Volume-12 | Issue-01 | 2021
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1 T H E
Interconnecting World Leadership in the Digital Era
BEST PERFORMING
TECHNOLOGY LEADERS OF 2021
Utilizing Potential Judge Tech-leaders by Their Abilities
Director Santoku Corporation
Susumu Matsuda Enhancing the Safety Measures with Virtual Reality
Editor’s Desk Utilizing Technology to Make a Dent in the Universe
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echnology has the power to create innovative solutions to the existing problems in the world. It is a great tool to make a revolutionary impact globally. As the world becomes more and more technologydependent, it becomes a significant responsibility of the leaders to lead the way to utilize technology to create a positive impact in the world. Technology is meant to enhance the lifestyle of people and is an excellent asset to human beings and used effectively; it can remarkably change human lives for the better. Technology leaders are shaping the modern world with their technical acumen holding the potential to create a revolution by developing technologies that people will use every day in their lives. Technology leaders' technical quotient helps them be more technically correct, rational, logical, and analytical to innovate technologies for transforming businesses by delivering modern technological solutions. Their bold and courageous approach assists them in entrusting their conscience and intuition. When Steve Jobs followed his heart and intuition to make the most critical decisions, he created history setting the firm foundation for Apple. Tech leaders are passionate about the creation and development of innovative technologies. They often work tirelessly with their resourceful team members and develop ground-breaking technologies that will transform the way businesses function. They are universal in their approach and see the bigger picture to deliver something valuable to the world. Technology leaders like to make a dent in the universe with their technical capabilities combined with their technical competence and soft skills to take the businesses they lead to great heights.
The use of technology shapes businesses in any industry. The most innovative technology in the businesses is possible if they have the most capable technology leader at their helm. With the inclusion of technology like Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, the capabilities of technology to streamline the business world has been increased at an exponential rate. These leaders have made it accessible to become familiar with such technologies at our hands. These technologies have helped make people's lives easier and have also taken the business world to newer heights. In this edition of "The 10 Best Performing Technology Leaders of 2021", Insights Success celebrates impactful technology leaders who have and are creating remarkable differences in the industry and the world with their outstanding contributions. While flipping through the pages, have a glance at the articles written by our in-house editorial team, and gain the latest buzz about the tech world from a CxO standpoint. Delve in!
Sharad Chitalkar sharad@insightssuccess.com
COVER STORY
08 SUSUMU MATSUDA Enhancing the Safety Measures with Virtual Reality
ARTICLES
Interconnecting 20 World Leadership in the Digital Era
Utilizing Potential
Tech-leaders by 26 Judge Their Abilities
CxO
32 Leader’s Viewpoint Crises are Opportunities to Lead
16 Alexander Taits A Tech-Savvy Leader Shaping the Modern World
22 Federico Protto Bringing Transformative Shifts to Make Business Smarter
28 JD Engelbrecht Offering You Well-Suited Strategies
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Editor-in-Chief Hitesh Dhamani Managing Editor Anish Miller
Executive Editor Sharad Chitalkar
Assistant Editors Jenny Fernandes
Visualizer
Art & Design Director
Associate Designer
Co-designer
David King
Priyanka Rajage
Kartik Balapurkar
Shubham Dali
Senior Sales Manager
Business Development Manager
Kshitij S
Peter Collins
Marketing Manager
Sales Executives
John Matthew
David, Martin, Irfan
Technical Head
Business Development Executives
Jacob Smile
Steve, Joe, Krutant
Technical Specialist Aditya
Digital Marketing Manager Marry D'Souza
SME-SMO Executive Amol Wadekar
Research Analyst Frank Adams
Database Management Stella Andrew
Circulation Manager Robert Brown
Technology Consultant David Stokes
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Featured Person
Company Name
Brief
Alexander Taits CEO & Founder
FusionFlight fusionflight.com
FusionFlight builds machines powered by microturbine technology.
Avi Kahani CEO
FFRobotics ffrobotics.com
FFRobotics presents a unique and patented Robotic Fruit Harvester – the FFRobot.
Dave Ulrich Co-founder
The RBL Group rbl.net
The RBL Group is a consulting and development firm.
Federico Protto CEO
Retelit retelit.it
Retelit is a leader in constructing tailor-made digital transformation projects, executed on entirely Group-managed platforms.
JanDirk (JD) Engelbrecht Managing Director
Everlytic everlytic.co.za
Everlytic is a marketing messaging and automation platform.
Jay Atkinson CEO
AIS Network aisn.net
AIS Network is a Virginia SWaM-certified leader in information security and risk management.
Lennart Koopmans CEO
Magnius magnius.com
Magnius is hosting a white label Intelligent Payment Platform for Banks, PSPs and Acquirers.
Mercedes Bent Partner
Lightspeed Venture Partners lsvp.com
Lightspeed Venture Partners is a multi-stage venture capital firm.
Robert Pfeffer Owner/President
PACE Air Freight paceairfreight.com
PACE Air Freight has specialized in freight forwarding and transporting temperature-sensitive cargo.
Susumu Matsuda Director
Santoku Corporation san-toku.co.jp
Santoku is developing and proposing virtual reality simulation software for the purpose of prevention and safety measures against natural disasters, accident disasters, etc.
