Gigabit Magazine — August 2018 by Technology Magazine

Au g u st 2 0 1 8

OPENSERVE

CONNECTING SOUTH AFRICAN COMMUNITIES DRIVING A TECHNOLOGY TRANSFORMATION AT THE GLOBALLY RECOGNISED BRAND

TELEKOM MALAYSIA

Redefining procurement for supply chain success

ACCELERATING THE

ONLINE BETTING MARKET

GIGABIT SPEAKS EXCLUSIVELY WITH CATHAL SHERIDAN, TECHNOLOGY DIRECTOR OF PADDY POWER BETFAIR

MAKING CONNECTIONS GIGABIT SPEAKS WITH MARC SOLOW, DIRECTOR OF HR SHARED SERVICES AT DELOITTE

TOP 10 LARGEST DATA CENTRES

HP recommends Windows 10 Pro.

HP EliteBook x360 1020 Our thinnest, lightest business convertible.

Not all features are available in all editions or versions of Windows. Systems may require upgraded and/or separately purchased hardware, drivers, software or BIOS update to take full advantage of Windows functionality. Windows 10 is automatically updated, which is always enabled. ISP fees may apply and additional requirements may apply over time for updates.See http://www.windows.com. ÂŠ Copyright 2018 HP Development Company, L.P. The information contained herein is subject to change without notice. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

FOREWORD

elcome to another bumper issue of Gigabit Magazine, our August edition! Our cover feature this month uncovers the digitisation drive that given Paddy Power Betfair a competitive edge in the highly-saturated online betting market. Through an interview with Cathal Sheridan, the company’s Technology Director, we learn about PPB’s complex, advanced digital infrastructure and how the sophisticated harnessing of data allows it to deliver a highly personal service to its customers. August’s leadership focus is on Deloitte and Marc Solow, its Director of HR Services. Solow reveals how the consulting giant is using its ConnectMe platform to support the digital transformation initiatives of some its very biggest clients. The technology insight this month examines how GDPR is reconfiguring the digital landscape, our Top 10 looks at the biggest data centre projects in the world and we also bring you the best upcoming industry Events ready for your diaries. Finally, our exclusive digital reports feature interviews with, on top of Paddy Power Betfair, Aflac, Openserve, Avaya and many more – all involving indepth discussions with top executives and industry experts. We hope you enjoy this latest issue and, if you have any feedback, you can find us across social media: @ GigabitMag.

w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

Events

34 EUROPE PADDY POWER BETFAIR DR. OZAN KOSEOGLU COVENTRY UNIVERSITY

Making connections with Deloitte

ASIA AFLAC WALL STREET ENGLISH TELEKOM MALAYSIA WT PARTNERSHIP

AFRICA MCDONALDâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S SA OPENSERVE ZANACO EXXARO RESOURCES

Beyond regulation: tackling cybersecurity in the long-term

MIDDLE EAST GROUPM UNION INSURANCE

ANZ UNIVERSITY OF TASMANIA

USA AVAYA SITEONE LANDSCAPE SUPPLY

LATAM MAPFRE MEXICO AVAYA

Top 10 data centres

JOIN THE WORLD’S FASTEST GROWIN

READ THE LA

WWW.CONSTRUCT

H O M E TO I N D U ST RY– L E AD I N G D I G ITAL B U S I N ES S P L AT FO R M S

NG CONSTRUCTION COMMUNITY

ATEST ISSUE

TIONGLOBAL.COM

HAVE YOU SEEN OUR OTHER TITLES?

