Technology Magazine – June 2020

INNOVATION IN HYPERSCALE DATA CENTRES

JUNE 2020

www.technologymagazine.com

Cybersecurity and the digital enterprise

IBM’S BLUEPRINT FOR A DATA-DRIVEN ENTERPRISE Listen to this feature on our Podcast

Inderpal Bhandari, IBM’s Global Chief Data Officer, on data and cognitive transformation strategies

Technology consultancies

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WELCOME

W

elcome to the June issue of

explains how digital transformation

Technology magazine!

in the energy sector is enabling next-

In this month’s cover feature, we talk

generation services for customers.

to Inderpal Bhandari of IBM. As Global

Navigating the digital era can be a

Chief Data Officer, Bhandari informs us

challenge for companies large, small and

about data and cognitive transforma-

anywhere in between. Hence why our

tion strategies, as well as the role of the

Top 10 examines some of the world’s

Chief Data Officer in enabling a data-

best consultancies and the digital trans-

driven enterprise.

formation assistance they can provide.

Bhandari is clear about the compe-

Don’t forget to read our other fea-

tencies the job necessitates: “To be a

ture interviews with Bupa Australia &

good Chief Data Officer is a true craft;

New Zealand, the Army National

when I walk into an organisation

Guard, Siemens, Tech Mahindra and

I immerse myself in the business

many more.

strategy and the detailed end-to-end business processes to know exactly

Do you have a story to tell? If you would

what I’m going to implement, the

like to be featured in an upcoming issue

strategy behind it, measure how well

of Technology magazine, get in touch

it’s going to unfold and the milestones

at william.smith@bizclikmedia.com

to be hit.”

We also hear from Philip Clayson, CIO at SSE Energy Services, who

Enjoy the issue!

William Smith

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03

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05

PUBLISHED BY

PRODUCTION DIRECTORS

PROJECT DIRECTORS

Georgia Allen Daniela Kianicková

Mike Sadr Kristofer Palmer Jake Megeary Lewis Vaughan James Berry Craig Killingback Stuart Irving Scott George

PRODUCTION MANAGER

Owen Martin EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

DIGITAL VIDEO DIRECTOR

William Smith

Joshua S. Peck

EDITORIAL DIRECTOR

DIGITAL VIDEO PRODUCERS

Matt High CREATIVE DIRECTOR

Kieran Waite Sam Kemp

Steve Shipley

MARKETING DIRECTOR

CREATIVE TEAM

Oscar Hathaway Erin Hancox Sophia Forte Sophie-Ann Pinnell

Leigh Manning DIGITAL MARKETING MANAGER

Shirin Sadr DIGITAL MARKETING EXECUTIVE

Kayleigh Shooter

DIGITAL MEDIA DIRECTOR

Jason Westgate OPERATIONS DIRECTOR

Alex Barron PRESIDENT & CEO

Glen White

CONTENTS

42

Next generation security for the digital era

12 SSE Energy Services: Digital transformation to deliver next-gen services at pace

56

How cloud procurement platforms are transforming enterprise

66

The RPA revolution

26 IBM’s Blueprint for a data-driven enterprise

82

Technology consultancies

106

US Army National Guard

120

PPI Benefits

156

Chayora

174 138

Northwell Health

Tech Mahindra

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Ericsson.

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With automated provisioning and insight-driven service assurance, Ericsson Dynamic Orchestration simplifies operations, moving you closer to the zero-touch experience.

This means greater savings and shorter time to market.

188

DXB Entertainments

230

Bupa Australia and New Zealand

206

Telstra Purple

244

Imvelo Pty Ltd

260

La Trobe University

276

Commonwealth Ombudsman

304

BEC Group

288

Australia Post

316

Dentsu Aegis Network Asia Pacific

330

Siemens

346

SOLiD, Inc.

360

tiket.com

372

Varian Medical Systems

386

Acumentis

400

Rohit Darodkar

12

SSE Energy Services: Digital transformation to deliver next-gen services at pace WRITTEN BY

WILL GIRLING PRODUCED BY

LEWIS VAUGHAN

JUNE 2020

13

w w w.te c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

SSE ENERGY SERVICES

Philip Clayson, CIO, explains how SSE Energy Services’ transformation is leading to a digital revolution that will benefit customers directly

S

SE Energy Services has distinguished itself in the energy industry via its pioneering attitude, which saw bold

investments in core services, home repair services, broadband, and has one of the highest customer satisfaction ratings in the sector, where strong, 14

customer-centric business ethics ensure the company’s competitiveness in the market.

In 2019, Bristol-based energy supplier OVO Energy acquired SSE Energy Services, a move which accelerated OVO’s ‘Plan Zero’ sustainability strategy to tackle the most important issue of our time; the climate crisis, by bringing customers with us on the journey towards zero carbon living. OVO Energy has committed to being a net zero carbon business and achieve bold science-based carbon reduction targets by 2030, while helping members halve their carbon footprint at the same time.

The acquisition was significant, states Philip Clayson, Chief Information Officer, because with new ownership came an entirely different and exciting way of operating. Clayson’s expertise and skill in his field is apparent from an impressive career, JUNE 2020

1998

Year founded

9,000 Number of employees

15

Carbon neutral agenda CLICK TO WATCH

|

1:21

w w w.te c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

SSE ENERGY SERVICES

COVID19 Impact on AI CLICK TO WATCH

|

2:05

16 including executive-level positions with

that the two companies have a history

some of the largest UK and international

that reaches back to 2004, a relation-

brands. One thing that has character-

ship which has continued to develop

ised his approach in each role has been

ever since. “In 2019, we were selected

fast-paced, visionary leadership: “I’m

by SSE Energy Services as one of its

not a steady-state CIO; I’m a transfor-

partners for a digital implementation

mational CIO. It’s what I do.” Recognised

project with Pegasystems,” Khergamkar

as ‘Transformation Leader of the Year’

explains. Infosys provided DevOps and

at the 2019 Tech Leaders Awards and

security monitoring services for SSE

also a finalist for ‘CIO of the Year’, it is

Energy Services’ collaboration with

with this inspiring attitude that Clayson

Pega, a telco helping to transform the

has been spearheading the company’s

company’s customer service experi-

digital evolution since mid-2019.

ence. “As I look at the partnership

Chirag Khergamkar, Client Partner to SSE Energy Services at Infosys, says JUNE 2020

today, it is about being closer and more strategic to SSE Energy Services

by jointly exploring where we can make a big difference.”

Whilst the objective of digital transformation is relatively commonplace

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

Philip Clayson Title: CIO Location: London, UK

in contemporary enterprise strategy, Clayson highlights that the OVO acquisition has given SSE Energy Services an edge that few of its competitors share. ““OVO is another magnitude of speed: it’s an incredibly agile, nimble business”, and Clayson’s fresh attitude compliments what both companies already share: a dedication to best-inclass services, high-quality customer

Phliip Clayson is an award winning transformational CIO, passionate about inspiring technology teams to engage with pace to create, implement and operationalise transformational strategy, in business critical, time and cost sensitive environments. Having delivered all aspects of technology transformation from growth and investment planning, M&A (acquiring, divesting, on both buy and sell side) and completed international product and service launches as well as rationalisation and recovery turnarounds, Philip has delivered transformation in both startups and where legacy technology underpins an existing business. Philip has operated across pre-IPO, VC and PE funded, private and public organisations and across sectors including Telco, Energy, Utilities, Broadcast and Media, in both B2C and B2B. w w w.te c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

17

BECOME A SELF-HEALING, SUSTAINABLE AND ADAPTING LIVE ENTERPRISE Experience

that is Omni channel and personalized across stakeholders

Insight

leverages advanced data analytics around Customer, Grid and Operations

Innovate

with Artificial Intelligence and machine learning to transform Work, Workforce and Workplace

Accelerate

through DevOps and Agile adoption to implement business-critical projects in a smooth and expedited manner

Assure

Adv

by safeguarding the digital utility and protecting customer data with cybersecurity policies

On the one hand, your utilities enterprise needs to maintain a smart grid network that provides reliable service. On the other, your consumers expect clean energy, customized service and cost-effective tariff plans.

Technology enables a utility to reinvent itself to be a Live Enterprise – learning, adapting, healing, and growing smarter in real-time.

You need to strike a balance by navigating business challenges and opportunities by harnessing digital technologies to ‘Navigate the Future of Energy’.

The journey to digital has so many nexts.

Navigate your next with Infosys. www.infosys.com/industries/utilities #Navigatethefutureofenergy

3 decades of experience in IT Modernization, Transformation and Support 23+ years of global Utilities experience Work with 6 out of the Top 10 UK and European Utilities Utility Market leaders in Smart IT Services, Customer Experience and Digital Transformation Ranked #3 in Forbes Best Regarded Global companies list for 2019

Infosys is a global leader in next-generation digital services and consulting. We enable clients in 46 countries to navigate their digital transformation. With over three decades of experience in managing the systems and workings of global enterprises, we expertly steer our clients through their digital journey. We do it by enabling the enterprise with an AI-powered core that helps prioritize the execution of change. We also empower the business with agile digital at scale to deliver unprecedented levels of performance and customer delight. Our always-on learning agenda drives their continuous improvement through building and transferring digital skills, expertise, and ideas from our innovation ecosystem.

Infosys Utilities practice has been partnering with Utilities across the globe for over two decades, modernizing and transforming Utilities ability to meet and exceed the evolving needs of a customer while being ever resilient. The opportunity before a Utility today is to transform into a responsive enterprise–soaking up a real time data, analyzing it and publishing actionable insights to the right decision-makers.

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Technology will play a pivotal role in accelerating the digital evolution of a traditional Utility.

Infosys helps water, gas and power utilities adopt digital technology with its two pronged strategy: Industrialize for Efficiency, Agility, Safety & Resilience Digitize for newer business models with Customer, Grid and Workforce Our offerings for the Utilities industry are based on a few fundamental questions:  How are Utilities deriving better analytics and insights around Customer, Grid and Workforce for planning, and operations?  How can Utilities achieve Omni-channel and personalized experience across stakeholders?  Are Utilities leveraging newer business models and advanced technologies to transform Work, Workforce and Workplace?

 How are Utilities accelerating adoption of ERP, and other business critical systems with Cloud and Automation?  How can Utilities make IT/OT systems and operations more efficient, resilient and secure?

It all eventually translates to leveraging the convergence of information and operational technologies. Real-time data integration facilitates advanced analytics – from predictive maintenance of legacy infrastructure to predictive modeling for load management.

Technology enables a utility to reinvent itself to be a Live Enterprise–learning, adapting, healing, and growing smarter in real-time.

You need to strike a balance by navigating business challenges and opportunities by harnessing digital technologies to ‘Navigate the Future of Energy’

Visit www.infosys.com to see how Infosys can help your enterprise navigate your next.

Contact: askus@infosys.com

© 2020 Infosys Limited, Bengaluru, India.

SSE ENERGY SERVICES

“ Being part of the OVO family is another magnitude of speed: it’s an incredibly agile, nimble business” — Philip Clayson, CIO, SSE Energy Services

20

service and outstanding products.

data journey, combining the insights

Additionally, recognising that cus-

of multiple departments and teams to

tomer preferences for digital journeys

discover the best method of leveraging

have increased in recent years, the

enterprise data and unlocking its value.

expansion of self-service capabili-

This accelerated R&D capability will

ties for apps and websites has been a

see it build on current success within

central focus for SSE Energy Services.

the smart home and smart utility sec-

With downloads of the ‘My SSE’ app

tor. These are concepts being explored

gaining speed and very positive con-

by the company as it seeks to deliver

sumer reviews (currently 4.6/5 on the

savings, efficiency and a next-gen expe-

app store), Clayson is confident that

rience to its customers. “There are big

the appropriate level of developmental

investments coming into electric vehi-

pace is being set. Simultaneously, the

cles: charging points on the streets and

company has embarked on a digital

much more engagement with all sorts

JUNE 2020

Digital Transformation CLICK TO WATCH

|

1:35

21

of home-related energy-saving devices,”

contributor to the grid rather than simply

informs Clayson. “It will include joining

a user of the grid.”

up the ecosystem including solar panels,

Focusing on the future of the indus-

ground pumps and more. It’s a cohesive

try calls into question the concept of

carbon reduction agenda; the smart

the ‘new normal’ - how workplaces

meter is just the beginning.” Distributed

will operate post-COVID-19 - and how

energy management, in particular,

SSE Energy Services will adapt to the

holds very exciting possibilities: a future

challenges therein. When the business

where all electrical appliances are con-

community collectively realised that

nected to the grid to maximise energy

prior paradigms for working had to be

efficiency by eliminating excess and

discarded in order to ensure continu-

channelling power to where it is most

ity, Clayson states that the creativity

needed. Clayson confirms “The technol-

afforded to the IT sector was refreshing

ogy exists to make every household a

and invigorating. “The amount of remote w w w.te c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

SSE ENERGY SERVICES

“ Being a proper partner means blurring the line between one organisation and another. Infosys is exceptional at providing this next level cooperation” — Philip Clayson, CIO, SSE Energy Services

22

JUNE 2020

working we now do and our usage of video conferencing technology has been a massive change.” Customercentricity is, of course, something that will not change for SSE Energy Services, whatever the business landscape shapes up to be. When asked what he considers to be the company’s greatest accomplishment, Clayson has no hesitation in identifying SSE Energy Services’ enduring acclaim amongst its customers. An appreciation which is unquestionably reciprocated, SSE Energy Services has been able to give back to its customers via OVO’s £50mn Coronavirus Hardship Scheme – an initiative to help members who’ve been impacted by COVID-19 the most.

The digital future looks positive for SSE Energy Services. With the company’s agility and innovative, forward-thinking approach augmented by the latest digital tech, SSE Energy Services looks set to deliver solutions to customers at a new, unprecedented pace. “I like pace: people understand it.

Delivering at pace is what it’s all about.

w w w.te c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

23

Subscribe to the Technology Podcast

D I G I TA L T R A N S F O R M AT I O N

26

JUNE 2020

IBM’S BLUEPRINT FOR A DATA-DRIVEN ENTERPRISE WRITTEN BY

MATT HIGH PRODUCED BY

GLEN WHITE

w w w.te c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

27

D I G I TA L T R A N S F O R M AT I O N

Inderpal Bhandari, IBM’s Global Chief Data Officer, discusses data and cognitive transformation strategies and the role of the Chief Data Officer

“ T

o be a good Chief Data Officer is a true craft; when I walk into an organisation I immerse myself in the business strategy

and the detailed end-to-end business processes to know exactly what I’m going to implement, the strategy behind it, measure how well it’s going to unfold and the milestones to be hit,” says Inderpal 28

Bhandari, IBM’s Global Chief Data Officer. With more than 20 years of experience transforming industry-leading organisations, Bhandari has defined the scope, expectations, and deliverables of the modern Chief Data Officer role. Indeed, it wouldn’t be unreasonable to suggest he is the Chief Data Officer.

Bhandari is a recognised expert in transforming data into business value. He improves customer experiences by delivering strategic and innovative capabilities that use data-driven insights to enable growth and streamline productivity. Most recently, he has been doing so at IBM. Bhandari joined the global tech leader in December 2015 to lead IBM’s data strategy and to drive its internal data and artificial intelligence (AI) transformation. This work,

JUNE 2020

29

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D I G I TA L T R A N S F O R M AT I O N

“ Our aim was to transform IBM into a data and AI enterprise”

30

His experience and an intimate knowledge of what an effective Chief Data Officer can deliver took shape in the trenches of corporate America where data was becoming the new natural resource. “I became the very

— Inderpal Bhandari, Global Chief Data Officer, IBM

first CDO in the healthcare industry in

which Bhandari joined us to discuss

on in the profession – at that point

in more detail, has culminated in the

there were four of us globally. Today

company’s Data and AI Enterprise

the role has expanded massively with

Blueprint – a roadmap for IBM clients

thousands of CDOs, Chief Analytics

to use when embarking on their own

Officers and Chief Digital Officers,

data and AI journeys.

and I’ve been fortunate to have been

2006, and was an entrepreneur in data products before that. It was very early

at the forefront from the very beginning, learning, and understanding the profession.

“Data is a hugely valuable asset and so the importance of the role has transformed within enterprises,” he continues. “My experiences enabled me to contribute to multiple

JUNE 2020

IBM: Artificial intelligence in business process CLICK TO WATCH

|

1:43

31 organisations while honing the craft

to the cloud – cloud computing has

of using data and technology to fuel

been a major game changer at the

the powerful and complex transforma-

industry level,” he states, expanding

tions that enterprises are undergoing.”

on the technology evolution that has shaped today’s landscape. “And with

TECHNOLOGY AND TRANSFORMATION: DRIVING CHANGE

that came a heightened focus on

Understandably, during his career

which remain core areas for any CDO.

Bhandari has been at the forefront

Once the resources become available

of technological innovation. He has

through cloud or, more recently, hybrid

also seen data evolve to become a

cloud, AI and many of the devices

crucial success factor for the mod-

at the ‘edge’ can and will come into

ern enterprise.

play, such as robotic technology, the

“The rapid change we’re seeing today really started with the journey

cybersecurity, data privacy and ethics,

Internet of Things (IoT), and autonomous vehicles.” w w w.te c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

D I G I TA L T R A N S F O R M AT I O N

32

The ability to keep ‘building’ on

terms of transforming their businesses.

the hybrid cloud, says Bhandari, will

Leaders and organisations all over the

accelerate the adoption of AI as part

world have come to realise that it’s not

of enterprise transformation. Other

a question of ‘should we do it’, but a

important technologies that will be

question of ‘when do we do it’. If you

adopted include 5G and blockchain,

don’t, you’ll very quickly be irrelevant.”

which he says has the potential to “It’s a rapidly changing industry. But

IBM: THE CDO’S BLUEPRINT FOR CHANGE

with that, comes an acute awareness

When Bhandari joined IBM five years

and willingness on the part of the

ago, his role was specifically created

c-suite and enterprises to gain a much

to facilitate the mission of transform-

greater understanding of what these

ing IBM into a Data and AI enterprise.

trends and technologies can do in

He built a transformation strategy

transform data and data ownership.

JUNE 2020

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

Inderpal Bhandari Title: Global Chief Data Officer Company: IBM Corporation Industry: Information Technology & Services

Location: New York

Inderpal Bhandari rejoined IBM as Global Chief Data Officer in December 2015.

In this newly created role, he has leveraged his extensive experience to lead the development of IBM’s data strategy and drive IBM’s internal data and AI enterprise transformation. The work has culminated in the Data and AI Enterprise Blueprint; a roadmap for IBM’s clients on their own transformation journeys.

Inderpal brings to IBM more than 20 years of experience in leadership roles at such leading companies as Cambia Health Solutions and Express Scripts/Medco Health Solutions. Prior to joining IBM, Inderpal served as Senior Vice President and Chief Data Officer of Cambia Health Solutions where he led the development of Cambia’s data strategy and drove the transformation of the company’s consumer experience strategies. Prior to that, Inderpal served as Vice President

of knowledge solutions and Chief Data Officer at Express Scripts/Medco Health Solutions, where he was responsible for maximizing the utility of the company’s data and its readiness to respond to emerging market trends. Before that, he founded Virtual Gold, growing the company into an international market leader for analytics in call centers and professional sports. Inderpal is an expert in transforming data into business value and improved customer experiences by delivering strategic, innovative capabilities that use analytic insights to enable growth and productivity. In 2017, he was named U.S. Chief Data Officer of the Year by the CDO Club, and has been featured as an industry expert by Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, US News & World Report, CNN and FOX. Inderpal earned his Master of Science Degree in Electrical & Computer Engineering from the University of Massachusetts and holds a PhD in Electrical & Computer Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University. w w w.te c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

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D I G I TA L T R A N S F O R M AT I O N

IBM: Data strategy CLICK TO WATCH

|

2:17

34

roadmap based on three steps:

the company is going to make money,

develop a clear data strategy; execute

maximise business impact, and delight

enterprise-wide data governance and

customers,” he explains. “In IBM’s case

management systems; and become the

it was clear that we were going to make

central data and AI framework for the

money primarily from best-in-class AI

IBM enterprise.

and hybrid multi-cloud offerings. But

The first is crucial for any enterprise

it wasn’t clear what AI meant for an

embarking on such a journey and starts

enterprise or how to go about it. Thus

with one straightforward question:

we thought why not make IBM itself into

what is your company’s monetisation

an AI enterprise and use it as a show-

strategy? This is, says Bhandari, key to

case for our clients.” Bhandari created

a successful data strategy. “Any data

a dedicated team that consists of

strategy has to be tied to the business

world-class data and AI specialists who

strategy, and that revolves around how

collaborate across the entire business.

JUNE 2020

“ To be a good Chief Data Officer is a true craft” — Inderpal Bhandari, Global Chief Data Officer, IBM

IBM’s Data and AI Blueprint encompasses technology, organisational considerations, data, and business process transformation. For example, cognitive services give the ability to see and contextualise across all data as well as infuse insights into the work-

Next, the focus rested on consolidat-

flow of business processes. Hybrid

ing critical enterprise data and making

cloud solutions encompassing public

it available as a service. Rapid inte-

cloud, private cloud and on-premise

gration of critical data into a single,

environments, provide enterprise cloud

consolidated data platform can bring

container support while implementing

unprecedented connection and is

and enforcing security standards

the moment, Bhandari says, where a

and privacy policies. Further, the

data strategy ‘really comes alive.’ He

convergence and curation of data that

adds that a unified data platform is the

would have previously been siloed and

fundamental enabler of advanced AI

fragmented across an organisation,

solutions in an organisation, and brings

to create a reliable and trusted source

new business capabilities, drives effi-

that AI systems can build upon.

ciency and top-line improvement.

“Our aim was to transform IBM into a Data and AI enterprise,” he notes.

According to Bhandari, AI systems – all of which are underpinned by data – have four main attributes: they learn from data, they support forms of expression more natural for human interaction, their primary value is their expertise, and their learning evolves continuously as they encounter new information or scenarios. w w w.te c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

35

D I G I TA L T R A N S F O R M AT I O N

“ Cloud computing has been a major game changer at industry level” 36

— Inderpal Bhandari, Global Chief Data Officer, IBM

JUNE 2020

Cognition also brings distinct advantages to points of business that require significant human judgement. In Bhandari’s Global Chief Data Office, for example, several projects utilise IBM’s Data and AI Platform.

“As an example,” he adds, “take a role within our business, which essentially revolves around an employee having to classify whether a client that we’re working with is a government-owned entity. We hold ourselves to very high standards, and so that kind of classification and judgement is crucial.

We have to get it right. Previously, that classification would have involved research, communication with other parties and eventually arriving at the classification. This is a perfect example of where AI comes into its own.

Using our IBM Watson capabilities, we can now access historical data as to how we have previously labelled companies, and we can sift and monitor real-time information about those same businesses.

“That capability makes the decision more quickly, accurately and improves efficiency of the work,” he continues.

“As an example, it may be at a lower w w w.te c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

37

D I G I TA L T R A N S F O R M AT I O N

How the IBM Integrated Analytics System Helps You Do Data Science Faster CLICK TO WATCH

|

1:51

38

“ We have to work AI into every business process, whether it’s supply chain, finance, marketing, accounts payable.

There’s no area it can’t bring significant advantage to” — Inderpal Bhandari, Global Chief Data Officer, IBM JUNE 2020

level in terms of the vast amounts of activity we undertake at IBM, but you multiply it one million-fold across every significant business decision that we make, and you have an insight into the potential of AI. That’s what I envisioned when I began this journey – we have to work AI into every business process, whether it’s supply chain, finance, marketing, accounts payable.

There’s no area it can’t bring significant value to.”

The challenge, says Bhandari, is for enterprises to undertake that scaling of data and AI solutions. Core to that,

he says, is a strong central function

quickly ramp up their AI solutions and

which is the role that he and his imme-

processes and drive business value

diate team provide. However, he also

covering areas including data strategy

adds that in his experience, many

and architecture, automating business

organisations are still in the early

metadata, data privacy and trust, and

stages of their AI adoption journey.

AI applications.

IBM’s learnings from its data and AI

“When I started the Global Chief Data

transformation form the basis of how

Office at IBM, we were effectively at

IBM interacts with clients.

‘ground zero’ in terms of this,” Bhandari

Take the company’s AI Enterprise

notes. “But our success allows us to

Accelerator as an example. This col-

share and take it to a completely new

laborative cross-enterprise initiative

level for both internal transformation

builds on IBM’s AI transformation

and with our clients. Our Enterprise

and is designed to help leaders

Data and AI platform was established

w w w.te c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

39

D I G I TA L T R A N S F O R M AT I O N

1911

Year founded

$79.59bn+ Revenue in US dollars

350,000 Number of employees

40

at the end of 2017 and by year end

freely admits to adopting a ‘fail fast’

2019 we had over 100,000 active

approach to his role and mission at

users on it internally, who were infus-

IBM and is not afraid to admit – even

ing AI into their business processes,

with his experience – that he and his

and several clients replicating these

team are always learning. “If you are

use cases externally. That’s a really

the CDO then you must be aware it’s

high rate of adoption for both internal

a transformation role and you are

use and by our customers.”

primarily a change agent,” he explains.

“You have to change the enterprise to

A BLUEPRINT FOR LONG-TERM SUCCESS

transform it, so the data and AI blue-

Any transformation journey is an

print that we developed has all of the

ongoing process, even with a CDO as

aspects that any change agent should

capable as Bhandari at the helm. He

focus on.

JUNE 2020

41

“You use the data and the technol-

data comes from millions of devices

ogy to affect the change, of course, but

at the edge. That and technologies

there’s also the people and culture fac-

such as quantum computing have the

tor that is equally important. You can’t

potential to revolutionise everything

neglect any aspect of that blueprint if

we do. It’s an exciting prospect and a

you want to succeed. Technology will

very exciting time for Chief Data and

continue to evolve, and so we must

Technology Officers at the forefront

evolve too. The move to the hybrid

of these transformations.”

cloud is only accelerating, for example, and things like cybersecurity, privacy and data ownership will become more and more relevant. Similarly, edge computing will be a critical driver as w w w.te c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

42

JUNE 2020

43

Next generation security for the digital era WRITTEN BY

MATT HIGH PRODUCED BY

GLEN WHITE

w w w.te c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

CYBERSECURITY

Rapid7 Director of Research, Tod Beardsley, on the cybersecurity landscape for digital enterprises, and the company’s latest Threat Report

“M

arch 2020 will be the point we look back and see a fundamental change in how the internet functions, as well as how

people and enterprises interact with the internet,” says Rapid7’s Tod Beardsley, referring to the seismic shift in the digital and IT landscape that 44

has occurred as a result of the global COVID-19 pandemic. For Beardsley, and indeed Rapid7, this change will be analysed and understood in the broader context of cybersecurity, threat and risk.

The business, based in the US, offers a host of solutions that simplify the complex, and which advance security for enterprise customers with visibility, analytics and automation delivered through its insight cloud. Beardsley has been with Rapid7 for 10 years – a period that he concedes is “a lifetime in a tech job” – and today is responsible for software vulnerability research efforts, vulnerability disclosures, and contributing to the company’s data science-driven research projects.

Prior to this, as he explains, he was a technical engineering manager for the open source Metasploit project. “Kids these days have it so JUNE 2020

Listen to the interview on the Technology Podcast

45

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CYBERSECURITY

“ March 2020 will be the point we look back and see a fundamental change in how the internet functions, as well as how people and enterprises interact with the internet” 46

— Tod Beardsley, Director of Research, Rapid7 easy,” he jokes, dissecting his career path to the present day. “My route to Rapid7 came when the company acquired Metasploit, which is an open source project that’s pretty much seen as the de facto standard for penetration testers – so exploits, proof of

JUNE 2020

concept codes, evasion techniques; it’s essentially everything a penetration tester would need, and I helped work on that.

“Rapid7, prior to the acquisition, used Metasploit routinely, and after that acquisition I’ve continued to work here – it’s super fun and always exciting,” he continues. “That background at Metasploit, though, as well as previous work that included bug hunting, patch management, auditing, and

Rapid 7: Project Recog CLICK TO WATCH

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47 stints at companies such as Dell and

insight into the rapidly evolving threat

Westinghouse, has really informed a

landscape for businesses, provides a

kind of ‘security common sense’ that

clearer picture of the key threats fac-

continues to drive my work today.”

ing industries and defines how those threats will evolve over the course

UNDERSTANDING THE THREAT LANDSCAPE

of 2020.

Most recently, that work is reflected

business or leader embarking on, or

in Rapid7’s 2020 Threat Report, the

entrenched in, a digital journey of any

latest iteration of a quarterly report

scale. For Beardsley and Rapid7, it is

that leverages intelligence from the

a moment in time in the continuing evo-

company’s extensive network. This

lution of the threat landscape which

includes Rapid7 Insight Cloud, Rapid7

can be very different for organisations,

Managed Services and Rapid7

depending on the industry sector they

Incident Response. The report gives

work in. Indeed, during his time at the

As a snapshot, it’s invaluable to any

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CYBERSECURITY

48

organisation, Beardsley has seen much

everyone now concerned about a host

change. “The most significant,” he says,

of technologies and risk factors that

“certainly over the last five or 10 years,

didn’t even exist 10 years ago.”

is the moving of significant amounts of

Aside from this key change, Beardsley

information into the cloud and having

relates that phishing is still the number

a really good infrastructure provided

one cyber risk for enterprises, explain-

by Microsoft or Google, for example.

ing that “if you can solve phishing,

“For most, it’s just so much better

you solve 90% of your problems – it’s

than running your own racks of serv-

that simple. Network segmentation

ers; everyone is awful at that and, if it’s

is one way of combating it,” he con-

not your business, you’re doubly bad,”

tinues, “and you do get some notion

he continues. “But at the same time,

of that with the shift to the cloud

that change also alters the potential

because, on the most basic level, it’s

threats for your organisation, and has

not on your premises – it’s Google’s

JUNE 2020

problem, unless they get lucky and hit one of your developers. The problem with the enterprise is that everything is a big flat network, and it’s still very hard to get people to change that.

The concern is that with the sudden shift to remote working as a result of COVID-19, you’ve gone from a home workforce of 5-10% to 100% and a whole new bunch of VPN traffic that lets anyone have a straight shot to an internal network. It’s a recipe for security failure.”

2020 THREAT REPORT Rapid7’s latest Threat Report was published in February, before the major implications of the coronavirus pandemic had become well known –

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

Tod Beardsley Title: Director of Research Company: Rapid7 Industry: IT & Network Security Location: Austin, Texas I’m an individual contributor on software engineering projects, a technical security researcher, a no good dirty hacker, an open source maintainer and advocate, a conference organizer, a podcaster, blogger, and all-around new media gadfly, and an often-quoted primary spokesperson — often several to all of these roles at the same time!

the business is set to publish a report on this topic later in the year. The Threat Report analysed the Rapid7 data with the view to answer three core questions: what does this mean for you, how can you use it, and how can it improve your security programme? These are answered across the four key areas of threat telemetry, detection telemetry, recommendations and security programmes. w w w.te c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

49

CYBERSECURITY

Rapid7: Security Framework CLICK TO WATCH

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50

On the former, it was revealed that organisations continue to host vulnerable, internet-exposed systems.

remain the preferred method for breaching an environment.