Susumu Matsuda Director Santoku Corporation
Cover Story
SUSUMU MATSUDA Enhancing the Safety Measures with Virtual Reality
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RiMM contributes to society by creating methods and safety ideas that enhance safety.
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hen the word Virtual Reality (VR) comes to mind, there are several mind-blowing things that one starts to wonder about. However, a slim thought of safety and prevention led Susumu Matsuda to utilize VR to develop a technology that is beneficial for safety measures in disasters. He serves as the Director of Santoku Corporation and leads the IT division with his immense knowledge and technological expertise. We at Insights Success came across Susumu Matsuda in our endeavor to find "The 10 Best Performing Technology Leaders of 2021." We talked with him to better understand how his innovation has helped people better their knowledge about various disasters. Let us dive right in! The Initiation of VR at Santoku Susumu expresses that in 2001, Santoku Corporation started a development service using VR to develop a training simulator to improve skills. The functions required for each simulator differed and needed time to develop at an increased cost. The main obstacle Susumu faced was the cost-effective implementation and building training scenarios during operation for introducing VR. He came up with a mechanism to reduce the design period and cost to less than half compared to the conventional method, which enhanced the training effect and gave a more realistic experience to focus on training. The training helped develop a tactile sensation felt by the user, implying robot technology, which enhanced the reality in the virtual space and the training effect of the simulation. A Safe Approach Santoku Corporation's mission is to develop methods to enhance safety and spread the safety ideas born from them to society and contribute to society. In 2012, the company changed the way of thinking about its working and
switched the promotion policy from using VR technology to providing safety methods. The company considered educating people's safety step by step according to the process for human experience. The company ran a skill simulation program that lets the body learn the skills, makes people aware of safety, and conducts studies to protect themselves from disasters. To raise safety awareness, it implemented a decision-making program that encourages people to become aware of it. By observing the disaster situation to make a judgment based on the change in the situation and act based on the judgment, it implemented a resilience improvement program that promotes disaster response. The purpose of this education was to acquire the mental strength to respond to disasters and the ability to recover after a disaster through disaster response education and respond appropriately to disasters and increase the survival rate of people. To realize these, Santoku Corporation devised the basic concept of RiMM and developed safety methods while directly facing safety. Overcoming Challenges while Creating a Wide Impact Through the development of safety methods, Susumu knew that the awareness of safety education participants was low, and the educational effect didn't increase as expected. He understood that instructors who carried out safety education have strong desires for students and wished to increase sensitivity through the negative experience of disasters. He repeated the trial and error in discovering safety methods. To increase sensitivities through activities, Susumu learned that the sensations felt by the body induce negative emotions and affect sensitivities. He developed a unit that reproduces the sense of touch using the technology cultivated in robot research and development. He also created a VR experience system that links tactile sensation, pain sensation, and skin sensation combined with visual and auditory sensations, which created an evolved VR disaster experience system. In 2016, Santoku Corporation launched RiMM, the first-ever product in VR for safety education. Currently, it has more than five hundred units in operation for thirty-three occupations. Santoku Corporation has conducted safety requirements surveys at various customers' sites through activities to discover safety methods. It made a prototype by repeating trial and error based on the idea. To provide its customers with improved products and see how they work, it made improvements according to the customer's request and re-
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We will walk with the earth to respond to disasters.
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delivered the product. It repeated this cycle many times until the effect was confirmed. The company discovered this development method over 20 years and named it Cyclone. To speed up the development of cyclones, it actively incorporates existing technologies into the system. It challenges unknown recent technologies and realizes new functions. In this way, Cyclone's creative philosophy supports the values and work culture of Santoku Corporation.
Keeping Up with Technology Susumu says, "To speed up development, it is necessary to take an attitude of quickly adopting latest technology without fear of failure." He adds that it is impossible to incorporate newer technologies into a product and use it by only understanding the logic. A trial-and-error process is required to understand the usage characteristics, and only after fully understanding the characteristics of the latest technology can it be applied. Santoku Corporation has repeated this process for 20 years of involvement with research institutes. Recent technologies can only be used effectively through a challenge and trial and error process, and the cyclone philosophy works well in such cases, expresses Susumu. Leading Changes for Better Tomorrow Susumu states that the IT industry is changing at a faster pace. In the internet industry, anyone can get new technical information immediately. One can pick up the technology and use it easily. However, just using the latest technology
Cover Story
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Our technology creates new worlds.
