Technology Magazine November 2020 by Technology Magazine

THE VALUE OF MOBILE IN THE AGE OF DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION

technologymagazine.com NOVEMBER 2020

Industry 4.0 transformation

Largest non-US Tech Companies

How the Cloud Can Deliver a Productivity REVOLUTION

Why cloud computing is key to post-COVID-19 productivity, with insight from Darren Hardman, AWS

WELCOME

mong this month’s features,

namely whether it’s better to buy or

we investigate why big data is

to build bespoke software solutions.

no longer a buzzword, look at the

top solutions for doing more with T:297 mm

analytics and hear from AWS representatives on cloud productivity.

Our Top 10 sees us delving deeper into the world’s biggest technology firms outside of the technological heartland that is the United States.

In that piece, Darren Hardman, VP,

Entrants range from Indian consul-

General Manager UK&I, Amazon Web

tancies to German enterprise giants

Services, told us about how the elas-

and Chinese ecommerce titans.

ticity provided by the cloud can also make organisations more resilient.

Don’t forget to read our other feature reports with the likes of Sie-

“If you think about organisations that

mens, JTI, Arm, Cheetah Digital,

have seen an impact on demand for

CRU Group, Nautilus Data Technol-

their products and services around

ogies and many more.

COVID, your ability to scale down your operations and scale down your cost base in doing so is particularly important.”

Do you have a story to tell? If you would like to be featured in an upcoming issue of Technology magazine get in touch at

We also try and resolve one of the

william.smith@bizclikmedia.com

oldest questions in IT procurement,

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

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PUBLISHED BY

SENIOR EDITOR

Paddy Smith EDITOR

William Smith EDITORAL DIRECTOR

Scott Birch CREATIVE TEAM

Oscar Hathaway Sophia Forte Sophie-Ann Pinnell Hector Penrose

PRODUCTION DIRECTORS

PROJECT DIRECTORS

Georgia Allen Daniela Kianickovรก

Ryan Hall Ben Maltby Mike Sadr Kris Palmer

PRODUCTION MANAGER

Owen Martin DIGITAL VIDEO PRODUCERS

MANAGING DIRECTOR

Kristofer Palmer

Kieran Waite Sam Kemp

James White

MARKETING DIRECTOR

Jason Westgate

MEDIA SALES DIRECTOR

DIGITAL MEDIA DIRECTOR

Leigh Manning DIGITAL MARKETING MANAGER

Shirin Sadr

CHIEF OPERATIONS OFFICER

Stacy Norman PRESIDENT & CEO

Glen White

DIGITAL MARKETING EXECUTIVE

Amber Naylor t e c hn o l o g y m a g a z in e . c o m

CONTENTS

Digital Transformation in Semiconductor Procurement

28 THE UNSTOPPABLE MARCH OF DATA ANALYTICS

How the Cloud Can Deliver a Productivity REVOLUTION

THE PROS AND CONS OF BUILDING OR BUYING IT INFRASTRUCTURE

60 Largest non-US Tech Companies

Business Intelligence and Doing More With Data

88 Women of MENA in Technology

118 CRU Group

100 JTI

138 Pestana Hotel Group

168 Cheetah Digital

154 American University of Beirut Medical Center

184 Waygate Technologies

200 Special Investigating Unit

210 Intercars

236 224

Legacy Community Health

SiteOne Landscape Supply

250 Nautilus Data Technologies

264 Altarâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d State

276 Netskope

290 ada

Digital Transformation in Semiconductor Procurement WRITTEN BY

WILLIAM SMITH PRODUCED BY

GLEN WHITE

NOVEMBER 2020

www.t e c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

ARM

Arm’s Alisa Bornstein, Group Procurement Senior Director, on the transformation in procurement worthy of Arm’s high-tech reputation

rm is a British multinational semiconductor and software design company headquartered in Cambridge, UK. Arm

technology touches more than 70% of the world’s population, and its processor designs have ena12

bled advanced computing in more than 180 billion chips to date, powering products from the sensor to the smartphone and the supercomputer. One of the key functions enabling its success is the supply chain. Alisa Bornstein is Group Procurement Senior Director at the company, with over 25 years’ experience in procurement at companies including Ericsson, BT, Telia, Millicom, IHS and now Arm. “I have experience of procurement start-ups, green-field and significant transformations, as well as leading teams in multicultural, complex and fast moving environments and mature and emerging markets. At the places I’ve been I’ve professionalised and digitalised procurement and brought in innovative, agile, lean and efficient service and solutions to the business.”

NOVEMBER 2020

www.t e c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

ARM

“ Strategic partnerships with suppliers are critical to supporting an organisation’s objectives” — Alisa Bornstein, Group Procurement Senior Director, Arm

and effective function supporting the business’ objectives and future plans.“ That transformation program was undertaken with the aim of digitalis-

On her decision to join Arm, Bornstein

ing core procurement processes to

says: “Arm stood out for its unique

enable efficiencies, boost controls,

people, culture of collaboration and

minimise risks, and improve the experi-

brilliant minds. Almost two years in,

ence for end-users. “Procurement

and after 18 months of the transforma-

digitalisation has exploded across

tion program, I am proud to say that

the entire business environment, and

procurement at Arm today is recog-

its entire value proposition to the

nised as a value-creating, responsible

overall organisation has changed tremendously,” says Bornstein. “Digitalisation influences all areas of procurement, from category management, strategic sourcing, supplier and risk management, to transactional purchase-to-pay operations.”

NOVEMBER 2020

Arm | Architects of Possible CLICK TO WATCH

1:33

15 Naturally, the project has resulted

configuration changes and deploy

in a ground-up overhaul. “We started

all the solutions. We set separate

our digital journey by improving the

workstreams for supplier and content

basics, standardising and redesign-

enablement, and change management.

ing the whole source-to-pay (S2P)

The plan was rigorously monitored

process and deployment of Ariba,”

by external and internal teams.

says Bornstein. “This required a

Advice and support from the imple-

significant change in our ways of

mentation partner in the design phase,

working and the company culture.”

during configuration, testing and

The project hasn’t been without

during go live was absolutely a crucial

complexities. “We were preparing

success factor.”

the rollout for 18 months before we

Having been live with Ariba for the

engaged an external implementation

past year, Bornstein is satisfied that

partner. With them, a schedule was

the digital strategy has delivered and

developed to review the design, make

continues to create significant value www.t e c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

THE WORLD IS CHANGING. ARE YOU? Faster. More agile. More innovative. More sustainable. Lower cost. Improved EBITDA. If procurement is not accelerating your business outcomes, it’s probably time for a rethink. The world’s leading businesses trust Proxima.

ACCELERATE YOUR BUSINESS OUTCOMES

Proxima: delivering true value in procurement Clare Harris, Senior Vice President Operations, describes how Proxima has established itself as a world leader in procurement consultancy services

Over the last 25 years, Proxima has established itself as a world-leading expert on procurement consultancy services, helping a broad spectrum of customers to unlock their supply chain’s full potential, from the largest Fortune 500 entities to bespoke startups. “Ultimately, we work with our clients’ procurement and commercial teams to help drive value from their cost base,” says Clare Harris, Senior Vice President. As a company, Proxima helps customers optimise what they spend with suppliers and build exceptional procurement functions. “When you think that, on average, about 70% of organisational spend is with suppliers, then you can immediately understand the potential that exists for savings and innovation,” Harris states. However, it isn’t necessarily a purely ‘cost-saving’ exercise; the company specialises in maximising the value of every penny spent. “It’s about understanding what value means to our clients, whether that’s cost, speed, return, risk efficiency, or quality.” Contributing to the company’s enduring success has been a flexible strategy focused on being adaptable to the changing supply chain environment. That evolution, Harris says, has been characterised by increased networking, collaboration and emphasis on procurement itself. The benefits of this industry development have been keenly felt by Proxima’s clients. One in particular, Arm, shares a close working dynamic with it: “Proxima has

Clare @ Proxima

been able to bring both commercial expertise and category knowledge, while also injecting capability at a time when Arm’s existing procurement team were quite stretched,” Harris explains. Establishing a “twoway feedback” loop, the collaborators have been able to react swiftly to challenges and coordinate decisively, “We work together at pace and deliver value quickly.” Using different time zones to its advantage, Proxima’s UK team can hand over to the US team and vice versa, creating a continuous cycle of problemsolving capability. This kind of partnership will prove vital in the postCOVID-19 world, where traditional operational patterns no longer hold true and an innovative mindset is crucial. As other companies strive to build an operating model for procurement that matches today’s challenges, Harris believes that Proxima’s breadth of expertise will become even more valuable. “I think a lot of companies are now asking, ‘How can we transform ourselves to make decisions quicker?’, and that theme will continue into 2021.” Proxima’s aim, then, will be to guide that development and continue its ongoing mission of delivering real value to its customers.

Know your suppliers inside out. Fresh insights, breaking news and unique sentiment scores, keep an expert eye on the companies that interest you.

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“ Our procurement team recognises the challenge that COVID-19 poses to our organisation and is working hard to continuously assess and mitigate these risks” — Alisa Bornstein, Group Procurement Senior Director, Arm

is looking into the future trends of the procurement digitalisation . “We’re in the time of technology disruption,” she

for the company, for instance by offer-

says. “Why not combine best-of-breed

ing a one-stop shop, with everything

systems and integrate them to work

you need in one place, and standard

together to deliver a great experience

source-to-contract process that

to internal customers and suppliers?”

ensures that purchase-to-pay works seamlessly. Nevertheless, Bornstein

To this end, she emphasises that procurement is about much more

Arm AI Processors Making Smartphones Smarter CLICK TO WATCH

1:04

www.t e c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

ARM

than buying. â&#x20AC;&#x153;There are many other

The ongoing transformation of Armâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s

areas where procurement adds value

procurement is built on the strategy to

and where technology enables data-

deploy leading procurement practices

driven intelligence and efficiencies.

and processes, supported by tech-

Innovation in Procurement is crucial

nology solutions, to deliver financial

for professional and forward thinking

benefits and added value, compre-

procurement functions.â&#x20AC;?

hensive corporate social responsibility

NOVEMBER 2020

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

Alisa Bornstein Title: Group Procurement Senior Director Industry: Semiconductors

Location: United Kingdom

Alisa Bornstein leads Armâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s global Group Procurement organisation responsible for reshaping procurement while driving positive financial outcomes for the company. Her functional accountabilities include category management, strategic sourcing, supplier management, contracts and transactional purchase operations supported by enabling technologies. Her senior experience covers a broad spectrum of the function including procurement business partnering, strategy, processes, policies, data analytics, planning and execution of strategic and transactional operations, communication and training. Prior to Arm, Alisa held senior leadership roles at large enterprises including Ericsson, BT, Telia and Millicom where she focused on transformation and digitalisation of the procurement, and serving as the procurement subject matter expert for the business. Alisa is passionate about people and talent development, building collaborative business partnerships and teams. She is a progressive and highly respected procurement leader, and is a frequent speaker at Procurement and Supply Chain industry global conferences and forums. Alisa holds a Masterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s degree in Finance from St Petersburg State University of Economics, Russia. She is Russian by origin, a Swedish citizen for over two decades and resides in the UK since 2014. Alisa is true international leader with experience operating around the world, facilitated by her multicultural and inclusive leadership style, with a warm, direct and consensus approach, and fluency in three languages. www.t e c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

ARM

“ Group Procurement will continue to be a value-creating, responsible and effective procurement function, supporting Arm’s business and mission to architect a smarter world” — Alisa Bornstein, Group Procurement Senior Director, Arm

NOVEMBER 2020

www.t e c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

“ Digitalisation influences all areas of procurement” — Alisa Bornstein, Group Procurement Senior Director, Arm

products,” says Bornstein. “That’s achieved through building collaborative, mutually beneficial relationships, a proactive development of leading practice strategies to maximise the value of these relationships, driving innovation programmes, reducing supplier-related risk, leveraging

(CSR), supplier risk management and

purchasing power and shared values

stakeholder engagement & collabora-

around sustainability and diversity.”

tion. It has required a shift in, among

As with essentially all of the world’s

other things, the way of working

companies, the COVID-19 outbreak

with key suppliers and partners, with

has impacted operations, particularly

Bornstein identifying seven key quali-

when it comes to the supply chain.

ties she looks for, namely being:

“Reports on how the COVID-19 outbreak is affecting supply chains and

• An expert in service type and market • Accountable • A Strategic Advisor • An Innovator • Easy to communicate with • A Cultural fit • Ethics and Compliance-minded

disrupting manufacturing and service operations around the world are increasing daily,” says Bornstein. “The

“Strategic partnerships with suppliers are critical to supporting an organisation’s objectives in maximising the value it obtains from its external partners, providers of outsourced solutions and third-party services and www.t e c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

ARM

prediction is that the impact of COVID-

also bears in mind the impact on its

19 on global supply chains is to remain

suppliers, hence the action Arm has

for many months. Our procurement

taken. “We’ve sent communications

team recognises the challenge that

to key suppliers encouraging them

COVID-19 poses to our organisation

to share with us their business conti-

and is working hard to continuously

nuity measures. Arm’s top 20 suppliers

assess and mitigate these risks.”

were contacted, and follow-up is

Bornstein emphasises that it is not

ongoing to understand their plans

only focused on the well-being of its

and any impact this will have on Arm.

own organisation and employees but

We are also working with, for

NOVEMBER 2020

example, IT equipment suppliers to

to be a value-creating, responsible

monitor and maintain our stock levels

and effective Procurement function,

on a regular basis.”

supporting Arm’s business and mis-

It’s no surprise then that Bornstein

sion to architect a smarter world.”

is confident that Arm’s procurement function will continue to live up to the company’s reputation as a hightech leader. “The world is changing. Industries are changing. But our focus in Group Procurement will continue www.t e 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

THE UNSTOPPABLE MARCH OF DATA ANALYTICS WRITTEN BY

PADDY SMITH

NOVEMBER 2020

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

Big data is no longer a boardroom buzzword. Even small businesses recognise the value of mining their data for insights

ig data. It’s a phrase that has done the rounds of the world’s boardrooms and – for once – survived intact. No company

wants to know less about its customers, or not be able to meet their needs. The competitive advan-

tage that used to be gained by running customer 30

forums, studying the accounts, and putting those learnings into next year’s strategic thinking has been usurped by always on, number crunching that can affect business decisions in the moment.

WHAT’S NEW IN DATA ANALYTICS? Increasingly, machine learning is being adopted to spot patterns in the data and automate responses. Building algorithms that allow more complex data to be processed and fed to either a machine or human means companies can act faster and identify risk more effectively. It also allows for software to model any number of future scenarios to offer predictive analytics, enhancing business strategy confidence.

NOVEMBER 2020

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

Redefine customer relationships with artificial intelligence Get actionable insights and deliver highly personalized engagement using an AI-powered CRM.

â&#x20AC;&#x153; Machine learning allows companies to act faster and identify risk more effectivelyâ&#x20AC;? With bulging databases being fed

safety. Setting standards for data quality is paramount in order to produce reliable pattern information to drive business success. There has also been progress in data mining technology, a software driven approach to surveying large blocks

ever more information from any num-

of data to identify patterns in order to

ber of sources, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s critical that data

determine what is relevant and what

is marshalled properly. Poor data

may look relevant (but is actually cor-

management leads to poor decision

related to an external modifier). And

making, and in a worst case sce-

this approach now goes beyond hard

nario makes would-be valuable data

data: text mining can analyse data

worthless. Unsettling in a business

from the web, books, social media,

environment, it could be lethal when

emails and surveys using natural lan-

applied to healthcare or industrial

guage processing. 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

What is Tableau? | A Tableau Overview CLICK TO WATCH

2:16

WHY DATA ANALYTICS MATTER

scenarios to help them make deci-

While traditional business reporting

sions with confidence.

(still widely used) tells a company and its stakeholders what has

FIVE OF THE BEST DATA ANALYTICS TOOLS

already occurred, data analytics has

IBM Cognos Analytics

shifted the focus towards examina-

Key strength: natural language

tion of why things have happened,

processing

and how companies might operate

With increasing focus on data

differently in future to improve perfor-

that can’t be found in existing

mance. The crest of this information

datasets, IBM’s Cognos Analytics

wave is to nudge businesses to ask

has adopted the natural language

questions they hadn’t previously

processing skills of its stablemate

sought answers for, lead decision

IBM Watson, which adds text mining

makers towards less obvious possi-

options and language generation.

bilities for future direction, and model

Best used in tandem with an existing

NOVEMBER 2020

IBM enterprise platform, an emerging

company-wide implementation with

Cognos skill is ML-driven forecasting.

pop-up reminders to encourage behavioural adoption with staff.

Microsoft Power BI Key strength: integration with MS

SAP Analytics Cloud

software family

Key strength: end-to-end analytics

Microsoft’s Power BI is the market

solution

leader in data analytics, and has

SAP’s Analytics Cloud uses a variety

enviable AI/machine learning capa-

of approaches to offer data solu-

bilities, driven by Microsoft Azure

tions, integrating predictive analytics,

Cloud. Its integration with the world’s

natural language processing, open-

most widely used productivity tools,

ended data mining exploration and

such as Office 365 and Excel, allows

augmented analytics to build a 35

“Poor data management leads to poor decisions”

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

business picture. Its approach to the

range of options includes complex

user – offering preset models, trending

modelling, interactive visualisations

and templates, and outputting results

and machine-led predictions.

in natural language – is a core appeal. Tableau

SAS Viya

Key strength: data visualisation

Key strength: scalability and

It’s ease of use makes Tableau a popu-

performance

lar choice with lay personnel (non-data

An early entrant into the data business,

scientists), while its powerful data pro-

SAS is widely used by data scientists

cessing and management tools mean it

and has a large user base globally.

is also embraced by data experts. The

That means that while it’s accessible

company was acquired by cloud giant

to data professionals who do not

Salesforce in 2019, a move expected

have extensive training, they have an

to enhance its artificial intelligence and

enviable expert support network. The

machine learning capabilities.

NOVEMBER 2020

“ D ata analytics can nudge decision makers towards new ideas and help them make decisions with confidence” …AND FIVE TO WATCH Domo Domo’s strength is its simplicity. Designed to provide simplified data 37

outputs for decision makers without the need for IT intermediaries, it continues to impress. Infor Birst

Tonkean

Already respected for its automated

Tonkean bestraddles power and

inventory management tools, Birst has

usability, with drag-and-drop program-

been acquired by Infor, which in turn

mability, wide interop-erability and

has been acquired by Koch Industries.

contextual event triggers. It prides

Expect a power-up.

itself on being a no-code platform.

Samsara

Yellowfin BI

IoT platform that concentrates on

Challenger analytics from Yellowfin

managing physical assets such as

prioritise user adoption and engage-

vehicles and machinery. Samsara’s

ment, with end-to-end automation and

strength is its integrated approach

impressive dashboards that prioritise

to software, hardware and cloud.

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

CLOUD & CYBER

How the Cloud Can Deliver a Productivity REVOLUTION WRITTEN BY

WILLIAM SMITH

NOVEMBER 2020

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

CLOUD & CYBER

NOVEMBER 2020

We explore why cloud computing is going to become a key part of increasing productivity in the post-COVID-19 new normal

s the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic upends economies worldwide, already the focus is

turning to the ways in which economies will

have to transform to match the new normal. Digital transformation is only going to increase

in importance, thanks to one of its main benefits being gains in productivity. Productivity is one of the key indicators that governments use to assess economic health, with the term referring to the output per unit of input - essentially denoting the efficiency of economic activity, where a higher score requires doing more with less. One of the key areas for increasing productivity are cloud platforms, because they offer a costeffective and flexible way to gain new capabilities quickly, bypassing the time taken to develop and deploy internal solutions. A report by Google, entitled â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Cloud Productivity is Key To Success: A Survey of Young Businessesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;,

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

Active Transformation with Atos

As one of the largest bottlers of The Coca-Cola Company, active transformation is key to sustainability and success for Coca-Cola HBC. With Atos as their digital transformation partner, they are writing the future for soft drinks distribution. • Connected coolers engage personally with customers • Data analytics deliver insights and continuously optimize CCHBC’s business model • Comprehensive SAP and cloud-based solutions ensure secure and agile operation • End-to-end application services drive innovation Atos is a global leader in digital transformation with approximately 120,000 employees in 73 countries and annual revenue of around € 13 billion.

“ Your ability to scale down your operations and scale down your cost base in doing so is particularly important [during COVID-19] ” — Darren Hardman, VP, General Manager UK&I, Amazon Web Services

hidden away behind antiquated ways of doing business. A Deloitte report, ‘The economic value of cloud services

backed up this point, with a par-

in Australia’, found that the productiv-

ticular focus on startups. Citing

ity benefit caused by the adoption of

statistics from the US Small Business

cloud services in the country over the

Administration that suggested only

last five years amounted to $9.4bn.

