks or ‘SDN’,

part of its digital transformation journey.

known as virtual data centres ‘SDDC)

“CloudSmartz SDN development teams,

or infrastructure as code, is a key area

using CloudSmartz SDxSuite platform

for HGC to unlock operational efficien-

and OpenKilda SDN Controller, worked

cies though sellable, flexible and

closely with Jacqueline’s HGC teams

reconfigurable infrastructure. HGC can

to develop and globally launch SDN

also optimise availability and perfor-

network-on-demand products within 6

mance as well as automate provision-

months,” says Manjeet Dhariwal, CTO

ing and activation, allowing its custom-

and Co-founder, CloudSmartz. “This

ers elastic infrastructure and networks.

kind of speed and agility is unheard of

The company partnered with

- Congratulations to the SDN teams

CloudSmartz, a global provider of

and the leadership.”

software solutions for communications

Noting that while there are many w w w.gi ga bi t ma ga z in e. com

H G C G L O B A L C O M M U N I C AT I O N S

“ It takes personal courage and organisational courage to stand up and say that we are happy to disrupt who we are and we are happy to take the first steps in evolving our business today, tomorrow and 332 beyond that” — Jacqueline Teo, Chief Digital Officer at HGC Global Communications

SDN services companies in the world, Teo adds that CloudSmartz’s culture and shared goals set it apart from any other. “If you look at the culture that we built to thrive as being digital, CloudSmartz stood out for us for two reasons: one was their thought leadership. They know the software defined space, and they knew how to lead us to that space. The second was that they understood the diversity of APRIL 2019

our customer base and are aligned to the empathy we have for our customers and customer focus of this journey.

Plus it helps that thy work at our pace.”

Teo uses the word ‘journey’ liberally, for she feels that transformation suggests a process of moving from one stage to another, whereas for HGC it is a continuous evolution to stay relevant in the fourth industrial revolution. Technology will continue to redefine the telecommunications space, and HGC has had to continue to redefine itself too. “HGC is courageous in the way it disrupts its own ways of doing business,” she says. “It takes personal courage and organisational courage to stand up and say that we are happy to disrupt who we are and we are happy to take the first steps in evolving our business today, tomorrow and beyond that.”

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Sumitomo Chemical:

INNOVATION AND DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION IN CHEMICAL MANUFACTURING WRIT TEN BY

DA LE BENTON PRODUCED BY

K RIS TOFER PA LMER

APRIL 2019

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SUMITOMO CHEMICAL

Takashi Shigemori, Senior Managing Executive Officer of IT Innovation, explores Sumitomo Chemical’s digital transformation

T

he Sumitomo Chemical Group was established in Japan in 1913 as a manufacturer of fertilisers to eliminate pollution

from copper smelting facilities and help increase crop yields. Fast forward to 2019, and the Group includes more than 100 subsidiaries and affiliates that operate in five key sectors: petrochemicals; 336

energy and functional materials; IT-related chemicals; health and crop sciences; and pharmaceuticals. Masakazu Tokura, Chairman of the Board, strives to continue to “contribute to solving problems facing the global community” through technological prowess and the trust of Sumitomo’s stakeholders.

In order to remain relevant in the increasingly digital world, Sumitomo Chemical has had to digitally transform its operations, renaming its own IT Department to IT Innovation Department in 2016 to redefine its responsibilities. One of the main aims of this rebranded department is to promote digital transformation across the entire organisation through a number of proof-of-concept (POC) projects. Overseeing the department is Takashi Shigemori, Senior Managing Executive Officer for APRIL 2019

337

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SUMITOMO CHEMICAL

338

Finance, IT Innovation, Corporate

everybody’s imagination and is

Business Development and Corporate

impacting all fields of our business,

Planning. Having worked for Sumitomo

including R&D, production, supply

Chemicals for more than 30 years,

chain, corporate administration and

Shigemori has extensive experience in

management,” he says. “Digitalisation

corporate and business planning,

allows analysis of a large sum of data,

working mostly on projects across

and so the quality of the analysis

finance, supply chain and marketing

depends on the quality and quantity of

divisions. He candidly admits that he

data, the scope of the data and the

does not profess to have a wealth of

methods in place. It qualifies the quality

experience in the technology space

of our decision making.” Despite the

but recognises the disruptive affect

recognition of the significance of data,

technology has had on the company

and in turn, digitalisation, as a project

and its customer base. “I feel that

manager Shigemori values human

technology is advancing beyond

engagement more than ever and notes

“ Digitalisation allows analysis of data… it qualifies the quality of our decisionmaking” — Takashi Shigemori Managing Executive Officer IT Innovation Dept, Sumitomo Chemical

APRIL 2019

that, while it does help identify key

training engineers and scientists with

areas of business growth, the ‘hunch’

skills in new technologies such as

and ‘insight’ based on the real business

artificial intelligence (AI) and material

activities are still needed to turn data

informatics (MI). “Our approach is

into true value.

somewhat different from others,” says

In 2019, moving from the stage of

Shigemori. “We believe that the digital

PoC to that of corporate-wide deploy-

transformation will be most efficiently

ment of the digital transformation, the

and effectively implemented by

company will establish a new depart-

researchers, engineers, marketing and

ment focused on big data utilisation as

finance staff know the real business

a means of increasing the company’s

needs and constraints and are

competitiveness in its core activities

equipped with essential AI knowledge.

such as R&D and manufacturing. This

Until a sufficient number of data

new department will take the lead on

engineers are developed and until

future digital transformation projects,

sufficient momentum is created, the

E XE CU T I VE P RO FI LE

Takashi Shigemori With a Bachelor’s degree in Liberal Arts from the University of Tokyo, Mr. Shigemori joined Sumitomo Chemical Co., Ltd. in 1983. His career centres on planning, project coordination, marketing and supply chain. He has worked in the Corporate Planning Office and Petrochemicals’ Planning & Coordination Office. Shigemori has also worked in overseas affiliates including The Polyolefin Company (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., Sumitomo Chemical Asia Pte. Ltd. (Singapore) and Rabigh Refining and Petrochemical Co. ­— Petro Rabigh (Saudi Arabia). He is currently Managing Executive Officer of Sumitomo Chemical and is a Board Member of Petro Rabigh. w w w.gi ga bi t ma ga z in e. com