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isn't useful. If one doesn't add expertise to the latest technology, one will not lose the competition and move forward. Only when the latest technology and new purposes are fused will new products be born. It is established as a solution by focusing on fields that IT has not serviced so far and fusing recent technologies and purposes with fresh eyes. Academic fusion will undoubtedly drive IT to change. Good Will for Humankind Susumu questions: Isn't everyone interested in realizing a function that allows everyone to touch human emotions directly? Its function is a means of directly influencing emotions and touching the heart. If the mind changes and emotions change through the experience of the five senses, and emotions are transmitted without using words, it will bring about fabulous changes in society. That means the biological mechanism of human beings and IT technology are fused and realized. Santoku Corporation has developed products that directly touch people's hearts through negative emotions, and we will continue to improve and evolve them. "The significance of our existence is to contribute to society by creating methods and safety ideas that enhance the safety of human society. We will continue to walk with the earth to respond to disasters," asserts Susumu. Santoku Corporation's mission is to provide comprehensive safety methods to protect people living in the global environment. Safety is a common theme for all humankind and transcends language and cultural and customary barriers. Therefore, safety technology is used all over the world regardless of race. Today's human society is concentrated in one field, and research and development pursuing specialization are active. Santoku Corporation proved that it could increase
the value of its products by combining and utilizing the expertise of multiple fields from different perspectives. It is necessary to comprehensively understand and elucidate various academic fields related to people pursuing services for people. The company tries to integrate engineering and medical care to reproduce the approaches of human beings, and it will change IT. Plans for the Future Santoku Corporation will continue to provide safe and efficient information in the future through the development of safety systems. It will elucidate the methods that affect human biological emotions. Through personalized communication, it will recognize an efficient and direct emotional mechanism. It keeps people's peace of mind and appropriately controls negative sensations that directly affect the mind according to the biological mechanism of people. Santoku Corporation is developing safety technology that appropriately conveys emotions and prevents mental disability. To achieve this, it will discover the mechanism of touching emotions through the sensory organs and the brain from a medical point of view. Susumu states that this project needs to comprehensively integrate various knowledge such as medicine, biology, ethics, cognition, psychology, nerves, sensibilities, robotics, communication and requires collaborators with specialized knowledge. Its applications are in a wide range of fields as a mechanism to care for people's emotions and maintain human safety, as better communication according to human characteristics and abilities, as efficient education.
Alexander Taits Founder and CEO FusionFlight
Alexander Taits
A Tech-Savvy Leader Shaping the Modern World
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The 10 Best Performing Technology Leaders of 2021
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hat separates tech leaders from the herd is their deep understanding of what technology can achieve. After understanding the possibilities, they work their finger to the bone to achieve the desired results. One such tech leader we at Insights Success came across is Alexander Taits, the Founder and CEO of FusionFlight. Alex founded FusionFlight with an aim to push the frontiers of drone technology to a whole new level. His journey began in the summer of 2016 when he received the seed investment for FusionFlight to begin work on the JetQuad technology out of his garage in Dallas, TX. He encountered challenges at every step of the way. “When developing a jet-engine powered drone, Murphy’s law is on in full effect - everything that can possibly go wrong absolutely does go wrong,” expresses Alex. He had to master embedded software programming and electrical engineering in his free time to overcome several of these hurdles. Most importantly, he had to master emotional control to deal with failure; as he puts “if you are a start-up founder finding your zen definitely comes in very handy!” We got into conversation with Alex to know more about his entrepreneurial journey and how FusionFlight is unlocking the full potential of Microturbine Tech. Below are the highlights of the interview:
propellers. My impact to Aviation & Aerospace is to show that there is another way, by the use of liquid fuel and jet-engines. The resulting machines are cheaper, more reliable, and way faster than their electrical alternatives. Describe in detail the values and the work culture that drives your organization. The FusionFlight work culture is largely based on three key elements: Simplicity, Honesty and Client Satisfaction. I believe that it is incredibly easy to make complex machines and conversely it is very hard to make something simple – I strive to create the simplest machines at FusionFlight, because that means affordability and reliability. When it is time to do business, I do not beat around the bush as most would do, I value integrity and honesty to negotiate terms quickly and efficiently with business partners. Lastly, FusionFlight is a client-centric company, our clients are our blood-line, so we make sure that our products are easy to use and are versatile. Undeniably, technology is playing a significant role in almost every sector. How are you leveraging technological advancements to make your solutions resourceful? The microturbine is a miniaturized jet-engine that has been largely used in the hobby industry over the past two decades. However, it is a quickly evolving, nascent technology that has tremendous potential. FusionFlight is poised to take full advantage of this type of engine. We are
Tell us something more about FusionFlight and its mission and vision.
Enlighten us on how you have made an impact in the Aviation & Aerospace niche through your expertise in the market. In the modern age, everybody who works with drones or flying vertical take-off and landing aircraft, are convinced that the only way to safely do so is with batteries and
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We understand that Microturbine technology is not just limited to aircraft. This technology can allow us to build ultra-compact power generation systems.
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The goal of FusionFlight is to unleash the full potential of microturbine technology. Microturbines are relatively new, small, football sized jet-engines, can deliver a significant amount of power in very small packages. FusionFlight aims to use these engines to bring about a revolution in how we travel through air and how we can generate electrical energy off-the-grid in compact easy-to-carry systems.
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ready to integrate all advancements in this field to ensure that FusionFlight machines will always remain competitive and cutting-edge. If given a chance, what change would you like to bring in the Advanced Control Systems? Most modern drone designs and off-the-shelf software is based on ordinary PID Control Theory. However, given the advancements of flight computers and microprocessors, it would be great to see more sophisticated algorithms integrated into these systems. Drones and other autonomous aircraft could potentially leverage Optimized Control Theory and Neutral Networks to become more agile, more aware, and more adaptable.