50% of young businesses survive

“Larger businesses, and those

beyond five years, the survey found

in the information technology, profes-

that cloud productivity solutions saved

sional services and finance, are driving

both time and money, allowing more time to focus on customers and more hope of long-term survival. Startup respondents identified the biggest benefit of cloud solutions as being flexibility, however, with 71% of respondents identifying that it was the freedom to work anywhere with any device that delivered the greatest benefit. It’s not only new companies that can benefit from a cloud first approach, with established businesses able to unlock productivity that was previously te c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

CLOUD & CYBER

backed up this point, with a par-

professional services and finance,

ticular focus on startups. Citing

are driving uptake of cloud services,”

statistics from the US Small Business

said the report. “In 2018, 76.4% of

Administration that suggested only

businesses with over 200 employees

50% of young businesses survive

were using cloud services compared

beyond five years, the survey found

with 35.5% of businesses with four or

that cloud productivity solutions saved

fewer employees.”

both time and money, allowing more time to focus on customers and more

that adoption was the need to keep

hope of long-term survival.

up with competitors, showing

Startup respondents identified the

One of the main factors driving

that cloud adoption can

biggest benefit of cloud solutions as

lead to a positive

being flexibility, however, with 71%

feedback loop

of respondents identifying that it was

wherein

the freedom to work anywhere with

companies

any device that delivered the great-

adopt the cloud

est benefit.

to make themselves

It’s not only new companies that can

more competitive, thus

benefit from a cloud first approach,

spurring rivals to

with established businesses able to

do the same and lift-

unlock productivity that was previously

ing the economy as

hidden away behind antiquated ways

a whole.

of doing business. A Deloitte report,

One of the fears

‘The economic value of cloud services

is that productivity

in Australia’, found that the productiv-

increases obscure

ity benefit caused by the adoption of

a loss in jobs, with

cloud services in the country over the

technology tak-

last five years amounted to $9.4bn.

ing up the slack.

“Larger businesses, and those in the information technology, NOVEMBER 2020

But the report found that 48%

“ One of the key elements in the way that cloud improves productivity is by enabling new firms to enter markets [...] and then grow and scale very quickly ”

— Richard Kneller, Professor of Economics, University of Nottingham

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

CLOUD & CYBER

of businesses using cloud services

and workers with competitively low

reported an increase in IT staff, with

productivity and skills, with a stark

only 10% and 7% reporting decreases in

regional divide showing up.

IT staff and non-IT workers respectively. Those statistics are certainly not

Corroborating those findings, AWS has commissioned an independent

universal, with some countries faring

report from Public First to better

better on the productivity front than

understand the impact of cloud com-

others. While Norway leads the world

puting on the UK economy, and how

thanks to a GDP per hour of $75.08,

it may be the key ingredient to increas-

one country that lags behind its peers

ing productivity and delivering more

is the UK, with a GDP per hour of $51.38.

effective and creative businesses.

Compare that to France, Germany and

The report was made in consulta-

the United states at $59.24, $57.36 and

tion with academics including Richard

$67.32 respectively.

Kneller, Professor of Economics,

One of the reasons for that is a so-called â&#x20AC;&#x153;long tailâ&#x20AC;? of companies

NOVEMBER 2020

University of Nottingham, who explained some of its findings, saying

Cloud Infrastructure Revolution Boosts Productivity CLICK TO WATCH | 19:22

47 in the foreword: “If we are to level up

them to improve their productivity, just

all parts of the UK, we need to care

by a relatively small amount, you go a

as much about these softer drivers of

long way to improving overall produc-

productivity as we do more traditional

tivity.” Professor Keller emphasised the

investments such as roads and appren-

role that cloud has to play in enabling

ticeships. If we could boost the cloud

that, saying: “There’s some evidence

usage in the North East to match that

that cloud enables firms to do things

of London, Public First estimates that it

which make them more productive.

would raise local productivity by 2.6%,

That would help to improve that gap

the equivalent of three years’ worth of

relative to the average, but one of the

pay rises in one go.”

key elements in the way that cloud

We spoke to Professor Keller, who

improves productivity is by enabling

addressed the long tail of British

new firms to enter markets where firms

companies, saying: “Because there’s

are typically more productive and then

so many of these firms, if you can get

grow and scale very quickly. That then te c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

CLOUD & CYBER

“ Cloud platforms [...] offer a cost-effective and flexible way to gain new capabilities quickly ” 48

helps to raise that average overall

Amazon Web Services, told us about

productivity measure.”

how the elasticity provided by the

With the COVID-19 pandemic

cloud can also make organisations

making the potential increase in pro-

more resilient. “If you think about

ductivity all the more needed, Darren

organisations that have seen an

Hardman, VP, General Manager UK&I,

impact on demand for their products

NOVEMBER 2020

and services around COVID, your abil-

With a hard winter predicted ahead,

ity to scale down your operations and

that cloud capability could prove the dif-

scale down your cost base in doing

ference between a business succeeding

so is particularly important. You can’t

or failing. On the other side, cloud com-

do that when you’ve got a lot of fixed

puting offers the chance to once again

costs around your environments.”

scale up and do more with less. te c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

IT PROCUREMENT

NOVEMBER 2020

THE PROS AND CONS OF BUILDING OR BUYING IT INFRASTRUCTURE WRITTEN BY

WILLIA M SMITH

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

IT PROCUREMENT

WE WEIGH UP THE BENEFITS AND CHALLENGES OF TWO APPROACHES TO DEVELOPING IT INFRASTRUCTURE, TO UNDERSTAND THE SITUATIONS IN WHICH EACH IS APPROPRIATE NOVEMBER 2020

t’s fair to say that the ‘buy versus build’ debate has been thoroughly upended by the emergence of

cloud software offered on a software-

as-a-service (SaaS) basis. The opportunity represented by that model involves replacing capital expenditure with an operational alternative, trading expensive startup costs for a proven product on a subscription basis. The ground is muddied somewhat by the presence of open-source

frameworks that might do a lot of the

building somewhat closer together,

heavy lifting of a custom built-solution.

the two approaches retain a distinct

As consultants Help 4 Access puts it:

set of pros and cons.

“Your custom solution should be about half made up of what is essentially

BUILD

a packaged application. How so? An

The build side of the equation gains

experienced developer will have built

more prominence in specialist cases

enough applications on your database

where there simply isn’t a solution

platform to have accumulated a library

on the market. Enterprise software

of well-tested, finely programmed

giants such as SAP built their

functional modules.”

success on the universal applicabil-

Regardless, despite such advances bringing the concepts of buying and

ity of enterprise resource planning software, but businesses in different w w w.te c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

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fields naturally require more special-

system to stock management at

ised solutions.

stores,” he said.

That was the case with Goldwagen,

“Previously, different stores were

a South Africa-based automotive

using different versions of the mandated

parts distributor and franchise group.

software. By centralising our systems

Its Chief Information Officer Shayne

and processes, we can now see what

Turley told us how software developed

version of the software our franchisees

in-house addressed a number of

are working on and automatically update

business critical issues.

it where necessary. By controlling which

“Another milestone is that most of

version of the software is being used,

the systems we currently have in place

we are also able to quickly and easily

have been developed in-house, from

identify and resolve any problems. We

the operating system all the way

are further able to send out a fix to all

through to the point-of-sale (POS)

our franchisees if necessary.”

The new IT infrastructure CLICK TO WATCH

2:18

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

IT PROCUREMENT

Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Zainol Zainuddin explained: “Merchantrade actually owns a software house, and most of our applications are built in-house. I have about 120 developers under me, who build the majority of our applications under the Microsoft technology stack. Progressive Web Apps are one interesting technology that we are looking at, so that whenever we build an application it can be platform agnostic.”

BUY

That’s far from the end of the story, Emerging economies may also benefit

however, with some situations

from maintaining an internal software

mandate the buying rather than

house, due to the prohibitive costs of

building of software.

pre-made solutions versus the relatively

A White Paper sponsored by

lower costs of hiring software develop-

software company Mobysoft outlined

ers. We’ve previously profiled the likes of

the superiority of a circumstantial

Merchantrade Asia, which operates in

approach to the problem, saying:

the Malaysian financial services industry

“This ‘build or buy’ question is one

and provides a broad and diverse range

that companies have had to grapple

of products.

with since the advent of computing

Such an offering has required the

and, with the fast pace of business

building of a strong internal development

digitisation, this decision is becoming

team, with some of the company’s most

ever more important to get right.

crucial systems, its customer facing

There is no straightforward or generic

applications, developed internally – as

answer to the ‘build versus buy’

NOVEMBER 2020

“ It’s important to pragmatically select a build versus buy option based on the security use case and return on investment” — George Do, Chief Information Security Officer, Gojek 57

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

IT PROCUREMENT

question. Instead, it is something that

Another barrier to building software

needs to be dealt with on a case-by-

comes from the well documented lack

case basis.”

of necessary talent across the globe,

“To make the correct decision, it

with IT modernisation projects and

requires a deep understanding of the

the move away from legacy systems

areas impacted by that final choice.

hampered by a deficit in those able

Buy or build comes down to some

to work in agile DevOps teams.

fundamental factors such as timing,

It is for this reason that the most

costs and available resources. It also

successful companies inevitably

is dependent on other criteria such

choose a blend of the two approaches,

as the type of software; some software

switching between both in an agile

requires highly specialised knowledge

manner to provide the best infrastruc-

to build, or requires deep knowledge

ture, rather than dogmatically sticking

of web security, for example.“

to either pole.

“ Most of the systems we currently have in place have been developed in-house, from the operating system all the way through to the point-of-sale (POS) system” — Shayne Turley, Chief Information Officer, Goldwagen

NOVEMBER 2020

That was certainly what we heard

build internally, in-house or open-

from Indonesian technology unicorn

source, versus what we buy commer-

Gojek when we spoke to them, with

cially. It’s important to pragmatically

Chief Information Security Officer

select a ‘build versus buy’ option

George Do clueing us in to what it

based on the security use case and

takes to operate a super app with

return on investment.”

services ranging from ride-hailing

The somewhat unsatisfying answer

to food delivery. “Leverage the cloud-

to the debate, then, is that it depends.

native tools that are available to you,”

Those in charge of the purse strings

said Do. “Don’t try to boil the ocean

must factor in considerations

and create your own tools, because

ranging from talent availability to

some of those will already be at your

whether a pre-built solution exists in

fingertips. The second thing is finding

order to secure the best IT infra-

a good balance between what we

structure possible.

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

Business Intelligence and Doing More With Data WRITTEN BY

WILLIAM SMITH

NOVEMBER 2020

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

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

We look at the trends and challenges, such as trust, facing businesses as they seek to utilise business intelligence solutions and do more with data

hile business intelligence is a term that precedes the digital revolution, having been used as early as the 19th century,

it’s clear that big data approaches have supercharged the practice.

According to a report from Mckinsey: “Organisations now have troves of raw data combined with powerful and sophisticated analytics tools to gain insights that can improve operational performance and create new market opportunities. Most profoundly, their decisions no longer have to be made in the dark or based on gut instinct; they can be based on evidence, experiments, and more accurate forecasts.” Challenges remain, however, with business intelligence tools requiring money, time and expertise to implement, and functioning best if data is easily accessible and not siloed, as is so often the case. It’s worth, then, taking a closer look at three of the premium business intelligence offerings to pick out some of the trends in the space.

NOVEMBER 2020

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

Spark innovation with Data Culture Learn how top companies develop people and process to succeed in the data era.

Organizations are investing trillions of dollars to become more data-driven, but only 8% successfully scale analytics to get value out of their data. What separates the top performers from the rest? Learn more at tableau.com/data-culture Bisson, Peter, Bryce Hall, Brian McCarthy, and Khaled Rifai. “Breaking Away: The Secrets to Scaling Analytics.” McKinsey Analytics. McKinsey & Company, May 2018.

“ As data volumes continue to grow exponentially, organisations have found themselves playing catch-up when it comes to the management of this asset” — Gray Hardell, Senior Manager, Solutions Marketing, Talend

software is integrated with the company’s wider Oracle Cloud Infrastructure. Oracle frames business intelligence as

ORACLE BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE

being a critical competency for com-

Multinational software company Oracle

panies to possess, for both optimising

offers a suite of enterprise technol-

performance and streamlining func-

ogy, but is perhaps best known for its

tions. The company emphasises the

database solutions. Founded in 1977

capacity to tell stories using its data

and based in California, Oracle’s busi-

visualisation features, in order to better

ness intelligence is part of its analytics

interrogate the data on offer.

software offering, boasting machine learning integration for automation and

TABLEAU

prediction. Also including visualisa-

Purchased by Salesforce at the begin-

tion and collaboration capabilities, the

ning of August 2019 for US$15.7bn, software company Tableau was founded by researchers from Stanford University. The company has a reputation for the quality of its data visualisation capabilities, which can make data more human-readable and consequently drive greater insights. The latest version of its software, Tableau 2020.3, features integrations te c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

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

with SAP’s HANA database, easier

focus on collaboration and speed

license granting and functionality to

of analysis. Power BI natively inte-

write to external databases. One of

grates with Microsoft’s Azure cloud

Tableau’s offerings is self-service ana-

services, passing in data sources for

lytics, intended to allow customers and

analysis, and pushes the power of

partners to also make sense of data,

visualisation. In this case, Microsoft

provide more clarity and give weight to

says its intention is to democratise a

a company’s claims.

company’s data and create a datadriven culture wherein all stakeholders

MICROSOFT POWER BI

are privy to the data they need to

Among Microsoft’s vast list of prod-

best do their jobs.

ucts is its data analysis software, 66

Power BI. Focused on business intel-

It’s clear to see that making data

ligence, from which its name derives,

human-readable is a real emphasis

the cloud-based software allows

that stretches across these solutions,

for the visualisation of data, with a

which drives home the fact that the

NOVEMBER 2020

Azure Essentials: Data modeling and Business Intelligence CLICK TO WATCH

6:01

67 point of business intelligence is allow-

as Gray Hardell, Senior Manager

ing human leaders to make better

Solutions Marketing, explains: “To

decisions by truly understanding the

put it simply, the data landscape has

company through the data it produces.

become chaos. As data volumes

But business intelligence is only

continue to grow exponentially, organi-

ever as good as the data you have col-

sations have found themselves playing

lected. Faulty data can lead to faulty

catch-up when it comes to the man-

decision-making, and those faults can

agement of this asset – which has led

intrude from multiple directions. While

to distrust in the process.” This tangle

the data itself might be at fault, also

is having a real-world impact. “It wasn’t

implicated are the biases of the people

until I was on the phone to a group of

presenting or receiving said data.

CEOs that I realised just how much

It’s a problem cloud-based data

data distrust was hindering digital

integration and data integrity company

progression. During this conversation,

Talend has turned its attention to,

the CEOs mentioned that they often te c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

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

“ Decisions no longer have to be made in the dark or based on gut instinct; they can be based on evidence, experiments, and more accurate forecasts” — McKinsey

spent 50 minutes out of a 60-minute 68

meeting debating the reliability of the data, instead of using the data insights to make critical decisions.” Talend has thus come up with a “trust score” that measures data accuracy based on factors such as its quality, popularity, and client and user-defined ratings to provide a more objective measure and thus engender trust on the part of decision-makers. “Given the company’s background

says Hardell. “Talend Trust Score

in data integration, Talend saw a clear

does just this by combining the power

opportunity to reconcile these con-

of automation with human intelligence

flicting opinions on data and provide

to complement the user.”

business leaders – and the organisa-

Identifying the ‘five Ts of trust’ of

tion – with an objective measurement

data as thorough, transparent, timely,

model for determining data health,”

traceable and tested, Hardell says that:

NOVEMBER 2020

“The benefit of having reliable data, of

dollar spent, it’s clear that business

course, is avoiding these pitfalls. It’s

will persevere with intelligence-

having access to trusted data sets that

based decision making, with the

leaders can use to make important

process being eased by solutions

decisions about the business.”

that prioritise accessibility and new

With research suggesting that analytics returns over $13 for every

methods for establishing the trustworthiness of data. te c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

T O P 10

NOVEMBER 2020

Largest non-US Tech Companies We look at the 10 largest technology companies outside of the tech powerhouse that is the United States, based on market capitalisation data from Statista

WRITTEN BY

WILLIAM SMITH

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

T O P 10

Soft Bank $89.7b, Tokyo, Japan

Japanese conglomerate SoftBank is well known for its investments in startup technology companies, with its portfolio including the likes of ByteDance (the owner of TikTok) and Uber. Those investments were part of its Vision Fund, with the latest iteration of the investment vehicle promising to focus on AI. Less successful bets on companies such as WeWork led CEO Masoyashi Son to refer to some of its investments as â&#x20AC;&#x153;foolishâ&#x20AC;?.

NOVEMBER 2020

Tata Consultancy Services $100.7b, Mumbai, India

Tata Consultancy Services is a specialist in information technology based in India. As a subsidiary of Tata Group, it is one of the countryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s largest companies, with the conglomerate at large specialising in areas such as chemicals, steel and automotive. The company claims that the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated digital adoption and says it is rising to meet the challenge with its partners.

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T O P 10

ASML Holding $124.5b, Veldhoven, Netherlands

The only Dutch company on this list, ASMl Holding is far from a household name, and yet the effects of its offering are felt far and wide. As a supplier of photolithography systems for the semiconductor industry, ASMLâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s machines make integrated circuits possible by creating the intricate patterns for the electrical connections on chips. The company says its customers are all the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s leading manufacturers, with ASML providing both hardware and software, as well as services.

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

T O P 10

Medtronic $130.8b, Dublin, Ireland

Medtronicâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s place on this list might be controversial, owing to the fact that, until 2015, it was an American company. In that year, it acquired Irish-headquartered firm Covidien, and effected a tax inversion to take advantage of Irish laws. Nevertheless, the medical technology giant creates a range of devices, with products that include cranial robotics, insulin pumps and patient monitoring systems.

NOVEMBER 2020

SAP $142.4b, Walldorf, Germany

Enterprise software giant SAP is an inescapable presence in the business world, thanks to its very well known enterprise resource planning software. SAP is far from the only company on this list with an American connection, in this case being the fact that the five SAP founders were German employees of computing giant IBM, who spun off their work into its own company. Another curio is that it is headquartered in the small town of Walldorf, eschewing a big-city location.

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

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T O P 10

China Mobile $164.9b, Hong Kong

The first Chinese entrant on this list, China Mobile is a state-owned telecommunications firm based in Hong Kong. It serves mobile customers across mainland China and Hong Kong, and is the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s largest mobile network operator. Recently, the company launched a virtual network in the UK called CMLink aimed at Chinese citizens in the UK, such as students, which allow for free voice calls home.

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

T O P 10

Taiwan Semiconductor $265.5b, Hsinchu, Taiwan

Taiwan Semiconductor is the world’s largest dedicated semiconductor foundry, and a pioneer of the “pure play” business model for semiconductor foundries that has come to dominate the industry. The model means that it does not design, manufacture or market semiconductors under its own name to avoid competing directly with its customers. Those customers include all the major semiconductor companies, such as AMD, Nvidia, Qualcomm and Apple.

NOVEMBER 2020

Samsung Electronics $278.7b, Seoul, South Korea

Samsung is a prime example of the uniquely South Korean phenomenon of the chaebol, or a family run conglomerate. Its interests are vast - active across a broad swath of electronics products from fridges to phones. The company is also involved in everything from heavy industry to more specialised pursuits such as theme parks. Samsung has gained prominence with its high-end flagship smartphones, including the Galaxy Fold 5G, which demonstrates its bendable screen technology.

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T O P 10

What is Tencent? | CNBC Explains CLICK TO WATCH

4:58

Tencent $509.7b, Shenzhen, China

Note the gap in capitalisation that separates Tencent from our previous entrant, signalling that we have reached the two heavy hitters of non-US technology. Just pipped to the number one spot is Chinaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Tencent. A holding company, through its subsidiaries and associates its offering includes WeChat and Riot Games, as well as a stake in JD.com. The company is led by Pony Ma and headquartered in twin skyscrapers known as Tencent Seafront Towers.

NOVEMBER 2020

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

T O P 10

Alibaba $545.4b, Hangzhou, China Alibaba’s main businesses are its ecommerce site Alibaba.com, Taobao and Tmall, but, like Tencent, its interests are vast, stretching from electronic payments to AI and numerous other services. It was previously led by founder and bonafide personality Jack Ma, who grapples with Pony Ma for the title of China’s richest person, before he stepped down in favour of Daniel Zhang last year. The company invented the Singles’ Day shopping bonanza, which takes place on 11 November yearly, and puts Black Friday to shame with sales in 2019 totalling $38.4bn.

