The 20 Most Admired Tech Companies 2018

www.insightssuccess.com JULY 2018

The

FINANCE ‘N’ TECH How is technology going to transform the financial sector INTERNET OF INTERNET Internet of Things is present in every product we use. How has IOT changed the lives of humans?

20 MOST

ADMIRED

Tech Companies 2018

Mike Suga

President & CEO

CMIC, INC.

PHARMACEUTICAL VALUE CREATOR

Editor’s Note

Novelty and Modernization: Linchpins of Growth in Business

B

usinesses of all type are growing in the global market and have undergone a facelift over the last 20 years. Business today has a global market and the reason for this global outreach is because they can and that too, easily. Beyond the shadow of doubt, one can say the advent of the internet has opened the doors for companies to trade their products globally. The technology has improved at an unbelievable speed that businesses today can be handled from anywhere in the world.

While few of the business practices have remained the same, other aspects of business are radically different compared to how it was performed before. The way businesses market their products/services to customers and engage them in business transactions has taken a new life of its own. These changes had not only brought ‘mobility’ but had altered the entire process of how business was performed and perceived.

In a time when technology did not play a major part in businesses, industrialists had gradually started to adopt technology as the mainstay. Technologies like AR and VR when introduced into business ended offering customer experiences unlike before.

Stepping out of games, these technologies found space in industry sectors like retail, marketing, medicine, tourism, education and IT etc. The yet hidden powers of these technologies, when unleashed into the market space, have created a new dominion for business. Leveraging the pervasive power of cloud computing, SaaS, Blockchain, Virtual Reality, Augmented Intelligence and other technologies, industrialists are instigating exclusive changes in the market with unique services. These innovations have again stirred the changes in business; that too at an incomparable speed. The world tomorrow will witness technologies like software bots, robots in manufacturing and service industry, and drones and autonomous vehicles. Wondering what business has in store for

future, it is clear that there is nothing that is going to be consistent in it and that; it is always going to change. Advanced and updated software, hardware services/products, and other technologies are coming at a breakneck speed and these changes will bring a significant impact on commerce, global economy and businesses.

In this edition, “The 20 Most Admired Tech Companies to Watch 2018”, we introduce you to 20 such avant-garde companies which have adopted new and advanced techniques and are the frontiers of a new era of business. CMIC, Inc, featured on the cover is a leading CRO and a provider specialized in bioanalytical services in support of TK/PK studies for pre-clinical and clinical developments.

We have also enlisted BlackSwan Technologies Inc; ‘The Intelligence of Everything’, PT. INTI DATA UTAMA: An Innovative ERP and Analytics Solution Provider, Athena Systems: Perfecting the Investment Process for Hedge Funds, Websites Depot: The Widely-Acclaimed Designing Platform, DFNN Inc: Technology very much in play, Seceon, Inc.: Visionary Cybersecurity Leader, Stone & Chalk: The Marketplace for FinTechs Breaking the Mould, QuintessenceLabs: Data Security Solutions that Build Quantum Resilience, BankerBay: The Future of Investment Banking, IWN™: A WiFi Wireless Carrier for the Global Rural Communities, and NewBanking: Enriching Financial Data Protection with Blockchain.

While turning pages, kindly take note to read the articles masterly crafted by our in-house editors. These articles namely, The Universality of IoT under Tech Zone, The Impressive Impact of Organic Networking under Hi-Tech Nexus and Leadership Shadow: Fading Dark into Light under Leadership Traits will give you insights into the market and the recent trends.

The issue also includes articles penned down by industry experts. These articles namely, Internet of Things is present in every product we use. How has IOT changed the lives of humans? under Internet of Internet, How is technology going to transform the financial sector under Finance ‘n’ Tech gives a detailed outlook into the happenings of the industry.

Crescent CU

Crescent CU

COVER STORY

10

CMIC, inc.: Pharmaceutical Value Creator

CXO

56

24

INTERNET OF INTERNET Internet of Things is present in every product we use. How has IOT changed the lives of humans?

FINANCE ‘N’ TECH How is technology going to transform the financial sector

ARTICLES 32 LEADERSHIP TRAIT Leadership Shadow: Fading the dark into light

46

60

TECH ZONE The Universality of IoT Technology

HI-TECH NEXUS The Impressive Impact of Organic Networking

20

22

Athena Systems Perfecting the Investment Process for Hedge Funds

BankerBay The Future of Investment Banking

DFNN Technology very much in play

Inti Data Utama An Innovative ERP and Analytics Solution Provider

C O N T BlackSwan Technologies ‘The Intelligence of Everything'

28

30

36

38

42

44

IWN™ A WiFi Wireless Carrier for the Global Rural Communities

NewBanking Enriching Financial Data Protection with Blockchain

QuintessenceLabs Data Security Solutions that Build Quantum Resilience

Seceon Visionary Cybersecurity Leader

Stone & Chalk The Marketplace for FinTechs Breaking the Mould

Websites Depot The Widely-Acclaimed Designing Platform

T E N T 50

52

58

www.inď€ onic.com

Editor-in-Chief Pooja M. Bansal Senior Editor Anish Miller Managing Editor Suhel Mashayak Executive Editor Crescent CU Contributors Anmol Preet Singh, Nibedita Chanda Visualiser David King Art & Design Director Amol Kamble Associate Designer Mayur Koli Co-designer Poonam, Vanshika Art & Picture Editor Paul Belin Jayant Khanna Senior Sales Manager Passi D. Business Development Manager Misty Thomas Marketing Manager Sophie Smith Business Development Executives Sherin Rodricks, Alice Fernandis, Sophie Smith, Swapnali Vasaikar, Kuljet Kour Sales Executives Sophie Smith, Judy Kent, Karen Holland Technical Head Jacob Smile Technical Specialist Amar, Pratiksha Digital Marketing Manager Marry D’Souza Online Marketing Strategist Alina Sege, Shubham Mahadik, Vaibhav K SME-SMO Executives Prashant Chevale, Uma Dhenge, Gemson, Irfan Research Analyst Chidiebere Moses Circulation Manager Robert, Tanaji Database Management Stella Andrew Technology Consultant David Stokes sales@insightssuccess.com

July, 2018 Corporate Ofces: Insights Success Media Tech LLC 555 Metro Place North, Suite 100, Dublin, OH 43017, United States Phone - (614)-602-1754 Email: info@insightssuccess.com For Subscription: www.insightssuccess.com

Follow us on :

Insights Success Media and Technology Pvt. Ltd. Off. No. 513 & 510, 5th Flr., Rainbow Plaza, Shivar Chowk, Pimple Saudagar, Pune, Maharashtra 411017 Phone - India: +91 7410079881/ 82/ 83/ 84/ 85 Email: info@insightssuccess.in For Subscription: www.insightssuccess.in

www.facebook.com/insightssuccess/

www.twitter.com/insightssuccess

We are also available on : Copyright © 2018 Insights Success, All rights reserved. The content and images used in this magazine should not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior permission from Insights Success.

Reprint rights remain solely with Insights Success.

COVER STORY

CMIC, Inc. Pharmaceutical Value Creator

PERFORMING

BIOANALYSIS

‘‘WITH

‘‘

UNCOMPROMISING

PRECISION

The

20

Most

ADMIRED Tech Companies 2018

Mike Suga President & CEO

C

MIC, Inc. is a leading CRO (Contract Research Organization) and a provider specialized in bioanalytical services in support of TK/PK/PD Biomarker studies for pre-clinical and clinical developments. Located in Hoffman Estates, IL, the company provides cutting-edge capabilities and sophisticated expertise in bioanalytical method development, method validation/qualification and study sample analysis for small and large molecules. As a strategic drug development partner, CMIC helps sponsors to overcome challenges in bioanalysis with expertise, rapid turn-around-time, and high-quality services.

CMIC has over 30 years of experience in bioanalytical small molecule analysis and a reputation for excellence and a strong commitment to help improve lives around the world. With a dedication to the drug development market and continued success, CMIC has become a leading CRO in Japan and North America. Today, CMIC continues to grow and expand its facility and capabilities to meet the needs of our clients and the changing drug development environment.

The “CMIC” name originally stood for “Current Medical Information Center”, and the company remains committed to the advancement of medicines and healthcare revolution.

In order to achieve such a goal, the company has set up CMIC CREED, consisting of: • Wellbeing (Fully live every moment) • Challenge (Liberate opportunity by changing our vantage point) • Change (Transform without seeking refuge in conventional wisdom) • Communication (Proactively reach out to people and society)

Pioneering Duo of CMIC, Inc. CMIC, Inc. is Founded by two influential leaders, Mr. Kunio Momiyama and Dr. Kaz Nakamura.

Both founders are so entrepreneurial to create a totally unprecedented business model and were willing to invest based upon their own confidence. Prior to CMIC, Inc. Kunio founded the very first Japanese BioAnalytical lab, Nihon Igaku Rinsho in 1984 and Kaz founded the very first Japanese CRO, CMIC in 1992.

Challenging Journey of CMIC, Inc. The company had two major turning points. The company started lab operation at its purpose-built GLP facility as JCL Bioassay, USA in 2010.

The company’s Japanese HQ, JCL Bioassay and its origin, Nihon Igaku Rinsho were the No. 1 BioAnalytical lab in Japan since its foundation in 1984, but “JCL” name was not known to the U.S. pharmaceutical industry at all. The JCL management during the initial several years needed to be so patient with a long-term vision in order to gain trust and name recognition from U.S. clients.

Another turning point was 2015 when the company joined CMIC Group through CMIC’s acquisition of the entire JCL. Around that time, the BioAnalytical industry was rapidly expanding (and is still doing so) biologics and oligonucleotides solutions, and the CMIC management needed not only to leverage JCL’s excellent heritage in small molecules but also to add state-of-the-art lab infrastructures, advanced analytical instruments, experienced high-quality scientists and professional supporting staff as well as new clients with CMIC’s global coverage. Such lab expansion and service menu addition for a much broader client base took two years to officially announce its completion in 2017.

“

WE REPORTING PROVIDE QUALITY

DATA,

AND

STUDY INTEGRITY

IN

ACCORDANCE

WITH

GOOD LABORATORY

PRACTICE

(GLP) REGULATIONS

This prominent company is specialized in pre-clinical and clinical developments. CMIC today, delivers highest-quality data with a very quick turn-around-time (TAT). Being a renowned drug development partner, CMIC also aids its sponsors in surmounting issues related to Biomarkers and Bioanalysis.

Some of the extraordinary offerings from CMIC; Biomarker CMIC supports exploratory research to fully validated assays covering pre-clinical and clinical studies. When reliable kits are not available, the company develops robust in-house assays using vendor supplied antibodies to create assays. These

assays are either singleplex or multiplex in design. The company has measured over 50+ protein biomarkers in different matrices including serum, plasma, urine, and tissue lysates.

CMIC having a team of scientists with more than 15 years of experience in molecular biology and cell biology in key therapeutic areas, team CMIC believes that they hold a decisive edge in helping clients select the best biomarkers for their programs.

Large Molecules CMIC is one of the leading large molecule bioanalysis labs. In the competitive field of drug development where timely go/no-go decisions must be made to bring effective class-leading drugs to market, CMIC has: • A proven track record of enabling

“

their pharmaceutical clients to succeed in a timely manner.

• A team of technical experts whose breadth of expertise range from molecular and cellular biology to analytical chemistry; covering key therapeutic areas including oncology, immune-oncology, immunology, and neuroscience.

• Excelled at successfully developing and validating the most demanding and challenging assays within the specified deadlines, where others have given up.

At CMIC, company’s tool-box for large molecule contains the latest bioanalytical tools providing versatility for your programs to take advantage of; Cell-Based Assays, Genomics, Proteomics, Preclinical and Clinical Bioanalysis, Small and Large Molecules, Custom Exploratory

MEETING

THE NEEDS OF OUR

CLIENTS

AND THE

CHANGING DRUG

“

Precession and Value Added Benefits

DEVELOPMENT

ENVIRONMENT

Biomarkers, and Laboratories in US and Japan.

