tbtech magazine - May edition by Launched

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TBTECH Contents

May 2022

08 11 16 20 26 30 34 40 6

Meet the team

Editorial The future of AI

APIs

Clientelling Social media growth

SaaS & Unicorn

The Cloud Management software

TBTECH Contents

May 2022

48 52 56 60 64 68 72 78

Coding

Data Digital

Software

SaaS Management

Customer success

‘Connected’ makeover

TBTECH Meet the team

May 2022

Meet the team

JOE ALLEN

Joe has vast experience and knowledge accumulated and honed as a New Business Development Manager and Relationship Manager. Presently the Director at Belu Media. Responsible for generating new business opportunities, looking after the growth of the company and strategy, sourcing new ventures and managing the company. Favorite marketing strategy when building a marketing campaign is ‘inbound marketing’ as it delivers on set goals when implemented correctly.

LUKE CONRAD

Luke is Digital Editor at TBTech and has history working closely with the worlds biggest tech brands to deliver campaigns. Luke is an advocate of tech across business and commercial applications.

PAUL WHITTALL

Paul stops at nothing to innovate and create value for our customers. His mission is help those we work with to win in their markets. He is passionate about delivering customer success and have had the pleasure of supporting many of the world’s leading technology brands for over 15 years. Pauls’ role is all about designing and developing the right strategy to achieve the best outcomes, and to ensure we are consistently delivering the highest standards of value across the business for all our customers.

TBTECH Meet the team

JESSIE PETHRUS

Jessica is our Marketing Coordinator at TBTech. Driven by storytelling, her writerdesigner duo allows her to combine the power of synergy across different mediums and making sure content is optimised for ranking in search engines. She believes a strong marketing strategy begins with understanding the brands mission and audience, together with the market, in order to position yourself as a leading brand, speaking directly to your clients and customers desires.

May 2022

WILLIAM MOORE

William’s passion starts and ends with design, timeless aesthetic and creative solutions. Having worked on numerous creative campaigns ranging from car manufacturers, leading tech companies, property investors as well as local artisans, thegoal is to create the ultimate brand experience between the client and the consumer.

MATT ROBERTS

Matt is Operations Manager at TBTech, he has spent the last 15 years working with multinational IT companies building campaigns, GTM strategies, leading both Sales and Marketing teams to achieve organisational goals. With a love of computer science, history, and psychology he is an advocate for change, operational efficiency and automation. Value across the business for all our customers.

TBTECH Editorial

May 2022

Editorial

Avoiding the crowds. ‘Metaverse’ has become a popular word in the virtual world and football is joining in the fun and games.

TBTECH Editorial

May 2022

Football fans in the Middle East and Africa (Mena) region had the opportunity to enjoy a world first when an Italian league game was broadcasted in a virtual world. Mark Zuckerberg, the Facebook founder who rebranded his company as Meta last year, has called it “an embodied internet where you’re in the experience, not just looking at it”. In the metaverse, you’ll be able to do almost anything you can imagine. Think about how many things you have done today that could just be holograms in the future. So why not watch a game in there? That is the hope that those running Serie A have as they try to expand the league’s appeal. They gave 10,000 fans in the Mena region the chance to access its virtual room on the metaverse, equipped with features such as a chat to interact with other users, a quiz to play and a TV screen to watch the game, via unique, free digital tokens. Enter the metaverse at home using a connected device, this can be a phone, tablet, laptop or PC. In the virtual room there is a TV screen and on that TV screen the game could be watched just like on a standard TV.

The Italian football league is reaching out to the so-called Generation Z, a young, supposedly inattentive audience who want to interact with their peers as they watch a game. The idea is that they can do all of that without leaving their digital world. After a pilot project to understand the potential of this new way of broadcasting the game, the goal now will be using it to generate revenue. This move is the league’s latest step to try to modernise. It also stepped into the controversial world of cryptocurrency - it signed the first sponsorship programme between a football league and a cryptocurrencies platform in May last year. Is this pioneering attitude paving the way for revolutionary broadcasting possibilities? The future might be that you can wear virtual reality glasses and be transported to stadiums, taking the experience to another level entirely. Opinions are still divided, which is typical for a transitional time. It’s hard to forecast how things are going to develop, as what we see in football is just a reflection of bigger social changes.

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TBTECH AI

May 2022

The rise of no-code what it is and why it’s the future of AI

By Shawn Tan, CEO of Skymind

In the past, building software applications required months and years of training to learn programming languages and frameworks. A typical software development journey would require excessive computing power, endless trial and error, and a niche, highly skilled workforce - just to arrive at a successful outcome. But thanks to the rise of no-code software, things have changed dramatically - and soon all the technically difficult software development and endless hard toll - will come to an end.

TBTECH AI

May 2022

This is something we should all be excited about as the world becomes more digitised and requires even greater diversity to develop the solutions that will shape the future of our society. The only way to achieve this diversity is to democratise access to coding - and no-code does just that.

WHAT IS NO-CODE?

Simply put, no-code is a set of visual tools that allow people to build applications without going through the traditional app development methods. It bridges the gap in technology development by giving people with little technical knowledge or experience the ability to develop technology products. This is done through preprogrammed actions, modules, and templates. It is a drag and drop operation that allows software development with minimal or no inputs of codes. Aside from building applications, no-code allows the developed applications or systems to interact with external services to exchange information. No-code adoption in business had been steadily increasing over the years, but it was widely overlooked by many until the arrival of the pandemic. According to research from Zapier the no-code sector began to boom during the past two years. In the US alone, 82% of all no-code users in America started using no-code tools for the first time during the past two years. Not only are new users continuing

to flock to no-code tools, but existing users are increasing their usage. Nearly 60% of all custom apps are built outside the IT department. And by 2025, 70% of new applications developed by organisations will use no-code or low-code tools, up from less than 25% in 2020. Like all innovations, no-code is an exciting disruption and an improvement in the software development process, especially for small businesses. Amongst its many uses, no-code has allowed people with little technical knowledge to develop applications using preset frameworks and templates, which will certainly lead to more innovations and product development in the digital town square. It also reduces the time spent on software development, enabling the faster implementation of business solutions. Aside from the time saved, computer resources and human resources can also benefit from no-code as these responsibilities are transferred to the software providers. The reality is that no code and low-code are here to stay because thousands of applications are being developed every day

using this solution. By 2025, it is estimated that over 70% of software would be developed using no-code and, in some cases, low-code. We have already seen no-code solutions in several SAASbased websites such as Shopify, WP, Thunkable, Shopify, Landbot, Paragon, etc., and more are underway across various sectors of the economy. WHY IS NO-CODE THE FUTURE OF AI? No-code is also a game change for many technology developers and non-technical people in AI because it focuses on something that we never thought would be possible in the complex world of artificial intelligence: simplicity.

Anyone will be able to build AI applications quickly by leveraging no-code development platforms that offer a visual, code-free, and simple to use interface to deploy AI and machine learning models. This will have a tremendous impact on the amount of AI applications being built - and by whom - while also drastically improving the efficiency of existing applications that are driving business performance.

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TBTECH AI

May 2022

Continued ...

The future of AI.

HOW NO-CODE WILL CHANGE THE FUTURE OF ROBOTICS AND IMPACT MANUFACTURING AND OTHER SECTORS.

Through no-code AI, innovation that really matters will be driven by people who need them most to optimise their workflow - and it will affect several sectors of the economy, particularly manufacturing, which has seen a rapid rise in AI adoption in its production and assembling process. Stakeholders in this industry who are on the manufacturing frontline, like quality assurance engineers, control engineers, and product designers will be able to create no-code AI solutions that fit real manufacturing needs. No-code solutions will also help automate manufacturing workflows, leading to unprecedented levels of quality improvements, efficiency, and increased profitability for the business. It will reduce risks and boost overall productivity of manufacturing companies and help bring products to the market faster - and at a lower cost. One critical way this will be achieved is by using AI to fully optimise the use of robotics. At the

moment, most robots can only do one particular task because they are programmed to do that. This means if you have an assembly line there will be multiple robots doing different jobs - which is expensive, cluttered and complex. This is because it takes a long time to develop the software needed to get robots to do more - and it’s also difficult to create the code. Old world software development is labour intensive and requires highly skilled developers. However, with the rise of nocode platforms, companies will actually be able to build AI applications quickly and use them to repurpose robots and give them the capability to perform multiple tasks efficiently and with great accuracy- instead of relying on multiple robots to do separate tasks. Companies that achieve this will be able to roll out their goods to the market faster - and more cost effectively - and will thereby have a competitive advantage over other businesses. Manufacturing is not the only sector that benefits greatly from enhanced robotics. Transportation will be improved with highly efficient driverless cars - while health care workers will have the

advantage of robotics performing multiple tasks in the theatre room - with a precision never thought possible. The potential is limitless.

CONCLUSION

Without a doubt, no-code is causing disruptions in the software development space, but there’s a few issues that need to be solved to achieve the level of mass adoption that is desired by businesses and technology leaders. They include lack of customisation, scalability, and the absence of user control. However, these challenges are being addressed head on - which will lead to more adoptions by businesses. Until then, highly skilled developers will remain relevant in the software space for the foreseeable future - with no-code offering extra support in creating efficient applications. But this won’t last long. No-code is gaining momentum and there’s no going back to the old world of coding. It’s here to stay and the future looks brighter as a result and that’s something worth celebrating.

TBTECH AI

May 2022

As the world becomes more digitised it will require greater diversity to develop the solutions that improve the future of our society. The only way to achieve this goal is by democratising access to coding - and no-code does just that.

TBTECH API’s

May 2022

APIs: What are they and how can we embrace them?

By Rory Blundell, CEO, Gravitee

Gravitee.io is a leading open source API platform, enabling worldwide developers and business users to build, manage and monitor their APIs. As a team we are driven by the purpose of giving customers the ability to manage synchronous and asynchronous APIs securely. We started out as an open source product and still follow an open source first ethos within our organization.

Our aim is to lead this next generation of API. Gravitee can alleviate the challenge that businesses face when they have a myriad of data types moving at different velocities. There is no one consistent way to build, manage, monitor, secure, expose and consume all of this data, and I believe that Gravitee has the platform and the team to be that leader in this next generation of API.

