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Driving 5G in the telecoms market at NTT DOCOMO Roderick Boss, CEO of DOCOMO PACIFIC, on delivering 5G innovation in a unique market
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FOREWORD
W
elcome to the July issue of Mobile Magazine.
This month’s cover feature sees us speak with Roderick Boss, CEO of DOCOMO PACIFIC, to discuss the importance of providing world-class telco services in a unique market context.
“This is a very unique territory to be operating in, due to both our geography and our identity as a US territory,” says Boss. “Being in the US but so close to Asia gives us a big advantage that’s maybe disproportionate to our population size.” Elsewhere in the magazine, Noha Samara, Head of Customer Logistics (MENA), discusses how HMD Global’s revival of the Nokia phones brand is driven by robust logistics strategies.
We also discover how IoT innovation is changing the mobile sector and uncover the key trends that are driving digital disruption. Be sure to also check out in-depth features with SAP Global Centre of Excellence, Comcast, Telstra, Vodafone Qatar, BH Telecom d.d., Telkom, Capgemini and StarHub. Finally, this month’s Top 10 looks at 10 of the leading mobile brands worldwide. Would you like to be featured in the magazine? Get in touch at sean.galea-pace@bizclikmedia.com Enjoy the issue! Sean Galea-Pace
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03
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PUBLISHED BY
PRODUCTION MANAGER
Owen Martin DIGITAL VIDEO PRODUCERS EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Matt High
Kieran Waite Sam Kemp MARKETING DIRECTOR
CREATIVE DIRECTOR
Steve Shipley
Leigh Manning DIGITAL MARKETING MANAGER
CREATIVE TEAM
Oscar Hathaway Erin Hancox Sophia Forte Sophie-Ann Pinnell PRODUCTION DIRECTORS
Georgia Allen Daniela Kianickovรก
Shirin Sadr DIGITAL MARKETING EXECUTIVE
Jake Megeary Jordan Hubbard Craig Killingback Stuart Irving DIGITAL MEDIA DIRECTOR
Jason Westgate CHIEF OPERATIONS OFFICER
Stacy Norman PRESIDENT & CEO
Glen White
Evelyn Howat MEDIA SALES DIRECTOR
James White PROJECT DIRECTORS
Andrew Stubbings w w w. m o bil e m a g a z in e . c o m
CONTENTS
DOCOMO PACIFIC: industry-leading services in a unique market
10
28 How digital technology is driving telecoms transformation
42 Delivering Cambodia’s 5G digital transformation IoT: driving 62
transformation in mobile
56 HMD Global: flexibility and dynamism in customer logistics
70 Mobile brands
86
110
126
SAP Global
Digital Realty
168 Telstra Purple
142 Comcast
192 Vodafone Qatar
208
100
BH Telecom
222
250
Telkom
StarHub
236 Capgemini
100
10
DOCOMO PACIFIC: industry-leading services in a unique market WRITTEN BY
HARRY MENEAR PRODUCED BY
STUART IRVING
J U LY 2 0 2 0
11
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D O C O M O PA C I F I C
Roderick Boss, CEO of DOCOMO PACIFIC, discusses providing world class telco services in a unique market context
H
ome to fewer than 170,000 people, annually buffeted by tropical storms, and a transPacific junction for undersea cables, the
island of Guam represents one of the most unique market contexts in the telecommunications industry. It is culturally and politically a US territory, but 12
sits a mere three and a half hour flight away from Tokyo and Manila; its user base is smaller than the population of Fort Collins, Colorado, but Guam’s telecommunications market is one of the most sophisticated in the world. It’s competitive too, with four mobile industry operators vying for a market share smaller than most others. “This is a very unique territory to be operating in, due to both our geography and our identity as a US territory,” says Roderick Boss, CEO of DOCOMO PACIFIC. “Being in the US but so close to Asia gives us a big advantage that’s maybe disproportionate to our population size.” Founded in 1991, DOCOMO PACIFIC is the biggest telecom operator in both Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI). As the only overseas subsidiary telecom operator of NTT J U LY 2 0 2 0
1993
Year founded
530
Number of employees
13
w w w. m o bil e m a g a z in e . c o m
D O C O M O PA C I F I C
“ Being in the US but so close to Asia gives us a big advantage that’s maybe disproportionate to our population size” — Roderick Boss, CEO, DOCOMO PACIFIC
DOCOMO, a leading Japanese mobile provider, DOCOMO PACIFIC brings a unique value proposition to a wholly unique market. We sat down with Boss to find out more about the strategies and values that have allowed the company to become the region’s leading telecom provider, and why Guam itself is the perfect test bed for NTT DOCOMO’s 5G ambitions. According to Boss, Guam’s hypercompetitive market is one of the key drivers behind DOCOMO PACIFIC’s
14
success. “We have a very competitive market here, and our position as the leading provider in the region is hard won,” he explains. “That competition is a driver behind a lot of the innovation that we do: we have to innovate in order to attract the business of this very sophisticated population. People want the latest devices, the best possible network quality, reliability and world class customer service – and we have to provide them with that.” Boss joined DOCOMO PACIFIC in the summer of 2018, a continuation of multiple decades of experience in the telecommunications sector. Even after years working in Japan, the Philipines and J U LY 2 0 2 0
Nokia: Interview about 5G with Roderick Boss, CEO, DOCOMO PACIFIC CLICK TO WATCH
|
5:03
15
across the Pacific, he acknowledges
SOPHISTICATION AT (ISLAND) SCALE
that the opportunities and challenges
The unique combination of a sophis-
that Guam and the CNMI present have
ticated population that demands
required a unique adjustment. “Coming
technological excellence, status as US
to this market definitely required an
territories, and small market scale make
adjustment, compared to working for
DOCOMO PACIFIC a uniquely valuable
a telecommunications provider in a
card in NTT DOCOMO’s hand. “There
big market,” he reflects. “Here, we still
are a couple of reasons they’ve invested
need to provide everything that you’d
in us,” explains Boss. “Our proximity
expect from a world class telecom
to Japan makes it very convenient,
company, but it has to be the island
as well as the fact that we’re in touch
version of that. That doesn’t mean
with what’s going on in the US market;
lower quality or less technology, it’s
there’s a lot that we can learn from
just a different version.”
them and that they can learn from us.” w w w. m o bil e m a g a z in e . c o m
D O C O M O PA C I F I C
16
Whereas NTT DOCOMO is a mobile-
different cultures, perspectives and skill
only provider, DOCOMO PACIFIC is a
sets. “We have a very diverse organisa-
quad-play organisation, which provides
tion. We have people from all over Asia,
a singular opportunity for its executives.
from the local Chamorro population, a
“We’re tiny when you set us against the
big Filipino population as well as distinct
whole NTT DOCOMO world, but we
Korean and Japanese demographics. So,
have about six or seven executives at
add to that all the military personnel that
a time who come on a rotational basis
come and go and you have a very diverse
from Japan to work here with us and
and dynamic little island,” says Boss.
learn how our full fixed service and
“I feel like that diversity is a real strength
mobile business works,” says Boss.
in our operation. It allows for innovation
Sitting at the intersection of the Pacific,
and a very respectful environment.
US and Asian markets, DOCOMO
I think that’s something that DOCOMO
PACIFIC has access to a wealth of
PACIFIC puts a lot of value in.”
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E X E C U T I V E P R OF IL E :
Roderick Boss Roderick Boss is currently President and CEO of DOCOMO PACIFIC in Guam. Prior to joining DOCOMO PACIFIC, he held senior positions at ManpowerGroup in the US, Japan and the Philippines. Before ManpowerGroup, he was the President and CEO of Pacific Crossing Limited, the owner and operator of a subsea fiber optic telecommunications cable system in the Pacific. Before joining Pacific Crossing he was the President and CEO of Japan Telecom America, the US arm of Japan Telecom, then Japan’s third largest telephone carrier and largest broadband service provider. JT is now part of Softbank Communications. Before returning to the US and Japan Telecom America, Rod held various senior positions in Japan Telecom in Japan. He was responsible for all global services and products. Rod spent a total of eighteen years living and working in Japan at a variety of telecom companies including PowerBand Communications, J-Phone, International Digital Communications, AirTouch International, and Vodafone. He started his telecom career at AT&T where he worked in Tokyo, New York and New Jersey. Rod began his career at Honda Motor Company in Tokyo where he was a member of the first group of foreigners hired into Honda’s management training program. Rod holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Brigham Young University and a Master of International Management Degree from the Thunderbird School of International Management.
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17
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“ We have a very competitive market here and our position as the leading provider in the region is hard won” — Roderick Boss, CEO, DOCOMO PACIFIC
THE RACE FOR 5G “We started our 5G journey more than two years ago,” notes Boss. “NTT DOCOMO was developing as a global leader of 5G innovation and we were talking to them very early on about the possibility of testing 5G capabilities in our market.” In February 2019, the company unveiled a new DOCOMO 5G Open lab at its headquarters in Tamuning, Guam. “NTT DOCOMO already had three other labs in Japan – in Tokyo, Okinawa and Osaka – and number four was their first international 5G lab, which was opened here,”
The other major benefit that
explains Boss. The lab serves to com-
DOCOMO PACIFIC’s secluded market
plement DOCOMO’s Open Partner
provides is its role as an ideal test bed
Program, which allows outside compa-
for leading-edge technologies. Around
nies to partner with DOCOMO PACIFIC
the world, the advent of 5G adoption
in order to test their 5G applications,
is creating a revolution in the telecom-
equipment and new concepts at no cost.
munications industry. With implications
However, the island’s fiercely
that range from lightning fast, reliable
competitive market quickly spurred
digital communications, to a cornu-
DOCOMO PACIFIC on to greater
copia of IoT and smart infrastructure
heights of innovation. “A few weeks
applications, the next decade of digital
after the launch of our lab, one of our
communications are set to be defined
competitors held a big press confer-
by the rise of 5G. Early adopters and
ence to announce that they were
innovators in this space can expect to
going to commercially launch 5G in
reap huge rewards.
Guam and the CNMI by the end of w w w. m o bil e m a g a z in e . c o m
19
D O C O M O PA C I F I C
2019,” recalls Boss. “I kind of took that as a personal challenge. I said “if they’re going to launch before the end of the year, we’re not going to be beat.” DOCOMO PACIFIC launched its fixed network 5G services in Guam in October, and Boss explains that the company is set to follow up with a mobile 5G service in the near future. “We actually launched ahead of NTT DOCOMO in Japan,” he says. Given the early adoption stage of the technology, and the world class nature of 20
DOCOMO PACIFIC’s extant 4G/LTE network – which he notes consistently achieves 70-80 mbps speeds – Boss explains that he isn’t planning to cover Guam’s entire 549 km² of land. Rather, DOCOMO PACIFIC has established three major hot spots in the island’s busiest villages. “The rest of that deployment schedule will be defined by the market and driven by demand, not the other way round,” he states. A key driver of market demand for mobile 5G services will be the increased capability of widely available handsets. “Initially we’d been using an LG phone that uses the same frequency for 5G as Sprint’s J U LY 2 0 2 0
network in the US, and we managed to get that ahead of schedule,” Boss explains. “Now, of course, Samsung’s S20 is 5G capable. This means we’re seeing a progression from one highly specialised handset, to having a very mainstream model of phone that’s 5G capable. For us, that really changed the game, because anyone with an S20 is going to be able to use 5G when they’re within one of our hot spots.” Beyond flagship mobile devices, however, Boss notes that there’s an array of potential applications that are particularly suited to Guam’s needs. “Our geography makes us isolated, which can present limitations to our healthcare system. It’s hard to get a lot of specialist doctors to come all the way to this small island so, when people have something serious, they get on a plane to Tokyo, Manila or Hawaii,” he explains. The high speeds, reliability and low latency that 5G provides has far-reaching implications for delivering medical expertise to remote locations around the world. He also explains that, since Guam has a single university and one community college, the potential benefits of distance learning for the w w w. m o bil e m a g a z in e . c o m
21
D O C O M O PA C I F I C
22
island are also substantive. However, he
a game changer.” Guam is located in
notes that both applications are prin-
what’s colloquially known as “Typhoon
cipally based upon fixed 5G networks,
Alley”. Every year, some of the world’s
and that the process of finding applica-
most devastating storms sweep across
tions for 5G mobile that aren’t already
the Pacific and break on the island.
being supported by the last generation
As a result, Boss explains that build-
of technology is an ongoing process.
ings on the island tend to be made
“For me, there’s one major applica-
of reinforced concrete. “In-building
tion for mobile 5G in Guam that I’m
penetration is a big issue,” he says.
most excited about and that’s fiber
“If I can use 5G to go into a neighbour-
replacement. If I can get internet
hood and achieve fiber-like speeds
speeds that are comparable to fiber
through wireless, by dropping a tower
without having to dig up the ground
near my users, that’s a significant
or drill holes in people’s walls, that’s
game changer for our market.”
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23
A VITAL ECOSYSTEM
Nokia, which provides our network
Providing world-class services in a
equipment. Another key partner is
tiny market is an ambitious goal, and
Commscope, who we’ve bought a
DOCOMO PACIFIC fully leverages
number of products from over many
its network of partner relationships
years. We see the members of the
to support its goal. “Our partnerships
companies we work with as members
are incredibly important to us,” says
of our own team, so those relationships
Boss. “Because of our scale, we have
are incredibly important.”
limitations in the skills and knowhow that we can have inhouse. So we rely
THE COVID-19 CHALLENGE
on our partners’ expertise and by hav-
The ongoing global pandemic repre-
ing close working relationships, we
sents an unprecedented challenge
can make their expertise our own. We
for the modern enterprise. As coun-
have a long and close relationship with
tries around the world close their w w w. m o bil e m a g a z in e . c o m
D O C O M O PA C I F I C
“ If I can use 5G to achieve fiber-like speeds through wireless, that’s a significant game changer for our market” 24
— Roderick Boss, CEO, DOCOMO PACIFIC
DOCOMO PACIFIC: You + Dreams #BetterTogether CLICK TO WATCH
J U LY 2 0 2 0
|
1:00
this spike because we’ve been making the transition to data for a long time,” explains Boss. Guam went into lockdown in midMarch. “In our case, immediately following the first case of COVID-19 being diagnosed in Guam, we switched to a virtual work strategy across our entire company. Our call centre operations, for example, all went virtual within a two-day period. I was pretty proud of the team’s ability to do that,” says Boss. “Obviously, the ability to stay connected remotely is a service we sell to people, so we were in a good position to move to that very quickly.” borders to travellers, and the global
In response to the pandemic’s effect
economy is forced into history’s big-
on the region, DOCOMO PACIFIC has
gest experiment with remote work, it
placed its customers first, waiving late
falls to telecommunications provid-
fees, providing uncapped data to its
ers to ensure that the world remains
customers and donating PPE to front
connected.
liners in Guam and the CNMI.
“Over the past five years, we’ve seen a big shift from voice to data. During
CONNECTING TO THE FUTURE
the current COVID-19 pandemic we,
“It’s an incredibly exciting time in
along with telco operators all over the
the industry for us. We have a lot of
world, have seen a massive increase in
really fun things that we’re doing,”
our broadband business – about a 90%
enthuses Boss, reflecting on the fact
increase – and haven’t had any network
that DOCOMO PACIFIC represents
throttling. We’ve been able to handle
his first experience with the TV and w w w. m o bil e m a g a z in e . c o m
25
D O C O M O PA C I F I C
T O K YO 20 20
26
“Because we’re a small island operator, and most suppliers adjust rates according to volume, it’s important that our suppliers recognise that. One example of that is the “2020 Olympics. We were hoping to get the sponsorship to be the official telecom supplier to the Guam National Olympic Committee. This is managed by the IOC, and they charge astronomical fees for these sponsorships. We were hoping that they would understand that we’re a tiny market with our own Olympic team separate
J U LY 2 0 2 0
from the US. We thought that with it being so close to us geographically, and with us being part of a Japanese telco, it would be a great sponsorship opportunity. It actually turned out very well; they were able to understand our scale and give us a rate we could afford. Now, we’re Guam’s official telecommunications sponsor for Team Guam to the Summer Olympics event. We need a lot more of our partners to recognize that we need worldclass products and support, but at small island prices.”
“ I love this industry. It’s where new technology comes first, it’s incredibly competitive – and I love competition” — Roderick Boss, CEO, DOCOMO PACIFIC
That’s something that we’re going to see launched here very soon and I’m really excited about it,” he says. “I’ve watched my cable business shrink, year-over-year, for some time. Rather than just wait and see what happens with that, I’m ready to be a player in this new market as well.” From new technology, new strategies and constant competition to stay on top, to its inherent customer centricity, DOCOMO PACIFIC is a uniquely capable company that punches above
broadcasting business. “The media
its weight, operating in a market unlike
and TV businesses are at an inflec-
any other. “I love this industry. It’s where
tion point right now around the world.
new technology comes first, it’s incred-
OTT broadcasters are seeing this
ibly competitive – and I love competition
phenomenal growth, creating their
– and it’s fun to come to work everyday,”
own content, and that’s driving this
says Boss. “We’ve built a great team
huge transformation.” In response to
here at DOCOMO PACIFIC. We’re
the rapid acceleration of OTT adoption
lucky to have a very supportive share-
and the proportional decline in tradi-
holder that allows us to do some things
tional cable services, Boss is exploring
we might not otherwise be able to do.
ways for DOCOMO PACIFIC to once
I’m very happy to have that and, looking
again thrive in response to market
at the future, I think it’s pretty bright.”
pressure and competition. “What I want is for those people to leave me for me. That means that I’m developing my own IPTV offering for people who are moving away from full-service cable. w w w. m o bil e m a g a z in e . c o m
27
TELECOMS
How digital technology is driving telecoms transformation WRITTEN BY
28
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M AT T HIGH
29
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TELECOMS
Ant Morse, Head of Digital Solutions at O2 (Telefonica UK), discusses digital transformation in telecoms and the potential impact of 5G
o
ne innovation is perhaps more synonymous with the way in which technology
has changed our lives than any other: the mobile phone. Whilst the acceleration of digi-
tal transformation over the last decade or 30
more has left few industries untouched, the mobile phone and the telecoms industry more broadly, continues to play a central role in this. Our smartphones are our 24/7 access to the internet; they allow us to shop, to exchange money or organise mortgages or loans; and, more recently, they have allowed us to continue working despite the disruption caused by the global COVID-19 pandemic. “The one constant in our industry is change,� says Ant Morse, Head of Digital Solutions at O2 (Telefonica UK). Morse is a highly experienced digital leader in the telecommunications industry. Having spent more than quarter of a century with the telecoms giant - through its previous iterations as Cellnet, BT and O2 - he is passionate about J U LY 2 0 2 0
31
w w w. m o bil e m a g a z in e . c o m
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how digital technologies and trends
Morse explains. “I think that most
can change the way in which we live
would agree that the introduction and
our lives and works to bring value and
progress of the internet has perhaps
support through innovation to custom-
had the greatest impact on our lives.
ers’ digital business journeys.