Oligonucleotides Since 2012, team CMIC has supported hundreds of studies for oligonucleotide-based drugs, including qualification, full method validation and GLP sample analysis studies for oligonucleotide-based drugs, in tissue and plasma for preclinical and clinical studies.

What Sets CMIC Apart?

• Partnered with recognized global leaders in RNA-targeted discoveries • Nearly 100 individual compounds successfully validated since 2012 • Vast experience with chemically modified oligonucleotides including GalNAc conjugate, cholesterol conjugate, thymidylic acid and phosphate Supported Small Molecule Studies • Validated single methods with up to 6 analytes • Compounds containing radioactive isotopes • Compounds that are highly absorbent (non-specific binding) or have poor stability • Complex matrices: ocular tissue, brain tissue, human tumor tissue, skin patch • Provide prefilled transfer containers to support sample stability at the sites Small molecule bioanalysis is a well-established science, but not all small molecule studies are straight forward – CMIC is a partner that can handle any situation.

Benefits for CMIC Customers As a strategic partner, CMIC helps its clients streamline their drug

development efforts to achieve two goals: • Maximize the probability of success • Minimize drug development time and costs CMIC’s World Class Facility CMIC mirrors its Japanese laboratories to provide a seamless method and knowledge transfer. Company’s GLP-compliant state-of-the-art facility has the capacity to accommodate quick turnaround and high volume projects from around the country. Conveniently located in Hoffman Estates only 20 minutes from Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport, firm’s location in the Midwest allows team CMIC to conveniently serve pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies across the country.

CMIC built this facility in 2008 with the purpose to maximize efficiencies and provide their scientists with a world-class quality environment, CMIC is equipped with the following features: • Biosafety Level 2 lab • UV-free lab • Controlled substance license (schedule III-V) • On-site Emergency back-up power supply • Video security and restricted entry • On site / off site archives • Building management systems • Temperature and humidity monitoring systems • State-of-the-art sample monitoring system (24/7) Quality Instrumentation and Technologies CMIC’s sophisticated analytical instrumentation and advanced technologies produce ultrasensitive analyses. Together with post-collection

“

OUR MISSION

IS TO CONTRIBUTE HIGH TO QUALITY,

EFFICIENT

DRUG

DEVELOPMENT,

AND

CONDUCT SCIENCE

THAT

CONTRIBUTES

TO THE

PUBLIC WELFARE

Highly-Skilled Researchers CMIC researchers are committed to the advancement of medicine. With every project, they provide unsurpassed excellence and innovative solutions driven by CMIC’s core values of trust, teamwork, dedication, respect, and integrity. The company’s highly educated and experienced scientists will work directly with your R&D scientists to ensure that clients get the most from their investment. Their project team is comprised of two technical experts for each assay performed to provide continuous verification of the assay conducted.

CMIC’s Quality Commitment

Future Prospects

The Quality Assurance Unit (QAU) at CMIC, Inc. was established to provide data quality and study integrity in accordance with FDA Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) and 21 CFR Part 11 regulations.

CMIC is rapidly growing in the U.S., and adding new services not only in BioAnalysis (TK/PK/PD biomarker) but also in clinical operation as well as CMC for the U.S. clients. CMIC has been in Japan / Asia Pacific for many years, and will also be in the U.S. a one-stop R&D solution provider (CMIC calls it “Pharmaceutical Value Creator”) in the near future.

“Our vision is to be recognized as a leader in bioanalytical services that clients can trust to deliver high-quality data, rapid turnaround, and unparalleled customer service while making every project a success,” asserts Mike Suga is a President and CEO of CMIC.

CMIC QAU staff members are Registered Quality Assurance Professionals in Good Laboratory Practice (RQAP-GLP) and have more than 25 years of combined experience inspecting and auditing studies designed to comply with the US FDA as well as international regulations such as OECD GLP. Each QAU staff member receives ongoing training and education in Quality Assurance.

“

OUR VISION

BECOME THE MOST RESPECTED AND IS TO

TRUSTED BIOANALYTICAL

“

data analysis and comprehensive quality, CMIC clients will receive the highest quality efficiency and safety data for their compound.

LABORATORIES IN THE

WORLD

SUBSCRIBE

TODAY Never Miss an

Issue

Yes, I would like to subscribe to Insights Success Magazine.

Global Subscription 1 Year.......... (12 Issues) .... $250.00

6 Months ..... (06 Issues) ..... $130.00

3 Months ... (03 Issues) ....

1 Month ...... (01 Issue) .....

$70.00

$25.00

Date :

Name : Address :

Telephone : Email :

City :

State :

Zip :

Country :

Check should be drawn in favor of : INSIGHTS SUCCESS MEDIA TECH LLC

CORPORATE OFFICE Insights Success Media Tech LLC 555 Metro Place North, Suite 100, Dublin, OH 43017, United States Phone - (614)-602-1754,(302)-319-9947 Email: info@insightssuccess.com For Subscription : www.insightssuccess.com

The

20

Most

ADMIRED Tech Companies 2018 Company Name

Management

Brief

Affinity affinity.com

Lavin Punjabi President & CEO

One of the leading contextual ad networks, Affinity offers innovative advertising and monetization solutions for all advertisers and publishers.

Allgress allgress.com

Gordan Shevlin CEO

Allgress helps in reducing the complexity and cost risk management by utilizing automation, streamlined workflows, advanced visualization and the integration of already existing data.

Athena systems athenasystems.com

Stefano Guarnieri President & Director of Product

Athena is a boutique technology firm comprised of veteran developers, integrators, and analysts with extensive experience in capital markets. Its client list includes leading hedge funds, mutual funds, banks, insurance companies and institutional managers.

BankerBay bankerbay.com

Romesh Jayawickrama CEO

BankerBay is the world’s first deal origination platform to use a complex algorithmic approach to match middle-market corporates seeking capital with the most relevant providers of capital anywhere in the world.

BlackSwan blackswantechnologies.ai

Michael Ouliel CEO

BlackSwan Technologies is revolutionizing the data acquisition and monetization market with big data, cognitive computing & artificial intelligence product to become the most futuristic software company.

Bristol is Open bristolisopen.com

Barney Smith CEO

A joint venture between University of Bristol and Bristol City Council, Bristol Is Open develops open programmed city.

CMIC cmic-inc.com

Mike Suga President & CEO

CMIC, Inc. is a leading CRO and a provider specialized in bioanalytical services in support of TK/PK studies for pre-clinical and clinical developments.

DFNN dfnn.com

Calvin Lim President & CEO

DFNN, Inc. is a leading I.T. solutions provider and systems integrator, enabling its clients to compete in an increasingly technology-dependent environment.

Betsy Gorgei Co-founder & CEO

Edge Technologies is a software company which focuses on Information Integration and Data Visualization. The services/products offered here enables quick, role-based visualizations and pre-built data integrations that provide secure access to information.

Steven Davis Co-founder & CEO, Gina Davis President & Co-founder

Intelligent Wireless Networks, Inc. is a provider of rural WiFi networks, applications, and software to support precision farming.

Edge Technologies edge-technologies.com

Intelligent Wireless Networks intelligentwirelessnetworks.com

The

20

Most

ADMIRED Tech Companies 2018 Company Name

Management

Brief

Malaysia myeg.com.my

Wong Thean Soon MD

My E.G Services Berhad is an investment holding company that implements and develops electronic services project.

mindWireless mindwireless.com

David Wise Co-CEO & Co-founder

A technology and outsourcing company, mindWirelwess Inc. offers management services and wireless optimization to organizations in and around US.

MMIS MediSpend medispend.com

Michaeline Daboul President & CEO

MMIS is a cloud-based SaaS solution provider which offers its brilliant advocacy to medical device, bio-pharmaceutical and pharmaceutical companies.

NewBanking newbanking.com

Christian Visti Larsen Co-founder & CEO

NewBanking provides a user identity platform that will allow end-users to verify their identity easily and securely across businesses while at the same having control and ownership of their own data and identity online.

PT Inti Data Utama intidatautama.com

Audie Suhandinata Founder & CEO

Inti Data Utama has emerged as an innovative ERP and analytics platform solutions providers catering to global clients.

QuintessenceLabs quintessencelabs.com

Vikram Sharma CEO

QuintessenceLabs enables the strongest data protection throughout any organization with its suite of key management solutions.

Seceon seceon.com

Chandra Pandey Founder & CEO

Seceon provides an advanced cyber-security threat management platform that detects known and unknown threats in real-time.

Stone & Chalk stoneandchalk.com.au

Alex Scandurra CEO

Stone & Chalk is an independent, nonproďŹ t Fintech hub whose primary objective is to help nurture the development of world-leading Fintech.

Titan Technologies titan-techs.com

Jolly Joseph Director

Titan Technologies is an IT solution and professional services provider company.

Websites Depot Inc. websitesdepot.com

Danny Star Founder & CEO

Websites Depot Inc. is an award-winning Google Partner website design and web development agency.

The

20

Most

ADMIRED Tech Companies 2018

Perfecting the Investment Process for Hedge Funds

P

laying to your strengths and outsourcing the rest” is the current trend of the investment management industry, manifesting most notably in hedge funds. Hedge fund managers have left the operational bloat of investment banks or money managers behind to form their own streamlined firms. In many cases these firms consist of a team of 5-10 professionals who specialized in research, portfolio management, and trading (the “core competencies” of the fund) while all other roles have been automated or outsourced to third-party vendors such as Athena Systems as well as Prime Brokers and Fund Administrators.

In 2005, a team of senior software developers, integrators, and analysts started the financial technology firm, Athena Systems, with a revolutionary vision, to perfect the investment process for its clients.

Athena’s growth is indeed a direct result of executing on this vision.

Athena provides vertically integrated systems that fully automate the front, mid, and back-office workflows of an investment management firm and does so for less than the cost of a new employee. Athena provides a complete system that includes portfolio management, electronic

20

‘

Athena enables a team of five to operate like a team of fifty…

trading, performance measurement, risk analysis, fund accounting, client reporting, and straight through processing.

The Dynamic Leader

Mr. Stefano Guarnieri, the President and Director of Product of Athena Systems, has advanced the product to not only increase the level of automation at an investment management firm, but to do this at a more competitive price point in order to lower the cost of ownership for new hedge funds.

Throughout his career Mr. Guarnieri has demonstrated a deep understanding of the needs of the financial community and how to optimize their workflows. Stefano has 9 years of experience with Macgregor/ITG, where he worked as Platform Architect, Project Lead, and Development Manager. He created a

‘

“

competitive edge at Macgregor/ITG by introducing many features to the Portfolio Management platform such as Multi-Asset support, a novel Multi-Factor Optimizer with real-time solving capabilities, Real Time Market Data Feeds supporting Reuters and Bloomberg, and Fixed Income Electronic Trading supporting TradeWeb and MarketAxess. These features were the key to winning the Waters Magazine 2004 Award celebrating XIP as the Best Portfolio Management platform.

Stefano holds a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Ancona, Italy.

For the last 30 years the founders of Athena have created award-winning systems that enable a small team of talented people, such as a hedge fund, to do the work of hundreds at a traditional firm.

July 2018

Operational controls: Provides CEOs and Risk Managers with transparency into and control over various compliance requirements including Pre and Post Regulatory Compliance, Enforcement of Investment Guidelines, Notification of Share Ownership Filing Requirements, Enforcement of Trader and PM limits, and any custom rules or limits.

Automation: Automation gives fund employees the tools they need to work fast. These tools include Electronic Trading Connectivity, Automatic File Generation, Automated Positional Trade, Cash Reconciliations, and Trade Allocation, Calculation, and Optimization Engines.

Stefano Guarnieri President & Director of Product

Services and Sophisticated Strategies Athena Systems provides an integrated investment management solution for hedge funds and other alternative asset managers. Athena gives an investment manager with 50 million to 5 billion in AUM the same level of automation, analytics, and controls as an investment manager with 100 billion in AUM. Athena allows a team of five to operate like a team of fifty; allowing investment managers to focus on generating returns for their investors.