TBTECH API’s

WHAT MAKES GRAVITEE DIFFERENT FROM ITS COMPETITORS?

The API management market, as a whole, was formed around 2000 to 2005. That first generation of API platforms solved a business pain; the cloud was coming. The first generation of integration and API vendors created a layer of abstraction that enabled people to realize the potential of the cloud. That led to a rise in a second generation - the microservices generation. Functional or business services decomposed to their most granular components. My belief is that we are now entering a third generation that is no longer about an architectural principle. It’s about the data that resides within it. This is where Gravitee is different, we know that it’s no longer just about API’s traditional request response, but streaming in real time, more accurately and with more data. The way we communicate has changed and is driven by consumer demand for more accurate and more real-time data. Yet, organizations still have a lot of more traditional request-response data sources. How do they build, manage, monitor, secure, expose and enable consumption of these different velocities of this data? At the same time as this you have increasing challenges in the regulatory environment

May 2022

and around information security. Gravitee is uniquely addressing these modern API challenges, which is something that no other organization in this space is addressing. HOW ARE NON-SOFTWARE COMPANIES EMBRACING APIS?

APIs are driving massive capability and productivity boosts for nonsoftware companies. By leveraging the power of externalized and abstracted functionality, companies are able to leverage leading technologies to rapidly assemble new applications with features that would otherwise require tremendous engineering resources. WHAT IS AN API? IS IT A PRODUCT, SERVICE, INTEGRATION, OR IS IT SOMETHING ELSE?

Arguably, it’s all of the above. At its core, it is a form of integration. Yet, from an end-user perspective, it is a service. And with the emergence of the “API Economy”, API is most definitely a product as well. More importantly, we’re entering the next frontier which requires us to fundamentally redefine the classic definition of an API APIs are no longer considered a mere enabling mechanism for requesting and retrieving data between services. Event-driven architectures are exploding on the market, ushering in a shift in the way systems communicate

in the form of asynchronous communications. Allowing for more efficient communication, less waiting and the ability to do realtime processing, asynchronous communication is the backbone of modern event based architectures. Companies now need to look at managing both synchronous and asynchronous APIs and protocols without creating siloed approaches. WHAT BEST PRACTICES SHOULD COMPANIES BE FOLLOWING WHEN DEVELOPING AND LAUNCHING APPLICATIONS?

Organizations nowadays are struggling to meet the demands of their customers. Customers’ behavior has now changed and this was especially accelerated by the impact of the pandemic. All this has created the need for organizations to have an online presence to deliver those same services. This created a need to innovate faster and to compose data, processes and/or applications to avoid having to reinvent the wheel every time a new solution needs to be built.

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TBTECH API’s

May 2022

Continued ...

APIs: What are they and how can we embrace them?

The de-facto standard in building applications as composable building blocks is by leveraging APIs exposed by existing applications. In building new applications the following principles should be followed:

Reuse existing APIs wherever possible - This will reduce the delivery time and time to market by leveraging the work that had already been completed which will result in a cost reduction in operating costs, bugs and maintenance Treat APIs as a first-class citizen rather than an afterthought Organizations should abandon the approach of considering each application as a mono-use artifact to only have to add APIs on top later. Applications should be built with API in mind and these APIs should be designed using a specification language that will help deliver a better DX (Developer Experience).

Adopt a Design-First approach Starting the development of an API from designing its interface (the “I” in API) has many advantages. Adopt security by design - Security should be a top priority when designing an API. Adopt an API Management strategy for your APIs. WHAT DOES THE FUTURE LOOK LIKE FOR SOFTWARE BUSINESSES?

Consumer demands are changing. Whether it be expectations around no downtime, real-time, accurate data, or connected experiences, organizations now have a new benchmark for what it means to be a winner in today’s digital economy. These demands have ushered in a need for companies to shift from more traditional synchronous systems to asynchronous and event-driven architectures for benefits such as real-time data streaming and processing.

Companies therefore need to be prepared to manage both traditional synchronous APIs in addition to newer asynchronous APIs and protocols to meet these increasing demands. Moreover, this explosion of protocols and the mix of synchronous and asynchronous APIs are going to place an increased security burden on organizations. Leading analyst firms have predicted that API’s are going to be the largest attack vector so ensuring proper security is in place is critical. The good news is that companies can now innovate at a pace rarely seen in our history, with features that previously would have required engineering resources that were likely not available. API-based application delivery is starting to challenge the very premise of Moore’s law!

TBTECH API’s

May 2022

TBTECH

MARCH 2022

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TBTECH Clientelling

May 2022

Embracing the potential of clienteling

By Lydia Hawkridge, Head of Strategy and Implementation at Red Ant

TBTECH Clientelling

May 2022

Retailers are just about keeping up with the terminology for the customer experience market - some broadly accepted buzzwords within CX circles include omnichannel, clienteling, assisted sales, endless aisle. But it’s retailers’ interpretation of these terms which is proving more of a challenge. Some conflate omnichannel with multichannel and others think clienteling means just being especially nice to customers. Clienteling is much more than this – it’s the key to customer engagement, choice, and loyalty and 45% of retailers in a recent Red Ant survey agree it’s a priority. We’re in a world where customers all too easily drop brands if expectations aren’t met, as PWC reports 46% of all consumers will abandon a brand if the employees are not knowledgeable. From seeing brands that are doing it well, customers know these capabilities exist and that there are lots of tools to capture data – they expect a brand to ‘know who I am’. Supporting the customer journey through dedicated software and changing the retail culture to start caring about customers is vital for brands to build revenue. WHAT IS CLIENTELING?

Clienteling is a perfect blend of technology and human expertise, which can support the customer journey and maintain the relationship between customer

and brand – this could be with either a salesperson or tools in place to support. It can grow relationships with clients by engaging with them and providing the right information, whether it’s by email, SMS or chat. Clienteling means harnessing the right customer data to support or elevate a sale, ideally using a single integrated app, which can be accessed on a device by store associates in store and online to provide a one-to-one connection between clients. Using a platform for the intelligent application of both customer and product data allows store associates to establish themselves as brand ambassadors and trusted consultants and give a truly personalised service. Consultants can draw insight from data on customers’ historical purchases, habits and shopping preferences, combined with details of the retailer’s entire product range. Particularly effective in light of customers’ increasing sustainability preferences, consultants can offer information on ethical manufacturing and sustainability credentials to satisfy their needs. Smart analysis of customer behaviour gives store associates the confidence to suggest products, services or events, whether in-store or virtual. Some particularly engaging features of clienteling include ‘customer follow-up’, which enables the store associate to be reminded Continue on next page > 27

TBTECH Clientelling

May 2022

Continued ...

Embracing the potential of clienteling

to follow up with the customer during a sales process, or to make a re-stocked item notification. Customer analytics can tell retailers who their top spenders are so that they can appropriately address them in customer engagement, for instance chats. Retailers can connect with customers regarding a customer repair or online order. For instance, a luxury jeweller can keep a customer updated on their ring resizing – the app allows the store associate to track the repair progress to manage a customer’s expectations and hand hold them right through the process. Clienteling is not just the preserve of the luxury goods market, and can be adapted to fit all sizes and types of retail business by integrating the channels to customer to create a seamless experience – one where the customer feels truly supported through their browsing and buying experience.

BENEFITS OF CLIENTELING

Improving store associates’ abilities to give better customer experience can directly impact the bottom line. According to Attune consultants, customers that have experienced clienteling spend 3.5 to 4 times more annually and are 33% more likely to become repeat customers. An average basket size is also 63% bigger than for ‘non-clienteled’ customers.

Sales increases are due to customers buying recommended products, in-store or online thanks to seamless cross-channel baskets and follow-up communications, which see store associates using customer data to reorder for them, cross-sell or upsell. One-to-one consultations allow retailers to showcase a particular experience, such as a makeover, to make a high return on their clienteling investment. These can be used to launch a particular experience or event, to give styling advice and can be offered in store and virtually.

Clienteling can drive additional operational efficiencies, for instance through preventing inventory distortion, where underor overstocking of products can otherwise result in loss of profit. Equally big benefits are seen within the retailer’s workforce, as a store associate who is empowered with all the customer and product information they require on an app feels more knowledgeable, engaged, productive and motivated. Business resource leaders Expert Market report that businesses with engaged, connected employees see productivity increase by as much as 25%. Red Ant’s own OnePoll survey of 1,000 store associates with access to clienteling tools reveals that 65% say they are better at their job and 63% say the tools have helped them increase sales.

TBTECH Clientelling

May 2022

CONSIDERATIONS BEFORE YOU START

There are some key considerations to achieving the full potential from clienteling. To be fully effective, a retailer’s customer data and product data must be integrated across all customer channels using an omnichannel platform. Effectively using this information is what makes clienteling a success. Success is not about just having the tools, it’s about using them in the right way. This means before you start it’s important to agree the problems you want to resolve and how to solve them. Above all, a shift in mindset is vital to develop long-term customer loyalty. Although it can take a matter of weeks or few months to get the clienteling system and processes established, making the necessary changes to your culture to start caring about your customers will support any tools and technology you put in place.

TBTECH Social media

May 2022

The global company that powers multiplatform social media growth

Jellysmack names former Expedia Executive Thierry Bedos as Chief Technology Officer in support of company’s rapid growth international expansion initiative

TBTECH Social media

Global creator company Jellysmack demonstrates its commitment to international expansion and best-inclass tech with the hiring of seasoned executive Thierry Bedos as Chief Technology Officer. Bedos brings over 25 years of experience and deep knowledge of growing multibillion dollar tech businesses. He spent over 11 years at Expedia Group, first as the global CTO of Expedia brand Hotels.com, and most recently as the SVP and GM of Development Platform & Infrastructure, where he led a team of 1,300 people in 36 countries. Thanks to his experience at Expedia, Bedos is well-versed in the complexity of quickly growing teams and businesses on a global scale. “Thierry knows how to grow tech teams in industries that span the globe, which is invaluable to our mission of powering creators all over the world,” said Jellysmack co-founder and co-CEO Michael Philippe. “Our technology is our biggest advantage, and

May 2022

Thierry’s leadership will ensure that we stay at the forefront of the creator economy, just as he did with Expedia in the travel industry. He has the experience and the know-how.” The company’s proprietary AI technology and first-party data help video creators grow their audiences across multiple social platforms. Jellysmack uses its suite of tech tools and team of experts to edit, optimize, and distribute videos onto Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, and YouTube on behalf of the creator, thereby establishing new revenue streams. The Creator Program currently counts over 500 of the world’s most talented creators as partners, including megastars PewDiePie, MrBeast, and Like Nastya, plus fan favorites like Patrick Starrr, Bailey Sarian, Nas Daily, Rezendeevil, and Karina Garcia. Jellysmack powered creators have earned over $150MM to date.