However, the progress of the mobile
He is also a strong proponent of the
phone during that time - from the basic
influence of the mobile phone, albeit,
product to the incredibly powerful
he admits, with ‘unashamed bias’.
devices we now carry everywhere in
“Some would suggest that we are a lit-
our pocket - has seen it not only
tle too addicted to our devices, but the
become our access point or window to
mobile phone started it all - the reality
the internet, but also the remote con-
is that it’s the zeitgeist of our time,”
trol to our ever-increasing digital lives. 33
w w w. m o bil e m a g a z in e . c o m
TELECOMS
34
“The global adoption has been a by-
In many ways the mobile phone is
product of innovation and consumer
the public face of telecoms digital
adoption,” Morse continues. “Devices
transformation. But, like other sectors,
that ‘just work’ easily and intuitively
the industry has embraced innovative
resulted in mass adoption across every
and new technologies, such as IoT,
age range. On top of that, innovative
cloud and, more recently, 5G and har-
new applications across a host of areas,
nessed them to deliver a more
from news and social media through to
customer-centric, connected way to
workflow and home automation, firmly
work and play. Morse currently leads
established adoption further.”
the digital solutions teams at
J U LY 2 0 2 0
buzzword or at veneer level, he believes it important to explore what it means in practical terms. “Some look at digital transformation as a transition from a manual process to a digital service, for example,” he explains. “In my opinion, that’s digital progress rather than transformation. The latter, for me, is in the introduction and use of digital solutions that bring positive change to how an organisation works, both as a business internally, and more importantly, how it services its customers. You can see the impact of such transformation and disruption across nearly every industry, from retail through to how we book a cab or use room share services instead of a hotel.” Morse is keen to reiterate that true Telefonica Enterprise and MNC, the
digital transformation should be con-
dedicated business-focused arm of
sidered across every business
the global integrated telecoms com-
function, not merely in how it impacts
pany that delivers digital solutions such
or changes existing services. This, he
as cloud and security and telecommu-
adds, is his focus at Telefonica: “Our
nications services to help customers
broad and progressive portfolio lets
realise the possibilities of technology.
us support transformation at the cus-
As such, digital transformation is
tomer’s pace, whether that’s
Morse’s bread and butter. However,
optimising their current solutions or
far from using the phrase as a
deploying new innovative solutions. w w w. m o bil e m a g a z in e . c o m
35
TELECOMS
We do that with our expertise, advice,
provider. “The role of the CIO and IT
guidance and support. The real key
team in general has changed consid-
to supporting true transformation,
erably,” he notes. “It’s progressed from
however, is to take it more broadly
keeping the lights on, driving efficiency
than our portfolio. For example, we
and keeping up to date with the latest
consider the impacts of innovation,
innovations to now also having to con-
future trends and so forth - it makes
sider the risk of digital disruption and
for a pretty impressive outcome.”
disintermediation from new entrants
Specifically around enterprise cus-
and innovators. It’s become a critical
tomers, Morse explains that digital
and pivotal part of every organisation
transformation has honed what is
and the suppliers supporting those
required from a telecommunications
roles have also had to adapt. From my
36
J U LY 2 0 2 0
perspective, the key areas in that
real-time. It’s already enabling sur-
regards are providing the right advice
geons to carry out remote operations
way beyond the basics of the service,
worldwide, for example.
delivering end-to-end solutions that go
“5G will also bring innovation and
beyond supplying devices to integra-
progress to smart cities and the wider
tion and deployment.”
world of IoT,” he continues. “With its
While service is, naturally, a crucial
ultra-low latency, faster speeds and
element of that transformation it is,
new capabilities, it’s completely differ-
and continues to be, dominated by
ent to anything we’ve seen before,
innovations in relevant technology.
giving it the potential to transform the
Morse points to several key digital
way businesses operate, the way they
trends that are driving change across
engage, empower and communicate
the sector, including unified communi-
with their people and how they serve
cations and collaboration (UC&C)
their customers. The greater speed of
services, AI, the growth of voice
5G will let us do everything we do, but
assisted technology and extended
faster - it will improve communications
reality (see box out for more details). Of course, much has also been made of the potential that lies in the rollout of 5G, particularly with regards to how it may change the way in which businesses and organisations are able to employ innovative technologies to their advantage. “It will play a vital role in progressing a number of services and solutions like video calls, where low latency will enable realtime, ultra-high definition calls that allow us to better read the emotion on our faces, or speak with a doctor in w w w. m o bil e m a g a z in e . c o m
37
TELECOMS
DIG I TA L T R A N S F O R M AT I O N I N T ELECO M S: K EY T REN DS According to Morse, there are several key trends dominating digital transformation in the industry: Unified Communications and Collaboration Services (UC&C): “While of key interest to many organisations as the natural progression of voice services I
38
predict that, as a result of COVID-19, we will see almost full adoption of UC&C solutions as the core business communication services. We will build ‘remote first, desk second’ infrastrutures providing far greater f lexibility and security and I predict a major transformation and disruption of the current UC marketplace over the next two to five years. AI: “Staying with the progress of UC&C, the introduction of AI into these solutions will drive incredible efficiencies, allowing a project or task owner to set task-specific requirements then let AI source the skills required, find the people with those skills, allocate the tasks within the project and track, monitor and chase up the tasks day to day. J U LY 2 0 2 0
“As a member of a project your diary and day will be set around the task and actions you have in play; AI will schedule your day accordingly and prioritise the import and time sensitive tasks. As a project lead you will see a dashboard of the progress and inputs, seeing exactly who is inputting what and when, and where things are on track or falling behind. I see this having a positive impact on the gig/freelance economy too.” Voice: “As voice assistance technology continues to improve, we will also likely see new services introduced in the consumer space, progressing home voice assistance solutions moving them from voice search assistants into personal assistance, learning more about our behaviours and patterns and making suggestions to support our day-to-day lives. Voice will also play an increasing role as more aspects of our lives are digitised - the need to reduce screen time will be important to our wellbeing and voice is an obvious alternative.”
XR – VR and AR – Extended Reality: “These technologies will now likely begin to take off for a couple of reasons. As a more remote, but better connected world, I foresee development of dedicated VR technologies beginning to increase, using UC&C solutions for the majority of communications day to day but then dropping into VR for a
Big Data: The power that data insight can offer is incredible and in my opinion is greatly underutilised. The O2 data sets gathers population movement and demographic data insight from over 25 million UK mobile users, the data is fully anonymised and aggregated, only using data at a crowd level data to understand patterns and trends, making it one of the most accurate and securest data sets in
focused project, such as a tour of a building or review of an engineering component. AR Glass technology will likely be re-introduced by one of the tech giants very soon - as we see the growth of multi-tasking consumption of media, glass is an obvious solution to enable. Couple it with voice technology and imagine watching a movie and saying out loud ‘what else was that actor in’ and an instant view in your peripheral vision shows you a
the UK. As an example, we’ve worked closely with a number of government departments and a wide range of pandemic research organisations during COVID-19 to provide critical data on the movement of people prior to lockdown and insight on overseas travel and visitors to the UK from countries with high cases of COVID. While it may only offer a small contribution to the wider situation we are incredibly proud to have supported the country, government and
list of the films they had appeared in.
citizens during this challenging time.
“In industry, the use cases are perhaps
Our work here will continue as we
more precise, with AR technology already present in utilities, where an field operative can see underground asset using AR and the screen of their phone. As the progress of smart cities and IoT solutions continues, AR will offer a wide range of opportunities.”
now support a number of clients in the business arena to understand the travel and movement of people in our post COVID new normal. This is a critical time for many organisations and data insight will be key in supporting their businesses. w w w. m o bil e m a g a z in e . c o m
39
TELECOMS
where digital technology is progressing far beyond solving basic problems to bringing incredible change to our lives - even changing the course of our lives entirely.” There are, he affirms, three key areas in which this change may be evidenced: the current, the mid-term and the long term. In the former, Morse points to the way in which technology has helped countless people to transition to a working from home environment and organisations to miti40
between remote workers, introduce
gate the impact that COVID-19 has
new possibilities such as 3D holo-
had. The same tools, he adds, have
graphic calls or augmented (AR) or
changed our personal lives too, as
virtual reality (VR) that educates and
video calls replace long days of travel-
informs in new and exciting ways, and
ling, allow us to still partake in gym
it will enable the creation of immersive
classes, learn new skills online or use
new experiences. It’s an exciting tech-
digital health technology far more
nology for our industry and has the
effectively and proactively in terms of
potential to deliver incredible transfor-
our lifestyle choices.
mation across several industries.” The potential of new and innovative
In the mid term, Morse explains that “as AI technology progresses in man-
technologies like 5G should not be
aging projects and workflow tasks, we
understated. However, beyond the
will see the growth of the gig economy
impact to his and his customers’
and people will look to work for organ-
industries, Morse anticipates the
isations that provide output-based
potential transformation to be even
measures utilising technology to work
greater. “I think we are now at a point
more efficiently, or for a range of
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41
organisations at the same time. With a
shower and asking for your prefer-
longer term projection, Morse pre-
ence for dinner while simultaneously
dicts the rise of the ‘personal digital
reordering your food supplies,” he
assistant’, our very own digital organ-
explains. “The constant and exciting
iser that will pull together a wide range
part of this industry is changing and I
of digital services to support our lives.
know that to some this could sound a
“This could range from automati-
little far-fetched, but true innovation
cally setting your alarm clock based
occurs when technology solves a
on your day ahead, including booking
problem. After all, our lives are com-
your train or uber, through to a voice
plicated enough in the modern world
assistant talking you through your
- a little more digital assistance might
schedule as you take your morning
not be such a bad thing.” w w w. m o bil e m a g a z in e . c o m
42
Delivering Cambodia’s 5G digital transformation WRITTEN BY
MATT HIGH
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PRODUCED BY
GLEN WHITE
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CELLCARD
Cellcard’s CEO, Ian Watson, discusses how the telecoms company is enabling a 5G-driven digitisation of Cambodia
D
igital technology and the greater use of data have irreversibly changed virtually every industry, and the telecoms sector
is no exception. Indeed, the advent of one specific innovation has forever changed the way that we communicate, bank, work and engage with the 44
world, as well as our expectations as consumers: the smartphone. “The smartphone has become one of the most important tools in our lives,” shares Ian Watson, CEO of telecoms leader, Cellcard. “The smartphone is your connection to the digital world. It is the means to purchase items and pay bills, the vault which holds the data of your life via photographs and videos, an assistant which tells you where you need to be, and can act as the advisor of how to get there. It can measure your health and advise you on issues, and is the instrument which allows you to receive your correspondence and entertainment.” Cellcard is at the forefront of telecommunications innovation and digital transformation. The business, which is fully Cambodian-owned and
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CELLCARD
“ We view Cellcard as moving away from the traditional mobile network operator model to being a full digital life service provide” — Ian Watson, CEO, Cellcard 46
operated, is committed to providing access to mobile technology and connectivity to all Cambodians, regardless of their location. In doing so, it has risen to become the preeminent telecoms company in the Kingdom - it was the first to offer nationwide coverage and prepaid services in 1998, the first to provide a 3G network with streaming services in 2005 and, in 2010, the first to launch a mobile payments platform. More recently, Cellcard is now the operator of Cambodia’s fastest 4G
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Cellcard: Big Love $8 = $2000 = 80GB CLICK TO WATCH
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0:45
47 network, with the Kingdom experi-
its own transformational journey. “We
encing a 36% growth in mobile data
view Cellcard as moving away from
subscribers since its launch.
the traditional mobile network opera-
In short, Cellcard sets the standard
tor model to being a full digital lifestyle
for telecoms innovation in Cambodia.
service provider,” he explains. “We’ll
With Watson at the helm, however, it
make sure that your device – whether
doesn’t rest on its laurels. The busi-
a handheld or wearable device - is
ness is currently dedicated to driving
truly connected to the world. It’s all
and leading Cambodia’s ongoing
part of a wider ecosystem that we’re
digitalisation through the develop-
building that we call our ‘walled gar-
ment and launch of the Kingdom’s
den’. When you’re in our garden you’ll
first 5G network. As Watson reveals
be able to access all the services you
during the course of our conversation,
need. It will be a great place to be
despite its technology-first approach,
that’s driven by the latest technology,
this has also seen Cellcard undergo
and you won’t want to leave.” w w w. m o bil e m a g a z in e . c o m
Building a Fully Connected, Intelligent World “Huawei, our key strategic partner has been working side-by-side with Cellcard on 4G projects within many key cities and provinces in 2019. With the support from Huawei’s high technology solution, we have completed the first real 5G trial test in Cambodia following the download speed that reached 1.6Gbps with lower latency rate at less than 10ms. Cellcard is confident in choosing Huawei to embrace digital life to every person, home and organization in Cambodia for an intelligent future with intelligent connections.”
Let’s Move Forward to a 5G Era
“ The smartphone connects you to the world” — Ian Watson, CEO, Cellcard The industry is changing rapidly, particularly in Cambodia. Watson explains that while this is in part driven by the evolution of technology, it is also a product of the broader change in the Kingdom. “It’s not the biggest that survive, it’s those that adapt the quickest. As we move into the digital world, it’s vital to be up to speed with those changes and all of the dynamic developments around 5G and other telecom innovations. “The key driver of change, particularly in Cambodia, is the increasing appetite for large data,” he continues. “If you look at the history of the country, there has never been a fixed line infrastructure. Instead,
E X E C U T I V E P R OF IL E :
Ian Watson Ian Watson is recognised within the telecommunications community as one of the leading figures in relation to 5G and digital transformation having built a 30-year career in the industry across global markets. His most recent industry recognition was the 5G Asia People’s Choice Award for Operator CXO of the Year. He has also gained significant exposure in the past year as the driving force behind one of the most aggressive 4G roll-outs in the SE Asian region, achieving for three years running both the Ookla and Opensignal Awards. His focus now is firmly set on driving the digitisation of Cambodia with early adoption of pre-5G and the introduction of 5G across the key segments of Consumer, Government and Corporate.
as we’ve moved into the digital age, Cambodians have gone straight to mobile broadband, mobile data and connectivity. At the same time, we w w w. m o bil e m a g a z in e . c o m
49
CELLCARD
C E L LC A R D : U S I N G 5 G T O C O M B AT C OV I D -1 9
50
In March Cellcard announced the Kingdom’s first use of 5G for a telemedicine service at four locations across Phnom Penh to help with critically ill patients. Cellcard demonstrated 5G speeds of more than 1.6 gigabits per second, and installed the service at: • The Khmer Soviet Friendship Hospital • The Chak Angre Health Center • Ministry of Health • Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications The initiative was led by Royal Group Chairman Neak Oknha Kith Meng in full cooperation with both Ministries. Watson says: “the Chairman of the company is Cambodian and his mantra is to support the digitalisation of Cambodia with the Royal Government. Cellcard will be the leading 5G digital network and will drive that vision.”
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Cellcard Chairman Kith Meng
5G live test
have a very young demographic
he explains. “It is for sure going to
– 60% of the Cambodian population
be a strong force in the global digital
is under 30 years of age. This is gen-
transformation, and a leading pro-
eration X. It’s people who want to be
ponent of the digital world. We, as a
connected, to be social, bank and shop
company, are very much part of that
through their devices, it’s an absolutely
journey culturally too.
modern lifestyle and we have to be sure we’re providing for that.” Cambodian lifestyle and the cul-
“We pride ourselves on our Cambodian heritage; 99% of our employees are Cambodian,” Watson
ture that pervades throughout the
continues. “But you can’t be digital
Kingdom is important internally, too,
on the outside unless you’re digital
says Watson. Indeed, as the company
on the inside. As a result, and as part
navigates the rollout of 5G, he finds
of this journey to the 5G digitialsing of
the strong cultural aspect of Cellcard
Cambodia, we’re having to re-engineer
to be vital to progress. “One of the
and reprocess virtually the entire
things that attracted me to Cambodia
company from the top down. And it’s
is the culture, it’s so rich and diverse,”
not just about processes, it’s about people, having good digital change managers and a concerted effort to bring the whole company into the digital world.” It is also, says Watson, about building and developing technology that is embedded in that Cambodian heritage. “For example, we’ve created a Cambodian Chat app called Mith Laor, which means ‘good friends’. The app includes a TV platform to host video and other content, a payment platform that sees us explore more w w w. m o bil e m a g a z in e . c o m
51
lifestyle-type services, and more.
completed, will see it “having built one
It’s all part of this broader end-to-end
of the best, most dynamic digital 5G
digital platform that we will deliver
platforms not only in Cambodia, but in
through the 5G rollout, and it all works
the world”, says Watson.
through a smartphone app. To ensure
Cellcard has several sites that it
this is best-in-class we’re already
has been running for some time as
looking to integrate other innovations,
part of that process. The company
such as AI, integrated voice assistants,
recently used its 5G infrastructure
chatbots and robotics”.
to provide an important service as
As to the implementation, Watson
part of Cambodia’s efforts to combat
explains that Cellcard’s network is pre-
the COVID-19 pandemic. In March it
5G enabled, with all 5G testing already
announced the Kingdom’s first use
being concluded some two years ago.
of 5G for a telemedicine service at
The company is currently working with
four locations across Phnom Penh
the government ministries on a test
to help with critically ill patients. The
and releasing spectrum that, once
service allowed doctors to use video
MONTH 2019
“ To have a dynamic 5G network it has to be accessible. It must be fast and deliver everything that we promise” — Ian Watson, CEO, Cellcard
been helped and underpinned by our existing, superfast 4G network too, which remains the best performing in Cambodia.” Naturally, any significant transformation journey brings challenges and a degree of change management. For example, says Watson, a company can’t digitalise if it doesn’t have the technology. Cellcard has invested significantly in its network to facilitate the rollout of 5G, but also in building a team of people with the correct mindset and ambition to drive the
conferencing technology linked to mobile phones and devices across
Kingdom’s digitalisation. On the technologies that will enable
Cambodia to assess patients in real-
this, Watson explains that “to have
time. This extends to the provision
a dynamic 5G network it has to be
of real-time clinical care, counselling
accessible. It must be fast and deliver
and therapy, as well as education
everything that we promise. But it’s
for consultants and support for
not just about speed, it’s about under-
medical teams.
standing and incorporating all of the
“It’s part of what we are trying to do
new opportunities that can be gained
as we move into a full 5G environment,”
from a 5G world, so things like network
Watson explains. “We’re looking at
splicing, enhanced mobile capabilities
using the technology for remote diag-
and the Internet of Things. Second to
nostics in all provinces, to support
that, is ensuring you have the neces-
medical staff and for other diagnosis
sary platforms to deliver all of the
and treatment services such as rec-
products and services. This includes a
ognising cataracts and more. It’s all
robust cloud computing platform and w w w. m o bil e m a g a z in e . c o m
53
CELLCARD
54
“ 5G will underpin the true digital transformation of the Kingdom and we’re plugged in and ready to deliver on that vision” — Ian Watson, CEO, Cellcard J U LY 2 0 2 0
watertight cybersecurity practices.” The latter, he explains, is crucial as networks and data grow. “In a true digital world, it won’t just be your handset that you should be concerned about, it’ll be every device in your home,” he states. “For organisations like us, it means the need to authenticate a large number of devices latching to the network, ensuring robust perimeter defences so that people can’t get into the network in the first instance and more. We invest huge
Looking ahead to a 5G-enabled Cambodia, Watson elaborates on the benefits that the technology will bring, not just to consumers but also the Kingdom’s enterprise economy. “The B2B market is, in my opinion, one of the biggest selling points of 5G,” he states. “We’re already setting up a dedicated 5G digital enterprise department to focus solely on the B2B and SME sectors and we are investing heavily in data centres so that enterprises can manage and have access to the vast amounts of data that they will need. “For Cambodia, the future is very exciting. It’s a young, dynamic county and it has huge potential that can amounts into our security protocols –
be realised by digitalisation. 5G will
we simply have to.”