Athena Systems develops and supports the Spark platform for hedge funds. Spark is the only system on the market to provide unified Front, Mid, and Back-Office Features. These features increase performance manage risk, save time, and lower operational costs.

Athena’s Spark Platform Spark is the only system on the market to provide unified which covers all of the requirements at a hedge fund, including:

Flexibility: Configurable systems such as Athena’s Spark and Athena’s Spark Platform provide both effortless workflows and top marks on investor due diligence reviews.

Investing on Investors The research team at Athena works closely with investment manager and allocators as well as industry groups, to not only to stay on top of new regulation but in some cases to help craft it. Athena has automated the controls and reporting requirements for recent regulations such as: MiFID II/MiFIR, GDPR, Various Global Cyber Security Regulations, UK Takeover Panel, and European Ownership.

Implementation of AI The consulting arm of Athena has already helped portfolio managers in creating research projects to explore AI. The recent projects include machine reading electronic filings and correlating these to price movements as well as using machine learning to understand the liquidity risks of preferred stocks.

Realtime Portfolio & Trade Monitoring: Portfolio and trade monitoring allows managers to keep track of contribution to risk and reward on both the summary and detail level. These metrics include Holdings, Trade status, P&L, Risk and Stress-Tests, Flash-NAV, and Cash Monitoring.

July 2018

21

The

20

Most

ADMIRED Tech Companies 2018

BankerBay The Future of Investment Banking

At the Helm Romesh Jayawickrama, CEO and Founder of BankerBay, has over twenty years of investment banking experience. Having started his career in London, he later moved to Singapore where he spent several years working at traditional investment banks. After

22

‘

The rapid growth BankerBay has seen in terms of membership, as well as deal flow, are a testament to the fact that the industry has adopted BankerBay’s technology to simplify their deal sourcing requirements

experiencing years of frustration with the lack of evolution at these big banks, he left to set up his own boutique advisory firm that focused on middle market companies requiring capital.

This background, both at the big banks and at his private boutique firm, led to the identification of a much bigger systemic problem in the industry. It was all dependent on human capital - a resource which was scaled back dramatically during the financial crisis.

It also relied more on the strength of a personal network than the merits of the actual deal. Jayawickrama felt this time consuming and inefficient process was no longer acceptable, and certainly not necessary. Being a leader who believes in intelligently improving outmoded,

‘

T

echnological innovation is rapidly disrupting the traditional investment bank’s role and relevance in the deal making process. One company that has contributed significantly to this disruption is BankerBay, the world’s largest investment banking platform.

The company is focused on replacing the time consuming and labour-intensive parts of the deal origination process with efficient, scientifically precise, and scalable solutions. Used by leading financial institutions across the globe, the platform is an efficient replacement and enhancement of the traditional deal origination process, connecting qualified corporate seekers of capital with institutional providers, worldwide. In a little less than four years, BankerBay has solidified its position as the largest investment banking platform with close to 27,000 registered members, over USD 250 billion in current live deals and approximately USD 30 billion in new deals being submitted to the platform every month.

laborious workflows with the help of technology, he established BankerBay to solve these problems.

A Truly Global Company BankerBay was established to ensure that every single mid-market company in the world that needed capital, wherever they were based and regardless of who they knew, could have access to the most appropriate capital for their company based on merit and fundamentals.

With BankerBay, private equity funds and investment banks looking to invest in companies can access qualified deals from firms looking to raise capital for their business. This converts the manual, unscientific, slow and

July 2018

members, with 1,000 new members being added each month. These include 134 of the Fortune 500, and some of the biggest global names in private equity and banking.

BankerBay members have access to the largest platform of deals in the world – over USD 250 billion in live, curated deals today.

BankerBay delivers a curated list of potential investment opportunities or sources of capital in not weeks or months, but minutes, allowing its users to deploy their human capital on higher value tasks up the chain. The rapid growth BankerBay has seen in terms of membership, as well as deal flow, is a testament to the fact that the industry has adopted BankerBay’s technology to simplify their deal sourcing requirements.

Romesh Jayawickrama CEO

expensive deal origination process into a technologydriven, automated, scientifically precise, fast and cost effective one. BankerBay frees up the time of its users by reducing the work of hundreds of man-hours to a matter of minutes, and allowing them to focus their limited resources on deal closure rather than sourcing.

A Laborious Process Reduced to a Matter of Minutes In just a few easy steps, BankerBay helps members raise capital, buy and sell companies, locate potential investments and new clients. BankerBay uses powerful, proprietary machine-learning algorithms and a team of expert analysts to match requirements entered by its members. BankerBay isn’t designed or meant to replace in-person meetings. It is a platform to better source information and opportunities, prior to committing valuable resources further.

BankerBay is the only platform that is curated, vetting every single new client and deal before they go live on the platform. It rejects approximately 30 percent of the deals submitted to the platform each month for a multitude of reasons, as the quality of deal flow is of utmost importance.

BankerBay operates on a confidential no-name basis, only revealing contact details once both parties have chosen to be introduced.

A Digital Transformation The scope for a platform such as BankerBay is virtually limitless. New technologies have the potential to solve simple, repetitive or time consuming tasks. For instance, BankerBay uses natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning to understand investment mandates in order to match them to relevant qualified deals – all without expending human capital or time in the process. At BankerBay, the underlying belief is that challenges stem from how people use technology and not the technology itself.

Looking to the Future BankerBay is constantly innovating and building towards excellence. The company’s ultimate goal is to transform the entire mid-market deal sourcing and execution space using BankerBay. This would mean that any participants involved in global mid-market deals would use BankerBay as their primary tool, supplemented by additional machine learning and predictive analytical products that will move the platform and our industry from descriptive analytics to predictive. The organization will be introducing blockchain features and the development of additional enterprise products in the near future.

Simplifying the Deal Sourcing Process BankerBay currently has close to 27,000 registered

July 2018

23

FINANCE ‘N’ TECH

About the Author Koichiro Yoshida is the President and CEO of CrowdWorks. He founded CrowdWorks Inc, in 2011 which provides the Japan’s largest crowd sourcing service and has taken lead in offering.

The company was listed on TSE Mothers in 2014 and provides services to over 1.87 million crowd-workers which includes, 12 government institutions and 240,000 companies as of June,2018. In 2015,he was awarded to Workstyle Innovative Award in Japan’s Venture Company Award of Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry proposed

by Shinzo-Abe Prime Minister.

24

July 2018

F

How Is Technology Going To Transform The Financial Sector July 2018

intech (Finance + Technology) is one of most significant trends in the world. Transformational technologies, such as smartphones, smartwatches, blockchain, P2P network, cryptography, machine learning and optimization algorithms will rapidly and drastically convert the current financial world. In my opinion, there are four mega-trends in this area: 1) Cashless Society, 2) Rise of the Consumer Credit Economy, 3) Cryptocurrency and Financial System Reform via Blockchain Technology, and 4) Trade Automation using Machine Learning.

Cashless Society Firstly, digital payments using smartphones and smartwatches are expected to further accelerate. In Japan, contactless payment systems such as SUICA and PASMO are widespread, but using smartphones for payment will become the norm. I am convinced that in the near future, you won’t need to use a real credit card, but you can pay for your dinner by simply using a smartphone at the restaurant, and you can transfer money to your friend using your smartphone. Alipay and WeChat Pay have already started to reform the way money is used, and China is now shifting to a Cashless Society. In the U.S., Venmo and CASH App are used for transferring money to each other, making cash unnecessary.

Japan will also adapt to such, where there will be an enormous opportunity for business. In the next few years, many startups will produce products that will lead to a cashless society.

The Rise of the Consumer Credit Economy Second is the “Consumer Credit Economy”. With the spread of the Internet and SNS, there is a significant change in how individuals work, and how one obtains credit. In the last century, corporations had considerable authority, and personal trust depended on the type and size of the companies they engaged with. But now, data of an individual’s skills, expertise and career are stored on the Internet and SNS, and in some cases, the number of followers on Twitter / Instagram and friends on Facebook may be more important than what kind of company you work for (there are people who have many followers called “Influencers”). In addition to this trend, individual workers

25

such as users of Crowdsourcing platforms (e.g., CrowdWorks), can earn more than those who work for a company. In the U.S., “Freelancing in America 2017”, the survey conducted by independent research firm Edelman Intelligence and commissioned in partnership by Upwork and Freelancers Union showed that the number of freelance workers is 57.3 million last year, an increase of over 4 million since 2014. In addition, based on the survey, it is predicted that the majority of the U.S. workforce will be freelancers within a decade (by 2027). With acceleration in such direction, the way of personal credit will change. In the last century, individual workers, freelancers, and small business owners had difficulty to get credit and loans from financial institutions. However now, on Kabbage.com, small business owners can get quick access to working capital by SNS information. In China, Sesame Credit, a subsidiary of the e-commerce giant Alibaba, uses data to create a score for each person based on how trustworthy they are, and high-scored users can gain various benefits such as social security and welfare, the right to be admitted to expensive private schools, and smooth clearance of Chinese customs. As these examples show, a flexible social system optimized for each individual starts to emerge. Of course, countless companies will invent some revolutionary financial product such as insurance and lending services for individual workers in the next few years, and many Fintech startups will intensely endeavor to produce such products.

Cryptocurrency and Financial System Reform via Blockchain Technology The third is blockchain and cryptography technology. As you know, blockchain is a necessary technology, the core of which is an “open and distributed ledger” and cryptocurrency is one of the hottest applications of blockchain. Cryptocurrency, represented by Bitcoin, has a tremendous impact on the economy, and is creating a new ecosystem. The combination of cryptography, P2P network and blockchain is very compelling, and it may eliminate the existing model of currency and the way money is transferred. The market value of Bitcoin is now over 10 billion US dollars.

audit, credit investigation, and transaction management.

With blockchain, the system records all data in a block, and the applicants of the network monitor each other’s data correctness, making blockchain secure by design and exemplifies a distributed computing system. With this kind of distributed system, the overhead fees currently charged will be close to zero. There are many possibilities, such as most business processes of the traditional financial institutions would be automated and decentralized by blockchain, and some blockchain companies like Bitfury and bitFlyer would begin to provide blockchain technology to existing banks and financial institutions. In addition, I am convinced that a future would come where venture companies and startups will invent new insurance products (such as automated credit surveys), and unique real estate transaction structures using blockchain.

Trade Automation using Artificial Intelligence The last is the rise of Artificial Intelligence, represented by Machine Learning / Deep Learning. “AI” has started to change the structure of the financial industry. For example, Goldman Sachs, one of the world’s largest financial institutions, has reported that they have automated trading

by Machine Learning and drastically reduced the number of traders in the company, and now there are only two persons who work as traders. In Silicon Valley, some “AI hedge funds” have begun to appear recently, where AI completely judges an investment without human intervention. As these examples show, AI can drastically improve productivity of trading businesses that are based on algorithms, eliminating need for human intervention to a bare minimum.

High-speed trading (HFT) has become a popular topic of conversation, made possible with increased computer performance and algorithm evolution, is exceeding speeds beyond human ability. Machine learning has enormous potential to transform the financial business structure.

As I described above, there are many possibilities where transformational technologies are revolutionizing the financial industry, and I’m extremely optimistic about the future. I look forward to a great future, and our lives will evolve for the better.

But blockchain technology represented by Ethereum is not limited to cryptocurrency, but to various fields such as

26

July 2018

Critical

The

20

Most

ADMIRED Tech Companies 2018

BlackSwan Technologies

‘

‘The Intelligence of Everything’

T

he evolution of computing involved numerous changes and groundbreaking upgrades to optimize the computing experience to what it is today. It all started with hardware that had giant machines consuming lots of resources and offering only basic calculations. These machines were then backed up by software programs and the internet, and the era of modern computing took off thereafter. We are in the midst of a digital revolution. Data is the new natural resource of the world.