“A lot of what we found, we predicted,”

Rapid7 also found the levelling off of

he explains. “For example, that com-

EternalBlue exploit attempts in its

panies continue to build and deploy

project Heisenberg honeynet, and

straight up, vulnerable systems and

revealed that the overall population

then put them on the internet. So,

of vulnerable services holds steady,

things like Windows machines with

therefore holding the attention of

SMBs – Windows’ ‘everything’ protocol

attackers. In detection telemetry – and

for file sharing, administration, authori-

as Beardsley already has mentioned –

sation, printing… everything – just

attackers continue to favour phishing

exposed to the internet. That’s pretty

attacks, as well as malware and mali-

shocking, it was probably the most

cious documents; valid user accounts

visceral reaction I had to the data.”

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“ The most significant change over the last five or 10 years, is the moving of significant amounts of information into the cloud” — Tod Beardsley, Director of Research, Rapid7

framework and, I don’t think this report should be about us patting ourselves on the back, but those figures are really good and impressive. I would say that, for a mature security organisation, 50% would be a good baseline, so the fact we’re hitting 90% is kind of shocking – in a good way.”

Conclusions from the Threat Report covered several areas. Based on the above, it should be little surprise

For the first time in a Threat Report,

that Rapid7 encourages all organisa-

Rapid7 has addressed the recommen-

tions to adopt the MITRE ATT&CK

dations that its Managed Detection

Enterprise Framework to guide threat

and Response (MDR) team identifies.

prevention and response programmes.

This team currently identifies and

Other key recommendations included

stops 85% of threats within one hour

a greater focus on external footprint,

of initiation and more than 90% within

the use of multiple threat detection

one day. “At first I thought the data

methodologies and the augmentation

was wrong on that,” says Beardsley.

“We’re huge fans of the MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Framework at Rapid7 because it really lets you lay out all the preconditions for an event, showing what attackers do to move from compromise, privilege, escalation and lateral movement, through payload, execution and exfiltration of data. We’ve moved all of our detection and response to fit into the attack w w w.te c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

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CYBERSECURITY

52

R A P I D 7: WHAT I S A T HRE AT ?

When there is an adversary with the intent, capability, and opportunity, a threat exists. When two or more of these elements are present (e.g., intent and capability, but no opportunity), we call it an impending threat, because there is just one missing piece before it becomes a true threat. When there is just one element present (e.g., an opportunity in the form of a software vulnerability), we call it a potential threat. There is the potential for it to turn into a true threat, although there are additional components that need to come to fruition before it has a real impact on most organisations.

JUNE 2020

“ I would say that, for a mature security organisation, 50% would be a good baseline, so the fact we’re hitting 90% is kind of shocking – in a good way” — Tod Beardsley, Director of Research, Rapid7

of technology with skilled individuals, and countering attacks on valid user accounts by patching, network segmentation and UBA. Organisations should also proactively deploy mitigating controls based on trends in the threat landscape.

“If you have more than one person in your organisation you need to be adopting attack framework right now,” Beardsley states. “It just makes everything so much easier and is in the absolute best interest of your enterprise. Having some kind of endpoint

Rapid7: Vunerability Disclosure CLICK TO WATCH

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CYBERSECURITY

E X T R A FACT S 2020 Threat Report: key takeaways and recommendations • There is a need for focusing on external footprint.

• Attackers most commonly exploit a public-facing application or valid accounts.

This can be countered by patching, network segmentation and UBA.

54

• Organisations should use multiple threat detection methodologies and augment detections and technology with skilled individuals.

• Close to 80% of breaches detected by Rapid7’s MDR service are malware-related, phishing-related or malicious documents • Earlier focus on detecting threats in the initial access and execution tactics of the attack lifecycle can reduce the cost and impact of breaches • Investing in collecting and reusing threat indicators improves security programme efficiency • Proactively deploying mitigating controls based on trends in the threat landscape can reduce the risk of a breach

JUNE 2020

“ Companies continue to build and deploy straight up, vulnerable systems and then put them on the internet” — Tod Beardsley, Director of Research, Rapid7

2000

Year founded

1,200+

55

Number of employees

protection that does instrumenting,

threats facing enterprises as part of our

lets you get into detecting at a very

series of conversations with Beardsley.

early stage of compromise right before anything bad happens, and finally,

Read the latest Rapid7 Threat

scanning your enterprise network is

Report here.

essential – and we do that very easily for anyone that needs it. You look at those three things, you’re 80% of the way there.”

In the next edition of the publication we will look more closely at several of the w w w.te c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

IT PROCUREMENT

56

HOW CLOUD PROCUREMENT PLATFORMS ARE TRANSFORMING ENTERPRISE WRITTEN BY

JUNE 2020

WILLIA M SMITH

57

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IT PROCUREMENT

A closer look at how the movement of procurement systems to the cloud is supercharging efficiencies, examining offerings from IBM, SAP Ariba and Oracle

58

E

nterprise software has played a

Procurement is just one of many

huge part in enabling businesses

areas touched by digitalisation, with

to become leaner, more agile and

digital procurement offering a range of

more competitive over the decades, with

benefits. These include the automation

pioneers like IBM and SAP having led the

of repetitive tasks, and boosting

way. According to a recent IDG Cloud

efficiency while reducing costs. AI can

Computing Survey, 73% of organisations

also provide insights and analytics to

now have at least one application in the

identify inefficiencies in processes,

cloud, with enterprises predicting an

using data to improve decision making.

average $3.5mn cloud spend and most

The inherently distributed nature of

technological industries such as

procurement can also be overcome by

manufacturing and telecom aiming

collaborative platforms that bring third

for 100% cloud utilisation.

party suppliers closer to the business.

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59

BUILDING A DIGITAL PROCUREMENT STRATEGY

the ‘why’ and the price of items

According to Accenture, however,

toolbox of technology to make the

procurement has failed to keep pace

proper inquiries into that data, driving

with the efforts of other business

insights through the use of such

functions. That’s not necessarily a

technologies as AI, natural language

failure in software, but in strategy, with

processing, and analytics.

the professional services firm

Procurement software must also

identifying five elements needed for a

reach out to the user via intuitive user

digital procurement strategy, the first

interfaces, encouraging rather than

being data sourced from both inside

putting users off of digital tools.

and outside of an organisation to reveal information such as the ‘what’,

purchased. Next comes the correct

Having the technology is all well and good, but the correct people with the w w w.te c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

right skills must be in place to make

more recent trend involves cloud

proper use of it, such as data scientists,

procurement software, decentralising

AI specialists, category experts and IT

the business of procurement and

professionals. Finally, moderating the

transforming the ways in which the

interaction of people and technology

activity is costed thanks to software-

should be comprehensive and

as-a-service (SaaS) models.

continuously reviewed policies and

While different procurement solutions

procedures ensuring that understanding

and platforms have the same aim of

is continually maintained.

maximising productivity, different providers may have different specialties,

CLOUD PROCUREMENT SOFTWARE

techniques and software. A look at

While such digital procurement efforts

offerings from some of the largest

can be traced back to the 1980s, a far

companies elucidates this point.

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IT PROCUREMENT

solutions, catering to companies of all sizes. SAP Ariba emphasises the openness of its product, enabling SAP Ariba was founded under its original

connection to existing systems, with

name of Ariba in 1996, before coming

the Ariba Network connecting over

under the wing of enterprise software

4.6 million companies trading more than

grandfather SAP in 2012. Founded

$8.7bn in goods and services every day.

specifically with the intent of digitalising

Its commitment to the cloud is such that

procurement, among its many solutions

it now only sells the cloud version of its

are supplier management, strategic

product, with end-of-life support for

sourcing, direct spend and fulfillment

existing on-premise solutions.

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63

features of the solution including analysis and streamlining of sourcing, easier compliance to standards in contracts, Enterprise software giant Oracle offers

the automation of requisitioning and a

its Oracle Procurement Cloud product

top down view of suppliers allowing for

as part of its broader enterprise resource

easier management. It’s an approach

planning systems. With a stated focus

that has attracted customers such as the

on standardising, streamlining and

likes of All Nippon Airways, Capgemini

automating the source-to-pay process,

and GenBody. w w w.te c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

IT PROCUREMENT

Accenture’s five elements of an effective digital procurement strategy: Data: Data sourced from outside, as well as inside, the organisation to inform not just “what” was purchased and at what price, but “why” it was purchased.

Technology toolbox: Making sense of data and providing advanced intelligent support requires the right technology— especially AI, natural language processing, analytics and bots.

64

Intuitive user experience: Intuitive user experiences will encourage stakeholders to use the online procurement tools.

Skills and talents: Generating true value requires a cross-functional team of people from data scientists and AI specialists, category experts and IT and design professionals.

Policies and procedures: A review of policies and procedures is needed, along with an updated operating model, to ensure everyone understands new responsibilities.

JUNE 2020

optimising the formation of contracts with them, as well as an approach to risk management that employs cognitive risk-monitoring technologies.

The originator of business computing,

The cloud, then, represents a second

IBM, meanwhile, touts its procurement

wave of digitalisation following the on-

and strategic sourcing services as

premise solutions implemented from

being digitally reinvented thanks to the

around the start of the new millennium.

application of technology, analytics and

With software-as-a-service models

IBM’s own design thinking approach.

proliferating, promising improved

With an experience that can learn over

security and the easier implementation

time thanks to access from real-time

of new releases, as well as advanced

data, the user is able to make better

features such as automation and

informed decisions as part of the

machine learning, the cloud model of

procurement process. Services offered

procurement software offers benefits

by the company include analytics to

just as great as the leap from analog to

improve the selection of suppliers and

digital procurement.

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A I & D ATA A N A LY T I C S

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JUNE 2020

Special report:

The RPA revolution WRITTEN BY

HARRY MENE AR

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A I & D ATA A N A LY T I C S

Robotic process automation has the potential to transform the way we work forever. In this special report, we explore the capabilities and companies at the heart of this multi-billion dollar trend This is an era of unprecedented upheaval across the business world. Rapidly changing customer expectations and enterprise capabilities are provoking radical change. At the centre of this new industrial revolution 68

is a slew of powerful, integrated and revolutionary digital technologies that are changing the rules of engagement.

In this next phase of evolution for the information age, a business’ ability to survive is becoming more and more closely tied to the ways in which it manages its two most important resources: data and human capital. From artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to data lakes and advanced robotics, the value of a cutting edge piece of technology increasingly lies in its ability to efficiently enter, process, analyse and draw insights from data – and do it in a way that frees up the human workforce for higher level tasks that add value to the company.

Robotic process automation (RPA for short) is one of the most promising technologies to develop, from the concept stages into a more mature business JUNE 2020

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Digital Transformation.

Made real every day.

Find out how big advances in AI have made it easier than ever to unlock the power of data, create value, insights and a new level of intelligent security. From Individuals, to small organizations, to the Global Fortune 100, AI and machine learning are improving businesses and lives everywhere.

Learn More

Robotic Process Automation (RPA): how does it work?

CLICK TO WATCH

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71 solution, in the last few years. In short,

a future where intelligent machines

RPA incorporates AI, ML, natural

take care of repetitive tasks and allow

language processing (NLP), image

a greater focus on high-level activity.

recognition and a host of other

According to a Gartner report from

technologies to perform high-volume,

last year: “Most employees view the

repetitive tasks that were previously

work best suited for RPA as mundane

done by humans. As Navin Mittal,

and tedious. RPA enables organisa-

Director of Product Marketing at RPA

tions to take this work away from

firm Automation Anywhere, puts it:

individuals and redeploy their talents

“RPA lets you have the ability to create

to more analytical, high-value activi-

a bot that can do anything you can

ties.” Give RPA a few more years to

do on a computer.”

develop, and so-called “digital workers”

Applying what Gartner describes as

could be taking care of everything

hyperautomation to low-level digital

from data entry and onboarding to

tasks is one of the first steps towards

customer management. w w w.te c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

A I & D ATA A N A LY T I C S

We are, however, not quite there yet.

Around the world, most industries have yet to fully embrace the power of this new technology. This is particularly true of those with high levels of business rules and an emphasis on factors like compliance and process reporting – like the healthcare, finance and insurance sectors.

More than 40% of workers claimed in a recent survey that they spend more than a quarter of their workweek on repetitive tasks. In a 2019 report, 72

it was revealed that only 24% of large companies had adopted RPA-pow-

The Difference Between Robotic Process Automation, Machine Learning, and Artificial Intelligence CLICK TO WATCH

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©UiPath

“ Companies that deploy automation technologies can realise substantial performance gains and take the lead in their industries” — McKinsey, What’s Now and What’s Next in Analytics, AI and Automation

ered solutions (with SMEs even further behind at 9%), even though almost 50% reported significant investment into the technology. By 2022, Gartner predicts that annual spending on RPA capabilities will exceed the $2.2bn mark. In a survey of 500 top-level executives, McKinsey found that, “companies that deploy automation technologies can realise substantial performance gains and take the lead in their industries, even as their efforts contribute to economy-level increases in productivity.” w w w.te c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

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A I & D ATA A N A LY T I C S

“ The idea of a human-centric digital worker that augments the abilities of our employees has the potential to be truly transformative” human worker can. In the back office, — Ravi Konda, Senior Manager of Automation, Symantec

a pre-programmed digital worker can be tasked with handling payroll, processing insurance claims, monitoring compliance, and a huge variety of other

However, the companies at the leading edge of this technology

in much the same way that a company

transformation are making great

wouldn’t hire a graphic designer to run

strides towards a revolutionised,

an HR department, different RPA

digital workplace, where humans work

solutions have different specialisations.

side-by-side with a virtual workforce.

74

jobs. These roles are specialised and,

The result is that RPA providers like

“Never before has there been such

Automation Anywhere and UiPath

a transformative shift in the way

function as much like a recruitment

we work,” commented Automation

and talent agency as they do software

Anywhere co-founder and CEO, Mihir Shukla, “with artificially intelligent software bots changing how people, processes and technology interact for productivity gains.”

Here, we consider five ways in which RPA is driving the global digital transformation, and explore the companies at the forefront of this trend.

THE DIGITAL WORKER RPA-powered solutions can tackle a number of specialised functions in much the same way that a trained JUNE 2020

DI D YO U K NOW ? ● A ccording to Deloitte’s third annual RPA survey, 53% of companies are beginning their “RPA journey” ● A mong respondents who are implementing RPA now, 78% plan to invest even more in the next three years ● D eloitte believes that RPA will achieve “near universal adoption” in the next five years ● Only 3% of organizations have scaled to 50 or more robots ● G rand View Research expects RPA to grow to $3.11bn by the end of 2025

75 companies. RPA companies are

industry is facing an unprecedented

offering their customers the ability to

challenge. From patient onboarding to

download “ready-to-deploy digital

order processing for PPE, RPA-pow-

personas that combine task-oriented,

ered digital workers have the potential

cognitive and analytical abilities to

to take the strain off overworked

automate repetitive activities.”

healthcare professionals currently

In contrast to traditional software

suffering from the crisis. At the Mater

bots, which work separately to human

Hospital in Dublin, attended bots are

workers, digital workers are designed

being used to process COVID-19 test

to work with a human coworker,

results in a short amount of time. By

augmenting their capabilities with

providing a digital robot to each human

regard to specific business functions.

nurse, the unit saves three hours per

The benefits of a digital workforce

day, enabling healthcare staff to spend

are numerous. Due to the global

more time looking after patients rather

COVID-19 crisis, the global healthcare

than doing paperwork. w w w.te c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

A I & D ATA A N A LY T I C S

AUTOMATION ANYWHERE Founded in 2003, Automation Anywhere is leading the field with its dedicated Bot Store, a digital recruitment agency where customers can download pre-built digital workers E X E C U T I V E INS IG H T:

Prince Kohli Title: CTO 76

Company: Automation Anywhere Industry: Intelligent Automation Location: California “ L ooking forward, RPA will reshape the future of travel by automating some of the biggest challenges faced by the industry, which is lower operating costs while providing improved efficiencies”

designed to automate specific tasks.

These range from integrating with SalesForce to an SAP bot that automates the process of creation of quotation in SAP. “The idea of a human-centric digital worker that augments the abilities of our employees has the potential to be truly transformative”, commented Ravi Konda, Senior Manager of Automation at cybersecurity firm Symantec. “It shifts our thinking from – what tasks can we automate to what roles can we augment and enhance, which is a great way to approach automation.”

As the COVID-19 crisis has resulted in flights around the globe being cancelled en-masse, Automation Anywhere has been applying its bots to the customer service process. The Airline Call Center Bot was developed to ease a barrage of cancelled flights for some of the world’s largest airlines

JUNE 2020

Start Using Bot Store Bots & Digital Workers in 3 Easy Steps CLICK TO WATCH

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“ RPA lets you have the ability to create a bot that can do anything you can do on a computer” — Navin Mittal, Director of Product Marketing, Automation Anywhere including American, United, Delta, Lufthansa, Air France, Air China and others. The bot has reduced the flight cancellation process from an average of 20 minutes to three. w w w.te c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

A I & D ATA A N A LY T I C S

UiPATH New York-based RPA company UiPath was founded in 2005 by Marius Tirca and Daniel Dines. With a business model rooted firmly in the belief that “automation is the future of work”, E X E C U T I V E INS IG H T:

Mark O’Connor Title: Public Sector Director 78

Company: UiPath Industry: SoftwareCompany Location: Ireland “ At this time of heightened stress and anxiety, it’s vital to free up doctors and nurses’ time for patients wherever it can be done. Robotic process automation minimises, if not removes, the need for people to carry out repetitive, rules-based admin work – speeding up processes and ensuring they’re error-free”

UiPath operates under the assumption that “Just as Bill Gates envisioned a world with a PC for every desktop, UiPath envisions a world with a robot for every person.”

UiPath customers have access to the company’s Automation Hub and platform, as well as a studio where they can use code-less commands to build their own custom bots to suit an array of specialised needs. The company offers both attended and unattended bots, designed to work in tandem with a human worker, or alone – automating predictable, repetitive back-office functions – respectively.

AUTOMATION FROM FRONT TO BACK As RPA has developed, its early functions were constrained primarily to back office functions: payroll automation, invoice processing and so on.

Now, developments in integrated technologies like NLP and ML mean

JUNE 2020

that those back office automation

BLUE PRISM

benefits are moving closer and closer

London-based RPA company Blue

to the customer.

Prism was one of the first dedicated

From sales to tier one tech support,

RPA companies. Founded in 2001, it is

repetitive tasks like data entry and

now leading the charge on front office

customer management take away

automation. Its dedicated bots are

valuable time that should be spent

capable of handling customer man-

creating value and delighting the

agement, first-contact customer

customer. RPA-enabled digital

complaints and queries, billing queries,

workers have the power to take on

and incident management. The

those tasks, increasing productivity,

company’s offering includes a

reducing human error and freeing up

drag-and-drop bot creation studio, as

customer facing roles to spend more

well as an emphasis on transparency

time actually facing the customer.

regarding process proficiency.

UiPath AI Fabric: Bridging the gap between RPA and AI CLICK TO WATCH

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A I & D ATA A N A LY T I C S

AGILITY, EFFICIENCY AND SCALE Digital transformation is a global arms race towards more efficient and agile operations. Technologies that enable companies to adapt faster, be more resistant to disrupE X E C U T I V E INS IG H T:

Arjen van Berkum Title: COO 80

Company: Another Monday Industry: Intelligent Automation Location: Netherlands “ I f you take out the mundane; if you take out the boring; and if you take out the stuff that you can automate, you’re left with the things computers can’t do: being creative, being empathetic and being entrepreneurial — all of these are much more fun”

tion and capable of making smarter decisions in less time are going to be key. In order for large companies to leverage their digital and human resources with the speed and agility of an SME, the digital solutions they adopt need to enable this agility, while also being as resilient and adaptable as their users.

“Unfortunately,” according to Pegasystems, “most enterprises weren’t designed for the digital world. Their systems are too fragmented, their operations too complex. Maybe that’s why digital transformation is so easy to talk about but so difficult to actually achieve.” With its emphasis on cloud-native platforms, segmented downloadable products, and unified, versatile back-end software that drives efficiency, the RPA industry has the potential to be a great enabler of agility at scale.

JUNE 2020

ANOTHER MONDAY Founded in 1983, Massachusetts-based

Managing human capital workflow

Pegasystems has been developing

efficiently is as much a part of a success-

software for customer relationship

ful digital transformation as AI and

management, process management

data analytics. Creating manuals and

and automation for over three decades.

documenting processes to train new

In 2016, the company acquired

employees and maintain compliance

OpenSpan, an Atlanta-based RPA

is an essential, but time consuming

startup, combining its cutting-edge

element of any corporate environment.

analytics with OpenSpan’s 11 years of digital automation experience.

Today, Pegasystems prides itself on

By using AI and ML-powered bots, German RPA company Another Monday is helping its clients automate these

offering one of the most end-to-end

processes. Its bots track cursor

unified pieces of RPA software on the

movement, timing, keystrokes and

market. Its focus on a unified software

activity across multiple programs and

stack makes everything from cloud

windows to automatically generate

migration to app integration easier and

everything from reports to training

more robust for the end user, creating

manuals in real time. By eliminating these

efficiencies and saving money.

processes – along with dozens of other repetitive, mundane tasks – Another Monday COO, Arjen van Berkum believes that RPA can reignite our society’s passion for work.

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JUNE 2020

Technology consultancies Consultancy companies are helping the tech industry navigate the digital era.

In no particular order, Technology Magazine explores 10 of the best WRITTEN BY

WILL GIRLING

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T O P 10 | P R E F A C E

TECH CONSULTANCIES – DRIVING DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION With ‘digital transformation’ taking a primary role in the ongoing strategy of most businesses, there will be some for whom the journey towards technological modernisation is fraught with questions and unknown factors. Helping to define the new digital landscape, tech consultancies can offer far-reaching industry knowledge and insights that will intrigue even the more knowledgeable enterprises. Offering 84

a trifecta of potential benefits: process optimisation, cost reduction and opportunity maximisation, these influential organisations could make the difference between failure and success in the contemporary tech arena.

ABOUT TECHNOLOGY MAGAZINE’S TOP 10 PICKS… Although our list is not featured in any particular order, all of the consultancies listed had to meet several criteria in order to be included: company prestige within the tech community, a global presence and high-quality research were all factors taken into consideration.

Despite the technology industry often being a component of each company’s repertoire of available insights, these consultancies offer a JUNE 2020

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T O P 10 | P R E F A C E

level of research which is superior to others in the market, tackles contem-

EXECUTIVE TAKES ON CONTEMPORARY TOPICS

porary subjects engagingly and strives to go beyond the data by exploring

Digital ecosystems:

practical applications. Presented by

Defined as an interdependent environ-

respected academics, industry experts

ment of enterprises and people sharing

and cutting-edge research staff, these

digital platforms for mutually beneficial

consultancies have a proven track

purposes, digital ecosystems have the

record of helping their clients thrive

potential to deliver oversized invest-

and should certainly be considered for

ment returns if established correctly.

any business in need of best-in-class

“As digitisation and the Internet

advice on the subject of technology,

of Things (IoT) make homes, phones,

its uses and potential future utilisations.

and cars increasingly ‘smart’, corpo-

86

rate partners are beginning to work together in order to create interconnected offerings that are proving more valuable than a single company’s isolated product or service. These digital ecosystems are often orchestrated by market share leaders and are quickly reshaping a wide array of

JUNE 2020

Introduction to Technology Consultancy CLICK TO WATCH

|

6:09

87 industries, such as consumer products,

cant optimisation and is becoming an

health care, and automotive.” From

increasingly popular combination.

BCG; Nikolaus Lang, MD & senior part-

“Leading companies are using

ner; Konrad von Szczepanski, MD &

their capabilities not only to improve

partner; Nanne Louw, principal; et al.

their core operations but also to launch entirely new business models.

Data and analytics:

The leading firms have remarkably

A straightforward way to unlock value

deep analytical talent taking on various

within companies compiling large

problems—and they are actively

amounts of data is leveraging its

looking for ways to enter other

potential insights with analytics

industries. These companies can take

software. Capable of identifying trends

advantage of their scale and data

and improving forecasting, integrating

insights to add new business lines, and

IoT data within a cloud platform and

those expansions are increasingly

applying analytics can result in signifi-

blurring traditional sector boundaries.” w w w.te c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

T O P 10 | P R E F A C E

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JUNE 2020

From McKinsey; Jacques Bughin and James Manyika, directors of the McKinsey Global Institute; et al.

AI: Artificial intelligence is one of the most exciting tech trends currently gaining momentum. With the potential to make highly complex tasks automated, AI could herald the beginning of workers being liberated to focus on qualitative tasks instead of repetitive ones.

“How do we learn to trust AI? Responsible AI builds trust and lays the foundation for successful scaling by taking a “human-first” approach—using technology to help people make better decisions, while keeping them firmly accountable through the right governance processes and technical steps. Our AI:Built to Scale research says responsibility is more than a ‘nice to have’—with AI Strategic Scalers significantly more likely to brief their employees clearly on how they tackle responsible AI (and the UK markedly above the global average in this respect).” From Accenture; Dr. Athina Kanioura, chief analytics officer; and Fernando Lucini, MD – artificial intelligence lead. w w w.te c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

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T O P 10

10

KPMG

CEO: WILLIAM ‘BILL’ THOMAS [EST. 1987]

Recognising the importance of tech companies, from startups to Fortune 500 success stories, Netherlands-based consultancy KPMG goes beyond the facts of today to focus on short-term and long-term strategies for the future. Helping to keep industry leaders abreast of the latest trends and providing detailed analyses on each new topic, the company combines technical insight with broad sector knowledge to formulate valuable data-driven research. With offices spread across 155 countries, KPMG can facilitate digital disruption 90

in whichever region it operates.

Research selection: Blockchain for technology media, and telecommunications companies Quantum computing 101 Transforming your SaaS business: A strategic guide for optimising business performance

JUNE 2020

10

09 09

Booz Allen Hamilton

91

CEO: HORACIO ROZANSKI [EST. 1914] For Booz Allen Hamilton (BAH), technology offers global organisations the opportunity to converge and connect in previously unthought of ways, and it is dedicated to partnering with those who want enterprise systems capable of meeting new market demands. With over a century’s worth of experience, Virginia, USA-based BAH is fostering the open attitude to innovation which goes hand-in-hand with its enablement. Understanding a broad range of digital transformation paths, including military, civil government agencies and commercial, it is driving technological change as a force for security and utility in the modern world.

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08

EY

08

CEO: CARMINE DI SIBIO [EST. 1989]

Headquartered in London, UK, Ernst & Young (EY) knows that every business’ tech transformation is unique and is poised to provide the innovative insight, extensive industry perspective and business acumen necessary to grow a successful company. Currently ranked are the seventh-largest privately owned company in the US and with over 270,000 employees worldwide, EY is a mainstay in its field.

Prioritising cost-saving and investment, the organisation is confident in the role that technology will play in any business’ success. EY has a breadth of experience ranging from regulatory knowledge to finance and global geography.

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T O P 10

Tech Vision 2020: Overview CLICK TO WATCH

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4:47

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07

Accenture

CEO: JULIA SWEET [EST. 1989]

Citing 2020 as the start of a pivotal decade technologically, Accenture believes that the digital revolution is set to permeate every aspect of business, government and society. Therefore, the company strives to help its clients find out what differentiates them from the competition and play to their strengths. Located in 120 cities worldwide, operating 100 innovation labs and with 250,000 staff, Accenture is able to produce truly global reports and advice on a range of relevant topics, including Industry X.0, security, intelligent cloud and infrastructure, and software engineering.

JUNE 2020

06

Capgemini

CEO: PAUL HERMELIN [EST. 1967]

Headquartered in Paris, France, Capgemini has 200,000 employees spread across 40 countries. Amongst its numerous interests and focuses, Capgemini places technology as an important and challenging market - one which it is determined to help others succeed in. Providing guidance to clients on how to navigate the industry’s accelerated innovation cycles, intricate supply chains and margin pressures, the company has a proven track record for helping businesses maintain or increase their competitiveness. Capgemini achieves this by industry-specific expertise and a fast-paced response to market changes, allowing it to find bespoke solutions to suit its clients.

Research selection: 5G – Prepare for a giant leap in capacity and speed Cloud native comes of age Smart Factories: How can manufacturers realise the potential of digital industrial revolution

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Establish trust remotely.

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jumio.com

Technology consulting at PwC CLICK TO WATCH

|

1:52

05

97

PwC

CEO: ROBERT E. MORITZ [EST. 1998]

“Change is coming faster today than ever before and companies must adapt or die,” says the PwC website. Clearly, PwC is a company which recognises the significance of being technologically prepared for the oncoming digital age and the way it will change business forever. With advice on topics including AI, IoT (internet of things), semiconductors, hardware, software, internet services and more, the company can help shape strategy development, transformation execution and other business factors to help its clients succeed.

Amongst the trends it considers the most important are: AR/VR (augmented reality/virtual reality), drones and 3D printing.

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T O P 10

04

Deloitte

CEO: PUNIT RENJEN [EST. 1845]

Providing insights into the latest tech trends, such as AI & cognitive technologies, analytics, blockchain and digital transformation, Deloitte has both a contemporary edge and a heritage of helping companies optimise their business for almost 200 years. The company is both knowledgeable and experienced on the topic of technology: Deloitte uses a potent mix of human and machine-driven analytics to produce results at the cutting-edge of data science.

Using this method, it has helped some of the world’s leading companies achieve better, stronger and faster results.

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04 JUNE 2020

Research selection: TMT predictions 2020 How countries are pursuing an AI advantage Tech trends 2020

Bain Operating Model CLICK TO WATCH

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3:05

03

Bain & Co.

99

CEO: MANNY MACEDA [EST. 1973]

Innovation is singled out as one of the most crucial aspects of a technology company by Bain. To capitalise on this exciting opportunity, a business needs to have a solid long-term plan and the industry expertise to bring it to life, and Bain can help companies develop both. With a wide breadth of experience across a number of industry topics, from software and hardware to semiconductors, storage, components and peripherals, the company is able to deliver global insights on practically any tech enquiry. Comfortable working with market leaders, emerging players and even companies that have reached a developmental deadend, Bain’s pool of advisors from all over the world, including Silicon Valley, will be able to formulate the right plan of action to suit any business need.

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COMING SOON

FIND OUT MORE

T O P 10

02 BCG

CEO: RICH LESSER [EST. 1963] Boston Consulting Group (BCG) believes in helping the tech industry to thrive through agile transformation and digital disruption. One of the top three most prestigious consulting companies in the world (also called the ‘Big Three’), BCG has 90 offices spread across 50 countries. Emphasising the advantageous

102

flexibility of the technology market, BCG helps its clients to utilise big data and analytics, IoT, cloud, B2B selling, portfolio management and other trending topics. All of the company’s consulting staff are experts in their field - regional and global leaders on a variety of innovation, growth and tech transformation topics.

0

Research selection:

How Tech Companies Can Shape Their Demand Recovery Post-Coronavirus Unleashing the Power of Data with IoT and Augmented Reality Where Will Quantum Computers Create Value – and When?