“Jellysmack is poised to be a long-term industry leader,” says Bedos. “We take our tech very seriously and only plan to invest in it more. It is our differentiator, and as we further develop our impressive AI-based suite of products, we’ll be in an even better place to help creators go bigger and position Jellysmack for massive global success.” As the company’s CTO, Bedos will help guide Jellysmack’s international expansion, which was first announced in May of last year upon the closing of its Series C investment from SoftBank Vision Fund 2. He will lead the tech, data science, and infrastructure teams to build upon the company’s best-in-class suite of products that will propel its global expansion efforts and equip creators with the necessary tools to be successful.

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TBTECH Social media

May 2022

Continued ...

Multi-platform social media growth

Bedos’ role highlights the value Jellysmack places on building out its data science and machine learning sectors. Under Bedos’ leadership in 2022, the company plans to hire hundreds of engineers and scientists, to support Jellysmack’s infrastructure, AI, and front-end development which will help fuel the company’s growth, both internally and for its 500+ creator partners.

Bedos’ announcement also comes on the heels of other recent additions to Jellysmack’s leadership team, signaling the company’s commitment to expanding its global reach. In 2021, former YouTube executive Youri Hazanov joined as Head of International, and media veteran Sean Atkins came on as President. In January 2022, former Viacom executive Stefanie Schwartz

landed at Jellysmack as Head of Platform Partnerships. The company has also added local country managers and teams in key markets like France, India, Brazil, Japan, and Australia. About Jellysmack

Jellysmack is the global creator company that powers multiplatform social media growth for video creators, media companies, brands, celebrities, and its own online communities (Beauty Studio, Oh My Goal, Gamology, House of Bounce and more). The company’s proprietary technology optimizes, distributes, and promotes video content across Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, and YouTube, resulting in meaningful audience growth and increased revenue in record time. Jellysmack is currently partnered with over 500 of the world’s most talented creators

including MrBeast, PewDiePie, Like Nastya, Nas Daily, Karina Garcia, RezendeEvil, Patrick Starrr, and Bailey Sarian. In total, Jellysmack-managed content boasts a cross-platform reach of 125 million unique U.S. users, making it the largest U.S. digitalfirst company in monthly social media viewers. In addition to multi-platform syndication, Jellysmack has launched a $500M venture that offers upfront capital to license YouTube back catalogs, empowering creators to invest in whatever they need to grow their brand. Looking to Go Bigger on social? Visit www.jellysmack.com.

TBTECH Social media

May 2022

TBTECH SaaS & Unicorn

May 2022

What is a SaaS company & what is a Unicorn company? By Mark Denscombe International Key Account Manager, FI Group (UK)

TBTECH SaaS & Unicorn

May 2022

With SaaS companies offering apps that continue to provide efficient solutions to an array of modern business and consumer needs, the success of this platform format was assured. Nonetheless, as the volume of VC’s driving astronomic valuations increases and becomes more competitive, methods of driving growth and valuing companies are going through a much-needed evolution. Having a clear understanding of cash burn and cash runway enables a company to accurately forecast the growth of their teams and investment in technology. For the investor, this additional transparency provides certainty. But how can this be achieved? In this article, I will explore the SaaS phenomenon and how R&D tax incentives continue to play a vital role in driving company growth through non-dilutive R&D funding. SAAS AND UNICORN

Without the need for expensive installation and maintenance of site-based software, SaaS sits on the provider’s servers, is accessed over the internet and usually via a web browser. Low cost and low effort remain an obvious draw, but it was the ability to access SaaS solutions via mobile devices and scale usage quickly that resulted in widespread adoption. This saw the meteoric rise of SaaS fintech companies led to some becoming

members of a select group of privately held companies known as ‘unicorns’. The term has been widely used in the VC community for some time and refers to a privately held company with a valuation of over $1billion. Although first seen in the 1990’s, the term was officially coined in a 2013 article written by VC, Aileen Lee titled “Welcome to the Unicorn Club, Learning from Billion Dollar Start-ups”. Her analogy to the mythical beast hinged on her estimation that only 0.07% of start-ups during the 2000’s achieved this goal. In other words, rare. Fast forward nearly a decade from Aileen Lee’s article and sightings have become more common. As of March 2022, there are now over 1,000 unicorns worldwide with a collective value of $3.5 trillion and typically occupying the technology, mobile technology and IT sectors (or a combination of the three). As the basis for such high valuations is often supported by the fundamental finances and driven by an ever-growing appetite for late-stage private capital investment, this phenomenon has now been replicated so many times that it could be argued that the term ‘unicorn’ is somewhat redundant.

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TBTECH SaaS & Unicorn

May 2022

Continued ...

What is a SaaS company & what is a Unicorn company?

While money makes the world go round, it is necessary to acknowledge that state of the art innovation is at the beating heart of many of these companies, manifesting as incredible advances in technology and often providing answers to some of the toughest questions being asked of sectors including energy, agriculture, aviation, manufacturing, food, distribution, etc. Nonetheless, researching and developing new technology, hiring the right skillsets and entering new markets is fiercely expensive and generates an insatiable thirst for cash.

Luckily, the prospect of missing out on the next ‘unicorn’ company has seen many late-stage investors waving goodbye to the risk analysis normally applicable to this scale of investment when compared, for example with an IPO. THE EVOLUTION OF NON-DILUTIVE FUNDING

Earlier stage (Seed to Series B) investors have, however, demonstrated a willingness to

learn and adopt strategies that can drive short term company growth and increase investment ROI. As R&D costs represent the largest capital expenditure for many high growth companies, using nondilutive R&D funding methods has become a higher priority.

Context is required to answer this and we need to go back 22 years to when R&D tax incentives were being launched by the stronger economies in Europe, (taking their cue from the success of the scheme in Canada introduced in 1944). Designed to drive continued investment in technology and create technological hubs that would drive employment, prevent the previously seen ‘brain drain’ of eminent scientific leaders and boost foreign investment in UK plc, the scheme took a little while to gain momentum. Initially, companies were unwilling to engage so readily with tax authorities but the generous incentives in the UK steadily gained traction. Bit by bit, the yearly R&D tax claims became an accepted part of the innovative company’s funding structure.

Notably, changes to schemes such as the reduction of benefit in Spain in 2010 which resulted in reduced levels of investment that returned to previous levels once the incentives were increased again, showed a direct correlation between localised government tax incentives and appetite for private capital investment. In other words, the incentives were fulfilling their purpose, so it comes as little surprise that we have seen the number of Saas unicorns, particularly fintech, rising exponentially with the total figure in 2021 standing at 520. Nevertheless, the end-of-year claim process that can bring back up to 33% of qualifying R&D expenditure to loss making companies in the UK have remained largely retrospective, ‘just-in-time’ processes. The downside here for a potentially high growth company is that this traditional approach only offers a small window of opportunity in which to leverage R&D data for strategic or commercial benefit. At a time when the very solutions offered by SaaS companies are delivering

TBTECH SaaS & Unicorn

process improvements, it could be argued that this outdated approach to claiming R&D tax is no longer fit for purpose. For companies whose activities and therefore expenditure are close to R&D, it is imperative to better understand the ‘true’ cost of people and projects. Implementing the accurate recording of project data through time-sheeting / ERP provides the means to improve cost analysis and gives better visibility of future R&D tax benefit. Having this information sooner rather than later can influence a capital investment strategy for recruitment or investing in technology within a financial year. It can also open channels of non-dilutive funding to company owners and investors alike. For example, based on the Quarterly Reporting methodology we use, up to 80% of forecasted R&D benefit can be realised as short-term debt funding that allows companies to invest in resources more quickly. It also means that when they do come to raise further PE or exit, they can do so at higher values.

May 2022

As part of a high-growth strategy, this data rich approach brings additional value to companies in improved accuracy and compliance with new legislation and guidelines at a time when HMRC are beginning to tighten the reigns. On this note, it could be argued that the incentive scheme in the UK has been a victim of it’s own success with over 62,000 claims (up 17% from previous year) totalling £5.1bn (up 15% on previous year) made since Sept 2020 With greater competition for funding, particularly prevalent with SaaS fintech displaying the greatest number of new ‘unicorn’ companies in 2021 and the greatest end-user demand with 57% of US and European companies increasing SaaS spending in this period, some, like author John Mullins who wrote, “The Customer Funded Business” argue that the market is looking frothy. Others believe technologically driven productivity should be viewed in the same terms as the birth of the printing press or the industrial era that could lead to not just unicorns, but decacorns and so on.

TBTECH

MARCH 2022

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TBTECH

MARCH 2022

TBTECH Cloud

May 2022

The four key steps to purchasing cloud software

By Andy Campbell, Global Solution Evangelist at FinancialForce

Following the COVID-19 pandemic, digital transformation efforts have accelerated across the majority of industries with businesses being forced to make alterations to their usual working routines in next to no time. What’s more, remote working made it apparent that legacy systems were no longer up to the task for businesses to operate in an effective manner.