A cognitive organization is one that connects diverse types of data, changes the way people and stakeholders interact with the data and allows each member of the organization to access information that is relevant to their work, in order to answer the most complex business questions, uncover patterns or emerging trends and seek breakthrough ideas that will change their business for the better. The modern generation of computing has inculcated Artificial Intelligence.

Demand for AI is growing and many companies are looking for providers to meet their needs.

One such company that entwines artificial intelligence with its enterprise clients’ IT infrastructure is BlackSwan Technologies. It is a Big Data, cognitive computing and artificial intelligence Product Company, which provides large enterprises with a powerful AI Operating System. This enables enterprises to independently

28

‘

At BlackSwan Technologies we don’t just try to play the game better, we look to altogether playing a different game

develop any solution to from mitigating risk to generate new business while digitalizing legacy practices, enhance efficiencies and create new opportunities.

BlackSwan Technologies is revolutionizing the data acquisition and monetization market with its breakthrough product, ELEMENT. The software enables enterprises to acquire, own, control, manage and personalize their data assets, thereby drastically changing the way enterprises monetize data assets either internally, externally and combined. ELEMENT proactively collects, extract infers, connects unrelated entities and events, resolves entities while building unprecedented knowledge graphs, recommendations and actionable insights.

With ELEMENT, enterprises can independently build all types of applications, combining internal and external information to reduce risks and errors, eliminate waste, increase downstream/upstream operations visibility, improve accountability and compliance.

Vision of the Torchbearer Michael Ouliel, the CEO of BlackSwan Technologies, had a vision to enable the “Intelligence of everything” through the company. His idea was to introduce the power of intelligence to data intensive enterprises. His continuous interactions with cutting-edge technologies and methodologies helped him realize that a technological evolution was shaping up in the world of cognitive computing.

Michael is an expert in intelligence, and technology sectors for more than 20 years. Prior to BlackSwan, he was the founder and CEO of Ripples HLS Group, and a Senior Strategic Advisor to Oracle Corp in the areas of Intelligence, National/Homeland and Cyber Security One Company One Solution BlackSwan technologies believe that it is better to analyze the root of all challenges than focus on one specific challenge. And the root here was the underutilization of data. The company discovered that it becomes complicated for enterprises to assign multiple

July 2018

rely on a mix of cloud and on-premise systems, in multiple formats, languages, and values. BlackSwan Technologies solution effectively addresses the above. Key underlying technologies are integrated in one single schemaless platform, that takes care of everything from data acquisition to the creation of relevant insights, but also the must have enterprise operational capacities such as case management, BPM, BRA, Score engine, etc. allowing for the rapid creation of applications that encapsulates full scope of business needs across the customer lifecycle, specifically tailored for one’s business.

Michael Ouliel CEO

vendors for multiple solutions. This leads to multiple software licenses, multiple proprietary data models, high operational costs and miscommunication. BlackSwan Technologies’ ELEMENT offers a paradigm shift, by addressing the entire data lifecycle, and can either complement existing assets, augment available infrastructure or replace them altogether.

Element of Customer Satisfaction BlackSwan delivers solutions in various areas from reduction of risk and costs to better customer experience and new business opportunity identification. One of its customers, a top class global bank boasts a compliance cost of 7% of total expenditure which is not unusual in the current environment. ELEMENT managed the entire compliance process and delivered 50% reduction in operational costs with doubled analyst’s productivity.

ELEMENT has also helped a Top 5 global insurer by manifesting itself as an end to end Cyber underwriting platform for acquisition of customers, risk analysis, personalization and ongoing risk modeling based on the collection of unbiased data residing outside of the organization. The customer now controls 35% of the cyber insurance global market.

Challenges from Technology One of the challenges in technology is to effectively implement it and derive value from the same. There are other challenges as well, such as business data still residing within a hodgepodge of internal and external sources that

July 2018

Stand Out and Deliver There are numerous benefits that differentiate BlackSwan Technology from the competition. First and foremost, ELEMENT is a readymade ‘of the shelve’ product combines technologies, best practices and knowledge, to cover the entire data life cycle, from acquisition, through interpretation and prediction, to deliver immediate operational benefits. Ease of use is at the core of company’s solution with strong focus on ensuring intuitive navigation and ability to quickly get the desired results, problem-free.

ELEMENT is a complete White Box allowing its customers access and ownership on every step, process, technology and algorithm inside the system.

In addition, while the massive excitement about AI and data science in the market ELEMENT is also offers strong wide and deep enterprise capabilities. Tools such as Case Management, BPM, Score Engine and Questioner builder are well embedded thus giving the enterprise the experience he is so familiar with empowered by 22nd century technology.

But the most impressive fact is that any enterprise can self-build a PoV within 12 weeks and having any production ready enterprise level application in 5 months.

Blackswan Technologies is really offering the ‘Intelligence of Everything’.

Future of AI based Computing The company is set to deliver the following: • Extended production agreements with landmark names in Financial Services Industry.

• release the product for wide and global usage via its community license scheme.

• Working round the clock on completely disrupting the way data is acquired and consumed.

• Democratization of Data acquisition and Artificial Intelligence.

29

The

20

Most

ADMIRED Tech Companies 2018

T

echnological advances in the past few decades have significantly increased the competitive nature of the economic business world. Companies have used software, computers and the internet to transform their businesses from local to global market competitors. Many companies have responded to these changes by automating their business processes and capturing industry-related information and using it to their advantage. Technology has also forced businesses to remain flexible, adapting their operations to newer and better technological advances.

DFNN is such a company, providing flexibility as well as functioning as an adapting leading I.T. solutions provider, systems integrator, and gaming solution provider. Since 1999, the Company has enabled its customers to compete in an increasingly technology-dependent environment. Backed by its domain expertise in financial services, the company has become a proprietary software technology, wireless, and secure solutions partner of leading corporations and institutions.

The Technophile Leader The current President and CEO of DFNN is Calvin Lim, appointed in

30

‘

Technology very much in play

Our primary focus is to provide the best possible experience and service to our technology platform operators and end-users

‘

March 2018. The new president has over 15 years of experience overseeing operations in the software and development and gaming industry. He holds an executive MBA from the National University of Singapore with a diploma in Computer Science and Information Technology from the Asia Pacific University. He also co-founded and served as an operating officer of Nogle Ltd, a venture studio for early-stage startups in Hong Kong.

Calvin Lim, states, “Internally, as a company, our most treasured resources are our employees. As such, we aim to empower them and increasingly involve them in the vision and growth for the Group as a whole. Together, we aim to build on the Group’s core competencies while adding additional revenue streams within related avenues in the technology sector.”

Advancing Business and Pioneering Technology PSE-listed DFNN has competencies in high volume and secure financial transactions, software development, I.T. support services, secure platform development, and turnkey implementation. Its subsidiary, iWave Inc. is a leading company in the Philippines that specializes in designing and developing turnkey solutions for the information system requirements of bank-grade financial institutions. In February of this year, iWave signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Cagayan Economic Zone Authority (CEZA) and Tokyo-listed financial services company, Traders Holdings Co. Ltd. The memorandum gives iWave the opportunity to be a part of the first Asian-located Special Economic Zone focused on the continuous development of financial technologies.

July 2018

leverage their existing I.T. investments, manpower, and newer applications that may need integrations with mature systems.

In gaming solutions, the company’s powerful combination of game content and technology has resulted in revenue-enhancing solutions for its customers. DFNN is delivering innovative game content through its partnered software providers who are some of the most reputable in the industry. The enterprise continues to transform the quality and service of its products, systems, and solutions to support and expand sales.

Calvin Lim President & CEO

Adrenaline Inside DFNN is one of the fastest growing enterprises in the Philippines especially in providing gaming solutions.

The company realized that many of its developed technologies and project management experience deployed at its various financial institutional clients are also capable of being customized and used in a gaming environment. Both financial and gaming industries require secure environments to operate. With the advent of the gaming industry, both land-based and electronic, DFNN has created a profitable niche that caters to the needs of the emerging Asian Gaming Market. Its wholly-owned subsidiary, Inter-Active Entertainment Solutions Technologies, Inc. (IEST) is the owner and operator of multiple gaming licenses issued by the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR). The enterprise has an electronic gaming machine (EGM) license operating under the brand name, ‘Instawin’ and a sports betting exchange license operating under the brand name, ‘Xchangebet.’

Its gaming platform, ‘Instawin’, is the most comprehensive suite of games in the Philippines’ e-Casino Market and ‘Xchangebet’ is the first and only betting exchange license and facility in the country.

Software partners of the enterprise are some of the most respected game content providers in the world who share their passion and listen to the market needs of local and cultural tastes.

Pioneering Breakthroughs for the Future The firm believes that there is a lot of room for innovation in financial technology, and is aiming to pioneer breakthroughs in the blockchain and cryptocurrency sectors.

DFNN will continue to invest in its innovative gaming technologies to deliver exciting, new content through leading technology to maximize the gaming revenue stream. The Company’s gaming solutions span the capability for wireless gaming, game creation, and gaming related project management and software outsourcing. The corporation will cater its gaming products to the needed business processes of legal gaming entities operating in legal gaming jurisdictions.

Not Just for Profit, But for People.

An integral part of DFNN’s services is to help companies integrate technology, business processes and people while they focus on their core business and their customers. Businesses enjoy DFNN solutions by integrating their processes with technologies that

July 2018

31

LEADERSHIP TRAIT

FADING THE DARK INTO LIGHT

32

July 2018

L

eadership is not about individuals, it’s about the relationship between a leader and his followers and that’s why Warren Bennis has said: “A leader doesn’t just get the message across; he is the message”. A Shadow is defined as a dark area where light is blocked by an opaque object. Shadow, in this case, is a metaphor and relates to the leader’s character, relationship, integrity and work ethic. Leadership is a concept that posits that leaders affect those who they lead. Leadership shadow is not a new concept, yet it has to secure its position in the world. A leader’s action, messages, words, behavior, and attitude flow into its followers directly and indirectly. A leader sometime has the most subtle indirect shadow that has the biggest impact even though it’s less visible. This shadow is one such property required by an individual to be a front runner in the corporate world. It is difficult to see, but its shape and clarity will reach everyone who follows them. A wise leader makes prudent decisions and travels the road less taken thus leaving behind the legacy that is unmatchable. Shadows, in-terms of psychology can be defined as “those untamed emotions and behavior that lie, largely unconsciously beneath the surface of our lives”.

These shadows have positive and negative attributes that individuals possess but they are not aware of. Negative attributes are those hostile wounds which can sabotage someone’s success and relationship with others. Positive attributes are the survival strategies that help in coping up with negative attributes.

Blown-out overall image A 2014 study found that 40% of workers would rate their bosses a ‘B’ grade for overall management skills. In a 2012 survey, workers said that their bosses misbehaved even saying that they displayed inappropriate behavior, bad language, and bullying. Few other surveys suggest that their managers are doing inadequate work. In the fast-paced, interconnected and immensely competitive world, this growing problem is increasing rapidly and causes rifts between leader and followers. The tensions that these rifts trigger are the negative shadows. Followers also ignore program and services that their manager thinks invaluable.

This diminishes the possibilities of learning and development.

Understanding the other side of the story Individuals work hard; and push themselves every day trying to reach the top tier of an organization. Sometimes,

July 2018

in ascending the ladder of success, personal and business catastrophes emerges among the co-workers. Executives have such power influences overs the others, without their own awareness. The demand and responsibilities of a job often makes bosses hard to understand the impact of their shadows. The higher they go, the responsibilities get bigger and so does the shadows. They have to get the work done which creates psychological demands. They get stuck into antisocial, workaholic and sometimes depressing states.

These states complicate and make difficulties in understanding the dynamics and repercussions of the impact that their shadow generates. Sometimes these shadows go so much deep that it turns into a blind big black spot. These powerful heads have to understand that the employees not only mirror their boss but take cues after them. Mirroring boss is a safe strategy to stay healthy in the corporate world. A move, smart or dumb is accessed by everyone around the whole company. Leaders should be aware of what they say, what they prioritize and how they get the work done. By doing deficient leadership, they fail to find the inspiration and in inspiring others because of they’re even bigger getting a negative shadow. A leader also reaches the slippery point in career and starts to get comfortable into the role. At this point, a leader ignores his duties and depends upon their juniors to complete the work.