underpin the true digital transforma-
For this, and other areas of technology,
tion of the Kingdom and we’re plugged
Watson states that partnerships prove
in and ready to deliver on that vision,”
important. A good technology partner,
he concludes.
he says, must fit Cellcard’s digital vision and be prepared to work towards the long-term ambitions of the company and the Kingdom. He cites a long-term partnership with Microsoft as a good example, through which Cellcard has access to the company’s video conferencing and other technologies. w w w. m o bil e m a g a z in e . c o m
55
TECHNOLOGY
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HMD Global: flexibility and dynamism in customer logistics WRITTEN BY
MARCUS LAWRENCE
w w w. m o bil e m a g a z in e . c o m
57
TECHNOLOGY
Noha Samara, Head of Customer Logistics (MENA), discusses how HMD Global’s revival of the Nokia phones brand is driven by robust logistics strategies
I
n 2016, a startup by the name of HMD Global acquired the Nokia phones licence from Microsoft, along with its mobile
assets, and since then the brand has enjoyed a marked resurgence. HMD Global’s investment strategy, coupled with strategic use of Nokia phones’ enduring reputation and the demand for 58
feature phones that hark back to its heyday, has seen rapid gains across the smartphone and feature phone markets. In its first year, HMD’s approach to the mobile market and its insistence on disrupting the industry saw it achieve unicorn status, with over 50 offices worldwide and a partnership with Google that sees its handsets lead the charge with the latest Android OS iterations. Its offering is differentiated against the competition with a market-leading approach to handset aftercare, with the promise of years-long security and OS patches to ensure end users aren’t left behind in a fast-moving industry. While HMD Global’s leadership in marketing, design, and offering development are the most outward-facing factors driving this brand growth,
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w w w. m o bil e m a g a z in e . c o m
TECHNOLOGY
“ By changing nothing, nothing changes” — Noha Samara, Head of Customer Logistics (MENA), HMD Global
the behind-the-scenes operations are the glue holding the resurgent Nokia phones together. In the world of ecommerce and next-day deliveries, fulfilling customer orders in the most timely and efficient way possible is the backbone of any consumer brand growth. Not only is logistics responsible for delivering on customer purchasing, but also on the wider brand promise of reliability, performance, and customer-centricity. Noha Samara, Head of Customer
60
Logistics for the Middle East, North Africa (MENA) region, leads the function in some of HMD Global’s most diverse and fast-moving markets. Samara joined HMD Global at its inception, moving on from successful periods in the customer logistics wings of Microsoft and Procter and Gamble. Educated at Ain Shams University, Samara graduated in 2006 with a BSc in Electrical, Electronics and Communications Engineering, and in 2011 completed her MBA from The American University in Cairo. “I started my career with Procter and Gamble in manufacturing, and then I moved into the supply chain and fell in love J U LY 2 0 2 0
Nokia 8.3 5G - Elevate your creativity CLICK TO WATCH
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0:40
61 with it,” says Samara. “Within P&G
requirements that we see from dif-
I worked on several regional assign-
ferent countries and new regulations
ments on category, market and
that are always being put in place. This
demand planning. Afterwards, I moved
can definitely be a challenge, so we
to Microsoft where I led the MENA
work hand in hand with our partners
region before joining HMD Global.”
to leverage their capabilities and set
In her current role, Samara views the
up systems together where automa-
smooth operation of customer logis-
tion can play a role. We have set up
tics to be the beating heart of Nokia
a standardised global framework
phones’ brand growth, particularly
strategy that enables flexibility and
in territories where market share is
agility for the specific requirements
transient and hotly contested.
of each region. For example, there are
“The MENA region is dynamic, with
barriers to automation across custom-
lots of emerging markets,” Samara
ers and geographies, so we need to
explains. “It also has fast moving
be aware of the levels of flexibility and w w w. m o bil e m a g a z in e . c o m
TECHNOLOGY
62
capability available. To overcome
opportunities for increased efficiency.
the challenge, we jointly develop solu-
“In general, the region is being driven
tions with partners that marry both our
by emergent technologies such as
capabilities and that of our customers
augmented reality (AR) and artificial
to enable compatibility and synergy.�
intelligence (AI), along with innovative
This approach to ensuring each link
new solutions including blockchain
across the HMD-to-customer supply
and machine learning which are dis-
chain is consolidated by techno-
rupting the traditional supply chain
logical solutions that provide visibility,
model. We’ve been highly aware of this,
transparency, and the identification of
and I would say we have been some of
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E X E C U T I V E P R OF IL E :
Noha Samara Title: Head of Customer Logistics (MENA and Turkey) Industry: Mobile Noha Samara is a seasoned supply chain professional with deep experience in supply chain transformation, category and initiatives planning, demand planning, and customer logistics. She has a strong track record of leading and building up operations within both global MNCs as well as rising unicorn startups. Noha has spent a large extent of her career in the FMCG sector; with the retail giant Procter & Gamble where she worked across diverse categories (Baby Care, Beauty Care and Luxury Cosmetics) before moving into the consumer electronics industry with Microsoft. She joined HMD Global in 2016 as the MENA Head of Customer Logistics and Supply Chain Director. Noha has led several complex supply chain transformation projects throughout her diverse career. She possesses great team leadership skills with a high level of discipline and rich experience in process improvement and standardisation. Noha is an electronics engineer with an MBA from the American University in Cairo. She has published three case studies on operations management and corporate strategy.
w w w. m o bil e m a g a z in e . c o m
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TECHNOLOGY
“ We jointly develop solutions with partners that marry both our capabilities and those of our customers to enable compatibility and synergy” — Noha Samara, Head of Customer Logistics (MENA), HMD Global 64
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TECHNOLOGY
66
PARTN ERS
that HMD Global uses to oversee its
We build partnerships to last, constructed based on our partners’ capabilities. We have a clear set of aligned and mutual KPIs, and we share our global objectives with partners regarding growth and expansion strategies. We consider our partners as a driving force of our success. The more we grow, the more they also grow, so we have very strong relationships with our partners.
supply chain functions. With its wide
Noha Samara, Head of Customer Logistics (MENA), HMD Global
presence, both regionally and globally, and many shipping locations with varying lead times, HMD uses this control tower function in close conjunction with its partners to ensure on-time delivery. “Time to market and time to ramp up for our devices are vitally important in our industry, so we rely heavily on those relationships to support our focus and strategy,” continues Samara. “We have a clear set of aligned and mutual KPIs, and we share our global objectives with partners regarding growth and expansion strategies. We consider our partners as a driving force of our success. The more we grow, the more they also grow, so we have very strong relationships with our partners.” This close cooperation provides
the first adopters of these new tech-
end-to-end visibility across the supply
nologies. We have implemented many
chain function, with digitisation boost-
of these across our supply chain opera-
ing flexibility in ever-changing market
tions, particularly in terms of Big Data
situations. HMD’s distributors benefit
management and analytics, automation
from an online supply chain portal that
and AI.”
provides accurate real-time informa-
Each of these developments feed
tion, flagging areas of inefficiency and
into a ‘control tower’ organisation
clarifying areas to target strategically.
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“ The more we grow, the more they also grow, so we have very strong relationships with our partners” — Noha Samara, Head of Customer Logistics (MENA), HMD Global w w w. m o bil e m a g a z in e . c o m
TECHNOLOGY
68
“ The MENA region is dynamic, with lots of emerging markets. It also has fast moving requirements that we see from different countries and new regulations that are always being put in place” — Noha Samara, Head of Customer Logistics (MENA), HMD Global J U LY 2 0 2 0
combined with bi-weekly leadership meetings focused on innovation and efficiency; the sum is an organisation that is flexible and able to rapidly react to shifting market conditions and fluctuations in demand. “By changing nothing, nothing changes,” Samara concludes, and HMD Global is committed to this principle. Reinstating Nokia phones at the forefront of the mobile conversation has required a focus on challenging the current status quo, seeking areas to innovate and move fast in ever-evolving markets where customer demand for the latest and greatest is a constant. Nokia phones is on the rise, and it is clear that HMD Global’s robust approach to supply chain management and logistics across its operations is a vital and effective driver of this return to prominence. The dynamism of MENA markets, and the four-to-six month lifecycle of each handset, is addressed by both this cutting-edge approach to visibility and HMD’s hands-on approach to demand forecasting and preparation. Weekly demand forecasting is w w w. m o bil e m a g a z in e . c o m
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IOT MOBILE
IoT: driving transformatio in mobile 70
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on 71
WRITTEN BY
HARRY MENE AR
w w w. m o bil e m a g a z in e . c o m
IOT MOBILE
How is IoT innovation changing the mobile sector and what are the key trends driving digital disruption? The Internet of Things (IoT) is radically redefining connectivity on a global scale. IoT technology is permeating new industries and markets at an incred72
ible speed. Experts estimate that, by the end of 2020, there will be more than 31 billion IoT devices connected to the internet, and 127 new ones are being connected every second. This staggering growth is affecting every industry vertical in every market, as more and more companies begin to reach a mature relationship with the technology. IoT spending is also growing massively. In 2016, global IoT spending totalled $737bn. In 2020, that figure is expected to reach $1.29trn. In short, IoT technology is the process of connecting physical things (everything from cars and home appliances to barometric pressure sensors and parking meters) to the internet. The technology allows for massively increased data gathering capabilities, greater transparency, and facilitates more computing to take place nearer to the edge of networks. J U LY 2 0 2 0
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w w w. m o bil e m a g a z in e . c o m
Between hope and possible there’s a bridge.
There from the beginning to where we stand today. And to where we will go from here. One company. One promise. If you can imagine it, we will build the bridge to get you there.
The Content Supply Chain CLICK TO WATCH
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11:34
75 The IoT revolution is expected to have
As IoT saturation grows, and its
significant and transformative implica-
applications become more sophisti-
tions for the mobile device and software
cated, the implications for the future
markets, particularly as cellular IoT gains
of the mobile hardware and application
traction. This year alone, 3.5 billion cellular
development space are only going to
IoT connections will be installed. The
become more profound.
technology involves connecting physical
“Smartphone... technologies such as
devices to the internet by piggybacking
built-in sensors, Bluetooth, radio-fre-
on mobile networks. The combination of
quency identification (RFID) tracking,
existing cellular infrastructure, the
and near-field communications (NFC)
ability for mobile networks to bring IoT
allow it to be an integral part of IoT and
capability to remote areas, and the
IoE world as the most-used device in
application of new communications
these environments,� wrote Mehdia
technology like 5G has led to this being
Ajana El Khaddar and Mohammed
one of the biggest growth areas for IoT.
Boulmalf in the InTechOpen journal. w w w. m o bil e m a g a z in e . c o m
IOT MOBILE
Here, we consider the trends shaping the ongoing relationship between mobile and IoT, and examine the industry-wide transformation this new technology is driving.
OMNI UI POWERED BY IOT Omni UI is a growing trend in the smart home, marketing and retail sectors, and is integrally linked to an IoT-powered future. To fully understand this trend, it’s helpful to take a look at the one that came before it. 76
Back in 2015, Andy Goodman, a group director at the digital marketing
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“ The IoT omnichannel evolution is here and it’s gaining traction quickly” — Ketan Karia, head of IoT Practice at Ness Digital Engineering
company Fjord, gave a talk on the future of advertising. He painted a picture of a world where human interaction with technology would move beyond the inhibitions of screens and physical interactions. Instead, we would make an almost universal transition to haptic, audio and ambient interfaces. In short, a Zero UI world. In a way, this bold prediction came true. Between 2017 and 2019, smart speaker ownership in the US grew by more than 135%, and today an estimatw w w. m o bil e m a g a z in e . c o m
IOT MOBILE
“ Billions of people around the world use smartphones... It makes sense that mobile apps are the preferred channel for accessing IoT” — IoT For All
the screen. Why it’s important to remember the Zero UI craze is the context it created for the trend that rose in its opposition. In an interview conducted last year, Andrew Dunbar, general manager, EMEA at digital consultancy Appnovation, spoke to me about the emerging trend of Omni UI. “It’s not about having no visible user interface; it’s about having everything become an interface,” he explained. Omni UI describes the ongoing
78
ed 200 million smart speakers have
transformation by which proliferating
been sold. Beyond power and volume
smart devices turn every element of
controls (both of which can also be
automobiles, smart homes and cities,
operated via speech commands), these
and virtually every other element of
devices have no physical, tactile UI.
modern life into interface points for the
However, we’re half a decade
user. In an article he wrote for Informa-
removed from Goodman’s prophecy of
tion Age, Dunbar adds that “one of the
a Zero UI world and, with the exception
most intriguing aspects of the debate is
of some niche areas, our relationship
where the interface no longer involves
with technology is still firmly rooted in
the consumer directly. A combination of
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79 IoT and AI are opening up the possibility
day. Therefore, it makes sense that
that ‘commoditised’ decisions might be
mobile apps are the preferred
made for us by machines.” According to
channel for accessing IoT,” posited a
Ketan Karia, head of IoT Practice at
recent report by IoT For All.
Ness Digital Engineering, “the IoT
Accessing IoT solutions via mobile
omnichannel evolution is here, and it’s
apps is a logical development, since
gaining traction quickly.”
mobile app development is inexpen-
IoT technology (combined with AI)
sive, which makes the IoT increas-
is the backbone of this trend, and
ingly accessible through mobile
mobile devices are increasingly
channels. Data gathered from IoT
taking on the role of a universal
sensors can be efficiently managed
remote control, as well as an informa-
and monitored through mobile
tion portal. “Billions of people around
devices, and mobile applications are
the world use smartphones, and that
playing a significant role in support-
number is increasing rapidly every
ing the growth of the Omni UI. w w w. m o bil e m a g a z in e . c o m
IOT MOBILE
The cell phone is already the most
in delivering IoT services in remote or
powerful data-gathering tool for
challenging environments, and in
companies looking to understand their
contexts where building dedicated IoT
customers. Cell phones track our
networks is cost-prohibitive. “With the
locations and browsing habits, contain
progressive rise of IoT devices and
more personal information than any
the pervasiveness of cloud-based
filing cabinet or physical storeroom, and
platforms and 5G deployment, cellular
are an essential tool in companies’
IoT connectivity will become a leading
quest to anticipate and adapt to the
technology within the next few years,”
needs of their client base. The prolifera-
said Lars Wemme, head of IoT
tion of IoT devices and their symbiosis
Security at Infineon’s Digital Security
with mobile technology is creating
Solutions division, in a recent state-
wealths of new data in real time.
ment. The ability to gather, analyse
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and process data beyond the reach of
CELLULAR IOT
fibre optic networks has massive
As mentioned above, cellular net-
potential for the agricultural, smart
works are set to play a significant role
city and medical industries.
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“ Cellular IoT connectivity will become a leading technology within the next few years” — Lars Wemme, head of IoT Security, Infineon
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IOT MOBILE
AT&T: The Company Behind the Telephone CLICK TO WATCH
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BLUES WIRELESS AND AT&T HARNESS THE POWER OF CELLULAR IOT Blues Wireless aims to increase the
network to offer a device that
connectivity between people and
combines prepaid cellular connectiv-
businesses using cellular IoT solu-
ity, low-power hardware design,
tions. The Seattle-based startup,
simple software design, and secure
which was founded in 2018 produces
communications into a single solution.
The Notecard. Currently in beta, the
“Our low-power wide-area networks
product is a simple, cost-effective
over LTE are built for IoT, delivering
and embeddable, mobile IoT solution
better indoor coverage, longer battery
for cloud-based monitoring and
life and other efficiencies. Notecard will
connected operations. AT&T is
make it easy and economical for our
collaborating with Blues Wireless on
business customers to put IoT solutions
the project, and the companies are
to work,” commented John Donovan,
hoping to use the telecom giant’s
CEO of AT&T Communications.
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VODAFONE: CELLULAR IOT IN CONSERVATION In order to protect endangered and
and monitor wild animals has long
threatened species, conservationists
been a problem.
need to fully understand behaviour of
Telecommunications giant Vodafone
those species, and which habitats are
is currently working with the SMRU as
key to their survival. Over the past few
part of its project to bring cutting-edge
decades, Scottish harbour seals have
connectivity to conservation efforts
seen a dangerous drop in population,
around the world. “We were the first
declining by as much as 90%.
people to put a telemetry tag on a seal
The Sea Mammal Research Unit
back in the mid-80s,” explains Bernie
(SMRU) is working to understand the
McConnell – Deputy Director of the
environmental factors that are
SMRU. “You stick it to the seal and it’ll
harming the seal population, but
tell you where it’s going and how far it’s
finding non-invasive ways to track
diving. The problem with that satellite-
“ Our low-power wide-area networks over LTE are built for IoT, delivering better indoor coverage, longer battery life and other efficiencies” — John Donovan, CEO of AT&T Communications w w w. m o bil e m a g a z in e . c o m
83
IOT MOBILE
Vodafone Powers the Internet of Things CLICK TO WATCH
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84 based system though, is that we were
coverage improvements, which will
only getting the tip of the iceberg in
enable the SMRU to track the move-
terms of the data that was being
ment of seals far out to sea.
collected – we could only see an approximation of where the seals were
DOING MORE AT THE EDGE
once or twice a day.�
The ability for IoT devices to perform
Now, Vodafone is providing the
computing tasks at the edge of
SMRU with access to its open lab in
networks goes a long way towards
Newbury, England, so it can test new
solving one of the biggest problems
low power wide area (LPWA) technolo-
associated with centralised cloud
gies, which have the potential to allow
architecture. While centralised cloud
connected devices to have a far greater
architecture will continue to have a
battery life than those reliant on
place in networks for a very long time,
conventional cellular technologies.
in situations where vast quantities of
LPWA networks also deliver significant
data are being sent back and forth,
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they create lag. By using mobile
the world, as explored above, are going
devices to process the data gathered
to see their businesses affected in a
from IoT sensors at the edge of
number of ways. Cellular IoT is an area
networks, IoT powered edge comput-
with huge potential for growth, and
ing can reduce delays and even
takes advantage of mobile providers’
improve security.
extant infrastructure. Also, smart-
In addition to functions like business
phones are increasingly going to be
alerts, security monitoring and data
the linchpins of IoT networks, as they
gathering, the combination of edge
come to function as controllers for
computing IoT and cellular networks’
more and more devices, as well as
ability to move the IoT into more and
fundamental drivers of edge comput-
more hostile locations means that
ing solutions. IoT applications are
increasingly complex tasks can be
increasingly being developed for
accomplished more quickly in increas-
mobile, due to both ease and the
ingly diverse environments.
necessity of having flexible access to architectures that were designed to
CHANGE IN THE AIR
promote flexibility in the first place. The
The IoT evolution isn’t going anywhere
future of IoT is mobile, and a significant
but forward. Mobile operators around
portion of the future of mobile is the IoT.