TBTECH Cloud

May 2022

Businesses soon realised that the cloud resolved many of these issues by offering improved flexibility, manageability, and a rapid ROI. As businesses moved to the cloud, processes were reconfigured and operations and service models were redefined. However, many enterprises weren’t fully aware of the significant differences between acquiring a new cloud solution and purchasing traditional on-premise software. The major contrast between the two is that while the former is delivered as a service and purchased as a term contract, usually over a period of three years or more, traditional onpremise software often involves the one-time outright purchase of software. Purchasing a service is unequivocally different to buying a product, so it necessitates a distinct approach to the procurement process. Irrespective of the size of the software being procured, there are four key steps that organisations must follow when it comes to purchasing cloud software. 1. BEFORE YOU BEGIN, GET THE FOUNDATIONS RIGHT

Prior to starting the procurement process, organisations need to ask themselves some simple yet important questions. Do you have a clear business strategy in place that the system will be supporting? What are you aiming to achieve by moving away from the existing solution? Only once you have answered these questions, and have a clear goal to aim for, can the process of purchasing cloud software commence. It is vital to build an evaluation team that is capable of addressing the complexity and scale of the task

in hand. Executive engagement is fundamental, a robust project governance model is essential and it is vital to have a mechanism to capture invaluable knowledge and insights from subject matter experts and users from throughout the organisation. Once this team has been created, it must examine the current solution and its limitations, in terms of cost and effectiveness as well as ensuring business strategies are aligned, highlighting the critical tasks that it must accomplish both now and in the future. 2. COLLECT THE RIGHT INFORMATION

In order for a company to find the best solution to deliver their requirements, it must provide prospective suppliers with an easy-to-follow, clear description of their needs. This allows potential vendors to create a solution proposal that is attractive, compelling, accurate, and relevant. The information supplied should include basic details such as the enterprise’s business goals, its current systems landscape, size, geographic coverage and a future vision of the desired state. There is a need to describe the current systems and processes and in

particular any specific customer or industry idiosyncrasies that are essential for project success. It is important to also look ahead to the future and ensure that any significant prospective business changes can be easily adopted. When it comes to defining requirements, many businesses utilise a ‘MOSCOW’ list approach which comprises: Must-haves, Should-haves, Could-haves, Would-like-to-haves. It is important to ensure that both the functional and non-functional technical needs are defined, as is giving consideration to future needs to align with potential market opportunities, competitive demands, and growth goals. Remember, you are acquiring a service not a product, so the characteristics of the service being delivered also need to be considered. Once all of these have been defined, the various requirements can be prioritised and given weightings as the basis for defining a common set of evaluation criteria. These can then be used to ensure a robust and fair assessment of the various vendor proposals and ensure an impartial comparison between the options available.

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Purchasing cloud software

3. APPROACHING THE MARKET

Once business and IT needs have been established, the next step is to approach the market to educate the team and gain an understanding of the available options. Businesses need to be aware of what is on offer in the industry, what other companies are doing and the different offerings available from various vendors. External advisors and industry analysts like G2, SPI and TSIA can provide an overview of the comparative pros and cons of available solutions, and how they fit with regards to the specific requirements of a business.

It is worth doing online research, attending trade fairs and having initial software demonstrations to get a feel for the latest technologies, preparing for the evaluation ahead. Recommendations from contemporaries and evaluating competitors’ solutions can be helpful, while it is also worth learning about the market credentials of a potential new vendor to ensure they are knowledgeable about the industry. Before signing a long-term contract, it is important to think about the vendor’s commitment

to the industry that the business operates in, the look of its future product roadmap and the organisational culture. Again it is worthwhile remembering that you are not simply making a one off purchase, but acquiring a service and starting a relationship that will last for the duration of the contract and potentially beyond. 4. EVALUATION AND NEGOTIATION

In years gone by, choosing legacy software typically involved a tortuous request for proposal (RFP) process involving a multitude of questions in an enormous spreadsheet, followed by numerous highly structured and formal demonstrations, often to a set script. However, this traditional and didactic approach to product selection is no longer relevant for the effective procurement of cloud solutions. It invariably fails to take into consideration the requirements of a service contract and the values of a strong working relationship. As a result, businesses are increasingly using more inventive and suitably appropriate approaches to assessment and evaluation. For example, this may involve having vendors suggest

creative responses to a number of different business situations rather than provide a step by step walkthrough of a pre-prepared script. Furthermore, it is also worth considering that throughout such an evaluation process, there is the potential for tensions and differences to surface between the different parties within the analysis team. This is why it is vital that robust evaluation criteria are defined and agreed at the outset. This ensures that decisions can be made with regard to well defined business objectives and priorities, mitigating the risk that individuals may be unduly swayed by pretty screens and shiny objects that do not actually deliver real business value! When it comes to making the final decision, the initial cost to acquire and implement the software will most certainly be a consideration. However, because this is a service that is being bought, the overall cost of ownership for the solution over the period of the contract, including ongoing maintenance costs and the likely return on investment that the solution will actually deliver, are of much greater significance.

TBTECH Cloud

May 2022

In addition, factors such as the future product roadmap, performance demands and service level agreements must also be considered as significant criteria when making the final decision. And it is worth ensuring early visibility of vendor contract terms and their Cloud Services Agreement, because this can often be the source of problems during negotiation. The overriding consideration though, is that organisations must ensure that irrespective of the cloud software they decide to acquire, business leaders are able to enter into a partnership which is built on strong and stable foundations with their partners and the solution vendor. Businesses should be aware that digital transformation is an everevolving process. An organisation should constantly be looking to increase the value it gets from cloud solutions long after the initial implementation of the software has taken place.

TBTECH Management software

May 2022

Classroom management software: supporting teachers through flexibility By Nadav Avni, Chief Marketing Officer at Radix Technologies

TBTECH Management software

Despite educators’ best efforts, the digital transformation from in-person to online and hybrid learning certainly didn’t go off without a hitch. The sudden onset of the coronavirus pandemic forced schools to scramble to change their systems overnight. While many schools rushed to purchase online education technology tools, few had the foresight to invest in reliable classroom management software. After almost three years of switching between in-person and online teaching, hybrid learning is now becoming the new normal. If for some reason students cannot physically attend classes, they will now get to chance to join their classmates via remote connection. The practical applications of hybrid learning go beyond the pandemic. Students who need to stay home to look after a sick relative can still attend classes. Or, they may be sick enough to travel but can still participate in today’s lessons. Finally, students without access to public transportation or facing non-emergency weather disturbances can still come to class. With a hybrid option always available, students forced to stay away from school grounds can still show up and learn. HOW TEACHERS ADAPTED TO HYBRID TEACHING

With hybrid learning, the instructor usually moves the teacher’s desk

May 2022

from the classroom to online. This means turning all instructional material, lesson plans, and activities into online versions. Hybrid teaching also meant preparing course material in advance. This includes deciding on how best to deliver the material to generate the most interest from students. During the actual classroom experience, hybrid teaching will require some dexterity from the instructors. At the minimum, it means learning to operate at least three distinctive software programs. These are video conferencing software, learning management systems, and classroom management software. VIDEO CONFERENCING SOFTWARE AND LEARNING MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

This software is the primary tool needed to establish communication with students. The teacher can connect to individual students via a video link to form a virtual classroom. With video conferencing, teachers can broadcast live lessons to connected students. These live lessons can be fully interactive, or for more one-sided instructional purposes. Learning management systems (LMS) store and manage the data needed by teachers for their everyday lessons. They contain the school’s instructional modules, including the semester’s curriculum and daily lesson plans. The LMS also holds the students’

learning materials such as slides, presentations, activity pages, and quizzes - which the teacher can distribute via file sharing. LMS materials are usually stored in the school district’s servers, as this helps secure the files. CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE

Classroom management software (CMS) is the third component that holds equal importance as the prior two. This software allows the teacher to get an over-theshoulder view and control the conduct of learning in the classroom. With CMS, teachers can monitor individual students by checking if their devices are displaying the right content. If they’re not, the teacher can simply lock the device to prevent nonproductive apps from running and privately notify the student of this. Meanwhile, teachers can also reach out to struggling students to provide personalized assistance. HYBRID LEARNING IS THE FUTURE OF EDUCATION

With many areas reporting a drop in COVID-19 cases, districts are now eagerly reopening their school. However, the benefits offered by many of these online learning solutions still exist and enhance the blended learning model. This is why schools that invested in online learning tools are now adopting hybrid learning systems. Continue on next page > 45

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Supporting teachers through flexibility

While many students are healthy enough to attend classes physically, some students may not have the same luxury. Any reason could prevent them from traveling. They might be asked to stay home to attend to an ailing family member. Or, they might have immunocompromised bodies that require further safeguarding. In cases like this, hybrid systems help allow indisposed students to join their classmates from home. Hybrid classes can accommodate both in-person students and online learners simultaneously. It also helps if the teachers themselves need to conduct class remotely. HELPING TEACHERS TO HANDLE HYBRID LEARNING BETTER

Even the most experienced of teachers initially felt overwhelmed with the technological requirements of hybrid learning. However, they have learned to adapt to their new environment by letting the technology work with them instead of adding another layer to their tasks. This is why it’s important to provide instructors with the tools that actually help them manage a hybrid classroom.

Instead of spending so much time making the software work, they should be given the opportunity to focus on instruction. This allows teachers more time to individually coach struggling students, resolve disputes, and highlight accomplishments. Choosing the right software used in hybrid learning systems is important. Teachers will need all of the help they can get to maintain control of the hybrid classroom. Juggling three separate software systems while tending to two distinct audiences can be an overwhelming experience. At the same time, hybrid learning requires teachers to have exceptional handling of the physical and digital classroom simultaneously. LEVERAGING ALL-IN-ONE CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE

One great way to help teachers cope with the demands of inperson, online, or hybrid learning is to consider utilizing all-in-one software. It effectively handles all three functions needed for today’s classroom. Instead of switching between three software

systems during lessons, classroom management software integrated with video conferencing and learning management features can help reduce the workload. This also reduces the likelihood that one component fails and disrupts the entire session. Lightening the technical demand of virtual learning means teachers will have more time to do what they do best: enlighten young minds. Using integrated software when teaching a class means teachers can give more attention to the students. In addition, improved classroom management software means teachers maintain better control of the room, even in a hybrid scenario. School districts that are heavily invested in online educational technology should consider the merits of software that works in all learning scenarios: in-person, online, or hybrid. There are plenty of reasons for schools to offer students hybrid learning. Regardless of the reasons for their inability to attend class in person, students will find it reassuring to know they still have alternative options to continue learning.

TBTECH Management software

May 2022

TBTECH Coding

May 2022

Why low-code is the best code

By Johan Jonzon, CMO and co-founder of edge analytics platform Crosser

According to Gartner, over 50 per cent of medium-to-large enterprises will adopt low or no-code platforms as part of their overall IT strategy by 2023. Low-code platforms are increasingly popular because they help organizations to deliver capabilities faster, reduce reliance and pressure on the workforce and are simpler to understand. Implementing an IoT strategy is not easy, but low-code platforms help to set up the foundation for a robust data management process. Here, Johan Jonzon, CMO and co-founder of low-code edge analytics platform Crosser, breaks down how industrial manufacturers can harness the potential of low-code.