Attitude towards the role Every leader should embrace his/her shadows. These contain the positive and negative experiences of life. These are the experiences that have empowered them to be someone’s boss. Embracing these shadows will give them huge relief, and more importantly, leaders should acknowledge the dark side without being afraid. They should be aware of their actions and messages both internally and externally. Accessing these sides will help them in creating their organization more humane, friendly, approachable and connected. Acknowledging weakness will surge more respect among the workers and the strengths in inspiring. Relying on others in weakness will generate the highest marks. The famous formula “E+R=O” i.e.

“Events+Response=outcome” is the perfect solution of maintaining the engagements. Any leader must remember that the culture of any organization is shaped by any type of behavior if only a leader is willing to tolerate. It’s up to individuals how they want to cast their shadow on their followers and themselves on black-to-white colour spectrum.

33

The

20

Most

ADMIRED Tech Companies 2018

An Innovative ERP and Analytics Solution Provider

One such company which has placed its bet on ERP for its future growth is PT. Inti Data Utama (IDU).

Incorporated in 1999, it focuses on delivering world-class ERP and business analytics solutions to early stage organizations, SME’s using

36

‘

T

he growth of ERP is nothing less than phenomenal. Over the time, it has proved to be among one of the best tools for managing procedures and resources along with coordinating multiple activities. In an enterprise management module performing key tasks like integral strategic planning, collating daily activities, and communicating with the stakeholders has become easier with the advent of the ERP platform. Aligning various components of the business into a single management system provides a detailed insight of entire organization. Additionally, with the amalgamation of ERP’s ability to consolidate extensive data into one platform and innovative BI tools, ERP and BI are working together to provide an effective data-based decision to businesses. ERP has a strong market share and independent researchers suggest that global ERP market is expected to amass forty-one billion USD, registering a CAGR of 7.2% during the period 2014-2020.

We believe in delivering values and creating success stories in our experiences and projects

‘

innovative technologies. Consulting and Finance are the core competencies of IDU since inception.

Their strategy to cement themselves as a complete solution provider has assisted them to evolve as a prominent player in providing effective ERP and analytics solutions.

Modernizing solutions for various industry verticals like travel management, manufacturing, wholesale distribution, real estate, automotive dealership and healthcare has assisted IDU to showcase their potential and efficiency in delivering customized solutions to their clients.

Aligning with major IT companies to form a bigger group to provide different solutions under a single roof has helped IDU to enhance its foot base even into the unexplored territories. This has further strengthened the capabilities of IDU to provide solution in diverse areas

like ERP, analytics, eCommerce, HRIS, and infrastructure to name a few.

The Tenacious Leader of IDU Audie Suhandinata, Founder and CEO of Inti Data Utama is a perfect example of a pragmatic business leader. Having a practical and futuristic approach, he has been influential in creating an enabling environment for the change and transformation to happen. Audie is a science graduate as well as an MBA in management information system from California State University, Pomona (USA). He commenced his professional career as a management consultant and financial advisor in ‘Ernst and Young’ consultancy in Jakarta. His exposure in managing different engagements like ERP implementation, performance audit, SOP development and business process improvement at the start of

July 2018

Salesforce Salesforce is a pioneer in reinventing the CRM platform.

Headquartered in San Francisco, California, the cloud-based software is one of the most highly valued cloud enabled companies and has been a preferred choice for clients.

Awards, Accolades and Achievements As a prominent player in the ERP market, IDU’s domain expertise has won them various awards and recognitions over the years. Some of the mentionable awards are:

Audie Suhandinata Founder & CEO

his career assisted him to outshine as a future entrepreneur. After a stint of two years at EY, Audie founded IDU in 1999.

Partnering with SAP vendors – Key to Success IDU has partnered with some of the best global ERP vendors to cater innovative solutions to their clients. This association helps IDU to showcase their business acumen and expertize among the partners and prospective clients. Some of its mentionable partners are: SAP SE SAP SE is a German-based MNC and is the market leaders in ERP segment with a myriad of product portfolios to cater SME’s. It develops enterprise software to manage business operations and customer relations and provides ERP solutions to various sectors which include – finance, manufacturing, healthcare, CRM, supply chain, analytics among others.

Epicor Epicor is a US-based company and a worldwide leading software vendor specializing in providing ERP, CRM, and SCM solutions. It offers a wide variety of solutions for industries like hospitality, manufacturing, pharmaceutical and others. IDU is an authorized Epicor channel partner in Indonesia.

July 2018

- Rookie of the Year – EPICOR ERP Asia Pacific (Year 2014) - Top New Names – SAP Indonesia (Year 2008) - Channel Partner Achievers Award – SAP South East Asia (Year 2007) - Fastest Growing Partner – SAP Indonesia (Year 2016) - First Partner Position – SAP Indonesia (Year 2016) - First Partner Position – SAP Indonesia (Year 2017) Future of ERP Industry As a market leader in innovative ERP and analytics solution provider, IDU has a conceptualized the future roadmap of the company after gaining valuable insights through a detailed study of the ERP market that too with great precision. As a partner, IDU continues to follow the latest trends and technology designed by the industry giant like SAP SE and Salesforce. They have also partnered with an analytics firm from Japan to provide deeper insights to tap the future IoT market. Their focus area is to develop the enhancements received from the principal partners whenever a transition of technology takes place. For IDU, digital economy is still an unexplored domain where ERP solutions can highlight their dominance and can provide better opportunities.

Another area where ERP solutions can be more effective is by embracing IoT and automation as robotics and artificial intelligence enabled technologies will have a much increased market share in the future.

37

The

20

Most

ADMIRED Tech Companies 2018 TM

A WiFi Wireless Carrier for the Global Rural Communities

Since 2013, it has been involved in rural economic development with IBM, California State agencies, US Government agencies, local and regional broadband consortiums and many more entities. In order to truly provide the services of quality high speed internet to the under or UN served areas of the world, the expertise in wireless communications has created their own Wireless Internet Service Provider model and which became a key to their service.

IWN™ uses state of the art wireless networking, combined with decades of cellular network engineering, design and building to offer the world first hybrid wireless network

38

‘

N

owadays, tech companies are moving at a fast pace and improving the agile strategies in order to transform the market with their own enterprise solutions and products. One of the company which wants to lead on its own field is Intelligent Wireless Networks (IWN™), a rural Internetification Company of the 21st century. It builds the infrastructure and required network components from single lines of service to a full community WiFi network for rural towns, villages or any community globally.

If you just want to make a little money and enjoy top quality service and a kind financial freedom business opportunity selling; We have your back

‘

carrier company. It can bring high speed internet to any part of the globe. Intelligent Wireless Networks today can even equip mars with internet. Steven Davis, CEO and Founder quoted, “Even we have the confidence to set up and provide network on mars too”.

The company’s newest offering to the rural communities is the world’s first Multi-Level Marketing (MLM) style Wi-Fi business model. Its in-house patent pending opportunity offers the ability to purchase simple internet service, free internet and make a little money and a proven business model to financial freedom.

The Industrial Experts

IWN™ was jointly founded by Steven Davis and Gina Davis.

Steven is the CEO and Founder of

IWN™, who implemented a unique skill set of communications in developing the unreserved communities. His expansive range of knowledge from the wireless communication world, traditional wireline to network construction has made him to make use of everyday life and work upon it. Each time, he has positioned himself to be a part of the evolutionary changes in applied technologies within telecommunications and to provide superior expertise to the enterprise levels, professional sports and entertainment.

Presently, Steven is focusing to change the game by placing the communications power of access in the hands of the 21st century communities to make this world a better place to live.

July 2018

in wireless networking and design and to build a network with folks in their own communities.

Future Roadmap Since, IWN™ is part of a SEC approved fund that will be going to IPO (Initial public offering) soon. It is planning to expand its boundaries into new counties and become the world’s largest community based and partially owned internet provider. It is having letter of intent with several counties and municipalities in order to get more unserved regions which are certainly a part of their mission.

Steven Davis Co-founder & CEO

IWN’s Wi-Fi Wireless Carrier Model IWN™ is a true Wi-Fi wireless carrier model.

Everything it does is taken from the model adopted by the way like all the cellular providers operate. It serves the people with their time learning techniques and unique approach.

It is the only rural carrier company that addresses network in fields on farms where the food is grown and has pulled together to become the best in the world on their own field to provide seamless opportunities to the rural customers of the forgotten region.

In August 2018, Newswatch on AMC will be launching their new IWN™ infomercial. The company is very excited to share their culture and opportunity to the world - A new way of Playing business and living life each moment.

When asked about the future, Gina Davis, the President and Co-founder commented, “We want to turn the power of business and innovation back around into the creator’s hands and have the investment community pay to get involved by using our state of the art and lowest cost organically structured campus. With this we plan to uncover new power options for our sites and customers as well as other things to use and sell in your IWN™/Space Between business.”

Most of their customers have never seen what anything more than a DSL line or a satellite service will offer.

Once the customers trust the speeds and reliability, then they can purchase new devices for home and office.

Alexa, Netflix, and Pandora radio are some entertainment upgrades on cameras, remote sensors, pump and valve controls weather stations in the field, water valves and much more on the farm.

Nowadays, it is offering Linden, CA and moving to the global stage in Canada and Africa. Further, this incredible opportunity has already born with the MLM P.O.D. owner, Agtech- Mafia Space Between World.

IWN™ emphasis is on providing a superior product line

July 2018

39

The

20

Most

ADMIRED Tech Companies 2018

Enriching Financial Data Protection with Blockchain

NewBanking was established in 2015 with the aim of providing a user identity platform that will allow end-users to verify their identity easily and securely while having control and ownership of data and identity online.

The service solves the regulatory challenges faced by the financial institutions, especially the 4th and now 5th European Anti-Money Laundering (AML) directive and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

The Charismatic Leader Christian Visti Larsen, the charismatic CEO of NewBanking, has more than 15 years of experience in Banking, Financial Legislation, Fintech and Payment Solutions sector.

He was the dynamic CFO and head of strategy in Coinify, the biggest European Blockchain payment gateway prior to NewBanking. He held management positions in Danske Bank, KPMG and was one of the first to obtain an e-money license from the Danish Financial Services Authority.

Graduated as a financial auditor and with several years of working as an internal auditor within the large

42

‘

F

inTech is not a mere buzzword anymore. It has evolved, elevated in many ways and has turned to be a major disruption with the unstoppable advancements of technology.

New technology requires a new way of thinking and requires a great deal of changes – both in the way consumers are approached, but also on how the technology is integrated

‘

financial institution, Christian has crafted his strategies with tinges of innovativeness, with the sheer understanding of the regulatory framework.

“Dealing with financial regulation, consumer data protection and large “old” financial entities requires a significant talent for multiple stakeholder management”, Christian reflects.

“Finally”, he adds, “keep looking at the financial services and engagement as it could be, not being blindfolded on what the sector think it should look like.”

Exceptional Ways of Service According to Christian, letting customers to have full transparency on the data stored by them, can definitely play a game-changer. Just for the fact

that transparency is the key unique service for this industry in particular, the whole KYC embedded audit trail has been proved to be valuable.

Surpassing Challenges along the Way The financial industry is facing compliance challenges throughout the years. Increased regulatory requirements are costly and don’t provide a competitive advantage.

Being fast and flexible is the first and foremost requirement in any business; the industry has been left behind because of its slower internal process.

As the financial institutions are specially exposed to regulatory burdens, maintaining the innovative atmosphere becomes very hard.

“The more complex the regulation, the more services like ours are needed.

Increasing complex regulation is also

July 2018

when the first contact is made until the right to be forgotten is executed.