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85
Mobile brands WRITTEN BY
HARRY MENEAR 86
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T O P 10 | M O B I L E B R A N D S
MOBILE MAGAZINE TAKES A LOOK AT THE 10 MOST IMPACTFUL BRANDS IN THE MOBILE SPACE “An iPod, a phone, and an Internet communicator,” said Steve Jobs, standing on a plain black stage at the 2007 Macworld conference. “Are 88
you getting it? These are not three separate devices. This is one device.” Although technically the title of first smartphone is held by the IBM Simon Personal Communicator, which hit the market as early as November 1992, the first generation iPhone is commonly held up as the flashpoint for the smartphone age. While it looks rudimentary in comparison with today’s flagship devices (it only had a 2-megapixel camera, a 3.5 inch screen and a mere 128MB of DRAM) the iPhone laid the foundations for almost every successive generation of smartphone. Along with Alexander Graham Bell’s (or Antonio Meucci, if you believe his patent claim) telephone and ARPANET, the smartphone is unquestionably one of the most impactful inventions of the past hundred years. J U LY 2 0 2 0
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T O P 10 | M O B I L E B R A N D S
From personal finance and ERP applications to gaming and social
ing power and storage are also being
media, the modern smartphone is
overcome by the integration of cloud
capable of routinely performing tasks
technologies. This has the potential
that would have been out of reach
to particularly impact the gaming
for the average personal computer
space, as companies like Google
even a decade ago. As users’ digital
Stadia and Vortex allow users to ac-
presences become increasingly inte-
cess the power of next-generation
grated, and IoT further interconnects
entertainment consoles through their
everything from smart home appli-
mobile connections.
ances to vehicles, the smartphone
90
places on capabilities like process-
Today, almost 4bn people use a
is becoming more and more of a
smartphone on a daily basis. The
universal remote control. The physi-
global smartphone market was val-
cal limitations that a cell phone’s size
ued at just under US$715bn last year, and is expected to exceed $1.3trn by 2025. While the global COVID-19 pandemic is expected to cause smartphone sales to decline by about 2.3% this year, (according to Gartner, global smartphone sales fell by a full 20% in the first quarter of 2020) a
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91 global trend of accelerated launches
However, the majority of cell phones
for new devices, innovations like the
around the world are powered by
foldable touchscreen, and the ongo-
Google’s Android operating system,
ing launch of 5G are expected to ac-
which accounted for approximately
celerate growth beyond 6% in 2021.
72% of the market at the end of 2019.
Pitched firmly at the premium
The remaining market share is divided
band of mobile devices, and limited
more or less evenly between Samsung
exclusively to Apple manufactured
(although the Korean tech giant primar-
products, the iOS operating system
ily runs Android on its devices), KaiOS,
maintains an approximate market
Windows and Series 40. By 2022,
share of around 25%. Currently, Ap-
Android is predicted to accumulate
ple iOS is seeing heaviest penetra-
even more of the global market share
tion in wealthier markets. In the UK,
of devices, reaching 87% adoption.
for example, iOS has captured about 50% of the market share.
Over the 13 years since Jobs unveiled the original iPhone, smartw w w. m o bil e m a g a z in e . c o m
T O P 10 | M O B I L E B R A N D S
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phone manufacturers have become some of the premier consumer technology companies around the world. Currently, the smartphone market is experiencing something of a midrange drought. Incredibly high-tech 5G, foldable, cloud-integrated devices are coming out at the upper end of the market, and the last few years have seen budget smartphones make dramatic leaps in quality, but there’s still a disconnect between these two market extremes. Also, some of the world’s biggest mobile manufacturers have had their efforts hampered by more than COVID-19. Sony exited multiple smartphone markets in 2019, and Huawei continues to find itself hobbled by trade disputes and government sanctions. Is the industry on the verge of a serious shake up? Or will the next decade see top players like Apple and Samsung consolidate their grip on the lion’s share of the market. From established titans to unexpected challengers, in this article, Mobile World breaks down the top 10 mobile brands from around the world, as of this year. w w w. m o bil e m a g a z in e . c o m
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T O P 10
10
Nokia
CEO: PEKKA LUNDMARK [HQ: FINLAND]
The oldest phone-affiliated brand in the world, Nokia can trace its roots back to a paper pulp mill in then-Russian-occupied Finland in the mid1860s. The Finnish brand was one of the earliest entries to the mobile phone business - following the divestiture of its television, tire, footwear and paper manufacturing business units at the end of the 80s - and its products have an enduring reputation for being nigh indestructible. Following a series of financial struggles - driven largely by Apple’s domination of the premium smartphone market in the early 2010s - the Nokia brand was sold to Microsoft in 2014. Two years later, HMD Global bought it back and has manufactured phones under the Nokia brand ever since. Once 94
the largest phone company in the world, the Finnish legacy player now pitches itself at the budget to mid-range market, with an emphasis on innovative camera design. After more than a decade of rocky terrain, the veteran brand appears to be on its way back to a secure market niche.
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09 09
Oppo
CEO: TONY CHEN [HQ: CHINA] 95
Founded in 2001, Oppo Mobile Telecommunications is part of the BBK Electronics Corporation, alongside fellow smartphone manufacturers OnePlus, Vivo and Realme. Oppo currently operates in more than 40 countries and regions, with over 400,000 sales outlets worldwide. The company’s market impact peaked in 2016 when, to many people’s surprise, it made its way into the world’s five largest smartphone manufacturers. Unlike many smartphone manufacturers, Oppo’s marketing and sales strategy revolves around brick and mortar retail. In its busiest year, 2016, only 5% of its unit sales came through online channels. Last year, in combination with its fellow subsidiary Vivo, Oppo’s sales grew by 67% in the Indian market - one of the world’s biggest growth areas for mobile sales. Pitching its product range between Vivo’s budget offerings and Huawei’s premium products, Oppo’s phones stand out for their combination of reasonable price points and flagship-quality cameras.
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SERIOUS COMMITMENT IN PROJECTS AND SCHEDULES Telefuusio Ltd (part of Instalco concern) is a responsible-minded contractor specialized in telecommunications network (SCS) and audio-visual systems installation service (AV). We look after providing our customers with long-lasting telecommunications solutions. At the same, we take an active stand in regard to design errors, in case they occur during a project. Area of operation: We operate throughout and, if needed, outside Finland.
www.telefuusio.fi info@telefuusio.fi +358 45 133 0881
08
08
Xiaomi
CEO: LEI JUN [HQ: CHINA]
Founded in 2010, the Xiaomi Corporation is one of the world’s largest smartphone producers, with massive penetration into the Chinese and Asian markets. The company has more than 213 million devices connected to its network, contributing to its status as the largest IoT platform operator in the world. Xiaomi became the world’s youngest Fortune 500 company in 2019, ranking 468th. Currently, Xiaomi products are sold in more than 90 countries, and is the biggest mobile brand in the Indian market, although the business’ penetration into US markets hasn’t taken off as promised. Its flagship phone, the Mi 10 Pro, is 5G capable and boasts a quad camera setup with 8K video capability.
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T O P 10
98
07
ZTE
07
CEO: XU ZIYANG [HQ: SHENZHEN, CHINA]
As well as handheld cell devices, Chinese communications and technology giant is a globally respected provider of enterprise solutions and carrier networks, and an emergent leader in the 5G space. It has one of the most extensive networks of business verticals of any telco. The company was founded in 1985 and today employs almost 70,000 people, as well as managing more than $20bn in assets. The company has unquestionably slowed its device production since last year’s more or less blanket ban on Chinese telcos in the US market. However, its new flagship phone, the Axon 11 SE will be the first 5G phone to support all four carriers in the Chinese market, following the belated launch of China Broadcasting Network’s 5G capabilities earlier this year.
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OnePlus
CEO: PETE LAU [HQ: SHENZHEN, CHINA]
OnePlus was founded in 2013 and, along with Vivo and Oppo, is a wholly owned subsidiary of the BKK Electronics Corporation. The company’s original team cites a perceived stagnation in smartphone design as the impetus for creating their company. Over the following years, the company established a reputation for including flagship features in midrange priced phones. Last year, the industry-leading features packed into its OnePlus 7 Pro handset lived up to the company’s self-styled identity as a “flagship killer”, and this year the OnePLus 8 Pro’ walked away ahead of Apple and Samsung with the T3 Awards 2020’s Best Phone award. The company doesn’t just put existing premium features in affordable packages; OnePlus’ Concept One handset is the first to use colour-shifting glass technology to create an “invisible camera.” Last year, OnePlus’ sales exceeded $1.9bn, and has achieved better US market penetration than any other Chinese smartphone manufacturer.
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05
05
Motorola
PRESIDENT: RSERGIO BUNIAC [HQ: USA]
Another legacy player in the mobile space, Motorola was founded as a telecommunications company back in 1928. In the 2000s, the company made some of the most iconic mobile devices of the decade - most recognisable among them being the Razr. Today, the Motorola brand trades as Motorola Mobility and is a wholly owned subsidiary of Lenovo. The company’s phones had faded in relevance somewhat over the past decade - faced by increasingly fierce competition from the Chinese market. Last year, however, the company made a big splash with an innovative reimagining of its Razr flip phone that incorporates a folding touch screen. While the Samsung Galaxy Fold and several offerings by Chinese manufacturers also boast folding capabilities, the Razr’s iconic aesthetic, mixed with leading edge technology has made the company a potential one to watch this decade.
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T O P 10
04
Huawei
CEO: REN ZHENGFEI [HQ: CHINA]
For a while in 2018, Huawei looked set to simultaneously become a consumer technology company to rival Apple and Samsung, as well as an enterprise technology firm on par with IBM and SAP. However, following a string of scandals and international sanctions in 2019, Huawei remains locked out of some of the world’s most profitable markets. As a result, other Chinese challenger firms have filled out the domestic market, and rarities like OnePlus have snapped up shares abroad. On the technology side of things, Huawei has begun licensing its intellectual property to foreign companies, rather than building and selling the technology itself. In the Chinese market, Huawei’s phones 102
are still the industry-defining flagship products. Its P40 Pro Plus device has one of the best camera suites to ever be put in a phone, and is one of three 5G devices the company has released this year.
04 J U LY 2 0 2 0
03
03
CEO: SUNDAR PICHAI [HQ: UNITED STATES]
As one of the premier software manufacturers in the world, Google’s relationship with consumer hardware has been relatively patchy. Its Android technology (the beta for the 11th version of which was released in June) is the most prevalent operating system for mobile devices in the world. However, with 2019 sales of its Pixel phones falling short of 8mn units, its efforts are dwarfed by other major cell phone manufacturers. Despite this, Google is turning out some of the most aesthetically pleasing and unique phone offerings on the market, and the fact that the company’s portfolio is so diversified means that its mobile devices can stay pitched firmly at the premium and flagship range of the market. The Pixel 4 released last year and was well received. The Pixel 5 is expected to drop in late 2020 and is expected to sacrifice a top of the line processor for a lower price tag.
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T H E D I G I TA L D ATA C E N T R E C O M M U N I T Y
POWERED BY
COMING SOON FIND OUT MORE
T O P 10
02 Apple
CEO: TIM COOK [HQ: UNITED STATES] The creator of the modern smartphone, Apple’s products have always occupied a unique position within the mobile market. Apple’s latest release, the iPhone 11, has reportedly solved the battery issues and design quirks that plagued former models and, in comparison to Huawei’s P40 Pro
106
Plus and Samsung’s S20, it’s more reasonably priced. While the iPhone 11 lacks 5G capability, it was revealed earlier this year that the 2020 models going into production this July will be 5G ready. The iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro are both expected to hit stores in September, and will see Apple switch out its traditional LED displays for OLED, which is fast becoming the industry standard for high-end devices.
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T O P 10
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01 Galaxy S20 Ultra: Revolutionary Camera. 5G Ready. CLICK TO WATCH
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01 Samsung
CEO: KIM KI NAM R [HQ: SOUTH KOREA] The world’s biggest electronics company, Samsung was founded in Seoul in 1938 and today manufactures everything from consumer electronics to life insurance and housing. Samsung Electronics has assembly plants and sales networks in 80 countries and employs around 308,745 people. In 2019, the company reported sales just shy of $198bn in 2019. The company has firmly established itself as an innovator and market leader when it comes to cell phones. The Samsung Galaxy Fold, which released last year, was among the first viable folding smartphones, and the Samsung S20 is the leading 5G flagship phone on the market today. In Q1 2020, Samsung dominated the US 5G smartphone market, with a 94% share of sales.
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110
The intelligent enterprise driven by 5G WRITTEN BY
MATT HIGH PRODUCED BY
GLEN WHITE
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SAP SE
Frank Wilde, Vice President Global Center of Excellence at SAP, on the power of 5G and data to enable digital change in organisations “
W
ith 5G, our business technology platform and our IoT capabilities, we can fundamentally change how our custom-
ers operate and go to market, it’s an exciting prospect and represents a step function change for enterprises,” says Frank Wilde, Vice President 112
of the Global Center of Excellence (CoE) at SAP. Wilde is a seasoned technology leader responsible for driving innovation with SAP’s customers using the latest technologies to digitally transform, create enhanced customer experience as well as unlock new revenue streams. Given such an approach, Wilde and his Global CoE colleagues work closely with customers to use data and technology effectively, to think outside the box and to innovate in a customer-centric fashion. “We help them think differently about SAP, and think differently about technology,” he explains. “We take a data-driven approach, in doing so we bring a team of data scientists and platform architects, and we help the customer think about their data differently. It’s like a test-drive - we’re not simply driven by a particular technology, for example. Rather, we J U LY 2 0 2 0
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SAP SE
“ It’s a level of intelligence and responsiveness that we can bring to life that we haven’t been able to do before” — Frank Wilde, Vice President, SAP
show how responsive our platforms and technologies can be, how rapidly we can change their business models, and demonstrate how exciting the possibilities are. Mentally, we really change the dynamic.” Central to this work with customers is a blue sky approach to innovation that runs through SAP, and is a particular passion for Wilde. “It’s the centerpiece of how we’re able to instigate change,” he explains. “Whatever the size of the customer
114
or the project, we work closely and collaboratively to drive success. I love solving problems - we all do - and working together on the strategy, the process and technology. An example is work we recently launched with Duke University in North Carolina. They asked for our help to innovate, and when we sat down together they were unaware of our offerings and had little idea we could support data science and analytics, or that we used a platform-based approach to support innovation. And that’s where open and honest conversations are crucial. Often, we see that our customers don’t always know what they need, or J U LY 2 0 2 0
SAP 5G and Edge Services Tech CLICK TO WATCH
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115 what is available, so that collaborative
- in its most basic form - is like Lego
approach we utilise is key.”
blocks. We can create new busi-
Change is an underlying driver of
nesses or concepts in a very short
our CoE’s work, in particular helping
period of time with predefined and
organisations to better understand
pre-built services, or microservices.
technology so as to navigate a suc-
“The acceleration of moving from
cessful digital transformation. “We
a mainframe environment to being on
now have the ability for business
the cusp of edge services and edge
models on demand to come to life,”
computing, makes it exciting when
Wilde says. “Look at an Uber or a
you can weave together the fabric of a
Lyft, and you’ll see the shift towards
company in short order,” he continues.
a platform-based approach opposed
“You just have to look at the Fortune
to relying on a dedicated application
500 as an example; a third of those
or system to influence change. We
businesses are slated to disappear
base our work around a platform that
from that list in five to seven years w w w. m o bil e m a g a z in e . c o m
5G
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SAP SE
SAP Where to Start Tech CLICK TO WATCH
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2:49
118
- there’s a rapid escalation of new busi-
it forms a powerful proposition that
ness models coming to life enabled by
can bring new technologies and busi-
technology, and it’s really the key trend
ness models to life.” This proposition
that’s dominating right now.”
is the result of a partnership between
In terms of technology, Wilde and
SAP and Verizon that was announced
SAP drive customers to innovate
in October of 2019. The collaboration
and use technology in a customer-
sees Verizon’s network and platform
centric way. To do this, he explains,
capabilities married with SAP’s soft-
the company leverages its 49 years
ware and services.
of experience. “It lets us look at our
Through this work, customers are
customers through a unique lens,” he
able to benefit from new technologies
states. “When you marry data man-
such as 5G, software-defined net-
agement, analytics, and digital supply
working, and Verizon’s Intelligent Edge
chain services into a holistic platform,
Network capabilities. The former is an
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“ With 5G, our business technology platform and our IoT capabilities, we can fundamentally change how our customers operate and go to market” — Frank Wilde, Vice President, SAP
exciting proposition for both Wilde and SAP. SAP launched its 5G Council in 2018, for example, as a cross-industry collaborative council of SAP customers to better understand the changes necessary to adopt 5G. “5G represents a step function change in terms of capability, it’s like jumping from a bicycle to a race car,” says Wilde. “You’re able to pull together various aspects - data, AI, machine learning and edge services - and build a true hub and platform for innovation. The 5G Council represents a 5G
E X E C U T I V E P R OF IL E :
Frank Wilde Title: Vice President Company: SAP SE Industry: Software Location: San Francisco Bay Area Frank Wilde leads data and data science innovation focused on telecom & high tech as a Vice President for SAP’s Global Center of Excellence. In this role, Frank’s teams of data scientists and platform architects spark innovative thinking with SAP’s customers through a combination of data science and design thinking.
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Throughout history, there have always been problems. No one likes them. But problems inspire us to make things better.
Smart loves problems. From skills gaps to blackouts, city traffic to ocean plastic. They even took us to the moon and back on a single tank of gas. Problems actually move the world forward. And the people who dare to take them on work with us every step of the way. ibm.com/smart
IBM, the IBM logo, ibm.com and Let’s put smart to work are trademarks of International Business Machines Corp., registered in many jurisdictions worldwide. See current list at ibm.com/trademark. Other product and service names might be trademarks of IBM or other companies. ŠInternational Business Machines Corp. 2019. B33820
“ We can create new businesses or concepts in a very short period of time with predefined and pre-built services, or microservices” — Frank Wilde, Vice President, SAP
on an Industry 4.0 approach for several manufacturers whereby we have created a 5G environment that can support innovations like autonomous vehicles, augmented reality technology that allows work to be digitally tracked as it flows through the shop floor, and so on. “Similarly, there’s huge potential in the retail sector,” he continues. “For example, 5G gives us the ability to use video analytics at scale as well as mixed
ecosystem comprising our custom-
reality to scan product contents or
ers, partners and companies such as
look for drug interactions; you can also
Verizon and Ericsson, that addresses
introduce autonomous checkout and
new business models and monetisation strategies. Also, we have worked closely with Deloitte Consulting LLP to create 5G ‘playbooks’ that show what can be brought to life with the power of 5G in specific industries such as retail, manufacturing and oil & gas.” The technology may still be in its relative early stages, but Wilde sees enormous potential to fundamentally change how businesses approach innovation. In particular, he explains, private deployment of 5G will likely gain significant traction over the next few years. “You look at manufacturing, for example,” Wilde says. “We’ve worked w w w. m o bil e m a g a z in e . c o m
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SAP SE
“ Where current wireless networks enable a 2D world, 5G and edge computing coupled with SAP’s software platform enable 3D, immersive experiences for consumers and employees” — Frank Wilde, Vice President, SAP
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other innovations. As I said, 5G forms an entirely new platform upon which we can adopt these technologies for each customer and sector across the value chain. It really is an exciting prospect in terms of transforming business.” Where that prospect becomes truly innovative, relates Wilde, is when 5G is coupled with edge services. “If I can have the processing occur on an IoT sensor or on a vehicle, then I can create a new experience or service,” he explains, “which means you remove any delays, any latency. It’s a level of intelligence and responsiveness that we can bring to life that we haven’t been able to do before. There are productivity changes there, too - you remove that complexity from the shop floor and change the experiences and effectiveness of workers and you immediately improve output. You’re going to see significant change over the next five to eight years as 5G rolls out, so we are bullish on our predictions in that regard.” Of course, many of the approaches to business and digital strategies have been disrupted as a result of the COVID19 pandemic. While the impact of a shift to remote working has been felt by many w w w. m o bil e m a g a z in e . c o m
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SAP SE
SAP Centre of Intelligence Tech CLICK TO WATCH
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“ 5G represents a stepchange in terms of function and capability; it’s like jumping from a bicycle to a race car” — Frank Wilde, Vice President, SAP
industries worldwide, from a technology perspective there is a general sentiment that such a shift will focus many organisations on technology adoption. For Wilde, 5G and its associated technologies could play a significant role in a post-COVID environment. “It offers a significant opportunity, particularly on the retail side to remove contact or friction from the experience. So, you could introduce technology that shows optimised routes through a store based on previous shopping trips, or mixed reality
J U LY 2 0 2 0
1972
Year founded
$28bn+ Revenue in US dollars
101,150 Number of employees
technology that lets you identify the
36 months you’re going to see a water-
contents of products with an immersive,
shed moment for 5G,” he states. “If I
3D experience. Upon that is the capabil-
look to 2021-22, when customers are
ity to build AI and chatbots, or a level of
able to visualise the proof points we
dynamic content that satisfies consumer
have put in place and the potential of
needs without requiring face to face
edge services, data management and
interaction with a store’s employees.”