DIGITAL BETTINGâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S FRONT RUNNER In order to remain competitive, Paddy Power Betfair has looked at the needs of its customers and fully digitised its service offering. Cathal Sheridan, Technology Director, tells us more WRITTEN BY

CATHERINE STURMAN PRODUCED BY

JAMES PEPPER

AUGUST 2018

EUROPE

w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

PA D D Y P O W E R B E T F A I R

eadquartered in Dublin,

“Accelerating innovation around

Ireland, bookmaker

customer application development

Paddy Power Betfair

has become a focus. We work to

(PPB) has come a long way in the

constantly shorten the ideation-to-

short time since its formation

production cycle using agile,

through the merger of rivals Paddy

continuous delivery and infrastruc-

Power and Betfair in 2015. Both

ture automation. In parallel,

organisations came from humble

improving pricing for customers

origins taking a journey that has

requires running increasingly

completely digitised the customer

complex mathematical models on

experience, opened new markets

progressively more sophisticated

and developed new tools to drive

infrastructure. We have witnessed

innovation to further attract and

significant investment and

retain its growing customer base.

advancement in these areas in

Technology has been critical to the growth of PPB, as the global online betting market has risen from

recent years,” explains Technology Director, Cathal Sheridan. “Infrastructure is at the heart of

$20bn in 2009 to over $40bn in

this. For example, within a pricing

2016. PPB has put an emphasis on

model a Monte Carlo analysis can

offering the best features in

consume vast arrays of hardware

responsive applications coupled

with huge fluctuating capacity

with powerful and keen pricing

demands in low latency environ-

models that offer greater value to

ments. Similarly, developing

customers. Digitisation has also

analytics engines to understand

enabled the business to offer the

customer preferences requires

right products for customers at

significant processing power and

optimal times, harnessing sophisti-

large data stores.”

cated analytics whilst developing

The PPB Infrastructure team has

an exceptional digital infrastructure

set about achieving a No/Low-Ops

along the way.

environment for its software

AUGUST 2018

EUROPE

w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

BE ON TOP OF YOUR GAME, BY POWERING YOUR DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION WITH COMPUTACENTER Winning in the eGaming industry is demanding. As CIO, you want to be first to the finish line, maximising business impact by understanding and leveraging complex data, all at the same time as keeping costs down.

Computacenter’s Digital Power portfolio of services can assist you with every aspect of hybrid IT. From core IT infrastructure; cloud adoption, automation, hybrid sourcing, DevOps enablement, information & data, and applications and workloads, our solutions are powering digital transformation for customers just like you all over the world. Add our expertise and experience of delivering secure, robust networks and seamlessly integrated IT security solutions and we have true end-to-end capability. With over 30 years of experience in datacenter technologies and transformation, our Global Solutions Center provides a risk-free environment to test and prove hybrid solutions. We are vendor and technology agnostic and our services and solutions are tailored specifically to the demands of your business. Computacenter will help you work smarter and faster.

IMPROVING THE CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE FOR PADDY POWER BETFAIR But you don’t need to take our word for it. As a leading international sports betting and gaming operator and working in a highly competitive and heavily regulated industry, agility in launching and adapting products and services is fundamental to Paddy Power Betfair.

“Deploying an entirely new datacenter platform isn’t something you do every day. We needed a partner that could advise on new technologies, particularly around SDN, and Computacenter was an excellent cultural fit.” EMPOWERING TRANSFORMATION IN A DIGITAL WORLD The Intel® Xeon® Scalable platform provides the foundation for a powerful data center platform that creates an evolutionary leap in agility and scalability. Disruptive by design, this innovative processor sets a new level of platform convergence and capabilities across compute, storage, memory, network, and security. Enterprises and cloud and communications service providers can now drive forward their most ambitious digital initiatives with a feature-rich, highly versatile platform.

When Paddy Power Betfair needed to replace its datacenter platform, the company turned to long-term partner, Computacenter, to design and deploy a private cloud solution featuring software-designed networking.

“We’ve established a datacenter platform that will provide the foundations we need going forward as our company continues to flourish.” Thanks to Computacenter’s vendor relationships and expert advice on the SDN element, a proof-of-concept environment was established in just six weeks. The new flexible and scalable platform now allows Paddy Power Betfair to develop, test and launch new egaming products faster. The company has seen a reduction in cost, maximised use of resources and improved productivity within its IT teams; resulting in a better customer experience and greater competitive advantage. If you would like to learn more about how Computacenter can help power your digital transformation, IT modernisation, scalability and growth whilst controlling costs, then contact michelle.roberts@computacenter.com. In the eGaming industry and want to learn how Computacenter and some of the leading vendors can accelerate your cloud adoption whilst securing your systems and information? Join us at our Annual eGaming Technology Seminar on 19th September 2018.