NOVEMBER 2020

Customer Success Stories: Metta World Peace CLICK TO WATCH

2:38

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

NOVEMBER 2020

WOMEN OF MENA IN TECHNOLOGY SHINES A SPOTLIGHT ON DIVERSITY WRITTEN BY

WILLIAM SMITH PRODUCED BY

MIKE SADR

www.t e c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

WOMEN OF MENA IN TECHNOLOGY

SEPIDEH NASIRI TELLS US ABOUT THE MISSION OF THE WOMEN OF MENA IN TECHNOLOGY ORGANISATION AND ITS UPCOMING CONFERENCE

epideh Nasiri, CEO and Founder of Women of Middle East and North Africa (MENA) in Technology, moved from Iran

to Germany at the age of four, before heading to the United States 10 years later. Her family settled in Cupertino, home of tech giants such as Apple and Sun Microsystems. “My father was very keen on bringing us to an area of the United 90

States where innovation and education was at the forefront. And having access to computers at such a young age certainly had an effect on me.” After studying Business and Psychology at UCI, Nasiri was part of a team of four who founded a startup pioneering the provision of digital paywalls to magazines, before moving back to Silicon Valley and working for a number of tech companies. “One of the most pivotal times for me was being in a room with decision makers from tech companies or startups and being the only woman in the room, being the only person of color in the room, and being the only Iranian in the room.” That realisation led to Nasiri joining an organisation known as Woman 2.0, which pioneered the format for women in tech organizations or

NOVEMBER 2020

Niki Bayat

www.t e c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

WOMEN OF MENA IN TECHNOLOGY

“ Everyone needs to speak up when in your company, something is not done right”

Sadaf Amouzegar

media companies. I joined the team as the vice president and we grew the company within three years into a multimillion dollar company, partnering with tech companies like Google and Facebook and Microsoft.” 92

Women of MENA in Technology was born out of the difficulty Nasiri

Women of MENA in Technology Montreal, Oct 2020, “AI Practical Applications” CLICK TO WATCH

NOVEMBER 2020

53:27

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

Sepideh Nasiri Title: Founder and CEO

Location: United States

Diversity is everyoneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s responsibility, whether you are a founder, a recruiter, a hiring manager, a marketing or technical employee. We all need to work together to create an inclusive workplace! I started Women Of MENA In Technology (previously known as Persian Women In Tech) in March of 2015 to create a sense of belonging for Iranians, Middle Eastern and North African Women In Technology (STEM). At a time where conversation of diversity and inclusion had started in Tech and minorities were recognized, sadly MENA communities were not included, and for me it was important to elevate these womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s voices, work and stories to make sure our current and next generation of diverse women entrepreneurs and technologists are inspired to achieve their full potential and break glass ceilings not just here in the US but globally without a doubt and dream their dreams but also take the first steps towards making those dreams a reality. As a community we are stronger and can achieve more by inspiring, supporting, empowering, educating and motivating each other. My hope is that through our work, we can push for a tomorrow where we have closed the diversity and gender gap in STEM.

www.t e c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

WOMEN OF MENA IN TECHNOLOGY

Strategies to Advance Your Career During the Crisis CLI CK TO WA TCH

55: 22

94 found when supporting a founder

an initial meetup of seven women,

in their need in finding an Iranian

to 40 being hosted by Google, and

woman engineer to diversify their

now with over 35,000 members and

engineering team. “It was a shock to

presence in 17 cities across the globe.

me that I didn’t know my own com-

“We have expanded our offerings and

munity. I couldn’t come up with one

resources and access. And one thing

Iranian woman engineer to introduce

that sets us apart from any other

them to. I knew that they existed and

organization around the world is that

that they worked in large companies,

our community is 90% technical.”

but they were not represented, and

Nasiri emphasises that its mission

there was no way for us to tap into

is all the more critical given the back-

them and for them to connect with

wards trend on equality reported by

each other.”

the World Economic Forum. In 2019,

The organisation has grown rapidly

207 years was the figure given for

since its foundation 5 years ago, from

women to reach parity with men. In

NOVEMBER 2020

Melinda Hakim

www.t e c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

WOMEN OF MENA IN TECHNOLOGY

“ One thing that sets us apart from any other organization around the world is that our community is 90% technical”

NOVEMBER 2020

www.t e c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

WOMEN OF MENA IN TECHNOLOGY

2020 it is 257 years. Her organisa-

On 5 and 6 November the third

tion is working to counter that by

annual Women of MENA in Tech

putting the spotlight on women

Conference is to take place, this year

with an origin in MENA. “Suddenly

in a virtual capacity, with an expected

their companies realize what a gem

100,000 attendees. “Every year we

they have hired. We have certainly

have sold out at our locations. This

seen a change in title or promo-

year, due to COVID, we’re going virtual.

tions because someone has been

In a way, it’s a blessing, because we

elevated on our platform. But it’s not

do have a global community, and now

just a one sided thing with us. We’re

they can all attend. The conference is

really focused on both sides, con-

to highlight trailblazing women who are

necting the tech companies and our

of Middle Eastern and North African

community in terms of visibility.”

descent and for them to talk about

Sepideh Nasiri NOVEMBER 2020

“ We’re really focused on both sides, connecting the tech companies and our community in terms of visibility” to Dubai who will be represented.” Nasiri is clear that organisations such as Women of MENA in Technology cannot be solely relied upon to turn the tide, or even companies or recruiters. “I think it’s everyone’s responsibility. If you are an engineer working on a product, you have a responsibility to make their challenges and successes.” The organisation is fundraising for

sure the company where you are working is introducing talent and

$100,000 dollars to hit its budget

bringing your network in so that it

goal and make it free, having so far

is diverse. Everyone needs to speak

raised $75,000 and providing 75,000

up when in your company, something

scholarships to community partners

is not done right.”

in organisations focused on STEM and technology. “We have already

Our conference page

confirmed many speakers and IT leaders from SAP to Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Facebook, and so on, and women from investment firms across the Middle East from Egypt to Turkey www.t e c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

100

Digital Transformation in the Tobacco & Vaping Industry NOVEMBER 2020

101

WRITTEN BY

WILLIAM SMITH PRODUCED BY

LEWIS VAUGHAN

www.t e c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

JTI

Chief Information Officer Atiq Samad reveals the transformations he has overseen at JTI, from industry 4.0 to artificial intelligence

TI is the world’s third largest tobacco company, operating in 130 markets with a workforce of 44,000 people, 29 fac-

tories, 8 R&D centers and 6 tobacco processing facilities around the world. The company’s Chief 102

Information Officer is Atiq Samad, and he has been in the role for two years. Such a large, global company has had a head start on the adaptations companies are experiencing worldwide in the face of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, as he explains: “Fortunately at JTI, we were already used to having virtual teams, because we are spread out all across the world, representing many different locations. We’ve learned over the last 15, 20 years how to work in a virtual team.” When Atiq joined JTI, he made it his mission to look at the company’s IT landscape holistically, in order to modernize its technology platforms under the banner of a Business Platform Modernization (BPM) program. “We were one of the first big companies with a single instance database on SAP

NOVEMBER 2020

103

www.t e c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

DISRUPT DISRUPTION

How Wipro helped JTI implement a milestone program and reduce friction. Enterprises must do the near-impossible: Meet the high expectations of their customers and do it at the lowest cost possible. That’s why 93% of enterprises are embracing digital transformation to deliver greater value to their business. However, adding digital transformation initiatives on top of the day-to-day operation priorities is a big ask for most technology departments. JTI experienced this first-hand: IT management bandwidth was consumed in putting out fires, such as delivery quality issues and difficult supplier relationships. With no time left to innovate for the broader business objectives, JTI needed a solution that would allow its IT team to focus on what’s important. JTI sought help from a partner that could meet its needs by managing their global data center and cloud services — at scale, integrated and at a competitive cost. Wipro became exactly that partner. Wipro team quickly became immersed with the JTI team working toward the same goals. In fact, Wipro was onboarded in just 2 ½ months — three weeks ahead of schedule!

Lately, Wipro team has also supported JTI in their strategic BPM program: Wipro team worked diligently behind the scenes in multiple areas: data centers, SAP and more.

Since Wipro has started providing Data Center and Cloud services, JTI has seen tangible improvements and overall services stabilization, including a steep drop in Priority 1 incidents and a reduction in the incident/change backlog.

Wipro has done a tremendous job of transitioning our global Data Center Operations in a very short time and without disruption. Not only could they deliver a superior service as of day one, but they also kept improving and adding value. Ultimately, Wipro earned JTI’s trust and could further develop a successful relationship. — Guilain Rogg • VP, JTI

Our partnership with Wipro is a strong one based on solid execution, trust and commitment. Wipro has brought their best to create value for our business. I especially appreciate the focus on not only execution but also innovation that touches various aspects of our business. – Atiq Samad • CIO, JTI

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JTI

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“ We’re looking at the digital employee experience, and we’re even challenging the concept of offices entirely” — Atiq Samad, CIO, JTI

that moved from ECC to S/4HANA. And this was of course a big technology migration, but not only that, we also did a finance transformation. In terms of our CRM, as part of our trade marketing excellence (TME) program, we decided to go to the latest technologies with Oracle, which is the Oracle Engagement Cloud. We’ve also brought in a single source of truth called One Data, and we‘re looking into the factories and logistics too, to bring them up to the same level.”

NOVEMBER 2020

It’s not just technology that has

the technology investment portfolio

changed as part of the BPM ini-

management process, where we have

tiative, but also the culture. “We are

a portfolio of all the technology invest-

bringing in an investment mindset.

ments. We look at each investment

So, hand-in-hand with the business

and look at both their initial business

platform modernization program,

benefits and their strategic fit to make

we have implemented what we call

a strategic roadmap.”

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

Atiq Samad Title: CIO Company: JTI Industry: Tobacco & Vaping

Location: Switzerland

Atiq Samad, Chief Information Officer (CIO) for JTI has held the position for the past two years and is responsible for JTI’s worldwide IT organisation. Atiq is accountable for the definition and execution of JTI’s long term IT strategies and responsible for the technology investment portfolio that supports JTI’s growth ambitions. Atiq began his career RJRI/JTI in 1994 and has consistently taken on new roles with increased accountability across the entire IT function, including leadership over the Center of Excellence, IT Global Development Center and Business Platform Modernization (BPM). Atiq holds a Bachelor of Technology degree from Indian Institute of Technology and MBA degree from Indiana University. Atiq lives in Nyon, Switzerland with his wife and 2 children.

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JTI

“ At JTI, we were already used to having virtual teams, because we are spread out all across the world” — Atiq Samad, CIO, JTI

Part of that strategic roadmap has been embracing emerging technologies. “We’re expanding into artificial intelligence, IoT, robotic process automation. We already have them on a small scale, but now we’re going to expand further into the digital space.” Future projects coming down the line include getting more out of data with buyer insights and predictive analytics. “We’re looking into the digital space, and how we can leverage IoT for our vaping products, for

110

example. That also opens us up to

NOVEMBER 2020

We are JTI CLICK TO WATCH

1:57

111 practice ecommerce - which we can’t with our traditional business.” The transformation goes further into the manufacturing sites themselves. “We are also looking into industry 4.0,” says Samad, “which we already do in terms of manufacturing, operations management and quality sensors. But we want to expand this and really look into transforming our manufacturing and factories. We’re also doing a project now that’s focused on our global supply chain. That’s building the foundation for greater sales forecast and operations planning (S&OP), where we www.t e c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

key people remarkable projects

#Precise Resourcing Outcome Focussed RealTime Hiring Decisions Assured Accuracy PreciseResourcing@hansonregan.com

will look at the entire company’s sales

Orange Business Services and Wipro.

and operations planning process - but

In addition to that we engage with mid-

that’s for the future.”

sized companies that give us more

JTI’s technological transformation has

agility and flexibility. Some of these

required the participation of a number

companies started very small and they

of partners such as Hanson Regan and

grew with us, so they feel part of the

SCL Consulting. Samad notes that the

team spirit that we have created at JTI.”

companies it works with vary in scale.

Thanks to the existing measures

“We have a few big strategic partners,

put in place by Samad and his team,

we work with SAP, Microsoft, Oracle,

JTI was well able to weather the

113

“We’re going to expand further into the digital space” — Atiq Samad, CIO, JTI

www.t e c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

JTI

coronavirus storm. “We have everything cloud ready - that’s why, for example, when we felt the impact of coronavirus, we went from 600 remote workers to about 18,000 remote workers within three days. From an infrastructure standpoint, we had to make an effort, but it didn’t create big problems.” Samad further sees the pandemic as opening up possible avenues for potential change. “We’re looking at the digital employee experience, and we’re even challenging the 114

concept of the office entirely. Can we

NOVEMBER 2020

1999

Year founded

$12.4bn+ Revenue in US dollars

44,000 Number of employees

115

“ We look at each investment and look at both their initial business benefits and their strategic fit to create a strategic roadmap” — Atiq Samad, CIO, JTI www.t e c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

JTI

116

NOVEMBER 2020

117

not have dynamic offices, for instance?

in good stead for the future. “While

But as the CIO, my biggest focus always

our competitors are focusing on

has been and always will be on remain-

upgrading their systems and moving

ing secure, compliant, and resilient.”

to new platforms, we will already be

That philosophy is aligned with the

experiencing the value of that technol-

goals of the business at large. “Our

ogy. That’s one thing that really makes

goal is to become the number one

us ready for the future.”

tobacco company in the world. In today’s world, you cannot do that without technology. I’m excited about it because we can really add value through the technology we introduce.” Samad is clear that the technological work the company has done stands www.t e c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

118

Data-driven commodities digital transformation WRITTEN BY

MATT HIGH PRODUCED BY

CAITLYN COLE

NOVEMBER 2020

119

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CRU GROUP

Will Blake, Director of Technology & Analytics at CRU Group, discusses how data and data analytics is driving change in commodities

he digital transformation of every industry sector means that an immeasurable amount of data is being generated by

businesses, industries and consumers worldwide every day. The effective harnessing and analysis of that data can generate significant value to companies through the greater understanding and insight 120

of trends, and better prediction and forecasting that allows robust strategies to be delivered. The latter is where CRU comes in. The Londonheadquartered company uses data to offer unrivalled business intelligence on the global metals, mining and fertiliser industries through market analysis, pricing assessments and consultancy services. The content and insight provided by CRU gives a complete view of the commodity market, enabling operators and industry participants to make critical business decisions. Understandably, delivering such a comprehensive suite of services requires a robust and innovative technology and analytics strategy. Will Blake is responsible for driving this strategy. Will is a highly experienced technology leader, having spent

NOVEMBER 2020

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CRU GROUP

“ Companies are producing reams of data and, at the same time, using a lot more to improve their operations” — Will Blake, Director of Technology & Analytics, CRU Group

that exploited the value of data in this way, so that experience has certainly given me a greater understanding of

122

more than 15 years at CRU and, pre-

the challenges around information and

viously, close to two years working as

data, as well as how we can effectively

a geophysicist in a seismic exploration

solve the issues our customers face.”

team. Data has been an overarching

During his 15 years at CRU, Will has

theme throughout his career, as he

witnessed data, and the effective

explains: “Geophysics is a data inten-

analysis of that data, play an increas-

sive role that requires the handling

ingly important role in the business

of large volumes of information – the

strategies of customers. “It’s been

oil industry was really one of the first

a huge transformation,” he notes. “Generally speaking, data is a lot more prevalent and is consumed from a host of different and new sources, such as increased automation and so on. Volume-wise, we’re dealing with so much more information that we analyse, so it’s a significant change.

NOVEMBER 2020

CRU’s strategy on data gathering CLICK TO WATCH

2:14

123 “Take the mining industry as an exam-

can they improve production rates and

ple,” Will continues. “Companies are

safety, but provide greater availability

producing reams of data and, at the

of data and information to analyse.”

same time, using a lot more to improve

CRU has been operational for just

their operations. There’s a big increase

over 50 years. And while the company

in IoT devices at mining sites and satel-

has always been at the forefront of

lite geospatial analysis for monitoring

primary research and analysis, Will

purposes, for example, which help to

explains that the exponential growth

boost productivity, eliminate unnec-

of data and innovative technology

essary costs and allow for the move

has led to the company’s own digital

towards predictive maintenance. At

transformation journey. “We started

the same time, we’re seeing an accel-

as a paper-based publisher that would

eration in the drive towards automated

publish thousands of industry reports

mining and self-driving vehicles, which

each year. And, because we have clients

can operate around the clock. Not only

in 90 countries worldwide, we’d have w w w.t e c hn o l o g y m a g a z in e . c o m

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CRU GROUP

126

to transport that information to them

once a year, or once a quarter, but now

by courier. Similarly, the data collec-

we’re no longer willing to wait for that

tion was also quite a manual process.

information – technology makes eve-

“What’s really changed is the acces-

rything instantaneous, so our whole

sibility of data,” he continues. “Clients

cycle has had to change in terms of

used to be happy receiving a report

what we produce and how we produce

NOVEMBER 2020

it. It’s no longer about pulling informa-

a tendency to do. The latest tools don’t

tion together and presenting it to the

necessarily matter that much, for us

customer, people can often find that

the focus has always been the acces-

information easily elsewhere. To be

sibility of data and information,

successful, we have to add value and

the understanding of what our custom-

interpretation on top of that informa-

ers need to help them make effective

tion, which CRU is very good at.”

business decisions, and how often and

To manage this transformation

in what format do they need it. Only

and add value, Will explains that CRU

once we have the answer to those

“pulled back to the information and the

questions do we consider the technol-

content, rather than focus around the

ogy necessary to deliver on them.”

technology, which people do have

One essential implementation was 127

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

Will Blake Title: Director of Technology & Analytics Industry: Commodities research and analysis

Location: London

Will has over 12 years of experience in technology across a range of disciplines including data analytics, cybersecurity, digital product development and cloud infrastructure. He is currently Director of Technology & Analytics at CRU and has responsibility for digital development initiatives and global technology services. He is also a member of the CRU executive team and has wider responsibilities across the business including product development and compliance. Prior to CRU, he worked as a geophysicist for a seismic exploration company in the oil industry. He holds a MSc in Geophysics from Durham University and a BSc in Geology from Bristol University. w w w.t e c hn o l o g y m a g a z in e . c o m

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CRU GROUP

An insight into how CRU gathers content for its consumers CLICK TO WATCH

2:23

130

“ For us the focus has always been the accessibility of data and information” — Will Blake, Director of Technology & Analytics, CRU Group

NOVEMBER 2020

131

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CRU GROUP

a cloud-first strategy, he explains.

our direct business, so networking

CRU consumes content from a mul-

communications, front-end website

titude of locations globally, and by

development,â&#x20AC;? he adds.

working in the cloud the business

132

CRU specialises in market-leading

is able to achieve the flexibility and

research built on robust and transpar-

technical delivery to maximise on

ent methodologies. Regardless of

any investment. Similarly, Will

specific sector or operation, its cus-

notes that the business has focused

tomers typically use the content and

on building on its core in-house

information provided to inform critical

technical and data skill sets in order

business decisions such as whether

to deliver effectively to custom-

to enter a certain commodity mar-

ers. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Data is pivotal, so we keep that

ket, for example. It also offers price

expertise within the business. We

assessments from a team of specialists

partner with other companies on

in London, Beijing, Mumbai, Pittsburgh,

things that we donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t see as core to

Shanghai, Singapore and Santiago.

An insight into how CRU efficiently dealt with the global pandemic CLICK TO WATCH

NOVEMBER 2020

2:42

“ We’re also looking to drive a lot of automation and to improve our range of data sources, including satellite analytics” — Will Blake, Director of Technology & Analytics, CRU Group

placed to plan for any potential disruption. On 23 March we moved the whole global business – around 300 people – to home working and it’s worked remarkably well. Our cloud strategy proved to be very resilient and was a key enabler in allowing business to carry on effectively.” The company has also been engaged in dedicated COVID-19 analysis to better understand how the virus is

Will explains that primary research in

impacting commodities. “Disruption

these areas covers supply, demand,

to supply chains has been significant,”

price and costs analysis; the content

Will states, “as well as short-term

is also used to build proprietary mod-

demand reduction. Alongside this,

els that inform CRU’s forecasting

we’ve been tracking operational status

under the strapline of ‘where com-

of mines, smelters and refineries with

modities meet economics’.

our dedicated disruption tracker ser-

Information provided by CRU helps

vice, which has been embedded in our

organisations navigate challenging market conditions. This has been evidenced most recently in the company’s work during the global COVID-19 pandemic. Like all companies, CRU faced the challenge of shifting to a remote working business model. “It’s been very challenging,” Will highlights, “but as we have offices in Beijing and Shanghai, which both enforced home working in January, we were better

DI D YO U K N OW?

• CRU sets and publishes over 500 commodity prices each week • CRU has 300 employees spread over 8 offices on 5 continents • CRU analyses over 40 different commodities

w w w.t e c hn o l o g y m a g a z in e . c o m

133

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hello.global.ntt

NTT: supporting global enterprises in “ Othe ur cloud strategy new digital era proved to be very resilient and was a We keyspeak enabler to Moin Meah, Client Partner at NTT allowing business to with 25 years experience carry effectively” in theon technology sales —environment, on the Willcompany’s Blake, partnership Director of Technology & Analytics, with CRU Group CRU Group

existing products. Our economics team has been closely analysing the Joining of NTT in disruption 2014, Mo Meah currently holds impact this on global

the position of Client Partner at the company. GDP “NTTand is aother global economic ICT providerindicators with a revenue of$11bn. As the 11th largest company in the asworld, our outlook shifts from what’s NTT’s focuses on supporting global enterprise companies that are happening now to what thelooking futureto utilise the new digital era of intelligent solutions, both looks our customers.” locallylike andfor regionally, as well as globally. NTT operates in over 50 countries, working with As to that future, Will describes customers to build very long trusted relationships as a managed service market provider,” that comments a rapidly changing is Meah.