Where do you envision yourself to be in the long run and what are your future goals for FusionFlight? In the long run I envision myself working full-time for FusionFlight with many more engineers at a facility in Dallas. In this facility, we will be producing microturbine generators as well as JetQuad drones of various sizes, some small ones for emergency supply delivery and larger ones for transporting people through the air. In parallel, we will be producing our own engines and electronics to achieve complete vertical integration. Ultimately, I would like to obtain an IPO for FusionFlight, go public, and spin it out to become a modern Aerospace leader – at this point my time will be spent in the R&D labs working on next generation applications, notably supersonic vertical take-off and landing aircraft.
What, according to you, could be the next big change in Transportation industry? How is FusionFlight preparing to be a part of that change?
What would be your advice to budding entrepreneurs who aspire to venture into the Aerodynamics sector?
The next big change is human transportation is flight through the air with the use of vertical take-off and landing aircraft, flying cars, for short. The FusionFlight JetQuad drone could be readily scaled up to accommodate the transportation of humans in a high-speed, compact, and weather-resilient platform. It could be also used in the evacuation of injured humans from areas normally inaccessible by helicopter medevac. Lastly, for those clients that are focused on the use of propeller-based electrical aircraft, we offer the microturbine generator which allows these aircraft to take advantage of liquid fuel without affecting the overall design methodology of the aircraft.
My biggest advice for budding entrepreneurs would be to treat the venture as a learning experience. Never go into your business for the money or for the fame, your focus must be the technology – it must be fun for you, and you must be passionate about it. There will be many, many failures along the way, and by accepting these failures as lessons, rather than failures, you can avoid depression, and keep the momentum rolling forward. Every time I go out to do a test, even if I fail, I repeat one important phrase in my head: “whether you succeed or fail does not mean a thing because trying IS success, realize that 99% of people don’t even try.”
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LEADERSHIP IN THE
DIGITAL ERA
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igital transformation or digitalization has become the most essential and intrinsic part of the business world. It has been growing rapidly since the emergence of the Covid-19 pandemic. Almost every business is moving in the direction of digitalization, while some are trying to figure out what they need to develop and grow their businesses in the digital era. Digital transformation is not about digitalizing businesses but about a cultural change of developing a digital-first business model. Doing a cultural change is not so easy and requires skillful leadership to drive this change with the right strategies, planning, and implementation in the digital era. Business leaders in the digital era should leverage the power of recent technologies to set the upward direction of the organizations they lead. Beginning with the end in mind can give business leaders insights related to utilizing digital technologies and digital methods to provide quick, efficient, and affordable solutions to clients. Seeing the bigger picture, envisioning the future, and being prepared for the future is a quality of great leaders. The approach of many clients/customers is also towards receiving digitalized
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solutions. Every business leader is recognizing the benefits of providing upgraded, evolved, and digital solutions and is therefore very keen on leveraging the benefits of technologies that play a valuable role in providing most of the solutions to the clients or customers in a digital way. To stay ahead in the era of digitalization, business leaders need to be competitive for sustaining the market value of their businesses by adopting the cultural change of digital transformation. Digital technologies are changing organizations in many ways. The Digital era is shaping organizations with new work cultures and processes. This gives a huge opportunity for leaders to reshape the work culture that is more in harmony with the digital era.
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Interconnecting World
In the digital era, business leaders should ensure good relationships with all stakeholders of the organization they are leading. They should enable collaborative processes in the changing work culture. They should be good at resolving online ethical issues. They should also identify research opportunities to be more prepared to face the digital world in a cleverer way for the sustainable growth of their businesses. The only thing constant in the world is change. In the world of constant change, business leaders, especially in the digital era, need to be more pragmatic, alert, innovative and evolving continuously instead of being complacent and settled. The digital transformation era requires digital leaders to revamp business models. The Command-and-conquer type of leadership is no longer impactful in the digital era. The Digital era requires leaders with an agile, collaborative, fluid, and tech-savvy approach. Creating a learning culture
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that facilitates the skills and abilities of the employees to function more effectively in the digital era can help the digital leaders lead effectively. They should continuously make sure that they are developing the abilities of their employees to play the evolved role in the evolving digital era. There is no substitute for digital leaders other than being innovative and risk-takers. Digital leaders should nurture innovativeness in themselves and their teammates and employees. The safety of the comfort zone is dangerous, and nothing grows there. Therefore, in the digital era, business leaders should take calculative risks and maximize the available opportunities to make an impact in the industry with innovative and technology-driven solutions. Digital world leaders can inspire and rewire the culture of organizations by establishing new thought processes, collaborative approaches, and connecting methods to thrive in the digital era sustainably.
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Federico Protto CEO Retelit
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The 10 Best Performing Technology Leaders of 2021
Bringing Transformative Shifts to Make Business Smarter
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hen innovative technologies are implemented, they drive behavioral changes as consumers represent potential new markets. To improve efficiency and effectiveness in the current business logic, it becomes necessary to adapt to the newer changes while accelerating the innovative process. Executing this innovative approach with his exceptional managerial skills is Federico Protto.