339

341 two departments will play key roles to

In Japan, once momentum is created,

promote the digital transformation

the entire company will adapt and

programmes.”

move faster.” The key to creating and

Sumitomo Chemical launched its

maintaining this momentum lies in

first digital transformation programmes

communication and collaboration.

back in 2015. Shigemori is keen to

Shigemori is not the only person with

stress that although these did not

limited experience in the technologies

come early in the global digital

disrupting the business, and so the IT

conversation, in Japan they represent-

Innovation Department must be able to

ed the first initiatives in the industry. “It

break down and verbalise the true

is important that we change the

value of what technology can bring and

mindset of all members of the compa-

how each facet of the business can

ny and change its culture in order to

utilise it. “We are an enabler for

have a true impact,” he says. “We

business functions,” he says. “It’s a

believe that this is the fastest approach

huge risk to not realise the true impact

to materialising digital transformation.

of technology. The technical function w w w.gi ga bi t ma ga z in e. com

SUMITOMO CHEMICAL

“ In Japan, once momentum is created, the entire company will adapt and move faster” — Takashi Shigemori Managing Executive Officer IT Innovation Dept, Sumitomo Chemical

343 must assist and sometimes guide the

a limited talent pool and change

business with advanced digital

management. Data scientists are in

solutions, based on their contacts with

short supply across Japan and this will

the IT service providers and observa-

be a key role in the upcoming years. He

tion of the competitors’ moves. For this

points to the significance of learning

purpose and mission, close collabora-

for both the IT and business profes-

tion with the business and a deep

sional, and feels that the company’s

understanding of their practices and

global footprint will prove to be key in

needs are indispensable.”

overcoming this challenge. “Our staff

A digital transformation of any

outside of Japan, the ones who have

business is a challenge, particularly

expertise in certain areas will be

one like Sumitomo Chemical with its

required to take charge,” he says.

subsidiaries and affiliates around the

“But we also need to supplement our

world. Shigemori recognises that the

knowledge and skills by getting input

key challenges for the business will be

and help from our business partners w w w.gi ga bi t ma ga z in e. com

SUMITOMO CHEMICAL

who have global coverage. As a business we have over a hundred group companies around the world.”

Sumitomo Chemical Group has struck a number of key strategic partnerships with technology vendors to deliver solutions and training to its employees. One of the company’s long-time partners is Accenture.

“Accenture is a strategic partner and is familiar with our business practices, key elements of the business, corporate culture, management system and 344

style,” says Shigemori. “They are able to make propositions that are to the point

“ It’s a huge risk for the business functions to not realise the true impact of technology” — Takashi Shigemori Managing Executive Officer IT Innovation Dept, Sumitomo Chemical APRIL 2019

$19bn+ Approximate revenue

1913

Year founded

31,837

Approximate number of employees

345

and that work. Their guidance has

a chemical manufacturer, we play a

been essential for our journey to date.”

key role in fostering a new sustainable

Sumitomo was founded on the princ-

society. So, we need to continue to

iple of finding solutions to solving the

recognise and prepare for the advent

problems facing the global community.

of a new era where digitalisation

As that global community continues

technologies present both opportuni-

to evolve, so do the problems. “We will

ties and threats.”

need to contribute to society by providing solutions that has been developed based on our technologies,” says Shigemori. “As

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346

DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION AT APOLLO TYRES WRIT TEN BY

SE AN GA LE A-PACE PRODUCED BY

K RIS PA LMER

APRIL 2019

347

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APOLLO T YRES

LISA ZINN, GROUP HEAD OF GLOBAL IT & BUSINESS SERVICES AT APOLLO TYRES, DISCUSSES HOW HER COMPANY IS LEVERAGING NEW TECHNOLOGY IN THE MANUFACTURING SECTOR AMIDST INDUSTRY 4.0

W

ith the fourth industrial revolution redefining the way manufacturing companies operate, many firms are

embracing technology to speed up processes in a bid to stay ahead of rivals.

348

As one of the world’s leading tyre manufacturers, Apollo Tyres has begun to digitalise its offering as the firm seeks to transform its production line.

Lisa Zinn, Group Head of Global IT & Business Services, believes that due to the world constantly evolving, it has become vital that the company adapts to the latest trends. “We’re living in a world of inter-connectivity which changes the way we live, work, produce and consume,” she comments.

“Through the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), high-speed networks, open architectures and intelligent infrastructures we are witnessing an environment that intelligently communicates at a rate we have not seen since the first Industrial Revolution. As this revolution continues, it becomes increasingly critical that we are able to leverage the reliable communication and APRIL 2019

349

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APOLLO T YRES

350

“ WE’RE CONTINUOUSLY WORKING ON WAYS TO BETTER ACCESS, CONNECT AND LEVERAGE OUR DATA” — Lisa Zinn, Group Head of Global IT & Business Services

APRIL 2019

CLICK TO WATCH : ‘MANUFACTURING EXCELLENCE AT APOLLO TYRES’ 351 seamless interaction between

become more data and fact driven,”

systems to produce business

Zinn recalls. “We’ve been able to

and customer benefits, as well

predict and plan more, as well as

as cost effectiveness in the tyre

utilise our ability to scale and forecast

manufacturing industry.”

an improvement.”

In order to ensure Apollo Tyres

EMBRACING TECHNOLOGY

implements technology progressively,

Motivated by the emergence of new

Zinn believes that it’s important to

technologies, Apollo is becoming more

understand which new developments

data driven as an organisation, having

will provide the most value to the

incorporated new processes into

organisation, as opposed to introduc-

everyday use which enables the

ing the latest technology for the sake

company to better predict the future.

of it. “We have a system of prototyping

“Since I first joined in 2016, I believe the

and tooling selection which assures

way we conduct operations has

we make conscious and informed w w w.gi ga bi t ma ga z in e. com

APOLLO T YRES

$2.3bn Approximate revenue

1972

Year founded

16,500

352

Approximate number of employees

APRIL 2019

353

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Enabling Apollo Tyres to become an Intelligent Enterprise Our journey together, that began in 2002, has matured into a robust partnership spanning across various lines of businesses, multiple geographies and manufacturing locations.