Group’s collaboration tools, which in turn has led to NTT looking at other areas of the business such as security cloud and making use of digital events. “So the relationship is moving in the right direction to support their future business needs. One of the key areas, considering the global pandemic that we’re currently experiencing, is being able to support and work with their remote workers. We were able to put together the ability to allow employees to work from home at very short notice,” he adds.

showing the first with signs of Group stability. NTT’s relationship CRU began four years ago, originating from an event hosted Forecasting, he notes, always has by NTT. “Cloud Expo allowed CRU Group to

Meah details that NTT’s partnership with CRU Group is one where they have been able to build a strong relationship. “We have worked closely assess who they could go to market and who with them to really understand where they’re a degree of flexibility, but CRU is would support them in establishing a more agile going as a business and being able to address experiencing commodities and robust network. We actuallycustombid on XXXX at some of those issues in terms of having better the time, and as part of that we effectively communication tools and allowing them the data ers seeking answers to longer term delivered a brand new infrastructure for an and the voice to operate over one network environment to support their business and interface. Our partnership makes their job a lot questions, which demonstrates the consolidate their connectivity across the globe. easier because they can rely on their trusted response to has COVID shifting CRU, plansinfrastructure, revolve Our network enabled them tofrom communicate For partner to future worry about which more effectively with both employees and allows them to concentrate on the key areas a survival mentality to one of stratearound continuing to develop core customers,” comments Meah. of actually optimising and being more effective in their business concludes Meah. gically planning for the future. services and theroles,” implementation As a result of this initial partnership, NTT has had the opportunity to branch out and unify CRU w w w.t e c hn o l o g y m a g a z in e . c o m

CRU GROUP

136

NOVEMBER 2020

of new technologies, says Will. “We still have work to do to harness the volumes of data we need and make it more accessible – it’s a never ending evolution in that respect. We have just purchased a new data platform that will drive this growth and offer a greater range of analysis. We’re also looking to drive a lot of automation and to improve our range of data sources. The latter includes satellite analytics, which provides an enormous wealth of information at a global scale.” “In terms of our business, there are two big trends that will drive what we do: increasing electrification of transport and the changing structure of power generation, and carbon emissions and environmental sustainability. Both will contribute hugely to how our customers operate and they’ll form a key strategic area for us to move into.”

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137

138

NOVEMBER 2020

Pestana Hotel Group: A Testing Ground for Technology WRITTEN BY

WILL GIRLING PRODUCED BY

MIKE SADR

www.t e c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

139

PESTANA HOTEL GROUP

Gonçalo Marques Oliveira, CIO, discusses how COVID-19 may change hospitality and why Pestana Hotel Group believes in a managed approach to technology

f one was to consider the industries most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, hospitality would probably feature

prominently. The prolonged closure of buildings, the 140

introduction of new ‘spread prevention’ measures, and international travel restrictions have all conspired to make operations much more difficult. Despite this, there remain some prominent examples of companies that have combined perseverance with a highly innovative mindset to achieve profitable outcomes and positive customer experiences. Pestana Hotel Group (Pestana) is one such company. Founded in 1972 and headquartered in Funchal, Portugal, Pestana is a chain managing 100 hotels across three continents (Europe, South America and Africa), as well as six golf courses, two casinos and more. A proudly Portuguese entity, the company even began a collaboration with Cristiano Ronaldo in 2015 to open a hotel chain under his ‘CR7’ brand - the first of which opened one year later in Madeira Island.

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PESTANA HOTEL GROUP

1972

Year founded

Gonçalo Marques Oliveira, Chief Information Officer, joined Pestana in March 2020, just as the pandemic was escalating to lockdown. “The initial

$450mn+ Revenue in US dollars

7,000 142

Number of employees

impact of COVID-19 on the company was huge,” he recalls. “We closed almost all of our units in 15 countries between mid-March and April.” However, Oliveira adds that, despite the unanticipated disruption, Pestana was still thinking several moves ahead to ensure a swift resumption of services as soon as they were able. “Everyone acted in a very professional way and in expectation that we would be ready to reopen at any point; we wanted to make sure that the conditions were right.” Oliveira’s career has been diverse but consistently marked by strong business development and analytical skills, which he has honed at several world-leading organisations. Beginning his first technology-related role in the early 2000s, Oliveira states that he was initially reticent: “My first reaction was to say, ‘I’m not the best guy to do it.’ Fortunately for me, my boss at the time said, ‘No, let’s give it a try,’ and I was subsequently able

NOVEMBER 2020

Pestana Worldwide CLICK TO WATCH

1:46

143

to specialise myself in a number of technological trends.” When the opportunity to work at Pestana presented itself, he says that he was “immediately struck” by the chance to combine what he’d learned in a

“ The initial impact of COVID-19 on the company was huge” — Gonçalo Marques Oliveira, CIO, Pestana Hotel Group

customer-centric framework that augmented experiences via technol-

initially found himself - made it readily

ogy rather than overwhelming them.

apparent to him that Pestana’s tech

“Because it’s the service industry, peo-

partners are indispensable to the

ple want to see and interact with you:

company. Reaching out to them with

they want to experience your hotels.”

two goals in mind (securing both opera-

The difficulties of lockdown - the

tional and financial support, if needed),

operating milieu in which Oliveira

Oliveira says that the result was largely www.t e c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

PESTANA HOTEL GROUP

Pestana Hotel Group | Overview CLICK TO WATCH

7:09

144 a highly positive one that underscored

have a very distributed network

how trust is almost as foundational

of hotels that requires real-time or

as the tech services themselves. “I’m

near real-time communications,” he

proud to say that the majority of our

explains. “Our responsiveness is one

partners supported us both techno-

of Pestana’s trademarks and Altice

logically and financially during the

Portugal has been essential to main-

lockdown period, which is a testament

taining that.”

to the kind of industry where we work;

However, Pestana’s distinctly high

where people understand the value

level of customer service doesn’t

of longer term relations, instead of

come from technology alone. On the

just the immediate benefits of selling

contrary, it is the company’s outstand-

software.” Portugal’s largest telecoms

ing workplace culture that ultimately

provider, Altice Portugal, is one such

drives its success; technology acts

company that Pestana shares an

simply as an enhancer. Operating in

especially close partnership. “We

a ‘reverse pyramid’ structure, Oliveira

NOVEMBER 2020

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

Gonçalo Marques Oliveira Title: CIO

Company: Pestana Hotel Group

Industry: Tourism

Location: Lisbon

Gonçalo Marques Oliveira holds a Management Degree from the Portuguese Catholic University and an MBA from INSEAD, in Fontainebleau. Before joining the Pestana Hotel Group, the largest multinational hotel group of Portuguese origin, Gonçalo was the COO/CIO and Executive Board Member of Tranquilidade, an insurance company. Previously Gonçalo had served as CIO at Galp Energia until 2017, which followed his 12 years at Portugal Telecom (PT), where he was, among other, Head of Information Systems and Board Member of PT-SI (the IT branch of Portugal Telecom). In March 2020 he joined the Pestana Hotel Group as member of the Executive Committee and CIO. During his professional career spanning over twenty years, Gonçalo Oliveira had several responsibilities in the fields of Digital Transformation, IT, Operations, Customer Care, Strategy and also in Consulting, having worked at McKinsey & Co. Gonçalo lives in Lisbon with his wife and two young children.

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145

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“ Because it’s the service industry, people want to see and interact with you: they want to experience your hotels” — Gonçalo Marques Oliveira, CIO, Pestana Hotel Group

how important I am, my first job is to listen to those employees and enact changes from their feedback. That kind of leadership underscores what makes Pestana a true leader in the service industry.” The company also utilises review search engines as a resource for quickly determining needed improvements or service additions. In some

states that the opinions of every

sense, Oliveira suggests, the lockdown

employee form a crucial cycle of feed-

period was advantageous for Pestana

back that helps determine Pestana’s

as it allowed the company to implement

future direction. “Our staff are trained

long-term strategic objectives with

and encouraged to be close to our

greater focus, as well as accelerating

thousands of customers. No matter

its digital transformation.

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147

PESTANA HOTEL GROUP

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NOVEMBER 2020

“ The ability to leverage technology is becoming an increasingly distinctive factor for customers” — Gonçalo Marques Oliveira, CIO, Pestana Hotel Group IoT (internet of things), AI (artificial intelligence) and AR/VR (augmented reality/virtual reality) are three key technologies being actively explored in hospitality, and Oliveira states that Pestana is equally interested in exploring their use. “The ability to leverage technology is becoming an increasingly distinctive factor for customers, particularly where you have a number of companies using it extensively,” he notes. AI is particularly applicable to Pestana’s vision of constantly-improving services, albeit with restrictions on what kind of customer data is collected and how it’s used. COVID19 has also accelerated its interest in experimenting with a number of IoT-based technologies. Pestana’s dedicated app, which launched in July 2020 (available on both Android and www.t e c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

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PESTANA HOTEL GROUP

“ The hospitality industry is a testing ground for understanding how people interact with technology” — Gonçalo Marques Oliveira, CIO, Pestana Hotel Group

iOS), is its most concentrated effort in this area: empowering customers to make a reservation, check-in, check150

out, and engage with hotels digitally (or not) in the capacity that they are comfortable with, the app is important for realising the hospitality sector’s need for tech-enhanced, COVID-secure operations. “We’ll also be investing

ownership by shareholder Dionísio

some money in VR to provide a virtual

Pestana, son of one the original found-

3D tour of our properties instead of

ers Manuel Pestana, which Oliveira

just looking at pictures,” Oliveira adds.

believes adds a sense of ‘trademark’,

If a piece of technology can result

integrity and far-reaching industry

in a greater customer experience,

experience to its daily operations.

Pestana isn’t afraid of investing money

Having an knowledgeable individual

to explore the idea. This willingness,

at the helm could prove crucial for

in addition to its strong finances, are

navigating hospitality’s post-COVID-19

two qualities that Oliveira highlights

landscape, where many are carefully

as putting the company ahead of its

considering what the industry’s

competition. Another factor is its

future might look like. “First of all,

NOVEMBER 2020

151

Pestana believes that people will

needs, particularly as travel restric-

continue to enjoy traveling,” Oliveira

tions continue to complicate travel

affirms. “But our view is that the

plans. “Our goal is to give them the

future should enhance conveni-

experience they want,” he states.

ence and provide booking flexibility.

Looking ahead to 2021, Oliveira

Customers should be able to cancel

hopes that the company will resume

a booking without penalties, while

its plans for further expansion in

also being provided with benefits

growth. “Right now, the industry

and advantages, even if they are last

itself is very fragmented. However,

minute bookings.” This demonstrates

I believe that Pestana, because of its

Pestana’s refreshingly understanding

solid operating model, will benefit in

and perceptive analysis of customer

that environment.” While it remains www.t e c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

PESTANA HOTEL GROUP

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NOVEMBER 2020

unclear where and how opportunities for controlled growth will present themselves, he remains confident that the company’s dedicated commitment to the industry will enable Pestana to broach new geographic regions and create a more balanced global portfolio. Moreover, the Group will continue to explore potentially revolutionary tech-based service enhancements for its customers, maintaining its status as a hotel brand at the cutting edge of digital capabilities. “The hospitality industry is a testing ground for understanding how people interact with technology,” Oliveira concludes. “Everyone at Pestana is thinking in the long-term, and we believe hospitality is a really exciting industry to work in right now.”

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AMERICAN UNIVERSITY OF BEIRUT

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NOVEMBER 2020

155

AUBMC: Undertaking Medical Transformation EDITED BY

SCOTT BIRCH PRODUCED BY

MICHAEL BANYARD

www.t e c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

AMERICAN UNIVERSITY OF BEIRUT

Joe-max Wakim, IT Director, Medical Centre Processes and Systems director, explains how ambitious and trusted leadership assisted in enabling the medical transformation of American University of Beirut Medical Centre

156

merican University of Beirut Medical Centre (AUBMC) has been a gem in the Lebanese health sector since its founda-

tion in 1902, holding a number of accreditations from bodies such as Magnate JACI and CAP. The facility handles over 360,000 patients annually and, to meet growing demand, is implementing what Joe-max Wakim, IT Director, Medical Centre Processes and Systems Director describes as a clinical transformation. Wakim has been with AUBMC for over 25 years and has seen the company grow exponentially. It was a fine chance that Wakim came to work with AUBMC in 1994, as he was home in Lebanon from his studies in the UK when he was introduced to the head of Biomedical Engineering, who later offered him a job. Wakim initially worked in the medical engineering department on the

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AMERICAN UNIVERSITY OF BEIRUT

“ We believe in sharing back the way we learn from others” — Joe-max Wakim IT Director, Medical Centre Processes and Systems director, American University of Beirut Medical Centre

from scratch: the electrophysiology lab and the stereotactic neuronavigation solution and procedures,” he recalls. “I also helped develop the Memo Organiser, which is the medical engineering asset management and service management solution, which is something we’ve created inhouse.” Wakim’s move to the Hospital

maintenance and management of the

Information Systems Committee

medical devices at the medical cen-

marked the change in direction that

tre. He became IT Director, Medical

was to bring him to his current position.

Centre Processes and Systems 158

Under a consultant, Joe-Max’s team

Director in 2016. “I worked on a num-

was advised that they were better

ber of solutions which were created

suited to develop in-house, rather than purchase a ‘one-size-fits-all’ solution. This implementation went underway between 2002 and 2009, segregating them into a focused repository. In addition to this, a portal was created which simplified access to various applications. It was in 2009 that the medical centre appointed a new Dean, who presented an ambitious vision for the medical centre to become the best medical practice in the region. Wakim and his team began looking for highend medical solutions and developed an RFP in 2013, by which time he had become acting Director of the medical

NOVEMBER 2020

159

centre’s processes and systems team.

governance and ensuring that pro-

In 2016, the team moved to sign with

cesses are streamlined between

the Epic Team and began implementa-

different teams. “We’ve created gov-

tion at the end of that year, the same

ernance models where requests are

time that Wakim was made IT Director.

sent to the multidisciplinary stakeholder groups, including physicians, nurses,

CLINICAL TRANSFORMATION JOURNEY

administrators and IT analysts. These

The clinical evolution of AUBMC has

requests are reviewed and if approved,

been concurrent with Wakim’s career.

are sent through to project manage-

In his role as IT Director he works with

ment for scheduling and execution,” he

the CMIO, Dr. Ghassan Hamadeh, on

explains. Wakim’s role is to also ensure

IT strategic planning with an executive

that these projects are implemented

team at the medical centre. Wakim’s

as smoothly as possible from a change

responsibilities often focuses on

management perspective. www.t e c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

AMERICAN UNIVERSITY OF BEIRUT

A key aspect to the clinical transfor-

160

over 50% of the US population. “The

mation was the implementation of Epic,

Epic team is truly dedicated to ensur-

an electronic health record solution

ing that their customers are improving

comprising a number of modules used

the communities they function within,”

across the medical centre, in order to

commends Wakim. “They’re con-

standardise the provision of care with

stantly pushing us to provide KPIs and

best practices, as well as decision

monitor our performance in order to

making tools. “We’ve got modules

look for opportunities to improve our-

implemented in the lab, pathology,

selves or introduce additional training.”

oncology, in the operating rooms, in

Of course, Wakim and his team

the ambulatory setting and for all

did face some challenges. “There’s

our outpatient clinics,” adding that

no goal, no type of implementation or

“we’re looking at additional modules.”

journey without its own challenges.

According to Epic, its system serves

While Epic only took a couple of years

NOVEMBER 2020

1902

Year founded

to implement, our journey has taken much longer. We did a lot of preparation beforehand and spoke with other academic organisations similar to our-

$100mn+ Revenue in US dollars

3,400 Number of employees

selves on the most suitable platforms.” Wakim goes on to say that one of the major challenges was the upscaling of workforce: “We were only a team of 30 and needed to hire 60 people and conduct mass training.” Epic had listed the impending challenges and shared the prerequisites for Beirut Medical Centre before it would begin to implement the system. “We had to purchase

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AMERICAN UNIVERSITY OF BEIRUT

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NOVEMBER 2020

“ There’s no goal, no type of implementation or journey without its own challenges” — Joe-max Wakim IT Director, Medical Centre Processes and Systems director, American University of Beirut Medical Centre a number of solutions that would assist with taking the platform live. So far, over 3,400 employees have been trained on the use of Epic, with 650 being supertrained within the company to assist with the shift from analogue to paperlight,” Wakim recalls. “In addition to the implementation of Epic, during those 10 years of implementation, we also wrote in a medication dispensing solution, a blood bank solution, a blood donor solution, a voice recognition solution and a medical device integration solution, which were all implemented entirely by different teams.” Currently, there are over 30 projects underway which overlap with Epic’s capabilities. Wakim has a particular interest in the improvement of analytics capabilities. “We are investing www.t e c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

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AMERICAN UNIVERSITY OF BEIRUT

in improving our data governance and data quality in partnership with the Chief Quality and Compliance Officer. We’ve only just started to scratch the surface with regard to our ML capabilities and I am looking forward to exploring more AI and ML solutions.”

LEADING INDUSTRY DISRUPTION When Wakim considers the journey thus far, he affirms that this transformation would not have been possible without the ambition and vision of the 166

Dean. “We’ve been on an amazing journey over the last decade. So much credit also goes to RCMIO, who have been on this journey with us since the early 2000s when we first set out to automate the process. As Wakim and AUBMC look to the future, he shares that a number of goals have also been set internally: “Over the next two years, we’re focusing on growth for our team members in terms of professional growth and personal growth. We’ve created a tool that helps identify opportunities for them to grow so that the type of work they do changes and hence keeps them motivated to learn more and NOVEMBER 2020

“ So much credit goes to RCMIO, who have been on this journey with us since the early 2000s” — Joe-max Wakim IT Director, Medical Centre Processes and Systems director, American University of Beirut Medical Centre

167

grow professionally.” He continues,

to share some of our experiences,

“Internally we will continue our com-

which we gladly do; we’re an academic

mitment to improving the solutions to

institution and we believe in sharing

better serve our clinicians and patients.

back the way we learn from others.”

We will continue on this journey of

Wakim says that this sharing of knowl-

automation until we are completely

edge is slowly having an impact on the

paperless. The success that AUBMC

industry nationally and the American

is achieving is setting the standard in

University of Beirut is paving the way.

Lebanon and it is no secret. “We’ve been asked by a number of institutions www.t e c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

168

Cheetah Digital: The Value of Mobile in the Digital Age WRITTEN BY

GEORGIA WILSON PRODUCED BY

BEN MALTBY

NOVEMBER 2020

169

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CHEETAH DIGITAL

Andy Gladwin, Head of Mobile at Cheetah Digital, discusses the importance of mobile technology in a digital transformation strategy

s digital consumers’ needs have evolved, all-too-many brands’ approach to them have not kept pace. Modern consumers

enjoy almost blanket 4G coverage, but the digital experiences they receive is oftentimes akin to dial-up. Better data sets and more sophisticated 170

targeting has not necessarily led to better advertising, experiences or content. Graduating from the University of St. Andrews in 2005, Andy Gladwin, Head of Mobile GTM at Cheetah Digital began his career in mobile technology by joining Ericsson on the graduate scheme where he worked his way up to Head of Commercial for their SMS business unit (Ericsson IPX) which became part of Netsize. In 2013, Gladwin moved onto hold leadership roles at ExactTarget which was acquired by Salesforce, CLX Communications and his most recent tenure was as Vice President leading sales of Vodafone’s global SMS business, where he attended Vodafone’s executive leadership talent programme ‘Inspire”. It was a reunion over a coffee in London with his former leader Sameer Kazi from ExactTarget that NOVEMBER 2020

171

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CHEETAH DIGITAL

Managing Mobile Moments in an Omnichannel World. CLICK TO WATCH

17:36

172 set the compelling path to join Cheetah

find an enterprise that doesn’t want

Digital. “I realised that this wasn’t just

to engage with their customers in the

a coffee, but an opportunity, one that I

most frictionless manner possible. Part

couldn’t really refuse. The opportunity

of working out what makes the engage-

was to go and work within a visionary

ment frictionless is identifying where

company that is set to disrupt the digital

the customers exchange information

marketing landscape and shape the

and communicate. This is mobile.”

Mobile contribution to this strategy.”

These are the thoughts of Andy Gladwin,

Eight out of 10 digital minutes reside

Head of Mobile at Cheetah Digital.

on the mobile phone, with consumers

“To convolute the issue we live in

picking up their device on average 96

an omni-channel world. Consumers

times a day. It’s clear that a fully-fledged

interact with an average of 6 digital

mobile strategy is no longer a nice to

touchpoints when engaging with a

have, but the cornerstone of any digital

brand. Whether that be content on

transformation. “You are not going to

social media, payment through wallet,

NOVEMBER 2020

“ Mobile sits at the heart of digital transformation. Eight out of 10 digital minutes reside on the mobile phone” — Andy Gladwin, Head of Mobile at Cheetah Digital

preference insights and behavioural data to no longer infer, but anticipate what its customers are likely to do

news from SMS, or offers via email to

next. Then they can use this data to

name but a few. Principally however,

power more-personalised, and criti-

all these touchpoints can be directly

cally, frictionless engagement across

accessed through mobile. And the

all touchpoints. It helped of course that

upside to this is brands can gather vast

SMS, as well as browser, email, apps,

amounts of consumer data, opt-ins,

social and wallet are available on the 173

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

Andy Gladwin Title: Head of Mobile

Company: Cheetah Digital

Industry: Computer Software

Location: United Kingdom

Approaching 15 years experience across the mobile messaging market, Andy Gladwin is a thought leader in mobile channel communications. He has been an active participant within industry bodies and worked at different levels of the mobile value chain most recently as a VP within Vodafone’s global messaging division. Today he resides in the UK, where he is the go to market leader for Cheetah Digital’s Global Mobile service offering.

www.t e c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

CHEETAH DIGITAL

vast majority of mobiles. What’s clear

report that they have only a few of

is that mobile should be the nucleus

their marketing channels connected.

of any digital communication strategy.”