Benefits derived

Christian Visti Larsen Morten Helles CEO

Co-founder

driven by the increase of digitalization – so if you on the forefront of digitalization it can create business opportunities both on the short and long term”, Christian reflects on the strategy behind coping up with the challenges.

Digitizing Financial Scenario with Blockchain NewBanking uses Blockchain (private blockchain) as an audit trail databases and security. As a part of the international ISO standardized workforce, the company definitely knows where the pitfalls with the Blockchain lies.

Information stored on a blockchain still needs to comply with other regulation (both national and international) like GDPR. Solutions and Services The core of the NewBanking Identity solution lies in the regulatory space and NewBanking is in close dialog with the regulators and involved directly in the European PSMEG (Payment Systems Market Expert Group) and the Blockchain standardization work (ISO TC 307 on Blockchain and Distributed Ledger Technologies).

NewBanking Identity is a full modular API onboarding flow – that allows banks and financial entities to offer an online onboarding process while at the same time giving the customer the transparency and ownership of personal data.

The platform supports the online data management from

July 2018

· Compliant with current and future KYC and AML legislation: The customer identity is verified to current KYC standards and customer data is kept on NewBanking’s platform for the duration that is necessary for the 4th European AML directive. · Fully automated process for getting customer data: Newbanking uses an automated system to request, collect and verify personal data documents, instead of manual processing. · Re-use identity verifications on an industry level: By allowing end-users to re-use their identity verification, Newbanking is eliminating redundant time and effort for the whole sector. · Increased regulatory compliance: This feature allows greater and more accurate compliance through an automated blockchain audit-trail. · Efficient and user-friendly platform for back-end identity management: User-friendly platform for the people and Compliance Officers in charge of customers’ identity management for Financial Institutions. · Compliant with GDPR/ “Right to be Forgotten”: Transparent and clearly stated user consent and a high focus on data privacy and security in accordance with the GDPR, which becomes legally binding 25th May 2018. · Platform designed with the highest level of security: The security architecture follows a tiered approach, with increasingly advanced encryption ensuring the highest level of security possible.

Message from the Desk of CEO “New technology requires a new way of thinking and requires a great deal of changes – both in the way consumers are approached, but also on how the technology is integrated. My best advice – If you’re not able to integrate the new service/technology within the existing system setup with 80-100% don’t do it! Let the newcomer handle as much as possible on their side – this will in the end provide the best result”—is the message from Christian, the CEO.

43

The

20

Most

ADMIRED Tech Companies 2018

‘

Data Security Solutions that Build Quantum Resilience

T

he growth of technology has increased the exposure of data security breaches, and most large organizations struggle with forming solid security strategies. While doing their best to keep their systems protected, they must face various challenges to change any part of their security infrastructure in the long term.

Many companies deliver rapid deployment of solutions for analytics and risk management that seamlessly integrate with various processes and scale to support a firm’s growth.

‘

Quantum cybersecurity can strengthen data protection today while preparing it for the threats of tomorrow

solutions in any business sector where cybersecurity is of greater significance.

One such organization leveraging industry standards to provide top-notch, interoperable products for data protection is QuintessenceLabs Pty Ltd, founded in 2008. The company takes pride in providing data security solutions and associated management without needing complete rethinking of the enterprise security system.

The QuintessenceLabs team is comprised of experts in quantum physics and software development.

This team helps in delivering highly capable solutions that strengthen an organization’s data protection posture, while integrating seamlessly into existing architectures. The company forms the foundational layer of data protection that is a fundamental part of any security strategy.

QuintessenceLabs thinks beyond traditional security system norms and is aware of the need to be ‘quantum-safe’ in all aspects of cybersecurity. The company offers a full range of advanced data protection and cybersecurity solutions. These solutions are cost-effective, easy to deploy, and enable organizations to protect their data for now and in the future. The company delivers the strongest data protection, through its advanced key and policy management

This year, QuintessenceLabs was named a Tech Pioneer by the World Economic Forum, and was specifically selected for significant contributions in the field of data protection. The company’s focus on, again, being ‘quantum-safe’ was a key reason for the award -- the World Economic Forum’s 2018 Risk Report noted that cybersecurity risks are growing to be the third most likely global risk behind “Natural Disasters” and “Extreme

44

Weather Events.” This problem will worsen in the years ahead as quantum computers, which will yield significant benefits in the field of medicine, communications and beyond, will also threaten the foundation of today’s cybersecurity methods.

The Pillar of QuintessenceLabs Vikram Sharma, CEO at QuintessenceLabs recognized the potential of quantum cybersecurity and had a vision to commercialize the technology. His work in the Department of Physics at Australian National University with the Quantum Optics Group and their world-leading research led to the establishment of QuintessenceLabs. Today, his constant efforts have positioned the company at the forefront of the cybersecurity sector.

Under the expert guidance of Vikram, the company’s capabilities have been recognized at several Australian and international events. Most recently, the

July 2018

The company’s services and products integrate quantum-generated random numbers for use in encryption keys and a FIPS140-2 Level 3-conformant Hardware Security Module (HSM), as well as stringent policy controls. The products are designed for the high-volume data processing expected of large financial organizations.

The company’s Trusted Security Foundation platform can combine key management with a crypto gateway. This can, for example, satisfy the needs for a bank’s internal customers, regulators, and internal security staff, ultimately reducing the operating costs.

Vikram Sharma CEO

company was named a Technology Pioneer 2018 by the World Economic Forum, and last year it was named one of the Top 20 Businesses of Tomorrow by Westpac. Previously, it was Global Runner-up from a pool of 2,500+ companies in IBM’s SmartCamp competition and named as Australia’s Most Innovative Small Company by the Australian Information Industry Association. The company was selected by the Security Innovation Network as one of its SINET16 Cyber Security Innovators. Cybersecurity Ventures named QuintessenceLabs in its list of the World’s Most Innovative Cybersecurity Companies.

Innovation for the Financial Industry Westpac Group, Australia’s oldest bank, is one of the key partners and investors of QuintessenceLabs. The partnership naturally puts the company on track providing the best data protection for financial organizations and most of the sensitive industries. This enables the company to deliver solutions that protect highly confidential personal and financial data at rest, in motion, or in use. The company can then power on-premise protection and enhance the security of cloud data.

Unique Services Benefiting Clients The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) affects several tech industries. While GDPR does not make it mandatory to encrypt all personal data, it is specifically listed as a good method to ensure adequate protection.

QuintessenceLabs delivers the strongest key and policy management capability to help meet these kinds of specific data security requirements.

July 2018

Along with its message of ‘Data Uncompromised’, the company’s CEO Vikram states “Our clients and partners can truly keep their data and records in motion or at rest with minimal concern”.

Keeping up to Speed with Technology QuintessenceLabs knows the importance of encryption and complete security in crytocurrency and the various blockchain technologies. It believes that the existing and upcoming financial sectors working in and around the blockchain space will need to tackle the risks posed by quantum computers, for example by harnessing the advantages of quantum-powered security solutions delivered by the company. In the future, where the blockchain technologies are expected to be vulnerable to the threat of quantum computers, QuintessenceLabs’ quantum-safe capabilities will help organizations to improve their security posture.

Many sectors are witnessing the emergence of AI and machine learning. The company expects and welcomes this sort of digitization, yet focuses on strengthening cybersecurity now and into the future.

Featuring the Future The company’s current product offerings are easy-to-deploy and easy-to-maintain security solutions giving organizations the strongest protection from today’s threats while building quantum resilience. In addition, QuintessenceLabs is a leader in the development of Quantum Key Distribution (QKD), which will distribute encryption keys between parties safe from the quantum computing attacks. Together these capabilities can secure the data of the financial organizations today and protect them against future threats.

45

TECH ZONE

The Universality of IoT Technology “

T

he gratifying tool for companies to lead ahead - IoT Technology” The Internet of things (IoT) is a revolutionary change for many sectors like manufacturing, agriculture, retail, electronic, energy and healthcare which are progressing towards the IoT phenomenon to connect digitally. It has placed an opportunity to build unusual results which increases a company’s compatibility. Enterprises seeking development are focusing on the use of real-time data management and IoT analysis. Many of the companies are adopting this technology to heighten their power of consumption.

Companies are mainly concentrating on IoT application from “sensing” instead of “doing” to grow its competitive advantages. This element empowers organizations by allowing them to take the IoT advantage and adopt a more ‘innovative connected approach’.

Infrastructure Management – Optimization of Technology New applications are now enhancing their level of consumption. Likewise, manufacturing sector is also getting engrossed and achieving excellence through IoT Techniques. Applications are liable for monitoring

46

July 2018

and controlling operations for urban and rural manufactures like bridges, farms, and railway tracks. It is the key features of the applications were IoT infrastructure is also used for monitoring the construction safety and risk management system and operations. This major feature represents the mechanism of IoT application which works under infrastructure management. Benefits of IoT Technology are cost reducing, time reducing, better in quality, and increase productivity. It helps to make fast decisions and save money with real-time analysis. IoT devices help to give prominent results by monitoring and controlling operations used in all infrastructure related area.

Manufacturing Techniques are Growing with IoT Technology

IoT Technology Helps to Optimize Energy Consumption Integrated Sensing and Control system helps to optimize energy consumption. IoT devices are integrated with energy consumption systems in order to maintain balance between power generation and energy usage. IoT devices offer the opportunity to remotely gather information. It enables advance functions like remote controlling and changing light conditions. IoT Technology work for home-based energy system which provide power related information, energy consumption and energy usage at homes. IoT devices set goals to improve efficiency, reliability and sustainability of the energy system.

Monitoring Environment through IoT Technology

In the manufacturing sector, networking and controlling have been used with IoT devices. It provides information about data and operation stability. Network status and the information is collected in the system by tracking IoT device. Manufacturing control process deliver information about industry application and smart manufacturing details receiving form IoT device. IoT intelligent system enables sharing information about product demands, service management, supply chain networks, sensors and control systems together. Small industries can also be integrated with IoT technology that enables real-time optimization, measurements, production compatibility and safety management. However, intelligent systems are determined as the significant technique that implies user experience and system security which ultimately saves costs.

Environment monitoring application has been involved with sensors to assist information about environment changes by identifying water quantity, atmosphere, air pressure etc. It also has focus on monitoring movements of wildlife and their habitats. Devices connected to the internet also provide statistics about earthquake or tsunami - early warning systems, and also used as an emergency system. IoT device application is used to collect geographic information and majorly instructive information. This device also uses standardized approach to bring wireless sensing technique and gather finest information.

IoT Technology brings Innovative Farming Methods

With certainty, IoT devices are used to monitor and control the mechanical, electrical and electronic systems. IoT devices are used in various types of home automation and building automation systems. Control and sensory applications offer unified information. The integration of the internet with building creates an energy management system which will allow prominent energy efficiency.

The Agriculture sector is one of the industry to implement IoT technology for stability and better performance. IoT technology has become a significant method of farming. It also offers durability and functionality to the whole process. The combination of wireless sensors with agricultural apps and cloud platforms benefits in gathering definite information relating to environmental conditions like, rainfall, temperature, humidity, wind speed etc.

Farmers are getting competent results out of it, and are able to find real-time information easily. Linked with farmland, it improves and automates farming techniques like weather information, taking decision on quality and quantity, and minimizes risk and waste. With IoT Tech farmers can find out detailed information of farm and similarly know which land is fertile or which one is dry and predict future fields.

July 2018

IoT Technology Helps to Sustain Building and Home Automation

There have been many ways for IoT technology to expand compatibility in the digital world, and it will be implemented in each sector to work as an important tool, to enhance its affinity. After all, the IoT network makes technology more unified and satisfying, with its tools and applications and IoT will be a step ahead towards numerous opportunities.

47

The

20

Most

ADMIRED Tech Companies 2018

C

ompanies of all types and sizes, in countries around the globe, are jumping on the digitization bandwagon. This new, increasingly connected digital world promises to drive tremendous efficiencies, accelerate the pace of business and boost competitive standings. However, along with these advantages, the digital era is also bringing much more frequent and aggressive cyber threats perpetrated by highly determined criminals.