As the CEO of Retelit, Federico makes tough decisions to drive the business to provide clients with a wide array of digital solutions. Retelit is the Italian leader in constructing tailor-made digital transformation projects executed on entirely Group-managed platforms. The Exhilarating Journey With over two decades of managerial skills and experience in the TLC sector, Federico was appointed as the CEO of Retelit in 2015. He has successfully steered the company's growth trajectory based on his leadership principles: trust and credibility. Born in Milan in 1967, Federico is a Bocconi MBA graduate, holding a Masters in Information Technology. He states that in 2014, Retelit was in a troubling situation from a market and financial point of view. The shareholders perhaps liked the managerial track record and entrusted Federico with bringing the business back to the levels an important company such as Retelit must have.
We design ICT and digital solutions for Italian and international operators and enterprises.
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Since Federico joined Retelit, he has always set precise and realistic goals and used his managerial skills to capitalize on trends in what many regards as a complex and constantly changing market and respond to fast-moving developments in the fields of technology and infrastructure. Retelit has thus gradually changed its identity, and major goals have been achieved: AAE-1 international subsea cable project has been completed, expanding the clients base (not only operators but also enterprises and governments). Retelit accomplished important M&A projects, and all of this has been reflected in the positive numbers in its recent financial statements. Sculpting the Professional Experience Federico studied Electronic Engineering with enormous satisfaction and pleasure. He soon realized that being "just" an engineer was not enough for him. He preferred talking to people and interacting in social contexts rather than just technological ones. He started in Telecom Italia, where he managed teams of people in call centers; it was a very important "formative" period because it allowed him to deal with industrial and trade union predicaments and taught himself how to deal with complicated dynamics successfully. Even though Federico was happy with Telecom, it was too national for him; thus, he started looking for international exposure. Shortly, he engaged with MCI Worldcom before starting a 13-year long experience in Deutsche Telecom, where he managed several countries. This wonderful experience allowed him to grow from a managerial point of view, with an orientation to control and management. However, above all, he understood the importance of defining a strategy, mentions Federico. He continues that thinking about medium and long-term planning is very dangerous because the business is changing more and more rapidly, but talking about strategy, investments, and return on investments is fundamental; otherwise, you are playing it by ear. In Federico’s opinion, the dystonia of business today is precisely this: long-term planning is impracticable,
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but a company without a strategy is dead. Defining a 5-year strategy in a context that changes every six months is the main challenge of a business leader today; you must have a clear vision and goals in an unpredictable environment. The experience in Deutsche Telecom helped him a lot in developing these skills. Under Federico's leadership, Retelit has become more robust: carrying out ambitious expansion plans and revised its infrastructure network; its key performance indices improved and, in 2016, one year ahead of schedule, it managed to achieve a historical milestone when, for the first time in the Group's history, it earned an operating profit (EBIT) amounting to Euro 2.2 million. Federico asserts that the Group has grown considerably, and its share of the market has expanded accordingly. The positive annual financial statements issued by the company over the last five years reflect this upward trend. Innovative Approach In the pursuit of being best-in-class, Retelit is an increasingly interconnected and digital global community that requires that the company grants and delivers ever better performing telecommunications platforms to a significant share of the market while tackling the challenges. Federico asserts that the development of Industry 4.0, the digitalization process that has spread across all major businesses and infrastructure, the progress in artificial intelligence, and the advent of 5G and the Cloud are a true and proper global market revolution. Promoting and successfully delivering the digital revolution requires the execution of complex projects that rely on sophisticated
technology. Over the last five years, Retelit has endeavored to satisfy the market connectivity demand by drawing up a plan for growth and the foundation of its valuable assets. To satisfy the ever-growing demand from enterprises, Retelit has recently closed two important M&A projects. It has invested mainly in skills and competencies. Currently, the company can cover all the digitalization and ICT value chain from infrastructure to data, from network to applications. The company's target market shares – even more after the Covid period – needs tailor-made digital projects. Retelit is continuously improving its internally managed platform: in partnership with Huawei, it developed a Multicloud platform that can manage Hybrid Cloud solutions on an end-to-end basis, including the Cloud services at its Data Centers, the traditional outsourcing of infrastructure, the Public Cloud provided by suppliers such as AWS and Microsoft Azure, thus bringing on stream a broad range of IT services models and maximum flexibility. It is based on Openstack software, allowing Retelit customers to benefit from an open environment, extremely flexible, scalable, and free from vendor lock-ins. Above and Beyond Speaking about the future, Federico says, "At present, Retelit is a "little big player": the product portfolio is as wide as the ones of only a few big competitors. We are a boutique for large customers who prefer to reduce the number of their suppliers, becoming a real partner with which to undertake the path of their growth. We accompany our customers all along the way: from the first encounter, when they define their needs, to when they become customers, and all the way long to further implementations and renovations. And we do that as much for the infrastructure services, as for the Digital Solutions." While in the next decades, Retelit will see a kind of trivialization of the connectivity services. It will be increasingly capable of providing digital solutions running on its infrastructure (for those customers choosing the complete package). In the meantime, it is positioning in the wholesale market will strengthen itself thanks to the neverending growth of bandwidth demand worldwide.