SAP Suite on HANA forms the core business platform for Apollo Tyres and a key enabler for enterprise wide digital transformation. With its industry leading intelligent technologies and design thinking led approach to innovation, SAP is proud to be a trusted advisor for Apollo Tyres in their journey towards becoming an Intelligent Enterprise.

Start Building an Intelligent Enterprise with SAP today:

Redefine the end-to-end customer experience

Deliver a step change in productivity

Transform workforce engagement

Predict demand, procure the best suppliers, design and manufacture customised products and deliver personalised experiences.

Harness data-driven business processes to fuel new growth and revenue streams, adapt faster to change – and direct scarce resources where they’re needed most.

The latest technologies can give you the flexibility you need to attract, hire, contract, and retain top talent in a market that needs new skills.

For queries, please reach out to: 1-800-266-2208 | sapindiamarketing@sap.com

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E XE CU T I VE PRO FI LE

Lisa Zinn, Group Head of Global IT & Business Services Lisa is an energetic, decisive, structured and objective orientated leader who believes in strong partnering with business and IT to ensure stability and sustainability across the organisation whilst constantly striving to explore new technologies and ways of working to ensure growth, competitiveness and contribution to society as a whole. With two decades of experience across multiple industries spanning all phases of intiatives she has led individuals, teams and partners to achievement of tangible results and successful change implementation both from a process and technology point of view.

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APOLLO T YRES

356

KE Y CO N T RI BU TO R

Martijn ter Haar, Head Manufacturing Planning and Services Most of my professional life has been spent working in tyre development and manufacturing. Within Apollo have had the opportunity to develop myself across the numerous roles related to this core competence. I consider myself a blend of developer and operations manager, alongside which I consider myself to be more or less a ‘Datanaut’ in Apollo Tyres. I look forward to exploring and learning more from our data and creative ways to leverage it in a new and changing world.

APRIL 2019

choices prior to applying technology,”

mutual success is fundamental. Zinn

explains Zinn. “As an organisation

recognises the significance of

we’re continuously working on ways to

partnerships, highlighting a number of

better access, connect and leverage

key relationships on the company has

our data across the supply chain and

formed as part of its digital transfor-

manufacturing operations as well as in

mation journey. “We have a number of

our product development. This

key partners, from the Big Five to

leveraging of digital services has

smaller niche partners who we

enabled more visibility, better control

collaborate with on initiatives. We have

and overall efficiencies, and has

more recently moved towards a model

improved value throughout the supply

where we actively engage our part-

chain.”

ners, not just on individual projects but

Establishing a market leading

on longer term roadmaps to digitise as

position is a key strategic goal for

well as sustain,” she says. “We are

Apollo Tyres and Zinn reflects

working with our partners as part of

how important it is that her company

the journey and thinking process.

continues to innovate digitally in order

We have also moved towards a more

to stay ahead of its rivals.

active engagement between software

“Our greatest challenge is ensuring a

and hardware OEMs (Original Equip-

high speed of innovation whilst

ment Manufacturers) alongside

maintaining the continued operation of

implementation partners ensuring that

legacy systems. A changing business

our initiatives not only take into account

environment across the organisation

project delivery but also longer-term

has challenged us to

product roadmaps of OEMs.”

reexamine how we function and develop as a business partner.”

FUTURE PLANS In an industry as dynamic as manufac-

FORMING KEY PARTNERSHIPS

turing, it’s key that companies look to

The importance of developing and

diversify and accelerate their busi-

maintaining key partnerships with

nesses in order to remain leaders in

other companies in a bid to achieve

the field. Zinn affirms that her company w w w.gi ga bi t ma ga z in e. com

357

APOLLO T YRES

358

“ WE’RE DRIVEN BY FAMILY VALUES, A HUNGER FOR GROWTH AND A SENSE OF EMPOWERMENT IN OUR EMPLOYEES WHICH ENSURES WE MEET AND EXCEED OUR OBJECTIVES” — Lisa Zinn, Group Head of Global IT & Business Services

APRIL 2019

can’t afford to rely on previous success and must remain eager to grow in the sector.

“Apollo is a strong family brand, with good roots in India and an ever-expanding global footprint.

We’re driven by family values, a hunger for growth and a sense of empowerment in our employees which ensures we meet and exceed our objectives,” says Zinn. “It’s vital we never stand still and ensure our core is stable whilst always exploring and taking on new challenges, including geographies where we believe we can make our mark.”

Looking ahead to the future, Zinn has clear ideas on how Apollo Tyres can remain sustainable and continue to achieve success in the region and beyond. “It’s important we continue to achieve strong growth in the OEM market in Europe as well as attaining sustainable growth in Asia, the Middle East and Africa despite rising raw material prices and external threat factors,” she explains.

“In the near future, our immediate focus is on safety, people, technology and brand building. At all levels we have personal targets related to each of these regardless of where we are placed in the organisation and we all have a role to play in these focus areas to ensure our growth.”

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360

APRIL 2019

Digitising the viewing experience WRIT TEN BY

CATHERINE S TURM AN PRODUCED BY

CR AIG DANIEL S

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361

OSN

Orbit Showtime Network has undergone a significant digital transformation to cater to its diverse audience. Chief Digital Officer, Jacques Von Benecke, tells us more‌

T

he MENA region is quickly becoming recognised as one of the world’s largest TV markets. Impacted by

ongoing demands across GCC countries, the transition towards digital broadcasting is creating new opportunities on a global scale.

362

Owned and operated by Panther Media Group and registered in the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), Orbit Showtime Network (OSN) has more than 150 channels, as well as exclusive and on-demand content on offer.