5G woven together, then I see a strong
While no one is able to fully predict the ‘new normal’ we face, when it
case for why they should all have it high on their agenda ”
comes to 5G Wilde feels that SAP is well placed in rolling out the technology and working with customers to remain ahead of the curve. “In the next w w w. m o bil e m a g a z in e . c o m
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126
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Inside Digital Realty’s strategy for an agile, interconnected world WRITTEN BY
HARRY MENEAR PRODUCED BY
TOM VENTURO
w w w. m o bil e m a g a z in e . c o m
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D I G I TA L R E A LT Y
Tony Bishop and Corey Dyer of Digital Realty discuss the data centre giant’s ongoing efforts to offer hyper-personalised data centre services from the single rack to the hyperscale
T
he global business landscape is experiencing a sea change. This transformation is permeating every industry
and market, seeing enterprises in the public and 128
private sectors swept along by a rising tide of demand for interconnected digital services. The ongoing transformation of the global economy is increasing the need for a wider array of digital infrastructure solutions, and is driving a seismic evolution on a global scale. “We’re the best positioned in the industry to address the broadest range of requirements. We build, design and operate some of the most highly interconnected data centres in the world,” says Corey Dyer, EVP of Global Sales and Marketing for Digital Realty. Arriving at Digital Realty in January 2019, Dyer can look back on a year of continued growth and strategic success. Now, he and the rest of Digital Realty are looking forward, as the company embarks on the next phase of its digital transformation voyage. J U LY 2 0 2 0
2004
Year founded
$3bn+ Approximate revenue
1,500
Approximate number of employees 129
w w w. m o bil e m a g a z in e . c o m
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Founded in 2004, Digital Realty supports the digital infrastructure needs of more than 2,000 companies across the Americas, EMEA and APAC, with industry-leading data centre, colocation and interconnection services. Being uniquely positioned as the largest provider of data centre and digital infrastructure solutions worldwide gives Digital Realty the opportunity to not only navigate the tides of change, but also direct them to help create even more value for its customers. “The digital economy is remaking
“ The digital economy is remaking both private and public enterprises across all industries, transforming how they create and deliver value” — Tony Bishop, SVP, Platform and Ecosystem Strategy
both private and public enterprises across all industries, transforming how they create and deliver value,” says Tony Bishop, SVP of Platform and Ecosystem Strategy at Digital Realty. Now more than ever, Bishop believes, companies need to operate ubiquitously, providing on-demand services to customers, partners and employees enabled by intelligent analytics. “Companies are being forced to re-architect their IT towards a decentralised infrastructure to accommodate distributed workflows, which vary by participant, application, information and location w w w. m o bil e m a g a z in e . c o m
131
132
Aaron Binkley on the Role Data Centers Play in Sustainability
133 specific needs,” he elaborates.
infrastructure, a “one-stop solution
Dyer agrees. “These customers
that helps to interconnect their entire
need a platform that allows them
digital ecosystem,” enthuses Bishop.
to augment and change things in
“Customers will get to collaborate at
real time,” he says.
scale to solve the problems of global
From this market-wide demand
coverage and capacity through one
for solutions to the increasingly
provider; tailor their infrastructure
mission critical nature of agile,
deployments to their business needs,
on-demand capability is at the
irrespective of data centre size, scale
heart of Digital Realty’s newest
or location; and operate their deploy-
offering: PlatformDIGITAL™.
ments as a seamless extension of
Scheduled for launch this month
their global infrastructure to enable
at the company’s MarketplaceLIVE
globally distributed workflows.”
event in New York, PlatformDIGITAL™ is a new way of approaching digital
Digital Realty is a genuine global partner, placing customer service w w w. m o bil e m a g a z in e . c o m
Milton CAT is proud to have been a strategic partner with Digital Realty for over 15 years. DIGITAL REALTY SITE 105 Cabot Street, Needham, MA
134
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at the heart of its business strategy.
“From a single cabinet, up to multiple
Dyer notes that the company is
megawatts, we’re a one stop shop for
uniquely positioned to deliver a ser-
all their infrastructure needs.” This
vice that is unavailable anywhere else
will be key to Digital Realty’s creation
in the data centre space. “We’re really
of a truly interconnected infrastruc-
the only provider that operates globally
ture offering. “We’re refocusing our
at scale, but at the same time, we
business to take advantage of this
offer this highly tailored experience
unprecedented opportunity and
to each individual customer,” he says.
become the global partner that helps
E X E C U T I V E P R OF IL E :
Corey Dyer Title: EVP Global Sales and Marketing Company: Digital Realty Corey Dyer is Executive Vice President, Global Sales & Marketing, with responsibility for sales, leasing and marketing efforts across the organisation. Prior to joining Digital Realty, Dyer served as Senior Vice President, Sales, Americas at Equinix, where he had responsibility for sales across the Americas region. Before joining Equinix, Corey worked at Hewlett-Packard, where he served as Vice President, Storage Sales, Canada and led the firm’s Canadian storage business. Previously, he held various sales and sales leadership positions at Dell, primarily in the server, software and peripheral businesses. Corey has over 25 years of experience as a sales leader with a track record of building and driving sales and marketing operations at leading technology companies. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from Wake Forest University. w w w. m o bil e m a g a z in e . c o m
135
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137
companies manage their digital
and other industries. We’re bringing
transformation with their data centre
together the community that builds
infrastructure as the foundation,”
the cloud, network and internet
says Bishop.
infrastructure to demonstrate how
At MarketplaceLIVE, the company
PlatformDIGITAL™ is built to lead
will launch PlatformDIGITAL™. The
companies into the future of the
event – taking place on 7 November
digital economy,” says Bishop. This
at Spring Studios – is intended to
future that Digital Realty is helping
facilitate discussions around the
create for (and with) its clients and
future of digital transformation.
partners is defined by interconnec-
“We’ll host conversations around
tion and the ways in which coming
connectivity and connected tech-
together fosters collaboration. “It’s a
nology across AI, cloud computing
huge opportunity for us to connect, w w w. m o bil e m a g a z in e . c o m
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“ We’re really the only provider that operates globally at scale, but at the same time, we offer this highly tailored experience to each individual customer” — Corey Dyer, EVP, Sales and Marketing
not only with our customers but with our partner world,” says Dyer. In addition to being an infrastructure provider, Digital Realty acts as a facilitator of expertise and connections to its client network. Offering a full range of fit-for-purpose data center solutions, from single cabinet colocation to private hyperscale facilities, Dyer remarks that there really is no end to the variation in the relationships and support structures Digital Realty provides. “Because we have such a strong partner community, we can be very agile in how
J U LY 2 0 1 9
we support our customers in such a
business has also completed the
fast-paced environment.”
acquisition
Digital Realty is continuing to grow,
of data centre infrastructure
both in scale and agility, through a
company Ascenty and entered into
combination of organic and acqui-
joint ventures related to three of
sition-fueled growth. In 2015, the
its data centres.
company completed its acquisition
The past year alone has seen
of data centre solutions company
Digital Realty expand its operations
Telx in a deal valued in excess of
in Frankfurt, Tokyo, Chicago, Dublin,
US$1.8bn. “The Telx acquisition
Northern Virginia, Brazil and more,
has been a huge boost to us and
as well as announcing plans to enter
our ability to provide interconnec-
the South Korean market for the
tion, which massively helped us build
first time. A large element of Digital
PlatformDIGITAL™,” Dyer explains. In
Realty’s growth is self-funded, an
addition to the Telx acquisition, the
impressive feat given what Dyer
E X E C U T I V E P R OF IL E :
Tony Bishop Company: Digital Realty As part of the Digital Realty CTO team, Tony plays a central role in helping the organisation build a differentiated global platform and ecosystem strategy to enable enterprises and services providers to accelerate their digital business strategies on PlatformDIGITAL™. Prior to Digital Realty, Bishop served as VP of Global Enterprise at Equinix, Chief Strategy Officer for 451 Research and served at Morgan Stanley as Managing Director, Global Head of Enterprise Datacenter Operations & Strategy. He is the author of Next Generation Datacenters – Driving Extreme Efficiency & Effective Costs Savings (July 2009). w w w. m o bil e m a g a z in e . c o m
139
D I G I TA L R E A LT Y
describes as the “capital intensive” nature of the industry. In September, the company sold 10 of its Powered Base Buildings® to Singaporian real estate developer Mapletree Investments, along with the establishment of a joint venture to co-manage three more facilities. The deal saw Digital Realty generate around $1.4bn in capital. “The transaction is going to allow us to continue selffunding our growth, diversify some of our sources of equity and capital, and really let us harvest value from our 140
fully stabilised assets so that we can redeploy the proceeds into higher
“ MarketplaceLIVE is a huge opportunity for us to connect, not only with our customers but with our partner world” — Corey Dyer, EVP, Sales and Marketing
yielding development opportunities,” Dyer explains. “It continues to build on our global expansions, and lets us stay focused on our core markets and the assets that we think drive the most value to our customers. It also reduces our reliance on capital markets, which can be volatile.” As a leading builder and operator of data centre infrastructure, Digital Realty is aware of the role it has to play in the evolution of the market as a whole. Given that global internet
J U LY 2 0 1 9
several Northern California properties, and boasting more certified green buildings than any other data centre provider. “Reducing our environmental impact is a priority for us,” says Dyer. “Our long-term goal is to pursue 100% renewable energy for our global portfolio.” The launch of PlatformDIGITAL™ at MarketplaceLIVE is the highlight of a year filled with global growth and billion-dollar deals, highlighting its importance to the company’s strategy. “The launch is going to be the big mover for us, and I’m very excited,” says Dyer. “It’s going to have a huge impact on our business, and our customers’ businesses as well.” usage has tripled since 2015, and is
Harnessing its industry leading scale,
predicted to double again by 2022,
its commitment to providing a per-
managing the amount of power con-
sonalised service to suit the needs
sumed by the world’s data centres
of each individual customer and an
and networks is key to operators’
increasingly sustainable portfolio,
sustainability goals. Digital Realty
Digital Realty is set to enter 2020 as
continues to set and exceed ambi-
a force for intelligent, interconnected
tious sustainability and renewable
digital infrastructure solutions.
energy goals, achieving 100% renewable energy for its EMEA portfolio, 100% wind power for its US colocation business unit, 100% carbon free and renewable power supplied to w w w. m o bil e m a g a z in e . c o m
141
142
Comcast: Introducing DevSecOps at scale WRITTEN BY
SEAN GALEA-PACE PRODUCED BY
CRAIG KILLINGBACK
J U LY 2 0 2 0
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w w w. m o bil e m a g a z in e . c o m
COMCAST
Larry Maccherone, Distinguished Engineer of Comcast, discusses DevSecOps’ growing influence on one of the world’s biggest telecommunications companies
A
s a global leader in media and technology, Comcast is the parent organisation
of three primary businesses: Comcast Cable, NBCUniversal, and Sky. Comcast has more than 144
55 million subscribers, with Sky renowned as one of Europe’s leading entertainment companies operating in seven territories and Comcast Cable recognised as one of the biggest cable TV, high-speed internet, and phone providers in the United States. Sitting down in the new Comcast Technology Centre at its headquarters in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Larry Maccherone, Distinguished Engineer of Comcast Cable, shared how the company is uniquely positioned for success in their agile approach to achieving a DevSecOps cultural transformation. Maccherone’s professional background heavily revolves around data analytics and Lean-Agile, and he started his first business while still an undergraduate at university. “I’ve been a serial
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w w w. m o bil e m a g a z in e . c o m
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“ I believe that if you’re doing DevOps right, then the security part is just automatically included” entrepreneur throughout my entire — Larry Maccherone, Distinguished Engineer, Comcast
career. My first business had 80 employees and made US$20mn annually in sales,” explains Maccherone. “We were writing software that controlled a large portion of the world’s power generation,
148
and it meant that if hackers exploited a vulnerability in the software, then it potentially brought down the world’s power grid. We got really skilled at writing software that didn’t have exploitable vulnerabilities.”
J U LY 2 0 2 0
At the forefront of DevSecOps CLICK TO WATCH
|
2:07
149 Upon joining Comcast in June
as empowered engineering teams
2016, Maccherone became responsi-
taking ownership of how their prod-
ble for overseeing the company’s
ucts perform in production, including
DevSecOps transformation. “I have
security. When you get development
a love/hate relationship with the
teams owning the problem, you
term DevSecOps. I believe that if
get a fundamental difference in
you’re doing DevOps right, then
decision making.”
the security part is automatically
Since its creation over a decade
included,” he explains. “You don’t
ago, DevOps has become a vital
call it DevTestOps or DevPlanningOps,
component of how companies oper-
it’s just DevOps. However, what
ate. Building upon the foundations
I do like about DevSecOps is the
of the agile movement, DevOps lev-
emphasis on security. My definition
erages automation, for quality and
of DevOps and DevSecOps is
security testing as well as for for-
essentially the same. I define both
merly manual deployment and w w w. m o bil e m a g a z in e . c o m
You change the world, we’ll secure it. Secure sof tware is crucial in our digital world. And we believe in focusing on your security.
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on software, and DevSecOps provides speed and security for its applications. By working with Veracode, Cox Automotive is realizing its vision, without being held back by security.
COMCAST
operations activities, in a bid to intro-
to achieve that level of trust,
duce software into production at
Maccherone introduced a trust algo-
speed. The primary goal of any
rithm. “The trust formula has three
DevSecOps initiative is to enable
terms combined in the numerator:
development teams to change their
credibility + reliability + empathy
mindset and adopt security practices
which are all divided by apparent
into their daily activities.
self-interest,” he explains. “It’s impor-
However, Maccherone believes
tant that the apparent self-interest
it’s impossible without healthy collab-
is as small as possible, with an
oration and mutual trust. In order
emphasis on shared interests.”
E X E C U T I V E P R OF IL E :
152
Larry Maccherone Larry Maccherone is a Distinguished Engineer at Comcast where he currently leads the DevSecOps transformation initiative. Previously, Larry served as the Insights Product Line Director at Rally, where he published the largest ever study correlating development team practices with performance. Before that, Larry worked at Carnegie Mellon with the Software Engineering Institute (SEI) and CyLab conducting research on cybersecurity and software engineering. While there, he co-led the launch of the Build-Security-In initiative. He has also served as Principal Investigator for the NSA’s Code Assessment Methodology Project, on the Advisory Board for IARPA’s STONESOUP program, and as the Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Labs Fellow. He speaks and publishes regularly on DevSecOps, Lean/Agile, and analytics and he is the primary author of a dozen open source projects, one of which gets 400,000 downloads per month. J U LY 2 0 2 0
153
Maccherone believes that under-
in its early stages back then and
standing and embracing each pillar
it’s fundamentally different now.
of the trust algorithm is vital to suc-
If you come into a meeting with those
cess in DevSecOps. “Credibility
old mindsets, make assumptions
means that you know what you’re
and use outdated terminology, then
talking about and it’s important that
the development team will pick up
you’re not just saying things for the
on that and you’ll lose credibility.
sake of it or repeating something you’ve read,” explains Maccherone. “Writing code has
Reliability is the same regardless of the context; it’s the old business expectation of making and meeting commitments. It’s important to follow
changed a lot
through and do what you say you
in five years.
are going to do. Finally, empathy
DevOps was
is all about how much compassion w w w. m o bil e m a g a z in e . c o m
Time is precious.
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“ If you come into a meeting with those old mindsets, make assumptions and use outdated terminology, then the development team will pick up on that and you’ll lose credibility” — Larry Maccherone, Distinguished Engineer, Comcast
supersedes all of those challenges and give the reasons why. It’s vital that you aren’t dictating them.” The
you show, and the awareness of
importance of coaching rather than
how challenging something is.”
policing is a key aspect of Comcast’s
Following the foundation of the
strategy. The company also has
trust algorithm, Maccherone believes that it has successfully allowed for increased efficiency and has ultimately meant better decisions. “Lots of security groups at other large companies spend an inordinate amount of time cajoling development teams to do things,” he says. “The reason they have to spend such a considerable amount of time policing is due to a lack of trust. Showing empathy is crucial and it’s important to acknowledge how difficult something is to do. However, it’s also fundamental to explain why you’re trying to make the case that this risk w w w. m o bil e m a g a z in e . c o m
155
50m lines of code driving the kids home The more powerful you make software, the more inseparable DevOps and security need to be.
See why Checkmarx leads the industry in delivering automated security scanning for DevOps.
Checkmarx.com
Working at Comcast: empowering change CLICK TO WATCH
|
1:08
157 a programme in place that provides
what we want; we want them to reach
immediate feedback to the develop-
out and partner with us.”
ment team while also providing
Change management is a key
aggregated metrics to guide coach-
driver to Maccherone and Comcast’s
ing efforts. “We created a workshop
strategy. “The traditional way of
where we sit down with the develop-
gathering a response was to produce
ment team, walk through the trust
surveys. However, we found that
formula and the company’s
the behaviour didn’t change,” he says.
DevSecOps practices and give
“We decided on a framework that
them a chance to internalise what
we can coach from and enable the
that practice means,” explains
developers to reflect on whether
Maccherone. “When someone feels
or not they meet the criteria. If we
like they’re being forced into out-of-
send an email to them then we get
context practices, their natural
almost no response. However, if
reaction is to avoid them. That isn’t
we sit with them and allow them w w w. m o bil e m a g a z in e . c o m
to ask questions directly then they instantly start changing their behaviour.” With any successful transformation comes the challenge of recruiting and retaining top talent, and Maccherone believes it’s the most challenging part of any business. “It’s the key to any tech company,”
1963
Year founded
$108.9bn Revenue in US dollars (2019)
affirms Maccherone. “The HR department that we have at Comcast is fantastic. They really understand the importance of exceptional talent. Candidates want to have work that is interesting, fun and challenging,
190,000 Number of employees
w w w. m o bil e w o r l dm a g a z in e . c o m
159
COMCAST
160
“ Three years ago, I started a Google alert on DevSecOps and would get one hit a week or even a month. Now, I get 10-20 every day” — Larry Maccherone, Distinguished Engineer, Comcast
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w w w. m o bil e m a g a z in e . c o m
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Comcast Partners CLICK TO WATCH
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1:01
163 in addition to working with peers
are trying to design their products
they respect.”
to fit in with the direction we’re going.”