TBTECH Coding

May 2022

“Five Ants are More than Four Elephants” was a Swedish children’s TV series that was produced in the 1970s. It was an educational program that was once hailed as the best children’s program ever produced in Sweden. While this might seem to be unrelated to the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), Crosser saw an opportunity to connect the two, with the belief that elephants must be eaten in small pieces. In IIoT applications, this translates to starting with small projects that are easy to implement and complete, then gradually building up to more advanced use cases. Simply put, eat the elephant in small, ant-sized pieces — don’t swallow it at once. Operations in manufacturing are complex and plant managers have access to a lot of data. But their downfall is not knowing how to effectively manage the data their facility produces. This makes implementing IIoT use cases challenging. With the right tools it’s easy to start smaller and simplify, as it requires little effort to implement. Then over time, more advanced features can be added. WHY LOW-CODE IS THE BEST CODE One of the simplest, yet highly effective technologies industrial manufacturers can implement is a low-code analytics platform. Instead of relying on extensive coding languages, low-code platforms use visual interfaces

with simple logic and drag-anddrop features, requiring users to master a single system, rather than several. The simplicity of low-code means it is easier to use, so anyone working in a facility can make use of the platform. According to a recent report by Cloud computing company Appian, 84 per cent of companies have turned to lowcode tools to reduce the strain on their IT departments. Sharing the workload allows IT problems to be distributed across the organization, easing pressure on individual employees and teams — improving worker efficiency and saving costs. Low-code platforms have even been adopted by globally recognized Time magazine to address the repetitive, manual processes in its vendor management process. Through a variety of low-code applications, Time reduced its invoice submission-to-payment cycle from months to days and streamlined vendor communications. But how can these types of platforms be used in industrial environments? APPLYING THIS IN MANUFACTURING

Naturally, it can be hard to keep up with industry trends. But when this happens, gaps begin to show in the workforce. In today’s Industry 4.0 era where digitalization is key to gathering valuable data insights Continue on next page > 49

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Why low-code is the best code

and optimizing processes, the workload for IT departments has increased substantially. In fact, the 2021 Connectivity Benchmark Report by Mulesoft found the number of projects IT teams are asked to deliver has increased by at least 30 per cent year-on-year since 2017.

As a result, IT departments are struggling to meet demand because of the lack of developers throughout the industry. This has created an IT delivery gap, the space between the demand and the delivery capacity. Mulesoft’s report also indicated that less than four in ten IT teams fulfilled all of their project commitments to business stakeholders. Low-code platforms reduce reliance on developers and IT specialists, which has numerous advantages. With more than half of IT projects completed late, lowcode speeds up development time with pre-built integrations, which are straightforward to use.

Because of the simplicity, external coders and developers are not required to provide input or feedback on IT projects, which can be handled by other members of the workforce. Furthermore, all manufacturers industry-wide will agree that the need to minimize costs where possible is a top priority. Using edge analytics can reduce equipment failures, resulting in reduced maintenance and downtime costs. For instance, the data a machine produces creates the opportunity for preventive maintenance business models in manufacturing. Assets on the shop floor continuously create alerts to notify enterprise systems about inconsistencies or faults in the machines, allowing time for issues to be resolved before unplanned downtime. In fact, the report by Appian also found that nearly 50 per cent of businesses surveyed reported reduced cost using lowcode platforms.

FIGHTING COMPLEXITY WITH SIMPLICITY

While implementing low-code IIoT technologies is the first step to a more effective and productive facility, it’s not possible to succeed if the data and how to act on it is not understood. So how do manufacturers turn this data into valuable insights that can be used to improve operations? To gain real insight, manufacturers must analyze the data that’s collected. This is done by first calculating key performance indicators (KPIs) — measurable metrics that enable organizations to determine what’s most important, identify inefficiencies and improve future process runs. This will vary between manufacturers, but the most significant KPI all manufacturers should measure is overall equipment efficiency (OEE), which combines three KPIs in one: availability (A), performance (P) and quality (Q).

TBTECH Coding

Availability is a measure of how long a machine operates out of the total available time. Take for example a machine that may have been required to run continuously for eight hours a day, but only operated for one hour. This could be because of machine maintenance and consequential downtime. Next, a machine’s performance is measured by the number of units it produces within the desired time frame, against the optimal number of units it should be able to produce. The final part of the equation, quality, measures a machine’s yield. This is calculated by the ratio of products produced that can be used without requiring rework or being scrapped. Once the KPIs are identified, the next step is to determine a system that will analyze and process these results. A low-code edge analytics platform, like the one from Crosser, enables data produced by sensor rich assets like machines, equipment and devices to be preprocessed in real-time — closer to where it is created — the edge. The reduced distance between the server and end-user enables quicker analysis and decisionmaking. By processing at the edge, in real time, KPIs can be generated and manufacturers can quickly overcome areas of inefficiency within equipment to ensure productivity is consistent.

May 2022

Part of the platform involves a module library, which contains pre-built modules and connectors to help build intelligent data workflows. Fighting complexity with simplicity, the workflows are built using a simple drag and drop functionality. The module library is designed to implement common functionalities for manufacturing use cases, from connecting, to technical protocols to integrate data into any industrial system. In fact, there are modules specifically targeted to KPI calculations. When combined with data aggregation modules from machines to deliver results to different on-premise and cloud systems, can support easy implementation of a complete KPI driven analytics pipeline. The modules allow manufacturers to implement workflows and level of complexity, at their own pace — supporting the theory of eating the elephant piece by piece. Besides directly supporting manufacturers, the low-code capabilities of Crosser’s solution have been relished by other industrial automation leaders. In 2021, Crosser partnered with Paessler, a provider of automation software and network monitoring to provide customers with comprehensive monitoring of their IT and OT environments. Through pre-processing of OT data, Crosser supports Paessler’s Network Monitoring system to integrate OT environments and devices into

global monitoring. The need for digital transformation is imminent, but manufacturers must realize that there is no quick fix. Lowcode offers manufacturers greater agility through real-time streaming and data transformation, which enriches data to create valuable insights that support organizational KPIs. Besides the direct impact low-code has on a facility’s performance, it also supports the workforce by lessening the reliance on external software developers and ultimately reducing the IT delivery gap. Although low-code adoption on the rise, when implementing an IIoT strategy it’s important to remember to eat the elephant in pieces. Don’t try to swallow it whole. ABOUT CROSSER TECHNOLOGIES

Crosser is a Swedish software company with installations in over 20 different countries. We design and develop a Low-Code software platform for Streaming Analytics, Automation and Integration for any Edge, On-premise or Cloud. The Crosser Platform enables real-time processing of streaming, eventdriven or batch data for Industrial IoT and Intelligent Workflows. It is the only platform of its kind that is purpose-built for Industrial and Asset Rich organizations.

TBTECH Data

May 2022

What is data enablement software?

By Chuck Teixeira, co-founder and CEO of WCKD RZR.

There has been a common narrative for years that says: ‘in order to understand and make use of our data we need to put it in one place, so that people can make use of it for their business processes.’ Some describe these as their “use cases”. Perhaps this is a slightly improved situation than before, because businesses normally store their data in numerous technology silos, and vendor lock-in is common. The theory, therefore, makes sense. Move it to a new silo, or system, and everything will be accessible and useable.

TBTECH Data

As I mentioned, that’s how the narrative goes. Perhaps some organisations might even decide to use a Data Lake. Great! Now we’re raring to go! But, not so fast. Do we actually understand the data any better? No. Have we perhaps added value? Unlikely. Can we access the data simply? Perhaps. But not guaranteed. Ah, they will say, ‘but let’s use this super new fancy tool {insert flashy new data platform provider here} to store and access our data.’ The new company will talk up their revolutionary new cleverness and NASDAQ 100 execs will race to adopt the new tech, to ensure they are part of the zeitgeist. Markets will react and before we blink, said new tech company is worth a billion dollars! But, unfortunately we still haven’t solved the problems we started with. We still don’t understand our data, we can’t meaningfully access it, unless we use this new technology’s agreed methods and now instead of paying “old cranky tech company” a large annual licence fee, we now pay “fancy new tech

May 2022

company” a sky-high monthly subscription fee. Clever fancy new tech company. SOLVING YOUR DATA PROBLEMS

So, what’s the answer if you want to understand your organization’s data, find it, meaningfully use it as and when required, and ensure that it’s of high enough quality to be useful? These are common questions which very few company execs will be able to reasonably and authoritatively answer. In many cases across all industries, no one really knows all the answers. In fact, around 95% of the time, the question will result in blank looks and a shrug of the shoulders. THE SOLUTION?

‘Think differently’. Store your data in whatever data storage technology serves your needs. Don’t adopt a new platform if it locks you in. Feel free to do it on-premise if you want to own the servers, or in the cloud if you don’t. If you want hyper scale, use grids, if you want fast access,

use in-memory low latency technology. If you want, you can use an open-source scalable database like PostgreSQL if it makes you comfortable. However, that’s not the real problem to solve - at least for the points outlined above. The real problem is understanding the data you have, how it connects, where it is created and who can or should be allowed to access it. Focus on technology that maps your data estate and shows you where you can find your actual data. Use software that creates linkages between the data to ensure you have a “roadmap” of your data and how it links from the front of your data creation journey to the back. Most importantly, create a standardised glossary of terms or ontology (words your organisation uses to describe a data attribute when you’re talking to each other), for instance: “What’s the PCID please?” PCID might stand for “Primary Customer ID”, so spend time labelling your data sources with these terms.

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What is data enablement software?

Invest in building “Data Assets”, a data asset is an authoritative logical view, gathered from many underlying sources that represents a domain. Simply put, when someone says: “Can I have our list of suppliers”, the answer is to hand them the “Suppliers” data asset. FIND, GOVERN, ACCESS

Crucially, once you build this data fabric of the future, ensure that you are only letting the right people see the right data. Data Security and Data Sharing is an article in its own right for another day, but this is key. Find a way to enforce data security and data sharing policies across your data domain, in as automated a way as possible. All organizations have rules they abide by, so ensure your data meets those rules, for people to have confidence that the data is being used in the correct fashion and by the correct people.