COMPUTACENTER 8TH ANNUAL EGAMING TECHNOLOGY SEMINAR SUNBORN YACHT HOTEL, GIBRALTAR, 19 SEPTEMBER 2018

www.computacenter.com

PA D D Y P O W E R B E T F A I R

“DEVELOPING DEEPER ANALYTICS ENGINES TO UNDERSTAND CUSTOMER PREFERENCES REQUIRES PROCESSING POWER AND LARGE DATA STORES. TECHNOLOGY IS AT THE HEART OF ALL OF THIS” — Cathal Sheridan, Technology Director

deployments, but also powerful A/B testing features to allow delivery teams to trial the effectiveness of new customer features,” says Sheridan. “Creating the pipeline technology has been a joint project between infrastructure and delivery teams, resulting in the ability to make thousands of deployments weekly. “Both Paddy Power and Betfair had very strong technology assets to draw on. Betfair had put a greater focus on owning the software that encapsulates differentiating product IP, crucial to creating

delivery teams by removing itself as a

market-winning customer experi-

dependency in the code-to-deployment

ences. While Paddy Power had a

process. To do this the team created its

particular strength in infrastructure

new infrastructure stack, i2 (Infrastructure

resilience and scaling.

v2), encompassing a private software

“Interestingly at the time of the

defined datacenter (SDDC) and a fully

merger we discovered that both

automated continuous integration/

teams had highly aligned views on

deployment (CI/CD) pipeline. This has

the future of CI/CD and the

given software delivery teams the ability to

importance of delivery pipelines for

independently deploy their applications

iterative product development and

using the i2 pipeline to acquire compute,

rapid delivery,” he continues.

storage, and network resources, independent of PPB’s infrastructure team. “The pipeline had to be flexible, not only offering rolling updates and blue-green AUGUST 2018

“Right from the start we had common ground making it relatively straightforward to choose the strongest design thinking from each

Embrace DevOps with SDN and policy-based automation DevOps can greatly accelerate application development and delivery processes. It can also enable you to better align applications and IT services with business processes and customer activity. Speed your transition to DevOps with Nuage Networks Virtualized Services Platform (VSP). Our SDN portfolio lets you use policy-based automation to quickly incorporate DevOps within your IT processes. Nuage Networks VSP simplifies networking for virtualized applications and hybrid clouds. It gives you the freedom to integrate legacy applications, virtual machines and container-based microservices that work for your business.

Learn more: nuagenetworks.net/containers

@nuagenetworks

PA D D Y P O W E R B E T F A I R

“BOTH PADDY POWER AND BETFAIR HAD VERY STRONG TECHNOLOGY ASSETS TO DRAW ON, SO WE BUILT OUR NEW STACK ‘I2’ ON THE BEST OF BOTH” — Cathal Sheridan, Technology Director

organisation and create the optimum

‘heritage’ stacks in favour of its new i2

private cloud and CD pipeline configu-

architecture, PPB has on-boarded

ration.”

almost all of its service catalogue to

From there, the full design of i2 was

the new infrastructure to provide

established and PPB set about

the benefits of the ‘software

creating a global platform capable of

defined everything’ environment

serving multiple products to millions of

as early as possible.

customers across its many brands and

“This was about enabling innovation

geographies. This became a funda-

by expediting the product and feature

mental integration work stream within

delivery process. We knew this would

the newly merged entity.

also have a positive impact on our

By rapidly decommissioning its AUGUST 2018

ability to resolve service issues through

EUROPE

immutable software and virtualized hardware. On top of that, the new platform brought us to higher levels of resilience,â&#x20AC;? notes Sheridan. BUILDING RESILIENCE Whilst the company continues to make serious inroads into the public cloud, using it extensively for its corporate systems, the retail technology estate, and a growing portion of its online customer w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

Calling all data visionaries

Organisations that embrace data-driven digital transformation (DX) are already attracting new customers and enjoying new revenue streams faster than those organisations that are not. The impact on every industry vertical is clear â&#x20AC;&#x201C; unleashing the power of data can help you achieve a new competitive advantage by increasing your ability to transform, innovate, expand and thrive. Lead your business in a data-centric world. Learn how Data Thrivers beat the competition and drive better business outcomes in this global study conducted by IDC and sponsored by NetApp Inc.