JUNE 2020

02

103

What You Need to Know About Deep Tech Ecosystems CLICK TO WATCH

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5:44

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01 What do public sector leaders want to know about tech innovation CLICK TO WATCH

JUNE 2020

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5:10

01 McKinsey

& Company

GLOBAL MANAGING PARTNER: KEVIN SNEADER [EST. 1926] Viewing technology as being the heart of the new digital economy, McKinsey & Co wants to provide professional consultation services to the companies which keep the modern world connected. Amongst its comprehensive research and insight resources, McKinsey’s Centre for Advanced Connectivity is

Research selection:

helping industries to leverage core technologies in the digital zeitgeist: 5G, fibre-optic and WiFi. As the

The CIO’s moment: Leadership through the first wave of the coronavirus crisis

industry continues to evolve, the company is at the forefront of highly-applicable relevant research on dominant tech topics, including IT services, tech infrastructure, enterprise software, startups and consumer tech.

Connected world: An evolution in connectivity beyond the 5G revolution The case for committing to greener telecom networks w w w.te c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

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THE ARMY NATIONAL GUARD’S CYBERSECURITY RESPONSE WRITTEN BY

JOHN O’HANLON PRODUCED BY

MIKE SADR

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A R M Y N AT I O N A L G U A R D

Technology magazine learns from Lt Col Woody Groton, CIO of the NH Army National Guard, about interstate collaboration and the annual Cyber Yankee exercise

I

t hardly needs to be said that human conflict has over the last couple of decades shifted from military confrontation

of the kind seen in the wars of the last century to 108

more complex and subtle platforms. Nations still spend significant proportions of GDP on defence hardware, but have woken up in the present century to the fact that more can be done to destabilise, weaken, threaten or confuse other nations or groups of nations by targeting the core systems and communications everyone relies on today.

In the United States, the Army National Guard is, with the Regular army and the Reserves, a key branch of the armed services, with 337,000 personnel on call nationally. Community-based, units report to the governor of their respective states unless called to protect US domestic or national interests at times of conflict or natural disaster.

“Always ready, always there.” The Guard has, like the rest of the U.S. military (not to mention business and the rest of society), had to evolve rapidly into JUNE 2020

“ CYBER SECURITY IS INTEGRATED INTO EVERYTHING WE DO” Lt Col Woody Groton, CIO, NH National Guard

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Lt Col Woody Groton with Senator Maggie Hassan

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A R M Y N AT I O N A L G U A R D

“ WE WORK VERY CLOSELY WITH THE ELECTRICAL POWER AND WATER INDUSTRIES” Lt Col Woody Groton, CIO, NH National Guard

the digital era, and one of its key tasks today is to always be ready to foresee and defend against threats to the nation that come from cyberspace.

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, a natural disaster, has given rise to uncertainties that could be exploited by an attacker, whether motivated by criminal or political goals. For example, imagine that a hospital system might be targeted at this time, muses Lt Col Woody Groton, Chief Information Officer of the New Hampshire Army National

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Guard. As a Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA) and Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP), Groton leads a team of IT professionals responsible for the Guard’s network and ensures its readiness to counter any threat. “Cyber security is integrated into everything we do. With IoT permeating everything, almost any activity you care to name could potentially be disrupted, so network modernisation is one of the top U.S. Army priorities currently.”

The Army’s cloud strategy isn’t too different from that of any large business or organisation, partnering with names like Cisco, Oracle, Microsoft, JUNE 2020

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

Lieutenant Colonel Woody Groton Title: CIO / Cyber Officer Location: Sunapee, New Hampshire Lieutenant Colonel Woody Groton has served in the United States Army for over 20 years. He is an Army Cyber Officer currently assigned as the Chief Information Officer for the New Hampshire Army National Guard as well as the commander of the 195th Regiment, Regional Training Institute. He also serves as the Chair of the New Hampshire Information Technology Council.

LTC Groton has a Master’s of Science in Information Assurance/ Cybersecurity from Regis University, a Master’s in Strategic Studies from the U.S. Army War College, and a Bachelor of Science in Engineering Science from Loyola University Maryland. He is a Certified Information Systems Security Professional and Certified Information Systems Auditor.

LTC Groton is the current Exercise Director for Cyber Yankee, which in 2020 is part of the FEMA National Exercise Program. He is considered an expert at whole of government response to cyber-attack against critical infrastructure and state/local government.

His awards include the Defense Meritorious Service Medal, the Meritorious Service Medal, the Army Commendation Medal for Valor, the Combat Infantryman’s Badge, Ranger Tab, Parachutist Badge, Air Assault badge, and the Joint Staff Identification Badge.

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Army National Guard: Gain a Cyber Career CLICK TO WATCH

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1:57

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AWS and others. “The networking infrastructure we use is all the same.

Our logistics system or our new integrated personnel and pay system for example are semi-custom implementations of best-in-breed systems from the likes of SAP, PeopleSoft or Microsoft.” The recently concluded Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI) contract awarded to Microsoft in 2019, against hot competition from

“ FOR SOME OF THE SMALLER UTILITIES PARTICIPATING IN CYBER YANKEE IS A LEARNING OPPORTUNITY THAT LINKS THEM WITH LARGER PLAYERS AND HELPS THEM PROTECT ALL OF THEIR CUSTOMERS”

AWS, is a huge step toward placing cloud-enabled technologies like AI at the service of the Department of

Lt Col Woody Groton, CIO, NH National Guard w w w.tewcwhno w. bl ougyma s in e sga s czhie in e. f. ccom om

A R M Y N AT I O N A L G U A R D

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Defense (DoD). “The one part we keep

“ THE RELATIONSHIPS WE HAVE BUILT HERE IN NH ARE REALLY IMPORTANT. WE HAVE MUTUAL TRUST AND REAL FRIENDSHIP”

firmly in-house is in the cryptology piece, and for our classified networks of course we work with the National Security Agency.”

From its inception in 2015, Groton has been a key leader in the annual Cyber Yankee Exercise across the six New England states. This, he explains, is an initiative which coordinates the National Guard’s cybersecurity

Lt Col Woody Groton, CIO, NH National Guard

response team (its ‘Blue Team’) with entities outside of the DoD from national agencies like DHS, FBI,

JUNE 2020

115

FEMA and U.S. Cyber Command to a

of the participants don’t have the

broad range of local and regional gov-

resources to put together a cybersecu-

ernment, law enforcement, academic

rity exercise with over 300 participants,

and commercial bodies as well as

a virtual network range and a live

private companies. “As an example, in

opposing force. That includes some

2019 the U.S. Army account manager

of the smaller utilities; for them, par-

for Tenable reached out to us and

ticipating in Cyber Yankee is a learning

became a very valuable participant in

opportunity that links them with larger

the exercise, offering additional cyber-

players and helps them protect all of

security tools. Likewise, we’ve worked

their customers.”

closely with Cisco Systems among

A simulated but realistic threat is

other major players over the years.”

put forward, and these partners are

The Guard works with regional utilities from critical infrastructure. “A lot

invited to test their ability to respond effectively. “We work very closely with w w w.te c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

When it comes to security and reliability, a 6-year head start matters. Build on the most mature cloud today.

“ W HEN WE HAVE A PROBLEM WE SOLICIT SOLUTIONS FROM THE TEAM RATHER THAN DIRECTING THEM IN ANY PARTICULAR WAY!” Lt Col Woody Groton, CIO, NH National Guard

applies right across the region. For example, the Massachusetts Water Resource Authority utility has been an important partner over the years, inviting guardsmen in to review its operational technology systems, since a cyber incident at any utility could be crippling for the entire community.”

For now, COVID is keeping people at home but Cyber Yankee needs to go ahead as soon as it is safe to do so, to give new soldiers and airmen coming

the electrical power and water indus-

into the services the cybersecurity

tries,” he says. “Engineers from these

training they need and to cement

utilities participate in the exercise to

third party relationships for the future,

see how ready critical infrastructure

Groton believes. “But you can be

is to face any attack.” So, training is a

assured we are in a state of heightened

clear goal of Cyber Yankee. However,

awareness and preparedness, at times

Gorton is keen to stress the benefits

like this pandemic crisis, to meet any

of deepening relationships between

attempts to take advantage of the dis-

all interested parties at a regional level,

traction it provides.”

and this has been brought into sharp

The National Guard has some

focus by the current COVID-19 crisis, in

amazing talent within its network,

response to which the entire exercise

he emphasises, with some of the

has been put on hold until July 2020.

smartest and most experienced

“The relationships we have built here in

penetration testing, cyber intelligence

NH, for example with the State CIO or

and encryption professionals. Groton

the Chief Information Security Officer

is passionate about his team, and

(CISO) are really important. We have

for a career soldier he is refreshingly

mutual trust and real friendship. That

democratic in his approach. “Rank is w w w.te c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

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A R M Y N AT I O N A L G U A R D

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not really relevant, because we have extremely capable IT professionals here, whose entire focus is technology.

When we have a problem we solicit solutions from the team rather than directing them in any particular way!”

You might think the army was not the natural home for a geek, he jokes, but in the best sense of that word the Guard attracts people who relish the most intractable problems, and will work all hours till they are solved.

So compelling is the need to guard the whole of society against disruption, that the U.S. Army Cyber Command, formed in 2009, is now changing its name to the Army Information Warfare Command. The level of threat from malicious actors, whether state proxies, criminals or financial opportunists will continue to increase exponentially, Woody Groton predicts, making it vital that the National Guard always keeps several steps ahead of them.

The DoD and the NHNG does not endorse (expressly or by implication) any Non-Federal Entities referenced in this article.

The views presented are those of the author or LTC Groton and do not necessarily represent the views of DoD or its components. w w w.te c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

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Empowering clients with new technology and services WRITTEN BY

WILL GIRLING PRODUCED BY

ARRON RAMPLING

JUNE 2020

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PPI BENEFITS INC.

Ed Hofstede, President, and Inthida Ngeth, Vice President of Operations, explain how PPI Benefits is prepared to deliver a modern benefits programme

P

art of Canadian insurance and financial services company PPI, PPI Benefits is an experienced team of consultants

and third-party administrators for group benefits.

With a reputation for outstanding customer service and cutting-edge proprietary solutions, the 122

organisation provides access to plans that cover over 1,000 businesses across Canada, tailored to suit that particular enterprise’s individual needs.

An expert in its field, the company offers technical support, consulting services, comprehensive implementation services, a range of benefits plans and more, all for an affordable, manageable cost.

The success and results of PPI Benefits are driven by its leadership team, who join together in a united effort to promote the best services for clients. Ed Hofstede, President, has been in the insurance sector for over 30 years and calls PPI – “a major player in the Canadian insurance marketing sector” – a natural evolution in his career. Joining the company almost 15 years ago, he started out as a Regional Leader at PPI Financial Group before going on to become the JUNE 2020

123

1995

Year founded

60

Number of employees

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PPI BENEFITS INC.

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

Ed Hofstede Title: President Location: Toronto, Canada

Vice President (VP) of Marketing at PPI Advisory, the VP of PPI Benefits and finally President in 2016. Inthida Ngeth, VP of Operations, on the other hand, came up via a slightly less linear path. “I don’t have much background

126

Ed Hofstede is President of PPI Benefits and its fast-growing administration division, CustomCare, where he has embraced technology to build one of Canada’s leading Third Party Administrators (TPA’s).

As a prolific idea generator, Ed has reshaped companies through focus on a differentiated customer experience, team building, and revenue growth. Ed believes that people perform their best when they enjoy being at work so he tries to keep things light and even serious meetings are rarely concluded without a few rounds of laughter.

His formula for business is: (Innovation + Execution) X Caring = Success Ed is a passionate, vibrant speaker and an active advocate for workplace and youth mental health initiatives. When not working, you will likely find Ed with family, golfing, exercising, or playing guitar.

JUNE 2020

in employee benefits or insurance per se,” she explains. “My background is in technology, consulting and telecoms; I worked in different roles across various industries before focusing on technology transformation.” Ngeth states that PPI’s open attitude towards digital innovation and its desire to

leverage technology to improve its

change should look like. “I’ve tried to

customers’ and advisors’ experience

always view our business as working

is what encouraged her to join in early

through advisors to help their clients

2019. “I wanted to be part of something

create healthy, engaged, loyal and

exciting and evolutionary; the industry

productive employees,” Hofstede says.

is changing right now.”

He identifies this simple strategy as

Change is certainly in the global zeit-

integral to helping PPI’s clients provide

geist – whether socially, economically

necessary services and be success-

or technologically motivated, in the

ful. “ We believe our role goes beyond

digital era, most businesses are finding

simply employee benefits and pension.

that the only way to stay relevant is to

Our mission is to help clients improve

identify trends and adapt to them. In

their work environment and build an

this regard, PPI Benefits has a clearly

exceptional employee experience for

defined view of what good industry

the modern world.”

PPI Business Formula CLICK TO WATCH

|

1:32

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127

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PPI Benefits: The Advisor centric TPA CLICK TO WATCH

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0:29

129 This ability to see beyond the mere

contrast that with the Actual results

product or service which it provides is

they are currently achieving,” explains

what gives PPI its edge and continues

Hofstede. Focusing on the two ‘Ps’ –

to inform its approach. Having worked

Possibilities and Priorities – PPI helps its

with some of the top advisors in the

clients identify what’s important to them

country, PPI has developed a sophisti-

and how to execute an effective plan.

cated mode of operation which factors

Access to the latest technology and

in high business ethics, technological

an integrated system for deploying it

innovation and a strong, customer-

is crucial to this operating model, and

centric philosophy. “We use what we

that, in turn, requires a well thought

call a ‘G.A.P.P. consulting methodology’:

out digital transformation. “We know

we look at the goals set by the client,

what our member and advisor jour-

understand why they are running a

ney should look like in terms of what

benefits programme and what they

we aspire to and how we want to

are trying to accomplish, and then we

transform in each of the steps,” says w w w.te c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

PPI BENEFITS INC.

Ngeth. Taking an iterative approach,

problems and allows staff to focus their

PPI Benefits has begun to deploy AI

energy on more critical client-facing

(artificial intelligence) in increments to

activities. “I want to automate the

automate less crucial functions whilst

predictable so we can humanise the

gradually developing larger tech solu-

exceptional,” he adds. “It’s all about

tions. It’s an approach that allows the

making PPI Benefits really effective

company to constantly be achieving a

and efficient on the predictable pro-

string of small victories which will add

cesses so that we’ve got more time

up to a larger goal. After all, Hofstede

to deal with people.”

says, repetitive data-entry tasks are

130

Handling the vast amounts of data

tedious for employees and subject to

relevant to the insurance sector and

manual error. Transferring the respon-

placing it in an integrated environment

sibility of these tasks from humans to

for analytics software led PPI Benefits

machines eliminates this margin for

to start moving to a cloud-based

PPI automation and AI CLICK TO WATCH

JUNE 2020

|

2:16

platform – the company as a whole is actively transitioning to the cloud.

Gathering, analysing and presenting that data to advisors and clients forms one of the company’s biggest techno-

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

Inthida Ngeth Title: Vice President, Operations Location: Toronto, Canada

logical challenges. “We’re looking to evolve how we gather the information in a way that is easier and more consolidated in one location. From there, we can slice and dice it any way we want and structure it accordingly to make it meaningful,” Ngeth states. In the digital era, where data is king, knowing how to extract value from it and use historical

Inthida Ngeth is Vice President of Operations at PPI Benefits. She oversees P&L performance across divisions and leads all facets of operations.

As a value builder and connector, Inthida thrives on bringing vision, ideas, and people together to create new potential. With 15 years of experience across the insurance, tech, consulting and telecom sectors, she has led organisations and teams to exceptional growth, by leveraging her diverse operational, marketing and strategic background to deliver impactful results and create customer-first solutions and services.

Passionate about helping others develop and succeed, Inthida is a coach and mentor, and serves as an advisor for a portfolio of emerging startups. She is also an active champion for diversity and inclusion and the advancement of women in leadership.

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patterns to determine decision-making,

we also know that there are a growing

predict and inform risk assessments

number of millennial clients coming

is PPI’s objective. However, far from

through, and sometimes they may also

being purely utilitarian, Hofstede

value interacting with a chatbot, so we

emphasises that a technological

need that capability too.”

approach is crucial to business conti-

Despite a strong tech underpinning

nuity with a new generation of people

to its operations, PPI Benefits ensures

with different expectations. “PPI is

that the human touch is never lost at the

starting to use AI in the customer ser-

customer service level. The company is

vice realm and there’s an opportunity

also careful to ensure that its staff can

to use it for some of our narrower prod-

wield the digital tools they are equipped

uct deliveries. Our wonderful people

with securely. Indeed, cybersecurity

have always been an important part

is a top priority of both clients and the

of PPI Benefits’ value proposition, but

modern, digitalised insurance sector.

PPI AI + Machine CLICK TO WATCH

|

1:54

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133

PPI BENEFITS INC.

134

“ Our role goes beyond simply employee benefits and pension.

Our mission is to help clients improve their work environment and build an exceptional employee experience” — Ed Hofstede, President, PPI Benefits

JUNE 2020

The company’s focus on digitisation couldn’t have come at a more fortuitous time; the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has made global businesses question the integrity of their previous ways of operating and seek out more advanced solutions. In this uncertain, new environment, Hofstede says that forging a way forward is “about picking partners that PPI can work with to deliver the digital employee and advisor experience” that it envisions. Critical to helping PPI Benefits on this journey so far have been companies like Oliver, a modern benefits and pension administration software company; and Venngo, a work-perks group discount programme, and IA Financial Group. Although they all collaborate with PPI Benefits on different things, Hofstede explains that there’s one consistent element that these relationships are based on: trust. “One of the first things PPI Benefits does is assess the reasonableness of their promises and commitments.

We deal with partners and suppliers every day, so we have to ensure we’re comfortable dealing with them. If we choose to work with them, it’s because they provide high-quality goods and services, they’re ethical and they work well with our team.” w w w.te c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

135

PPI BENEFITS INC.

136

“ I think, more than anybody else, we’re poised for success with our foundation of technology. PPI Benefits is optimistic because we know the possibilities and how to reach them” — Inthida Ngeth, Vice President, Operations, PPI Benefits JUNE 2020

Although the rest of 2020 will be a challenge, both Hofstede and Ngeth are confident that PPI Benefits has hit the ground running. The changes being ushered in are all about creating a better experience for the people who need PPI’s services, and the company is not being complacent in trying to find out the best way to secure that goal.

“These days, you’re not just being compared to other advisors, administrators or insurance companies,” Hofstede says. “Now, you’re being compared to the best experience a customer can

137

have anywhere, dealing with anybody.”

to empowering advisors with new

With companies like Amazon revolu-

technology and services to deliver bet-

tionising the convenience of shopping

ter value for corporate clients. “We’re

and same/next day delivery, why

excited about the future and how we’re

shouldn’t PPI Benefits try to do some-

doing it differently,” Ngeth concludes.

thing similar in its field, he asks. “In

“I think, more than anybody else, we’re

addition to just the traditional benefits,

poised for success with our foundation

dental plan and pension, maybe there

of technology. PPI Benefits is optimis-

could be an employee assistance pro-

tic because we know the possibilities

gramme, a mental health programme,

and how to reach them.”

alcohol treatment program, employee discounts, etc.” Clearly, the sky’s the limit for what a modern benefits programme could be, and PPI is dedicated w w w.te c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

138

NY’s biggest healthcare provider’s data-driven transformation WRITTEN BY

LEILA HAWKINS PRODUCED BY

MIKE SADR

JUNE 2020

139

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N O R T H W E L L H E A LT H

Northwell Health’s Chris Hutchins on how data and analytics are transforming healthcare

“T

echnology has enabled us to accomplish a lot more than we’d imagined,” says Chris Hutchins, VP, Chief Data and

Analytics Officer for New York State’s Northwell Health, discussing how the healthcare provider has adapted its operations to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We basically flipped the switch one day, and most 140

of our workforce who are not involved with direct patient care started working remotely. I can only imagine that the load on the system was massive, but we didn’t experience a lot of disruption. It’s been remarkable,” he adds. “Our entire executive team has taken extraordinary measures to prepare the health system for many scenarios that involve disruption to health system operations.”

Northwell is the largest healthcare provider in the state with more than 72,000 employees.

Founded in 1997, it has 23 hospitals, nearly 800 outpatient facilities, medical and nursing schools, as well as the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research, which alone has 50 research labs. “It’s the most truly integrated delivery network that I’ve ever seen,” Hutchins elaborates.

JUNE 2020

141

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WORK

es more

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“We continue to use RPA to take over more and more steps of the process…revealing a whole new frontier for us in terms of capability.”

Stephen Rosalia Revenue Cycle, Northwell Health Robility has the power to transform healthcare back-office operations: Automate charge capture, coding, pre-auth workflows, denial management, provider enrollment, and several other healthcare processes that are done between disparate systems Extend the economic use of legacy healthcare systems Increase productivity, accuracy, speed, and 24x7 operations Full management information and audit trail Enable staff to focus on higher value activities

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As a process transformation company, Sutherland rethinks and rebuilds processes for the digital age by combining the speed and insight of design thinking with the scale and accuracy of data analytics. We have been helping customers across industries from financial services to healthcare, achieve greater agility through transformed and automated customer experiences for over 30 years. Headquartered in Rochester, N.Y., Sutherland employs thousands of professionals around the world.

N O R T H W E L L H E A LT H

“ Technology has enabled us to accomplish a lot more than we’d imagined” Chris Hutchins, VP, Chief Data and Analytics Officer for New York State’s Northwell Health

being deployed in inpatient units that enable communication, entertainment, food service options and much more.

Its use, says Hutchins, is “about providing the patients with some of the comforts of home”.

For some time, healthcare has been shifting to a preventive model, with the aim of reducing the need for hospitalisations. “Thanks to technology and advances in medicine there are more and more services that

Presently, a key focus for Northwell 144

can be done in outpatient settings

is understanding the entire health

or in same-day surgery facilities so

system from the patient experience

that patients don’t require long-term

perspective. Indeed, the organisation

hospitalisation,” Hutchins affirms.

has a department dedicated to this

Telemedicine, which makes virtual

led by a Chief Experience Officer,

appointments with clinicians possible,

who, along with other members of

and chatbot technology, which helps

the executive team, examines every aspect of potential interactions with the health system from a patient perspective. They assess environment and services, noise levels, ease of access, signage, comfort and even the patient dining experience.

According to Hutchins, technology is helping Northwell to achieve a more personalised, positive patient experience. For example, smart devices are

Northwell Health Fertility – State of the Art Fertility Clinic CLICK TO WATCH

|

2:03

145 to rapidly identify patient test results

isolation, which Hutchins says, has

and is integrated with the electronic

been received very well. “I have heard

medical records (EMR) have come to

a number of stories where patients

the forefront. According to Hutchins:

were having to say goodbye to their

“Northwell is really depending on

family this way, although my favour-

these types of technology, particu-

ite stories are the ones where the

larly right now, because we have to

patient recovered and was reunited

limit our interactions due to social

with loved ones. Those are the best

distancing guidelines.”

stories of course, but, sadly they’re

This has taken on greater signifi-

not all like that. But just being able to

cance due to the impact of the global

deploy innovative technologies and

COVID-19 pandemic. For exam-

solutions that we previously hadn’t in

ple, patients are being given smart

order to make that kind of difference

devices so they can communicate

for those receiving healthcare is

with their families while they’re in

really significant.” w w w.te c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

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Hutchins has been interested in healthcare since his early days, when his mother worked in a hospital radiology department. During vacations and on weekends he gained valuable experience, learning about managing care from the ground up. “I liked the idea of being able to help people,” he

1997

Year founded

$12.5bn Revenue in US dollars

says, “and over the years I have had amazing opportunities to get involved in new areas.”

A variety of roles followed, from working in back-end operations scheduling appointments and cod-

72,000 Number of employees

ing visits from physicians’ notes, to learning how to build databases and

was blessed with the opportunity

integrating budgeting systems, until

to join Northwell Health.

he was heading up reporting and

Over the course of his over

analytics, which led to a role as an

20-year career in healthcare he’s

IT director. His duties grew untill he

seen how data and analytics have

was responsible for building out new

increased in importance. “It’s only

facilities when practices expanded,

really been in the last decade or so

and for big enterprise analytics. This

that companies in the US have had

eventually led to a role where he was

a chief data officer,” he says. “It’s a

responsible for extending an enter-

result of recognising the important

prise data warehouse function while

role that data and analytics play,

integrating three different data ware-

in helping you to make decisions and

house environments, and helping to

in developing effective strategies

lead implementation of a new consoli-

that not only support your business,

dated EMR. A year or two into this role he

but improve and grow it.” w w w.te c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

147

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“ It’s a result of recognising the important role that data and analytics play, in helping you to make decisions and to develop effective strategies that not only support your business, but improve and grow it” Chris Hutchins, VP, Chief Data and Analytics Officer for New York State’s Northwell Health

locations we’ll need vehicles, and where we’ll need to bring in assistance from the countless professionals that have come to support us in New

The value of data and analytics is

York from across the country, as well

particularly evident in the midst of the

as local and state government. All of

current crisis. Northwell’s emergency

those things are being supported with

operations centre uses analytics to mon-

data and analytics.”

itor call center volumes, occupancy rates,

Similarly, analytics is also enabling

staffing and load balancing and multiple

the company to better coordinate

other critical data points to enable coor-

care so it can provide the right level of

dination of critical activities. Hutchins

information for scheduling, for exam-

explains: “We’re monitoring where we

ple when a patient is due for various

have capacity to send the patients so

screenings, or lab testing.

that there are no surprises and sites are prepared when patients arrive.”

The company also uses analytics to make predictions such as anticipating what the demand for ICU beds, ventilators and personal protective equipment will be, along with how many staff and transportation vehicles are needed. “It helps us to see in which w w w.te c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

149

N O R T H W E L L H E A LT H

150

“ We really have a unique opportunity to make significant discoveries if we can harness this data. I believe it could reveal tremendous transformational insights that can have a positive impact for future generations” Chris Hutchins, VP, Chief Data and Analytics Officer for New York State’s Northwell Health JUNE 2020

Hutchins says that one of the things

taking for them to be seen from the

that’s been most impactful is the crea-

minute they walk in. We’re understand-

tion of a registry that’s updated in near

ing what the workflow is that will predict

real time. By analysing records, includ-

where we need to increase staffing

ing data from clinical systems, billing

levels. It’s tied into our emergency

data from insurance claims, and other

operations centre, so they’re able to

information, the company is able to tell

determine where to route patients that

if a patient is due for a test, for example.

call in for emergency services.

“We’re looking at virtually every patient

“We’re also using datasets to man-

in every emergency room we have in

age emergency response vehicles,

the health system, understanding how

and understanding what’s happening in

long they’ve been there, how long it’s

the geographic locations that we serve,” 151

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

Chris Hutchins Title: VP, Chief Data & Analytics Officer Industry: Healthcare

Location: New York

Chris is a senior health care leader with over 20 years’ of experience developing analytic teams, establishing data governance, data warehousing and business intelligence implementation, delivering solutions focused on patient experience, outcomes, cost, population health, quality, regulatory and risk based arrangements, revenue cycle, health system operations. He has extensive experience with organisational transformation and specialises in integrating analytic, IT and Informatics teams across organisational lines to improve solution delivery and enabling data driven insight. w w w.te c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

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he continues. “This means we’re able

enterprise data visualisation across

to anticipate where surges may arise,

multiple departments, including strat-

and so can move those emergency

egy, quality, operations and finance

response vehicles proactively so we

because, as Hutchins explains, it’s

can respond quickly. It’s heavily used

intuitive and easy to interact with.

in logistics, and we’ve seen that more

SAP is widely used for cost account-

so with Covid than ever before.”

ing and financial reporting; it also

Internally, Northwell has several key

uses Sutherland Healthcare Solutions

partnerships that help it manage its

for robotic process automation,

operations. Athena Health has been

primarily focused on revenue cycle

the company’s enterprise physician

areas presently.

revenue cycle tool for a number of

Allscripts provides the enterprise

years, using its billing and accounts

electronic medical records platform as

receivable management and analyt-

well as managed IT services. Northwell

ics. Tableau Software is used for

and Allscripts are teaming up to build

Clinical Laboratory of New York CLICK TO WATCH

|

2:12

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153

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for cancer prevention and treatment.

I want to see us continue to attract the best minds for research, medical practice, Information Technology and data science.

“There’s a tremendous opportunity here in the New York City area. We have an enormous population centre that’s incredibly diverse, and has repa next-generation EHR that will incorpo-

resentation of the population across

rate input from physicians, nurses and

the globe,” he adds. “We’ve been accu-

other medical experts and relies on an

mulating data for a couple of decades

infrastructure that includes voice recog-

here that would take an unlimited sup-

nition, clinical decision support, artificial

ply of money, and a lot of time to build

intelligence and machine learning.

a similar infrastructure in other parts of

Looking ahead, Northwell continues

the world to start capturing this data.

working on a platform that they have

We really have a unique opportunity

deployed that allows patients to inter-

to make significant discoveries if we

act directly with the health system,

can harness this data. I believe it could

using the web and their smartphones

reveal tremendous transformational

to schedule appointments, search

insights that can have a positive impact

for physicians who can treat specific

for future generations.”

problems — for example by typing in simple keyworks like ‘joint pain’ — and even look for healthy food options in their area.

“I’d like to see us continue to grow and I’m sure that we will,” Hutchins says, “doing more breakthrough research and innovation, particularly w w w.te c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

155

BUILDING OUT CHINA’S DATA CENTRE INFRASTRUCTURE 156

WRITTEN BY

JOHN O’HANLON PRODUCED BY

TOM VENTURO

JUNE 2020

157

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C H AY O R A

Chayora has a unique approach and unparalleled expertise when it comes to establishing new, world class data centres in China

A

s China opens its expanding economy to global businesses to meet the growing demands of its 1.4 billion people, it

presents a compelling market to global retailers, manufacturers and service companies. Starting up or growing in China is not like starting or scaling up in any western-style economy. A partner that understands the need of businesses in the wider 158

world to gain a presence within China, and offer that access from within and at scale, is essential.

Chayora was conceived and launched nine years ago to provide just that bridge into China, a secure and carrier-neutral base for transactional data and operations. Founded by Oliver Jones, Jonathan Berney and Steven Cao, respectively CEO, COO and China Chairman, its focus is entirely on using the unique know-how, expert team, licensing and corporate structure it has created to develop and operate data centre campuses in China.

Conceived on a scale that will make Chayora a major player even by China’s standards, the sites are strategically located and truly hyperscale developments, covering typically more than 30 hectares and with over 300MW of gross power

JUNE 2020

159

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C H AY O R A

“ I was approached by a large global bank looking for an innovative way into China – and I quickly realised that the other major banks had the same problem” — Oliver Jones, CEO, Chayora

load. Sites this large have all the expansion capacity needed, and customers can be accommodated on a flexible funding basis, from being fully funded

by Chayora to being self-funded by the customer.