In a bid to achieve mutual success,
Maccherone believes that without
Comcast Cable has established
developing such robust and long-
a number of key partnerships, such
standing partnerships, the challenge
as with WhiteSource, Vulcan Cyber,
of reaching the level of success
Checkmarx, Go2Group, Contrast
Comcast has achieved would have
Security, Synopsys, Bugcrowd and
been significantly harder. “Our vendors
Veracode. Maccherone recognises
are a key to our success and we’re
the value of forming strategic, business
extremely excited and happy with
relationships in order to realise long-
the current set we have,” beams
term success. “We’re at the forefront
Maccherone. “They align well with
of DevSecOps, and lots of our vendors
our values and that’s been the differen-
see that,” says Maccherone. “We’re
tiator to finding ways to reduce our
constantly searching for vendors that
security risk.” w w w. m o bil e m a g a z in e . c o m
Integrate security into your DevOps environment code
deploy
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Ops
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“ When someone feels like they’re being policed, their natural reaction is to avoid the police. That isn’t what we want; we want them to reach out and partner with us” — Larry Maccherone, Distinguished Engineer, Comcast DevSecOps has become a 165
hot topic in the technology space in recent years and Maccherone has observed its rapid rise first-hand. “Three years ago, I started a Google alert on DevSecOps and would get one hit a week or even a month,” he says. “Now, I get 10-20 every day and we’re not even at the steepest part of the adoption curve for DevSecOps yet.” In 2019, Comcast’s goal was to scale the DevSecOps programme, the tech giant achieved that by tripling the number w w w. m o bil e m a g a z in e . c o m
167
of teams onboarded to the pro-
we reach that saturation point,
gramme. “By the end of 2020,
I anticipate that we’ll add more
we aim to double that number again,
capability, tools and practices over
and I expect that will get us close
the next few years.”
to the saturation point of all the teams at Comcast. We’ve gone from essentially launching the programme to evolving, optimising and scaling it to the point of saturation. After w w w. m o bil e m a g a z in e . c o m
168
J U LY 2 0 2 0
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Putting a spotlight on cyber security
WRITTEN BY
SEAN GALEA-PACE PRODUCED BY
LEWIS VAUGHAN w w w. m o bil e m a g a z in e . c o m
TELSTRA PURPLE
T
elstra Purple is a technology services business, comprising of 1,500 specialists in Australia, EMEA and Asia.
Bringing together Telstra Enterprise’s business technology services capabilities and a number of acquisitions, Telstra Purple is focused on outcome-based, transformative tech solutions. 170
WHY CYBER RESILIENCE COUNTS TODAY Geopolitical risks and the impact of COVID-19 have put security technology at the top of every business leader’s agenda as the world rapidly responds to the threat. Manoj Bhatt, Head of Cyber Security Advisory and Consulting at Telstra Purple EMEA, has seen first hand the increased focus on risk management and cyber resilience in response to the crisis. “The coronavirus has demonstrated the importance of cyber resilience as businesses move to remote working whilst ensuring they do so securely,” says Bhatt. “Cyber security isn’t just a concern for the security or IT department, and those organisations that already have a strong, ingrained security culture that is business wide will weather the storm best.” J U LY 2 0 2 0
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“ The coronavirus has demonstrated the importance of cyber resilience as businesses move to remote working whilst ensuring they do so securely” — Manoj Bhatt Head of Cyber Security Advisory and Consulting, Telstra Purple EMEA
As business leaders begin to evaluate their technology stacks to understand their efficacy, and consider how well they integrate with the current business while supporting its future needs and goals, security teams must remain one step ahead with answers to potential questions. Rob Robinson, Director of Security and Network Services at Telstra Purple EMEA, believes that organisations must think of security as a business enabler. “It goes back to the conversations we’ve been having with CISOs w w w. m o bil e m a g a z in e . c o m
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recently. For a security strategy to be successful, all lines of the business – HR, Finance and IT – must stay informed and aligned with its goals,” explains Robinson. “CISOs admit to friction within companies, saying they don’t think their boards see information security as important a function as they do. It’s important that this thinking changes and security leaders offer guidance on how businesses can protect themselves and mitigate risk. Security has to be 174
considered an enabler rather than something that is negatively impacting the business.”
“ We understand that we’re on a journey in the security industry – there’s definitely no silver bullet” — Rob Robinson Director of Security and Network Services, Telstra Purple EMEA
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Dr Jessica Barker, co-CEO and Socio-Technical Lead of Cygenta, is an evangelist for driving security culture and awareness within organisations. She believes it’s essential to operate with an agile approach and remain aware of the latest vulnerabilities to maintain that visibility over potential cyber threats. “Staying up to date with current attacks is crucial, meaning people in security don’t often get very many days off as they need to keep up with the latest news to ensure the greatest level of protection possible,” she explains. “However, it is also equally important that we remain vigilant against previous vulnerabilities that we’re already aware of, because it could be easy to get distracted by the latest trends or newest vulnerabilities. In many cases, the biggest cyber attacks involve the vulnerabilities that we’ve been aware of for decades, so it’s just as important to remain vigilant against all kinds of attacks.”
Barker is also Chair of ClubCISO, sponsored by Telstra Purple, which is a private members forum for information security leaders, working across public and private sector organisations. More than 350 CISOs are currently registered members. Barker believes there are a number of key advantages to being a member of the organisation. “We work together to shape the future of the security industry, community and the CISO role,” she says. “The idea is to provide a voice to CISOs and offer an environment where they can speak between themselves, and externally, about what the CISO role is and what security looks like moving forwards. It’s been great to have a place to build a network of like-minded individuals, share success stories, as well as navigate the challenges in the industry together and work out the best way to overcome those hurdles. “This year’s ClubCISO Information Security Maturity Report reveals
“ Sometimes, the biggest cyber attacks can stem from the vulnerabilities that we’ve been aware of for decades” — Jessica Barker co-CEO and Socio-Technical Lead, Cygenta and Chair of ClubCISO
some interesting insights on how CISOs are coping with the additional pressures of COVID-19 and other geopolitical risks,” adds Barker. “The majority (61%) of CISOs believe that the stress of their job has increased over the past 12 months, yet 70% profess to love their job. I believe one of the most important aspects of a CISO’s job today is around cultural change, raising awareness of security threats and figuring out how to embed that cyber security culture within their organisations.”
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GETTING CYBER SECURITY RIGHT: BEST PRACTICE AND LEARNINGS
threats and issues, and also to share
Cyber security doesn’t sit still, and
best practices.”
understanding the latest threats,
about the latest cyber security
Each year, ClubCISO surveys the
risks and solutions to these prob-
community in a live vote to get a col-
lems is a collective industry effort.
lective view of the current security
Bhatt also sits on the advisory
landscape and understand the con-
board of ClubCISO. Explaining the
temporary issues faced by security
community’s benefits he states:
specialists. The latest ClubCISO
“One of the things we really like
Information Security Maturity Report
about ClubCISO is that it’s a com-
was released in May 2020. This
munity of CISOs for CISOs – that’s
year’s live vote, which was held virtu-
the key thing. It’s a peer group to
ally for the first time due to the
share thought leadership and pro-
COVID-19 outbreak, drew over 100
vide a platform to talk to one another
CISO respondents.
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Meet a few of the ClubCISO Advisory Board CLICK TO WATCH
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“ We are seeing a reassuring shift in security investment and awareness, something which is vital for organisations to remain digitally agile” — Manoj Bhatt Head of Cyber Security Advisory and Consulting, Telstra Purple EMEA
“One surprising finding from this year’s report is that there isn’t as much maturity around the cloud as expected,” states Robinson. “We have asked that same question five years in a row, expecting the percentage to increase considerably each year. However, it has remained the same.” Robinson postulates that this stems from a shortage of skill sets. Another related conversation in this space revolves around how to encourage more diversity in security – sparking an interesting debate around what security teams can do to be more inclusive and w w w. m o bil e m a g a z in e . c o m
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178 E X E C U T I V E P R OF IL E :
Rob Robinson Title: Director of Security and Network Services at Telstra Purple EMEA Rob Robinson is the Director of Security and Network Services at Telstra Purple in EMEA and has over 15 years of experience in Business and Technology Advisory Services, working within consultancies, integrators and telecommunications companies. Prior to Telstra Purple, Rob joined Company85 through the acquisition of DVS Services in 2015, where he was the owner and Managing Director. As an advisor to CISOs and CIOs, Rob has first-hand experience of helping teams assess their position, build their strategy and deliver successful programmes. Working with his team in the UK and in his capacity of Security domain lead for Telstra Purple globally, Rob delivers programmes of change across multiple industry verticals. J U LY 2 0 2 0
business needs now and in the future, and evaluating what kinds of technologies and implementations can support these. The priority in the current environment is supporting home working and guarding against cyber threats. Bhatt sums up the current situation and issues a warning: “We’re certainly seeing a big drive from a number of vendors talking about how their security products are going to be ‘the silver bullet’, but it’s impossible to determine a solution without a proper assessment and understanding of business needs first. “You must first understand what build up capabilities. To resolve the
already exists within your organisa-
issue for future generations, Robinson
tion, and what the current technology
believes it’s important to start talking
set up is, before you can consider
about security apprenticeships early,
what the best technologies for the job
and begin to raise the importance of it in
are. If you bring this thinking together,
schools now. “It’s vital to talk about the
it makes you more resilient against
importance of security and feed that
threats, whether that be COVID-19 or
interest into the security industry at a
an out-of-the-blue cyber attack. It’s
time where we increasingly need that
important to join the dots and take a
help and capability,” he says.
holistic perspective.”
The coronavirus pandemic has caused Uncontrollable circumstances such as
THE POWER AND THE THREAT OF EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES
these highlight the importance of adopt-
As emerging technologies such
ing a ‘future state’ mindset, reassessing
as machine learning (ML) and
disruption in industries worldwide.
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automation become increasingly
apply technology and modern
sophisticated, so do those with mali-
approaches such as ML and automa-
cious intent. Businesses must be
tion to that,” he affirms.
prepared to keep pace with the threat environment to remain secure. “The world’s changing,” states
“It’s important that we apply these technologies in a way that’s appropriate, as well as maintain an accurate
Robinson. “We’re not in a traditional
understanding of how we address
bubble where security is at the
and manage security incidents, oth-
perimeter and everything’s protected
erwise businesses will not be in a
centrally – there’s a much wider
position to respond and protect.”
attack surface. There’s a lot of
Whilst cloud is not exactly an emerg-
information sitting outside of non-tra-
ing technology, many businesses are
ditional environments and you have to
still at the nascent stage of their cloud
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journey. Bhatt has observed that busi-
not recognising the benefits it is deliv-
nesses are split into three different
ering. These are typically organisations
camps when it comes to their cloud
that have not set out a clear path or
security strategies.
taken an objective-driven approach to
The first camp thinks about cloud, but has not embarked on the journey
their cloud strategy. In the final camp sit the busi-
because they haven’t considered
nesses with cloud expertise that
where it might take them. The chal-
focus on cloud enhancement. This is
lenge is in identifying what cloud will
where a company has moved to the
achieve for the business, and how
cloud and is now looking to enhance
much can be saved by implementing it.
it with approaches such as contain-
In the second camp are businesses that have implemented cloud but are 182
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erisation. This marks the start of the next stage of the journey, where
Introducing a navigation system for your hybrid cloud. vArmour Helps Security Teams Navigate Operational Risk The relentless pace of digital business means more risk. As applications proliferate across clouds, so too do the relationships between them—exponentially. Of the hundreds of thousands of relationships in and across your clouds, do you know which of those might be malicious? Which are connected to a critical asset? vArmour leverages the technology you already own to measure, model, and control your risk. Start your journey at vArmour.com.
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technologies such as automation and robotics become increasingly influential in the business. With the pace of technology adoption showing no sign of letting up, it’s vital that businesses and their employees practise good cyber hygiene at their workplaces and homes. “Security is a continuous journey that must be grounded in what the business is trying to achieve,” says Robinson. “Business leaders and their security advisors must assess the 184
environment the business operates in, understanding the risk landscape, the threat profile and how you place people, processes and technology around security to address these evolving needs. And finally, cyber security must align with all business functions to ensure there are no weak links.”
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C L U B C I S O I N F O R M AT I O N S E C U R I T Y M AT U R I T Y R E P O RT 20 20 Top three areas where CISOs have driven measurable improvements over the last 12 months: • Security awareness and training • Risk assessment and management • Building the security team
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Top three hot topics on the CISO radar: • Security culture • Cyber resilience • Cloud security The top three initiatives CISOs are using to foster a better security culture: • Security champions • Proactive “report it” no blame policies • Education around the value of data To check out the latest ClubCISO Information Maturity Security reports, click here
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E X E C U T I V E P R OF IL E :
Manoj Bhatt
Title: Head of Cyber Security Advisory and Consulting at Telstra Purple EMEA Manoj leads Telstra Purple’s cyber security advisory and consulting capabilities for EMEA, working with a wide range of customers across numerous sectors building and running their cyber security services. Manoj is a passionate cyber security professional focused on embedding cyber security into the digital agenda and on the user and customer experience aspects of cyber security. Manoj sits on the advisory board for ClubCISO to share security innovations, best practice and thought leadership across the industry.
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Telstra Ventures is a strategic growth investor passionate about scaling great products and leaders. An independent venture capital firm backed by Telstra and HarbourVest – one of the world’s largest private equity funds – it provides venture capital investment via a ‘Strategic Growth Investment’ approach. This offers entrepreneurs access to the investment itself and reduces the time to reach global scale. In almost a decade, Telstra Ventures has invested over US$350mn in 60+ companies. Marcus Bartram is a founding Partner at Telstra Ventures and leads the security portfolio for ventures. His main role is investing in new security startups, and then helping them scale to become successful large companies. Telstra Ventures invests heavily in security ventures and is continuously seeking the best-in-breed security innovators globally. With expertise in picking cyber security companies to J U LY 2 0 2 0
invest in and helping them scale, Bartram believes it’s critical to pick a sector that you have a clear understanding about. “The best way you can understand a particular area is to go out and talk to as many people in that sector as you can, be it entrepreneurs, customers or vendors,” says Bartram. “Figure out who the best companies are, what they’re building, who the customers are and what problems they’re trying to solve. This will enable you to build a really rich knowledge base that informs where you invest.” Telstra Ventures has an extensive portfolio of companies in the cyber security space such as Anomali, Auth0, CyberGRX, AttackIQ, Cofense, CrowdStrike, Varmour and Zimperium. Bartram notes there are several key areas to scrutinise before investing in a cyber security startup: “It’s important that I understand who’s the team, what pain point they are solving and how many customers do we think
have that problem, what product have they built, and what trends are driving that market. We also consider if the deal makes sense financially. You’ve got to find the right combination of an amazing team, product and market that has the potential to allow the company to scale.”
“This is a threat intelligence company in California. We invested in (the founders) George and Dmitri, because they are very experienced security guys who were redoing protection on the endpoint and disrupting the existing vendors, detecting threats that other technology just couldn’t see. “Telstra was a very early customer. Crowdstrike is now the highest-rated vendor by Gartner in Endpoint Detection Response Solutions. It proved to be a really great investment for us because we felt that they had
the best technology, the team was amazing and customers were clamouring for a better solution.”
“This company provides continuous validation of enterprise security programmes. They’re trying to help CISOs answer the question: ‘How secure am I?’. They do that by deploying a platform that effectively tests all the security tools, people and processes on a continuous basis. “AttackIQ can test all the control points in your environment, be that cloud, endpoint, network protection or controls. This is done by simulating attacks against those controls, and it can become a risk tool for CISOs as they can look at their environment in real time and measure the risks they face.”
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“This is a risk mitigation specialist focused on helping customers understand and manage cyber security risk from their supplier base. The company has built a data exchange which drives massive efficiency in how customers and suppliers collect and share information about their cyber controls. “It is an incredibly important part of the security sector that affects every organisation globally in the same way. Regulatory drivers, the explosion in the number of suppliers companies use, and companies needing to protect themselves from threats that come from these suppliers make CyberGRX a great company to be a part of.”
“Cofense was set up to counter phishing – still the most common, never-ending problem facing the security industry. During the
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COVID-19 pandemic, phishing is being massively exploited by criminals. “The founders, Rohyt and Aaron, started out by building technology to help employees recognise and report phishing emails, to raise the bar and stop people from opening links and attachments they shouldn’t. They have evolved from this to create a sophisticated platform that now integrates and shares data with their customers from tens of millions of data points on all the phishing threats they see, helping to protect customers from phishing attacks.”
“This is a company that lets you visualise and understand all of the traffic and application flows across the environment, particularly in a multi-cloud or hybrid cloud world. That visualisation allows you to figure out who’s talking to whom and whether those conversations are OK. From that you can design the security controls to implement. “The platform integrates into all of the native security controls in
AWS, Azure, Google Cloud or VMware to provide visibility into what’s going on and then be able to protect the customer. Customers are using this for cloud migration as much as they are using it for security controls.” With the future in mind, Bartram affirms it’s essential to continue to seek value in innovative companies globally. “We must continue to try and invest in these leading companies, because it is good for us, the entrepreneurs and customers in the long term. Telstra Ventures wants to invest in innovative startups in security, cloud, enterprise and consumer platforms, insurtech, healthtech and many other fields, helping those companies scale through Telstra and other relationships. We think and work incredibly hard to find the best companies, and assess how well they will perform. We remain passionate about finding the best entrepreneurs with a passion to build amazing products, which solve real problems in the world today and into the future.”
E X E C U T I V E P R OF IL E :
Marcus Bartram Title: Partner at Telstra Ventures Marcus is a founder and General Partner of Telstra Ventures. Prior to this he held various executive and senior roles in Telstra, Citigroup, nscglobal and Honeywell in Australia and the UK. Marcus invests in disruptive enterprise software, telecoms and cyber security entrepreneurs that are starting to scale their company. Investments made to date include Anomali, AttackIQ, Auth0, Cohere Technologies, Cofense, Crowdstrike, Corvus Insurance, CyberGRX, Elastica (ACQ:BlueCoat), Headspin, ipSCAPE, Matrixx Software, Dimmi (ACQ:TripAdvisor), vArmour and Zimperium. Marcus received an MBA from the University of Oxford and a Bachelor of Engineering from the University of Adelaide, South Australia.
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Global supply chain transformation WRITTEN BY
LEILA HAWKINS PRODUCED BY
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GLEN WHITE
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Hicham Nehme, Head of Supply Chain at Vodafone Qatar, on the complexities of the supply chain transformation and overcoming unexpected challenges
W
ith vast swathes of the population working remotely and living under lockdown
conditions as a result of the global COVID-19 pandemic, the world has never been so dependent on telecommunications. Vodafone is playing a major role in keeping people and organisations connected. To do so, it has relied on a robust strategy that enabled it to overcome significant challenges to its supply chain.