Each and every vertical is undergoing rapid digital transformations, however

174

A SINGLE, ACCESSIBLE VIEW OF THE CUSTOMER

thinking brands have headaches

Naturally in any modern enterprise

managing brands and data sources in

there are a plethora of institutional

different territories, time zones, and

challenges that make a mobile-first

languages. Data silos are an unfortu-

strategy somewhat difficult to realise.

nate inevitability.”

even the most modern and forward-

In the data economy, it’s not uncom-

When it comes to software, Gladwin

mon to hear marketers complaining

explains that over his many years work-

about how they have too much data

ing in mobile he has come to realise

to analyse. “53% of organizations

that centralisation is key. “Modern

NOVEMBER 2020

Thinking Caps | Andy Gladwin on Messaging Apps, RCS, and if SMS is Even Relevant Anymore CLICK TO WATCH

28:50

175

Offices

countries

the customer in a unified, single view, which is necessary to fully understand each customer and provide them with a truly-personalized experience. The opportunity to wow the customer is lost forever.” Explaining some of the benefits of this approach, Gladwin says, “having a centralised, single source of truth of the customer serves as a complete, up-to-

enterprises are awash with data, but it’s

date record and empowers marketers

fragmented from all manner of sources

to build lasting and more meaningful

and siloed in disparate systems which

relationships with customers through

are not integrated, nor were designed

accurate, timely, and trustworthy data.

to be. Marketers have no way of seeing

The closer marketers can get to the www.t e c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

CHEETAH DIGITAL

176

utopia of a golden record, the more

mobile app before you choose to send

likely they are to interact with custom-

an email. This helps to assure that those

ers through preferred channels with

things correlate to have the right level

preferred messages. Done fittingly, as

of relevance and value, as well as drive

customer preferences and/or transac-

a single voice.”

tion history change, the record changes with it. Going a step further, Gladwin further

At Cheetah Digital, the company takes the data insights and processes these within its Engagement Data Platform

highlights that a centralised approach

(an evolution of a CDP). “On a software

enables enterprises to engage with

level, it’s from here that enterprises

customers in a personalized, meaning-

are able to securely manage that data

ful way. “Anticipating customer behavior

from any source and in real-time with

through insight enables you to keep

other digital channels. We can also

ahead of the competition by delivering

apply machine learning to optimise

the right experiences at the precise

send times, as well as building pro-

moment a customer engages. You can

pensity models that look at feedback

see what was the last activity and what

loops and other insights to determine

their behaviors have been within the

the likelihood of a customer following

NOVEMBER 2020

through with an associated call to action. According to McKinsey, there is a 10 to 20% incremental boost in conversion rates and customer lifetime value when coordinating messages across channels,” comments Gladwin. “Marketers and their customers deserve better. With the Cheetah Digital EDP, as consumers engage in mobile apps, wallet, email, social media

“ You are not going to find an enterprise that doesn’t want to engage with their customers in the most frictionless manner possible” — Andy Gladwin, Head of Mobile at Cheetah Digital

platforms, chat applications, and other touchpoints, this data is ingested in realtime and can be acted on immediately.” 177

POWERING PERSONALISATION WITH THE RIGHT DATA The converging forces of privacy legislation sweeping the globe, and consumers that are ever-more cognizant of privacy preserving tools, means that they are likely to only continue doing business with the brands that they trust and who tailor campaigns to them. Expanding on powering personalisation from the right of data, that’s gathered compliantly, Gladwin breaks down the best approach. “The future of marketing to individuals with relevance is about asking them about www.t e c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

CHEETAH DIGITAL

“ Above all the most important decision maker in channel choice is that of the customer and every enterprise should actively seek preferences and correspond with their communications accordingly” — Andy Gladwin, Head of Mobile at Cheetah Digital 178 their interests, motivations and desires, rather than inferring or snooping on them. This is zero-party data. Forrester describes it as a class of data that is intentionally and proactively shared by the customer.” “Unfortunately it’s not merely a case of building it and they will come. Digital consumers expect to be entertained, engaged, and receive something in return for their attention and personal data. At Cheetah Digital, we have a solution – Cheetah Experiences – which enables our customers to create interactive marketing campaigns that engage with customers and collects NOVEMBER 2020

first-party data, complemented by a raft of preference and behavioural data that customers volunteer – the key is offering a tangible value exchange.” Gladwin continues, “and it doesn’t need to be a red-letter prize, things like coupons, competitions, social kudos, or exclusive content drive value in return for data.” When it comes to the role of mobile in the acquisition of data, Gladwin explains that there are three parts. “The first is

again ensuring that the organisation is

to leverage the immediacy of mobile

present on the relevant and preferred

channels to enable enterprises to

channels of their customers to provide

become scientific with their send time

access. Part two is harnessing tools

and resultantly maximise conversion

such as the haptics of the mobile device

by delivering the right message during

to drive a value exchange that is inter-

the moments of relevance. With a native

active and engaging. This could be to

capability on every handset, SMS is

use scratch screens to reveal a promo-

an effective vehicle to address a large

tion or to gain customers insights as

audience and engage with immediacy.

they swipe left or right to register their

90% of messages are read within 90

preferences or interests. Part three is

seconds and unlike some alternative

179

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CHEETAH DIGITAL

younger channels the technology is not a barrier, where there is the same level of familiarity to a 17 year old as a 70 year old.” In addition to data acquisition, mobile technology can also offer it’s own additional behavioural and contextual data insights to drive personalisation. By observing frequency and recency data from an app, enterprises can ensure that they are addressing customer needs in line with their interactivity and associated customer lifecycle 180

placement. Location is another asset

on the metrics that move the needle,

that can trigger contextual real time

not just those that look good on paper.”

engagement as consumers enter or

When it comes to the importance

exit a geo-fence or taking it to a macro

of its people, Gladwin explains that

level, it could enable a retailer to review

at Cheetah Digital the company has

environmental conditions and promote

an in house services organisation to

raincoats to one customer and swim-

provide its customers with support

wear to another based on the weather

and account management services

at the time of send.”

– which is something that Gladwin believes distinguishes the company

PEOPLE MAKE THE PRODUCT

from its competition. “Our in house ser-

Cheetah Digital is an organisation

vices organisation have a very intimate

rooted in driving business outcomes.

understanding – not only of the client

To realise that it’s imperative to have

– but with our technology. This native

people lasered on business goals

expertise enables them to not only

rather than vanity metrics. “Whatever

consistently drive and deliver results

vertical you’re in, you need to focus

through implementation and design,

NOVEMBER 2020

where engagement has moved from transactional to conversational gives brands more of an opportunity to engage, listen and influence customer behaviour. For too long marketing has been a decidedly one-way affair, with brands seeking to push their message louder and further into more intimate contacts. However it’s not better marketing, just better targeting. Using mobile to engage in true two-way communications with consumers through legacy and emerging channels will be but also to enhance performance and

the next significant paradigm shift.”

ultimately revenue and profitability for track the right metrics, convert these

HOW DO ENTERPRISES CONSIDER THE RIGHT MOBILE CHANNEL?

into tangibles like revenue and prove

The relationship between consumers

ROI. Through perpetually testing and

and enterprises is moving from physi-

enhancing the use of mobile channels

cal to digital at such velocius pace

we can optimise these numbers.”

and to be effective managing mobile

our clients. We’re here to identify and

Looking at the mobile industry

channels and customer moments are

as a whole, Gladwin believes there

critical for driving engagement. This

are several major shifts emerging

has never been as important as it has

for mobile technology. “Devices

been in the past year or so, as market

have gone from being convenient to

and customer dynamics and consumer

connected and through this period,

priorities are changing – as consumers

content has evolved from being

are avoiding crowds, spending less

relatively basic to incredibly rich. The

time in stores and venues and increas-

evolution of the channel ecosystem

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When thinking about mobile and how it connects brands, consumers and touchpoints, it is an ecosystem that offers many channels. “SMS as we discussed earlier offers ubiquity, immediacy, engagement and familiarity, and of course gives the benefit of high confidence to deliver a message to all customers with it being read in a short time. If you were to receive a fraud alert, you would want to receive it via SMS so you could act quickly rather than an email. Apps hold value driving 182

convenience, immediacy and provide a non-restricted environment to represent a brand’s content. Having your

provides a gateway to reward loyal cus-

app on a home screen is like having a

tomers with points or coupons.”

prominently placed billboard and offers

Clearly there’s lots to ruminate, but

a streamlined pathway to gain informa-

Gladwin is clear “above all the most

tion such as bank account details or a

important decision maker in channel

call-to-action where your airline seat

choice is that of the customer and

reservation may be open to confirm.

every enterprise should actively seek

Apps also open up the opportunity to

preferences and correspond with their

trigger real time messages based on

communications accordingly.”

activities such as in app behaviours or geo-location.”

THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM: COVID-19

“Mobile wallet is fast emerging as

When discussing the impact of COVID-

another convenience touchpoint for

19 so far in the industry, Gladwin says

consumers, from paying for coffee or

“There has been an elevated impor-

catching a train, but for marketers it

tance during COVID to support the

NOVEMBER 2020

183 lack of physical customer engagement

Recent research shows that app

and rise of eCommerce to substitute

utilisation is up 50% and the pandemic

physical relationships. For example we

has accelerated the enterprise digital

have a supermarket client in France

communication strategy – on average –

who sent out a message to all of their

by about six years. “Moving companies

customers in March detailing their new

forward in that strategy, mobile again

store opening and closing times along

is becoming even more key. To be

with their online ordering capabilities.

successful you need to be where your

So in terms of driving clarity in an ambig-

customers are, and that is no longer

uous environment, SMS has been a great

physical engagement. With the rise of

way to cut through the noise, to be able

remote customers, mobile is going to

to go through a different channel that

be the key to success.”

isn’t suffering from buffering and other issues, to get immediate important messages across during this time.” www.t e c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

Peace of Mind Through Digital Inspection Solutions 184

WRITTEN BY

WILL GIRLING PRODUCED BY

MIKE SADR

NOVEMBER 2020

185

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WAYGATE TECHNOLOGIES

Arungalai Anbarasu, CT&SO, discusses the companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s philosophy on digital transformation and how itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s creating peace of mind for manufacturers post-COVID-19

lthough the detrimental effects of the COVID-19 pandemic are beyond dispute, one positive aspect has been a renewed

openness to digital transformation and its possibilities. Waygate Technologies is a staunch champion 186

of its effect in the non-destructive testing (NDT) and industrial inspection arena. Originally GE Inspection Technologies, the company eventually rebranded itself in 2020 but still maintains its rich industry heritage with over 125 years of world-leading excellence - a combination of 1.700 employees operating globally as part of the Baker Hughes corporation. Using cutting-edge data analytics, Waygate Technologies seeks to augment productivity, boost competitiveness, and provide clients and their customers with the peace of mind they require. Naturally curious and exploratory at a young age, Arungalai Anbarasu, Chief Technology and Strategy Officer, says that engineering provided her with the perfect outlet for exploring these

NOVEMBER 2020

187

2004

Year founded

1,700 Number of employees

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WAYGATE TECHNOLOGIES

188

“ We retained the people and the culture, so we rebranded in a way that our customers would still recognise us and our services” — Arungalai Anbarasu, Chief Technology and Strategy Officer, Waygate Technologies

passions. “My Master’s thesis (at the Georgia Institute of Technology) was actually on non-destructive testing,” she explains. Joining GE in 2005, Anbarasu quickly developed professionally, “I started to understand why business strategy is so important for a company, which made me take on different roles in the company, from finance strategy to operations, technology, business management, and finally the role I find myself in today.” When the company became Waygate Technologies, she relates that capturing the brand attention once afforded

NOVEMBER 2020

to GE was challenging. “GE Inspection

customers would still recognise us

Technologies (GEIT) enjoyed such a

and our services. Ultimately, we pro-

strong presence in the NDT industry.

vide them with a gateway to innovation,

We retained the people and the cul-

so that, I believe, was the reasoning

ture, so we rebranded in a way that our

behind our new name.”

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

Arungalai Anbarasu Title: Chief Technology & Strategy Officer Company: Waygate Technologies Industry: Industrial Inspection Solutions and Non-Destructive Testing Location: Huerth, Germany

189

Arungalai Anbarasu is the Chief Technology & Strategy Officer at Waygate Technologies, driving strategy and innovation for the company. In addition to pushing the technology and business models, boundaries on inspection solutions, Aru and her team are also focused on the digital transformation of Waygate Technologies and spearheading Waygate’s evolution into a Digital Inspection Solutions provider, taking customers from inspections to insights and from insights to innovations. Prior to her current role, Aru was the General Manager for Industrial X-ray and CT solutions business at Waygate Technologies. She also spent over a decade in GE in multiple impactful roles in business divisions such as Global Research Centre, Oil & Gas, Power Conversion, Healthcare and Renewables. She is passionate about encouraging Women in STEM fields and continues to pursue avenues to support this topic. Aru currently resides in Hannover with her husband Divyang and daughter Ada. www.t e c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

WAYGATE TECHNOLOGIES

D H VA N I R E S E A R C H & D E V E L O P M E N T

One of Waygate Technologies’ most important partners is Indian tech hub Dhvani Research & Development. Leveraging IITM, CNDE and ESCON technologies, the company is striving to become a world leader in the research and development of non-invasive diagnostics.

190

Anbarasu had the following to say about the two companies’ relationship: “We’ve been working with Dhvani for a few years now and count them as a

valued partner in our journey. Dhvani has access to a wide pool of resources, a strong track record in delivering ADR software and associated applications for x-ray and ultrasound, and their customer base includes top global brands. They are incredibly flexible in their working arrangements and truly drive us to succeed on multiple fronts simultaneously; a nice contrast from hardware companies, which are used to more structured and therefore slower shifts.”

In terms of more recent challenges, Anbarasu cannot deny that COVID-19 has presented a significant operational hurdle. However, she caveats this with a sense of optimism regarding the development of tech within NDT. “I almost see this as the beginning of a new digital revolution towards ‘Industry 4.0+’. I think a lot of this will continue beyond COVID too, with legacy customers becoming more NOVEMBER 2020

Waygate Technologies | A world leader in non-destructive testing. CLICK TO WATCH

1:18

191 accepting generally; they used to pri-

latter allows operators to analyse

oritise face-to-face interactions during

and upload data independently

an inspection, but these days we’ve

from anywhere.

been convincing them to do it virtually.

Having these tools, and many oth-

Although the pandemic has driven

ers, illustrates what gives Waygate

us apart physically, it has brought us

Technologies an advantage over

together virtually.” Furthermore, two of

other companies in the space, “We

Waygate Technologies’ flagship digital

have one of the broadest product

products - InspectionWorks Connect

portfolios available,” Anbarasu states.

and Insight - are geared for meet-

“That world-leading breadth across

ing the core challenges introduced

visual, ultrasound, x-ray, CT, Eddy cur-

by COVID: the former allows users

rent, portables, handhelds and cloud

to connect a handheld borescope

services puts us in a really unique

or ultrasonic testing (UT) device to

position.” Observing that a global shift

remotely located experts, while the

away from single-unit data to larger www.t e c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

DHVANI

ANALYTIC INTELLIGENCE We are industry leaders in the development and deployment of NDE 4.0 related tools and technologies globally. We focus on product and applications development and also offer services in the area to our clients. Our ability to work across software, hardware, IoT, AI while bringing in the cutting edge domain skills offers a signiďŹ cant competitive advantage in the NDE space. Our collaboration with academia and associated industries and the use of blended skills that combine physics with data driven analysis help address some of the challenges faced by industry today. We have skills in developing digital twins for inspection processes and our product portfolio includes simulators that help optimise inspection time and resources. We use both knowledge based and data driven intelligence to generate synthetic data, where required. This is particularly useful in ramping up AI based tools that have an appetite for large volumes of information. We deliver end-to-end integrated solutions to our clients and have the in-house capabilities to work across platform technologies, automation, robotics, text / image analytics, decision sciences and IoT. We have developed visualisation and dashboarding tools that can also deliver enterprise reports. We are actively engaged with clients in the manufacturing, transport, construction, maintenance, energy, infrastructure, electronics, and healthcare sectors. LEARN MORE

WAYGATE TECHNOLOGIES

“ Although the pandemic has driven us apart physically, it has brought us together virtually” — Arungalai Anbarasu, Chief Technology and Strategy Officer, Waygate Technologies

194

connected ecosystems of information that unlock value exponentially is taking place, she positions the company at the head of this new trend in NDT and industrial inspection. “We pride ourselves in helping our customers both detect defects and avoid them altogether; detecting is important, but if we can avoid a fault NOVEMBER 2020

transformation journey is a desire to move beyond simply selling ‘product solutions’ and instead focus on envisioning, creating, building and selling digital inspection solutions. As such, the company has established a four pillar philosophy: 1) Focusing explicitly on developing collaborative partnerships, both with customers and vendors; 2) Shifting away from building products featuring software to true software products; 3) Employing a new commercial presence in the market that will enable the execution of its goals; and 4) Evolving hardware and manufacturing rhythms to drive a steady customer expectation of software releases and updates. Leveraging Waygate Technologies’ storied heritage and not allowing traditions to stifle innovation will be crucial, particularly from occurring, I think that’s far more

as the company transitions from being

valuable to them.” In a way, Anbarasu

a device-centric to a data-centric

says, our approach is comparable to

inspection company. Clearly, a cultural

the best healthcare: its testing identi-

shift will be integral; “That is a much

fies problems early, before they have

larger challenge, though, because

an opportunity to develop into some-

you’re trying to convert people from

thing more hazardous.

their long-held beliefs. This needs to

However, fundamentally guid-

be achieved through the right capital

ing Waygate Technologies’ digital

investment, training commercial teams www.t e c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

195

WAYGATE TECHNOLOGIES

“ Waygate Technologies delivers peace of mind with emerging technologies” — Arungalai Anbarasu, Chief Technology and Strategy Officer, Waygate Technologies

196

NOVEMBER 2020

and expanding our digital presence in different geographical regions.” Far from being a strictly internal evolution, though, Anbarasu makes it clear that Waygate Technologies’ digital transformation will have direct benefits for customers. “Consider this: a borescope built by us can enter the combustion chamber of an aircraft engine through an approximately 1cm diameter port, travel to a location and capture an image with its own light source and stereo camera, measuring, in 3D, depths of defects down to the several microns. This is then taken to an exponentially higher value for the customer when Waygate Technologies deploys automatic defect recognition algorithms built on the cloud, delivered on the device. This enables the operator using the instrument to make ‘plane-side’ decisions, thus saving millions of dollars lost in downtime. This is truly incredible technology, and that’s just one example,” she enthuses. “Waygate Technologies delivers peace of mind with emerging technologies,” Anbarasu adds. “These are truly enabling our customers to have full confidence in our www.t e c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

197

WAYGATE TECHNOLOGIES

solutions’ ability to safeguard them from a quality perspective.” One of the company’s core digital initiatives, InspectionWorks|Ecos, offers an integrated, blockchain-powered data management solution, enabling unified inspection insights across a customer’s entire ecosystem and the complete lifecycle of their assets. Already highly anticipated for its perceived high value and market necessity, Waygate Technologies believes that leveraging this new 198

data solution could be transformative for modern industrial inspections. Already serving the aerospace, defense, automotive, electronics and

same time, we will strive to partner with

energy industries, Anbarasu intimates

clients in new technologies like electric

that, although these will remain the

vehicle (EV) batteries, hydrogen and

company’s core markets, Waygate

3D printing.”

Technologies is interested in branch-

Data, Anbarasu states, will be the

ing out further. “Inspection data is

key to this expansion and Waygate

everywhere and in every process; it

Technologies’ broader digital transi-

can be a very powerful tool for custom-

tion. “I don’t think the abundance

ers to drive productivity, quality and

of data is an issue; I think there’s no

safety,” she says. “We will continue to

longer a debate on whether data is

serve these traditional markets and

valuable and whether it feeds digital

also explore growth areas like medical

transformation. However, what’s now

devices, other forms of transportation

critical is the infrastructure around

and the pharmaceutical sector. At the

data: simply digitising all inspections

NOVEMBER 2020

199

“ Everyone needs to unite, follow the rules, and beat COVID-19” — Arungalai Anbarasu, Chief Technology and Strategy Officer, Waygate Technologies

to corporate ethics as it does to equipment, viewing Waygate Technologies’ position of social responsibility, particularly in the post-COVID-19 world, as equally substantial. “We are trying our best to help out where we can, such as inspecting ventilators, and digital transformation can be a force

is only the starting point; it is when this

for good in achieving that goal,” she

data can be tied to the asset being

concludes. “Everyone needs to unite,

inspected and then cross and counter

follow the rules, and beat COVID-19.”

referenced that its value starts rising exponentially”. Further, she indicates that ‘infrastructure’ refers just as much www.t e c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

200

SIU: harnessing innovative technology to combat corruption combat technology to innovative SIU: harnessing WRITTEN BY

GEORGIA WILSON PRODUCED BY

JAMES BERRY JAMES BERRY PRODUCED BY

GEORGIA WILSON WRITTEN BY

NOVEMBER 2020

201

www.t e c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

SPECIAL INVESTIGATING UNIT

Tumelo Zwane, Chief Information Officer at South Africa’s Special Investigating Unit (SIU), discusses the organisation’s digital transformation and maintaining cybersecurity during COVID-19

oining the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) in 2018, Tumelo Zwane has been the Chief Information Officer for two years.