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S R E -LEAD
H C E T e g S d u E I J T I L I B A eir
h t y b
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Utilizing Potential
technological services, and that's where technological inputs can prove a life-changer here.
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ave you ever seen a football match, two teams competing to win the game for their team? So, what do we learn from it? By studying the match conditions, you can overcome any challenges against any team with the right strategy. The same goes in our personal and professional lives; you can face all the challenges that you come across with the right approach. When it comes to business leadership, you need strategies for complicated challenges; although it can take time, it is very crucial in the journey of business leaders. In today's digital age, we can already see technology changing the way of our life, as we are already on the path of transformation. So, business leaders have to work to the best of their ability to serve the fields of technology and innovation. It is because the IT field is the fastest route for success in today's world of the digital revolution. So, what are the factors that the aspiring tech enthusiast needs to believe in before entering the IT field? Let us explore below. Best of Tech It is incredible to think that we live in the age of machines as they disrupt every industry. These machines' processes, functioning, and working is the main reason to lead in a field that throws continuous challenges and opportunities at you. Because there is always a lot to learn as the sector holds tremendous potential, it provides a competitive edge to the leaders becoming the leaders of the following significant change. The Tech field is where you don't just work for yourself but also for others, so going ahead, you will realize that it was worth the try. This industry offers opportunities for everyone, and technology leaders can make the most of it; though, you have to go the distance. It can empower many companies with unmatched www.insightssuccess.com
Tech Leader Ingredients The competition is fierce, but the tech industry also needs new potential leaders with visionary ideas. So, it can be in a field where you can make a mark if you have a good understanding of the tech world. Communication is also a key differentiator; it is not just the knowledge but the complete package of the team's success. Tech leaders encourage people to join in their journey, consider concerns, and ensure new talents that they are also a crucial part of the team and the company. Today, technological leaders are bringing ideas to life across multiple industries, right from conception to reality. They develop ideas, strategies, plans and process them successfully. They also collaborate with industry experts with passion, energy and focus on delivering high-quality processes. They share their experiences and achievements to create a community of like-minded entrepreneurs who want to become technological enthusiasts. Make Your Judgement Technology is a great place to be a part of; the platform is competitive and full of opportunities. We are already seeing its proof with the global shift of companies towards technological solutions and services. With more cuttingedge technologies, even the technology leaders are excited to bring innovation into the industry. When it comes to developing a future, technological leaders make the dream their reality with their experience, everywhere in the industry. In recent times, we have seen the most innovative and experienced technological leaders, creating, building, and continuously upgrading the standard of life. Now there is no stopping them, and in the coming time, we will see the best of technology leaders that will present their best of the technological world to us. December 2021
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The 10 Best Performing Technology Leaders of 2021
Offering You Well-Suited Strategies
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ith digitalization immersed in the business world, it has become easier to communicate with clients through various marketing platforms. Having an engaging method to connect with potential can elevate a business to newer heights. To provide these methods with extensive expertise and experience, JD Engelbrecht, a commercial technologist, implements his grasp of business fundamentals to those overall organizational functions. As the Managing Director at Everlytic, JD utilizes his core competencies that include product development, advanced data analytics, and data science, as well as marketing technology ecosystems, and strategic distribution via business development and alliances. Everlytic is your central hub for high-volume communication via email, SMS, voice broadcasting, and push notifications. In our venture to find “The 10 Best Performing Tech Leaders in Africa,” we came across JD Engelbrecht. We interviewed him to experience his digital journey across the media, eCommerce, advertising, data science, and agriculture industries. Below are the highlights of the interview. Briefly describe your journey as a business leader until your current position at Everlytic. I have had an interesting career journey. It’s included: • Being a corporate journalist, • Dynamically digitizing the IP of agricultural economists and agronomists, • Doing integrated and sustainability reporting, • Running digital platforms and applications, • Leading big data and data science programs, Dabbling in some bleeding edge technology… …and then I joined Everlytic, where great tech and people come together to do something incredible.
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I’m generally someone who is pointed at a new challenge, and then I figure it out before moving on to the next thing. Being too good at your job is a silent killer of careers, but I have been fortunate to have had people who cared about my development, who were selfless enough to let me go when it was time. It is also tough to move on from places where you’ve invested so much of your time and energy. Knowing when to move on is important. Sometimes you need a bit of luck, and when it comes around, you need to be ready to take the opportunity. Tell us something more about Everlytic. Everlytic is an all-in-one software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform for data-charged, automated, multi-channel messaging. It empowers marketers and communicators to create and send email, SMS, web push, and automated voice messages at scale using our bulk distribution platform, transactional messaging services, and automation journey manager. Enterprise businesses choose Everlytic for the globally competitive technology we offer, as well as unmatched, engaged customer service and strategic consultation. Undeniably, technology is playing a significant role in almost every sector. How are you leveraging technological advancements to make your solutions resourceful? Competition in our space is high, with thousands of competitors around the globe. Staying in touch and ahead means we must consistently evolve the way we work and solve challenges. We invest heavily in research and development to, among other things: • Build the capacity for cost-effective infrastructure www.insightssuccess.com
JD Engelbrecht Managing Director
Everly c
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• • •
scaling. Remain price competitive while sending billions of messages. Enhance profit margins. Use data analytics tools and techniques to create actionable insights, like our new interest-based segmentation feature, which we’ll launch in the next month or so.