Businesses urgently need to find an effective, fast way to combat them.

While a variety of vendors have been developing cybersecurity products, Seceon stands out for its uniquely effective approach and highly affordable solutions.

Advancing Cyber Security Seceon is dedicated to eliminating cyber risks faced by enterprises and small-to-medium sized businesses (SMBs). In order to ensure “Cybersecurity Done Right,” the company developed its Open Threat Management (OTM) Platform from scratch. As a result, OTM works out-of-the-box to instantly protect against known and unknown threats. It provides comprehensive visibility, proactive threat detection, automated elimination and containment of threats in real-time, all while minimizing costs, staff bandwidth constraints and performance impact.

50

‘

Visionary Cybersecurity Leader

Seceon not only detects cyber threats but we also automatically eliminate/contain the threats in real-time. This is critical to protecting corporate assets.

‘

Seceon’s platform uses AI with actionable intelligence, machine learning, and dynamic threat models with behavioral analytics. This helps enterprises automatically generate prioritized threat alerts in real-time, providing IT teams with both the ability to detect and respond to the threats before critical data is exfiltrated.

Seceon offers two advanced solutions based on the OTM Platform: Seceon aiSIEM™: This service goes beyond SIEM, eliminating the need for adding multiple silos. It ingests raw streaming data from applications, identity system, flows and raw traffic from network to provide comprehensive visibility, proactive threat detection, automated threat containment and elimination, and continuous compliance, policy management, and reporting. Machine learning handles large data volumes in

conjunction with contemporary big data frameworks efficiently. An AI algorithm bolsters cybersecurity by generating meaningful alerts and producing actionable intelligence for threat containment and elimination in real-time.

Seceon aiMSSP™: This service enables Managed Security Service Providers (MSSPs) to offer outsourced security services, including 24x7 security monitoring, threat intelligence, detection and remediation in real-time, at nominal and predictable linear costs. The aiMSSP consists of aiSIEM, SOC-in-a-Box and aiMDR capabilities that allow MSSPs to expand their service offerings while bringing advanced threat detection and mitigation capabilities to SMBs. Passionate Cybersecurity Pioneer Chandra Pandey, the Founder and

July 2018

leader. They have also led to unmatched satisfaction by Seceon OTM customers around the world. The industry’s first fully-automated platform, Seceon OTM offers proactive threat detection, containment and elimination for all threats categories, including malware, ransomware, spyware, botnet, compromised credentials, insider threats, denial of services for applications & protocols, vulnerability exploits for web/emails/OS applications, data breaches and exfiltration, IT mistakes, IPS, IDS and Network Behaviours.

Chandra Pandey Founder & CEO

CEO of Seceon, is renowned for developing innovative cyber security solutions and holds multiple patents in security, networking, and computing. A passionate leader, he built Seceon into a company that fosters innovation by empowering all team members with decision-making abilities, encouraging open and respectful communications, and building a culture of continuous improvement.

Knowing that even the best products won’t be adopted if businesses can’t afford them, Chandra galvanized the Seceon team to develop advanced cybersecurity solutions that would be both affordable for SMBs and efficient for the largest enterprises.

Chandra and his team of experts in cyber security, machine learning, artificial intelligence (AI), fast/big data streaming and dynamic threat modelling, left no stone unturned. All of their diligence paid off when the company developed Seceon’s award-winning OTM, the comprehensive cybersecurity platform for the digital era.

Chandra continues to work closely with customers to define and address their problems, implications, and solutions for defending corporate assets in today’s highly-connected enterprise.

Complete, Automatic Threat Protection Seceon’s unique culture and commitment to developing solutions that solve the digital era’s critical cybersecurity challenges, have helped establish Seceon as an industry

July 2018

Customers benefit from: · Comprehensive Visibility The OTM Platform ingests all raw streaming data (Logs, Packets, Flows, Identities) and provides real-time extensive view of all assets (users, hosts, servers, applications, data access and movement, traffic) that are on premise, cloud or hybrid and their interactions. · Reduce Mean-Time-To-Identify (MTTI) with Proactive Threat Detection The platform proactively detects threats and surfaces threats in real-time or near real-time without an agent or alert fatigue. · Reduce Mean-Time-To-Resolve (MTTR) with Automatic Threat Remediation The OTM Platform performs automatic threat containment and elimination in real-time. It also provides clear actionable steps to eliminate the threats that can either be taken automatically by the system or manually by the security expert post-analysis. · Continuous Compliance, Policy Management and Risk Monitoring The platform provides continuous compliance and scheduled or on-demand reporting for HIPAA, GDPR, PCI-DSS, NIST, FINRA and many other similar regulations.

Charting the Future Advancements in technology have created an increasingly connected world, which has brought a rise in cyber threats for organizations of all sizes. Seceon will continue to be laser-focused on eliminating these threats by adding innovations to its aiSIEM and aiMSSP “Comprehensive Cybersecurity for Digital-Era” solutions. It will expand its list of top-tier partners as it targets and wins customers around the globe.

51

The

20

Most

ADMIRED Tech Companies 2018

‘

The Marketplace for FinTechs Breaking the Mould

F

intech has continued to be one of the dominant focus areas for innovation globally in 2018 and has well and truly established itself as the fastest growing sector in the financial services industry worldwide. As bold new solutions spring up from startups, the industry has seen a massive shift in shaking up the way traditional financial services operate forever.

In 2015, Stone & Chalk was born to support the growth of the highest quality fintech startups across Australia. It now has two main innovation hubs in Sydney and Melbourne. Today, Stone & Chalk is home to Australasia’s leading independent fintech hub for startups, scaleups, industry associations and investors. Through Stone & Chalk’s accelerated commercialisation programs it works to connect high potential fintech startups and scaleups with corporate partners as customers, as well as with investors, mentors, and customers.

Alex Scandurra, CEO of Stone & Chalk, says: “We act as a tribe leader for our resident and alumni startups and scaleups to government and regulators; we partner with industry associations such as Fintech Australia, the Insurtech and Regtech Associations and represent our residents at industry summits, driving the fintech agenda on behalf of our community.”

This not-for-profit houses more than 110 impressive fintech startups with over 650 residents in total. In a short period of time, Stone & Chalk’s residents have rose over a $255 million and created over 600 direct jobs to further fuel the fintech industry.

52

‘

We foster and accelerate the development of world-leading Fintech startups and act as a centre of gravity for the local fintech ecosystem

Moreover, more than 140 startups have benefitted from Stone & Chalk by successfully graduating including 15 exporting overseas and close to 50% already securing various forms of commercial deals with Stone & Chalk’s corporate partners. Overall, Stone & Chalk is linked up with more than 27 Australian and international corporate partners, which are coached to be start-up ready, through strategic programs, executive and board education, workshops all founded on the common thread of mutual collaboration.

Stone & Chalk is not just a co-working space, as it offers much more being an innovative marketplace for fintech. Stone & Chalk delivers tailored mentor programs, has curated an investor community and regularly runs skills studios for its founders. Stone & Chalk also puts on regular masterclasses by renowned experts on key topics for the benefit of the broader community. Their collaborative national community encourages and fosters creativity, focusing on ways to shape a more sustainable economy for the future of Australia. Leading with their unique Community Charter, Stone & Chalk has succeeded in building a wider culture amongst all its stakeholders based on ‘giving first’ a principle which its CEO Alex Scandurra established before operations had even commenced.

A CEO with a powerful vision Alex Scandurra, former Captain (Squadron Commander) in the Australian Army, has made a monumental contribution to fintech by leading the way in helping to bring together and build out the Australian fintech ecosystem. In 2015, Alex was headhunted to be the CEO of Stone & Chalk and has since paved the way by helping startups to commercialise and scale through collaboration.

More recently, Alex realised his vision for Fintech to become a national capability with the launch of Stone & Chalk Melbourne to create a mega-hub connecting Sydney and Melbourne, uniting fintech across the Australian Eastern seaboard. Currently, Alex is also an Advisory Board Member of the NSW Department of Finance as well as the Co-Founder & Director of Spark Festival – a 2-week program of events and activities covering startups, innovation and entrepreneurship.

He’s also a Founding Member of ASIC Digital Advisory Committee, was a Founding Director of FinTech Australia and was appointed last year to the board of children’s charity Redkite. Prior to returning to Australia, Alex was Head of Strategic Partnerships at Barclay’s in the UK where he launched Barclay’s RISE as well as the global partnership between Barclays and Techstars.

July 2018

has partnered closely with the Department of Economic Development and LanuchVic to create the Victorian Innovation Centre where Stone & Chalk is located.

Another area of advocacy that Stone & Chalk supports is refugees. This is through its speed-dating event which attracts more than 50 refugees pitching to potential employees during Spark Festival. Last year, more than 20 talented refugees were able to secure employment through this initiative.

Alex Scandurra CEO

Exclusive Services for FinTech Startups Stone & Chalk offers a series of innovative programs to accelerate commercialisation and the export of leading fintech capabilities. Services include: · Skills Studios: presenting the best subject matter experts to support startups across all areas of the business from legal advice, grants, accounting, and finance matters as well as preparing startups to become corporate and investor ready · Facilitates one-to-one meetings: between startups and corporate partners to help startup Founders with their value propositions and overcome any potential hurdles · Supporting services for startup Founders: through Founders Circle, Brain Hack programs which aid in solving business problems and maintaining good mental health · Women in Fintech program: provides opportunities for female Founders to flourish in fintech through a variety of events, design sessions, meet-ups, and fireside chats. It also delivers scholarships to encourage more women to participate in the fintech ecosystem. · Fintern Fever: giving University students the opportunity to intern with a startup. · Accelerated Commercialisation Programs: which uniquely bring scaleups together with large organisations to solve real business problems which simultaneously generate significant step change capability internally for corporates as well as producing material commercial outcomes for scaleups.

Overall, Stone & Chalk has transformed fintech in Australia by playing a major role in focusing on talent to further develop the broader ecosystem.

Together with NSW Government and Jobs for NSW, Stone & Chalk has helped create the Sydney Startup Hub and become one of its cornerstone tenants. And in Victoria Stone & Chalk

July 2018

Each year, Stone & Chalk oversees over 500 fintech events, which are complimentary to residents as part of their exclusive access to these services. These events are designed to help residents to round out their skills, especially concerning business, in order to learn how to rapidly scale and eventually graduate as Alumni.

The Humble Road to Success The many programs that come out of Stone & Chalk have carved out a niche for its corporate partners and startup ecosystem in bringing innovation from the outside-in. This process has resulted in several solutions to real business problems.

In the past 6 months, Stone & Chalk has run a number of successful programs such as the DXC SpringBoard and Insurtech. The winners of DXC were subsequently invited to globally partner with DXC’s customer base. Alternatively, the Insurtech program saw startups progress from bootcamp and accelerator with commercial agreements currently being finalised.

True collaboration has allowed the company to grow and accommodate both startup and corporate, to learn from each other and forge mutually-beneficial partnerships.

Some successes of 2018: · Data Republic announced a partnership with ANZ to deliver a data sharing control centre · MoneyCatcha linked up with HSBC to help speed up the process of home-loan approvals and make risk monitoring more efficient · MoneyPlace was purchased by marketplace lenders, Liberty, offering them greater funding flexibility · FlamingoAI parterned with Credit Union Australia (CUA) to run an insurance chatbot pilot Looking to the Future Stone & Chalk works to provide great support for fintech startups with the main purpose of driving a better future forward by helping startups to succeed, thus, helping existing financial frameworks to be modernised for the future.

53

INTERNET OF INTERNET

Dhruvil Sanghvi CEO & Co-founder

About The Author

Internet of Things is present in every Product we use. How has IOT changed the lives of humans?

56

Dhruvil Sanghvi, CEO and Co-founder of LogiNext, youngest tech business head in Forbes India 30 under 30 (2017), started his journey post Carnegie Mellon University and effectively led LogiNext, the fastest growing logistics and eld workforce optimization SaaS enterprise, to the glory.