OSN is at the forefront of digital innovation, where it has remained steadfast in cementing its position as a leader in the delivery of premium, world class content. Leading its digital shift is Chief Digital Officer, Jacques von Benecke, who has sought to embrace new technologies, implement new initiatives to reflect local demands, and develop longterm partnerships with major studio trailblazers such as Disney, HBO, NBC Universal, Fox, Paramount, MGM, Sony, DreamWorks APRIL 2019

363

and more. “The culture change that we have to go through is quite dramatic.

We haven’t won that battle yet, but we’re getting there a little at a time,” he says. Taking the business on its digital transformation journey, von Benecke is passionate about driving enormous change across the industry.

“Broadcasting is generally a very slow changing market which doesn’t like adopting new technologies, but the opportunity to change is really big,” he reveals. Upon being appointed in June 2017 to lead innovation initiatives and w w w.gi ga bi t ma ga z in e. com

Jibility

/dʒɪˈbɪlɪti/ noun

Possession of the skill and tool to plan and map out

Stop chasing the wrong things.

Start your free trial

Business and technology strategy roadmaps made simple.

J IBILIT Y

www.jibility.com

The tool supporting digital transformation for some of the world’s largest companies Executing digital transformation is a complex and difficult undertaking. Success lies in your ability to translate a digital vision into a plan that focuses on the right things at the right time and is easily adaptable to change.

Most organizations have a digital vision but struggle to turn it into an executable plan. They don’t know where to start, and then end up focusing on the wrong things or trying to do too much.

A digital transformation strategy roadmap is like a

J IB IL IT Y

“

The difference between mediocrity and raging success for many organizations is not down to a flawed strategy. It’s down to their ability to translate that strategy into action and then execute it.

bridge between your digital vision and implementation plan. Developing a strategy roadmap can be challenging. Some will engage external consultants to do it for them, but this can be costly. The insights then

”

leave with the consultants and what remains is tricky to maintain given the pace of digital change.

Forward-thinking companies like OSN are using a dedicated tool called Jibility to develop a substantiated digital transformation strategy roadmap that can be rapidly adapted to address changes.

Jibility is a SaaS product that encapsulates the knowledge and experience of world-class consultants in a simple six-step method with pre-defined building blocks for creating your strategy roadmaps. It allows you to truly own your roadmap and – ultimately – the successful execution of your digital vision.

Find out more about how you can use Jibility to build your digital transformation strategy roadmap Visit www.jibility.com or contact us at sales@jibility.com to request a demo.

OSN

“ It’s balancing how careful we have to be about what we broadcast. It’s the complexity of the challenge that really excites me” — Jacques Von Benecke, Chief Digital Officer, OSN

set up an overall innovation function, the first thing von Benecke sought to implement was a cloud strategy and an essential enterprise architecture.

While he admits that the business was originally reluctant to broadcast content in the cloud, as well as automating a number of internal processes, his past experience working with JourneyOne to develop effective digital transformation tool, Jibility, enabled von Benecke to utilise its methodology and onboard new technical capabilities.

366

APRIL 2019

CLICK TO WATCH : ‘COMEDY CENTRAL – OSN’ 367 “Digital transformation is not just about

enables me to have a new business

the technology and the process that

model within hours. Jibility strategy

you change, but also about changing

roadmaps is a highly visual bridge

the organisational culture. Jibility is

between our strategy vision and

a simple tool for developing a business

implementation plan that I often use

or digital strategy roadmap in a quarter

to get consensus on new costs and

of the time. The tool helped me to

the timeline – it’s just fantastic.”

effectively model our digital transformation,” he explains. “As we move

CLOUD ENABLED

along our business transforma-

Switching from on premise platform

tion things change, and normally

fashioned in-house to relocating its

changing plans can be a real

platforms in the cloud, OSN has bought

problem. Jibility’s six step process

increased responsiveness across all

and reuse library makes capabili-

its business functions. Its recent part-

ty-based planning easy, and

nership with SnapLogic will also w w w.gi ga bi t ma ga z in e. com

OSN

“ Digital transformation is not just about the technology and the process that you change, but also about changing the organisational culture” 368

— Jacques Von Benecke, Chief Digital Officer, OSN

ensure its hybrid cloud architecture is

unloyal because within two clicks they

maintained and data can remain avail-

can sign up to Netflix or Amazon. Satellite

able, while seeing the business gain

customers are loyal because it’s a pain

increased agility in responding to evo-

to change your satellite subscription,”

lving customer requirements. “If we

adds von Benecke. Gaining an acute

give customers a dire experience they

awareness of customer behaviour, age

walk away. This is the big difference

groups, and the way customers consume

between satellite customers and digital

content, OSN has sought to fully trans-

customers. Digital customers are very

form the customer experience. New

APRIL 2019

digital tools whichwill deliver increased

ers want everything now, on every

reliability, scalability and improve

device, for free. Here, we struggle with

performance across its channels, which

internet adoption and digital payments.

will filter into its aim to deliver value-

Credit cards and debit cards are not

added services at every stage. “Under-

widely used in theMiddle East where

lying technology platforms are getting

cash is still king, and people assume

more stable by moving into the cloud.

everything’s paid by credit card. It’s all

We are now focusing on how we can

about balancing that with how careful

change consumer habits and the

we have to be about what we broadcast.

customer experience when they interact

It’s the complexity of the challenge that

with our content,” he explains. “Custom-

excites me.”