If given a chance, what change would you like to bring to the digital communication industry? There is a significant need and opportunity for email service providers (ESPs) to create solutions that will support everyone in the industry. For instance, as a platform, our customers have access to a lot of personal data that is processed through our network. A person on one of our clients’ lists will likely be on other clients’ lists. This means that the Everlytic platform could, in theory, and with the required approval from regulators and clients, get a much more detailed view of each individual’s needs and interests, and behavior, based on the variety of data they’ve shared with multiple companies. This kind of insight could help improve the industry overall – creating a win-win-win scenario for us, our customers, and their contacts. For example, the time data subjects receive their emails could be customized to what works best for them across the board. And their communication preferences could be centrally managed, so they apply to all marketing messages they receive.
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Everlytic will create an accessible and multifunctional integration layer that will assist clients, partners, and other vendors to seamlessly integrate Everlytic into their greater landscape.
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As it stands, however, ESPs like us are positioned as data operators with limited rights for additional processing of our clients’ personal information - we take this very seriously. I’d like to petition regulators to allow identified cases where there are win-win opportunities for us to process this information too for improvement of the industry. What, according to you, could be the next big change in the digital communication industry? How is Everlytic preparing to be a part of that change? We already see large-scale vertical integration in the industry by multinational players. They’re buying up customer data platforms, website monitoring tools, customer relationship management solutions, and analytics businesses. The purpose and underlying trend link two historical shortcomings of many businesses: 1.The so-what of data analytics, i.e., the activation of insights by means of content distribution via digital messaging services; and 2.Over-contacting customers due to a lack of context.
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Where do you envision yourself in the long run, and what are your future goals for Everlytic? Everlytic is a great place to work: the business is solid, the platform is globally competitive, the people are exceptional, and our parent group, Vox (a leading ISP), is incredible. I’m having fun. My team and I have grown Everlytic by roughly 60% since I joined 2.5 years ago. I want to triple the business within the next five years, and my plan is to stay at least this long. We are rejigging the business to support scaled internationalization, infinitely scaling the infrastructure, and we are creating a world-class sales organization to complement an excellent service competency. In the long run, I want to invest more time into bleedingedge technologies with global shifting potential that programs ethics into the fabric of the technology of the future. This interest generally relates to creating a new digital identity and data management framework that I believe will stand up to the cryptographic challenges that quantum computing will present in the future.
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CRISES Are
OPPORTUNITIES to LEAD
- By Dave Ulrich, Rensis Likert Professor, Ross School of Business, University of Michigan Partner, The RBL Group
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Leader’s Viewpoint
About the Author Dave Ulrich is the Rensis Likert Professor at the Ross School of Business, University of Michigan and a partner at the RBL Group (h p://www.rbl.net) a consul ng firm focused on helping organiza ons and leaders deliver value. He has published over 200 ar cles and book chapters and over 30 books. He edited Human Resource Management 19901999, served on editorial board of 4 Journal and on the Board of Directors for Herman Miller (16 years), has spoken to large audiences in 90 countries; performed workshops for over half of the Fortune 200; coached successful business leaders, and is a Dis nguished Fellow in the Na onal Academy of Human Resources. He is known for con nually learning, turning complex ideas into simple solu ons, and crea ng real value to those he works with in three fields.
hat have I (you) learned about leadership during the crises (global pandemic, racial and civic unrest, digital 4.0, political toxicity, and economic downturn)? How are these crises opportunities to lead.
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from the continual crises reveal new leadership insights that lead to being better leaders, building shared leadership, and creating a personal leadership brand. Let me propose Leadership Code 3.0 to capture 10 leader requirements for discovering and maximizing opportunities in crises.
Crises put leaders under time and transparency pressure to respond quickly with new solutions. Individual leaders matter to set direction, allocate resources, instill confidence, and model appropriate behaviors. Collective leadership matters even more as organizations require leadership heroes at all levels who serve customers, care for employees, and make things happen. And, personal leadership matters most of all as each individual adapts to new working conditions (e.g., working remotely, using technology), manages emotional demands, and connects with family and friends.
Strategist: Shape the Future (Where are we going?) Create information asymmetry by separating signal from noise. Technology has enabled digital distribution of information that inundates leaders through ubiquitous emails, zoom calls, Instagram posts, twitter comments, and other information channels. Leaders need to discern signals from overwhelming information. Signals are asymmetric information insights that have immediate and long-term consequence and that inform decisions. Leaders who separate signal from noise focus on information that matters most and are both analysts with data and anthropologists with observations.
What are foundations of leadership to build on? In 2009, Norm Smallwood, Kate Sweetman, and I published The Leadership Code and identified five domains of leadership competencies that leaders master: strategist, executor, talent manager, human capital developer, and personal proficiency. In fall 2017, we validated the five leadership domains and identified new critical skills in each domain for effective leaders. What's new in leadership to address current crises? Now just over three years later, the concentrated challenges
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Harness uncertainty. As new crises emerge, leaders face unprecedented uncertainty, not knowing with clarity what the context will be or how to definitively respond. Leaders fail either by promising false hope or by giving up hope. Harnessing uncertainty comes when leaders have realistic optimism about opportunities in today's challenges and use uncertainty to reimagine or reinvent a positive future. These leaders tame apprehensions by facing fears, envisioning a better future, regulating expectations, and experimenting nimbly.