D

oes anyone remember a time before the Internet? Most of us have seen it, but it’s hard to recreate it in our mind. It only exists in long tales which we tell the young, tales of yesteryears where life wasn’t occupied by technology. But we love technology. And the next evolution of the Internet would make the current time become another yesteryear tale. What is this next Internet evolution?

It’s the Internet of Things.

We know that Internet is where we access relevant and non-relevant information; connect with friends, peers, companies, and customers; and utilize to conduct our daily business and activities. So, what is the Internet of Things or IoT? IoT is when the devices which we use to connect and interact with Internet talk to each other.

‘Talk’ is exchange data among the devices with a view to facilitating better solutions and faster processes.

July 2018

Now, your smartphone can connect to your television and laptop even when they aren’t in the same room. You can sync all your systems so that any change done at one place would reflect everywhere else.

“Where to?” Self-driving cars around the corner!

The true essence of IoT comes out when it is coupled with machine learning. Fast forward into a world of automation where self-driven cars aren’t fiction. The system in your car operates the engine, the sensors around the vehicle, the breaking, and everything else. It connects to the cloud, observing the traffic and weather patterns along the route you are about to take. It auto adjusts to the passing vehicles, all the while ensuring the safety of its passengers.’

There have been some issues with this as a couple of crashes being reported.

This tech can’t be forced live due to market pressures as the cost of mistakes is too high. Once autonomous cars do hit the roads, they would have to be perfect. But this isn’t more than a couple of years away. For now, let’s look at something that is already running and showing great results.

‘How do we get there?’ Perfect route optimization is here!

We are used to having the best products and fastest services. To make this happen, people and goods must be constant on the move somewhere or the other. Be it from the manufacturers to warehouses or distributors, distributors to retailers, or directly to the customer’s door, there are a lot of assets constantly moving.’

How is this logistics movement managed, tracked, and directed?

July 2018

Technology, like that of LogiNext, tracks vehicles through GPS right from the time they are loaded to the point they finish their replenishment duties.

Delivery personnel and field agents such as technicians, supervisors, sales folks, etc. are tracked using their smartphones. The agents use our app to streamline their daily activities and sync live information gathered on-ground with their company’s central system.

This tech is not just the need of the hour; it’s what keeping the ever-expanding need for cost-friendly logistics management in check.

Spiraling logistics costs arising from increased volume movement with a growing driver storage. Even the trend of same day/next day deliveries means that some vehicles are left underutilized.

Sensors and trackers, backed by a base machine learning based system, can now help managers optimize the capacities of their vehicles, assign the right load to the right driver/delivery associate, and eventually set the best route devoid of traffic and other bottlenecks to ensure on-time deliveries.

Delivery route planning and optimization, hence, is not just cutting down costs, but also incentivizing market evolution. Companies like Amazon and Walmart can ensure better customer service with timely deliveries and end-to-end order tracking. This helps create value for the customer, the company, and the economy.

“What’s in the box?” Automated warehousing streamlines it!

distribution centers or warehouses.

Some high-value companies have already part automated the operations in these centers. As mentioned earlier, the sheer increase in the volume of goods moved nowadays means that the lead time even at warehouses must be shortened to the minimum.

If the order must reach a customer in a day, it can’t really spend about half of that at the center itself. The entire sorting and allocation system is automated. Some companies have even robotized some mundane functions within the warehouses.

“Do as I Say” Voice Controlled Logistics Movement We are well aware of the latest in virtual assistants such as Alexa, Siri, Google Home, etc. It’s a handy way to automate activities around yourself.

You can just ask Alexa to book a cab while playing your favorite songs.

Google recently demonstrated proper AI capable bots which could even have impromptu conversations and book appointments. The obvious extension of this came with voice-controlled logistics management. Using the same ease of household directions, managers can automate the planning of delivery routes, dispatch shipments, tracking vehicles, etc. using just their voice.

They can talk to the system and do all of these things.

The idea is simple. IoT is going deeper and deeper into our lives, not just how we handle our phones, but also how we handle our businesses. Above all, we must remember that it’s only a tool. It’s how we use it that would define our future.

With the development of machine learning backed logistics optimization, companies are investing in large

57

The

20

Most

ADMIRED Tech Companies 2018

I

n this era of digital advancement, digital marketing is the most common and effective way of marketing by far. Every company is striving to have an edge over their competitors by utilizing various digital marketing strategies.

With a vision to create impactful digital experiences for these startups and entrepreneurs, Websites Depot was founded in Van Nuys in the year 2010. During the initial years, the company focused mainly on Web Design and Web Development.

However, the team also kept working on Digital Marketing Solutions like SEO, AdWords Management, Branding and Reputation Management. During all these years, the company also incorporated Responsive Web Design and E-commerce Web Design services.

Websites Depot is also a certified Google partner since 2012.

The Ardent Leader Originally from Slovenia, Danny Star, the Founder and CEO of Websites Depot, moved to the USA after graduating from college. He obtained a Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of Arizona. With a vast experience in Marketing-related positions, Danny started his own entrepreneurship, Websites Depot, in 2010. He has built solid relationships with hundreds of marketers of all types in the Los Angeles Area and is known

58

‘

The Widely-Acclaimed Designing Platform

We’re a full-service web agency that comes up with the right mix of small solutions that fit the bigger picture for many businesses

‘

for his passion and compromise when it comes to Digital Marketing Services, Technology and Design.

Danny is a happy husband and father of two kids. He resides in Silver Lake, nearby the offices of the company.

He’s a soccer aficionado and plays regular matches with some of his team members. Danny is in a constant search of evolution and knowledge in this industry, and wishes to apply those values in every project he’s involved with.

Exclusive Offerings Websites Depot offers a varied range of services including SEO, Adwords Management, Social Media Marketing, Branding and Online Reputation Management. The company also derives expertise in different types of Web Designing like Responsive Web Design, CMS Web Design, E-Commerce Web Design and Web Development.

“It’s a good mix of web design, web maintenance, graphic designs, ad writing, ad management, press releases, and of course our expertise in search engines.”, Danny said in an interview with VoyageLA while reflecting on the services of the company.

Smart Business Strategies Websites Depot works towards three main goals: To kick-start marketing campaigns: The company does an overall analysis of the client company and offers a customized marketing strategy enabling them to outshine their competitors.

Creation of awareness: Another goal of the company is to create awareness by using all the online avenues available to us including social media and email marketing.

July 2018

The main opportunity that machine learning and AI bring to marketing is the improvement of customer experience and support. However, Marketing essentials like Search Engine Optimization are also being affected by the use of smart devices like Alexa and Siri. The way people do queries is not the same as they do when typing, so the choice of keywords and phrases mutates to fit this new type of queries.

Benefits for Clients

Danny Star CEO and Founder

Increase sales and profits: The main purpose of marketing is to increase customer base and profits.

After a thorough study of the client company, the innovative team at Websites Depot develops customized strategies to help the business achieving its digital advertising goals. Social Media, SEO, PPC management, and optimization are some of the most effective strategies that are implemented by Websites Depot.

Unique Strategy for Employee Encouragement Never-ending quest for learning is fundamental to remain competitive, especially in this ripe age of technological advancement and digital glory. The employees of Website Depot are always being encouraged to go beyond their daily tasks and educate themselves by reading books, taking courses and reading magazines and portals related to the industry.

Views on Harnessing Disruption “Digital disruptions are inevitable. They find a way into Marketing and it is a positive thing to adapt to them and start learning their behaviour since the very beginning,” Danny says reflecting on the new age technology, “especially if we understand that 84% of marketing organizations are using AI and machine learning today, and that 3 out of 4 organizations using them have increased their sales in more than a 10%.”

July 2018

Most of the clients highlight the fact that Websites Depot gives them exactly what they were looking for and even more. This is the result of combining knowledge, a personalized service and going the extra mile to always give more. The team takes time to sit down with their clients, understand what they need, make suggestions and study their audiences and market carefully.

“Communication is essential and it doesn’t cease to be less amazing how many clients come to us complaining about the lack of communication between them and their previous marketing agencies”, the CEO says in a bright tone.

Accomplishments Websites Depot has received plentiful of awards and recognition as a top agency in LA in recent years. In 2016, it was listed in the top 10 responsive design firms by Top Design Firms, and also named as “The Best at Boosting Your Business” by the Silver Lake Chamber of Commerce.

In 2015, it was listed as the No.5 Best Design Agency by Top Design Firms.

Future Prospects The company is planning to launch a new website in 2018.

This whole update for the online platform is a joint effort of the Development & Design Team, SEO, Sales Team, and the CEO. They’ve invested several months in brainstorming and implementing many ideas in coding, content and design to generate a platform that will represent Websites Depot in 2018 and the years to come.

Apart from that, the innovative team of Websites Depot is working towards implementing a new platform with crystal-clear information and real metrics where the clients can leave their feedback and get real-time responses.

59

HI-TECH NEXUS

The

IMPRESSIVE Impact of

ORGANIC Networking 60

July 2018

T

he main reason for the invention of website, Internet and technology devices that provides the platform for software to run and connect with each other is mainly to make networking of services, products and people possible. Technology leaders such as Cisco, Arista and Apple are dedicating their resources to provide various business enterprises and the masses the ability to communicate their values through technology mediums called as Networking.

The works and provisions of these organizations are very outstanding, and are believed to last for ages. This is because the growth of technology is not going out of style so soon, but rather it is believed to continue into the future.

Technology networking strategies is good, but to make it more effective there is the incessant need to incorporate organic strategies.

You may be asking what I mean by Organic Networking or Strategies. The organization that will survive in the market in the near future, considering the increasing rate of competition are the ones who take the necessary steps, to develop more human connection for their business, more than they do for machines such as provided by AI. The Factors to Consider for an Effective Organic Networking: Even as our age is encouraging more of technology strategies, if we must survive the future of it all, then we must connect more people, than we do for machines. As an innovative networking solution provider, it is going to pay more, when you include human intelligence and physicality in your networking strategies over machines.

July 2018

61

Imagine a day that the machines are going to have a serious breakdown, and the owner organization do not have the capable persons to ďŹ gure out the cause of the breakdown and possibly provide a feasible solution?

What will be the fate of the organization? This means that, there will be a great loss of value and possibly a strike off the industry. I know you would never want that to happen. So, plan from now, to never pay for the loss in the future.

The Need for Organic Sense in Networking and the Future:

Balance Your People to machine Deployment:

Networking is an innovative concept with high proďŹ le technology terms. If one does not implore deep interest and concentration while exploring this realm, there may be a serious distortion of original motive of indulgence, and this can lead to serious breakdown of enterprise infrastructure. Sometimes, it maybe direct and other times, it will be indirect, but in all, it will always have an impact. The future of technology is very bright, and that is mainly dependent on how available we make the resources to help manage what we have today in the near future. For this to be possible, the networking solution providers must incorporate more of organic sense in their solutions and industry advancements.

Social Medias are for networking, Newspapers and various Medias are also for networking, but there are people behind the arc of this innovation. The more you incorporate AI and machine learning strategies, always remember the need for Control Engineers and those are human beings. The most successful organizations identify the major importance of people networking and how best to utilize human intelligence in their business quest.

For example; if you write an article and share it on a website, who do you expect to read your article; human beings or machines? It is obvious that the organic networking aspect of computing will never go out of style; else, there will be a day in the future that digital connection and values will be measured on the number of bots that read your articles and/or that paid for your services. So, remember to balance the rate of your people to machine deployment, by acknowledging the need of human networking over technology networking.

62

Technology is the miracle of our age, ArtiďŹ cial Intelligence is a major molding factor of this development, IoT is the liberator from machine isolation by providing the platform to interconnect millions of them over the virtual platforms, but humans make these things possible.

Technology will advance, more machines will be connected, devices will be programmed to run independently, but in all these things, the humans in the network will still rule the universe. The more organic you make your networking strategies, the lesser the fear of a disastrous future for your organization.

July 2018