EXECUTIVE PROFILE

Jacques von Benecke As Chief Digital Officer at OSN, Jacques von Benecke is the driving force behind the digital transformation agenda in the IT, Innovation, Broadcast and Business Intelligence teams at the MENA region’s leading entertainment network. Since joining OSN in 2017, von Benecke’s key objective has been adding a world– class OTT capability to OSN’s premium suite of products and services. He has been responsible for implementing OSN’s cloud strategy — moving OSN’s digital products to the cloud to ensure the broadcaster has the scalability, reliability and performance required for not only the digital future, but also to fight against piracy and to adopt dual CDN and ABR streaming that will take customer experiences in the Middle East to new levels. von Benecke is a specialist in innovation and automation, introducing blockchain, IoT and machine learning to the organisation as a part of the current digital transformation at OSN. w w w.gi ga bi t ma ga z in e. com

369

Heavily reliant on local telco infra-

where they are only starting to allow

structures across the Middle East,

cinemas back into the country. They

emerging markets such as Egypt and

have concerns regarding the type of

Jordan as well as North African emerg-

entertainment people can access, so

ing markets like Algeria and Morocco

proactively monitor this the entire time.”

present ongoing challenges, with 2G

However, such a diverse customer

networks still in operation. “Dubai, for

base has no doubt presented significant

example, is significantly advanced,

challenges, leading OSN to look towards

but in Saudi Arabia it is a very different

technology to not only drive increased

story – and the two are neighbours.

efficiencies and enable further cost

A large part of the region tries to copy

savings, but also to support its efforts

Dubai, but it depends on how wealthy

to remove content which would not

the country is and how conservative

meet the standard of each country.

the culture is,” observes von Benecke.

Partnering with Amazon, the business

“Saudi Arabia is by far the strictest,

has utilised machine learning to develop

APRIL 2019

Alexa Language Helper, which uses

tread,” he says. “By building a platform

natural language processing to

with the use of Google Machine Learning

recognise voice, turn it into text and

and GreyMata, we are doing some

enables the removal of content such as

really interesting things.”

nudity, as well as conversational topics which would prove undesirable.

AT CUSTOMERS’ FINGERTIPS

“We’re also working with GreyMeta

Overhauling both its front and back-end

regarding a product that can view our

capabilities, the introduction of a private

content and screen it for all the legal

blockchain has seen OSN utilise smart

compliance that we have to look out for.

contract technology with local content

There are a lot of complexities around

providers, enabling customers to go

what is acceptable content in each

online, register to become a content pro-

country. Some of it is legal, some of it

vider and create a smart contract on

is cultural, some of it is religious, and

Ethereum blockchain. Customers can

so it’s a very fine line that we have to

then submit content, while OSN will

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371

OSN

372

curate and scan it to ensure it is acce-

gain access to our editing suite and

ptable to distribute. “As people consume

more. We can use blockchain as

it, we essentially write records into this

a barter system.”

immutable ledger, and as the provider

Looking to advance this further, OSN

of the content, customers can see

will look to develop this as a basis for

who’s viewed the content, the time it

a rewards system. If customers buy

was viewed, how long for and on what

a family subscription, for example, a blo-

device,” states von Benecke.

ckchain will be created for the whole

“By developing our own cryptocurren-

family, providing trust and increased

cy to support this, we have disconnect-

security with regards to customer data.

ed it from a legal monetisation value,

It will also work to provide increased

which allows us certain flexibility with

transparency with partners, such as

short form content. Every time some-

Disney and HBO.

body watches, we’ll provide one coin,

“Every time somebody views our con-

whereas if long form content is provid-

tent or we air it on a live channel, we

ed, such as a movie, this is far more

have to record how many people are

valuable and we’ll maybe give custom-

viewing it to pay our licensing fees. If

ers 100 coins. This can be turned into

we use a blockchain, that data is imme-

money or credit to upgrade services,

diately there. Studios can look at the

APRIL 2019

2009

Year founded

1,000+

Approximate number of employees

373

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OSN

C O M PA N Y FACT S

• OSN partnered with JourneyOne to utilise digital transformation tool, Jibility, taking the business on its transformation journey • Heavily reliant on local telco infrastructures across the Middle East, emerging markets such as Egypt and Jordan as well as North African emerging markets present ongoing challenges 374

• Von Benecke has spearheaded OSN’s ambitions to overhaul outdated ways of working and promote cross collaboration

APRIL 2019

ledger and know where we are, so at the end of the year there’s none of this forwards and backwards negotiation about licensing numbers.”

As the industry increasingly moves away from satellite, the company is looking to TVKey from Nagra. Replacing traditional satellite boxes with a USB stick, it will cater to the growing demand for digital streaming services.

“Rather than having to battle with two or three remotes, we’ll just take over your TV and say, ‘here’s the OSN service in your TV’ or ‘here’s the Netflix content in your TV,’ and you can drive it all with one remote, or by voice, as new TVs are going to be voice activated,” adds von Benecke.

With a plethora of digital tools on the market, access to visual content anytime, anywhere, continues to fuel the need for products and services which are not only secure and robust, but increasingly diverse. Partnering with transcoding leader Bitmovin has afforded OSN the ability to make its services accessible via tablets, iPads and more, without losing any form of quality across its digital applications.

“Bitmovin take our movies, undertake all of the encoding and condense files to be as small as possible without losing quality, so it can stream even on a low internet speeds. In this region, we struggle so much with internet and mobile connection, and Bitmovin have w w w.gi ga bi t ma ga z in e. com

375

OSN

the best technology and use machine learning to find the best compression ratio. They look at each frame. If it changes a little, they apply a much higher compression ratio, and if things change a lot, they would compress that frame only a little. With this variable compression they maximise the reduction in file size, without reducing any of the quality,” he explains.

For sports content in particular, use of augmented and virtual reality technology (AR and VR) is also picking up speed at OSN. Working alongside 376

Microsoft with HoloLens to look at adopting similar tools within its sales channels, customers can experience the differences between high definition content and standard quality content.

“The platform is basically three screens which reflect the different qualities of content we have available. You can also access augmented reality through the platform, where we would see sports people that are in the match and the recent statistics for those sports people: how many wins, how many loses, etc.

It’s probably going to become much more of a reality next year, where we will work with companies that have 360-degree videos to allow customers APRIL 2019

to change the angle of what they’re viewing. Following on from things like Netflix’s Bandersnatch, where you can change the path of the movie to different endings, and thus deliver a complete personalised experience, it’s a very exciting time.”

By exploring new innovations to transform the digital experience, von Benecke has also spearheaded OSN’s ambitions to overhaul outdated ways of working and promote cross collaboration across the business. Responsible for facilities management and building management, OSN’s working spaces have been redesigned, with ‘tribes’ of people with similar skills or complementary skills bought together to drive each area of the business, leading to a number of advantages.