There are very few international data centre operators that hold the necessary IDC (Internet Data Centre) licences needed to enter China’s market, says Jones. “The potential opportunity was highlighted originally when I was approached by a large

160

global bank looking for an innovative way to handle their data storage in China – and I quickly found out that the other major banks had the same problem.” Understanding both the opportunity and the formidable difficulty of grasping it, the founders put their heads together and set about gathering talent. “We needed the best, so we identified extremely collaborative and competent people to join our team.” The Chayora team is very strong today, well-balanced in global presence, gender mix and relevant professional backgrounds enabling it to deliver a unique proposition to its customers.

JUNE 2020

Chayora Introduction CLICK TO WATCH

|

1:56

161 Jones and Berney are both Hong Kong based, the latter responsible for creating Chayora’s ability to

delivering for customers. We work in the space where these converge.”

Chayora’s key attraction for custom-

deliver and execute its strategy. In

ers is reliable speed to market. This

China, all land is government owned,

is achieved by having pre-approved

with long-term leases acquired by

designs that satisfy national regula-

auction. The first site in the Tianjin

tory requirements. Where a customer

Beijing corridor was acquired in 2017

needs to vary that design the team

as part of an investment agreement

is in place to obtain approval very

with the local government.

quickly. The first facility on the Tianjin

“We have three main business driv-

site, known as TJ1, will accommodate

ers,” Berney explains. “To align with

3,000 racks in six data halls at rack

the China Five-Year Plan and its poli-

densities up 30kW per rack to the

cies, secondly, the objectives of our

customer requirements. Construction

shareholders and, most importantly,

of the first phase shell is complete, w w w.te c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

C H AY O R A

162

equipment is being installed and it is

A customer can come in at a mod-

due to come on stream in September –

est level and scale up to tens or even

the first of nine data centre facilities

hundreds of megawatts. “Hyperscale

on this campus.

generally means over 10MW of IT load

A second campus in Shanghai, which

and is built to suit in our cases,” says

has a population of nearly 25 million,

Jones. “We are able to deliver that now

is at an advanced stage of planning.

to the largest companies in the world,

It will be fully permitted and licensed

which is rare if not unique in China.

and, like Tianjin which serves greater

The large cloud companies coming

Beijing, will be carrier-neutral with

into China have had to start small

enough power available for any

compared to their typical requirements

future expansion offering low-latency

while they build demand but growth

ultra-high-speed connections at

has been constrained due to lack of

a competitive TCO.

facilities at scale and performance.”

JUNE 2020

Though the core team is built of expe-

stimulating. “I have never encountered

rienced developers, operators and

anything as exciting or as rewarding

entrepreneurs with more than 100

as the progress Chayora has made.”

data centres under their belts, Jones says they find this venture the most

In every sector, customers appreciate Chayora’s ability to help them

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

Oliver Jones Title: Co-Founder & CEO

Company: Chayora

Industry: Technology industry Location: Hong Kong Oliver Jones is the co-founder and Chief Executive of Chayora. Oliver originally qualified as a chartered surveyor after graduating from Kingston in 1983 and after completing his MBA at London Business School in the late 1980s, specialised in corporate finance and the fast-growing management areas of property and business services outsourcing. Oliver specifically focuses on complex outsourcing transactions and property operating related investment deals. His experience in public partnerships has its roots in the UK in the 1990s when market testing and PFI models were developed. During this time, Oliver advised the UK Government’s Cabinet Office through his role on the UK PFI Panel Property Group and various industry professional bodies. He has worked extensively in real estate and service operator businesses internationally and has a particular insight into the Middle East and Asia through past business interests specifically the UAE, where he was a founder director of Emrill when with Carillion; Hong Kong and China with Citex and EC Harris; and Australia with Symonds. w w w.te c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

163

C H AY O R A

164

JUNE 2020

165

“ We took up this challenge because despite it being such a massive market none of the major international tech firms had an effective strategy for accessing it” — Oliver Jones, CEO, Chayora w w w.te c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

C H AY O R A

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

Yali Liu

Title: EVP — Network & Strategy

Company: Chayora

Industry: Technology Location:Hong Kong

166

Ms. Yali Z. Liu joined Chayora in 2020 as Executive Vice President responsible for network connectivity products and solutions, as well as business strategy, being a member of the management board of Chayora, supporting delivery of large scalable high performance data centre campuses in China. Yali has over 15 years of strategic and operational leadership experience in global internet, cloud and data centre development, driving transformation and supporting business and customer demands worldwide. Yali was Executive Director at Verizon, responsible for global network planning, engineering and network product development, leading large geographically dispersed global teams to provide development and operational support for innovative product portfolios while aligning technology strategy with business and financial objectives. Between 2014-19, Yali was Vice President of ChinaCache responsible for global business development. She was instrumental in driving carrier-neutral data centres and building the first internet exchange (CHN-IX) in mainland China for more effective regional connectivity among cloud and data service providers and ISPs. Yali holds a B.S. in Mathematics from Peking University, an MBA from University of Dallas, and an M.S. in Computer Sciences from University of Texas in Dallas. Yali has a US patent in internet technology, and is an advisory board member of the Pacific Telecommunications Council (PTC).

JUNE 2020

“ It’s exciting to be developing truly carrier-neutral data centres – something entirely new to China” — Yali Liu, EVP – Network & Strategy, Chayora

to data centre capacity needs. “It’s exciting,” she says, “to be developing truly carrier-neutral data centres – something entirely new to China.”

China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) announced that from July 2020 the fee charging model between three big indigenous operators China Telecom, China Unicom and China Mobile

formulate a business plan and decide

(which has 950 million subscribers)

whether to choose a wholesale build-

shall be scrapped and internet back-

to-suit data centre or go for racks

bone peering introduced.

within their “colo” to get their services

This is a very important step for-

started. They can expand as their

ward and will significantly improve

business grows.

network performance and user

The buzz around Chayora attracts

experience once fully implemented,

vibrant talent, typified by the recent

Liu affirms: “I am happy that the

appointment of Yali Liu as EVP of

government has opened the way to

Network and Strategy. Liu has one

seamless connectivity to the internet

foot in Texas and the other in Beijing,

backbone in China. Chayora now has

an ideal international background

a colocation partnership agreement

for working with key stakeholders.

with Telstra, under which Telstra will

Formerly Executive Director at Verizon

also be the campus’ network man-

and responsible for global network

ager offering carrier neutrality. Our

planning and VP for ChinaCache, one

customers can now come in with the

of the largest content delivery net-

carrier of their choice. Connectivity

works (CDN) providers in China, she

to international standards is a big

has a rare understanding of both the

focus for us. Customers need to

American and Chinese approaches

know that though we’re China-based w w w.te c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

167

C H AY O R A

“ Our drivers are threefold, to comply with the political and regulatory environment, secondly ROI, and finally delivering for customers” — Jonathan Berney, COO, Chayora

the US West Coast and specifically in the Bay Area of San Francisco, which is where Karen Kesner, EVP and Head

we have international expertise,

of Americas is based. She leads key

so transparency is a hallmark of

go-to-market and growth acceleration

our business.”

activities for Chayora customers in

Having a strong presence in China 168

the US.

and also in western markets sets

Each of the leaders we spoke to

Chayora apart. Many of the biggest

emphasised the importance of cultural

global tech players are situated on

sensitivity when coming into China.

Chayora – Enable Access CLICK TO WATCH

JUNE 2020

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1:57

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

Jonathan Berney Title: COO Company: Chayora Industry: Technology Location: Hong Kong With over 30 years of international business experience, in technology, finance and property, before creating Chayora along with his two fellow founders, Jonathan worked as an analyst with Cazenove in London, was CEO of .com, Head of Implementation of an early mobile commerce platform and, more recently, was a regional managing partner with EC Harris. Here he helped organisations with business-critical assets transform and outsource, including the development of mission critical data centres across Asia. He oversaw the mobilisation and operation of Hong Kong’s first Tier IV equivalent data centre.

As well as working in the investment banking and asset worlds, Jonathan spent three years with Gemini Consulting as part of the cap gemini group focusing on helping organisations transform their people, technology and physical assets, and was part of the leadership team for delivering the world’s first public sector e-procurement platform. Jonathan is passionate about the confluence of physical assets and technology developing the new world of digital infrastructure and enabling business through it. He sees himself as a closet entrepreneur bringing an entrepreneurial, transformational approach to often traditional industries. Prior to moving back to Asia 12 years ago, he led a number of development and asset organisations through significant transformations in order to maximise their development and operational performance. These included BAA, Land Securities, London and Continental Railways, American Express, Rail Procurement Agency and the Grosvenor Estate. w w w.te c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

169

C H AY O R A

170

2011

Year founded

20+

Number of employees

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“Business relationships are much more

She is inspired by her work with advisory

relational, and that relationship has to be

councils in America, China and Europe

built,” says Kesner. “For example, one

and connecting these organisations

of our co-founders, Steven Cao worked

globally to help young people under-

with MIIT in many different projects when

stand their options within technology

he was senior manager in China’s State

and the wider STEM environment.

Grid Corporation and he has a great

“Chayora is extremely supportive of

understanding of Chinese business

that work through a variety of different

compliance. Having people like him and

mechanisms and programmes.”

Yali Liu on the networks side within the business is indispensable.”

The Chinese market is one of the most predictable stable markets, but

Employing great people from diverse

is characterised by a very different set

backgrounds is a core value for Chayora,

of parameters to a typical free market.

and Kesner is deeply involved in the

The current Five-Year Plan talked

advancement of women in technology.

about localisation and innovation.

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

Karen Kesner Title: Head of Americas and Executive VP

Company: Chayora

Industry: Technology industry

Location: USA

Karen Kesner is based out of Palo Alto, USA and leads multiple aspects of Chayora’s go-to-market and growth acceleration activities, including strategic partnerships, marketing, branding and communications for China entry and expansion. Kesner has more than 20 years of experience in the technology industry, having held senior positions across sales, alliances and business development at several of world’s leading IT businesses, including Tata Communications, CenturyLink and Oracle, among others. w w w.te c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

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C H AY O R A

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“ Business relationships [in China] are much more relational, and that relationship has to be built” — Karen Kesner, Head of Americas and Executive VP, Chayora

Its successor, the 14th Five-Year Plan running from 2021 to 2025, will be a crucial element in shaping the new era, both for China and for the world.

Understanding this and aligning your approach with it is a prerequisite to doing business within China. “One of the biggest barriers to entry is the regulatory structure around telecoms and the internet, but China represents almost 20% of the world online market, which means that people need to find

JUNE 2020

173

a way to overcome this challenge,”

gas to levels never seen before—an

reiterates Jones. “We took this up our-

increase of $200bn over two years in

selves because despite it being such

just one (if the largest) global market.

a massive market many international

Chayora is not only able to navigate

firms still have to develop effective

the maze of regulation, it is completely

strategies to access it.” According to

aligned with helping China fulfil its Five-

the WSJ the first phase of the US-China

Year Plan and deliver its international

trade deal signed earlier this year lays

trade targets.

out an aggressive schedule for ramping up China’s purchases of American farm products, manufactured goods, business services and oil and natural w w w.te c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

Powering future factories WRITTEN BY

JOHN O’HANLON PRODUCED BY

MANUEL NAVARRO 174

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TECH MAHINDRA

Tech Mahindra’s Head of Aerospace and Defence Manufacturing, Debasis Bisoi, on IoT, Blockchain, AI, and the Factory of the Future

N

obody who knows India can be unaware of Mahindra. The logo appears on the front of buses, trucks, motorcycles, com-

mercial vehicles, SUVs and cars, as well as the ubiquitous three-wheelers (available since 2018 in all-electric format). Mahindra is one of India’s 176

great industrial dynasties, a global brand today, with factories in South Korea, South Africa, the US, Australia and China, and a strong presence in defence and energy. Its Chairman, Anand Mahindra, is the grandson of JC Mahindra, one of three family members who founded Mahindra & Mahindra as a steel trading organisation in 1945.

Anand Mahindra is also the founder of Tech Mahindra. An early entrant into the burgeoning though incipient industrial electronics market in 1983, the company was started as a JV with British Telecom, subsequently buying out this partner, growing organically and by acquisition, and today having a presence in all of the world’s principal industrial markets. Tech Mahindra is the highest ranked non-US company in the Forbes Global Digital 100 list, employs more than 131,500 JUNE 2020

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TECH MAHINDRA

“ Our Aircraft Health Monitoring System (AHMS) is a solution that uses real-time data captured through integrated sensors throughout an aircraft parts to enhance reliability and safety” 178

— Debasis Bisoi, Vice President Manufacturing Vertical, Digital and IOT Solutions

professionals across 90 countries and includes a number of Fortune 500 companies in its global client list of over 190 companies.

As you’d expect from a subsidiary of a group rooted in vehicle making, manufacturing is one of the biggest verticals in Tech Mahindra. The business is focused on the three key trends it has identified as facing manufacturers in the 21st century: the explosion of intelligent devices and increasing human/robot collaboration; leveraging the power of new technologies to meet the growing demand for mass customisation; and tackling the exponential growth of content consumption – that is, the power of data driving rapid IT/OT convergence.

Of course, global manufacturers are aware of these trends, but putting them to the service of businesses and customers remains a huge challenge.

Tech Mahindra’s four ‘big bets’: factories and SCM, smart products, reliable aftermarket (integrating field warranty with product design and production quality), and mobility and experience, will have the most transformational effects on customers’ businesses

JUNE 2020

Celebrating Change & ChangeMakers; the Digital ChangeMakers CLICK TO WATCH

|

2:16

179 – and the enterprises that will create

‘factory of the future’, with an emphasis

the future are those willing to bet on

on aerospace, defence and process

technologies that will disrupt industries

manufacturing. “I’m responsible for

and will create new opportunities. The

setting the key directions for these

company collaborates with disruptive

sub-verticals, developing strategic

new age technology players, startups,

plans, identifying focus areas, improv-

and academia globally, drawing them

ing solution offerings, identifying

together with academics and custom-

mid-term course corrections, improv-

ers at its annual TechmNxt.i forum.

ing win ratios and developing teams,”

Leading these initiatives since 2012

he explains. “I also work extensively

from Tech Mahindra’s Bengaluru

on mergers and acquisitions and

HQ is VP, Debasis Bisoi. His passion

engage in providing thought leader-

is developing and delivering digital

ship to our manufacturing clients.” His

manufacturing solutions and strategic

team has co-authored more than 180

initiatives in areas like IoT and the

patents and disclosures for these w w w.te c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

TECH MAHINDRA

180

clients, addressing their digital disrup-

leveraging cutting-edge cloud

tion issues and ‘pain points’ with the

computing, sensor, IoT and big data

backing of Mahindra’s many centres of

technologies to perform deep analyt-

excellence and strategic partners.

ics of the aircraft’s health status. The

Bisoi is keen to point out his unit’s

unit collects aircraft operation and

contribution to its high profile custom-

performance data from every system

ers. “A good example is our Aircraft

during flight. Examples include avion-

Health Monitoring System (AHMS).

ics, flight controls, fly-by-wire, landing

This is a solution that uses real-time

gear, braking systems, environmental

data captured through integrated

control systems, thrust reversers,

sensors on aircraft parts to enhance

engines, electrical systems, auxiliary

reliability and safety.” Among many

power units (APUs) and more. On the

clients, the system was adopted by

ground, the AHMS system performs

a Canandian aircraft manufacturer,

the detailed analysis of the transmitted

JUNE 2020

on-board data to support a wide vari-

to advanced automation via chatbots

ety of operational decisions.

and improved strength deployment

In that case, Tech Mahindra engi-

inventory (SDI) scores, the team

neered a system solution. It is just as

improved first-call resolution (FCR)

effective in the business process field,

from 74% to 91% and introduced auto-

though. For another client, this time a

mation that reduced turnaround time

major Swedish car manufacturer, the

for requests by 75%. Monthly request

problem was centred around global

numbers went down by 3,500.

dealer support and access manage-

In the world of process manufactur-

ment – the company was dealing with

ing, Bisoi continues, his team partnered

40,000 requests and 20,000 calls a

with the largest global chemical manu-

month. By setting this client on the road

facturer in its journey from a monolithic 181

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

Debasis Bisoi Title: Vice President Manufacturing Vertical, Digital and IOT Solutions Debasis Bisoi heads Tech Mahindra's digital initiatives, solution offerings, verticalisation, top-line growth and key customer relationships in aerospace and process manufacturing industry verticals. He provides leadership to key alliances in the IoT and cognitive space, ventures and strategic initiatives. Bisoi is responsible for Tech Mahindra’s first and largest and multiple subsequent digital relationships in the manufacturing vertical, including solutioning, sales and delivery. He has been instrumental in incubating and growing digital manufacturing, the factory of future, IoT relationships spanning business development, solutioning and delivery. He was an IoT thought leader finalist in the first IoT Congress in 2016. w w w.te c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

TRANSFORMING MANUFACTURING WITH NEXT-LEVEL TECHNOLOGIES. Tech Mahindra + Dell Technologies

In a progressive market changing environment, the manufacturing vertical is fuelling innovation in several industries. Deep expertise and a collaborative approach can successfully manage complex global supply chains, coste�ective manufacturing facilities, and multifaceted product lifecycles, thereby de�ning the industry leaders of the future.

Next-level technologies will enable manufacturers to roll out new applications, such as advanced monitoring and diagnostics, machine performance optimization, and proactive maintenance.

There are certain partnerships that are industry rede�ning, like the powerhouse collaboration between Tech Mahindra, part of the Mahindra Group, the $15 billion Indian conglomerate and Dell Technologies, who transform IT from edge to core to cloud. Together, we are o�ering leading edge solutions that alter outcomes in the manufacturing industry. To help Aerospace and Defense, Automotive, Durable Goods, Industrial Equipment, and High Tech Manufacturers succeed, Tech Mahindra Services and Dell Technologies provide a unique combination of domain knowledge and technology-based solutions. Our IT and business process solutions are speci�c to each customer's needs and focus on delivering real business results.

The Aircraft Health Management System (AHMS) – Analytics platform It's vital that every aircraft is in peak operational condition, ensuring this takes a monumental amount of technology.

The Tech Mahindra - Dell Technologies o�ering comes with Cloud to Ground Solution, Data Extraction, Complex Data Visualization and Data Analytics.

This solution had to address a set of diverse challenges. The biggest was that it had to work on a Public Cloud based Analytics Platform with the ability to support the customer's data sovereignty demands. Built on Dell Technologies validated and ready solution architecture, this used Hadoop to gain deeper insights and enhance data-driven decision making, rather than designing a solution from scratch. Flexible and scalable, the solution starts with a small platform, and grows as capacity demand increases.

The bene�ts were signi�cant. A 20-25% Improvement in aircraft availability and 17% Improvement in First Time Fix rate.

Hot & Cold Storage. Infra for ADAS Solution.

Tech Mahindra and Dell Technologies come together to o�er OEM and Tier-1 enterprises an end-to-end ADAS/Autonomous vehicle consulting, solutions and system integration service. This includes infrastructure (including Hot, Warm & Cold storage), software, applications, annotation services, software & hardware validation, vehicle integration, testing, etc. 8 out of 10 top global auto OEMs incorporate this solution today.

ADAS development demands signi�cant solution integration. The challenges are many, when building an e�cient data management infrastructure and software, which can handle incoming semi -structured, unstructured camera and sensor data in the range of petabytes. This joint solution delivers massive scaling, from 10s of TB to 10s of PB. It is also simple to manage, with uncomplicated volume & single �le systems ensuring extreme performance at scale.

Process HistorianData Management solution This solution re�ects Tech Mahindra's decades of experience working with manufacturing companies, integrating its in-depth knowledge of technology platforms, understanding of business needs and worldclass delivery capability, combined with Dell Technologies proven eco-system to o�er end-to-end IT and engineering solutions.

This is evident in the modern data center which enables extra data to be stored with a smaller footprint and archival. The ease of management and the modern and scalable platform keeps much of the data online, delivering a far higher level of data management.

Workspace as a Service. WaaS. Rising adoption of BYOD across various industries, ease of deployment, scalability, quick availability, combined with the increasing demand for a�ordable virtual desktop virtualization are all boosting the growth of WaaS, organizations are realizing the bene�ts of WaaS that enables them to become less constrained by geography and reduce infrastructure managing costs, while maintaining their employee experience.

Tech Mahindra Dell Technologies WaaS o�ers the best user experience keeping costs low and o�ering extra agility. This solution classi�es the user personas and creates a platform without duplicating the investment made by the customer. It uni�es the remote access system to a common virtual platform using WaaS framework. This joint solution enables your employees to run the latest versions of their productivity applications on any device without any capital costs. It also comes with Dell Secure Works security monitoring.

The Tech Mahindra Dell Technologies alliance is committed to o�ering feature rich solutions that empower greater productivity and e�ciency. Focusing on shared goals, this partnership feeds o� synergies and the result is that a broad spectrum of clients across the manufacturing vertical accelerate innovation.

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TECH MAHINDRA

“ The Factory of the Future is about positive environmental impact in terms of reduced waste and carbon footprint” — Debasis Bisoi, Vice President Manufacturing Vertical, Digital and IOT Solutions

184

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throughput, higher utilisation, flexible manufacturing lines, reduced timeto-market, and higher visibility across other enterprise applications like MES, SCM, and ERP. It is also about new digital technologies and their smooth alignment with human capital and change management, and achieving the desired target state.

He adds: “FoF is about positive environmental impact in terms of reduced waste and carbon footprint. Digital Fabric enables horizontal integration across the product development and value chain, and vertical integration CIO organisation to a product-centric

across manufacturing. It ensures a true,

business, also serving as a key inte-

extended digital enterprise.” As a major

gration partner for acquisitions. “Our

client, the Mahindra Group vehicle

current focus areas in manufacturing

plants also benefit from a partnership

are automation and data exchange

with Tech Mahindra. “We have a very

to facilitate Tech Mahindra’s Factory

active engagement with Mahindra &

of Future (FoF), a smart factory with

Mahindra in its digital transformation

cyber-physical systems, IoT, cloud com-

journey. We identify key solutions areas

puting and cognitive computing as the

on FoF initiatives, and work jointly in

core enablers. Our solution empowers

building proofs-of-concept (PoC’s)

clients to adopt these technologies and

and scaling up.” Tech Mahindra has

overcome the traditional problem of vis-

implemented end-to-end Industry 4.0

ibility across the plant and enterprise.”

solutions at the Chakan factory near

The FoF at its core, he explains, is

Pune, one of India’s largest and most

about automation and robotics, quality

automated car plants, including PoCs, w w w.te c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

185

TECH MAHINDRA

SCADAs, historians, simulations and IT tools like the MES, PLM, ERP, integrating them with the shop floor systems.

Digital transformation can be a minefield for companies large and small, Bisoi acknowledges in conclusion. “Tech Mahindra has observed that only 30% of pilots end up reaching scale across the entire organisation: that means companies are failing to capture value from 70% of their pilots. We have identified two steps that can help them overcome 186

‘Pilot Purgatory’. The first is our ‘digital foundry model’. We start with the ideation phase, by identifying all use cases

“ A future-proof, scalable, sustainable network architecture is built to handle the data explosion arising from new age digital disruptions” — Debasis Bisoi, Vice President Manufacturing Vertical, Digital and IOT Solutions

that create value and build PoCs and MVP for cases with good RoI. Only then do we build an agile, product aligned solution for them. Next is to upgrade their factory network infrastructure. A future-proof, scalable, sustainable network architecture is built to handle the data explosion arising from new age digital disruptions.”

At present, in common with the rest of his team globally as well as everyone in India able to do so, Bisoi is working from home. With leading-edge digital

JUNE 2020

$4.9bn Revenue in US dollars

131,522 Number of employees

communication systems and develop-

develop, mass produce and distribute

ment tools at their command, the work

low cost personal protection equip-

of IT professionals is less disrupted

ment (PPE), a powerful branded hand

than those with indispensable work

sanitiser, and even a newly designed

among the community. The impact of

respirator, all specifically targeted at

the global pandemic on the group’s

the needs of India’s people. The indig-

manufacturing plants themselves has

enous ventilator, developed in March,

been met with exemplary and char-

sells at less than 7,500 rupees (not

acteristic Indian compassion allied to

even $100), the hand sanitiser at under

the group’s agility and flexible manu-

400 rupees per litre, or around $5.

facturing capacity. Anand Mahindra was quick to repurpose large sections of R&D and production capacity to w w w.te c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

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DXB Entertainments: Leveraging data to drive business value WRITTEN BY

PRODUCED BY

SEAN GALEA-PACE MICHAEL BANYARD

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Bollywood Boulevard JUNE 2020

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D X B E N T E R TA I N M E N T S

Satyan Abraham, ICT Director at DXB Entertainments, discusses his organisation’s digital transformation journey in Dubai

D

DXB Entertainments is the owner of Dubai Park and Resorts™, the region’s leading integrated theme park destina-

tion, featuring four theme parks, two hotels and one retail and dining facility, spread over 30.6 million square feet of land. Since its opening two 190

years ago, it has evolved into the largest integrated theme park destination in the region and offers unique experiences and fun for all ages and has won several awards in recognition of its achievements.

With over 100 rides across four theme parks, that range from high-adrenaline thrill seeking rides to family friendly activities, Dubai Parks and Resorts is an unmissable destination for any visitor to Dubai.

Satyan Abraham, ICT Director at DXB Entertainments, has been with the organisation since 2016. Born in India, Abraham worked in Mumbai before relocating to the Gulf country. Prior to his role at DXB Entertainments, Abraham spent over a decade at Emirates Airlines in a variety of different roles and also headed his own consultancy JUNE 2020

Motiongate Mad Pursuit

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D X B E N T E R TA I N M E N T S

2014

firm called Josh Consulting. “I was truly enjoying my consulting career, when

Year founded

I was approached by a senior execu-

30.6 mn

2

Facility land square footage

100+

Rides across the four theme parks

192

tive at DXB Entertainments, who said that they were building a world-class leisure and entertainment destination, the first of its kind in the UAE and in the region, and that they wanted to bring someone onboard to oversee their major ICT infrastructure project.

From the onset, Dubai Parks and Resorts’ vision was to establish itself as a key component of Dubai’s world class leisure and entertainment experience. “The challenge and excitement associated with working on a project of this magnitude, where I could help contribute to the growth of Dubai’s leisure sector, encouraged me to give up my consulting career and join the company full-time.”

As an award winning entertainment destination and the largest of its kind in the region, Waseem Hassan, the Chief Business Support & Transformation officer at DXB Entertainments believes that in the future, tourists will travel to Dubai

Lapita Lobby

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specifically to visit Dubai Parks and Resorts™, in the same way that Disney

Lapita Pool

193 is synonymous with Orlando, Florida.

that range from high-adrenaline thrill

“When people come to Dubai, we want

seeking rides such as our Capitol

to be considered the destination

Bullet Train at MOTIONGATE™

of choice,” affirms Hassan. “Dubai is

DUBAI, to more inclusive family

already a major tourism hub and we

friendly activities such the Build-A-Raft

want our theme parks to be the place

River at the LEGOLAND® WATER

to visit, have fun and socialise. There

PARK. The combination of world class

are many destinations around the

rides and the opportunity to meet

globe with theme parks, but what they

characters from your favorite movies

don’t have is an integrated theme

and shows makes Dubai Parks and

park destination like Dubai Parks

Resorts an unmissable destination

and Resorts™ which has something

for any tourist.”

for everyone, and all age groups.

Using data analytics to improve

Across our four theme parks, we have

the customer experience is a key

approximately with over 100 rides,

area for DXB Entertainments. With w w w.te c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

D X B E N T E R TA I N M E N T S

“ With over 100 rides across four theme parks, that range from high-adrenaline thrill seeking rides to family friendly activities, Dubai Parks and Resorts is an unmissable destination for any visitor to Dubai” — Waseem Hassan, Chief Business Support & Transformation Officer, DXB Entertainments

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Legoland Entrance

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D X B E N T E R TA I N M E N T S

Bollywood Raj Mahal

196

digitalisation driving change in industries

believe that data will help us better

all over the world, DXB Entertainments

understand our customers,” explains

prides itself on being renowned as

Abraham. “Customer footfall analytics

a ‘smart park.’ “Our digital transfor-

allows us to make informed decisions

mation approach has been centered

about operational management,” he

around the smart park concept,”

says. “They provide us with an under-

explains Hassan. “Visitors could come

standing about which part of the parks

into our theme parks with wristbands

are visited the most, as well as the

to gain access and make any purchase

time and duration spent at each site.

without using a wallet – this technology

By understanding and tracking each

exists. I believe we’ve built our services

step of the guest journey we ensure

to be incredibly scalable.”

we are responsive to the needs of

“We truly understand the importance

our customers, continuously improv-

of a customer-centric approach and

ing our offering and delivering on our

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E X E C U T I V E P R O FILE :

Waseem Hassan Title: Chief Business Support and Transformation Officer Industry: Entertainment

Location: United Arab Emirates

Waseem Hassan joined DXB Entertainments in 2014 and has headed Human Resources and Administration through the critical pre-opening phase of Dubai Parks and Resorts. In 2018, Waseem took on additional responsibility for Information Technology, Procurement and Business Excellence in his new role as Chief Business Support and Transformation Officer.

With over 13 years’ experience in human resources management at leading leisure and development companies, Waseem brings extensive knowledge of human resources and experience in managing successful large-scale resourcing projects and in implementation of IT infrastructure.

Prior to joining DXB Entertainments, Waseem was the Corporate Director of Human Resources & Administration at the Leisure and Entertainment division, within Meraas Holding, where he led human resources initiatives to support the organisation’s strategic goals. Waseem also spent five years as Director of Human Resources at the Jumeirah Group with responsibility for the Madinat Jumeirah Resort, Jumeirah Creekside Hotel and the Food and Beverage Group of Jumeirah International Group. Previously, Waseem has held key positions within Dubai Holding and the Executive Office (Government of Dubai).

Waseem is a CIPD Associate, and holds a postgraduate degree in Human Resources Management. w w w.te c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

197

“ On the analytics front, we use AI technology and analytics to measure customer footfalls and movements through the park and are able to analyse the dwell patterns across the entire customer journey” — Satyan Abraham, ICT Director, DXB Entertainments

Abraham understands the importance of leveraging technology to drive business growth and considers it as a two-part process. “Firstly, we have

promise to offer best-in-class guest

to ask ourselves this question: can

experiences.”

technology bring service improve-

“We bring together a unique blend

ments? Secondly, how can we use

of value and innovation to create

technology as an enabler for business

unforgettable experiences for our

growth?” he says. “In other words,

visitors,” says Abraham. “In our industry,

what can we introduce as a value

you must be extremely customer-

addition which enhances the value

centric – it’s essential.”

chain for the business? For example,

Legoland Water Park Build-A-Raft River

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D X B E N T E R TA I N M E N T S

Columbia Pictures Green Hornet High Speed Chase

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E X E C U T I V E P R O FILE :

Satyan Abraham Title: ICT Director

Company: DXB Entertainments

Industry: Entertainment

Location: United Arab Emirates

Satyan Abraham joined DXB Entertainments in early 2016, heading the ICT Infrastructure stream within the ICT Smart Services program. In 2018, he took on additional responsibilities, overseeing the entire ICT portfolio in his new role as Corporate IT Director.