“The special investigating unit is responsible for investigating acts of corruption, ensuring that public funds are not misused and instill discipline 202

so that everyone is accountable and accounts for how they procure, tender and award contracts, to service providers,” explains Zwane. “The difference between us and other agencies within the department, we are the only ones that are responsible for recovering the funds that are misused, or misappropriated by government officials. We go as far as instituting litigations and civil proceedings via a special tribunal solely put together to deal with SIU investigations.” Late last year, Zwane began crafting a digital strategy for the SIU which looked at three pillars to optimise and stabilise its current environment by upgrading its network. “This stage of the digital strategy we have already done,” comments Zwane, “we have upgraded our network, moving to a more stable NOVEMBER 2020

203

www.t e c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

SPECIAL INVESTIGATING UNIT

“ The future for SIU will be for us to harness big data, AI and robotics to help us conduct investigations quicker and better”

204

— Tumelo Zwane, Chief Information Officer, Special Investigating Unit

NOVEMBER 2020

hardware environment. We have also ensured that we’ve got the necessary tools to conduct faster and better data analytics, cybersecurity and forensic analysis operations. All these different tools will help with our investigations and improve our turnaround times. We have also been looking at how we can ensure business continuity via the right platforms and technology to allow our investigators to work from anywhere at any time - this is the first pillar.” SIU’s second digital strategy pillar looks at how both its value chain

Moment of Clarity: SIU’s Andy Mothibi over 167 Covid-19 corruption cases in Gauteng alone CLICK TO WATCH

1:54

205 and current applications can be

investigative capabilities,” states

optimised. “We’ve been in a process

Zwane. “Unfortunately, due to the

of enhancing our current systems

impact of COVID-19, some aspects of

as well as enhancing our tools and

our three-year plan have had to have

the way we do work to ensure that

been put on hold, due to the need to

we achieve the results faster and

meet current demands and situations

quicker,” says Zwane.

within the world and the country.”

The final pillar focuses on creating

Currently within its digital strategy,

a digital business in the near future

SIU has been looking at multiple

where SIU can ensure that, wherever

technologies to continuously

possible, operations are as paperless

improve its operations.

and contactless as possible.

“As well as AI and robotics, we are

“We aim to achieve this by using

also looking at machine learning and

technology like artificial intelligence

big data to enhance our current tools.

(AI) and robotics to enhance our

During this strategy we looked at the www.t e c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

without

Industry and customer acclaimed cybersecurity technologies – with EDR at the core – empower you to detect and prevent evasive attacks at lightning speed – with no extra effort from your team.

kaspersky.co.za

“ The Special Investigating Unit is responsible for investigating acts of corruption, ensuring that public funds are not misused” — Tumelo Zwane, Chief Information Officer, Special Investigating Unit likes of Microsoft BI, Ocular from

365, we are looking to host the solu-

Deloitte, as well as partnerships with

tion in a private cloud that ensures

Dell, SAS, Kaspersky and Novell,” com-

that we don’t expose that data,”

ments Zwane. She adds that SIU is

says Zwane. “We also have multiple

harnessing AI for authentication pur-

firewalls and different channels to

poses and will be looking to adopt big

pinpoint potential threats, allowing us

data and analytics capabilities in the

to mitigate the impact.”

next financial year. When it comes to security and

THE IMPACT OF COVID-19 FOR THE SIU

managing potential threats, Zwane

“COVID-19 brought in the challenges

highlights that the SIU’s cybersecurity

of people having to work from home

strategy is designed to ensure that

and ensuring that our data continues

information is stored safely and locally

to be secure,” comments Zwane.

within the country, with plans to move

Because of this, SIU has had to

into a private cloud platform instead of

equip its members with the technol-

their current cloud solution.

ogy and tools in order to conduct its

“You can imagine how critical our data is, so when it comes to Microsoft

transitional methods of face-to-face interviews online. www.t e c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

207

SPECIAL INVESTIGATING UNIT

“The challenges that come with

harness big data, AI and robotics to

this are that not everyone is tech-

help us conduct investigations quicker

nologically inclined. As a result, we

and better, leading to a world beyond

had to bring in an element of change

COVID-19 where corruption will be dealt

management to show that these

with quicker and more decisively due to

technologies can be an enabler to

the benefits of technology and digital

make life easier.”

transformation” says Zwane.

When it comes to the next steps for

Not only does Zwane see corruption

the industry, Zwane believes that the

being dealt with quicker and more deci-

industry will see a shift in the use of

sively, she also sees the industry further

technology and the industry’s reliance

developing preventative methods with

on working from home or offsite.

the adoption of technology to detect if

“The future for SIU will be for us to 208

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there is intention for a corrupt act.

“In the future, we will have risk

“Fortunately for us, because of the

engines robust enough that they will

powers that we were given, we get

be able to help us identify potential

cases from the president who ensures

risks for corruption and give insight to

that we are able to deal with matters

the powers that be,” she says.

decisively. From a technological point

Reflecting on the company as a

of view, the strength we have is being

whole, Zwane claims “one of our

able to leverage different technologies

strengths is the fact that we have a

that are present throughout the world

large workforce of people that have

and try and collaborate with other

extensive training in forensic investi-

agencies with a similar role.”

gations and strong insight on how to navigate a web of activities that lead into corruption. 209

www.t e c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

210

DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION IN THE AUTOMOTIVE INDUSTRY

WRITTEN BY

GEORGIA WILSON PRODUCED BY

BEN MALTBY

NOVEMBER 2020

211

w w w.t e c hn o l o g y m a g a z in e . c o m

INTER CARS

MOMCHIL KOVACHEV, CHIEF DIGITAL OFFICER (CDO) AT INTER CARS, ON THE DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION IN THE AUTOMOTIVE INDUSTRY AND THE IMPACT OF COVID-19

oining the company in 2011, Momchil Kovachev is the Chief Digital Officer (CDO) at Inter Cars. “I graduated from

the German Faculty at the Technical University at Sofia, Bulgaria, which means that I have studied in both the Bulgarian and the German education system. For the engineering track, I have a diploma 212

from the Karlsruher Institut fur Technologie [KIT] and an MBA from the TU Braunschweig. Currently I am completing my executive MBA at Sheffield International College,” comments Kovachev. Since joining Inter Cars – an import and distribution organisation of parts, tires, accessories, professional tools and service equipment for vehicles – Kovachev has held several positions in Bulgaria as well as international positions before taking on the role he has now. When asked about the current trends in the industry, Kovachev explains that “as with so many industries, one of the hot topics at the moment in our sector is data. For the automotive aftermarket industry, the data produced by the vehicle itself, and by the person driving it, is providing

NOVEMBER 2020

213

w w w.t e c hn o l o g y m a g a z in e . c o m

INTER CARS

“ USE OF AND ACCESS TO VEHICLE AND DRIVING DATA FOR PREVENTATIVE MAINTENANCE AND EARLY PROBLEM DIAGNOSIS IS A LEADING TOPIC AT THE MOMENT”

greater insight into how that vehicle is performing. This use of data for preventative maintenance and early diagnosis is a leading topic currently. It allows companies to have the right stock when the vehicle enters the workshop so that it can be repaired as fast as possible, eliminating technical issues for the driver.” However, with the possession of more

Momchil Kovachev, Chief Digital Officer at Inter Cars

data comes the challenge of developing a legal framework for sharing and processing it. Kovachev reiterates his

214

belief that “this focus will shape the next

NOVEMBER 2020

Katalog Online CLICK TO WATCH

2:55

215 business models. This is a building block

recipient of the product that we are

for future, digitally enabled Mobility-as-a-

distributing. As a result, we work with

Service concepts.”

our partners and clients to develop

When it comes to driving innovation

business models that provide added

at Inter Cars, Kovachev explains that

value to all actors in the vertical – the

the company differentiates itself from

driver of the vehicle, the wokshop

its competition in the import and distri-

and the distribution partners. We are

bution industry of spare parts through

also experimenting in some markets

its wide portfolio of vehicle products,

with B2C solutions, where our main

fast logistics services, end mile deliv-

goal is to offer a complete service to

ery and good customer service.

the retail client, rather than just pur-

When looking to innovate within the modern era of digitalisation, Kovachev

chase of the parts, therefore we call this approach B2B2C.”

explains that “technology gives us the

“For Inter Cars, the company places

capability to drive more value for the

its focus on helping society maintain w w w.t e c hn o l o g y m a g a z in e . c o m

INTER CARS

216

the operation of its mobility solutions,

aspects of the company to digitise

providing continued stability of those

and automate its operations. â&#x20AC;&#x153;My role

services. With that in mind, we are con-

of joining the head office team was to

tinuously trying to optimise our hosting

design and deliver the third generation

solutions for our B2B ecommerce

of our fundamental B2B ecommerce

solution, leveraging the advantages

solution. When we were starting the

of a cloud hosting platform. However,

program, we identified several areas

to ensure business continuity, we are

where we needed to improve our

also combining this with hosting this

current operations, so that we could

platform ourselves forming a hybrid

deliver a leading solution. One was

hosting solution aimed at business

how we manage our product data. As

continuity for optimal operations cost.â&#x20AC;?

part of our operations we manage a

Inter Carsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; digital transformation

large portfolio of products and vehi-

strategy has been applied to several

cles, as well as their linkages, which

NOVEMBER 2020

can prove challenging. We decided

focused and precise access to data

that if we are to bring to the market a

that clients require.

new generation of ecommerce solu-

“Our B2B ecommerce catalog is

tions that act as a catalog for spare

a fundamental building block in our

parts for a given vehicle, we need to

operations, generating 99% of our

improve the way we manage our prod-

revenue,” comments Kovachev. “It is

uct data,” says Kovachev.

being used by our clients daily who

Inter Cars has also been working

are in need of spare parts so that they

on developing a single solution for its

can repair vehicles that are entering

B2B services and products, as well as

the workshops. On the flip side, that

launching a new program that affects

same platform is being used by our

the way it gives permission to access

sales operators when a mechanic

the B2B solution. This ensures that it

needs support to identify a spare part

meets GDPR regulations by providing

needed for a repair, then agreeing with

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

Momchil Kovachev Title: Chief Digital Officer Industry: Automotive

Location: Bulgaria

Over the last four years I have been leading the team delivering the largest B2B e-commerce platform in the Independent Automotive Aftermarket in CEE. This project was the flagship in the Digital Transformation program of the company aiming at unifying the business among the 18+ markets and all 10+ product segments. Together with the new integration architecture, new SSO & IAM platform and Product Information Management system upgrade, we laid the foundation for the future enterprise. w w w.t e c hn o l o g y m a g a z in e . c o m

217

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“ STRATEGIC ALLIANCES AND PARTNERSHIPS WITH PLAYERS IN THE INDUSTRY ARE A SIGNIFICANT ENABLER FOR OUR DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION” Momchil Kovachev, Chief Digital Officer at Inter Cars

owner – by improving the spare parts identification process workshops can provide a more transparent quote.” To successfully achieve its B2B program launches, Kovachev explains that, for the first time in its history, the company decided to build a solution on top of a ready made platform in house from scratch. “To develop the solution, we ran a tender where we invited all the industry leading e-commerce service providers in the world to participate. In the end we selected tools, platforms and soft-

the client the delivery method and the

ware houses to modify the platform

payment method before processing

according to our needs. After the proof

the order.

of concept phase, we selected SAP

“When designing our new e-cata-

Hybrid together with the Polish soft-

logue we conducted research in order

ware houses, e-point. Our colleagues

to optimise the user experience by

from Microsoft came on at a later

designing the processes in the appli-

stage where the platform was already

cation to be more streamlined and

in nine markets in central and Eastern

intuitive. With this new platform we

Europe. We selected their cloud host-

have been able to increase our service

ing solution, which we already used

quality by releasing time for our sales

for our previous version of our B2B

operators to serve those who really

commerce catalogue. Using these

need assistance, as well as providing

solutions we are focusing our cus-

a streamlined method and self service

tomisation efforts into the areas

capabilities. We have also been able to

where we have a competitive advan-

increase transparency for the vehicle

tage, therefore strategic alliances w w w.t e c hn o l o g y m a g a z in e . c o m

219

INTER CARS

220

“ OUR B2B ECOMMERCE CATALOG IS A FUNDAMENTAL BUILDING BLOCK IN OUR OPERATIONS, GENERATING 99% OF OUR REVENUE - EITHER BY THE CLIENTS DIRECTLY OR BY OUR SALES OPERATORS SERVING THE CLIENTS” Momchil Kovachev, Chief Digital Officer at Inter Cars

NOVEMBER 2020

and partnerships with players in the industry are a significant enabler for our digital transformation.â&#x20AC;? Considering the future use of technology in the automotive industry, Kovachev is keen to see an increase in the use of augmented reality. â&#x20AC;&#x153;From one perspective, the complexity of repairs is increasing continuously, and I believe guided repairs with the support of augmented reality would be a very interesting use case of the technology. For example, if a mechanic in a given workshop is receiving a repair for a car that he doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have experience with, in our B2B e-commerce catalog this person could read how to perform the repair. However, I believe the use of augmented reality could bring this information directly to the mechanic while looking at the vehicle, pinpointing exactly what needs to be done. This would be a very interesting use case of this technology in our industry. Additionally, a topic that is really inspiring me personally is the shared economy. I believe this is something that we as society have to address in w w w.t e c hn o l o g y m a g a z in e . c o m

221

INTER CARS

“ DUE TO THE FACT THAT WE OPERATE IN 18 MARKETS IT IS HELPING US TO BALANCE BETWEEN THE IMPACT OF COVID-19 IN DIFFERENT MARKETS AND EXCHANGE GOOD PRACTICES” 222

Momchil Kovachev, Chief Digital Officer at Inter Cars

order to move forward because of all

businesses have remained open and

the environmental and sustainability

while some of our clients have closed

challenges that we’re facing.”

due to government regulations, many

As an engineer, Kovachev strongly

have also remained open in order to

believes in technology, “for me, it is the

sustain this mobility. In recent months

driver of progress in our society over

we have seen an increase in personal

the last decades. However, technology

transportation compared to using

has to be wisely used.”

public transport which has had a posi-

Reflecting on the current impact of

tive effect on the spare parts industry.

COVID-19, Kovachev says “the situa-

However, in the long term, we can see

tion has touched all industries. Luckily

that investments in new vehicles are

for us, the mobility industry is consid-

going to stagnate and therefore from

ered fundamental so that our society

my perspective vehicle manufacturers

can operate. As a result, many of our

are going to face challenges when it

NOVEMBER 2020

223

comes to aging car parts that are not

needed and therefore, personal mobil-

going to be renewed with the same

ity needs to be preserved.”

rhythm that it was a few months ago.”

Towards the end of 2019, Kovachev

When it comes to technology, “I can

explains that Inter Cars’ warehouses

speak of my private experience. Prior to

were quite full, “which helped us to

COVID-19, I flew from Sofia to Warsaw

make it through the disrupted period

at least once a month. However, due to

for supply chains with minimal inter-

the situation over the last three months,

ruptions.” In addition, “due the fact that

this was not the case. We still continue

we operate in 18 markets it is helping

to do business and we still continue to

us to balance between the impact of

collaborate, thanks to video confer-

COVID-19 in different markets.”

ences and collaboration platforms offered by the software companies. Still for me, human interaction will be w w w.t e c hn o l o g y m a g a z in e . c o m

224

WRITTEN BY

GEORGIA WILSON PRODUCED BY

GLEN WHITE NOVEMBER 2020

225

SiteOneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Strategy Driven by CX and Operational Efficiency www.t e c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

SITEONE

Sean Kramer, Chief Information Officer (CIO) at SiteOne Landscape Supply on the company’s approach to digitalisation, industry trends and COVID-19

ean Kramer, Chief Information Officer (CIO) at SiteOne Landscape Supply, started his career at the company in 2014.

“I have been with the company for six years. I joined 226

the company when it was John Deere Landscapes. John Deere Landscapes was sold to a private equity firm in 2013. As part of the transaction the company needed to rebrand, and so SiteOne Landscape Supply was officially established in 2015. Today, we are a publicly traded company with a billion dollars in revenue and 550 locations.” Prior to his career at SiteOne Landscape Supply, Kramer worked for eight years at Fiat Chrysler (FCA) supporting the company’s public websites and its technology infrastructure. After leaving FCA, Kramer joined Volkswagen Group of America, where he worked for six years supporting enterprise applications, internal software systems, infrastructure and operations.

NOVEMBER 2020

227

“It is very important that we keep our customers and associates as safe as possible” — Sean Kramer, Chief Information Officer (CIO), SiteOne Landscape Supply

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SITEONE’S APPROACH TO DIGITAL INNOVATION AND TRANSFORMATION

rience and operational excellence

When it comes to digital innovation

in the branch and how we achieve

and transformation, Kramer says

those,” says Kramer. “First and

the company’s core focuses include

foremost it’s safety, especially in the

customer experience, operational

current climate, and ensuring that

excellence, systems efficiency

we have the inventory on hand that

and security.

the customers need.”

“The first is around customer expe-

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

Sean Kramer Title: CIO Company: SiteOne Industry: Wholesale Distribution

Location: Atlanta Metropolitan

Sean Kramer began his career at SiteOne Landscape Supply in 2014 and is the current Chief Information Officer (CIO). From a technology perspective, Kramer explains that the landscape industry has been a unique challenge. “When I joined, I came from the automotive industry where the technology was more prominent. They had technology in vehicles and online experiences for several years. At the time I joined SiteOne, the technology in place was to support the back office. Almost all the ways of interfacing with a customer was coming into the branch, looking at the products and buying while in the branch. We didn’t have any customer facing technology that we used to interact with customers regularly. But the industry is changing, customers are looking for new ways to interact with the wholesale distributor.

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SITEONE

Kramer adds that when it comes to

“it’s about how we can use technology

digital innovation and transformation,

to achieve this. We have developed a

“it’s about how we can use technology

new mobile point of sale application

to achieve this. We have developed a

with our partner Stratix. Recently, this

new application called Mobile Pro – a

application has been vital in maintain-

mobile point of sale – with our part-

ing social distancing. With our new

ner Stratix. Recently, this application

mobile point of sale, customers arrive

has been vital in maintaining social

at our branches and our associates

distancing. Customers work with our

can greet them as they pull up. Our

associates to place their orders via

SiteOne associates can open an order

Mobile Pro and wait in their vehicle for

on this system, adding the products

an associate to bring them their order.”

they need, pull the order and send the

Kramer adds that when it comes to 230

digital innovation and transformation,

customer on their way to the job. It’s done safely and efficiently.” While this application has been a vital tool for the company, Kramer explains that the company still has plans to improve it further. “While the application has several enhancements planned for future use, it has played a vital role in keeping our associates safe,” he says. In addition to mobile point of sale, the company also has plans in the pipeline for siteone.com. Kramer says they will look to continue to evolve and develop the system to make it easier to search for products and place an order online, as well as develop a recommendation engine

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$2.4b+ Revenue in US dollars

4,600 Number of employees

for customers based on their location and purchase history. “We also want to make the system easier to transact online, especially for our customer’s back-office processes through enabling them to pay their bills online seamlessly and with clear visibility over their transaction history,” he adds. In addition to customer experience and its mobile application, SiteOne Landscape Supply is looking to further improve its systems efficiency, operations and security. www.t e c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

SITEONE

SiteOne Online CLICK TO WATCH

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232 “We continuously work on developing internal security training programs and increasing the technology footprint to stay ahead of the threats that are out there in the market,” states Kramer. “But we are also trying to make it easier for our suppliers to do business with us. Here at SiteOne, we want to be the distributor of choice for all the suppliers in the landscape industry. Right now, our team is working to introduce new solutions, such as ramping up robotic process automation (RPA), enhancing our optical character recognition (OCR) and NOVEMBER 2020

“ We have developed a new mobile point of sale application called Mobile Pro. In the recent climate, this application has been vital to adhering to social distancing guidelines” — Sean Kramer, Chief Information Officer (CIO), SiteOne Landscape Supply

launching a vendor portal. The aim of these initiatives is to increase the efficiency and transparency of doing business with SiteOne.” When working to drive such innovation and transformation in an organization, Kramer explains the importance of having the right culture in order to be successful. “It’s very important,” he states. “The team of leaders that we have bring experience implementing these types of new solutions from their experience in other organizations and know the potential pitfalls and successes. I believe that the culture they bring to our company has been critical for us to support our growing business. My leadership team consistently goes above and beyond.” Historically, Kramer highlights that technology is starting to take a foothold in the landscape industry. “We see more and more customers use technology to run their business and SiteOne is working to offer a constantly improving customer experience. Technology is at the core of that. In the last few years we have seen technology usage from our customers www.t e c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

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SITEONE

“ Most of my team has been at the company for a few years, and we have the right leaders in place to keep an eye on innovations” — Sean Kramer, Chief Information Officer (CIO), SiteOne Landscape Supply

YOU’RE A PART OF THE TEAM EVEN WHEN YOU’RE APART FUZE PUTS YOU IN THE ROOM

fuze.com

with product needs, replacements and recommendations,” says Kramer. “We evaluate the line of business they operate within and geographic location closely to better understand how we can continue to help our customers grow in the industry.” Kramer explains that the team values and philosophy is a key to the success of his technology group. “We take pride in our company culture. We are very collaborative, conduct our operations with high integrity, and are very humble. As we continue to grow our team, it’s important that new team members we ramp up quite a bit. With our technology know-how and our team of innovators,

bring on share the same vision.” In addition to working with Stratix for

I think we can offer new solutions that

its Mobile mobile point of sale applica-

can help our customers. We are reach-

tion, SiteOne is collaborating with Fuze

ing out and collaborating with many

and V2 Soft. “Fuze is currently the phone

different companies in the technology

system for all of our branches, while V2

space to make this possible and dis-

Soft helped us to redesign our support

cuss the changes in the industry.”

platform for our project services appli-

Over the years, SiteOne has

cation. This system is used to help our

become an analytical company, put-

customers submit a design and take-off

ting more emphasis on understanding

of materials for a job they are bidding.

market trends. “As we continue to

V2Soft has also helped as we have

grow, we look at our customers by

grown our QA service offering.”

their specialty so that we can better understand how to support them www.t e c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

235

DIGITALLY-ENABLED PATIENT CARE 236 WRITTEN BY

HARRY MENEAR PRODUCED BY

MIKE SADR

NOVEMBER 2020

237

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LEGACY COMMUNITY HEALTH

ROBERT TENNANT, CIO OF LEGACY COMMUNITY HEALTH, TALKS LEADERSHIP AND THE DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION OF PATIENT CARE DURING THE COVID-19 CRISIS AND BEYOND

2020

has been a year of unprecedented challenges to healthcare providers across the globe.