CONTENT VARIETY OSN remains renowned for its diverse content, its focus on the customer and its strong partnerships with leading studios. However, although it has advanced significantly by bringing experts on board to support its modernisation, the introduction of Saudisation has presented several challenges. Moving away from westernised content, the company w w w.gi ga bi t ma ga z in e. com

377

OSN

has turned its attentions towards lau-

the first (and only) company in the world

nching more Turkish and Arabic

to put the Netflix application on our sat-

content, as well as new genres and

ellite boxe – you could argue that in itself

content for women and children to

is a very big digital transformation.”

become increasingly inclusive and

Looking towards the future, OSN

cater to the needs of local citizens.

would like to personalise and localise its

“From a technology point of view,

378

recommendations to our customers.

with the adoption of 4G and 5G we are

Turning towards innovative startups

going to have a customer base that is

such as Covatic, who are “doing amazing

going to shift increasingly into digital.

things” will see the business gain the

Investing in the cloud and building new

ability to run machine learning algorithms

platforms will help us navigate this,”

on mobile devices to deliver the next

adds von Benecke. “If something inno-

level of information regarding how cust-

vative is coming out, we want to remain

omers interact with OSN’s content and

at the forefront. We have new partner-

its digital platforms while on the move.

ships with Discovery and Netflix, we’re

“Integrating this information with what

APRIL 2019

“ Jibility is a simple tool for developing a business or digital strategy roadmap in a quarter of the time” — Jacques Von Benecke, Chief Digital Officer, OSN

379

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OSN

380

“ Following Netflix’s Bandersnatch where you can deliver a complete personalised experience, it’s a very exciting time” — Jacques Von Benecke, Chief Digital Officer, OSN

APRIL 2019

customers like to watch while they are traveling between meetings or on their daily commute, we can make sure users don’t waste their precious time searching for videos to watch, we will have them pre-downloaded and ready for you,” explains von Benecke.

“We’re not afraid to compete with Netflix.

Netflix may have all the Netflix originals, but we have live, linear channels. We have real TV on our TV platforms, not just video. We cater for a much wider age range. There are a lot of people who prefer to watch the news on their particular news channel and watch it at a very specific time, rather than watch video content.

I would say that the company would like to go down that direction where we address a wider audience and provide an increasingly digital focus.

“We can now start focusing on the customer experience, on the technology and on the content. We are changing from relying on sport and western content to having a completely different content focus.

Although customers haven’t seen it, these changes have gone on and they are really going to feel the difference.”

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382

OLD MUTUAL INSURE SUSTAINABLE DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION IN AN EVOLVING MARKET WRIT TEN BY

M ARCUS L AWRENCE PRODUCED BY

M A LVERN K ANDEM WA

APRIL 2019

383

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OLD MUTUAL INSURE

384

Ashley Singh, Head of IT at Old Mutual Insure, discusses the company’s sustainable digital transformation journey in the South African market

O

ld Mutual Insure, a subsidiary of the historic Old Mutual financial services company,

is currently in the midst of an exciting period of digital transformation.

The company has been in operation for over 180 years, recently rebranding from Mutual and Federal to Old Mutual Insure, making it the oldest insurance firm in South Africa. Over that time, Old Mutual Insure has developed a laudable reputation for customer centricity and service quality which

APRIL 2019

385

are values that form the foundations

“Digital transformation is here, and

of its digital transformation journey.

as companies we need to get on board

Ashley Singh, Head of IT at Old

with it sooner rather than later,” says

Mutual Insure, spoke with Business

Singh. “It’s important to embed that

Chief about the company’s digital

in local optimisation, and we must ask

transformation journey thus far, and the

what is fit for purpose for the company,

focus on establishing lean operations

the country and the continent.” Singh

that maximise efficiency and improve

continues: “What we want to implement

the customer experience. Singh also

is a very light digital infrastructure;

highlights the process that takes the

one that enables us to be quite nimble,

local economy and digital infrastructure

yet also flexible enough for customers

into account at every stage, ensuring

and industry businesses to do business

a responsible and sustainable approach.

with us. We try to be very light from w w w.gi ga bi t ma ga z in e. com

OLD MUTUAL INSURE

“ Erum ut ulpa volorerios alibus “ E verything repudae autthat we do asincipsum a business is quam quam dolupta focused on enabling non pa seq uatest, a smoother and faster nectate customer journey” minullandiae con — sit volorpo es Ashley Singh, risquid Head of IT at Old Ma Mutual Insure autatiumqui illoreni cus aut” 386

— Name of Person, Position and company

APRIL 2019

CLICK TO WATCH : ‘MUTUAL & FEDERAL PROUDLY BECOMES OLD MUTUAL INSURE’ 387 a digital structural footprint perspective

as operational costs are brought down.

to enable nimbleness when engaging

“Everything we do as a business

with our customer and business partners.”

is focused on enabling a smoother

Singh identifies speed to market as one of the biggest drivers behind

and faster customer journey.”

A significant part of establishing

the industry-wide transition to digital

the digital-driven approach to improving

processes, meeting the expectations

the customer experience is in the

of consumers who appreciate the

establishment of a modern operational

immediacy with which they can leverage

culture. Prior to becoming Head of IT,

new products, services, and solutions

Singh served Old Mutual Insure

that is afforded by disruptive technologies.

as the Head of Development and

“The second most significant factor

was instrumental in introducing Agile

is reducing costs where possible,”

methodologies to the organisation,

Singh says, and indeed leaner opera-

laying the foundations for a measured

tions ultimately benefit the customer

and precise digital transformation w w w.gi ga bi t ma ga z in e. com

OLD MUTUAL INSURE

strategy. “A lot of what the work as

capability back into the arm, as well

Head of Development entailed was

as digital delivery, which was missing

in setting up processes, establishing

beforehand.” The advent of Old Mutual

Agile within the organisation.” Singh’s

Insure’s modernised operations,

influence has continued from there,

particularly with Agile and DevOps

with a pivotal role across myriad stages

methodologies in play, have been

of the journey. “I thereafter became

particularly impactful to the time

the Head of Solution Delivery, estab-

to market of the company’s products,

lishing the firm’s business analysis

services, and solutions, as well as the

processes, the systems analysis, the

establishment of digital technologies

testing capability and the integration

at the firm.