An astute technology leader with over 25 years’ experience in multinational organisations Emirates Airline, Compaq, Tandem and DXB Entertainments, he led transformational programs across various portfolios, delivering significant cost reductions, whilst building a rich capability of people, processes and technologies.

With extensive experience in the Travel & Transport and Leisure & Entertainment industry, he successfully implemented several large-scale IT projects, positively impacting passenger and customer experience. He has a strong track record, leading organisations from vision through to execution.

In his functional role as CIO/Director, he has implemented IT operating models centred around consolidation, standardisation, digital enablement, strategic sourcing, shared services.

Passionate about digital innovation, his main interests are in enhancing customer experience through the introduction of innovative technologies and solutions. Satyan also sits on the advisory board of startup companies, offering free mentoring and advisory services to early stage entrepreneurs. As part of pro bono consulting, he also provides ICT advisory services to a few governments in Africa.

Satyan holds a Master’s in Business Administration from the London Business School, UK and a Bachelor’s in Computer Engineering from Bombay University, India. w w w.te c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

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D X B E N T E R TA I N M E N T S

Riverland Fireworks

202

we can introduce store credits on

available for a defined period of time.

the wristband to encourage visitors

It’s all about monetising these services

to purchase items with it, eliminating

while generating additional value for

the need for them to carry wallets on

the customer.”

rides. If the customer doesn’t spend

Having developed several strategic

the credits during their first visit, it

business relationships, Abraham

creates an opportunity for a re-visit

points to DXB Entertainments’ part-

as the store credits would still be

nerships with Dell EMC, Cisco, IBM,

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203

GBM & Microsoft as particularly influ-

partnered with Kloudspot, a company

ential. “Dell EMC has been providing us

based out of the US that is focused

with key services for our data centers.

on AI and analytics, which we use to

In terms of infrastructure, Cisco is a

measure customer footfalls and move-

key partner for us as we have consoli-

ments through the park and are able

dated on their networking services

to analyse the dwell patterns across

– everything goes through these,” he

the entire customer journey. We have

explains. “On the analytics front, we’ve

also forged strategic collaborations w w w.te c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

D X B E N T E R TA I N M E N T S

Motiongate Meet and Greet kid with Smurfette

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with companies like Inferrix, MGC, Infobeans, who specialise in the IoT, AI and robotic process automation (RPA) space. They constantly evolve their products and develop their capabilities, which we benefit from.”

Looking to the future, Waseem Hassan – Chief Business Support & Transformation Officer – believes the next stage of his organisation’s digital transformation is a complete automation across all processes and operations. “We will use RPA to streamline our back-end processes, such as procurement, invoicing, payables, and everything in the value chain,” says Hassan. “We piloted RPA within IT to fast track all the service calls, so it doesn’t require human intervention. The next stage is to scale it further and automate finance, procurement and HR. The entire onboarding process of staff can be an RPA-driven process, which will make it more efficient and cost-effective.”

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Putting a spotlight on cyber security

WRITTEN BY

SEAN GALEA-PACE PRODUCED BY

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TELSTRA PURPLE

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elstra Purple is a technology services business, comprising of 1,500 specialists in Australia, EMEA and Asia.

Bringing together Telstra Enterprise’s business technology services capabilities and a number of acquisitions, Telstra Purple is focused on outcome-based, transformative tech solutions.

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WHY CYBER RESILIENCE COUNTS TODAY Geopolitical risks and the impact of COVID-19 have put security technology at the top of every business leader’s agenda as the world rapidly responds to the threat. Manoj Bhatt, Head of Cyber Security Advisory and Consulting at Telstra Purple EMEA, has seen first hand the increased focus on risk management and cyber resilience in response to the crisis.

“The coronavirus has demonstrated the importance of cyber resilience as businesses move to remote working whilst ensuring they do so securely,” says Bhatt. “Cyber security isn’t just a concern for the security or IT department, and those organisations that already have a strong, ingrained security culture that is business wide will weather the storm best.”

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“ The coronavirus has demonstrated the importance of cyber resilience as businesses move to remote working whilst ensuring they do so securely” — Manoj Bhatt Head of Cyber Security Advisory and Consulting, Telstra Purple EMEA

As business leaders begin to evaluate their technology stacks to understand their efficacy, and consider how well they integrate with the current business while supporting its future needs and goals, security teams must remain one step ahead with answers to potential questions.

Rob Robinson, Director of Security and Network Services at Telstra Purple EMEA, believes that organisations must think of security as a business enabler.

“It goes back to the conversations we’ve been having with CISOs w w w.te c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

recently. For a security strategy to be successful, all lines of the business – HR, Finance and IT – must stay informed and aligned with its goals,” explains Robinson. “CISOs admit to friction within companies, saying they don’t think their boards see information security as important a function as they do. It’s important that this thinking changes and security leaders offer guidance on how businesses can protect themselves and mitigate risk. Security has to be considered an enabler rather than something that is negatively impacting the business.”

“ We understand that we’re on a journey in the security industry – there’s definitely no silver bullet” — Rob Robinson Director of Security and Network Services, Telstra Purple EMEA

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Dr Jessica Barker, co-CEO and Socio-Technical Lead of Cygenta, is an evangelist for driving security culture and awareness within organisations. She believes it’s essential to operate with an agile approach and remain aware of the latest vulnerabilities to maintain that visibility over potential cyber threats.

“Staying up to date with current attacks is crucial, meaning people in security don’t often get very many days off as they need to keep up with the latest news to ensure the greatest level of protection possible,” she explains. “However, it is also equally important that we remain vigilant against previous vulnerabilities that we’re already aware of, because it could be easy to get distracted by the latest trends or newest vulnerabilities.

In many cases, the biggest cyber attacks involve the vulnerabilities that we’ve been aware of for decades, so it’s just as important to remain vigilant against all kinds of attacks.”

Barker is also Chair of ClubCISO, sponsored by Telstra Purple, which is a private members forum for information security leaders, working across public and private sector organisations. More than 350 CISOs are currently registered members.

Barker believes there are a number of key advantages to being a member of the organisation.

“We work together to shape the future of the security industry, community and the CISO role,” she says. “The idea is to provide a voice to CISOs and offer an environment where they can speak between themselves, and externally, about what the CISO role is and what security looks like moving forwards.

It’s been great to have a place to build a network of like-minded individuals, share success stories, as well as navigate the challenges in the industry together and work out the best way to overcome those hurdles.

“This year’s ClubCISO Information Security Maturity Report reveals

“ Sometimes, the biggest cyber attacks can stem from the vulnerabilities that we’ve been aware of for decades” — Jessica Barker co-CEO and Socio-Technical Lead, Cygenta and Chair of ClubCISO

some interesting insights on how CISOs are coping with the additional pressures of COVID-19 and other geopolitical risks,” adds Barker. “The majority (61%) of CISOs believe that the stress of their job has increased over the past 12 months, yet 70% profess to love their job. I believe one of the most important aspects of a CISO’s job today is around cultural change, raising awareness of security threats and figuring out how to embed that cyber security culture within their organisations.”

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GETTING CYBER SECURITY RIGHT: BEST PRACTICE AND LEARNINGS

threats and issues, and also to share

Cyber security doesn’t sit still, and

best practices.”

understanding the latest threats,

about the latest cyber security

Each year, ClubCISO surveys the

risks and solutions to these prob-

community in a live vote to get a col-

lems is a collective industry effort.

lective view of the current security

Bhatt also sits on the advisory

landscape and understand the con-

board of ClubCISO. Explaining the

temporary issues faced by security

community’s benefits he states:

specialists. The latest ClubCISO

“One of the things we really like

Information Security Maturity Report

about ClubCISO is that it’s a com-

was released in May 2020. This

munity of CISOs for CISOs – that’s

year’s live vote, which was held virtu-

the key thing. It’s a peer group to

ally for the first time due to the

share thought leadership and pro-

COVID-19 outbreak, drew over 100

vide a platform to talk to one another

CISO respondents.

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Meet a few of the ClubCISO Advisory Board CLICK TO WATCH

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1:11

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“ We are seeing a reassuring shift in security investment and awareness, something which is vital for organisations to remain digitally agile” — Manoj Bhatt Head of Cyber Security Advisory and Consulting, Telstra Purple EMEA

“One surprising finding from this year’s report is that there isn’t as much maturity around the cloud as expected,” states Robinson. “We have asked that same question five years in a row, expecting the percentage to increase considerably each year. However, it has remained the same.”

Robinson postulates that this stems from a shortage of skill sets. Another related conversation in this space revolves around how to encourage more diversity in security – sparking an interesting debate around what security teams can do to be more inclusive and w w w.te c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

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

Rob Robinson Title: Director of Security and Network Services at Telstra Purple EMEA Rob Robinson is the Director of Security and Network Services at Telstra Purple in EMEA and has over 15 years of experience in Business and Technology Advisory Services, working within consultancies, integrators and telecommunications companies. Prior to Telstra Purple, Rob joined Company85 through the acquisition of DVS Services in 2015, where he was the owner and Managing Director. As an advisor to CISOs and CIOs, Rob has first-hand experience of helping teams assess their position, build their strategy and deliver successful programmes. Working with his team in the UK and in his capacity of Security domain lead for Telstra Purple globally, Rob delivers programmes of change across multiple industry verticals.

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business needs now and in the future, and evaluating what kinds of technologies and implementations can support these. The priority in the current environment is supporting home working and guarding against cyber threats.

Bhatt sums up the current situation and issues a warning: “We’re certainly seeing a big drive from a number of vendors talking about how their security products are going to be ‘the silver bullet’, but it’s impossible to determine a solution without a proper assessment and understanding of business needs first.

“You must first understand what build up capabilities. To resolve the

already exists within your organisa-

issue for future generations, Robinson

tion, and what the current technology

believes it’s important to start talking

set up is, before you can consider

about security apprenticeships early,

what the best technologies for the job

and begin to raise the importance of it in

are. If you bring this thinking together,

schools now. “It’s vital to talk about the

it makes you more resilient against

importance of security and feed that

threats, whether that be COVID-19 or

interest into the security industry at a

an out-of-the-blue cyber attack. It’s

time where we increasingly need that

important to join the dots and take a

help and capability,” he says.

holistic perspective.”

The coronavirus pandemic has caused Uncontrollable circumstances such as

THE POWER AND THE THREAT OF EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES

these highlight the importance of adopt-

As emerging technologies such

ing a ‘future state’ mindset, reassessing

as machine learning (ML) and

disruption in industries worldwide.

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automation become increasingly

apply technology and modern

sophisticated, so do those with mali-

approaches such as ML and automa-

cious intent. Businesses must be

tion to that,” he affirms.

prepared to keep pace with the threat environment to remain secure.

“The world’s changing,” states

“It’s important that we apply these technologies in a way that’s appropriate, as well as maintain an accurate

Robinson. “We’re not in a traditional

understanding of how we address

bubble where security is at the

and manage security incidents, oth-

perimeter and everything’s protected

erwise businesses will not be in a

centrally – there’s a much wider

position to respond and protect.”

attack surface. There’s a lot of

Whilst cloud is not exactly an emerg-

information sitting outside of non-tra-

ing technology, many businesses are

ditional environments and you have to

still at the nascent stage of their cloud

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journey. Bhatt has observed that busi-

not recognising the benefits it is deliv-

nesses are split into three different

ering. These are typically organisations

camps when it comes to their cloud

that have not set out a clear path or

security strategies.

taken an objective-driven approach to

The first camp thinks about cloud, but has not embarked on the journey

their cloud strategy.

In the final camp sit the busi-

because they haven’t considered

nesses with cloud expertise that

where it might take them. The chal-

focus on cloud enhancement. This is

lenge is in identifying what cloud will

where a company has moved to the

achieve for the business, and how

cloud and is now looking to enhance

much can be saved by implementing it.

it with approaches such as contain-

In the second camp are businesses that have implemented cloud but are 220

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erisation. This marks the start of the next stage of the journey, where

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technologies such as automation and robotics become increasingly influential in the business.

With the pace of technology adoption showing no sign of letting up, it’s vital that businesses and their employees practise good cyber hygiene at their workplaces and homes.

“Security is a continuous journey that must be grounded in what the business is trying to achieve,” says Robinson. “Business leaders and their security advisors must assess the 222

environment the business operates in, understanding the risk landscape, the threat profile and how you place people, processes and technology around security to address these evolving needs. And finally, cyber security must align with all business functions to ensure there are no weak links.”

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C L U B C I S O I N F O R M AT I O N S E C U R I T Y M AT U R I T Y R E P O RT 20 20 Top three areas where CISOs have driven measurable improvements over the last 12 months: • Security awareness and training • Risk assessment and management • Building the security team

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Top three hot topics on the CISO radar: • Security culture • Cyber resilience • Cloud security The top three initiatives CISOs are using to foster a better security culture: • Security champions • Proactive “report it” no blame policies • Education around the value of data To check out the latest ClubCISO Information Maturity Security reports, click here

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

Manoj Bhatt

Title: Head of Cyber Security Advisory and Consulting at Telstra Purple EMEA Manoj leads Telstra Purple’s cyber security advisory and consulting capabilities for EMEA, working with a wide range of customers across numerous sectors building and running their cyber security services. Manoj is a passionate cyber security professional focused on embedding cyber security into the digital agenda and on the user and customer experience aspects of cyber security. Manoj sits on the advisory board for ClubCISO to share security innovations, best practice and thought leadership across the industry.

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Telstra Ventures is a strategic growth investor passionate about scaling great products and leaders.

An independent venture capital firm backed by Telstra and HarbourVest – one of the world’s largest private equity funds – it provides venture capital investment via a ‘Strategic Growth Investment’ approach. This offers entrepreneurs access to the investment itself and reduces the time to reach global scale.

In almost a decade, Telstra Ventures has invested over US$350mn in 60+ companies.

Marcus Bartram is a founding Partner at Telstra Ventures and leads the security portfolio for ventures.

His main role is investing in new security startups, and then helping them scale to become successful large companies.

Telstra Ventures invests heavily in security ventures and is continuously seeking the best-in-breed security innovators globally. With expertise in picking cyber security companies to JUNE 2020

invest in and helping them scale, Bartram believes it’s critical to pick a sector that you have a clear understanding about.

“The best way you can understand a particular area is to go out and talk to as many people in that sector as you can, be it entrepreneurs, customers or vendors,” says Bartram.

“Figure out who the best companies are, what they’re building, who the customers are and what problems they’re trying to solve. This will enable you to build a really rich knowledge base that informs where you invest.”

Telstra Ventures has an extensive portfolio of companies in the cyber security space such as Anomali, Auth0, CyberGRX, AttackIQ, Cofense, CrowdStrike, Varmour and Zimperium.

Bartram notes there are several key areas to scrutinise before investing in a cyber security startup: “It’s important that I understand who’s the team, what pain point they are solving and how many customers do we think

have that problem, what product have they built, and what trends are driving that market. We also consider if the deal makes sense financially. You’ve got to find the right combination of an amazing team, product and market that has the potential to allow the company to scale.”

“This is a threat intelligence company in California. We invested in (the founders) George and Dmitri, because they are very experienced security guys who were redoing protection on the endpoint and disrupting the existing vendors, detecting threats that other technology just couldn’t see.

“Telstra was a very early customer.

Crowdstrike is now the highest-rated vendor by Gartner in Endpoint Detection Response Solutions. It proved to be a really great investment for us because we felt that they had

the best technology, the team was amazing and customers were clamouring for a better solution.”

“This company provides continuous validation of enterprise security programmes. They’re trying to help CISOs answer the question: ‘How secure am I?’. They do that by deploying a platform that effectively tests all the security tools, people and processes on a continuous basis.

“AttackIQ can test all the control points in your environment, be that cloud, endpoint, network protection or controls. This is done by simulating attacks against those controls, and it can become a risk tool for CISOs as they can look at their environment in real time and measure the risks they face.”

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“This is a risk mitigation specialist focused on helping customers understand and manage cyber security risk from their supplier base.

The company has built a data exchange which drives massive efficiency in how customers and suppliers collect and share information about their cyber controls.

“It is an incredibly important part of the security sector that affects every organisation globally in the same way. Regulatory drivers, the explosion in the number of suppliers companies use, and companies needing to protect themselves from threats that come from these suppliers make CyberGRX a great company to be a part of.”

“Cofense was set up to counter phishing – still the most common, never-ending problem facing the security industry. During the

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COVID-19 pandemic, phishing is being massively exploited by criminals.

“The founders, Rohyt and Aaron, started out by building technology to help employees recognise and report phishing emails, to raise the bar and stop people from opening links and attachments they shouldn’t. They have evolved from this to create a sophisticated platform that now integrates and shares data with their customers from tens of millions of data points on all the phishing threats they see, helping to protect customers from phishing attacks.”

“This is a company that lets you visualise and understand all of the traffic and application flows across the environment, particularly in a multi-cloud or hybrid cloud world.

That visualisation allows you to figure out who’s talking to whom and whether those conversations are OK. From that you can design the security controls to implement.

“The platform integrates into all of the native security controls in

AWS, Azure, Google Cloud or VMware to provide visibility into what’s going on and then be able to protect the customer. Customers are using this for cloud migration as much as they are using it for security controls.”

With the future in mind, Bartram affirms it’s essential to continue to seek value in innovative companies globally.

“We must continue to try and invest in these leading companies, because it is good for us, the entrepreneurs and customers in the long term. Telstra Ventures wants to invest in innovative startups in security, cloud, enterprise and consumer platforms, insurtech, healthtech and many other fields, helping those companies scale through Telstra and other relationships. We think and work incredibly hard to find the best companies, and assess how well they will perform. We remain passionate about finding the best entrepreneurs with a passion to build amazing products, which solve real problems in the world today and into the future.”

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

Marcus Bartram Title: Partner at Telstra Ventures Marcus is a founder and General Partner of Telstra Ventures. Prior to this he held various executive and senior roles in Telstra, Citigroup, nscglobal and Honeywell in Australia and the UK. Marcus invests in disruptive enterprise software, telecoms and cyber security entrepreneurs that are starting to scale their company. Investments made to date include Anomali, AttackIQ, Auth0, Cohere Technologies, Cofense, Crowdstrike, Corvus Insurance, CyberGRX, Elastica (ACQ:BlueCoat), Headspin, ipSCAPE, Matrixx Software, Dimmi (ACQ:TripAdvisor), vArmour and Zimperium. Marcus received an MBA from the University of Oxford and a Bachelor of Engineering from the University of Adelaide, South Australia.

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Bupa: the company’s journey and the challenges of COVID-19 WRITTEN BY

GEORGIA WILSON PRODUCED BY

STUART IRVING

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Nick Wong, Director of Technology Delivery, Bupa Australia & New Zealand, discusses the company’s journey and the impact COVID-19 has had the industry

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verything within the business strategy at Bupa is organised around its purpose to help people live longer, healthier, happier

lives, and to ensure people can fund their health through insurance-and good quality, trusted healthcare services,” comments Nick Wong, Director of Technology Delivery, Bupa Australia & New Zealand.

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“Bupa as an organisation operates within interesting market contexts. In the last five to seven years, a lot of the focus has been on developing as an organisation – not just commercially in terms of proposition – but realising the role that technology plays in our journey.

Bupa didn’t exist as a heritage brand in the same way that it does within the UK, so I would say over the last decade – particularly in the Australian market – Bupa has been building up our brand.

We have been expanding to provide a variety of services to our customers, and with that growth, digital transformation has provided a lot of opportunities for us. Across the Technology team, we manage various digital estates such as data platforms, and have worked with companies along the way including Cloudera to explore our options for continued development.”

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“ Like many organisations at the moment, we are trying to hold true to our purpose: to help customers live longer, healthier, happier lives” — Nick Wong, Director of Technology Delivery, Bupa Australia & New Zealand

When it comes to the future of Bupa, Wong explains that like many other organisations it is in an extraordinary time in history. “There’s a lot of uncertainty for many organisations which could potentially create a completely new normal going forward. We are holding true to our purpose as best we can to help customers live longer, healthier, happier lives whilst also managing within our current conditions - both in the near term but also potentially for conditions that may

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last longer.

“It is important for us to ensure that we can continue to provide value to our customers and potentially introduce new services that may help them through this period, even if it’s a diversification from some of the stuff we’ve done classically.”

Wong reflects on the challenges that Bupa has faced, and highlights its key to success.

“I think the major challenges have been around adapting to market conditions which are influenced by the broader financial and economic environment. I believe Bupa has also faced challenges in terms of how it JUNE 2020

Welcome to Bupa Australia CLICK TO WATCH

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235 continues to show meaningful value

respects that it has one of the largest

to customers.

customer bases and it doesn’t take it

“But I think Bupa’s key success is that

for granted. It really does pay atten-

the organisation is very robust and it is

tion to those things amidst all the

looking at ways it can continue to help

challenges that it faces, working hard

customers get the best out of their

to maintain its position as a premier

healthcare. I think that’s going to be

brand in the health insurance space

one of the most important things going

and continuing to support customers

forward, as well as the value that it has

via its propositions and services to

to hold in terms of the relationships it

add value to their lives.”

has with customers,” says Wong, who is very proud of the organisation’s

THE IMPACT OF COVID-19 FOR BUPA

respect for its large customer base.

From a technological standpoint,

“I believe that this is one of Bupa’s

Wong explains that when it comes

biggest strengths, the fact that Bupa

to the impact of COVID-19, Bupa is w w w.te c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

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having to react to the conditions that

Zealand but as a global organisation.

people are facing such as “not being

Across our operations we are sharing

able to go to retail stores and having to

insights and learning from different

move our workforce to work remotely

healthcare markets across Europe,

to support people’s health insurance

Latin America, the UK, Australia and

needs. This is alongside the restric-

New Zealand.”

tions around elective surgery, the

Amidst the outbreak, now more

opportunity for treatments and some

than ever Bupa is needed by its cus-

ancillary treatments being reduced.

tomers to provide health advice and

“One of the challenges we are look-

reassurance. Wong reiterates that it

ing at is how we support the needs of

is Bupa’s purpose to help customers

customers, while meeting the govern-

live longer, healthier and happier lives,

ment guidelines regarding COVID-19

and with the outbreak of COVID-19

- and not just in Australia and New

“it is Bupa’s responsibility - like many

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other organisations - to look at what we can do to help people continue to get the services they need, even

Year founded

during financial hardship. So far Bupa

4mn+

mium increase for all health insurance

Bupa Health Insurance members

has delayed the annual 1 April precustomers for six months, effectively returning $134mn to these customers. Bupa is also providing more than $50mn in assistance for customers suffering financial hardship due to

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

Nick Wong Title: Director of Technology Delivery Industry: Healthcare

Location: Melbourne, Australia

Nick Wong, Director of Technology Delivery, Bupa Australia & New Zealand, started his career in the UK working in the media and telecom industry. He spent over eight years working at British Telecom (BT), and prior to that, worked at Accenture. Wong joined Bupa in 2014, leading the Digital team for a number of years, before moving into his current role in the Technology team.

Wong describes a pivotal moment in his career back in his early days when he worked on the introduction of broadband internet, something which was transformational at the time.

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“ Bupa’s key to success is that the organisation is very robust and is looking at ways in which it can continue to help customers get the best out of their healthcare” — Nick Wong, Director of Technology Delivery, Bupa Australia & New Zealand

and villages, we sent devices out to our homes so residents could connect face to face with their families.

“These urgent technological interventions have led me to believe that

COVID-19. To date we have received

technology has a big role to play in

more than 27,000 applications, and

helping to address the emerging chal-

we also confirmed that customers with

lenges of COVID-19. We are seeing

any hospital policy will be covered for

that the industry is facing a lot of pres-

COVID-19 related claims, irrespective of

sure around efficient remote activities

policy terms.”

and the need to be able to run things

To continue to provide its services, Wong details that “the industry has

quicker for rapid responses.”

“Technology such as intelligent

had to move to a new way of operating

automation are areas where I think we

quickly. However, this abrupt change

can combat some of these challenges.

has forced problem solving to move at

Then, when it comes down to supporting

a more focused and faster pace.

the broader societal intervention around

“In order to efficiently implement a

managing the impact of COVID-19,

working from home strategy we have

technology will play its role in that too,

had to implement new capabilities to

for example in the form of COVID-19

support areas especially impacted

tracking apps that are directly related

by social distancing measures. For

to our ability as a society to relax

example, when there were restric-

or manage some of the controls and

tions to visitors in our aged care home

restrictions that are in place.” w w w.te c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

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“ Across our operations we are sharing insights and learning from different healthcare markets across Europe, Latin America, the UK, Australia and New Zealand that we’re trying to apply where challenges and/or restrictions relating to COVID-19 are similar” — Nick Wong, Director of Technology Delivery, Bupa Australia & New Zealand JUNE 2020

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“ Bupa respects that it has one of the largest customer bases and it doesn’t take it for granted” — Nick Wong, Director of Technology Delivery, Bupa Australia & New Zealand JUNE 2020

When it comes to the future of the industry, Wong highlights that there is still a lot of uncertainty around the virus. However, he comments that “obviously there are initial shock impacts around the availability of certain service provision now and a strain could be put on to our health infrastructure if the conditions were to worsen. But I think the most important

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thing is the way we manage to ensure

experts and societal experts to be

people’s health, quality of life and men-

able to provide that assurance.”

tal health so it is balanced.

“The future will be around physical and mental health and ensuring that people will be operating safely at work or at home, or in a community with other people. The healthcare industry has a key role to play in this because people are looking towards healthcare w w w.te c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

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Imvelo: technology throughout the value chain WRITTEN BY

JOHN O’HANLON PRODUCED BY

RICHARD DEANE

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I M V E L O P T Y LT D

Founded on the conviction that it’s digital transformation time for the mining industry, Imvelo is marrying deep expertise with supersmart robotics and automation innovation to help that happen

T

he mining industry has seen multi-factor productivity decline over the last 30 years and though injury rates have reduced,

improvements have been too often piecemeal and localised. With more than 40 years’ experience at a senior level in some of the biggest mining 246

groups and most prestigious research institutes between them, Dr Sharna Glover and Prof Alan Bye were not happy with the current state of the mining industry. “One reason Alan and I decided to start up Imvelo is that we feel both safety and productivity have flatlined,” Glover explains. “I think the last safety frontier is removing people from all hazardous situations. We still have people working on mine equipment or around molten metal in the processing plants but robotics and automation can definitely remove people from these high risk areas.”

Where productivity is concerned, she adds, in tough times necessity drives improvements but when demand is high these improvements are often abandoned until the next squeeze comes along. “We want to bring together technology and JUNE 2020

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I M V E L O P T Y LT D

“ One reason Alan and I decided to start up Imvelo is that we feel both safety and productivity have flatlined” — Sharna Glover, CEO, Imvelo 248

innovation in a more accelerated way to lock in each gain for the benefit of the industry as a whole.” This will drive a step change across the industry.

“To help clients reach the next frontier, system-wide solutions are required,” says Alan Bye, who is Professor and Director of Digital Value Chains at Curtin University, Western Australia’s largest university.

“Automation does require a systembased approach. The industry does not have much experience in this so Imvelo is bringing that knowledge in a partnership approach that can deliver the system change we are talking about.”

There are mountains of data to be gleaned from all the assets along the mining supply chain from the mineface to the port. Shovels, conveyors and trucks bristle with sensors that monitor detailed information about the equipment but less so the valuable ore material. Along the way there are multiple opportunities for both equipment and process automation, Bye points out. “Intelligent decision making up and down the supply chain using AI can and should be driven by reliable sensor data and interoperable

JUNE 2020

249 equipment. But contrary to what you

Traditionally, says Bye, miners invested

might imagine the mining industry’s

capital in infrastructure to achieve

investment in R&D at around 0.2%

volume growth, but many technology

of revenues has been small in com-

efficiencies that come at a much lower

parison to comparable global cross

level of investment can initiate and

industry enterprises where 1-10% is

sustain longer term growth. Herein lie

not uncommon.”

the big opportunities they see for inte-

Further, Imvelo’s founders feel that productivity data is not sufficiently

grated technology driven by data.

They are not talking about point

discussed across the industry.

solutions. “You can buy off the shelf

Reductions in unit cost, increases

technology today that allows a truck

in volumes are the outcomes being

to run in an automated fashion, and

sought while their relationship to capi-

that is mostly what the industry has

tal investment and enterprise-wide

been pursuing,” resumes Glover. “That

sustainability is not well analysed.

approach delivers safety gains by w w w.te c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

I M V E L O P T Y LT D

250

separating people and machinery but

that they can start to execute a mining

is limited from the productivity point

mission and manage changes as circum-

of view because of the way the solu-

stances change, she predicts. “There’s

tions were built. The OEMs started

no point in having trucks queueing at

that 12 years ago but have not pivoted

a broken-down shovel, but they could

the technology to the level of smart

manage that change themselves!” For

road autonomy, where we now have

example they also could talk to the water

cars that can localise, have good per-

truck. Technology exists on the trucks to

ception, can communicate with other

tell them about dust and road conditions

vehicles and fixed infrastructure.”

so they could tell the water trucks when

If that level of autonomy could be applied to how mining methodology is conceived you could have the autonomous trucks talking to each other so JUNE 2020

to water bringing savings in fuel and avoiding under- and over-watering.

They are looking at the autonomy solutions being developed for road-going

vehicles and forging strategic partner-

optimised within larger systems like an

ships to the benefit of all involved. It is

autonomous mine – and to recognise

easier to perfect these technologies in

that this system will include a host of

a ‘closed’ environment like a mine than

vendors working together in an open

on the open road where more complex

interoperable ecosystem.

societal considerations have to be fac-

All the technologies that already

tored in. So companies that had never

exist just have to be pieced together.

thought about mining enthusiastically

“It is really just about thinking how

responded to the opportunities Imvelo

this technology-enabled process can

offers to develop their own solutions.

be radically re-designed rather than

OEMs too are more than willing to

just thinking about how to apply the

explore how their machinery can be

technology to the process, originally 251

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

Sharna Glover Title: Co-founder & Director Company: Imvelo Pty Ltd Industry: Mining

Location: Australia

Sharna is an experienced executive leader with a twenty-year track record of successfully leading step-change technology programs.

She is experienced and passionate about delivering significant improvement to safety and productivity in all resource sectors through embedding technology within business plans.

She creates a vision that inspires and aligns teams to deliver on innovation plans. The ability to create connections through technology partnerships across the full ecosystem is a unique quality that Sharna brings to the table. Sharna holds a first-class double degree in Chemical Engineering and Science, as well as a doctorate in Engineering. w w w.te c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

I M V E L O P T Y LT D

252

designed as a manual process, as it

of Silicon Valley majors. “We are

exists today.” explains Sharna Glover.

working with some very small com-

At every stage they want to encour-

panies. Big mining companies are

age their partners to think in terms

not as good at partnering with these

of the ‘mining mission’ rather than

transformational innovators that

finding a discrete solution. “We draw

are popping up. At Imvelo we pull

together the people who understand

together the best technology in the

autonomy, perception, localisation,

world – advanced tech that does not

communications, the market and the

suffer from legacy being built on the

like. It is an ecosystem.”

latest architecture and that can be

The partners in this enterprise

integrated fast. If you want to make

range from mining companies that

a change in your ERP it can mean

Glover and Bye know so well to

shutting it down for weeks: this needs

some very small start-ups spun out

to be more like putting an app on your

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

Alan Bye

Title: Co-founder & Director Company: Imvelo Pty Ltd Industry: Mining

Location: Australia

He is the Professor & Director of Digital Value Chains at Curtin University. Alan has more than 20 years’ experience in operational and strategic roles in the mining industry focused on the innovation and integration of the value chain. During his career, he has worked in 15 countries covering nine commodities. Alan has a PhD in mining engineering and is a fellow of the Australian Academy of Technology Science and Engineering (FTSE).