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected more than 38 million people around the world, with more than 7.8 million cases in the US alone. As US healthcare companies strive to cope with the monumental task 238

of providing care during this crisis, as well as continue to support existing patients, many are turning to technology in order to digitally transform their operations. The new capabilities offered by Industry 4.0 are allowing for generational advances in the fields of telemedicine and remote care, as well as providing powerful new organizational capabilities that are revolutionizing the relationship between healthcare providers and their patients. â&#x20AC;&#x153;This year has been really challenging. We had a lot of projects on our plate coming into the COVID-19 crisis in March, and then the crisis demanded we quickly shift priorities to remote patient care and working from home,â&#x20AC;? says Robert Tennant, Chief Information Officer (CIO) at Legacy, a full-service network of community health clinics offering primary and specialty

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LEGACY COMMUNITY HEALTH

“ THIS YEAR HAS BEEN REALLY CHALLENGING. WE HAD A LOT OF PROJECTS ON OUR PLATE COMING INTO THE COVID-19 CRISIS IN MARCH, AND THEN THE CRISIS DEMANDED WE QUICKLY SHIFT PRIORITIES TO REMOTE PATIENT CARE AND WORKING FROM HOME” patients it serves throughout the Gulf — Robert Tennant, CIO, Legacy Community Health,

Coast region. We sat down with him to learn more about harnessing digital transformation to support Legacy’s

care in the Texas Gulf Coast region.

operations, and how to create a cus-

Tennant, who joined Legacy in August

tomer service-facing culture during

of 2019, has been at the forefront of the

the COVID-19 crisis and beyond.

organization’s efforts to adapt, react 240

When the COVID-19 crisis hit the

and overcome the challenges, both of

United States in March of this year,

a global pandemic and of delivering

Legacy, like many other providers in the

quality healthcare to the underserved

industry, was almost entirely focused on in-person medical care. “Our first concern was figuring out how we were going to continue to deliver the care that patients need,” Tennant explains. “It was obvious that the first thing we needed to roll out was a telehealth

NOVEMBER 2020

Legacy Community Health - Principles of Leadership CLICK TO WATCH

1:36

241 solution, which we did in record time. We signed a contract with a vendor on a Friday and were treating patients remotely the following Wednesday.” Tennant adds that he’s particularly proud of the speed with which Legacy transitioned to providing telehealth services to a patient base suddenly thrown into lockdown. “We went from just a few telehealth visits to about 3,000 per week in the span of three weeks. It was an incredible effort by my team and other teams throughout Legacy. The crisis gave us focus and we accomplished

1978

Year founded

$186mn+ Revenue in US dollars

1,000+ Number of employees

a lot in a very short amount of time.” www.t e c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

Make work life as great as real life Meet the expectations of todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s modern workforce by using intuitive, intelligent technology and automated workflows to deliver digital experiences that connect departments and help people do their best work. SIGN UP NOW

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

Robert Tennant Title: Chief Information Officer

Industry: Healthcare

Location: Houston, Texas Robert Tennant earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Ambassador University. In 1993, Tennant started an IT services company focused on IT networking and custom software development. He sold the company in 1999 and spent time traveling before moving on to a new IT venture at the onset of the new millennium. In 2000, he founded another IT services company, this time focusing on health care advisory and IT services. He stood at the helm until selling in 2009, at which time he joined a national consulting firm focused on leading healthcare provider organizations into Value-Based Care (VBC), delivery. Over the years following, Tennant held various healthcare IT consulting leadership roles, including time as an Executive Heath Care Consultant and VP of Value-Based Care. The focus on VBC, Tennant says, comes from a strong foundation of customer service along with a belief that health care organizations should anticipate and listen to consumersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; needs while measuring success by their ability to deliver the best health outcomes at the lowest possible cost. Tennant has worked as a consultant for Legacy since 2014, and officially came on board with the organization in 2019.

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LEGACY COMMUNITY HEALTH

“ WE WENT FROM JUST A FEW TELEHEALTH VISITS TO ABOUT 3,000 PER WEEK IN THE SPAN OF THREE WEEKS” — Robert Tennant, CIO, Legacy Community Health, 244

Legacy Community Health - Working with Financial Stakeholders CLICK TO WATCH

NOVEMBER 2020

2:55

Today, Legacy’s Behavioral Health Service Line is delivering 91% more telehealth appointments than preCOVID-19. “Virtual visits have drastically changed the way members of our community receive health care. Whereas virtual visits were previously reserved for those with private insurance that approved this option, now anyone can get the care they need from the comfort of their home,” commented Katy Caldwell, Legacy’s CEO, in May. Near the beginning of lockdown, Legacy also opened a virtual pediatric clinic to deliver care to minors in need of physical and/or mental health services. In tandem with a customer base that

In order to connect Legacy’s custom-

was suddenly unable to visit Legacy’s

ers with its healthcare professionals,

clinics and sites, the organization also

Tennant and his team have increased

had to adapt to its own staff’s transi-

their efforts to digitally enable the organi-

tion to a remote working model. “It was

zation’s customer-facing experience.

kind of the perfect storm,” he recalls.

“A lot of our innovations are customer-

“We made a big push towards working

facing. We’re working to build out what

from home which was something we

I call a digital patient engagement

had not done before. Again, within just

strategy – or a digital front door – for our

a few weeks, we managed to make a

patients, so they can take advantage

180-degree shift to enable a significant

of services from Legacy without having

number of people to work from home

to come into a clinic or site,” Tennant

and, in the case of many of our providers,

explains. “Its development has only been

to provide care remotely.”

accelerated by the COVID-19 outbreak. www.t e c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

245

LEGACY COMMUNITY HEALTH

P E D I A T R I C M EN T AL HEALT H CARE

246

The global pandemic has been hard on everyone. However, it’s been found than children and young adults in particular are bearing the brunt of its effects on mental health. A recent study found that, in the US, 7.1% of children between the ages of 3 and 17 are currently living with an anxiety diagnosis, and a further 3.2% are struggling with clinical depression. According to Roxane Cohen Silver, a social psychologist at UC Irvine, the elevated levels of stress following national crises can have long-lasting detrimental effects on the mental health of an entire generation. Now, she added in an interview with TIME, we can expect to see the coronavirus pandemic contribute to an even greater spike in mental health issues than following the September 11 attacks in 2001. “This is a difficult time for everyone, and that includes children,” said Dr. Melanie Melville, Medical Director of the Behavioral Health Service Line at Legacy in March of this year. “As we turn to social distancing to quell the spread of this unprecedented NOVEMBER 2020

virus, we at Legacy want to proactively work to ensure that our most vulnerable populations have continued access to equitable care – including behavioral health care for children.” Since the early days of the US’ Stay Home Order, Legacy has offered remote pediatric appointments to children up to the age of 17, including therapy appointments to assist pediatric patients with anxiety, depression, and behavioral problems. “The crux of our school-based health care program has always been to keep students healthy and relieve the burden of a clinic visit from the parents’ shoulders,” says Dr. Teandra Gordon, the Clinical Director of School Based Behavioral Health program at Legacy. “By now offering these services via telehealth while students don’t have access to their campus clinics, our goal is to continue that warm-hug feeling of wrap-around care that the students – and parents – have come to know and trust from Legacy.”

Legacy Community Health - Cultural Initiative CLICK TO WATCH

1:29

247 We want patients to be anywhere and

processes from Legacy’s caregivers and

be able to pick up their mobile device and

support staff. Both internally and exter-

self-schedule an appointment with us,

nally, Tennant and the Legacy team are

arrange a telehealth visit, pay a bill, digi-

engaging with technological innovation

tally sign a document, etc. We’re working

in the healthcare sector and beyond, in

diligently to digitally enable our patient

order to better harness the Industry 4.0

engagement offerings.”

developments in service of their unique

Internally, Tennant has also been

healthcare model.

working to increasingly automate and integrate the organization’s back-end systems. “We’re looking at how to create a similar digital strategy to better serve our employees,” he explains, adding that their ongoing project is dedicated to alleviating the burden of manual

“ WE’RE WORKING DILIGENTLY TO DIGITALLY ENABLE OUR PATIENT ENGAGEMENT OFFERINGS” — Robert Tennant, CIO, Legacy Community Health, www.t e c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

LEGACY COMMUNITY HEALTH

“We’re not a hospital or a healthcare system; we’re a community health provider. We serve the underserved and we function very differently than a lot of other organizations in our industry. Culturally, I think we’re very unique and extraordinary in a lot of ways,” says Tennant. “We do look at what other people are doing, but we’re very entrepreneurial and agile as an organization. We do a lot of self-inquiry as a business and ask ourselves what we, our customers and our patients need,

ServiceNow Global Elite Partner of the Year ®

249

“ VIRTUAL VISITS HAVE DRASTICALLY CHANGED THE WAY MEMBERS OF OUR COMMUNITY RECEIVE HEALTH CARE” — Robert Tennant, CIO, Legacy Community Health,

to feel like their work is meaningful. I want them to feel safe. I want them to feel like they can make suggestions and be confident that they’ll be heard. And I want them to be able to go home at the end of the day and separate themselves from work. I want these things for everybody, including myself,” he says, stressing that, “If we don’t get the customer service element right,

and how best we can serve those

it’s going to undermine every other

needs with technology.”

aspect of the culture that we’re trying

Both during and beyond the pandemic,

to create.”

Tennant notes that his number-one initiative is the creation of a culture of customer service. “I want my team www.t e c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

250

Transforming in the Data Center Industry WRITTEN BY

SEAN GALEA-PACE PRODUCED BY

LEWIS VAUGHAN

NOVEMBER 2020

251

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NAUTILUS

James Connaughton, Nautilus CEO, discusses how his firm is revolutionising the data center industry

autilus Data Technologies is a global pioneer in water-cooled data centers and is leading a global transformation to ultra-

efficient, high-performance and environmentally sustainable operations in the data center sector. James Connaughton is the CEO at Nautilus. Having joined the organisation in March 2016, he 252

has overseen the implementation of the world’s first water-cooled and water-borne data center with Nautilus. “There are two essential features,” explains Connaughton. “The first and most important feature is cooling with naturally cold water, which is how all other major infrastructure sectors address the large amounts of heat generated by their systems. These include, for example, thermal power plants, ships, industrial processing facilities, and paper mills. Only data centers, generate heat at a similar industrial scale, still use massive and unsustainable air-cooling systems. The second feature is mobility--the ability to prefabricate the data center in large modules, and either assemble them onto a barge and deliver it fully ready to go, or transport the modules to

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NAUTILUS

254

a prepared site for rapid assembly.

that sustains and enriches the lives

Placing essential infrastructure on

of people around the world. “Data

barges—such as energy barges and

centers now stand alongside power

water treatment barges--is a well-

generation, drinking-water plants,

established model for enabling rapid

waste-water plants, roads and other

and flexible access to such infrastruc-

critical infrastructure that allows

ture in fast growing and emerging

society to function and create good

markets. The opportunity and need is

outcomes for people,” he explains.

equally strong today when it comes to

“Access to the water molecule and

providing access to digital infrastruc-

the electron has long been vitally

ture to those who currently lack it.”

important. Worldwide access to the

Connaughton believes data centers

photon for data delivery is the next

are the newest and most important

essential piece.” Over the past two

component of critical infrastructure

years, Connaughton has overseen

NOVEMBER 2020

“ Data centers are the newest and most essential piece of critical infrastructure for the world” — James Connaughton, CEO, Nautilus

the development of the company’s first full-scale commercial facility, which provides six megawatts of water-cooled data center capacity on a barge. He strives for an innovative approach across all his operations. “We’ve been on the arc of creative invention and cleverly practical engineering to make that a reality,” says Connaughton. “The first part of our

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

James Connaughton

255

Title: CEO

Company: Nautilus

Industry: Data Centre

Location: San Francisco Bay

James Connaughton is the CEO at Nautilus. Having joined the organisation in March 2016, he has overseen the implementation of the world’s first water-cooled and water-borne data center with Nautilus. He began his career as a Partner at Sidley Austin focusing on energy, natural resources and environment, energy and environmental management and compliance assurance systems. He then moved on to serve as Chairman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality as Senior Advisor to President George W. Bush. Roles followed at clean energy companies Constellation Energy and Exelon, and big data analytics company C3.ai, before moving into his current role at Nautilus.

www.t e c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

NAUTILUS

“ We’ve been on the arc of innovation and invention and engineering to make a high performing and environmentally sustainable data centre a reality” 256

— James Connaughton, CEO, Nautilus

NOVEMBER 2020

company’s life has focused on building a functional prototype, and then using that experience to make the thousands of decisions of what not to do against the several hundred decisions of what to do in bringing a full scale facility into being. We’re really excited to be commissioning that data center in California in just a few weeks time.” Nautilus is planning to develop facilities in North America, Europe and Asia, and has been contacted by potential partners to pursue projects in the Middle East, Africa,

Nautilus Data Technologies | Water-cooled Data Centre CLICK TO WATCH

0:41

257 and South America. “Once our data

Connaughton explains that a key

center in Northern California is up

part of his organisation’s development

and running, we look forward to

has been to develop the supply chain

onboarding a great set of anchor cus-

partnerships with companies such

tomers,” says Connaughton. “We will

as Usystems, Schneider, Vertiv, and

show the world the ultra-efficiency,

George Fischer, among others. “Our

high-performance, and the strong

objective is to work with partners that

sustainability of our approach. After

can help us make this technology

that, we are ready to rapidly move into

available globally,” he says. “These

other locations to “productize” the

partnerships are important because,

technology and we look forward to

as customers, communities, and

partnering through joint ventures and

digital infrastructure providers become

technology licensing so that we can

excited about taking advantage of

get this important technology out into

our technology, we don’t want to lose

the world as quickly as possible.”

ground in being able to deliver it. In order www.t e c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

Systems

www.usystems.com

Future prooﬁng data centers with advanced, sustainable and energy saving coldlogik cooling technology Low to high density cooling ‘in one solution’.

All Aboard!! USystems are proud to be an integral part of the Nautilus journey incorporating ColdLogik adaptive intelligence into the ‘TRUE ’ green data center solution. A shared vision leading with innovation, high-performance and sustainability. TM

“ In order to support an innovation company like ours, partners must field tiger teams that know how to interact with startups and other smaller technology innovators like us” — James Connaughton, CEO, Nautilus

to support an innovation company like ours, partners must field tiger teams that know how to interact with startups and other smaller technology innovators like us. And these teams need to have the creativity and agility to adapt as the innovation advances. We’ve come a long way in just three years, and there is a lot more to come. Our partners need to keep pace with us.” With the future in mind, Connaughton believes that the data center industry is moving rapidly to where the users are in order to

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260

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NOVEMBER 2020

263

provide the more powerful computing

highways, railroads, airports, ports,

and faster connections necessary

and even overnight package delivery.

for smart-city, smart-transportation,

To these we will now add warehouses

smart grid, tele-medicine and other

of computers, countless miles of

highly valuable digital applications

fiber optics, and an endless array of

and services. “This means high-per-

wireless devices linking everyone to

formance data centers in the centre

everything digital. We need to make

of every population center,” he says.

sure that the environmental footprint

“We’ve seen this dynamic before with

of the data centers at the heart of all

the buildout of other forms of public

of this well serves both society and the

and private infrastructure—such as

planet. It’s very exciting.”

electricity and gas delivery, public water systems, telecommunications, www.t e c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

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Customerfocused Digital Transformation NOVEMBER 2020

265

WRITTEN BY

WILLIAM SMITH PRODUCED BY

MIKE SADR www.t e c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

ALTAR’D STATE

Ty Tastepe, Chief Information and Digital Officer at fashion retailer Altar’d State, on digital transformation and its response to COVID-19

y Tastepe is Chief Information and Digital Officer at Altar’d State, a fast-growing women’s fashion retailer, which sees

him leading its technology and digital teams. “We have three brands,” explains Tastepe. “We have A’Beautiful Soul, our plus size brand and Vow’d, our 266

recently launched weddings brand, as well as the flagship Altar’d State brand.” Tastepe emphasizes the fact that the company likes to do things differently from its competitors. “We’re very focused on giving back to the community, exceeding our guest expectations at every touch point, doing the right thing and being willing to challenge established notions in the retail industry.” Tastepe came to the role as an experienced technology leader having worked at Universal, Hilton and Disney to deliver innovative technologies around the globe. “Altar’d State gave me the opportunity to make an impact in the digital transformation of the organisation, as we focused on balancing our physical and digital portfolio and providing our guests the choice of platforms to engage with us.” NOVEMBER 2020

267

2009

Year founded

2,400 Number of employees

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ALTAR’D STATE

268

“ We’re very focused on giving back to the community” — Ty Tastepe, Chief Information and Digital Officer, Altar’d State His approach to leadership has

a picture of the destination and really communicate the role of each team member on that journey,” says Tastepe. “Seeking a diversity of ideas and experiences, listening to input from partners both inside and outside the organization, staying positive and maintaining a can-do attitude, learning from failures, moving forward quickly and celebrat-

been solidified by the challenging

ing successes are really essential in

times caused by the ongoing COVID-

achieving the company’s goals.”

19 pandemic, which he believes made it

The company’s approach to

necessary to move more quickly on all

implementing new technology is

fronts. “I believe that to be an effective

guided by a clear strategy. “We have

leader one needs to be able to paint

looked at the digital transformation in

NOVEMBER 2020

two ways. One is a set of technologies

explains. “We are starting to leverage

to enable our associates to reduce

AI in some places. For instance, we use

friction in their lives and to help them

technologies on our website to recom-

serve our guests better. And the sec-

mend products based on our customer

ond is another set of technologies that

history and choices. We are continuing

help us know our guests better and

to identify many more opportunities to

enable them to engage with us any-

leverage tools that help us make better

time and anywhere.”

decisions, AI being one of them.”

One such group of technologies is artificial intelligence, as Tastepe

It is data that is at the heart of the company’s decision making. “Frankly

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

Ty Tastepe

269

Title: Chief Information and Digital Officer Company: Altar’d State Industry: Retail Location: Maryville, TN, USA Ty Tastepe serves as the Chief Information and Digital Officer for Altar’d State, and leads technology and digital teams to deliver exceptional digital experiences for guests and associates. Prior to Altar’d State, Ty spent almost two decades delivering large scale digital transformation programs at global entertainment and hospitality brands including Universal Parks and Resorts, Hilton Worldwide and Walt Disney Parks and Resorts. He earned an MBA from Villanova University and received both a Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Electrical Engineering from Drexel University.

www.t e c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

ALTAR’D STATE

the better we know our guests and the

provide the right tools to our asso-

more we are informed about what is

ciates so that they welcome the

happening in our business, the better

change and can help our guests. This

we can make adjustments and improve

is an area we can always do better

our business,” says Tastepe. “We look

in and it’s something I think about a

at hourly, daily and weekly metrics

lot. But I am impressed with how our

across many fronts to help our leaders

associates have responded to the

make decisions as quickly as possible.”

introduction of new technologies.

Tastepe is clear that such technolo-

Although we’ve seen that can-do atti-

gies cannot be implemented without

tude in every corner of our business,

first being aware of how changes in

it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t focus on

technology might impact associates

change management, communication

and customers. “It’s important to

and training.”