TBTECH Data

May 2022

Lastly, but by no means least, provide a discovery and access mechanism so that users can explore the data you’ve spent so long finding and curating and ensure access is seamless without your teams having to spend hours, days or weeks trying get system access to some underlying datastore, whilst someone tells them the 100 reasons they’re not allowed. It’s all about three key terms…Find, Govern and Access. And it’s what data enablement start-up, WCKD RZR, was founded to solve.

cloud-based data while ensuring all regulatory requirements and access controls were met. Businesses often face a range of problems caused by conflicting data governance policies and authorization controls in different locations and jurisdictions. If a business wants to fix its messy data estate by moving to a single cloud or database management system, it usually costs millions of dollars to do so. Then data is often not labelled or can’t be found and is subject to different regulations.

WCKD RZR’s pioneering software, Data Watchdog, eradicates a myriad of international data privacy, management and cost issues for multi-national businesses. The business was founded because as HSBC’s Head of Transformation for Global Banking and Markets I discovered there was no automation tool which allowed a multi-national bank, for instance, to use machine learning to catalogue its

WCKD RZR’s mission is to enable large global organizations to access all their data around the world wherever and whenever they want, fully compliant with the mountains of conflicting global rules. So, for true data enablement: find and map your data, ensure you have suitable access policies applied and make sure you have a seamless method to access the data. Simple.

TBTECH Digital

May 2022

Addressing the digital adoption challenge By Hartmut Hahn, CEO, Userlane

As companies continue on the path to digital transformation, they will realise that getting hold of new software was the simple step. The real challenge comes with getting employees to understand, accept and maximise the value of software applications in order to make the company more productive and create a better working experience for all.

TBTECH Digital

May 2022

This process is called “digital adoption” and, even though “digital transformation” gets most of the spotlight, you can’t have one without the other. Unfortunately, many firms’ attempts to improve digital adoption have fallen flat. This is an issue because poor digital adoption has a negative impact on all aspects of a business. Employees lose time to repeated software issues, and IT teams are flooded with software support requests. As a result, business leaders face spiraling costs and many struggle to fulfil their digital transformation ambitions. In fact, according to our new ‘State of Digital Adoption’ report, a quarter (24%) of business leaders say that less than half of all their software investments actually achieve their objectives. So, how can businesses address the digital adoption challenge? Here are five practical tips. 1. TREAT DIGITAL ADOPTION AS AN EMPLOYEE EXPERIENCE ISSUE

An employee’s interactions with technology affects their overall employee experience, regardless of their role, age or other factors. Our research reveals that most (88%) employees are happier and more productive when they can use software without frustration. This is especially important given

the rapid digitalization of work: 70% of employees said that their use of software has increased over the past two years. What happens when businesses fail to address this frustration? Well, one in three (35%) employees lose at least one hour a week trying to fix software issues themselves, and when that doesn’t work, around 44% will just stop the task at hand and move on to something else. Even more worrying is the fact that around one in ten (8%) would actually leave their current job over repeated software frustration. 2. REDUCE SOFTWARE TOTAL COST OF OWNERSHIP (TCO)

The average employee only uses about 40% of the features available in software applications. This shows that digital adoption isn’t just about getting employees to accept and use software, but to use it properly in order to maximise its value to the business. Poor digital adoption raises the total cost of ownership (TCO) on software. For example, when employees don’t use a product correctly, more errors occur, process quality goes down, and more money will be spent on retraining. On top of that, if employees don’t maximise the available features, the business misses out on potential productivity gains.

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These issues can lead to what we call “tech turnover”: when organisations replace a piece of software with a different product because it isn’t providing the expected value. This can be costly, time-consuming and disruptive. Business leaders typically blame problems with the product itself, but the reality is that poor digital adoption is often responsible. 3. USE A BLEND OF TRAINING SOLUTIONS

Our research shows a lack of agreement around best practice for software training and improving employee adoption. This makes sense, since everyone learns differently. In order to provide the best employee experience possible, use a blend of solutions. However, business should prioritise solutions which are personalized, practical and, ultimately, costeffective. The average mid-to-largesized business in the UK currently spends, on average, £2,086.55 per

year per employee on software training. There is still a place for traditional methods like one-toones (47%) and classroom-based training (37%), but they aren’t necessarily the most efficient or scalable.

Another option that is quickly gaining in popularity is using a Digital Adoption Platform (38%). This type of platform provides users with interactive, practical guides embedded in the software itself, offering contextual, realtime learning and giving business leaders the opportunity to capture data on how products are used. 4. MAKE DIGITAL ADOPTION A COMPANY-WIDE PRIORITY

For digital adoption to be a success, organisations need leadership, cooperation and buy-in. It can’t be the sole responsibility of one team or department. It should be a company-wide strategy integrated into the culture.

Still, our research indicates that more than half (53%) of business leaders think that the IT team should be mainly responsible for successful digital adoption. This is far more than the percentage who feel that employees themselves (26%) or HR teams (18%) are most responsible. The IT team should ensure that software is always available and working correctly, but it should not be held solely responsible for its proper use. This misconception can lead to support ticket backlogs for the IT desk to deal with. In fact, four in ten (38%) business leaders reported that IT costs have increased due to poor digital adoption. It simply doesn’t work to rely solely on one department to achieve digital adoption. Instead HR, IT and other department leaders must work together with employees to develop an approach that everyone can buy into.

TBTECH Digital

May 2022

5. CONSIDER DIGITAL ADOPTION TO BE AS IMPORTANT AS DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION

There can be no digital transformation without digital adoption. Businesses invest a great deal of resources into technology and are always talking about the potential gains in efficiency it can bring. But if this technology is difficult to use or not maximized, it can actually make processes less efficient. By enabling digital transformation – and by making the employee experience better – strong digital adoption also helps future-proof a business, equipping it with the optimised digital processes, engaged and skilled workers, and continuous learning culture it needs to thrive.

TBTECH Software

May 2022

How order management software can transform your business

By Danny Lawson, E-commerce and OMS Expert at Mintsoft

TBTECH Software

May 2022

Order management can be daunting and involves time-consuming tasks. If not managed correctly, poorly managed order and fulfillment processes can lead to a dent in profits, unhappy employees and dissatisfied customers. Every task involved with receiving, picking, packing and shipping an order is crucial to the process, which is why it is important for any e-commerce business or third party logistics or fulfillment partner to have the ability to monitor the flow of goods through the supply chain, to the end customer, to avoid any potential issues. An Order Management System (OMS) is software that automates mundane, repetitive and more importantly, error-prone tasks. By implementing OMS technology, businesses will benefit in many different ways and be able to make data-driven decisions with the information made available. But what processes can order fulfillment software actually support? ORDER MANAGEMENT

There are many pains and adminheavy burdens that come with order management and the fulfillment of orders, even more so if you rely on pulling orders from various different channels. Without automated order management technology, warehouse workers have to manually check for orders coming in from various marketplaces. An OMS provides the ability to integrate with the various sales channels used and

pull orders from multiple sources into one centralized place - also removing the need to log into multiple platforms. Another common pain associated with order management is the need to log into multiple channels in order to update dispatch status and tracking details of an order. Again, this process is automated when using OMS software, and users can save time by updating an order to its source on dispatch automatically. Forecasting what you have stock for and what is on back-order is also an integral aspect in order management. Instead of having to search through a full list of orders to determine what you have stock for or what’s on backorder, an OMS will allow users to have all relevant information needed in one place. Users can drill down into orders and retrieve information needed to make the decision on whether orders need to be isolated etc. WAREHOUSE MANAGEMENT

Having an organized warehouse is pivotal to reducing errors, increasing profits and enhancing warehouse operative’s productivity. More often than not, warehouse workers do not rely on route optimisation technology during the process of picking an order, and an

unorganized warehouse makes it even more difficult to find and pick stock. This process can be easily automated with the help of order and fulfillment technology which generates efficient pick routes to get to the correct product each time, quickly. Users can also create product usage and stock flow reports making it easier to track movement of stock around the warehouse and order allocations, increasing efficiency and accuracy. This is particularly useful if you have multi-site warehouses, as traditionally, managing stock and transfers between multiple sites means having to log into different WMS systems for each site. The integration capabilities of an OMS, means you can connect to your WMS systems from a singular platform, seeing all the data you need in one place. Another challenge an OMS can support is checking and efficiently putting away deliveries. This process can be streamlined with the use of mobile barcode scanning. Simply receive goods via the scanner and quickly assign items to default pick locations, ensuring they are put away in the right place - making it easier for warehouse pickers and again ensuring they are selecting the right product the first time round. Continue on next page > 61

TBTECH Software

May 2022

Continued ...

Order management software

COURIER MANAGEMENT

Again, another time consuming task is selecting the best suited courier for delivering orders. It’s difficult to know which is the most cost effective option based on the weight and location of the order, but using an OMS allows users to set up rules based on system held weights, product prices and delivery regions - allowing the software system to automatically select the most appropriate courier based on the elements the user has declared. This process is done through API integrations with the couriers and multi-carriers that the user has access to. Offshore and international shipping has been a complicated ordeal since Brexit, with extensive paperwork required to ship an order. With an OMS, users can save time and increase accuracy by automatically generating commercial invoices when required. Businesses who opt to implement order management technology also benefit from a simplified process for selling goods to the EU, by having the ability to input IOSS numbers directly into their dashboard, which is then automatically shared with the courier.

INVENTORY MANAGEMENT

OMS users have access to datadriven insights such as stock levels, stock flow reports, low stock alerts and much more. Automated technology essentially makes it easier for businesses to know what you’re storing, and where to store it, allowing workers to have better control and visibility of stock levels across all channels, in one place. This makes it virtually impossible to over-sell items or encounter stock outs. Mobile barcode scanning is also a helpful feature of an OMS when it comes to managing inventory. A common pain when it comes to manually receiving stock can lead to errors both in goods received and putaway locations, but a mobile barcode scanning app only receives stock which has been barcode scanned and also allows stock to be scanned into location giving both traceability and efficiency in the warehouses.