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Executor: Make Change Happen (How do we get there?) Ÿ Create the "right" culture (outside-in, the value of values). Culture has become a popular leadership agenda, almost becoming a catch-all panacea for organizational success. Most approaches to culture describe the underlying values of an organization that shape organization processes and leader behaviors. In these crises, culture can no longer just be descriptions of what is done, but also focus on prescribing the "right" culture. The "right" culture connects internal values (and behaviors) with the value they create for external stakeholders (customers, investors, and communities). Work boundaries are increasingly less about a physical "place" and much more about the values that create value for customers. As such, the right culture is the identity of the firm in the mind of customers, investors, and communities made real to all employees. Leaders focusing on the right culture combine purpose, values, brand, and culture into an integrated organizational agenda that helps organizations succeed in the marketplace and employees prosper in the workplace.
Talent Manager: Engage Today's Talent (Who goes with us?) Ÿ Personalize employee experiences. Working from home with the pandemic crisis has affected people very differently. Frequently, younger employees who are usually digital natives might be expected to savor the virtual work world. However, they often have young children, live in smaller residences, or are single and seeking community, thus making the virtual work world challenging or unfavorable. These digital natives may prefer the traditional office so that they can focus on work and build career-enhancing relationships. In a somewhat similar vein, the social unrest and racial injustice challenges have caused many to ponder on their personal biases as they seek to create a more inclusive and just society. From each of these crises, leaders need to be even more attuned to personal employee experiences. Leaders as meaning makers demonstrate sensitivity and responsiveness to unique employee experiences and desires so that employees find meaning from their work. Ÿ Hear others to express empathy (avoid "isms"). To create a better employee experience, leaders need to go beyond listening to hearing employees. Listening means that employees share information; hearing means that leaders receive that information with empathy. Empathic leaders eschew the many "isms" that filter thinking and action (e.g., racism, sexism, classism, elitism, ageism, and so forth), and help others feel appreciated for their unique talents and gifts. The crises have also created an emotional malaise that leaders need to appreciate. Being an empathic leader requires recognizing personal biases and malaise and modeling how to overcome them. When employees feel "heard," they are more able to feel connected and then more able to contribute to a positive workplace that leads to marketplace success.
Provide guidance to impact decision making. Digital information has enabled data analytics to move from scorecards/dashboards to insights to intervention to impact. Information impact comes when data informs which actions deliver the most value to key stakeholders (employees, business, customers, and investors). The RBL Group and CorpU have partnered to create an organizational guidance system (OGS) that helps leaders discern where to invest limited resources to deliver desired results to all stakeholders. This OGS offers leaders data-based intelligence on how to upgrade talent, organization, leadership, and human resources. Leaders in crises need guidance (as offered by the OGS [see www.rbl.ai]) to focus investments to have the most impact. Ÿ
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Human Capital Developer: Build the Next Generation (Who stays when we go?) Ÿ Empower others to build their brand. Good leaders have personal stories to tell, and they share them well. But great leaders help others create and share their stories. Even in the midst of a crisis, leaders need to empower the next generation of leadership by sharing information, building competence, delegating authority, and distributing rewards. The ultimate test of a leader is how the organization responds after the leader leaves. Empowering leaders savor their leadership posterity. Create psychological safety. Almost everyone has personally experienced both a safe and unsafe work setting. In these crises, leaders need to be even more focused on creating a safe environment for employees to share their personal and professional fears and anxieties. When employees can honestly share their concerns about emerging work requirements, social injustice, and career opportunities, employees feel heard and more connected to a community. Leaders create safe spaces by modeling values they expect of others.
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Personal Proficiency: Invest in Yourself (How are you taking care of yourself?) Ÿ Navigate paradox. In our research, we have found that navigating paradox builds on the leadership skills of authenticity, emotional intelligence, and resilience (learning, grit). Leaders who navigate paradox respect others' opinions, disagree without
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being disagreeable, and encourage divergence while being able to seek convergence. In the crises, these leaders learn from what has been done before but also anticipate and create what can be done going forward. Leaders as paradox navigators appreciate the dialectic process as much as the result. Ÿ Be transparent and renew. Ultimately, leaders model behaviors they hope others will follow. On recognizing the power of participative management, an executive leader proclaimed, "I am going to demand that my leaders practice participative management." Wrong! You can't demand participation. Ultimately, leaders have to model what they want others to be, know, and do. Leadership hypocrisy leads to cynicism and loss of respect. In crises, leaders need to model transparency as they recognize their predispositions that they must renew to succeed.
Summary: Code 3.0 Assessment I am sure that I have overlooked many insights coming out of these perpetual crises. But as a starting list, these ten insights build on our Leadership Code research and may apply to an individual wanting to be a better leader, to all leaders creating a leadership capability throughout an organization, and to an organization creating personal leadership brand beyond the work setting. Indeed, crises are opportunities to lead.
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