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Hicham Nehme, A. Head of Supply Chain at Vodafone Qatar, on mitigating supply chain risk under COVID-19 CLICK TO WATCH
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Hicham Nehme, A, Head of Supply
This process involved recognising
Chain, explains that the Vodafone sup-
the difficulties that employees may
ply chain has been very much proactive
be experiencing in adapting to work
rather than reactive, beginning a process
from home; ensuring customers are
of stringent crisis planning as early as
getting the best possible service
December. First, the company identified
now that telecommunications are so
four pillars for supply chain management
essential to daily life; understand-
(SCM) resilience: employees, custom-
ing its supplier profiles so that it is
ers, suppliers, and emergency planning.
prepared for potential problems with
“After identifying these,” says Nehme,
sourcing and, finally, building a com-
“we had a much greater understanding
plete end-to-end strategy based on
of how to manage the crisis.”
these points.The latter would enable w w w. m o bil e m a g a z in e . c o m
A gateway to innovate, a channel to communicate
Hayat Communications Al Owinah Tower, 9th floor Old Salata, Corniche Doha - Qatar P.O. Box: 30219 Tel: +974 4451 4979 Fax: +974 4451 4978 qatar@hayatcomm.net
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Hayat Communications Company KSCC (HCC) is a publicly listed company in the Kuwait Stock Exchange focused on the communications industry. HCC is a service provider for the design, supply, build and management of all various types of fixed line and wireless networks. Namely, the mobile industry, fiber roll-out, security and surveillance, Enterprise, IT and low voltage system. HCC is considered a top tier partner in the communications sector across the Arabian Gulf specifically. Our vision to be the partner of choice as a major service provider of networks in communications and technology. Accommodating evolving communications through innovation, user-friendly solutions and our professional management team. Our services lines are catered mainly in: - IT &Telecommunications infrastructures - IOT - ELV/ AV systems - Automation solutions - Smart offices, homes, parking‌etc - Energy solutions
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V O D A F O N E Q ATA R
Vodafone Qatar to move from crisis
six or more months of supply deliv-
mode to business as usual.
ered by March. It planned ahead in
SCM coordinated with each depart-
case of shortages that would lead to
ment on the local level, and with VPC
price increases, and signed three-year
on the group level, to determine what
contracts with all its suppliers.
the biggest problems would be and
“When the pandemic started, the
what actions should be taken to solve
first question was how can we import
these, both in the short and long term.
from China, and we generated tens of
SCM strategy has revolved around
scenarios looking at how we could do
being prepared – and anticipating
this,” notes Nehme. “Now the whole
scenarios rather than dealing with the
world is locked, and the situation has
fallout. For example, in January it bulk
changed to: ‘how can we import from
ordered stock to ensure it would have
the rest of the world?” It’s important
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Hicham Nehme, A. Head of Supply Chain at Vodafone Qatar, discusses the importance of leadership in supply chain CLICK TO WATCH
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“ Digital tools are not a privilege anymore” — Hicham Nehme A. Head of Supply Chain at Vodafone Qatar
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“ We’re now using data analysis more than ever before to forecast” — Hicham Nehme A. Head of Supply Chain at Vodafone Qatar
to learn from previous crises and manage change using new technology.” As a result the company has started using entirely virtual marketplaces such as Amazon. Another key point is not being heavily reliant on just one territory, such as China. “I believe China will face a lot of problems in the coming years because of what people believe to be the cause of the pandemic. We don’t yet know how big companies that operate in China like Apple will react, but we need to prepare so the
E X E C U T I V E P R OF IL E :
Hicham Nehme Title: A. Head of Supply Chain
Company: Vodafone Qatar
Industry: Telecommunications Location: Qatar Hicham Nehme is an experienced procurement professional. Having worked for 18 years in procurement and supply across different industries, Hicham is responsible for oversight of the procurement operations, strategic sourcing and digital transformation in supply chain. Hicham was instrumental in developing procurement policies and procedures and implementing procurement strategies, managing projects in the MENA Region, Europe and US. Hicham is CIPS and CPPM Certified, with a BA in Business Administration Systems. He is a father of three girls. w w w. m o bil e m a g a z in e . c o m
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V O D A F O N E Q ATA R
supply chain remains continuous and
Skype and Zoom. We know the whole
sustainable,” Nehme explains. “There
world will change after this, and
are a lot of different opinions out
the most important aspect is digital
there, but I think business needs to
transformation, now a main part
be spread across many countries, not
of any company.
centralised in one area.” The COVID-19 pandemic has high-
202
“Every organisation must have at least a vision for digital transformation,”
lighted how essential digitalisation
Nehme adds. “For the supply chain
is. “Digital tools are not a privilege
in particular, digitising operations can
anymore,” Nehme explains. “They’re
improve speed and reliability, from
being used all over the world during
how fast products can be manufac-
this crisis. We’ve moved from attend-
tured to how promptly order fulfilment
ing school to e-learning, and doctors
and delivery to the final destination
are giving medical advice through
can be made. But to implement digital
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Hicham Nehme, A. Head of Supply Chain at Vodafone Qatar, on managing the COVID-19 crisis CLICK TO WATCH
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1:40
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V O D A F O N E Q ATA R
Hicham Nehme, A. Head of Supply Chain at Vodafone Qatar, explains how the company builds and sustains partnerships CLICK TO WATCH
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204 transformation well it’s also crucial
Technology aside, he shares that
to pay attention to the organisation’s
strong partnerships are also essen-
structure and how this will change.
tial to success. “If companies act
That’s why any successful digital
like solo endeavours they will fail.
transformation starts from the top,
Organisations depend on their sur-
from the leaders, and works down to
roundings and their suppliers to build
the employees.”
technology and share knowledge.”
While data analysis is becoming
Considering those suppliers, Nehme
increasingly useful, it will play an even
explains that the crisis has led to a
more important role in the future, along
redefining of what a partnership can
with blockchain and AI. “We’re now using
be. “It’s led us to reevaluate our suppli-
data analysis more than ever before to
ers based on how they react during the
forecast,” Nehme explains. “This is ena-
crisis, and whether they were available
bling organisations to look at potential
when we needed them,” he affirms.
impacts on projects and profitability.”
“How you react towards a crisis and
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how you support your organisation
Nehme has counted for many pro-
when it needs you, is the most impor-
jects. In the same industry, HATCOM
tant part of the supply chain.�
Telecommunications is another stra-
Among the company’s suppliers and partners are those in the telecommunications industry such as Hayat Communications, on which
tegic partner with which Nehme has worked across many projects. Looking ahead, Nehme envisages the independence of supply chains:
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“For countries like the US or Europe, the first thing that they face is a lack of supply chain planning. They have
“ How you react towards a crisis and how you support your organisation when it needs you, is the most important part of the supply chain”
the capability but they don’t have the tools or the materials, so they’ll have to find new ways to bring in new materials and new products”, he says. “We’re going to see supply chain organisations working separately and becoming businesses. The most important thing for any country right
— Hicham Nehme A. Head of Supply Chain at Vodafone Qatar
now is securing food, medication and medical equipment for its people. They don’t need someone sitting behind a desk telling them their balance sheet has dropped. The most important thing now is how to survive, and to survive you need a supply chain.”
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Staying the country’s first choice WRITTEN BY
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WILL GIRLING PRODUCED BY
LEWIS VAUGHAN
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BH TELECOM
Adnan Huremovic, CTO, discusses how BH Telecom’s technological expertise, innovative culture and customer-centric focus has made it a leading provider
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ocated in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H), BH Telecom was founded in 1992 with the vision of pro-
viding high-quality telecoms services using the most up-to-date technology available. Now, 28 210
years later, the company has risen to become the country’s leading operator and its dedication to providing the best for its customers has not wavered. A shareholding company but 90% publicly-owned, an integral component of BH Telecom’s motivation for success is the betterment of national network infrastructure, which it facilitates through competitive fixed phone, mobile, internet and IPTV services. With over 3,200 employees and a managerial strategy which prioritises innovation, fast R&D and comprehensive solutions, BH Telecom has indelibly left its mark on B&H’s telecommunications sector. Part of the BH Telecom journey for over 16 years, Adnan Huremovic joined the company as an Associate for Access Networks and steadily worked his way up to his current role as Chief Technology Officer in 2018. “The J U LY 2 0 2 0
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BH TELECOM
“ From my first role when I was working in infrastructure, then later to project planning and finally as a board member, my life and career are connected to communications” — Adnan Huremovic, CTO, BH Telecom 212
telecommunications field was my primary professional interest when I started,” he explains. “From my first role when I was working in infrastructure, then later to project planning and finally as a board member, my life and career are connected to communications.” A true expert in his field, Huremovic has maintained a relationship with his alma mater – the University of Sarajevo – as an academic and teacher, which, he states, continues to shape his approach to the CTO role at BH Telecom. “On one side, I have the opportunity to share ideas and my practical and business-related knowledge with future engineers. On the other, the students of the telecoms department are potential future employees.” It is, perhaps, this openness to change and fresh perspectives that has led to BH Telecom’s superlative workplace culture – the driving force behind its success, Huremovic claims. Striving to create an atmosphere which encourages and rewards the collective progress made by teams, whilst still taking the time to recognise the contributions of individuals, the
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365 of the most beautiful stories BH Telecom CLICK TO WATCH
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1:29
213 company has succeeded in fostering
BH Telecom’s status as a government-
an environment where innovation can
owned organisation. “We are a public
develop naturally. “As a result, we have
company; our values are not solely
a lot of technical service solutions that
oriented to profit. Rather, our vision is
are made solely within the company.
the prosperity of all society.”
For example, our web-based TV ser-
Despite BH Telecom’s impres-
vice, our web portal and payments,
sive status and standing as the
also – f-commerce (mobile prepaid
leading company in its market, it
recharge through fixed line, IPTV
has steadfastly refused to rest on
etc.), billing systems and mobile apps
its laurels or become complacent.
are completely developed in-house
Formulating a clear and successful
by our engineers.” Another factor
digital transformation strategy has
of its success stems from a highly
been instrumental in cementing the
customer-centric ethos, a natural
company’s position. “The most impor-
consequence, states Huremovic, of
tant thing we needed to adapt was w w w. m o bil e m a g a z in e . c o m
BH TELECOM
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mindset,” says Huremovic, “across all levels, from workers up to managerial staff.” Providing intensive training and workshops across BH Telecom, the company was able to illustrate why tech progression was integral for business continuity and what benefits it would bring. This included enhanced efficiency through the digitalisation of paper-based processes, which streamlined myriad operations within the company, including procurement, payments and billings, sales, customer service and more. The goal of becoming faster and better also emphasised the importance of BH Telecom’s partner ecosystem, which has been invaluable as a source of innovative new technology. BS Telecom, a manufacturer and supplier of integrated telecom systems for data processing, and one of BH Telecom’s key collaborators, has been instrumental in supporting its projects, both past and present. “BS Telecom has been one of our most valuable partners for a very long time,” says Huremovic. “It’s already helped us achieve some
E X E C U T I V E P R OF IL E :
Adnan Huremovic Title: CTO Company: BH Telecom Industry: Telecommunications Adnan Huremovic is an acting CTO at BH Telecom Sarajevo. Born in 1980, graduated and achieved MsC, and PhD in electrical engineering at University of Sarajevo until 2016. Huremovic started as interim in BH Telecom Sarajevo in 2003, and worked on a number of various positions within the company. He became a member of the board in 2015 as a Chief investment Officer, Director of core network, and currently as a CTO. In this period, Huremovic managed implementation of new IMS and packet core network, complete 4G network swap, and 5G testing. He also teaches at the University of Sarajevo, and leads Bosnian Society for Telecommunication.
great projects, such as our previous SMS platform, and our existing ADMS w w w. m o bil e m a g a z in e . c o m
215
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platform. Currently, we are working on
explore artificial intelligence (AI) appli-
a very difficult project for a new billing
cations as its 5G capabilities develop
system. It’s one of the most complex
further. As part of its commitment to
IT projects we’ve had for a couple of
liability and providing its customers
years, but, because of our strong past
with the best experience possible, BH
relationship, we are very confident
Telecom has also rigorously developed
that this will be another joint success –
in-house end-to-end cybersecurity,
that’s the high level of confidence that
including DDoS protection, state-of-
we have in BS Telecom as an integrator
the-art application firewalls and fraud
for this endeavour.”
detection. However, one of the primary
Already utilising hybrid cloud
challenges of the modern telecom
computing and IoT within its digital
industry is the fast-paced nature of
transformation journey for the past
tech development and its ability to
five years, the company is planning to
completely transform old paradigms
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“ We are a public company; our values are not solely oriented to profit. Rather, our vision is the prosperity of all society” — Adnan Huremovic, CTO, BH Telecom
of working. Emerging global trends, such as 5G, have the ability to reshape the customer experience and the task, states Huremovic, will be for BH Telecom to prepare the necessary infrastructure to utilise it. “The big challenges are likely to be the regulatory and legal issues,” he says. Therefore, BH Telecom has a didactic role to play, along with its partners, in introducing this revolutionary new infrastructure to the public and authorities. “At the end of the road, we expect to see a 217
w w w. m o bil e m a g a z in e . c o m
BH TELECOM
BS TELECOM
218
BS Telecom is an IT and manufacturing services company for the telecommunications sector. Founded in 2002, its corporate vision has been to research and develop custom solutions for the latest problems experienced in the industry. A valued partner of BH Telecom for several years, Adnan Huremovic emphasises the value and importance of BS Telecom in its past and future endeavours. “BS Telecom has been one of our most valuable partners for a very long time,� he says.
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fully-covered high speed, low latency network. From that, we’ll then have the basis to build newer services.” Trust and its standing within the community is paramount to BH Telecom. Whilst the COVID-19 pandemic has been a difficult experience for everyone, Huremovic says that the company also recognised it as an opportunity to prove its mettle. “Interestingly, we didn’t experience many problems or delays as far as technology development was concerned. I believe that this crisis actually motivated our employees to demonstrate that BH Telecom is something people can rely on.” Throughout the pandemic so far, the company has managed to avoid data congestions and network dropouts on services which have become vital as customers live and work primarily from home. Additionally, BH Telecom has granted access to critical services free-ofcharge to schools and students. Through its actions, BH Telecom continues to manifest its values and mission; one of the few governmentowned telecoms in B&H, its position and prestige as the best is a reputation w w w. m o bil e m a g a z in e . c o m
219
BH TELECOM
220
“ I believe that this crisis actually motivated our employees to demonstrate that BH Telecom is something people can rely on” — Adnan Huremovic, CTO, BH Telecom
that it intends to keep. Foreseeing a shift in the sector, the company is diversifying to include investment in domestic fintechs and focusing on expanding its capacity to include content production. Regarding the latter, Huremovic adds, “We already have some investments in local and regional content companies that we plan to build or even acquire. I see a global orientation toward content as something that will benefit every telecom’s portfolio.” Concurrently, fintechs and
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2002
Year founded
3,242 Number of employees
221
domestic startups will be assisted by
he concludes, “it’s that the integra-
BH Telecom’s ‘Start IT Up’ initiative, a
tion of digital processes and digital
programme which the company hopes
transformation has been accelerated
will position it as a central platform in
dramatically. During this time, it’ll play
B&H’s startup market.
an important role in keeping the econ-
Reflecting on the challenges of
omy healthy and allow the company to
2020 so far and how it will shape the
flourish. I think, after this situation has
market moving forwards, Huremovic is
passed, BH Telecom and its partners
proud of what BH Telecom has man-
will be on a whole new level.”
aged to achieve and feels confident in the new direction it has selected. “If there’s any silver lining in this pandemic situation for the telecoms industry,” w w w. m o bil e m a g a z in e . c o m
222
Driving digital transformation in South Africa WRITTEN BY
SEAN GALEA-PACE
J U LY 2 0 2 0
PRODUCED BY
JAMES BERRY
223
w w w. m o bil e m a g a z in e . c o m
TELKOM
Head of Data Insights Management at Telkom, on the challenge of navigating the South African market amidst a digital transform
T
elkom is a leading communications service provider in South Africa, operating in more than 38 countries across the continent of
Africa. Founded in 1991, it has transformed from the only telecommunications provider in South Africa to the diversified organisation delivering end-to-end 224
solutions to consumers and enterprise customers that it is today. Telkom serves a range of business and residential customers and has all the key components of true convergence, allowing the organisation to provide integrated voice, data, fixed, mobile, IT and data centre solutions. Zjaen Coetzee is Head of Data Insights Management at Telkom. He affirms his organisation has significantly changed the way it operates over the last decade. “In the last 10 years, Telkom has transformed from a fixed line operator to a mobile operator,� he says. “We own and operate several subsidiaries; we do property management through gyro as well as the traditional Yellowpages, but we now have a complete digital platform incorporated specifically called Telkom SMB. We have a retail business that does mobile J U LY 2 0 2 0
225
w w w. m o bil e m a g a z in e . c o m
TELKOM
and fixed line for consumers. We also
in other countries in packaging and
have BCX, which is the largest ICT
delivering solutions that don’t work in
company in South Africa, and has an
South Africa. However, this isn’t unique
international footprint specialising in
to us and is also the case for many
everything ICT-related. We really have
other telecom providers in the country.
become a fully diversified platform.”
South Africa is extremely diverse and
Coetzee believes there are sub-
it’s important that whatever you do in
stantial hurdles to overcome in the
packaging, it adds value and your ser-
South African market. “Navigating the
vice is reliable.”
market is the biggest challenge that we
226
In a bid to address a skills short-
face. There’s a big drive to cut down on
age in the country, the Explore Data
costs because people obviously want
Science Academy (EDSA) was estab-
cheaper services,” he says. “There’s
lished to increase local data science
also the cultural challenge because
skills through partnerships and spon-
there are things that typically work
sorship from large organisations to tap
“ We really have become a fully diversified platform” Zjaen Coetzee, Head of Data Insights Management, Telkom
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Telkom: Unlimited WiFi on Telkom DSL CLICK TO WATCH
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227 into this resource pool. Since its incep-
Engineer at Telkom, believes there has
tion in 2016, over 1,000 students have
been significant focus on developing
gone through the programme. “The
the role of the data scientist. “It has
EDSA has grown to become a massive
worked very well and injected lots of
learning platform that caters for data
resources into the marketplace,” he
science training in several ways, as well
says. “Telkom has benefited con-
as for individuals to use it to change
siderably as we see data scientists
career or pursue their passion in data
appointed into different divisions, as
science,” says Coetzee. “It has short
well as assisting with other types of
and long courses and ranges from
workloads that are powering Big Data.
high school programmes to executive
We’re also centred around enabling the
training. The prime aim was to invest
data engineering type of training and
back into the South African market
providing for those roles too.”
and get a running pipeline of skills to tap into each year.” CJ Smit, Lead Data
Smit understands the importance of leveraging Big Data into operations w w w. m o bil e m a g a z in e . c o m
TELKOM
228
and affirms harnessing value remains
People don’t always understand that
the key. “The traditional way in which
Big Data isn’t just the only technology
we produced customer insight and
that they use but is also one of the
recommendations was to simply
necessary technologies to enable
analyse transaction activity in a data
quicker time to value. It’s important to
warehouse,” he says. “However, the
deploy the right technology at the right
limitation is that only transaction
time in order to produce the quickest
activity is analysed. It doesn’t include
time to value.”
analysis of other high value data that
Thembani Phaweni, Senior Data
when pieced together offers a much
Scientist in the BCX division, believes
more complete understanding of a
Big Data has brought significant ben-
customer’s DNA. Therein, lies the
efits to countries such as South Africa
problem. We have to understand the
that have vastly different speaking
customer from a holistic perspective.
cultures. “There are many advantages.
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“ Navigating the South African market is the biggest challenge that we face” Zjaen Coetzee, Head of Data Insights Management, Telkom 229
As a retail focused business, distrib-
that while no one can successfully
uted technology personalisation and
predict the future accurately, instead
autonomous or smart technology have
you can take a view on the kinds of
all been key drivers,” says Phaweni.
technologies that seem promising.