FINAL THOUGHTS

In short, the key benefits of order management software technology are: Automation Cost savings More efficient workers Accurate reporting of data Happy customers. In the E-commerce world, businesses are competing against known and unknown competitors, and in such a competitive climate efficiency really does matter. Robust order management software can make the difference between success and failure in business and is an investment with benefits that vastly outweigh the cost by putting users closer to the finish line by miles.

TBTECH Software

May 2022

TBTECH SaaS

May 2022

Why the SaaS explosion won’t last without resilient backup

By Dan Middleton, Regional VP UK&I, Veeam Software

TBTECH SaaS

Investing in Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) has become fairly standard practice within the business world. The subscription format of SaaS naturally appeals to enterprise customers due to its affordability and flexibility. And being based in the cloud has also made it ideal for the multitudes of businesses that pivoted their operations away from being office-only. Plus, the convenience of SaaS – the vendor’s responsibility to provide software updates and bug fixes and maintain system availability has given IT leaders one less thing to think about. These tools have been critical to supporting organizations’ wider digital transformation efforts by making applications and data accessible from anywhere. However, IT leaders can’t rest on their laurels become complacent and assume that just because they’re using SaaS tools, their data will always remain available and protected. While SaaS providers may have service level agreements in place around maintaining availability and uptime, the responsibilities around data protection, backup and what happens if a breach happens can be less clear. Administrators are not always aware of the need to take responsibility for their own third-party backup, or even simply ensuring that their data is adequately protected.

May 2022

BUILT-IN BACKUP IS PROVIDING A FALSE SENSE OF SECURITY

Today, many businesses are operating under the misconception that built-in backup is enough to sustain long-term data security. This view has been formed from the perception that backup systems don’t go down – and even if they did, it would be the vendor’s responsibility not the businesses. For example, users of Microsoft 365 rightly assume that any outages involving applications, network controls, operating systems and physical networks will be managed by the SaaS provider. But the largest number of outages don’t come from SaaS providers themselves – instead accidental deletions, misconfigurations or bad actors gaining access can all deliver the same unfortunate end result – data goes missing. Without a robust backup, your data could be gone. In some ways, SaaS tools are like using a rental car – the provider makes sure the car is fueled, clean and ready to go, but once driven off the forecourt, it is the customer’s responsibility. HAVE A CLEAR PLAN IN PLACE WITH YOUR VENDOR

There’s sometimes a feeling of passing the reigns of responsibility to a vendor once business leaders have signed on the dotted line of a SaaS subscription deal. It’s true, the vendor will probably have a greater

ongoing input into your SaaS solution’s performance. However, you need to view this relationship as a collaboration rather than purely outsourcing. While IT decision makers understand the benefits of shifting responsibility for deployment, upgrades and shifts in capacity, many don’t realize the actual responsibility of the data usually remains with the tenant. SaaS vendors typically leverage a shared responsibility model that spells this out clearly.As a business begins to invest in SaaS tools, it needs to keep the channels of communication wide open with their vendor. Roles and responsibilities need to be clearly defined by providers, so nothing falls through the gaps due to misunderstandings or miscommunication. These conversations should also cover disaster planning – not because of a need to assign blame – but to have a well-honed system to respond to a data protection incident. Regardless of how good your security is, falling victim to an outage, data breach or other cybersecurity incident is usually a case of when, not if. This risk extends to the backup data an organization might keep themselves. Veeam’s 2022 Ransomware Trends Report, for example, has found 72% of organizations surveyed globally had partial or complete attacks on their backup repositories. Continue on next page > 65

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FORMULATE A BACKUP STRATEGY

SaaS explosion

Here are the considerations all organizations must consider in developing best practice data protection strategies: 1. Prepare your systems for a data breach. This will entail strategizing with your vendor and disaster planning by assessing where the weak points lie, and bringing those up to standard wherever possible. 2. Keep in mind that businesses are only able to recover 64% of their data on average following a ransomware attack, according to Veeam’s 2022 Data Protection Trends report. So, assume the worst, and plan accordingly. 3. Check your storage and backup measures against any relevant compliance regulations because some SaaS tools may not automatically comply with what’s required within your region. For instance, SaaS tools usually back up data for 120 days which is insufficient in areas where regulatory boards require

businesses to hold onto data for several years. If you haven’t backed it up, it’s too late to restore it once it is deleted. 4. Be clear on who is doing what. What’s your vendor’s shared responsibility model? You must be able to know where your data is always, and who is actively overseeing it. 5. Before you begin integrating a SaaS backup solution, first determine how you would leave that vendor by negotiating exit strategies up front. You don’t want to end up in a scenario where your data is being held hostage at a price point they suddenly determine after you inform them you want to leave. SaaS’ continued growth means that it is likely to remain a significant way organizations of all kinds manage and run their IT, and by extension, their critical dayto-day operations. As such, it’s worth businesses dedicating time to understanding how to keep their data protected – as well as adjust processes accordingly. Thankfully it does seem this is

starting to happen in the UK, with the 82% of UK businesses who say they’re planning to increase data protection budgets over the next 12 months, according to Veeam’s Data Protection Trends Report 2022. The ongoing support of vendors is probably one of the biggest benefits of SaaS. However, don’t get caught up in the positives of SaaS by forgetting that accountability for data security will always lie with your business. So, relying on built-in back up is not enough – back up your builtin solutions and save yourself a headache further down the line. Your business critical information deserves no less than Modern Data Protection to keep it backed up, recoverable and secure – regardless of the environment it lives in.

TBTECH SaaS

May 2022

TBTECH Management

May 2022

Goodbye excel spreadsheets, hello performance management tools By Harald Matzke, Executive Adviser at Serviceware Performance

Whether it’s the implementation of new software or the use of innovative technologies such as RPA, the opportunities and challenges that arise in the context of digitalisation are manifold. Many companies face challenges due to the complexity of converting systems and processes: high costs as well as investment effort and the lack of time and resources.

TBTECH Management

May 2022

The project landscape for many companies is becoming increasingly confusing, which repeatedly leads to errors in project management. For example, project resources are planned twice, schedules and deadlines are not met, the budget is not adhered to or, in the worst-case scenario, the project fails completely.

even at the beginning, important targets can only be met with difficulty.

Unsuccessful IT projects are not uncommon, especially with largescale projects, such as initiatives for digital transformation. Despite this, research from Citrix has revealed that three in four IT leaders (77%) see opportunities for success in past digital transformation failures.

Is our project implementation result-oriented?

IT PROJECTS FAIL – BUT WHY?

There are many reasons why IT projects fail. Errors occur both before and during the project phase. Often it is due to the scope of work, which was inadequately defined in advance. Companies also repeatedly underestimate the scope and impact that IT projects have on the entire business. Quite often, they plan too little time, so that

So how should companies proceed? First of all, they should ask themselves two questions: Are we running the right projects?

The intersection of these two core issues is the project portfolio, which maps the projects already underway and those awaiting a decision. A good portfolio management should actively add and remove projects in order to achieve the intended transformation goal. Portfolio management is an important basis for comparing resource supply and demand and making it transparent for all stakeholders. In project scoring, defined criteria can be used to make a comparison of different project alternatives as objective as possible. Especially when so-called hard and soft facts have to be taken

into account, project scoring provides valuable support for the most diverse investment scenarios. The goal at the beginning of planning is to find a project or product portfolio that is as balanced as possible in terms of opportunities and risks whilst also promising long-term success. Project costs must also be calculated here. In addition to classic cost types such as personnel, travel or material costs, these also include those that have a special significance in the project context, for example external consulting services. Project cost management includes both planning and actual plan comparison as well as regular revision during the project in order to have a clear picture of the costs incurred at all times. Adjustments only work if there is continuous and complete project reporting. Here, the achievement of project goals is to ensure that the business is attaining a desired outcome.

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TBTECH Management

May 2022

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Hello performance management tools THE IMPORTANCE OF KEEPING AN OPTIMAL OVERVIEW OF PROJECTS

To get a clear overview of the status and development of projects, companies often use a number of different tools and applications such as Excel or PowerPoint. In principle, both are solid tools for calculating projects and creating reports. However, they quickly reach their limits as soon as the requirements increase. Modern tools are therefore essential, especially when managing complex IT project portfolio.

If a tool from the performance management area is chosen, non-financial indicators can also be taken into account and serve as a basis for business decisions. Parameters such as “service level performance” not only indicate the pure cost aspects of a new project, but also take into account the scope and quality of the service provided.

But what should performance tools do in order to make the described planning steps more efficient? First of all, the most important requirement is integration into existing systems, making sure that it meets the needs and requirements of the company and the respective projects. Often, individual systems (product data management, enterprise resource planning or operational project management) already exist in the company and the data only needs to be merged and prepared. The chosen solution should also provide a transparent view of the entire project portfolio in relation to the resource and capacity situation. Information should be stored “multidimensionally” (project view, organizational view, time, data types in forecast versions) and analyzed using standard reports and ad hoc evaluations. The forecast view also helps to simulate potential

TBTECH Management

future portfolios and predict their impact on the future cost situation and resource utilization. Furthermore, the tool should offer the possibility to develop business cases that can serve as a basis for comparison for later versions of the project. By filing them in a central database, the assumptions in the business case can be continuously refined over time and supplemented with facts and key figures such as net present value, payback period or internal rate of return (IRR) can be calculated. Organizations should also be careful not to use business cases only as an initial means of defining the project scope and evaluating the economic viability, but to keep an eye on them on an ongoing basis. Unfortunately, experience shows that few organizations open up the initial business case at the milestones and, in particular, review the initial assumptions

May 2022

and objectives after the project has been completed. In some cases, this would be important in order to see that projects are no longer goal-oriented and would possibly contribute more to success if they were stopped, thus freeing up the resources used for other projects and tasks. TWO SIDES OF THE SAME COIN: PROJECT AND PEOPLE

With performance management tools, a close link to business strategy and operational planning and budgeting can be achieved, which brings more transparency to react in time to rapidly changing developments.

replaceable or having to give up privileges and routines. Involving the affected groups of people and open communication regarding the introduction of new software that will impact the company and the work is crucial. Managers should always deal honestly and openly with employees’ concerns and wishes and communicate changes in the course of the project promptly. Then nothing will stand in the way of project portfolio success!