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253

“ Intelligent decision making up and down the supply chain using AI can and should be driven by sensor data and interoperable equipment” — Alan Bye, Managing Director, Imvelo

w w w.te c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

I M V E L O P T Y LT D

“ We draw together the people who understand autonomy, perception, localisation, communications, the market and the like.

It is an ecosystem” — Sharna Glover, CEO, Imvelo phone. Our strong point at Imvelo is strategic partnering to capture this thinking, which is missing in the industry today.”

In the new ecosystem people will talk the language of innovation, Alan Bye emphasises. “There are talented people working in these startups; they work seamlessly with university academics. We are in a position to place start-ups and academic partners at the service of the real-world industry needs of mining companies of all sizes.”

This is not new territory for them.

Each of them has years of experience implementing this thinking within mining majors like BHP – they are simply JUNE 2020

making that experience available to mining, oil & gas as well as forestry operators, wherever in the world they need to look. Take the field of sensors – companies like Canada-based MineSense have developed sensors that can gauge the quality of the mineral in every bucket, bringing down the level of decision-making from around 10,000 tons to 100 tons.

Another smart start-up is Southern Innovation of Melbourne whose technology improves the performance of radiation-based analysis in mining applications. Its SITORO technology performs digital pulse processing in a more efficient way than traditional methods, improving detection speed and accuracy. They work on sensors as well as the algorithms that process the sensor information allowing much more efficient discrimination of mineral content, says Bye: “In a system approach you need the sensors and also the analytics of the sensor data.

You require a consortium of sensor companies to get a holistic picture of your operation. At Imvelo we understand the industry challenge, the business case for solving that w w w.te c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

255

I M V E L O P T Y LT D

256

“ There’s no point in having trucks queueing at a broken-down shovel, when they could manage that change themselves” — Alan Bye, Managing Director, Imvelo

JUNE 2020

challenge; then we formulate the technical problem and bring in a set of partners to work on it.”

Open, interoperable automated technology for mobile equipment is still imperfectly understood: but looking beyond these transformational technologies to whole-mine automation will become an economic game-changer for the industry, continues Bye. “The ability to measure ore variabilities in real-time at every touch point in the supply chain steps up the ability to add value by removing dilution and manage geometallurgical variability offering significant economic benefit. The sensors exist to do this and are improving constantly, so the next challenge is how to integrate them into the business process.”

No company can now ignore the sustainability benefits technology can deliver. “This is an industry that has been dominated by the big deposits,” reflects Sharna Glover. “That’s what drives the quest for volume gains to dilute fixed cost. In turn that has favoured bigger trucks and the need for workforce reductions. The big deposits are depleting now, and I w w w.te c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

257

I M V E L O P T Y LT D

258

“ The big deposits are depleting now, and I think the industry will move to smaller deposits, requiring a more sustainable approach” — Sharna Glover, CEO, Imvelo

JUNE 2020

think the industry will move to smaller deposits requiring a more sustainable approach – for example smaller fleets with lower total cost of ownership that can be more environmentally friendly.

Battery technology and lower cost maintenance can be introduced. I can see a tipping point coming very soon and that is another reason Alan and I started up Imvelo.”

There has been foot-dragging over automation in an industry that has

259

been founded on job creation, they

this new reality mining is shedding its

have found, but as technology grows

grime-streaked image and attracting

the industry needs more partners

young, highly skilled people. It is all

developing smart solutions, and skilled

part of Imvelo’s vision, reflected in its

people must be there to run and main-

name, which is a Zulu word meaning ’

tain them in the field. The opportunity

‘to nurture the ecosystem.’

for developing AI, robotics and automation has so far only been glimpsed.

Advanced mining service companies can step up to fill the gap left by the decline of manufacturing in countries like Australia. They also believe that in w w w.te c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

260

JUNE 2020

Expanding tech architecture alongside physical infrastructure WRITTEN BY

SHANNON LEWIS

261

PRODUCED BY

STUART IRVING

w w w.te c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

LA TROBE UNIVERSITY

We speak to Peter Powell, Chief Information Officer at La Trobe University, about plans to expand digital capabilities over the next few years in a bid to build a “university city of the future”

W

hen it was first established in 1967, 552 students attended La Trobe University.

Now, it has over 30,000 students from

more than 100 countries and boasts a network of 262

campuses across Northwest Victoria, in Australia.

The La Trobe, in the top 1% of universities globally, mission statement, then and now, is to advance “knowledge and learning to shape the future of our students and communities.” Currently it’s enhancing that by developing a “University City of the Future”, growing its physical and digital infrastructures to support the needs of contemporary students and create more than 20,000 jobs over the next decade.

Peter Powell, the Chief Information Officer at La Trobe, joined its team over two years ago.

He brought with him 18 years’ experience in the healthcare sector. During his time at private healthcare company Bupa, Powell watched the business grow from having no presence in Oceania to its ANZ group accounting for almost JUNE 2020

263

w w w.te c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

LA TROBE UNIVERSITY

“ We can invest a significant amount of money into the tech, but it also important that people understand their responsibility to maintain a secure environment” 264

— Peter Powell, Chief Information Officer La Trobe University

half of the global company’s revenue.

“That helped me see how a business could scale and flourish in quite a challenging environment.” Powell says. His experience comes into play as La Trobe sets its sights on major growth over the next few years. Its Melbourne campus occupies 267 hectares, making it the largest metropolitan campus in Australia but, according to Powell, only around 20% of the land is built on. “Our long-term view is creating a University City of the Future,” Powell explains, “We want to build a number of precincts that would bring together students, partners, start-up’s, the community, and research capabilities.” It is currently in the final stages of completing its Sports Precinct, which has already attracted major and local sporting clubs, looking ahead building a Research and Innovation Precinct, to encourage start-ups and partners that collaborate with the University and support local business in the North of Melbourne. “As we build it out, we want to create an environment that is interconnected, secure and sustainable.” Powell

JUNE 2020

All Kinds of Clever CLICK TO WATCH

|

0:48

265 explains. “That’s the business ambi-

they are interested in learning.” La

tion. What we’re working on now is

Trobe runs multiple student forums

figuring out what that means for our

across its campuses, getting its feed-

digital environment.”

back directly from the students.

The focus of La Trobe’s digi-

Scalability is an important feature

tal transformation is on student

in La Trobe’s growth. “Building a

engagement, satisfaction, and sup-

city on our campus is about bal-

port, considering everything from

ancing between building physical

immersive teaching environments to

infrastructure and investing in digital

graduate and career development

infrastructure.” Powell says “to get

support. “Students learn in differ-

both we have to effectively manage

ent ways. It could be face-to-face, it

the resources we have. There are a

could be remote / on-line, or even

lot of parallel activities going on.” It is

blended,” Powell says, “We want

here where the expertise of partners

students to be able to select the way

comes into play for La Trobe. “We w w w.te c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

LA TROBE UNIVERSITY

266

use partners to help us predict what’s

integrate cutting edge tech such

coming over the horizon,” explains

as AI, machine learning, or autono-

Powell. “With the rate of change of

mous bots to drive interaction. “Our

technology these days, you can only

technology partners don’t just sup-

predict so far in advance, but as we

port us on providing services, but

build out the physical infrastructure,

actually engage with the academic

we need to place a few bets on the

side of things,” he continues. Long-

technology that enables innovation.”

standing partner Optus sponsored

Alongside partner Versor, La Trobe

the Cybersecurity Chair for the

has done work around a modern-

University, enabling research within

day data platform, ingesting large

La Trobe’s undergraduate and post-

quantities of data to demonstrate

graduate cybersecurity programmes.

how predictive models need to be

Blending academic and tech

used and how the University can best

resources allows La Trobe to engage

JUNE 2020

with possibilities like piloting 5G across the campus and implementing an Internet of Things (IoT) mentality.

Whilst focusing on today’s issue, La Trobe is keeping an eye on the future: experimenting with emerging technologies to drive efficiency and improve the student experience.

“Using RPA, a small team has transformed the processes within Student Administration,” states Powell. “RPA is now viewed as a strategic process improvement capability across the University.” Also, over the course of 18 months, the University has built a strong relationship with IBM. “Our Bachelor of Arts Course has over 50 majors; students know they want to study Arts but are unsure of which major may best suit their needs,” he continues. “A Netflix-inspired experience (Bachelor of Arts Explorer - revealed at IBM’s Think 2020) has been developed to help student choice using the IBM Cloud and AI Stack.”

The necessity for digital reinven-

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

Peter Powell

Title: Chief Information Officer Company: La Trobe University Industry: Education Location: Melbourne Australia Peter Powell has over 30 years’ experience in the IT industry, having held various executive roles across sectors such as transforming technology and business processes, enabling commercial outcomes and business growth. As Executive Director and Chief Information Officer at La Trobe University, Melbourne Australia, Peter is well placed to propel the University’s solutions to global problems, driving forward customer focused strategies, operational efficiencies and technology transformation.

tion at the University has been emphasised by the deleterious effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Following the initial considerations w w w.te c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

267

Using technology to help academia and industry succeed.

Digital disruption is causing unprecedented change worldwide, with technological innovations creating fresh opportunities for educational institutions, companies and governments to explore new frontiers, operate more efficiently, generate new revenue models and build resilience.

As a result, many organisations are looking to create digital experiences for their people across all the spaces in which they live, work and play.

We’re already partnering with universities on research initiatives¹ and innovative solutions for campus activation². We support curriculum and associated scholarship programs across a range of new digital skill degrees³. And we’re passionate about collaborations and bright ideas that help educational institutions and industry thrive⁴. What could your future look like?

Whether your priority is to create connected and personalised experiences for your customers, students or staff… to mobilise and engage your employees… or to create safe and secure connected spaces, Optus has the know-how and solutions to help you bring your digital future to life.

To view our references please visit https://ob3.optus.com.au/DigitalUniversityReport.html To find out more, visit www.optus.com.au/enterprise

“ We are building an IS operating model that supports the university into the future that is responsive, efficient and effective”

campus. “Then followed the interesting stuff,” adds Powell. “VPN could only handle 500 concurrent users, so a new solution was built and tested in four days with existing equipment.

Microsoft Teams was rolled out for collaboration, over 2,000 staff were

— Peter Powell, Chief Information Officer La Trobe University

trained virtually and a brand-new

of accommodating students that

services were developed, enabling

could not travel, made complicated

5,000 staff to work from home. This

still further by social distancing rules,

was, and still is, transformation at a

La Trobe made the early decision to

pace which has created new capabili-

move to online teaching, with only

ties for go-to market strategies.”

essential staff remaining on campus.

virtual desktop solution was implemented for Campus Lab capabilities.

Finally, hardware was deployed and

To support customers during the

“A significant technology challenge

COVID-19 pandemic, IBM took the

to deliver in one week,” states Powell.

step of providing 90 days of compli-

“Under normal circumstances, we

mentary access to Watson Assistant

have 25,000 students taught face-

for Citizens - AI software which can

to-face and around 5,000 staff

understand and respond to common

attending one of the Universities’ five

questions about COVID-19 on its

campuses every day. It never ceases

own. La Trobe was the first Australian

to surprise me how well individuals

organisation to leverage this offer.. “As

and teams really come together when

lockdowns spread across Australia,

you have a fixed timeline.” Five days

La Trobe University worked with

after the announcement, all students

IBM Garage to launch a chatbot to

were receiving tuition online and

answer frequently asked questions

only 100 essential staff were left on

about the virus’ symptoms, state and w w w.te c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

269

LA TROBE UNIVERSITY

Unlock the value of your data with

Australia’s Leading Advanced Data Analytics Specialists

www .versor.com.au | contact@versor.com.au | +61 3 9690 6107

271 federal restrictions and the status of the University,” Powell explains. “The chatbot is available on our website for all staff, faculty and students to learn about the latest information on COVID19 and the specific implications for the La Trobe student community.”

As a university, La Trobe has unique access to a constant well

“ Our technology partners don’t just support us on providing services, but actually engage with the academic side of things” — Peter Powell, Chief Information Officer La Trobe University

of fresh ideas, which it develops by supporting multiple start-up organisations and increasing the number of internships it offers. “We’re trying to create an environment where entrepreneurship grows from within and w w w.te c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

LA TROBE UNIVERSITY

272

JUNE 2020

is encouraged across all campuses,” Powell says. Part of ensuring the growth can continue uncompromised is embedding strong cybersecurity values. La Trobe uses the NIST framework to define its standards, adhering to a mentality of detect, protect, respond and recover. “With things like IoT, the number of devices out there increases your attack surface area,” Powell says. “We can invest a significant amount of money into the tech, but it is also important that people understand their responsibility to maintain a secure environment”. La Trobe runs cybersecurity campaigns and awareness training to keep the people who use its tech up to date on the latest safety measures. Powell’s team also works closely with Optus to shape the cyber security blueprint for the University today and for the future.

Research is an integral part of all leading universities and it is certainly a key tenant of La Trobe’s planned 235-hectare City of the Future development. Partnering with IBM Bluewolf and Salesforce, the University is building a research w w w.te c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

273

LA TROBE UNIVERSITY

administration platform. “Research is dynamic,” Powell explains. “The way in which funding grants and regulatory requirements can change; we required a solution that helped researchers and research administrators handle these changes quickly and efficiently.” Phase I

1967

Year founded

$534mn Revenue in US dollars

of the solution went live during La Trobe’s difficult ‘lockdown’ period, demonstrating the ultimate importance of the project, and Phase II has already commenced. Powell 274

emphasises his confidence that the

2,500 Number of employees

University is developing an innovative and successful solution which C O M PA N Y FACT S

• When it was first established in 1967, 552 students attended La Trobe University. Now, it has over 35,000 students from more than 100 countries • Its campus occupies 267 hectares, making it the largest metropolitan campus in Australia

will help Research Management scale efficiently and can be used as an accelerator within the Higher Education sector.

“One of the things we’ve spent a lot of time on as a leadership team has been changing our operating model,” Powell states, “When I arrived an external review had recently been completed that recommended an organisational change. Engagement was based more on who you know, not where you need to go to get

JUNE 2020

275

appropriate service.” Powell’s team

model that supports the university

has worked hard on establishing

into the future that is responsive, effi-

a consistent engagement model

cient and effective.” Powell explains.

across the University’s seven cam-

There are exciting times ahead at

puses, focusing on a consultative

La Trobe improving on our global

proactive approach as they identi-

rankings across a number of metrics,

fied areas where technology could

improving on student satisfaction

support business. A great example

and developing a digitally connected,

of this new approach has seen the

secure sustainable University City of

success of its robotic process auto-

the Future.

mation experiment being rolled out across other areas of the university.

“We are building an IS operating w w w.te c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

276

Leveraging technology to build an effective ICT strategy WRITTEN BY

NIKI WALDEGRAVE PRODUCED BY

STUART IRVING

JUNE 2020

277

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C O M M O N W E A LT H O M B U D S M A N

Jade Carson, CIO for the Office of the Australian Commonwealth Ombudsman reveals how the COVID-19 pandemic has brought clarity to its ICT strategy 278

W

hen Jade Carson was propelled into the role of Chief Information Officer – a first CIO role for both her and the

Ombudsman – her brief was to shape up the next stage of its strategic technology journey.

Four months later, with the public service facing one of the most disruptive events in its history, she found herself playing a central role in the Ombudsman’s pandemic response.

“It meant shifting from a long-term mindset to dealing with a sudden burst of tactical questions needing answers right away,” says Carson, sitting in her lounge room that due to social distancing was transformed into her office, meeting room and her four year old’s schoolhouse. “The challenge was making sure that as we put in place the enablers to get people out of the office without a break in our service, we stayed connected to the long term vision.”

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279

“ COVID hasn’t necessarily changed our focus for the next 18 months, but it has brought clarity to our business needs” — Jade Carson, CIO for the Office of the Australian Commonwealth

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C O M M O N W E A LT H O M B U D S M A N

“ The ICT area of the Commonwealth Ombudsman delivers exactly what the business areas need now but we need to be future ready for whatever we get thrown next”

280

— Jade Carson, CIO for the Office of the Australian Commonwealth

JUNE 2020

The Office of the Commonwealth Ombudsman is a portfolio agency of the Attorney-General’s Department. It has a wide gambit, dealing with community complaints about Australian Commonwealth agencies, ACT government agencies and some private sector industries.

An independent investigator on both unclassified and classified information, it investigates and resolves some 500,000 annual complaints about actions and decisions of government agencies to ensure the government delivers fair and

Commonwealth Ombudsman About us CLICK TO WATCH

|

1:45

281 accountable services to the community.

But throw in an international pandemic,

changed our focus for the next 18 months, however it has brought a lot of

a population of 25+ million in forced iso-

clarity to what the business needs in

lation, an estimated one million people

the longer term,” says Carson.

losing jobs – and countless businesses

The Ombudsman is dedicated to

imploding – and barely six months later,

exploring and improving different

Australia went into a tailspin.

technologies to draw out insights from

The ICT team was responsive to the

information it already holds but, accord-

emerging crisis. “We started ramping

ing to Carson, the challenge is that the

up in late February, to shift people to

crucial information is often buried.

working from home. We had to think

“The Ombudsman as an organisa-

about toolsets, collaboration, a whole

tion is about fairness and making

new paradigm of information security.

sure that no member of society is

Luckily, the strategy process was in

disadvantaged, or disproportionately

full swing. COVID hasn’t necessarily

disadvantaged. An important part of w w w.te c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

C O M M O N W E A LT H O M B U D S M A N

282

our work is not just resolving each indi-

need to be held for longevity so it’s

vidual complaint for every member of

essential we manage them well.”

society that asks for our help, but being

The Ombudsman develops best

able to identify the systemic issues,”

practice guides. Its “bread and butter”

she says. “We’ve always got to be able

is best practise in complaints manage-

to provide a touch point for communi-

ment and resolving complaints, but it

ties to be able to approach us. Data

also provides guidance on automated

and digital ethics, security and privacy,

decision making. It published its first

are key to that.

best practice guide on automating

“We need to provide those insights

decision-making back in 2007 and

back to the government organisations

has just released an updated guide for

we deal with in order to stop those

2020 to assist government agencies.

issues in the first place. Our data needs to be accurate and our records JUNE 2020

“I think that’s really interesting and shows that the Ombudsman is thinking

about the future, focusing not only on how we deliver our services, but also on how to help other institutions improve how they deliver as well,” adds Carson.

As a part of the CIO role, Carson has been tasked with reviewing the strategic business systems, which support complaints management and recording keeping. She is also currently piloting various technologies to meet various business needs.

One recent pilot success is Kojensi.

The information collaboration and communication tool from archTIS Ltd enables the Ombudsman to securely conduct investigations with agencies and share information without having to invest in a full protected environment. It also allows the chance to

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

Jade Carson Title: CIO

Company: Australian Commonwealth Industry: Government Location: Australia Experienced professional public servant able to build business capabilities and challenge status quo to drive business outcomes.

Demonstrated ability to improve public services through good design and process improvement. She has a strong focus on achieving business outcomes in government digital projects.

scale up if necessary – ideal for the Ombudsman, which sometimes runs programmes for only 12 to 18 months until the issue is resolved.

In March, the Ombudsman purchased 50 Kojensi licences on a 12-month deal worth $35,454 in annual recurring revenue. “Kojensi has proved to be handy tool during coronavirus when information needed to be shared and meeting people face-to-face w w w.te c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

283

1977

Year founded

$43.mn Revenue in AU dollars

350

Number of employees

Management.

Technology.

People.

We’re one of Australian’s fastest growing IT companies. Partner with us and experience what makes us different… we actually care

Learn More

Contact Us

mtpservices.com.au | info@mtpservices.com.au

285

“ It’s not about pilot method is definitely something I technology driving advocate, and we are looking for more the business, it’s opportunities to support our business about the business through technology.” need and leveraging The Ombudsman, like everyone else at the moment, is also exploring collabtechnology that’s oration tools and video conferencing for already out there to efficiency, and Carson jokes she’s “used help solve those every video conferencing tool that’s out problems” there over the last few months”. wasn’t an option,” adds Carson. “The

Like most working parents, she has found combining work with home-schooling over recent months challenging, revealing she taught her

— Jade Carson, CIO for the Office of the Australian Commonwealth

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C O M M O N W E A LT H O M B U D S M A N

286

four-year-old daughter “how to book

providing women with dedicated

time into my diary so she feels like she

executive mentors drawn from

has some control of when she gets to

the current industry leaders.

talk to me. I figure it will serve her well now and into the future,” she laughs.

Taking control is something Carson

She found the experience so invaluable that she recently became a mentor on the program. “It’s impor-

is passionate about, especially as

tant to participate in these programs

a woman in business, let alone IT.

and utilise techniques to support

In 2017 she was chosen to be a men-

you through your career and with

tee on the Dell Women IT Executive

your self-belief,” she says. “We all

Mentoring program (DellWITEM),

get impostor syndrome sometimes,

which aims to address the low num-

not believing we are enough, or have

bers of women in the IT industry by

enough skills for the job.”

JUNE 2020

CO MPAN Y FACT S

• More than 500,000 complaints are made to the public sector in Australia each year • The Office is located in Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney • The ICT Strategic Plan is currently under review, with the aim of delivering a new five-year strategic plan for the period 2020–2025

“Everybody has those thoughts, but

“What impresses me is she’s able to

having self-belief is recognising that

cut through the noise authentically,”

you do have something worthwhile to

surmises Carson. “She’s inspiring gen-

offer. The skills and the ideas you have

erations of women coming through that

brings diversity to any group, and hav-

you can have a baby, a family, and lead

ing diversity makes that group stronger

the country through a pandemic,

and us stronger as a whole.”

a volcano eruption, and everything else

When it comes to positive role models, she cites New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern for “leading

we’ve been through.”

“It’s fantastic to see a female leader (or any leader), leading in such a way.”

with empathy and compassion in a way we haven’t really seen from other world leaders”. w w w.te c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

287

AUSTRALIA POST

288

Delivering digital transformation WRITTEN BY

DAN BRIGHTMORE

JUNE 2020

PRODUCED BY

STUART IRVING

289

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AUSTRALIA POST

How Australia Post is supporting security and ecommerce with identity checks for anti-money laundering, passport applications, police checks and more

A

ustralia Post processes eight million identity transactions every year, supporting consumers, businesses and government

with the implementation of products and solutions which require identity checks: from identity verification to support financial services organisations’ 290

anti-money laundering obligations, to property transfers, passport applications, aviation and maritime security identity checks, and police checks for everyone. “Our mission is to simplify identity moments for everyone,” pledges Alberto Simongini, Head of Technology & Engineering. “Identity products and services are actually one of the key growth areas for Australia Post over and above our core mail and parcel services.”

Simongini joined Australia Post in 2017 in the midst of its digital transformation and notes this transition is allowing the postal organisation’s Business & Government clients to directly interact with their customers. “In regulated markets where a face-to-face identity verification is required, Australia Post can play to its strengths, because we run the largest retail network with trained people in JUNE 2020

291

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AUSTRALIA POST

292

the country, with nearly three times the number of retail outlets of the second largest retailer. With our vast range of services to connect Australians in every corner of the country, there is no reason why we cannot become the front door of Australia for important services that require identity verification.”

Australia Post is behind Digital iD™, the first form of digital identity in the country to be accredited by the federal government’s Digital Transformation Agency. In a full online experience, Digital iD™ combines back-to-source JUNE 2020

“ Now, we’re establishing new ways of working and it’s more about our passion towards continuous improvement and growing our products - that’s when engineering becomes product engineering” — Alberto Simongini, Head of Technology & Engineering, Australia Post

Digital iD™ – a simpler way to verify CLICK TO WATCH

|

1:29

293

document verification and facial biom-

explains Simongini. “Our business

etric binding, which offers communities

transformation triggered a large invest-

access to both government and private

ment into the latest technologies from

sector services. Simongini’s team is

cloud infrastructure to automation (e.g.

responsible for the execution of this

Continuous Integration/Continuous

product roadmap in terms of engineer-

Delivery), from Big Data to machine

ing and operation.

learning and from cyber security to

Technology plays an important role

compliance (ISM and PCI). Now that

in attracting and retaining the talent

we’ve established new ways of work-

required to continue the work started

ing and integrated this with a new

with the organisation’s digital transfor-

technology ecosystem, our team’s

mation. “Our workforce is very diverse,

engagement is more about our passion

from customer experience design to

towards continuous improvement and

development, security and operation,”

growing our products in the market.” w w w.te c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

AUSTRALIA POST

“ We need vendors that keep feeding us with ideas and innovative capabilities that we can leverage, now and in the future, to evolve our level of compliance and digital maturity in what we do.”

— Alberto Simongini, Head of Technology & Engineering, Australia Post

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JUNE 2020

295

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AUSTRALIA POST

296

Simongini believes a tight integra-

the subject matter expert of the prod-

tion between product management

uct in itself, and pushing its area of

and engineering is a must. “At

influence towards sales and cus-

Australia Post, we follow the scaled

tomer engagement rather than being

agile methodology. Most impor-

inward facing; that’s when engineer-

tantly, it’s a collaboration to allow

ing becomes product engineering.”

people to understand why things are

“We’re at an exciting point where we

needed, so you can all rally behind

can see the fruits of our labor and the

the challenges ahead to deliver a

real business benefits of our trans-

customer-focused solution. The team

formation,” affirms Simongini. “It’s

becomes owners of the product and

fantastic to engage customers directly,

we see a shift from engineering being

collect feedback, and continue to work

about execution to actually becoming

on our products, because even with

JUNE 2020

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

“ Corporations, like Western economies, are often impatient, and moving from innovation to growth takes time and perseverance so we can’t just invest in innovation hoping to find the unicorn” — Alberto Simongini, Head of Technology & Engineering, Australia Post

small changes we can make a very big impact. It’s actually become a part of the lifecycle of our products and the way we take them to the next level, which makes the potential for what we can achieve in the future very exciting.”

Creating the right culture to develop new ways of working and an ability to constantly adapt across the organisa-

Alberto Simongini Title: Head of Technology & Engineering Location: Melbourne, Victoria Alberto Simongini is an award-winning organisational leadership expert with over 15 years-experience in the Information, Communication and Technology industry. A dedicated 297 program manager Simongini works to overcome obstacles and consistently achieve complex, large-scale program goals within tight timeframes and budgetary and compliance requirements. His experience in previous consulting roles in system integration, network operation and media - have helped him navigate the challenges of Australia Post’s digital transformation.

tion has been integral to the success of the transformation. “Ideally, you want to build your team from the very beginning and scale it so the culture w w w.te c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

AUSTRALIA POST

FACT BOX

How digital is transforming IT roles at Australia Post

298

Digital transformation is everywhere, believes Alberto Simongini, Head of Technology & Engineering at Australia Post.

“Technology is at the heart of everything we do and what every modern company does.

Therefore, its development and a better understanding of what it can achieve, can help all areas of a business, including sales,” he says. “It’s not all about transactional sales; it’s about understanding what the technology, its environment, and how our solutions, can promote integration.”

grows with it,” reasons Simongini.

“This is not always possible, so we have to find ways to support other parts of the organisation by inheriting the resources of different teams.

Often, each team brings their own technology and culture, so we’ve had to break down the old ways and encourage a new esprit de corps a JUNE 2020

“There is a shift in the industry where the product engineer becomes the expert in that product and can support sales and move up in the chain. So, when it comes to digital transformation of the traditional model the more your skill develops, the more your worth in the organisation is changing.

To some extent it is about selecting the right person or the right skills for the outcome required. It means the traditional model of HR is transforming across the ICT industry.”

few times.”

This approach has been vital for Simongini when faced with resistance to change. “It’s been a barrier to overcome because ultimately we are accountable for the end-to-end results and delivering the benefits to the business and customers.”

Building the alliances and partnerships required to sustain Australia Post’s digital transformation has led Simongini and his team to source field contractors to ensure they keep control of the outcome. “The traditional ways of sourcing contractors didn’t fit our purpose, so we are enriching our approach with different ways of recruiting the right people,” he says. “Not just in terms of what they know and the way they execute, but also in the way they engage and operate within the business. That’s why we have started prototyping different ways of engaging consulting companies in the market.”

Simongini notes, “we’re working successfully in this way as our suppliers are deeply engaged in our delivery rhythm and provide us the flexibility to make sure we find talent that is the right fit in our teams. They are w w w.te c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

299

AUSTRALIA POST

in a relationship with solid and international companies providing specific, extremely reliable and secure software for our products. We need vendors that keep feeding us with ideas and innovative capabilities that we can leverage, now and in the future, to evolve our level of compliance and digital maturity in what we do.”

Simongini sees a place for startups in the ecosystem, viewing them as offering “cherry on top” potential.

“They’re not necessarily at the core of our ecosystems, but we definitely see the value in specific and innovainvested in developing and maintain-

tive tools in software lifecycle to help

ing with us the right people within

us better build, operate and moni-

the teams’ culture and Australia Post

tor our applications. At Australia Post,

delivery framework.”

we’ve learned how to select and groom

Australia Post collaborates with

opportunities with our innovation pro-

key providers in the identity products

gramme to select ideas to accelerate

and services space and innovators in

and incubate before we actually start

developing and deploying biometric

to invest considerably. Corporations,

authentication and identity assurance

like Western economies, are often

solutions worldwide, like Daon with a

impatient, and moving from innovation

long history of product development

to growth takes time and persever-

to enable high quality and international

ance. We can’t just invest in innovation

standard photo capture. Simongini

hoping to find the unicorn; we must

notes that the business is very careful

carefully analyse the potential and the

in its vendor selection: “We’ve invested

timing of the commercial return.” w w w.te c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

301

AUSTRALIA POST

“For example, we’ve been working with the National Australia Bank on a joint venture for identity fraud prevention called TrustCheck,” reveals Simongini. Essentially, TrustCheck is a service aiming to build a positive reputation and strong engagement across all functional areas - particularly risk, legal, privacy, sales, governance, corporate development and partnerships, and data service owners. “This new e-commerce fraud detection product came through our innovation 302

programmes, and allows for applied machine learning to offer merchants a high degree of confidence that

“ Now the market is ready to embrace the SaaS concept, we’ve also signed an agreement with Mastercard to enable the digital ID to be a form of identification in the credit card application process” — Alberto Simongini, Head of Technology & Engineering, Australia Post JUNE 2020

to automate pre-employment identity verification checks, removing the burden of manual processing for HR departments. “It’s been a great success,” confirms Simongini. “In just six months we already have 30 customers on board. They’re attracted by the fact that our digital services are ISM and PCI compliant, accredited by the Australian federal government’s Digital Transformation Agency as a provider of the identity exchange to be rolled out across government services. Now, the market is ready to embrace our solution, which gives consumers the choice of face-to-face or digital identity verification and puts consumers in control customers they are interacting with are

of their identity. We’ve also signed an

not using stolen or synthetic identities.”

agreement with Mastercard to use

Australia Post understands the

Digital iD™ as a form of identification

complexities of transforming a vast

in its trial of a broader digital identity

network of legacy systems, pro-

service for customers when interact-

cesses and people and has been

ing with other businesses and private

focused on utilising its own digital

organisations.”

solutions. In 2019, it launched its own Workforce Verification product, enabling businesses and government departments to utilise a SaaS offering. This enabled a re-use function in Digital iD™, which has the ability w w w.te c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

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A new digital age in media and entertainment WRITTEN BY

GEORGIA WILSON

304

PRODUCED BY

KRISTOFER PALMER

JUNE 2020

305

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BEC GROUP

Technology magazine takes a look at how the company is driving innovation within traditional media and entertainment

F 306

ounded in 1970, BEC World’s ambition is “to rebuild the organisation to become a forward-thinking and lean organisa-

tion,” by leveraging its “creative DNA to deliver fresh and engaging content for today’s users, and technology to deliver innovative and effective media, across all screens, beyond Thailand.”