388

“ What we want to implement is a very light digital infrastructure, one that enables us to be quite nimble” — Ashley Singh, Head of IT at Old Mutual Insure

APRIL 2019

Looking forward, Old Mutual Insure

handled responsibly and securely.

is maintaining its measured approach

The level of care applied to cybersecurity

to adoption of disruptive technologies

practices extends to every consideration

whilst assessing the benefits and

of disruptive technologies, particularly

suitability of a wide range of exciting

in terms of corporate responsibility

new options. Cybersecurity is naturally

and awareness of the appropriacy

at the forefront of considerations

of installing particular solutions and

for any firm handling sensitive data,

innovative ideas within the context

and Old Mutual Insure has established

of South African infrastructure.

a potent array of security-focused solutions to ensure such data is

“Another major trend is the Internet of Things,� Singh notes. “With regards

389

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OLD MUTUAL INSURE

390

APRIL 2019

HQ

Johannesburg, South Africa

1831

Year founded

2010

Became wholly-owned subsidiary of the Old Mutual Group

w w w.gi ga bi t ma ga z in e. com

391

OLD MUTUAL INSURE

Marsh is proud to be a core partner of Old Mutual Insurance across Africa

MARSH AFRICA www.marsh.com | +27 11 060 7100 An authorised financial services provider | FSP: 8414

APRIL 2019

“ As much as IoT is growing and blowing up overseas and in Europe, we have to manage that with a level of caution in South Africa”

393

— Ashley Singh, Head of IT at Old Mutual Insure

to the Internet of Things, as much

still have an environment where there

as it’s growing and blowing up over-

is limited signal. There are portions

seas and in Europe, we have to manage

of the country that do not have data

that with a level of caution in South

coverage. That is a big consideration.”

Africa. The reason being is that the

This challenge consequentially impacts

cost of data is quite high. As much

the immediate viability of introducing

as the Internet of Things can enable

artificial intelligence and machine

many new offerings that take the

learning software that rely on a strong

business forward, we have to find

data backbone to operate effectively.

suitability for people in South Africa

Old Mutual Insure is nonetheless

and the African continent because of

working to find a solution to this

the cost of data and the fact that we

challenge, leveraging the streamlining w w w.gi ga bi t ma ga z in e. com

OLD MUTUAL INSURE

“ In rebranding from Mutual and Federal to Old Mutual Insure, we have created much more synergy with the larger group” — Ashley Singh, Head of IT at Old Mutual Insure

capabilities that such technologies offer to drive efficiency and positively 394

impact the consumer experience.

This focus on sustainable operations is at the heart of Old Mutual Insure’s digital transformation journey, and Singh ensures his finger remains firmly on the pulse with the latest sustainability trends and practices of business leaders around the world. “To remain sustainable, we keep our ear to the ground in terms of what the leaders are doing, what Gartner and other research authorities mention that is moving companies towards the Magic Quadrants. We study what’s taking place abroad, and marry that with local relevance before coming up with a solution that’s fit for purpose,” APRIL 2019

Singh adds: “Anything that we implement, be it an application or actual infrastructure, we ensure that it’s fit for the business purpose. We tie it back to solid business, or solid investment that maximises return on the investment.”

Old Mutual Insure is certainly well positioned to continually capitalise on the benefits that disruptive technologies bring, and its modern, sustainable approach offers a model for success achieved in the right way. “I think Old Mutual Insure is on an exciting journey,” Singh says. “In rebranding from Mutual and Federal to Old Mutual Insure, we have created much more synergy with the larger Group, and it also helps us reposition for success. From an IT perspective, we are looking at our entire application staff in terms of what legacy applications we have. How can we modernise operations? We’re looking closely at each of our processes, and I think that in the end the business will have a significantly more competitive advantage in the market.”

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Alizz Islamic Bank’s dynamic approach to digital risk

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WRIT TEN BY

HARRY MENE AR PRODUCED BY

MOHA MMED HASHEM

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ALIZZ ISLAMIC BANK

Venkatesh Kallur, Chief Risk Officer at Alizz Islamic Bank, talks digital risks and opportunities, Islamic finance, and managing change in an evolving world

W

ith over three-and-a-half decades of banking experience across three continents, six countries and in multiple

languages, Venkatesh Kallur, Chief Risk Officer (CRO) at Alizz Islamic Bank has seen the nature of the industry transformed by the rise of digital 398

banking. “I still recall back in the mid-90s in Toronto, when I had to transfer $1,000 from Canada to my parents in India. It used to take about 15 days and I had to follow up with my bank at least half a dozen times,” Kallur remembers. “Today, I sit in my bedroom, open my tablet or smartphone, trigger a transaction and tomorrow morning the money is in an account on the other side of the world.”

Kallur has watched the advent of online and mobile banking revolutionise financial exchange on a global scale, but at the same time he has borne witness to the proliferation of new challenges and digital risks. From North American financial institutions like American Express and the Bank of Montreal, Kallur has moved to the world of Islamic banking, arriving at Alizz Islamic Bank in August 2017. “One of my biggest strengths has been my APRIL 2019

399

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ALIZZ ISLAMIC BANK

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ability to adapt to new cultures, new

Islamic finance and the ways in which

languages and new environments,” he

institutions like Alizz Islamic Bank can

explains. “All along I’ve tried to keep an

manage change in an ever-changing

open mind and focused on how best to

world.