Download your free white paper now: www.netapp.com/us/campaigns/ data-visionary/thrive-with-digital -transformation.aspx

EUROPE

Click to watch: ‘Paddy Power Betfair Standing Out’ 19

workloads, PPB continues to invest in the i2 private cloud for strategic and regulatory reasons. The i2 private cloud harnesses the open-source OpenStack platform to better serve its developer community. All i2 infrastructure elements are now virtualised guaranteeing complete autonomy in the provision of infrastructure for delivery teams. “We chose OpenStack to create

“ OPENSTACK GAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO JOIN A THRIVING COMMUNITY BUILDING A GREAT SDDC PLATFORM BACKED BY SERIOUS INDUSTRY CONTRIBUTORS” — Cathal Sheridan, Technology Director

self-service infrastructure provisioning. We leveraged its w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

PA D D Y P O W E R B E T F A I R

FACTS

Merging with rival Betfair in 2015, Paddy Power Betfair has completely digitised the customer experience

well-designed infrastructure

The global, online betting market has risen from $20bn in 2009 to over $40bn in 2016.

translated this into faster release

PPB has sought to develop powerful predictive models to price more keenly and offer greater value to customers.

PPB’s new infrastructure stack, ‘i2,’ encompasses a private software defined data centre (SDDC) and a fully scripted continuous integration/continuous (CI/CD) pipeline PPB has sought to serve millions of customers across multiple brands, geographies and products through its transformation. By rapidly decommissioning its ‘heritage’ stacks, PPB has on-boarded its entire service catalogue, providing benefits across its ‘software defined everything’ environment.

abstraction layer to create the i2 CD pipeline and our developers directly cycles,” explains Sheridan. “At the same time, OpenStack gave the Infrastructure team real choice around vendor selection for both technology and services based on its open source credentials. This allowed us to join a thriving community building a great SDDC platform backed by serious industry contributors. “We were able to cherry-pick from a wide selection of vendors to build multiple service level options into the stack. For example, we reviewed a range of storage platforms and included a number of offerings with the majority of the developers choosing NetApp for applications with high I/O workloads,” he continues. “OpenStack has proven to be both stable and performant and allowed us to push on with other elements of our integration work without having to revisit these fundamental requirements.”

AUGUST 2018

EUROPE

w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

PA D D Y P O W E R B E T F A I R

“WE DEPLOYED PURE STORAGE AS THE LOW LATENCY PERFORMANT STORAGE PLATFORM FOR NICHE APPLICATIONS, WHILE WE USE NETAPP FOR LARGE HIGH I/O WORKLOADS” — Cathal Sheridan, Technology Director

AUGUST 2018

By partnering with international technology company Computacenter, PPB was able to move ahead quickly with its technology transformation leveraging the Computacenter expertise in Infrastructure design and implementation. “Our challenge was to build a new stack and migrate more than 5 million customers to it from an incumbent architecture built up over a decade – all within two years,” observes Sheridan. “PPB is a FTSE 100 company with a great reputation for technology, there

PADDY POWER BETFAIR DELIVERS ONLINE BETS FAST AND RELIABLY. Paddy Power Betfair, one of the largest public online betting companies in the world, conducts a massive volume of fast, consistent, and secure transactions each day. In addition, the company strives to maintain customer satisfaction by regularly releasing innovative new products. With a modern infrastructure built on Red Hat solutions, developers at Paddy Power Betfair can focus on developing new products more efficiently and delivering them faster.