Being the second largest TV station in Thailand the 50 year old company strives to take the traditional TV business model into the new digital age. “In response to the increasing competition after the introduction of Digital Terrestrial TV (DTTV) and the changes in advertising environment in the Digital Disruption era.

The Company has a strategic direction on building and maintaining a sustainable business with competitive edge,” comments BEC World.

Being a leader within the industry, BEC World intends to use its existing resources and stable relationships to create customer satisfaction for JUNE 2020

1970

Year founded

11,211mn Revenue in Thai Baht

1,000 Number of employees

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307

BEC GROUP

“ 2020 continues to be challenging both in terms of global and domestic factors impacting the economy” — BEC World

all, putting all its effort into providing the best services for its business partners and providing good benefits for all stakeholders.

BEC WORLD’S OPERATIONS ARE SPLIT INTO SIX KEY AREAS: 1. TV BROADCASTING Under its TV broadcasting area of the business, BEC World operates both Analogue Terrestrial TV - via its subsidiary company, Bangkok

308

Entertainment Co. Ltd. under its

JUNE 2020

309 concession agreement with MCOT

business manage the digital platforms

Public Company Limited - and Digital

for ‘Ch3Thailand’ and ‘Mello’.

Terrestrial TV, via its BEC Multimedia Co., Ltd. subsidiary company of BEC

3. GLOBAL CONTENT LICENSING

World in which it won an auction for

“We currently sell content by our-

National Commercial Digital Television

selves in China, Hong Kong, Macau,

Services Licenses, from National

Cambodia, Vietnam, and Myanmar,”

Broadcasting and Telecommunications

states BEC World, but in other ter-

Commission (“NBTC”),

ritories it partners with professional distributors, selling content to loca-

2. NEW MEDIA/DIGITAL MEDIA

tions including: “Indonesia, Malaysia,

Under the control of BECI Corporation

Philippines, Brunei, Singapore, Taiwan,

Ltd. - a subsidiary of BEC World - the

and other countries.” The company’s

operations conducted under its new

global content licensing includes pro-

media/digital media branch of the

ducing, sourcing and selling copyright w w w.te c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com



 

|Love|

For more information, please visit www.becworld.com

Deceitful

or email: international@becworld.com

to air in other countries, as well as

advertising services and ticket sales

producing programmes customised

via Thai Ticket Major Co., Ltd.

to fit the needs of consumers in other countries. “Working internationally

5. RADIO

allows opportunities to expand our

BEC World currently operates two

new business in those countries.”

radio stations - FM 105.5 (Easy FM) and FM 95.5 (HITZ 955). Via its radio

4. SHOW AND MUSIC

stations the company sells air time for

Via its subsidiaries, Live Nation BEC-

advertisement and provides service to

TERO Entertainment Co. Ltd. and

give advice regarding radio programme

BEC-TERO Scenario Co., Ltd. the

management and development.

company conducts business relating to the foreign artist concert business

6. OTHER BUSINESS

in Thailand and musical plays. It also

Aside from its five business avenues,

provides public relations activities and

other related businesses operated by

JUNE 2020

BEC World include providing informa-

include: strengthening its viewership

tion technology services, acting as

by delivering fresh and engaging

a landlord, as well as asset manage-

content across news, drama, and

ment and studio facilities services

variety; diversifying its revenue stream

for both programme production and

by introducing new media, integrating

post-production.

marketing solutions, building its global

With Thailand’s media industry

licensing market and increasing its

being no different to any other, the

use of online; as well as building finan-

industry is no stranger to transfor-

cial strength via cost reductions and

mation, particularly when traditional

operational efficiencies.

methods within the industry are

In a recent company statement

being digitally disrupted by the likes

Somchai Boonnamsiri, Chairman

of streaming services. With this in

of the Board and Ariya Banomyong,

mind BEC World has outlined its

President at BEC World highlighted

strategic goals for 2020, which

that despite a loss in profit compared

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311

BEC GROUP

Bringing the best of exclusive, original and high-quality digital entertainment content in Chinese, Thai and many other local languages to Asian audiences

Learn More

wetv.vip | marketing@tencent.co.th

313 to the previous year, “BEC World’s financial position remains stable.”

However, “2020 continues to be challenging both in terms of global and domestic factors impacting the economy. Already in 1Q/2020, concerns over the COVID-19 outbreak has resulted in a lower GDP growth outlook for the year and a subdued domestic consumption, which directly

“ Working internationally allows opportunities to expand our new business in those countries” — BEC World

affects local advertising spend.

However, we remain hopeful that a return in domestic spending will take place within 3Q/2020, resulting in a recovery of advertising expenditure.” w w w.te c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

BEC GROUP

“We currently sell content by ourselves in China, Hong Kong, Macau, Cambodia,Vietnam, and Myanmar” — BEC World

314

JUNE 2020

Whilst there have been challenges the company is striving to maintain its journey to transform BEC World, “starting the year with a content strategy focusing on a wider prime time (18.00 to 22.35), supported by our improved TV ratings performance in 1Q/2020 versus 4Q/2019, while better monetising non-prime time with new partners. We are also committed to double non-advertising revenue from our global licensing and online businesses, half of which is already secured, to mitigate impact from a lower TV market and build a foundation for future growth. Last but not least, cost savings measures of at least 10% have already been identified, which include, but are not limited to, analog switch-off, programming cost reductions, and ongoing organisation restructuring. These efforts are our top priority this year to ensure we become a profitable company.”

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JUNE 2020

Digital as a way of life WRITTEN BY

WILL GIRLING

PRODUCED BY

KRISTOFER PALMER

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317

D E N T S U A E G I S N E T W O R K A S I A PA C I F I C

Leo Liu, CTO, examines how Dentsu Aegis is helping its clients navigate their own digital transformation and prepare for a next-gen way of operating

B

usiness in the digital era can be a dizzying experience: it’s fast-paced and exciting, yet sometimes the changes happen too

fast for some companies to build an adequate strategy to cope with them. Stepping in to help solve 318

these problems is multinational media company Dentsu Aegis Network, a global expert in multimedia marketing solutions and a go-to resource for those who require assistance navigating through a digital transformation. With principle services consisting of content creation, media planning, sports marketing, brand tracking and market analytics, the company is well-equipped to establish a brand firmly in the digital consciousness and keep it there.

Joining the company in 2018, Leo brought with him a wealth of tech experience gained from previous positions at industry luminaries like Tesla and Cisco. “I’ve loved technology ever since I was young. I was fortunate to be part of some very innovative technology companies and witness the internet’s evolution over the past 20 years,” he says. “I’m intrigued by digital transformation and JUNE 2020

319

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D E N T S U A E G I S N E T W O R K A S I A PA C I F I C

“ One thing I learned from great leaders like Elon Musk (Tesla) and John T. Chambers (Cisco) is that they have a vision, a higher purpose, to positively impact the world” 320

— Leo Liu, CTO, Dentsu Aegis

passionate to help companies with their digital transformation journey.”

Dentsu Aegis Network was the first media network Leo has joined and he saw a great opportunity to be able to drive digital transformations for both the company and its clients (representing a diverse spread of industries, countries and markets).

When it came time for Leo to formulate his approach to the CTO role, he relates that the leadership styles he’d worked under previously influenced him greatly. “One thing I learned from great leaders like Elon Musk (Tesla) and John T. Chambers (Cisco) is that they have a vision, a higher purpose to impact the world positively. It is important to have a vision which people can relate to and get excited about; a North Star to aim for,” he explains. Taking this philosophy into account, Leo implemented the Vision, Strategy, Execution framework to ensure his team is focused on achieving a long-term plan whilst making progress on execution daily. “Execution without strategy is aimless. Strategy without execution is useless.”

Although being able to conjure the vision is half the battle, Leo

JUNE 2020

We are Dentsu Aegis Network CLICK TO WATCH

|

0:56

321 emphasises that the real benefit of

of the people.” It is primarily a people-

choosing Dentsu Aegis Network to

centric philosophy, one which praises

drive digital transformation lies in the

the efforts of teams whilst also recog-

company’s diverse range of clients:

nising the value of individuals. However,

finding ways to optimise business

technology has an equally important

whilst maintaining its capacity for han-

part to play, particularly in light of the

dling a myriad of complex industries

recent disruptions to global work-

has made the company exceptionally

forces originating from the COVID-19

knowledgeable and unique. Guiding

(coronavirus) pandemic. “It is a very

each case is a star model that Leo calls

challenging time for everyone,” Leo

‘Vision, Structure, Process, Reward and

states. “I’m keeping my team focused

People’. Regarding this, he says, “My

and motivated to ensure our business

job is to establish the vision, optimise

continues while the world is locked

the structure, streamline the process,

down. We are also taking this as an

encourage with reward and take care

opportunity to accelerate digitalisation w w w.te c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

“CBC is our strategic partner in China in providing Dentsu Aegis Network with high quality internet network, cloud and managed ICT services.”

— Leo Liu Chief Technology Officer Dentsu Aegis Network APAC

CONNECTING BEYOND CHINA CBC (China Broadband Communications) is China’s leading Managed Network Service Provider, fully licensed in China, providing a complete portfolio of nextgeneration communications services, to help businesses connect within and beyond China. Headquartered in Beijing, CBC has since 2008, offered a full suite of communications services including dark fibre, wavelength, Ethernet leased lines, IP VPN, IDC and the more recent SD-WAN and Cloud Services.

- One-Stop Service Deliver secure and reliable ICT solutions on demand

- Experienced Team ICT Veterans with deep knowledge and expertise in global market

- World-Class Standard Obtain TL9000, ISO9001, ISO2000 and ISO27001 certification

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- Extensive Coverage Extensive PoPs coverage extends your business globally

- Collaborative Partnership Long term trusted partnership with global carriers and MNCs

LEARN MORE

“ Execution without strategy is aimless.

Strategy without execution is useless” — Leo Liu, CTO, Dentsu Aegis

or Microsoft, Dentsu Aegis relies on its partners to provide critical expertise that enables the company to operate without disruption.

Leo is enthusiastic about the integral role that CBC plays in Dentsu Aegis’ daily operations. “CBC is our strategic partner in China, providing Dentsu Aegis with high quality internet network, cloud and managed ICT services,” he

to make our business faster, better

states. “CBC is an agile partner which

and smarter.” With almost 15,000

is able to provide flexible, scalable

Dentsu Aegis Network staff working

network solutions which meet our ever-

remotely, a new paradigm is emerging,

changing needs and help us achieve

not just for the company but also for

business growth. CBC is able to quickly

its clients, who are looking to Dentsu

identify and understand our business

Aegis Network for digital leadership in

needs and has always provided us with

uncertain times.

innovative and cost-efficient solutions.

Far from being a task that Dentsu

On top of its all, the CBC team is profes-

Aegis Network can achieve on its

sional and customer focused. Dentsu

own, the company relies on a network

Aegis is looking forward to strengthen-

of close partners and suppliers to

ing its long-term partnership with CBC

ensure that it can deliver high-quality

as we continue to grow.”

work to its customers. In terms of what

Similarly, Leo singles out software

makes a great long-term collabora-

company Pulse Secure for special

tor for the company, Leo relies on the

praise: “They’ve provided the tech-

golden formula: domain knowledge,

nological means to allow our 15,000

communication and a trusting relation-

employees to access corporate

ship. Whether it is China Broadband

resources from any location, any device,

Communications (CBC), Pulse Secure

at any time. Pulse Secure’s ability to w w w.te c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

323

HYBRID IT STARTS WITH ZERO TRUST secure access is essential

www.pulsesecure.net

grant this working model to our employ-

place to migrate and adopt. However,

ees is critical at this juncture; not only

Dentsu Aegis Network is staunchly

does it serve as a precautionary meas-

dedicated to the cloud strategy and

ure against infection, but also ensures

has made significant progress to over-

our business is operating as usual, with-

come the challenges. “Our multi-cloud

out any disruption to our customers.”

strategy assuredly improved our busi-

When asked his opinion on the

ness resilience in this uncertain time.”

significance of digital transformation

Similarly, for data and analytics, Leo

trends (cloud, data analytics, AI and

highlights how valuable the insights

IoT), Leo has a mixed response to their

granted by these innovations are to

contemporary application. In terms of

businesses in terms of understand-

cloud, he states that it is the requisite

ing their clients: “The ability to quickly,

foundation, although often a challenge

accurately and comprehensively

for companies with ‘legacy systems’ in

capture data for analysis, which in turn

JUNE 2020

allows us to make informed decisions, has absolutely improved our organisational efficiencies and effectiveness,”

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

Leo Liu

he explains. “We leverage omnidata

Title: CTO

intelligence to help analyse the custom-

Company: Dentsu Aegis

ers’ journey and consumer behaviour

Industry: Advertising

psychology to generate insights and

Location: Singapore

enhance the effectiveness of marketing campaigns for our clients.” Conversely, Leo considers AI (artificial intelligence) to be widely misunderstood and relatively undeveloped in most organisations. “Many people are scared of the word ‘automation’; to a lot of frontline staff, AI equates to losing their job.”

Therefore, Leo views it as crucial that the development of AI goes hand-inhand with education and a mindset shift,

Leo built his first website back in 1996, while studying at U.C. Berkeley.

During his career he has worked a WebEx; at Cisco first as Greater China VP, and later, China R&D Center GM; and Tesla as Head of Technology. He joined Dentsu Aegis Network to lead digital transformation and innovation as CTO in APAC in 2018.

which he anticipates will be increasingly important in the next five years.

Despite 2020 shaping up to be an unprecedented year for everyone, Leo affirms that his team’s focus remains the same: accelerating digital transformation. Dentsu Aegis is currently leveraging the latest cloud-based technology and microservices into a service-oriented NextGen MarTech Platform. “This enables our clients to drive digital transformation with w w w.te c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

325

D E N T S U A E G I S N E T W O R K A S I A PA C I F I C

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JUNE 2020

CO MPAN Y FACT S

• Dentsu Aegis in APAC: serves 17 regional markets, 400 clients, 15,000 staff

327

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D E N T S U A E G I S N E T W O R K A S I A PA C I F I C

2013

Year founded

15,000 Number of employees

328

the modern digital data and technol-

working couldn’t be better: with the

ogy,” Leo says. “All our clients are also

COVID-19 pandemic derailing many

undergoing digital transformation

preconceptions about the way people

within their own organisation and

work, learn and play. “We kick-started

industry, so having a platform that ena-

the PowerUp initiative to accelerate

bles them to quickly adapt to the latest

our digital transformation within the

consumer trends whilst maintaining

organization early this year. The aspi-

customer loyalty is very important in

rational goal is to digitalise at least 100

this new digital era. Companies need

workflows this year. In Q1, we identi-

to expeditiously adopt to the digital,

fied hundreds of excel/email/paper

interactive, virtual, networked and

workflows and the team has already

simulated new media world.” The time

digitalised more than 65 in a relatively

for transforming a business’ way of

short period of time.”

JUNE 2020

329

“ Coronavirus will change how people work, play, learn, shop, social forever” — Leo Liu, CTO, Dentsu Aegis

Leo is confident that Dentsu Aegis Network can be a force for positive change in the new world. “I think how people live will change forever, both for our generation and for the generation to come,” he concludes. “Digitalisation is the new way of life. This year is the turning point of our digital transformation journey.”

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JUNE 2020

Accelerating Industry 4.0 manufacturing WRITTEN BY

WILL GIRLING PRODUCED BY

K ARL GREEN

w w w.te c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

331

SIEMENS

Benjamin Moey,VP of Siemens APAC, discusses how the company is fostering the adoption of advanced manufacturing technologies in the region

S

iemens has a reputation which is near-synonymous with technological innovation and visionary leadership in

the industrial manufacturing sector. The largest business of its kind currently operating in Europe, 332

the German company has enjoyed longstanding success in the manufacturing community since 1847. However, far from resting on its legacy, Siemens continues to take on truly global precedence as it expands to new markets and takes on region-specific challenges. This attitude couldn’t be expressed better than the work it is currently exhibiting in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) area, particularly Singapore, with which the company has enjoyed a long and prosperous entrepreneurial partnership since 1908.

When Benjamin Moey joined the company in 2014 as the Head of Strategy and Business Development, he says that it was the unique value that Siemens brings to the APAC region which drew him in: “It was a unique opportunity. I think this company is at the cutting edge of technology and JUNE 2020

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SIEMENS

“ I think this company is at the cutting edge of technology and I’m glad to be back in Asia because this is the growing business hub of the world”

334

— Benjamin Moey, Vice President (Advance Manufacturing, Digital Industries, APAC), Siemens

I’m glad to be back in Asia because this is the growing manufacturing hub of the world.” A microelectronics engineer by training, Moey has enjoyed a varied career, including roles in strategic marketing, investment management the UK and Head of Strategy at Rolls Royce Energy (Asia Pacific). After starting with Siemens, he was soon promoted to Director (Mergers & Acquisitions) at the company’s Energy Division in Orlando, Florida, before rising to his current position as Vice President (Advance Manufacturing, Digital Industries) of the APAC branch.

It is this full-spectrum experience, from

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Ingenuity drives us CLICK TO WATCH

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335 engineering to finance, strategy, R&D

from the hardware which gained its rep-

(research and development) and finally

utation. “There has been a lot of change

to mergers & acquisitions (M&A), that

in mindset at the management level

he believes primed him for leadership

and we have begun transitioning our-

at Siemens. “I’ve been around,” he

selves to be more digitally focused,” he

says, “and I think that the combina-

explains.”In the last four years, we have

tion of these diverse and international

been acquiring software companies in

experiences, as well as my MBA at the

the industrial space and today we are

London Business School, has really set

one of the leaders in that sector.” The

me up for my current role.”

transformation started in 2014 when

Moey’s wide breadth of experience

the company set out its 2020 vision,

and penchant for change came to the

which focused on a trinity of techno-

company at a crucial time; deciding to

logical changes within manufacturing:

fully embrace the exciting, new digital

electrification, digitalisation and auto-

era, Siemens has started to diversify

mation. Instrumental to ushering in this w w w.te c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

new era for Siemens was the creation of ‘Next47’. A new unit receiving €1bn in funding over a five-year period, it is dedicated to fostering digital disruption and developing fourteen core technologies of the fourth industrial revolution (Industry 4.0), including robotics, AI (artificial intelligence), VR (virtual reality), cybersecurity and many more.

Popularly conceived as a holistic integration of digital tech and the means of production, Industry 4.0 generates an exciting vision of the future, wherein self-optimising systems change the work/consumer dynamic forever. The possibilities of this paradigm shift, Moey claims, can be observed in two recent projects undertaken by Siemens, one in Vietnam and the other in Singapore. “Vinfast (a subsidiary of a Vietnamese Conglomerate Vingroup) had aspirations of building

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

Benjamin Moey Title: Vice President Company: Siemens Industry: Technology Location: Munich Benjamin Moey, Vice President at Siemens, heads the company’s Advance Manufacturing Transformation Centre (AMTC) based in Singapore.

Currently leading business development activities in the APAC region, Moey has been a strong advocate for innovative technology, having started out as an R&D process engineer in the semiconductor industry.

their own automobile plant to serve the local market,” he says. “Vinfast approached us in Vietnam asking ‘can you come and figure this out for us?’

Siemens, using the industrial software tools at our disposal and our knowledge of automation, designed and developed a digital twin of the factory. w w w.te c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

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SIEMENS

C O MPAN Y FACT S

EOS - “Siemens and EOS have been partners for almost a decade. It was the first company that we started the journey of 3D printing with at our Munich office. Since then, Siemens has acquired at least 50 or 60 EOS printers for serial production; we’ve worked very closely with them and helped to improve and optimise their machines for our own industrial manufacturing.

In particular, we use EOS’ Additive Manufacturing machines to print our gas turbines components. This has accelerated our joint ventures and our alliances. Siemens is keen to demonstrate the power

of 3D printing, and that makes EOS a vital partner for us.” Benjamin Moey, Vice President (Advance Manufacturing, Digital Industries, APAC) JTC - “JTC is a local government entity that focuses on building industrial estates within Singapore. It’s a key partner to us because they are creating the possibilities and consolidating advanced manufacturing to sync with the West. JTC is helping us to make Singapore a nucleus for Industry 4.0 and beyond.” Benjamin Moey, Vice President (Advance Manufacturing, Digital Industries, APAC), Siemens.

339 Vinfast virtually commissioned it prior

imagination: Aquaculture 4.0. A

to the actual build.” Digital twin is

fish farm in Singapore approached

software which can replicate physical

Siemens to enquire how AI might be

assets in order to perform qualitative

able to help its business. Setting up

research before commencing a full

cameras to monitor fish growth pat-

project. Integrating IoT (internet of

terns, Siemens was able to compile

things), AI, machine learning and ana-

data that could be analysed by AI

lytics, Siemens’ digital twin enabled

software to find optimisation potential.

it to complete the project within 21

“Few people realise that digitalisa-

months - “It’s amazing how digitalisa-

tion is not just applicable to standard

tion and our tools have enabled this to

manufacturing facilities or production

happen within such a short period of

lines,” Moey posits. Although still in the

time,” Moey adds. The second project

data collection phase, he believes that

was slightly more unusual, yet it exem-

Aquaculture 4.0 has the potential to

plifies the diversity of the company’s

increase capacity ten-fold. w w w.te c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

Transform your business with industrial 3D printing Digitization is rapidly impacting the manufacturing world.

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www.eos.info

Projects and results like these

APAC region reach its full potential

could not be produced without the

by introducing next-gen manufactur-

technology to enable it or the inno-

ing techniques. “ASEAN probably

vative workplace culture to drive it.

accounts for about 20% of the world’s

Siemens, states Moey, possesses both

manufacturing revenue and growing;

of these valuable assets. Frequently

these manufacturing companies need

the two come together and this has

help and Siemens is ready to be part

led to some of the company’s greatest

of their growth story,” Moey says.

achievements. Prime examples include

A unique venture in the global market,

MindSphere, Siemens’ cloud-based IoT

the goal of AMTC is to bridge the gap

platform for connecting assets within

between developing and matured

an integrated, analytical platform, and

industrial practices, particularly with

its AMTC (Advance Manufacturing

regard to the adoption of 3D printing.

Transformation Centre) concept. The

Siemens hopes that helping compa-

latter was developed to help the

nies accelerate the adoption

JUNE 2019

a low risk, low investment basis at our “ There has been a lot of AMTC facilities,” he continues. change in mindset at It’s a noble, exciting idea and one the management level which Moey has no illusions will be and we have begun transitioning ourselves to easy. “Each company’s journey will be more digitally focused” be different. But, we will have the

— Benjamin Moey, Vice President (Advance Manufacturing, Digital Industries, APAC), Siemens

right equipment builders, certification bodies, government authorities and researchers to help them get started,” he enthuses. Siemens’ goal with AMTC

is to create an ecosystem of partners and technologies to support customof advanced manufacturing tech-

ers with turnkey solutions and expert

nologies through simplification,

guidance. The company achieves this

digitalization and collaboration “can

by building strong relationships with

help them translate their prototype

its core partners/suppliers, such as

designs into industrial-scale produc-

EOS and JTC, as well as by leveraging

tion and truly harness their benefit on

the cream of the startup community

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341

SIEMENS

342

1847

Year founded

€87.bn+ Revenue in Euros

385,000 Number of employees

JUNE 2020

with next47. “We invest a lot in startups and support them because they are at the forefront of technology,” Moey explains. “Siemens helps them to mature, develop and support our ecosystem as a whole - many times we end up acquiring them fully.” The company is interested in working with equally open-minded companies which have an innovative approach to the industry; Moey considers it essential that they share this vision.

That brings us back to Industry 4.0 and Siemens’ place within it. For Moey, AMTC and the company’s work in the APAC region are leading to a new paradigm of manufacturing and customer consuming which comically dubs ‘the lazy economy’. Detailed, optimised and intelligent, ‘the lazy economy’ could change our purchasing habits significantly. “IoT is helping us deliver what consumers want when they want it and to deliver it on time using advanced manufacturing technologies like 3D printing. One day, IoT might help us understand how much food you have in your fridge and schedule deliveries accordingly,” he says. The realisation of such a thoroughly connected w w w.te c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

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SIEMENS

system could dramatically increase consumption efficiencies by making products quickly to order. The challenge for the regional market, he claims, is the ready availability of cheap labour which makes companies interested in adopting next-gen manufacturing techniques lose incentive. However, Moey considers this to be a generational reservation, one which may not hinder younger businesses. “Once the new wave of leaders emerge, because they’re 344

more exposed to these technologies, they will have the right mindset and take things to the next level.”

“AMTC has been established to accelerate the adoption of advanced manufacturing technologies through simplification, digitalization and collaboration” — Benjamin Moey, Vice President (Advance Manufacturing, Digital Industries, APAC), Siemens

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345

Siemens is primed to equip this next

to do so. “The changes happening

generation of APAC enterprise innova-

now are here to stay,” he summarises.

tors with the technical and systemic

“I think people will evolve their mind-

advantages that they’ll need to be

set in terms of how they deal with

competitive. The company has already

change. The most important thing

made notable progress in achieving

for them to understand is that digital

this aim with AMTC and its mastery of

transformation can be a gradual pro-

Industry 4.0 technology. Accelerating

cess; it doesn’t have to be overnight;

the adoption of advanced manufactur-

we need to constantly move and

ing in the region is Moey’s staunch goal

upgrade to really take on the chal-

and he wants to make it clear that a

lenges of tomorrow.”

partnership with Siemens is a significant step for any company that wishes w w w.te c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

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SOLiD’s journey in driving digital transformation WRITTEN BY

LEILA HAWKINS PRODUCED BY

SCOTT GEORGE

JUNE 2020

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SOLiD, INC.

HOW SOLID IS DRIVING BUSINESS TRANSFORMATION IN TRADITIONAL INDUSTRIES WITH DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES

I

t takes five to 10 years for an ‘overnight’ success,” says Mrinmoy Chakraborty, Vice President and Head of SOLiD Digital

business at SOLiD Inc, Korea. “During my last 10 years in the internet of things (IoT) industry I have learned that, for any great technology business, we typically overestimate what will happen in the next year and underestimate what will happen in 348

the next five.”

SOLiD is a leader in providing wireless solutions offering flagship products DAS and WDM solutions, that improve indoor connectivity and coverage in high-demand and hard-to-reach locations. SOLiD Digital business works with traditional core industries helping to transform them with new, digital technologies such as IoT, AI/ML, RPA and Blockchain.

Chakraborty believes that new technology should be embraced willingly by end users, stating that “even though new technology would bring disruptive change to business, it should bring gradual changes in the lives of people to make the change process natural and organic.”

Chakraborty has been at the company for over three years, but his journey here can be traced back to 2010, when he founded his first IoT startup JUNE 2020

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From left to right: Jerry Lee (IoT Program Head), Mrinmoy Chakraborty & JungWook Lee (Business Operations Head) w w w.te c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

SOLiD, INC.

“ Our future technology roadmap is geared more towards enterprise software suited for data-based services in large scale distributed environments” — Mrinmoy Chakraborty, Vice President, Head SOLiD Digital Business, SOLiD Inc

after graduating from Stanford Business School. His engineering team and co-founding CEO were Korean, and he became fascinated

by Korean technology and the Koreans’ exemplary work ethic.

“I was excited by the opportunity to combine innovations in Korean hardware and Indian software for the global market,” he says.

His startup introduced cellular technology into the pallet industry in the US market for the first time,

350

which paved the way for customers’ digital transformation from a traditional “supply chain company” to a “supply chain information engineering company”. However this technology was ahead of its time. Step forward a few years to 2016, when he met the SOLiD co-founders, Chairman and CEO Dr. Joon Chung and co-CEO Dr. Seung Hee Lee. “These two brilliant visionaries built SOLiD as one of the global leaders in in-building wireless solution space. The following year, they entrusted me to build the IoT business for SOLiD – I saw this as my second chance to create a world class IoT organisation.”

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Nirvana IoMT CLICK TO WATCH

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351 His arrival at the organisation is all

space, our services create action-

the more remarkable given that he’s

able intelligence from returnable,

the first foreign executive in SOLiD

reusable, high value assets such as

Korea’s 22-year history. “This journey

containers, trailers, and chassis in

started as an adventure with a lot of

cold chain and multi-modal logistics

unknowns in a foreign land, but it’s also

environments.

been the best one of my career so far,” he explains.

Chakraborty explains that SOLiD

“In IIoT, our focus is on offering industrial safety, asset monitoring and predictive maintenance as a service.

Digital has two main verticals: the

My team’s priority is to offer solutions

“Internet of Moving Things (IoMT)”,

that are technically feasible, economi-

which is essentially enterprise logis-

cally viable, massively scalable and

tics, and the Industrial Internet of

offer an exceptional end-user experi-

Things (IIoT), which relates to smart

ence that hides the complexity of

and safe factories. “In the IoMT

technology from that user.” w w w.te c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

SOLiD, INC.

SOLiD’s tunable WDM solution transmits 96 wavelengths over single fiber

352

Chakraborty’s priority is to make

technologies), whereas in the last

SOLiD the preferred “internet

year it has evolved as a total solu-

of value” partner for enterprises

tion provider, focusing more on end

around the world, a term he prefers

application software-driven services.

to IoT, believing that the hero should

“Some of the areas where we are

be the business rather than the tech-

building next generation solutions

nology itself.

and co-innovating with partners are

To this end, the company’s tech-

in seamless universal tracking in

nology roadmap is market driven

indoor and outdoor environments,”

and built for solving complex high-

Chakraborty says. “We’re

impact customer problems. For

using hybrid sensor

instance, in 2018 it primarily focused

technolo-

on its hardware platform on LPWAN

gies

(low-power wide-area network

such

JUNE 2020

Nirvana : Actionable Intelligence from Whatever, Whenever, Wherever

as WiFi, Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), Ultra Wide Band (UWB) and GPS augmented positioning technologies.