270

NOVEMBER 2020

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3:57

271

“ We look at hourly, daily and weekly metrics across many fronts to help our leaders make decisions” — Ty Tastepe, Chief Information and Digital Officer, Altar’d State

extensive evaluation process. The things we liked about them include their ability to combine customer

Altar’d State’s transformation has

data management, segmentation,

been enabled with the support of a

orchestration, and analytics. We

number of key technology and ser-

recently deployed the solution into

vice providers, both large household

production and we are continuing to

names and emerging companies.

learn and evolve our use of the tech-

One such partner is Exponea. “We

nology. That’ll teach us a lot more

selected Exponea as our customer

about our customers and how we

data platform provider after an

engage with them.” www.t e c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

ALTARâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;D STATE

“ I am impressed with how our associates have responded to the introduction of new technologies” — Ty Tastepe, Chief Information and Digital Officer, Altar’d State experience across all touchpoints. “That includes both our direct channels and third party channels. We’re deploying technologies to provide sinThe ongoing COVID-19 pandemic

gle visibility to our inventory in a near

has led to changes in customer behav-

real-time mode and manage orders

iour which Altar’d State is responding

across the ecosystem, both direct

to. “We’re emphasizing our digital

and indirect channels. That enables

investments but we’re continuing to

us to offer capabilities like buy online,

invest in our stores as well. We care

pickup in store.”

very much about the experience we

Such innovations stand the com-

provide to our guests in our stores,

pany in good stead to thrive in the new

and that will continue to be a key

normal, leaving Tastepe to conclude

component of our strategy. So it’s

that the future is bright for Altar’d

a balancing act between our digital

State. “We weathered the storm as

and physical presence.” That balanc-

well as can be expected and even

ing act dovetails with the company’s

launched our wedding brand in the

strategy to be present wherever its

middle of the year during the pan-

guests shop, to provide a seamless

demic. We will continue to listen to www.t e c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

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ALTARâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;D STATE

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NOVEMBER 2020

“ We will continue to listen to our guests and constantly adjust to shifting purchase patterns and evolving conditions” — Ty Tastepe, Chief Information and Digital Officer, Altar’d State our guests and constantly adjust to shifting purchase patterns and evolving conditions. The keys to success in such an environment are resilience, persistence, responsiveness, and ultimately taking care of our guests and associates. With those pillars in mind, we will continue to grow our business into the future.”

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276

Netskop the powe cyberse

NOVEMBER 2020

pe and er of SASE ecurity WRITTEN BY

HARRY MENEAR PRODUCED BY

KRIS PALMER

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277

NETSKOPE

David Fairman, CSO APAC for Netskope, discusses the company’s powerful, cloudnative cybersecurity solutions

he global cybersecurity industry is undergoing a radical transformation. As enterprise network architectures move

steadily away from centralised infrastructure-based solutions and towards the cloud, cybersecurity teams are being presented with a completely differ278

ent landscape. A significant number of legacy firms are struggling to achieve the same level of cyber defence in these cloud-native environments. “Traditionally, cybersecurity was very on-premises and control based. You’d pivot and run your users, transactions and data through your network to be inspected and controlled through your stack. In a cloud-based environment, that on-prem approach doesn’t work anymore,” explains David Fairman, Chief Security Officer (CSO) APAC at Netskope. Founded in 2012, Netskope has spent the past decade becoming a trailblazing innovator and industry leader in the cloud security space. “We’re a cloud-native data protection and data security platform. Period,” says Fairman. “We’re the only pure play, cloud native secure access service edge (SASE - pronounced “sassy”) platform in the NOVEMBER 2020

279

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NETSKOPE

“We’re the only pure play, cloud-native SASE platform in the industry” — David Fairman, CISO, Netskope

industry. SASE is a services-oriented approach that allows full data protection, next-gen secure web gateway, zero-trust, cloud security policy management and CASB, ‘all-in-one’ platform, through one single pane of glass with one policy engine.” Fairman joined Netskope as CSO APAC in June 2020, after more than a decade overseeing the cybersecurity functions of some of the world’s biggest banks. Now, he explains, he’s looking to broaden his horizons and

280

work to continually build a product he believes in, made by a “vendor that’s solving real problems and making security operations teams’ jobs easier.” We spoke with Fairman to find out more about Netskope’s unique, powerful and cloud-native cybersecurity offerings, and how the company’s Cloud XD technology helps customers eliminate blindspots, achieve deep visibility and granular control over their data.

THE JOURNEY TO CLOUD Over the past decade, the importance of data collection, management and security has become paramount to the success of the modern enterprise. NOVEMBER 2020

As more and more enterprises turn

distributed edge networks, with legacy

to the public and hybrid cloud as the

players left unsure where the enter-

place to store their data, the nature

prise ends and the network begins.

of a cybersecurity function has

“When an organisation is progress-

shifted dramatically.

ing on its digital transformation

The traditional approach to cyber-

journey, what’s happening now is that

security, involving on-premises IT

traditional security teams are start-

devices and a strong firewall with sim-

ing to come up against blind spots,

ple “block vs allow” permissions, has

because they’re not necessarily

been replaced by sprawling cloud and

seeing the complete picture of cloud

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

David Fairman

281

Title: CSO APAC

Company: Netskope

Industry: Cybersecurity

Location: Melbourne, Australia

David Fairman is a highly-experienced professional and academic in the security and financial crime disciplines, working and consulting for several large financial institutions and Fortune 500 companies across APAC, North America, the UK, and EU. He most recently served in CSO roles for both the National Australia Bank and Royal Bank of Canada. He previously held leadership positions at JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Royal Bank of Scotland, and also served as an adjunct professor at New York University, University of Toronto, and Deakin University. Fairman is a passionate leader and actively involved in founding industry alliances and expert groups such as the Canadian Cyber Threat Exchange, and holds several board advisory roles including Digital Shadows, ClearSky, and Glilot Capital Partners.

www.t e c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

NETSKOPE

native traffic,” Fairman explains. He

cybersecurity architectures holds a

adds that the modern security team

great deal of promise for making com-

has to focus on removing those blind

panies not only more secure, but more

spots in order to find a way to embrace

flexible and transparent. “The ways

the cloud without compromising secu-

we used to control activity, users and

rity. “That’s one of the benefits that

data don’t necessarily apply now,” he

Netskope brings to the table. We’re

says. “The traditional ways of thinking

able to remove those blind spots and

about cybersecurity architecture in

give full visibility into the cloud.”

the industry need to transform.”

Fairman continues, adding that the security practitioners don’t neces-

CLOUD XD: UNLOCKING THE POWER OF SASE

sarily apply in the world of cloud, but

The SASE approach to cybersecurity

that the move away from traditional

combines intelligent data analysis

methods of thinking used by traditional

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NOVEMBER 2020

Reimagine Your Perimeter CLICK TO WATCH

1:46

283 and threat detection technology with

powerful security solution over the

powerful, micro-segmented, granular

past decade, with hyper-specific

permission control. “I like to think of

instance awareness at its heart, all

us as the inspection and the policy

driven by Cloud XD.

enforcement point between the iden-

“Cloud XD is the engine of the

tity - whether that’s a machine or a user

Netskope platform,” enthuses Fairman.

- and the data,” Fairman explains. “That

“It’s what enables instance aware-

inspection point allows us to apply fine

ness, which is our key differentiator.”

grain control and access between a

Instance awareness empowers

company’s most vital asset - its data

Netskope users with an unrivalled level

- and places where it’s used, manipu-

of granular visibility into their network’s

lated and transferred.”

users, devices, applications and activity

Netskope’s position as a cloudnative company has led to the development of a truly modern, highly

- both in the cloud and on the web. “We can differentiate if an end user is going to a corporate instance of a www.t e c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

In a world of change, rely on Verizon. Verizon can scale with your tech needs and provide secure tools for remote collaboration and operation. enterprise.verizon.com/en-au

“The traditional ways of thinking about cybersecurity architecture in the industry need to transform” — David Fairman, CISO, Netskope

can differentiate between them, as well as drill in and identify the commands that I’m making in those different instances. Netskope could then enable me to have full privileges on my corporate instance of the app, but only be able to read on my personal instance.” The result, he explains, is that “the days of ‘Block or Allow’ are over”. With Netskope able to decode APIs

cloud-based application. Let’s say I’m

and JSON, it can give its users a much

going from my corporate account to my

finer, more granular level of control

corporate instance of an app,” poses

over their network edge. Fairman

Fairman. “If I try to then access my per-

adds that, “the policy enforcement

sonal instance of that app, Netskope

we can do is really powerful.”

NOVEMBER 2020

VERIZON

Verizon is a key strategic partner for us, not just in APAC but globally,” comments Fairman. “Through this partnership, we’ve been able to advance our customers’ goals together. At the moment those goals are usually centred around digital transformation and managing digital risk in their organisations. Through our partnership with Verizon, we’re able to help them achieve those goals effectively and efficiently.

sacrificing connection speeds and other performance elements is critical. Netskope’s NewEdge was released in July of 2019 and has been rolled out across multiple markets over the last year, receiving recognition in September 2020 as one of the most interconnected networks in the world. “Businesses today are increasingly supporting a distributed workforce, but struggle to find the cloud and web security tools to support employees anywhere, on any device, at any time,” said Netskope founder and CEO Sanjay Beri at the launch event. “When companies deploy security appliances in a few select locations, or work with a security vendor with legacy-technology-based points of presence, they settle for a less-thandesirable, latency-prone experience for remote offices and remote

INTRODUCING NEWEDGE

employees. Netskope NewEdge pro-

At a time when the industry-wide

vides all users, regardless of location

journey to cloud is being accelerated

or connectivity, with an unparalleled,

by the COVID-19 pandemic’s crea-

global network infrastructure that

tion of an increasingly remote global

enables the right balance of control

workforce, the ability to deliver com-

and speed to meet the demands of

prehensive cybersecurity solutions

today’s modern enterprises, without

across modern architectures without

added complexity.” www.t e c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

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NETSKOPE

2012

Year founded

1,029 Number of employees

286

NOVEMBER 2020

T H E G L O B A L R EMO T E WO RK EXPERI M EN T

Since March, countries around the world have been forced into varying degrees of lockdown and social distancing measures in order to combat the ongoing spread of COVID19. Enterprises have responded by entering into what amounts to the largest social and economic experiment with remote work in history. A number of companies have seen productivity increase, employees have felt their worklife balance shift to a better place, and many organisations have changed their previous stance on working from home permanently. The world that COVID-19 leaves behind will be one of more distributed workforces and increasingly digitalised operations. However, this has presented a problem for many enterprise security teams. They have found the number of endpoints with access to their system doubling, as more people use

personal devices for workrelated activities; employees logging on using unsecured networks and devices; increased network load; all present an increasingly difficult challenge for enterprise security teams. This is where Netskope comes in. “The crisis has been a great opportunity for Netskope to help our customers make a very rapid transition toward remote work. Obviously we’re helping them better understand and protect their data, but our platform also brings zero-trust capabilities to the table, which has been a technology that has really increased in prominence over the past six months. We’ve been a player in that space for quite some time and can provide very flexible and adaptable zero-trust capabilities to our customers. It’s been great to be able to help them respond to their needs in such a short space of time,” says Fairman.

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NETSKOPE

Delivering global access from anywhere, extensive peering solutions and a host of other features, NewEdge is unlocking the power of SASE solutions for Netskope and its customers. “It makes Netskope the most wellconnected cloud security offering on the market right now, and gives our customers massive performance and scalability,” says Fairman.

THE FUTURE FOR NETSKOPE Fairman notes that his arrival, along with 288

the recent completion of the NewEdge launch, has put Netskope in a position

“We are the epitome of SASE. As we continue into 2021, you’ll see our SASE journey continue to evolve as we work to become the dominant SASE player in the market” — David Fairman, CISO, Netskope

to explore new directions and possibilities for their offerings. “We’re shifting our focus towards rounding out our data loss prevention (DLP) capabilities, as well as exploring new capabilities outside of web and cloud,” says Fairman. The company is also looking to further embrace artificial intelligence and machine learning, which Fairman sees as critical to the future of an industry in the grip of a historic skills shortage. “Every security function and every security team needs to be focusing on two key metrics: time-to-detect and

NOVEMBER 2020

289

time-to-contain. The more that you need

greater automation, which is where we’ll

to throw a person at those problems, the

see AI and ML come to fruition and start

longer the process takes. Using AI and

to create compounded benefits.”

ML to tackle those problems at machine-

As Netskope moves towards 2021,

speed, will help organisations reduce

the company is still doggedly pursuing

those times dramatically,” he explains.

its principal goal: to set the standard for

“The more we can automate that

the SASE cloud-based cybersecurity

detection process, the more we can

industry. “We are the epitome of SASE.

redirect human resources towards the

As we continue into 2021, you’ll see our

modelling of AI and ML, teaching those

SASE journey continue to evolve as we

models to work better and faster. There’s

work to become the dominant SASE

a skills shortage in cybersecurity, so the

player in the market.” says Fairman.

industry needs to use its workforces in a smarter, more effective way to support www.t e c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

Disrupting the digital marketing industry WRITTEN BY

290

WILL GIRLING PRODUCED BY

KRISTOFER PALMER

NOVEMBER 2020

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ADA

Kirill Mankovski, Managing Director, describes digital marketing postCOVID-19 and how ADA’s datacentric approach is yielding greater results

ata’s value to marketing in the digital era cannot be overemphasised; as the technologies capable of rendering large

amounts of consumer information usable continue to grow more sophisticated, companies are developing significantly improved methods for 292

monetising digital experiences. Founded in 2013, ADA is a data and AI (artificial intelligence) based enterprise located in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia that understands this fundamental principle. Intent on realising ‘the future of marketing’ through data-rich insights, advanced analytics and a farreaching understanding of consumer mindsets, the company specialises in channelling growth and strategy optimisation for its clients. Kirill Mankovski, Managing Director, tells us that he joined ADA following his own experiences dealing with other marketing agencies as a client. Having held managerial and executive positions at leading tech firms, he became accustomed to being told that what he needed couldn’t be achieved, “not simply because the agencies or the partners were bad,

NOVEMBER 2020

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ADA

“ The whole existence of the company is centred on disrupting the digital marketing industry” — Kirill Mankovski, Managing Director, ADA

unique, flexible and dynamic approach appealed to him immediately. “The whole existence of the company is centred on disrupting the digital marketing industry,” he affirms. “It uses data as a core resource for any kind of decision making and AI, cloud and analytics to change the way marketing works.” This latter statement is significant as it indicates that marketing in its current form doesn’t work optimally.

but often due to the level of technologi-

Mankovski continues, “Very often, mar-

cal development not being available.”

keting is done based on ‘gut feeling’.

294 Transitioning from the multinational

In general, it’s still not very academic

corporations which make up the

or data-driven.” Therefore, ADA’s goal

bulk of his resume to the startup-like

is to overturn this industry standard and

culture of ADA could have been chal-

introduce a thoroughly digital approach

lenging, yet Mankovski states that its

based on automation and innovation. The true value of the company’s culture was realised at the beginning of 2020: while the COVID-19 pandemic began to disrupt those who neglected to develop their digital transformation

Senior team members get together in a Leaders session

NOVEMBER 2020

Hello! We are ADA CLICK TO WATCH

1:19

295 strategy, Mankovski says that ADA was

“XACT”, which comprises over 375 mil-

able to weather significant changes

lion mobile phone user records across

like remote working with noticeable

its nine operational markets. Using

ease. This is not to say there weren’t

XACT, the company is capable of gain-

some adjustments to make: “Even

ing a distinct overview of consumer

having important meetings like share-

habits, including where they live, the

holder-level discussions, which would

places they frequent and which apps

usually require face-to-face interac-

they use.

tions, are now online instead. The world

For many tech companies, an interest

has changed but I think we are adapting

in AI and automation has been cata-

very quickly; we’ve maintained good

lysed by the pandemic and the need

morale and team spirit throughout the

for increased efficiency to weather the

crisis.” In many ways, ADA is relatively

economic downturn. ADA itself has

unique in the space for having its own

been heavily invested in the technol-

DMP (data management platform),

ogy since the company’s inception www.t e c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

Faradi Bachri, our Agency Country Director hangout with the team

ADA

296

two years ago, although Mankovski

jobs - creative jobs that traditionally

insists that its true impact has yet to

were considered to be for humans only

be felt globally. Referencing recent

- could soon be replaced by machines.â&#x20AC;?

developments in the media which

For a digital-native like ADA this could

demonstrated the advanced capability

present its own opportunities. However,

of machines to write engaging copy,

Mankovski says, the company is not

he speculates that marketing could

necessarily focusing on its own digital

be on the cusp of a big shift, â&#x20AC;&#x153;These

transformation: â&#x20AC;&#x153;For ADA, it is more

NOVEMBER 2020

about digitising our clients; we want

valuable insights for its clients to act

to help our customers make the change,

on. “We truly believe that an automated

as well as the industries we work

decision-making process allows us

in themselves.”

to make better decisions,” Mankovski

Data is the core asset that is help-

says. Capable of controlling multiple

ing ADA achieve its vision. Moreover,

essential aspects of the marketing

it is the company’s rigorous analytical

process automatically, including media

capabilities that allow it to extract

planning, placement and production,

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

Kirill Mankovski Title: Managing Director

Company: ADA Indonesia

Industry: Marketing & Advertising

Location: Indonesia

Kirill is a seasoned marketing professional, passionate about innovation and technology. His experience spans across multiple industries and sectors from FMCG to Consumer Goods to high-technology sectors like Telecoms and Internet of Things, including start-up roles where he was responsible for building a brand from scratch. Prior to joining ADA, Kirill held several senior management positions in Axiata group of companies, including Chief Sales and Chief Marketing Officer roles. Before joining Axiata, Kirill held senior positions in several multinational companies such as Samsung, Philips and Siemens. He holds a master’s degree in Business Administration from Judge Business School of Cambridge University (UK) and Bachelor’s degree from Belarusian State Economic University. www.t e c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

297

The Leading Telecom Solutions & VAS Provider VAS & Apps Fintech eSIM Consumer Platform

Yoppi Game Portal Omnichannel Platform

ADA can target small ‘nano-segments’

Understanding consumers is a task

of people with a message tailored to

that is becoming easier as the value

be specifically relevant for them. The

of data is unlocked further. However,

honed nature of this targeted market-

maintaining a strong focus on custom-

ing is particularly important, he claims,

ers cannot be sacrificed and there is

in terms of driving overall engagement.

no substitute for carefully researched

“If the messages you’re receiving are

insights into core demographics.

interesting and not annoying, data

We discuss the ongoing challenge of

is helping to achieve that ultimate

adequately marketing to millennials

goal. That is why ADA believes in

and Mankovski is quick to point out that

a data-centric approach that serves

things are rarely simple when it comes

both the consumer’s and the mar-

to ‘identifying your audience’. “For

keter’s interest.” This result is what

many companies, millennials are their

Mankovski refers to as the “holy grail”

primary segment, but, even then, there

of marketing.

are a lot of sub-segments.” Citing

NOVEMEBER 2020

“ Very often, marketing is done based on ‘gut feeling’. In general, it’s still not very academic or data-driven” — Kirill Mankovski, Managing Director, ADA

research that demonstrates millennials can run the gamut of demographics, many of which might contradict preconceptions of the group (for example in a recent study released by ADA 41% of millennials have children; only 5% are students; the majority are in a relationship; etc), he states that ADA’s job is to make this multiplicity apparent and to help formulate strategies accordingly. “We’re focusing on achieving a client’s desired outcome, whether that’s regional expansion or driving higher revenues. But, because of the amount of data available, there is no single solution.” The company’s mission to keep its clients informed has extended to COVID-19-based consumer research, which it hopes will clarify patterns of behaviour during a seemingly chaotic

P ARN T ERS

One of ADA’s key partners is Monty Mobile, a value-added service (VAS) and telecom solutions provider headquartered in London. Founded in 1998, the company has an extended portfolio of clients across multiple sectors, including fintech, IoT (internet of things) and mobile advertising. Regarding their partnership, Mankovski says, “We have been partnering with Monty Mobile to monetise our telco channels. With new messenger apps replacing previous forms of SMS, we are trying to see how these technologies can still be utilised. Monty is helping ADA to monetise these channels and find new clients and use-case applications.”

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ADA

300

time. “We’ve provided insights and also launched a series of webinars devoted to this topic,” Mankovski says. “ADA has tried to cover it from various angles, including how social restrictions have impacted consumer behaviour.” In fact, the company has even discovered nine distinct customer ‘personae’, each NOVEMBER 2020

“ We’re true believers in AI as an important driver of change in the industry” — Kirill Mankovski, Managing Director, ADA

The team get together in our cozy breakout corner

defined by their measurable reac-

The subject of data security and

tion to the pandemic. “That’s actually

GDPR is sometimes a difficult subject

helped to build the segments using

when discussing business plans that

non-generic profiles. Pre-COVID, most

are heavily reliant on volumes of cus-

of our clients were thinking about digi-

tomer data. However, Mankovski states

tal communication, but it’s beyond that

that ADA is soberly aware of the issue:

now; it’s not just communication, it’s

how much data is accumulated and

also sales.”

how it is used form crucial concerns www.t e c hno l o gyma ga z in e. com

301

ADA

“ It is for our collective good to make use of this data in the proper way, one which benefits both brands and consumers” — Kirill Mankovski, Managing Director, ADA

302

NOVEMBER 2020

for the company, which is fully prepared to meet the challenges, privacy concerns and consumer perceptions inherent. For Mankovski, the future of ADA goes hand-in-hand with the evolution of AI and automation. “We’re true believers in AI as an important driver of change in the industry,” he explains. “Many more use-cases are emerging, especially as voice recognition technology is becoming more advanced.” Indeed, the numerous creative adaptations of AI and its capacity for analysing a wide variety of data indicates that marketing could change significantly in a relatively short time frame. As ecommerce continues to expand exponentially and the adoption of digital technology continues to permeate the industry, ADA will be pioneering a new approach that values data and its integral use. “The digital marketing landscape is becoming increasingly complex. It is for our collective good to make use of this data in the proper way, one which benefits both brands and consumers,” he concludes. “This approach isn’t the easiest one, but we believe at ADA that it is the right one.”

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Active Transformation with Atos