Besides all the technical possibilities that can be used to implement IT projects, however, the human factor must not be forgotten. Changes and transformation are usually unpopular because they often trigger concerns about being

TBTECH SaaS

May 2022

Customer success teams: Getting the most out of yours By Shabri Lakhani, CEO of SalesWorks

TBTECH SaaS

May 2022

SaaS companies have been discussing the importance of building and maintaining a strong sales team to the success of organisations for years. However, it’s only recently that sales leaders have begun to truly understand the value of customer success to revenue retention and generation.

Churn is an inevitable part of the industry, but it is every SaaS leader’s objective to keep churn as low as possible and generate repeat revenue from loyal customers. Research revealed that only 20% of software features are actually used, while 50% are never used, and 30% are used infrequently. If businesses are not continuously demonstrating the functionality and value of the product, especially during the early days of the engagement, it is unlikely that customer lifetime value targets will be hit, and customers will be retained. WHAT IS CUSTOMER SUCCESS?

The fundamentals of customer success are ensuring that customers have a great experience with the SaaS solution, and they are getting the most value possible. A customer success team begins by onboarding the client and making sure they know how to use the product properly. Ideally, these team members are delivering on the promises made during the sales process and ensuring that the software solves the pain points that led to the purchase. Often customer success teams are confused with customer support teams. However, customer support

teams are reactive in that they only respond to customers once they have raised concerns. Customer success teams on the other hand are proactive in that they anticipate any needs of customers before they raise a concern. Salespeople are the face of the brand because they serve as the first representation of the company. But, after the sales process ends, their position changes. The customer success team becomes the face of the software after sale and will interact with the customers for months or hopefully years to come. It is therefore critically important to invest in the training of team members to ensure they are armed with the tools and skills they need to impress customers and address issues. THE IMPORTANCE OF CUSTOMER SUCCESS IN THE SAAS INDUSTRY

churn is inevitable, businesses need to maintain a strong and loyal customer base. Customer success representatives are tasked with not only keeping customers happy, but also ensuring they renew and even upgrade in order to continue generating revenue from the same company. An important aspect of customer retention is encouraging a high level of adoption and engagement to keep building a use case in the customer’s mind, particularly when the contract is coming up for renewal. Beyond revenue retention, most effective customer success teams are compensated for their ability to upsell and cross-sell. Most SaaS organisations have a modular solution that benefits from a ‘land and expand’ approach and are therefore dependent on customer success for its prosperity.

In the SaaS industry, net retention is a critical metric that determines whether businesses sink or swim. When dealing with contracts that are predicated on monthly or annual recurring revenue, it’s not just about acquiring customers, it’s about keeping them. Maximising the lifetime value of a customer is very important, and although some Continue on next page > 73

TBTECH SaaS

May 2022

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Customer success teams HOW TO BUILD THE BEST CUSTOMER SUCCESS TEAM

Most organisations put customer success teams through feature only training to make team members well prepared to answer product-specific questions. While this training is certainly necessary, few organisations invest in sales training for their customer success teams. This can be problematic for representatives as they are responsible for continually selling the value of solution and extracting more money from customers. Evidenced by only 20% of software features actually being used, proper onboarding and success planning is a rarity. If people aren’t seeing the true value of the software solution, this will inevitably lead to high churn levels and missed opportunities. Representatives need to be trained correctly on onboarding customers, frequent and meaningful interactions, and approaching renewal conversations. Representatives must also be able to discuss potential crosssell and upsell opportunities, how to re-engage disengaged users, and how to generate

additional business through referrals. The best customer success teams are constantly monitoring for disengagement, and multithreading the account to establish relationships beyond the main point of contact. There are all soft and tactical sales skills that organisations cannot expect customer success representatives to develop on their own. If SaaS businesses are to improve churn rates and retain revenue, investment into customer success teams is vital. Businesses should be investing in a customer success training programme upon onboarding that provides representatives with the foundations they need to confidently approach customer interactions. To learn more about how to effectively train sales teams please visit: salesworks.io

TBTECH SaaS

May 2022

TBTECH

MARCH 2022

DELIVERING EV CHARGING INFRASTRUCTURE TO MEET 2030 NEEDS.

TBTECH

MARCH 2022

Those responsible for the deployment of EV infrastructure need to understand their user’s needs, which should inform long-term roll-outs, and design procurement processes that incentivise charging point providers to deliver quality long-term deployments.

let’s connect connectedkerb.com

TBTECH Customer

May 2022

It takes just one bad experience to lose a customer – How to give your field service a ‘connected’ makeover By Stephen Higgins, Head of CRM at Columbus UK

TBTECH Customer

May 2022

Customer experience (CX) now outperforms brand and price combined to become the key differentiator for earning customer loyalty. Quality of service is directly linked to the customer experience and that means organizations with field service operations in particular must prioritize their customer-centric operations to optimize the customer journey across every touchpoint. Connected field service models can deliver excellent CX but Stephen Higgins, Head of CRM at Columbus UK, argues organizations require a reliable field service management solution to complete this transition. Consumer research reveals customers are four times more likely to stop purchasing from a brand after just one bad experience, so businesses need to get the customer experience right first time, every time. Great field service entails the prompt arrival of an engineer – ideally before the customer even realizes there is an issue – to fix a problem on the first visit. But to ensure this result, organizations need to connect and integrate people, processes and data to empower technicians and keep customers informed – and this is where field service management solutions come in to unify disparate data, give organizations a single view of their customer data and help derive insights to drive key business processes. There are plenty of software solutions out there but in particular, there are five top field

service functionalities your solution will need to help businesses deliver a seamless service experience and provide that essential positive CX business differentiator. 1. Proactively resolve issues with connected IoT sensors With assistance from the Internet of Things (IoT), a field service management (FSM) software solution will help businesses shift towards a just-in-time predictive maintenance model to enhance service efficiency. For instance, businesses can use connected IoT sensors to remotely monitor, detect and resolve issues with a client’s assets before they become a problem. This can prevent a service call in the first place and significantly improve cost efficiency. Data from machines that have frequent issues can also be stored to help organizations understand the exact nature of the problems and any solutions that worked. This capability will help organizations thoroughly prepare for future incidents. However, in more complex situations where a service call cannot be avoided, connected IoT sensors can also be used to capture realtime data on asset performance. The field service team can then monitor the asset and schedule engineers to address issues faster and before they escalate. This level of efficient service improves both customer satisfaction and their overall experience. Continue on next page > 79

TBTECH Customer

May 2022

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How to give your field service a ‘connected’ makeover 2. Enhance service coordination with intelligent scheduling If a technician turns up to an onsite visit without the necessary tools or skillset to complete a service, this can result in a waste of money and time, but more importantly a disappointed customer. A field service software solution with AI-enabled resource scheduling optimization will help dispatchers and field service managers avoid this scenario by taking into account the needs of the customer, technician and company to achieve task resolution the first time around. The most advanced field service solutions can automatically generate an optimized and dynamic schedule for technicians based on level of urgency, location, availability, skillset and customer preference to maximize the field service team’s productivity and ensure the right engineer is always assigned to the task. With an AI-enabled scheduling

board connected to an interactive map, dispatchers can easily find the nearest available engineer and assign them to a task. Organizations can also optimize routes to improve cost efficiency and customer experience by ensuring field engineers take the shortest and most efficient routes possible. 3. Eliminate silos with centralized data For a field service management software solution to be effective, it needs to integrate with core business applications to centralize data in one location where engineers can easily find and access the key documents they need to complete tasks. This can increase the likelihood of a first-time fix and ensure the handover process is much more streamlined and simplified for the next employee to pick up. For example, all previous job history can be kept up-to-date in this single centralized system, which

enables organizations to deliver a consistent customer experience. The right software can also update customer history information, from asset locations to service level agreements and results from customer surveys, to give organizations a 360-degree view of their customers. This will empower the entire field service team to meet and exceed customer expectations. Businesses that can tailor experience to each customer will enhance overall customer satisfaction. 4. Make the switc to paperless operations A field service software solution that can centralize everything in one system will also help organizations better manage their data. For instance, managing physical sheets of paper or filling out Excel spreadsheets are not efficient ways to store and organize information. In terms of field service, it makes dispatching

TBTECH Customer

engineers, managing service contracts and keeping customer information up-to-date trickier tasks than they need to be. This is where a solution that eliminates the need for masses of physical paperwork is vital. A digital, centralized alternative to paper forms and spreadsheets will not only improve process efficiency and productivity, it will also prevent data loss and the chance of duplicate data. 5. Unlock-on-the-go assistance The more information and support a field engineer has for a particular task, the more likely it will be successfully completed on the first visit to ensure a flawless customer experience. This is where a mobileoptimized field service platform can help engineers become more efficient while out in the field. The right software solution can provide field engineers with on-the-go access to additional assistance. For example, engineers can gain

May 2022

access to in-context help, such as mixed-reality tools and resources that provide them with immersive, step-by-step guides to follow while conducting maintenance. Dedicated field service management solutions can also support remote collaboration by connecting engineers with other experts in real-time, even when on the field. Engineers can capture photos, videos and voice notes and share with other experts to perform remote inspections and solve issues faster, regardless of location.

Your team out in the field now needs to be just as effective and connected as the rest of the customer service offering, and this is where an advanced field service management solution comes in. The right software solution will help organizations better manage customer demands, connect core business systems and give technicians and agents the right tools at the right time to solve task first time around – helping deliver a seamless service and an excellent customer experience at every touchpoint.

STAY ON TOP OF THE CUSTOMER SERVICE GAME

Customer expectations are always shifting but the challenge now is how organizations can use customer experience as a key differentiator. Excellent customer experience revolves around meeting the customer’s needs and providing a consistently high quality of end-to-end service.

TBTECH

MARCH 2022

TBTECH

MARCH 2022

W O R T H T H E WA I T THE JUNE EDITION OF TBTECH MAGAZINE WILL PUBLISH THE SAME EXCLUSIVE CONTENT WITH A N E LV E VAT E D N E W LO O K. A NEW EXPERIENCE

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MARCH 2022

P R O U D PA RT N E R S O F

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MARCH 2022

tbtech magazine - May edition

Articles inside

Customer success

SaaS

Data

Digital

Management

Software

Coding

The Cloud

Management software

The future of AI

Social media growth

APIs

Meet the team

SaaS & Unicorn

Clientelling