collaborate with different people.” This

Founded in 2013, the Alizz Islamic

adaptability has served Kallur well

Bank provides Islamic banking

throughout a career in an industry that

services in the Sultanate of Oman. In

has moved from bricks, mortar and

contrast to traditional banking, Islamic

paper records to mobile banking, data

finance – in accordance with Sharia

analytics and the cloud in a few short

law – prohibits the charging of interest,

decades. We sit down with Kallur to

also forbidding loans to a business or

explore the threats and opportunities

customer operating in violation of

across the changing face of banking,

Sharia law (for example, businesses

the nature of risk management in

selling alcohol). Instead of collecting

APRIL 2019

CLICK TO WATCH : ‘THE NEW INTERNET BANKING PLATFORM FROM ALIZZ ISLAMIC BANK’ 401

interest, Islamic lenders generate

Islamic bank, there’s the risk of Sharia

revenue from a portion of the custom-

non-compliance. If a product or a

er’s profits while also sharing in any

contract we commit to is not Sharia

losses. “The principal means of Islamic

compliant, then that whole source of

finance are based on trading, and it is

income is quarantined.” In addition to

essential that risk be involved in any

adapting to a new form of banking,

mercantile activity, so banks and

Kallur is constantly working to identify

financial institutions will trade in

and assess the risks that advances in

Sharia-compliant investments with the

digital banking may pose to Alizz.

money deposited by customers,

“With the evolution of technology,

sharing the risks and the profits

CROs are faced with increasingly

between them,” explains Kallur, who

dynamic challenges. Risk management

notes that Islamic Banking therefore

functions will have to reinvent them-

has to be more risk averse. “In an

selves and become enablers and w w w.gi ga bi t ma ga z in e. com

ALIZZ ISLAMIC BANK

drivers of digital transformation. How banks navigate the risks and opportunities presented by technological innovations will dictate their ability to thrive,” says Kallur. He continues, noting that emerging digital risks also go hand-in-hand with increased competition: “Broader geopolitical, social and environmental concerns are looming larger, as regulatory fragmentation continues and competition intensifies. Fintechs and major technology companies seek traction in profitable parts of financial services, while banks’ strategic options to deliver

402

11% to 15% return on investment narrow.” He also notes that cybersecurity – protecting information as well as capital – has become top of mind for banks, due the ‘phenomenally’ increased risk created by increased digitization of operations and records.

“In the ‘good old days’ we used to take a big black book, sit down and make various entries. You can’t hack into that.

Now, in addition to other operational risks, information and cybersecurity risks have emerged into their own threat category.” In order to maintain security, Alizz utilises the ‘three lines of defence’ model: business units, APRIL 2019

“ One of my biggest strengths has been my ability to adapt to new cultures, new languages and new environments” — Venkatesh Kallur CRO, Alizz Islamic Bank

referring to “relationship managers who are managing the risks with their customers”; risk management, Kallur’s purview, which involves harnessing behavioral, predictive and scenariobased analytics; and internal audits, which ensure compliance frameworks and internal controls are appropriate.

One emerging technology occupying a great deal of conversational real estate in the banking space is the adoption of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology. Kallur acknowledges that “cryptocurrencies can help 403

E XE CU T I VE PRO FI LE

Venkatesh Kallur Venkatesh is a Senior Risk Management executive and international banker spanning over three decades of experience from three continents and in several regulatory regimes. Seasoned enterprise risk management executive with strong foothold in Credit, Market, Information Security and Operational Risk along with Enterprise Risk Management & Risk Architecture. Keynote Speaker and a vivid writer on various Risk subject areas in International Risk Forums, a “C-Suite” leadership coach and mentor with accomplished experience across Banking, and Financial Services. Brings to the table a high degree of emotional maturity and business intelligence.

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“ With the evolution of technology, CROs are faced with more dynamic challenges”

movers – need to be protected.”

While CROs like Kallur have less than bullish attitudes to emergent technologies like blockchain, he maintains that the adoption of technology to better process data is at the heart of Alizz Bank’s digital transformation strategy.

“With respect to banking in the Middle East, whichever bank that you look at in the region has data quality issues. To me, data is information, information is power, and that’s where we should be

— Venkatesh Kallur CRO, Alizz Islamic Bank

focusing.” Since starting at Alizz, Kallur

multinational banks transfer money

Underwriting Strategies through Risk

instead of moving the physical tender”.

Appetite Framework and Target

However, he maintains the skepticism

Market and Risk Acceptance criteria,

of a risk-assessment veteran. “Crypto-

along with required analytics, which

currencies might give a little bit of

provide a 360-degree view of risks at

operational ease, but they come with

enterprise level, as well as mapping the

their own risks. At this point in time, for

skillset, bandwidth and the needs of

example, cryptos are intangible, illiquid

the company through a monthly CRO

and, to a large extent, uninsured. That

dashboard.”

can lead to extortion and manipulation,”

has brought in several enhancements in Policy Framework and Credit

Looking to the future, Kallur says:

Kallur says, “Don’t get me wrong, I

“Information technology, information

understand the potential, but there is

security and digital banking – be it on

more to do before it can be universal-

mobile phones, computers or tablets

ised. It needs to be adoptable, depend-

– all need to be considered.” He agrees

able; regular investors –not just the fast

that the introduction of new technolow w w.gi ga bi t ma ga z in e. com

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ALIZZ ISLAMIC BANK

“ To me, data is information, information is power, and that’s where we should be focusing” 406

— Venkatesh Kallur CRO, Alizz Islamic Bank

APRIL 2019

$1.47bn Approximate revenue

2012

Year founded

300

Approximate number of employees 407

gies to any sector results in a shift in

overlap, single-change processes are

the culture of the organisation, but

interrupted, modified or restarted

maintains that Alizz is more than

and the organisation thus finds itself in

equipped to manage change. “Neither

a continuous process of change, if not

change management nor digitalisation

handled right, thus causing a potential

are new phenomena,” he says.

operational risk.” Kallur concludes by

“However, the variety of technical

noting that, Digital banking is the future.

changes, possibilities and innovations

Risk officers have to be prepared. We

is new, as well as demand for extremely

don’t take blind risks, but calculated

high implementation speed and

ones with a business collaborative

their extensive spillover effects for the

approach (risk vs. reward). That’s the

entire organisation.

nature of my role.”

“This combination has the consequences that various change processes w w w.gi ga bi t ma ga z in e. com

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