“Our future technology roadmap is geared more towards enterprise software suited for data based-services in large scale distributed environments.

Edge intelligent solutions for 5G or private LTE environments will be some of our core future offerings.”

In the last three years SOLiD has worked closely with several industry leading customers, mostly with $1bn+ revenues, to help them launch their early or even first digital transformation initiatives. One of these was a leading Korean bank, for which the company helped launch asset monitoring services for managing collaterals.

This resulted in over 360% RoI over a period of nine months. In areas of safety and compliance, last year they conducted proof of concepts (POCs)

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

Mrinmoy Chakraborty Title: Vice President Company: SOLiD Industry: Global technology Location: Korea Mrinmoy is a serial IoT-preneur and a ‘business artist’ with 17+ years’ experience and a proven track record in building and leading global technology businesses in Korea, India, the US, and the UK. He currently heads Digital Business at SOLiD, Korea, and had prior leadership roles at Cypress Semiconductor, Xchanging, Onmobile and at Boston-based startup, Senaya, as a co-founder.

Mrinmoy holds 23 US and 1 Korean (filed) IoT patents.

in one of the largest factories in Korea.

“We intend to take this service to production this year and it’s expected to be one of the world’s largest industrial safety services,” he says.

The benefits to transforming the traditional industries the company w w w.te c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

353

SOLID, INC.

TATA COMMUNICATIONS MOVE™ www.tatacommunications.com

Intelligent Connectivity

Secure from Edge-to-Cloud

Visibility & Control

Global Footprint

355 works with using digital technologies include operational efficiency, safety and compliance, and productivity.

“Some of our new customers are also looking at servitisation, or creating new service revenue business models. Once the customers see

“ I saw this as my second chance to create a world class IoT organisation” — Mrinmoy Chakraborty, Vice President, Head SOLiD Digital Business, SOLiD Inc

the value of digitalisation in areas of cost saving, productivity and safety, I believe they will gain more confidence and look at IoT as their new revenue earner. We have started seeing this happening, and expect to see more in the next two to three years.”

Genesis DAS meets wireless coverage requirements of venues of any scale, coverage and capacity w w w.te c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

SOLID, INC.

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SOLiD — Driving Extreme Edge Connectivity CLICK TO WATCH

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357

1998

Year founded

$198mn+ Revenue in US dollars (2019)

488

Number of employees

w w w.te c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

SOLiD, INC.

AI and ML are also key to transforming customer operations. “In our business, these technologies have significant implications in predictive maintenance, location positioning, edge intelligence and also in areas of industrial safety for predictive situational awareness solutions and in building a more resilient supply chain. Every IoT service is a databased service, and applying AI/ML can make each service more responsive, predictive and proactive.

“At the same time, we are conscious 358

of not force fitting technologies just because they’re cool and trendy.

Our approach is to find appropriate

“ Every IoT service is a data-based service, and applying AI/ML can make each service more responsive, predictive and proactive” — Mrinmoy Chakraborty, Vice President, Head SOLiD Digital Business, SOLiD Inc

JUNE 2020

technologies that create maximum impact for our customers.”

Chakraborty explains that managing this digital change must be done with a human-centric approach.

“Any new technology introduction is change management,” he says.

“It changes people’s lives and even people’s vocabulary. Digital technologies make data transparent, and at times eliminate middlemen, which can be scary for people that are part of the ecosystem.”

359

Looking ahead, he sees an expansion

outlook for the post-Coronavirus world,

in the company’s services. “In the past

especially for my friends and partners

three years we have created a track

working in technology industries. I

record primarily in the Korean market.

believe that digital transformation was

In the next few years, I see more large

never a question of ‘if’, it has always

scale business expansion globally, in

been a question of when. COVID-19

South east Asia, the UK and the US. Also,

has decided one thing for us – the

our services will be more data intensive

time is now.”

and more suitable for the 5G world.”

For many in the technology industry, the COVID-19 pandemic has fasttracked digitalisation. Chakraborty is optimistic. “I have a very positive w w w.te c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

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A data driven culture to transform the business WRITTEN BY

GEORGIA WILSON PRODUCED BY

SCOTT GEORGE

JUNE 2020

361

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T I K E T. C O M

Maria Tjahjadi, VP of Data Analytics at tiket.com discusses the company’s use of data, becoming agents of change and driving a data driven culture

W

ith over 10 years’ experience with data and data analytics, Maria Tjahjadi is the current VP of Data Analytics at tiket.

com. “I joined the data industry by accident, I 362

never planned to take this route, when I graduated from school, I had one dream to become an ERP consultant. But I couldn’t find any suitable companies, so after 3 months, I decided to switch my career. I started my career as a business intelligence consultant in a technology consulting company. It was after becoming a business intelligence consultant that I realized there was a lot of opportunity in the data industry as at that time, people didn’t really understand how to use generated insights from the data.”

Over the years, Maria has seen the data industry change drastically. “Start from the evolution of big data. It started when we realised huge amounts of data were being generated by internet users and the data processing was not only for structured data, but also involved JUNE 2020

Data and Corporate Strategy Team

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T I K E T. C O M

“ As the hype of Big Data emerged, data analytics changed a lot, everybody wants to be experts in data” — Maria Tjahjadi, VP of Data Analytics, tiket.com

unstructured data,’ she explains.

“However, I have found that, although companies want to implement this technology, some of them are not ready for it. After the hype of big data, now we are in a period where people start to implement Artificial Intelligence.”

When it comes to managing its data, Maria revealed that tiket.com has a lot of variance of data sources, and that “to make sure the trusted source is being used by everyone in

364

the company, we developed a data

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Tiket Hadapi Rindu CLICK TO WATCH

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365 platform. That platform is being used

However, Maria explains that it is

to generate the insight for everyone in

not easy to change the mindset of

the company. By having this platform,

people to implement new technology

we made sure that everyone accesses

such as a single data platform. “The

the same data.” Before this innovation,

innovation challenge is people, it’s

Maria details that the company had a

not easy to change mindsets and the

lot of manual data. “Every department

way that people work. Implementing

has their own data producing their

technology couldn’t be separated

own numbers, this approach caused

from improving processes and

confusion as to whether the data was

changing the way people work.

accurate. Now that we are accessing

Without that combination, no one will

one data platform, we have increased

use the technology.”

the accuracy of our data. Now, every

In addition to this, Maria details

decision that anyone makes, they will

that one of tiket.com’s objectives is

refer to the same data.”

to become a leading Online Travel w w w.te c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

Data everywhere.

Analytics for everyone.

See it for yourself.

LEARN MORE

We help people see and understand data. tableau.com

“ The culture that we want to set is everyone in the data team is to become a consultant, meaning we should be able to give solution to any problem or any challenges that our users face” — Maria Tjahjadi, VP of Data Analytics, tiket.com

Agent that always focuses on customer centricity. “From a data team point of view, the culture that we want to set is everyone in the team should have a consultant mindset, meaning we should be able to answer any problem or any challenges that our users face. To become a data driven organization, our second mission is to become an agent of change. We need to help our stakeholders to put data first, by changing habits and behaviors to use data in everything they do.”

JUNE 2020

When it comes to securing the data that it uses, Maria explains that tiket.com harnesses technology to drive security within its operations “by using technology, we make sure that each person only has access to the specific data that they require.

We also implement data governance to create a data security metric, any data access should have an audit trail. Not only data security, data governance implementation also ensures that people have access to the high quality data that is maintained securely.”

In order to drive digital transformation with the organization, Maria believes that the company will need three things “The platform - or technology - the process and the people.

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

Maria Tjahjadi

Title: VP of Data Analytics Company: tiket.com Industry: Online Travel Agent Location: Indonesia With over 10 years of experience working with data, Maria works closely with both technical and functional subject matter experts to deploy projects, services and products.

When Maria is not doing the job, she loves to meet new people and explore new places. She also loves to teach, receiving many invitations to share her experiences.

So, we have very good technology partners and very good people in our team.” From a data perspective, Maria explains that the company is data driven all the way to the top.

“One of our partners - Tableau - has been one of the best decisions we have made,” comments Maria who reflects on the company’s success of adopting Tableau adding w w w.teacshno ia . bl ougyma s in e sga s czhie in e. f. ccom om

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T I K E T. C O M

2011

Year founded

1,000 Number of employees

368

DATA TR A N S F O R M AT I O N JOURNEY

• Customer centricity • People (Culture Shift and Change Management) • Strategic Vendor Management

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T I K E T. C O M

370

“ Besides that, data team is an agent of change, who will work with strategic partners like Tableau and our stakeholders to make tiket.com a data driven company” — Maria Tjahjadi, VP of Data Analytics, tiket.com

that her Board of Directors began the hashtag #Tableauislife, “in his words, ‘Without Tableau, I have no life, because Tableau is my life now!’”

This showed Maria how much her management values data, “so I know our data-driven strategy is the right one, and with the help of Tableau we have adopted a user-friendly business intelligence software within our operations that is easy for our employees to understand and use.” Maria is also currently one of

JUNE 2020

371

Tableau’s User Group Leaders which

change. “We want to adopt user

helps the community of Tableau

friendly technology, if it is not user

users to learn the best practices

friendly it is useless for us to build

of the technology. “During the

it. This is something that I think is

meet-ups, even though Tableau can

very important in order to drive our

provide content and experts, the

transformation.”

Tableau user groups are entirely led by the customers for customers to learn and adopt analytics.”

Reflecting on the company’s data management, Maria reiterates her comment on being a company that is striving to be an agent of w w w.te c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

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JUNE 2020

Fighting cancer with technology innovation WRITTEN BY

GEORGIA WILSON PRODUCED BY

KRISTOFER PALMER

w w w.te c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

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VA R I A N M E D I C A L S Y S T E M S

Yogeshkumar Ratnakumar, Director of Business Transformation at Varian Medical Systems, on its digital approach to create a world without fear of cancer

D

rawing on his 18 years’ experience within the healthcare sector and his Masters in Medical Physics, Yogeshkumar

Ratnakumar, has held various positions at Nucletron 374

and Siemens Healthineers during that time, Ratnakumar believes that navigating these different roles has given him a broad perspective of the happenings within the sector, stating “I have seen the level of interconnectivity, coordination and support required just within the departments at Varian Medical Systems to deliver the satisfying customer experiences that strengthen relationships.”

As the Director of Business Transformation at Varian Medical Systems, Ratnakumar describes the company as “very unique. Varian combines the ingenuity of people with the power of data and technology to achieve our fundamental goal ‘to create a world without fear of cancer’, which I believe makes a huge difference compared to other companies.” Over the last four and a half years working at Varian Medical Systems, JUNE 2020

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VA R I A N M E D I C A L S Y S T E M S

“ Varian combines the ingenuity of people with the power of data and technology to achieve our fundamental goal ‘to create a world without a fear of cancer’” — Yogeshkumar Ratnakumar, Director of Business Transformation, Varian Medical Systems

DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION AT VARIAN MEDICAL SYSTEMS “The technological innovation in the field of artificial intelligence (AI)

376

Ratnakumar has seen the organisation

and data, has contributed to a lot of

embark on multiple strategic initia-

changes in the healthcare sector in

tives, including its transformation

the past 10 years – I would say – It has

from a radiation oncology organisa-

provided a lot of support to healthcare

tion into a complete cancer care

professionals to make informed deci-

organisation” he explains.

sions and guide them to face greater challenges with greater confidence,” comments Ratnakumar.

“We innovate constantly, especially to create intelligent products, AI goes hand in hand with our digitisation and

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IGRT Overview on Varian Trilogy CLICK TO WATCH

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377 our investments in IoT for remote

ADOPTING INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGY

monitoring and servicing of our treat-

Varian Medical Systems wants to

ment delivery platforms.

create an intelligent cancer care

Our fundamental data strategy

system by harnessing innovative

relies on an intelligent ecosystem that

technology such as AI, and machine

continuously improves the level of

learning to convert data into insights.

care clinicians provide patients. This

“We strive to bring people together

intelligence empowers them to make

around a holistic view of each

informed decisions in the fight against

patient, and to enable appropriate

cancer. We have multiple initiatives

multidisciplinary cancer care.

across the organisation all working to

In addition, we have also taken

harness data from a variety of sources

a learning ecosystem approach

that leverage machine learning and

to serve as an information bridge

AI to improve the ability to deliver

between clinics to streamline work-

extremely high quality care globally.”

flow and processes.” w w w.te c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

We BRING and

COMPANIES CUSTOMERS TOGETHER

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In the past five years, Ratnakumar has seen Varian Medical Systems

those actions have on our operations.”

Varian Medical Systems has been

successfully transform several of its

an innovative company since its

business functions. As a result, the

founding in 1948, creating intelligent

organisation has a fantastic founda-

products to support its customer’s

tion to evolve as its customers evolve.

fight to cure cancer and reimagine

“At the root of our transformation is

patient treatment.

intense focus on what we do, why we

With this in mind Ratnakumar sees

do it the way we do, and the impact

Varian Medical Systems as a pioneer

379

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VA R I A N M E D I C A L S Y S T E M S

380

JUNE 2020

“ The basics of digital transformation are to be agile and adaptive to prototyping” — Yogeshkumar Ratnakumar, Director of Business Transformation, Varian Medical Systems

w w w.te c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

1948

Year founded

$3.2bn+ Revenue in US dollars (2019)

10,000 Number of employees

within the healthcare sector in adapting innovative technologies. “Machine learning is a key component of our strategy for facilitating innovation,” says Ratnakumar. In 2014, Varian Medical Systems was the first company to develop machine learning products for radiation therapy for the treatment of cancer.

In addition, we are also using machine learning across multiple areas to drive predictive and proactive triggers to ensure smooth operations both internally and externally.

Moving on to artificial intelligence he continues, “our use of this technology

JUNE 2020

is very human centric, In 2019, we have

tasks to better place the focus

launched AI driven Ethos Radiotherapy

of people onto bigger problems.”

system, which is helping clinicians in

A STARTUP MENTALITY, CULTURAL CHANGES AND PARTNERSHIPS

the field today.”

Recently We have started RPA internally for repeatable and predictable

When driving its innovation strategy,

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

Yogeshkumar Ratnakumar Title: Director of Business Transformation Industry: Medical Device

Location: Singapore 383

A result-oriented leader with strong track record in the healthcare business, having navigated through sales, marketing, strategic and integration operational roles over 18 years. Successfully utilising emerging technologies, analytics, trends and data-based decision-making skills to achieve multi-fold growth strategies across various geographies.

He is a seasoned integration business architect with a proven track record of execution of strategic plans, redefining, redesigning organisational architecture and implementing best practices across the organisation.

Further, he has seasoned people management skills in executing organisational transformation projects, building and developing virtual and cross functional teams and championing internal harmony among partners.

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VA R I A N M E D I C A L S Y S T E M S

384

Ratnakumar explains that Varian Medical

Reflecting on the workforce at

Systems adopts a startup mentality.

Varian Medical Systems, Ratnakumar

“The basics of digital transformation is

believes that the organisation is

to be agile and adaptive to prototyping.

blessed with people that of which

A mentality which is common among

we are proud “We have a strong

startup organisations. So, at Varian we

value system at Varian, we drive indi-

have been driving agility and prototyping

vidual connections to drive cultural

within our operations in order to be adap-

change, which is critical to adopt-

tive to achieve our core mission goals.”

ing new technologies and adapting

Helping the organisation to adopt

processes.

this mindset and drive innovation

When it comes to its Enterprise

is its people excites Ratnakumar.

application partners, Ratnakumar

JUNE 2019

“ Our fundamental strategy is to develop an intelligent ecosystem for clinicians to continuously improve the level of care they provide” — Yogeshkumar Ratnakumar, Director of Business Transformation, Varian Medical Systems

providing different perspectives to the industry standards, as well as someone who can provide advice on sustainable investments for solu-

highlights key components that the

tions and who can work with us to

organisation looks for. “The first is

develop proof of concepts (POCs)

a co-creation mindset, this is impor-

as well as the final component.

tant for agility and prototyping. A

Reflecting on the organisation’s

co-creation mindset will coincide

biggest strengths, Ratnakumar

with this adaptive mindset, products

doesn’t hesitate to attribute this title

like Salesforce FSL have helped

to its people, “our people and our

improve field service user experi-

interconnected value system are

ence. We also look for partners like

our biggest strengths. Our biggest

Accenture who can support us in

success is the amount of lives that we have touched over the years and we won’t stop, every day we want to touch ”

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385

Acumentis: Combining digital culture and brand 386

WRITTEN BY

WILL GIRLING

JUNE 2020

PRODUCED BY

ANDREW STUBBINGS

387

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ACUMENTIS

Craig Ulrick, Acumentis’ Chief Information Officer, discusses the company’s rapid expansion, digital rebirth and the brand culture which made it all possible

388

F

ounded in 1982 as LMW, Acumentis’ presence in the Australian real estate industry has been long and distinguished.

Representing the only property valuation and advisory services firm on the ASX, the company currently employs over 300 people across 40 offices spread around the country, including Sydney, Brisbane and Perth. Capable of providing a range of services, such as residential property valuations, strategic portfolio advice, data analysis and agribusiness, Acumentis’ breadth of knowledge is matched by its desire for expansion. Having acquired several other valuers over the course of its existence, most recently in mergers with MVS in 2017 and Taylor Byrne in 2018, the company finally decided to rebrand itself in 2019 to reflect its new commitment to digital transformation.

Having joined the company two years ago, as the excitement of its expansion was fully underway, JUNE 2020

389

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ACUMENTIS

“ Our transformation has been a combination of digital, culture and branding: we have a new brand that has been informed and shaped by our team and it reflects the culture of this business” Craig Ulrick, Chief Information Officer, Acumentis 390

JUNE 2020

Welcome to Acumentis CLICK TO WATCH

|

1:24

391

Craig Ulrick, Chief Information Officer

real insights about our customers and

(CIO), wanted to capture the energy

make informed decisions,” he explains.

and sense of urgency permeating

“We had to build smart-tech solu-

the atmosphere of Acumentis in

tions to replace slow and sometimes

his approach to digital transforma-

ancient business processes.” For

tion. Placing an immediate focus on

Acumentis, the mission to undergo

increasing efficiencies and driving

digital transformation can be summed

the revitalisation of legacy systems,

up in two words: Project One.

Ulrick was determined to bring the

In order to adequately serve its

company fully into the digital era.

customers, the company had to find

“Acumentis is one core platform; one

a way to analyse quality data in real-

core brand with multiple combined

time - fast enough to help them make

services, which share the same data

crucial real-estate-related decisions

across the group and allow us to gain

in an informed manner. “It was nice w w w.te c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

ACUMENTIS

392

getting stuck into a nice, big, juicy project like that,” says Ulrick. “Project One was part of our rebrand development to transform the company into a cutting-edge platform. The business made a decision to transform because it wasn’t sustainable to maintain the many systems we had under different contracts and arrangements previously.” Gathering information about properties from myriad sources, including government bodies, local authorities, councils and geographic surveys, the voluminous sum of this JUNE 2020

1982

Year founded

$42mn+ Revenue in AUS dollars

300+ Number of employees

research can be overwhelming, particularly as it must be interpreted and used to a customer’s advantage.

The role of AI and algorithm-

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

Craig Ulrick Title: Chief Information Officer

powered analytic systems has been

Company: Acumentis

pivotal in making sure that quality,

Industry: Property Valuation

data-driven decisions can be made.

Location: Sydney, New South Wales

“Acumentis uses something called an ‘automatic valuation machine’ (AVM). It’s not quite AI; it’s more like machine learning,” clarifies Ulrick.

“So you type in an address and it processes some associated data. It then informs you what that property might be worth right now. It’s not perfect, but it gets a lot of the things spot on.” Ulrick opines that the further automation of these labour-intensive tasks will form the core focus of the real estate industry moving forward, particularly regarding valuation

Craig possesses a wealth of IT experience and has held CIO roles in a range of industries including health care (medical devices) and financial services, giving him extensive knowledge in driving innovation for large organisations. Following major acquisitions in 2017 and 2018, there was a need to digitally transform the operations of the business. Craig was tasked with this alongside streamlining core platforms.

services. Software similar to facial recognition technology is being trialled on photographs of properties in order to determine if the quality, condition and value of a property can be estimated by a machine programmed to notice key features.

However, whilst maintaining a visionary approach is important when w w w.te c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

393

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“Acumentis is one core platform; one core brand” Craig Ulrick, Chief Information Officer, Acumentis

considering the application of new

largely spreadsheet driven process

technology, it is equally important to

of commissions. It’s allowed us to

leverage the services of key suppliers

streamline our data and just focus on

and partners. However, more than

making informed decisions with it.”

simply delivering a great service or

Equally vital is the digital marketing

project, Ulrick emphasises that the

agency Orange Digital, Ulrick says.

company’s ideal partner would want

“Orange partnered with us to align our

to actively understand the real estate

people and our brand, assisting us to

sector and want to join in the mis-

shape our ongoing culture program

sion to improve it. Software solutions

and allowing us to bring a combination

developer CALUMO is a powerful intel-

of minds into our strategy and people

ligence platform which Acumentis uses

engagement.” With a passion for cul-

to run its budgeting and forecasting.

ture and brand, the Brisbane-based

Enabling the company to collate infor-

company is also an expert in web

mation across multiple platforms, Ulrick

design, development, apps, videos and

enthuses that CALUMO provides a

search engine optimisation. Its ser-

fantastic tool for business automa-

vices during Acumentis’ rebrand have

tion. “We used it recently to replace a

been significant and transformative. w w w.te c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

395

ACUMENTIS

“ We are the custodians of our customers’ data” Craig Ulrick, Chief Information Officer, Acumentis

396

JUNE 2020

Acumentis’ digital transformation has gone hand-in-hand with its increased focus on security. Following a data disclosure incident in early 2019, the way the company handled data had to be overhauled and bolstered accordingly. Rather than choosing not to comment on the issue or acknowledge areas that required improvement, Ulrick states that the company took the occurrence in its stride and remained open and frank with the public. “We are the custodians of our customers’ data,” he says, and Acumentis wasted no time in finetuning its approach. Achieving ISO 270001 certification in late 2019, covering the technology and infrastructure supporting its valuation services in the residential, government, commercial, insurance and property advice sectors, Ulrick believes the company has reaped a positive result from initially unfortunate circumstances. “We can segregate our customers’ data and encrypt it, along with any attachments.

We consider how long information is needed for and only store it for the absolute minimum of time.” It is also a vigorous approach to client protection w w w.te c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

397

ACUMENTIS

4 out of 5 team members can’t remember their company values Orange Digital can help you use powerful branding to drive incredible cultural alignment Book your FREE Culture Consultation

399 which he considers a distinguishing

Australia’s best-in-class valuation and

feature for Acumentis among other

advisory agency. “We will continue to

companies in the sector.

expand and invest in our people and

When asked what the future might

clients, in order to understand what

hold for Acumentis in 2020, Ulrick is

problems they’re having and how we

quick to intimate that further expansion

can solve them,” Ulrick concludes. “Our

within Australia remains a high priority,

transformation has been a combination

particularly with regards to overcoming

of digital, culture and branding: we have

the geographical challenge of serving

a new brand that has been informed

such a large country effectively. Further

and shaped by our team and it reflects

automation and value-added services,

the culture of this business.”

such as illicit substance screening capabilities for properties and quantity surveying services, will help shape the company’s ongoing quest to become w w w.te c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

400

THE POWER OF THE PERSONAL IN SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT

JUNE 2019

WRITTEN BY

MARCUS LAWRENCE PRODUCED BY

CAITLYN COLE

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401

ROHIT DARODKAR

Supply chain thought leader Rohit Darodkar discusses the strategic approaches that generate success in the sector

T

he nature of supply chain operations is as diverse as business itself. For every country of operations, international rela-

tionship and industry or sector, the complexities of procurement, logistics and supply chain morph and shift. Executives in the space often settle within 402

their niche, but one who has not only led operations in multiple industries but in wildly different territories is Rohit Darodkar, currently Global Procurement and Logistics Manager at Tritium, an Australian firm dedicated to EV charging infrastructure. Having begun his career in India in a graduate supply chain role at Tata Motors, Darodkar moved to Australia to complete his master’s in Mechanical Engineering at Queensland University of Technology, then his master’s in Business Management at Griffith University, majoring in Aviation. After that, Darodkar joined the newly instated Australian operations of Indian car manufacturing giant Mahindra & Mahindra where he remained for over six years.

“I worked in positions from warehouse manager to spare parts manager and operations manager and, in those roles, I developed strategies and JUNE 2020

403

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ROHIT DARODKAR

“ You’ve got the challenge of generating demand for a particular product, having a proper strategy in place to support that demand, and ensuring the cost of the product still makes sense for it to be developed, manufactured and sold in Australia” — Rohit Darodkar, Global Procurement and Logistics Manager 404 a dedicated focus on continuous

“The Australian market is very different

improvement of end to end supply

to other corners of the world,” he says.

chain management,” says Darodkar,

“The majority gets manufactured in

reflecting on his early career.

China, Korea or Thailand; very little

“In Australia, Mahindra was estab-

is local. The supply chain therefore

lished in 2007 and I joined in 2010,

becomes a strategic challenge because

so it was a really new organisation for

you cannot simply store these parts on

the Australian market whilst already

your shelf. You have to order a certain

having a huge domestic footprint in

amount to make it logical to pay freight

India.” During his time with Mahindra,

charges on particular parts.” The ques-

Darodkar was deeply involved in

tion, Darodkar elaborates, is how to

post-system development and the

justify bulk orders from overseas when

establishment of effective supply chain

the demand for the related parts isn’t

strategies for the company’s work in

there. In addition to that, the lead time

Australia, a drastically different busi-

for such orders, along with the cost,

ness environment to its native India.

must also be carefully balanced to avoid

JUNE 2020

405

shortfalls in vital stocks for manufac-

making this balancing act far less chal-

turing. “You’ve got the challenge of

lenging to maintain, but the importance of

generating demand for a particular

robust strategies cannot be overstated.

product, having a proper strategy in

For Darodkar, effective relationships

place to support that demand, and ensur-

with vendors and employees are

ing the cost of the product still makes

among the most potent tools a supply

sense for it to be developed, manufac-

chain executive can access. He says

tured and sold in Australia. An excellent

it is important to remember that “every-

storage strategy needs to be in place

one’s in this business to make money”,

and maintained through Order Pattern

and that holding this reality at the front

Method, Reorder Point Process Method

of his mind when managing vendor

and Control Rhythm Method.”

relationships is vital to striking the bal-

Technology is increasingly providing

ance between cost and quality. “The

the answers, with data-driven insights

more you squeeze on cost, the more w w w.te c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

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it is reflected by the supplier in the

will buy the end product, and everyone

product quality they deliver.” Of course,

will go out of business.” There is a com-

pricing strategies must reflect market

petitive edge to this as well, as

viability — as everyone is in the busi-

manufacturers are rarely short of

ness to generate value, costs must be

options when it comes to vendor selec-

in line with the feasibility of selling the

tion. “You must always check where

end product. “You need to be open

you stand in the market,” Darodkar

from a business perspective, negotiate

says. “You cannot just rely on one sup-

those costs and manage the supplier

plier for a product. Supply chain is a

by explaining that, if they cannot

demanding and continuously evolving

reduce the cost of a product, nobody

sector — you need to keep your eyes

407

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

Rohit Darodkar Location: Brisbane, Australia With more than 15 years’ management experience in supply chain, logistics, transport and FMCG industries, Rohit Darodkar possesses a unique range of skills and experience delivering best practice management and leadership to a wide variety of international organisations.

An experienced and commercially driven supply chain professional with demonstratable and proven experience in people management, process planning and information technology transformation, he is an expert at synchronising supply with demand and developing supply chain strategies that significantly impact profitability and increase the total value of a business. He demonstrates excellence in working through the 3 Cs of supply chain leadership — Communication, Collaboration and Change — and turning the business model into a profitable one. w w w.te c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

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sales@currentlogic.com

“ You need to accept that you won’t ever have 100% support, and you need to accept that you cannot make decisions alone simply because you are the boss” — Rohit Darodkar, Global Procurement and Logistics Manager

industries. All of these factors are being affected by rapid shifts in customer and consumer buying-behaviour. Many markets which used to be purely local or

open to new developments and offer-

regional have now become global, as

ings.” Reflecting on this not only enables

have the supply chains that serve them.

the best value in product acquisition, but

As a supply chain leader, you need to

also ensures suppliers do not rest on

focus on what lies ahead and, to some

their laurels when it comes to appealing

extent, be able to predict it. This can

to their own clients. He continues: “The

only be possible with a thorough under-

supply chain world is changing rapidly,

standing of market dynamics.

sometimes unpredictably, in line with the market dynamics across many

“Another thing,” Darodkar adds, “is to be mindful of the professional relationship with vendors. You need to maintain the bond with them that their product is not only required but is at the heart of your operations. They need to know they are important to your organisation, that their quality is good and that you expect that quality to be maintained. You must set KPIs for that quality, for deliveries and so on, but it’s a two-way relationship.

If you give freedom for them to set KPIs for you as well, such as sales targets, w w w.te c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

409

ROHIT DARODKAR

timely payments and the like, it becomes a more open relationship and they take more interest in the business’s success and how they can influence it.”

Internally, Darodkar says a keen focus on managing change is also imperative to effective supply chain operations, particularly in the age of digital transformation. “People come to do things their own way, and there’s always a resistance to learn new things,” he says. “As the world evolves, 410

you need to evolve, and change is the only thing that’s constant. As soon as you accept that change and believe that it’s important to your organisation, resistance goes down.” In manufacturing, it is not only changing technologies

“ If you give freedom for vendors to set KPIs for you as well, such as sales targets, it becomes a more open relationship and they take more interest in the business’s success and how they can influence it” — Rohit Darodkar, Global Procurement and Logistics Manager JUNE 2020

411

that necessitate a pro-change mindset,

“You need to accept that you won’t

as the iterative nature of products

ever have 100% support, and you need

means processes are similarly prone

to accept that you cannot make deci-

to alteration and optimisation. Instilling

sions alone simply because you are

this vital cultural component is one of

the boss,” he explains. “You need to

the leading challenges faced by execu-

have confidence in your people to

tives in every department of every

ensure that the decisions you make

industry undergoing transformation,

are effectively communicated and that

but Darodkar believes the answer to

everyone is on the same page. At the

the riddle lies in the personal.

end of the day, no organisation is run w w w.te c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

ROHIT DARODKAR

412

JUNE 2020

“ Flexibility will ensure that change will not faze you or cause you undue stress. In turn, your team will be encouraged to embrace, rather than resist change” — Rohit Darodkar, Global Procurement and Logistics Manager

by one person, it’s always a team effort.

You need to understand your people and your resources, what works for them and what doesn’t, and from there you can better understand how to convince someone to come on board.

Sometimes a simple coffee table discussion works, sometimes you need to take someone out for a beer, sometimes you need to be a strong authority, but often you don’t need to be pushy.

Flexibility will ensure that change will not faze you or cause you undue stress.

In turn, your team will be encouraged to embrace, rather than resist change.

If what you are doing is right, people just need time and they will come on board.” w w w.te c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

413

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