“Personalisation is possible with deeper
“Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR)
insights into customer behaviour and
is one of those promising technologies
their preferences. This means more
especially in a market as diverse and
granular segmentation and user driven
culturally rich as Africa,” he says. “The
product development. Autonomous
challenge is that speech requires good
and smart technology means fibre
and large datasets many of which don’t
networks and towers that report their
exist and others are simply too small
own faults and eventually autonomous
for commercial tools. Of course, the
agents that can repair them without
ASR does not standalone, it requires a
risking human lives.” Phaweni believes
plethora of natural language tools.” w w w. m o bil e m a g a z in e . c o m
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TELKOM
232
“ Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) is one of those promising technologies especially in a market as diverse and culturally rich as Africa� Thembani Phaweni, Senior Data Scientist, BCX
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When beginning its data science journey in 2016, the first partner that Telkom collaborated with was Cloudera for a formal Big Data platform and the alliance remains strong today. “Cloudera has played an influential role and assisted in shaping the roadmap and strategy for expansion, as well as increasing capabilities in tandem with BCX. As part of that, there is a strong partnership with BCX and Cloudera from an external marketing facing perspective” explains Coetzee. “For our cloud-based solutions we use Google Cloud Platform to develop and host most of our data science and analytics cloud-based applications and proprietary tools. Paired with this and the drive to rapidly prototype and deliver solutions faster we required a strong local partner that can assist with leading technology and for this we use Slipstream to manage our Tableau and Alteryx licencing, support and training relationships.” Coetzee understands the importance of forming sustainable and mutually beneficial partnerships. “We’re typically seeking a collaboration with someone that has the capabilities to support us, because if we do run into w w w. m o bil e m a g a z in e . c o m
233
TELKOM
234
any issues such as licencing then they
overall digital literacy within the organi-
can be easily resolved,” says Coetzee.
sation across the business,” explains
“We must always ask ourselves: is it
Coetzee. “We’ve been pushing data
affordable and does it make sense?
literacy for some time but people aren’t
Ultimately, it must be a company that we
always aware of the true value of data.
can go on a journey with and they must
This is one of the biggest challenges
be open to offering continuous support.”
that we face in terms of Big Data
Over the next few months, Coetzee affirms that Telkom will focus on data literacy. “Data literacy is a massive
because if you forget about the value of data then the platform won’t work.” With the future in mind, Thembani is
driver and over the next few months,
excited about the impact that speech
we will be focusing on increasing the
technology could have on the South
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“ It’s important to deploy the right technology at the right time in order to produce the quickest time to value” 235
CJ Smit, Lead Data Engineer, Telkom
African landscape. “We’re invested in
for English does not work very well on
technologies that provide a richer user
South African accents. We’ve since
experience,” says Phaweni. “We are
realised that we need to build our own
very passionate about computer vision
ASR. We are starting by building a large
and natural language processing. The
dataset with thousands of hours of
future of autonomous technology is
transcribed audio. We’re excited about
very promising. Speech technology is
the potential that this has.”
a fascinating and important area going forward. We recently built a prototype meeting assistant for the South African market. We quickly realised that Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) w w w. m o bil e m a g a z in e . c o m
At the forefront of industry 4.0 innovation WRITTEN BY
GEORGIA WILSON PRODUCED BY
STUART IRVING 236
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CAPGEMINI
Sandeep Nag, Director of 5G at Capgemini, discusses technological trends, 5G innovation and the impact of COVID-19 on the industry
A
t the forefront of innovation, Capgemini, founded in 1967, harnesses innovation to help clients address opportunities as
cloud, digital and platforms evolve. 238
Within the industry, Sandeep Nag, Director of 5G at Capgemini, has seen from a connectivity point of view a massive evolution for the technology. “In order to cope with the massive increase in connected devices, you need to have access to a wide area of coverage. The evolution of 4G networks into 5G networks and beyond has allowed for better connectivity and increased the efficiency of connected devices. Another trend I have seen within the industry is the use of open computer ecosystems with big enterprises no longer wanting to depend on the hardware OEMs. They want it to be more open, and then of course there’s artificial intelligence (AI), as well as an increased use of algorithms, API, social media and blockchain technology to make a more secure and resilient strategy for data privacy. J U LY 2 0 2 0
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CAPGEMINI
“ From the top down Capgemini has a proactive approach to evolving trends and customer demands to harness industry 4.0 technologies the best way for its customers, as opposed to trying to make the technology fit” — Sandeep Nag, Director of 5G, Capgemini
When it comes to Capgemini’s own innovation strategy, Sandeep details that the company has specialised team domains, whether it’s automation, connectivity or cloud. “Capgemini has a very well defined structure of individuals working on specific domains with end-to-end expertise. Capgemini’s strategy is to not only have a technological knowhow, but to have a deep understanding of the industry so that it can address the exact requirement of that particular industry. From the
240 PA RT N ERSHI PS When it comes to Capgemini’s Over the years Capgemini has formed strategic partnerships, Sandeep Nag, many longlasting strategic Director of 5G at Capgemini details partnerships with the likes of Sooktha. that these alliances “enable more “These partnerships are mutually scope for solutions and service beneficial in the sense that either offerings leveraging open source and party acts as prime or co-prime for a standards communities. These business opportunity. This allows partnerships enable onboarding new early access to each other’s customers irrespective of domains. innovations thereby enabling faster The latest innovations and emergence GTM and early access to business of new business models require a opportunities. Long term relationships f lexible and modular approach both in through these partnerships enhance terms of technology and strategy, market share through enhancements hence these partnerships enable such in capabilities with more avenues of on-the go initiatives.” business opportunities.” J U LY 2 0 2 0
Capgemini Invent: Technology is in the air CLICK TO WATCH
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2:15
241 top down Capgemini has a proactive
and for assembly lines. With machine
approach to evolving trends and cus-
learning we have been utilising the
tomer demands to harness industry
technology for behavioral analysis
4.0 technologies the best way for its
trends and recommendations. This
customers, as opposed to trying to
is something we have been doing for
make the technology fit.�
many years and with that our IoT part-
Currently within the organisation,
nerships have evolved. In addition we
Capgemini is harnessing six key
also have our cloud practices which
technologies: AI, machine learning,
are not only with Microsoft Azure and
internet of things (IoT), cloud, Big
AWS, but also in house where the cus-
Data and 5G. Within its operations,
tomers want to have their captive cloud
“Capgemini has been harnessing
facilities. So we leverage those cloud
AI for its customer partnerships for
capabilities in terms of certified engi-
employee safety, anomaly detection
neers and certified professionals in our
in manufacturing and supply chains,
various domain expertise on the cloud. w w w. m o bil e m a g a z in e . c o m
CAPGEMINI
242
“ We must not neglect the security aspect. We’d like to see these innovative technologies evolve seamlessly, but they must maintain security” — Sandeep Nag, Director of 5G, Capgemini
“When it comes to Big Data, we are harnessing this technology to capture many handles globally, providing large volumes of different types of data - unstructured, semistructured, sequential or any kind of big data.” With the evolution of data the industry has experienced storage challenges, resulting in the Big Data practice at Capgemini evolving to cope with this capability. In terms of 5G at Capgemini - with the various acquisitions and recent onboarding
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of experts within 5G - the practice has been taken very seriously, with the company in full force to establish an ecosystem of various initiatives and expertise within the 5G space. Although it is still within the pilot stage, Sandeep sees the sector emerging and evolving significantly towards the end of the year. Contemplating future innovations, Sandeep would like to see more evolution relating to the dis-aggregation of edge hardware, resulting in further innovation relating to open hardware ecosystems. He also anticipates the evolution of the software ecosystem, harnessing more open source technologies, however he does highlight the importance of maintaining security alongside this. “We must not neglect the security aspect. We’d like to see these innovative technologies evolve seamlessly, but they must maintain security.”
THE IMPACT OF COVID-19 ‘The new normal’ - the defining phrase of the current climate due to
E X E C U T I V E P R OF IL E :
Sandeep Nag Title: Director 5G Industry: Information technology Location: Mumbai, India Technically accomplished software , systems and platform architect with more than 21 years across telecom , ISV and product organizations. Certified Enterprise Architect with flair in open source technologies leveraging open architectures in emerging technologies of 5G, IoT,AR/ VR/ER, AI and Machine learning. Active contributor in open telecom services eco-system for private enterprise networks communities and user groups. Among the early stage innovators in mobile payment with patent in secured mobile payment technology.Believer of frugal innovation that enable fast adoption into day to day life.
COVID-19 - is a topic Sandeep has considered deeply. “The new normal w w w. m o bil e m a g a z in e . c o m
243
Wireless Access Solutions We are cellular wireless access specialists and offer software solutions for 4G LTE, NB IoT, and 5G NR Open RAN deployments
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Founded in late 2010, Sooktha has been working in the cellular wireless space for nearly a decade. With extensive global experience and expertise in the cellular wireless space, Sooktha has worked with leading test and measurement equipment vendors, semiconductor companies, OEMs, and telecom service providers licensing technology and providing system components. After licensing its LTE base station software for the development of
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Spirent Communications Inc’s network emulator, Sooktha partnered with NXP semiconductor to demonstrate their virtual RAN (vAccess) hardware and software platforms across the globe. In 2016, Sooktha successfully completed lab trials of both their Enterprise and Residential femto base stations with one of the leading greenfield telecom service providers in India. Subsequently, Sooktha expanded its portfolio to offer
a software-defined end-to-end NB-IoT solution, which is used for research in India and as ultra-lightweight test beds in the labs of North American service providers. Sooktha extended its LTE small cell solutions to pico and macro base station solutions for rural and railways deployments of Global OEMs. Today the company is developing and deploying 5G solutions for the Stand Alone (SA) mode of deployment by leveraging its experience in LTE in the process. In addition Sooktha is focused on creating a software suite for 5G NR, which can be combined with different hardware modules to cater to a broad portfolio of 5G use cases. The software is deployed in a distributed mode by installing the Centralized Unit (CU) software in a virtualized environment and Distributed Unit (DU) software on purpose-built hardware modules. This architecture leveraging the Open RAN standard and ecosystem allows Sooktha to work with Capgemini to enable them to cater
to a wide variety of use cases. Sooktha works in close collaboration with Capgemini to translate real world use cases into the right combination of its software suites on the right platforms. The move from proprietary closed hardware systems, to open software centric wireless access solutions creates an opportunity for Sooktha and Capgemini to give them unprecedented levels of f lexibility. Partnering with a large global player like Capgemini also helps Sooktha to address large business opportunities by leveraging the company’s massive scale and global presence, while remaining a focused niche player. Capgemini also provides Sooktha access to a larger ecosystem of global suppliers to put together innovative solutions. Sooktha also has a geographical advantage in its partnership with Capgemini since it is headquartered in Bangalore and Capgemini has a significant presence in Bangalore and in locations in close proximity to Bangalore.
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CAPGEMINI
“ In terms of 5G at Capgemini, the practice has been taken very seriously, with the company in full force to establish an ecosystem of various initiatives and expertise within the 5G space” — Sandeep Nag, Director of 5G, Capgemini 246
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is no longer going to be people-topeople contact in a physical form. Instead, there is going to be an increased reliance on communications technology, which requires resilient connectivity, and which will play a major role within future operations for organisations. The current trends due to the impact of COVID-19 is agility, being able to adapt to changing behaviours and circumstances and coordinated remote working. “ Current challenges within the industry have seen worldwide supply chains either stop, or reduce significantly. “Whether it’s sourcing, production or distribution, new challenges have arisen relating to not only maintaining a flow of materials and goods but maintaining employee safety at all times while carrying out operations. To maintain a sustainable business through this we are driving the initiative to adopt a patient approach with clear communication between all stakeholders: suppliers, workers and customers. At Capgemini our HR practice has a strong infrastructure globally. They understand the safety of the w w w. m o bil e m a g a z in e . c o m
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CAPGEMINI
employee in this situation which is the primary importance. So right from social distancing through to cleanliness,hygiene and ensuring that each and every employee is protected, there are various HR driven initiatives to provide expert guidance and advice.”
1967
Year founded
HQ Paris France
When it comes to the technological capability of Capgemini to effectively implement a remote workforce, Sandeep details that “as far as connectivity is concerned, all employees 248
were ensured that they had access to the necessary tools and work facilities to efficiently work from home. You
“ The evolution of 4G networks into 5G networks and beyond has allowed for better connectivity and increased the efficiency of connected devices” — Sandeep Nag, Director of 5G, Capgemini
can imagine, being a huge company, this was no small task to provide the connectivity and technology to those who need it, but we seamlessly achieved it,” an achievement of which Sandeep is proud. During the crisis, Sandeep details that he has seen an increased use of the likes of Skype, Microsoft Teams and WebEx for conferencing capabilities as well as Google Hangouts and Zoom. “Another trend emerging is connectivity through a certified VPN.”
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When it comes to the future as
a long time. I also believe that a new
the world enters into a ‘new normal’
way of working will start to emerge,
for business operations. Sandeep
with people being required to do mul-
details that “the first steps will be
tiple roles. As we emerge out of the
to maintain social distancing rules,
lockdowns facilities need to become
and I believe that, while employees
more resilient and robust which is
will start to head back to work, I do
driven by connectivity.”
not think the entire workforce will be present. Maybe towards the end of the year but not yet. Instead the workforce will be asked to report to the office via a remote login. I believe working from home will continue for w w w. m o bil e m a g a z in e . c o m
ADOPTING I TECHN 250
WRITTEN BY
GEORGIA WILSON PRODUCED BY
SCOTT GEORGE
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S TA R H U B
Sebastian Tan, Head of the 5G Centre Of Excellence (COE) Unit, StarHub, discusses digital transformation and innovative technology
W 252
ith the imminent arrival of 5G technology, Sebastian Tan, Head of the 5G Centre Of Excellence
(COE) Unit at StarHub, sees industry trends accelerating towards the convergence of mobility first with cloud technology and artificial intelligence (AI). “With mobile edge computing and campus networks coming into fruition with 5G, these will enable mobile operators to offer an expanded set of integrated end-to-end capabilities beyond the telecommunication and connectivity services. I believe the industry will see the telecommunication sector transforming to play a more critical role in integrating the ICT space in the future,� says Tan, who ultimately believes 5G will provide a near seamless and digitally-enabled mobility experience.
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S TA R H U B
254
“ WE ARE CONSTANTLY LOOKING INTO NEW AREAS TO GROW AND PREEMPT NEW ENTRANTS” — Sebastian Tan, Head of the 5G Centre Of Excellence (COE) Unit, StarHub J U LY 2 0 2 0
In order to stay ahead of global business trends, StarHub – a leading telecommunications company based in Singapore and founded in 2000 – embraces the challenger mentality. “We are constantly looking into new areas to grow and preempt new entrants. This is achieved through regular strategy and business reviews to develop and transform our business models as necessary to maintain the challenger position,” comments Tan. “Digital transformation does not simply equate to automation of processes”
#HelloChangePromise – StarHub CLICK TO WATCH
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he continues. “We looked at digital
service subscriptions.
first strategy from a 360-degree per-
To date, StarHub has implemented
spective, from people, process and
robotic process automation (RPA) to
tools.” Fundamentally, the first step
help the company to streamline and
to digitally evolve StarHub includes
serve its customers more effectively.
the establishment of a transformation
“The RPA platform has built in AI
office to spearhead strategy execution,
capabilities to analyse the services
together with the appointment of
we provide with recommendations
a digital officer to charter the course
in areas to improve on. We are also
forward. StarHub aims to enhance and
utilising RPA to support our customers,
onboard most of its’ existing services
helping to simplify first call resolution
into its digital platform, allowing
in a timely manner,” Tan adds.
customers to easily access inquiries as well as procure or upgrade their
In addition, StarHub has been transforming its billing system with w w w. m o bil e m a g a z in e . c o m
S TA R H U B
“ WHILE WE CONTINUE TO OPERATE AND INVEST IN KEY ASSETS, WE WILL ALSO CONTINUE TO ESTABLISH NEW PARTNERSHIP ECOSYSTEMS TO SUPPORT US ON OUR GROWTH JOURNEY TOWARDS 5G” 256
— Sebastian Tan, Head of the 5G Centre Of Excellence (COE) Unit, StarHub
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w w w. m o bil e m a g a z in e . c o m
S TA R H U B
258
2000
Year founded
agile framework applications to support new business requirements. “We have successfully transformed and consolidated many of our net-
$2.4bn+ Revenue in Singapore dollars
3,000 Number of employees
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works into a new software-defined virtual network function platform, allowing us to provision and manage our services cost-effectively.” However, with these new innovations comes the challenge of security compliance. “All of our digital initiatives will require security reinforcement, which we are continuing to build upon our telco-grade cyber
259
E X E C U T I V E P R OF IL E :
Sebastian Tan With over 20 years of management experience in both the end-user and technology provider space, Sebastian has successfully managed different stages of the IT life-cycle, from providing thought leadership in visioning to driving transformational IT initiatives. Sebastian believes in building “esprit de corp� within the team and leads by example. An all round achiever, Sebastian has received multiple awards in and outside his professional career and represented Singapore in competitive cycling in the 1990s. One of his many wins was first in the Overseas Bank Corporation Cycle Singapore 2010 edition. w w w. m o bil e m a g a z in e . c o m
261
analytics framework, in partnership
we have also established a partner-
with our independent cyber security
ship to build a new multi-million dollar
unit called Ensign.” This security
hyperscale green data centre campus
transformation is not the first of its kind
and are starting industry trials for
which StarHub has invested in.
pioneering 5G,” explains Tan. Within
“In Singapore, we have undertaken
its digital strategy, StarHub has been
many initiatives to support our policy
incorporating these initiatives. “We
makers in developing our country to
are participating and supporting the
be a smart nation. In our recent initiatives,
policy makers in the industry on six w w w. m o bil e m a g a z in e . c o m
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263 strategic focus areas, mainly around urban mobility, smart estates, maritime operations, smart airports and consumer and government application development. Our continuous rationalisation of our infrastructure has given us the ability to support such initiatives in a more efficient manner, keeping pace with the market demands. “Being in the service industry, where customer experience comes first, w w w. m o bil e m a g a z in e . c o m
S TA R H U B
“ IN SINGAPORE, WE HAVE UNDERTAKEN MANY INITIATIVES TO SUPPORT OUR POLICY MAKERS IN DEVELOPING OUR COUNTRY TO BE A SMART NATION” — Sebastian Tan, Head of the 5G Centre Of Excellence (COE) Unit, StarHub
Security-Driven Networking for a Hyperconnected World Fortinet provides top-rated network and content security, as well as secure access products that share intelligence and work together to form a cooperative fabric. Our unique Security Fabric combines Security Processors, an intuitive operating system, and applied threat intelligence to give you proven security, exceptional performance, better visibility and control. LEARN MORE
FORTIGATE
265 StarHub has always adopted a partner-
being the challenger, StarHub will con-
centric approach so as to enable us to
tinue to transform to stay lean and agile
deliver our commitments jointly,” says
so as to be quick to respond. “While
Tan. ”While we continue to operate
we may be locally established, we are
and invest in key assets, we will also
constantly staying engaged globally.
continue to establish new partner-
This approach has allowed us to ser-
ship ecosystems to support us on our
vice our customers in the best possible
growth journey towards 5G.”
way, which we will continue to embrace
Reflecting on StarHub’s journey,
to ensure a win-win business outcome
Tan believes that “over the years
for both our customers and our share-
StarHub has transformed from a local
holders,” concludes Tan.
pay TV company into a quo-play service provider which has established both consumer and enterprise businesses.” With its strategy fixed at w w w. m o bil e m a g a z in e . c o m
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