About Red Hat: Red Hat is the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s leading provider of open source software solutions, using a community-powered approach to provide reliable and high-performing cloud, Linux, middleware, storage and virtualization technologies. Red Hat also offers award-winning support, training, and consulting services. As a connective hub in a global network of enterprises, partners, and open source communities, Red Hat helps create relevant, innovative technologies that liberate resources for growth and prepare customers for the future of IT. Learn more at www.redhat.com

PA D D Y P O W E R B E T F A I R

This enabled it to embrace the Component Ownership model which flourished to deliver a more reliable overall technology estate. It is now setting its sights firmly on a

Click to watch: ‘A normal day at Blip’

Low/No-Ops model, whereby all infrastructure is available at the highest possible level of abstraction. Consequently development teams

was really no room for error. Having a partner like

are now spending less time on

Computacenter definitely lightens the load.

infrastructure scripting and more on

“Choosing the right partners is important. In addition to bringing Computacenter onboard, we 24

innovating and solving for customers. “From a customer outcome

also made an early call to build i2 on the Red Hat

perspective this is a far more

OpenStack distribution. Red Hat gave us access

productive use of our developers’

to a level of expertise and support that translated

time, especially as we can now auto-

into delivering a more robust infrastructure in a shorter timeframe. “The cross-vendor support model we have created around OpenStack has allowed us to rapidly problem-solve and determine root cause as we worked through transformation issues. We achieved this without any material service interruption to our business. DEVOPS TO NOOPS PPB was an early convert to DevOps and had integrated infrastructure engineers within delivery teams to reduce handovers and dependencies between engineering functions. AUGUST 2018

EUROPE

mate much of how the infrastructure handles resilience,â&#x20AC;? says Sheridan. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We faced a collective technology challenge while moving away from DevOps teams having direct access to hardware, to instead using the i2 pipeline as the gateway to the infrastructure. This involved huge collaboration across the entire technology team but the advantages of standardised access to infrastructure was clear to all. Migrating its software onto the new i2 stack therefore involved significant testing, w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

PA D D Y P O W E R B E T F A I R

verification and collaboration. This is, of course, on top of complexities resulting from the unveiling of the annual sporting calendar and the subsequent change-vigilance periods this imposes on the business. “We had to paint the aircraft while we were still in the air. We had to flex, scale, and provide resilience within a platform we were actively building while simultaneously delivering capacity to meet fluctuating customer demand” 26

depicts Sheridan. “There were also significant technical challenges along the way as the target stack was made up of a component/vendor configuration that was new at the time. We set aside considerable resources to thoroughly stress test the infrastructure at key points in the build. We relied on the fact that the OpenStack community had done a great job defining the roles that compliant components must adhere to. We benefitted directly from this but also contributed back the community”.

AUGUST 2018

EUROPE

FACTS

Its European customer base has been found to value speed and ease of use above all else PBB has strived to launch products which fit neatly with its customers lifestyles, marrying its online and retail offerings to guarantee an exceptional experience across all touch points. Providing the best prices, the widest possible market choice and a continuous stream of new features has been fully underpinned by the use of data analytics, machine learning and automation.

w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

PA D D Y P O W E R B E T F A I R

“ THE I2 NETWORK IS BASED ON NUAGE NETWORKS’ SDN AND SD-WAN TECHNOLOGY THAT ALLOW DEVELOPER VIRTUAL NETWORKS AND SCALE THEM IN AN ONDEMAND MANNER” — Cathal Sheridan, Technology Director

CUSTOMER FOCUSED

concerns the value customers place on

From its high level corporate

application speed and ease of use, as well as

mission to its individual brand goals

launching products that fit neatly with customer

and developed features, PPB

lifestyles. PPB is also working hard to further mar-

adopts a customer-first approach.

ry its online and retail offerings to guarantee an

As all objectives are linked to KPIs

exceptional and consistent experience across all

based on measurable customer

touch points. Providing the widest possible

benefits, a huge aligning effect has

market choice and a continuous stream of new

been created across the entire

features has been fully underpinned by the use of

organisation and driven a common

data analytics, automation, and modern

language across disciplines. This

infrastructure.

has made communicating ideas

Its product performance in terms of customer

faster and driven further innovation.

journey efficiency, page load times, transaction

Much of this innovation work AUGUST 2018

times etc., are all actively monitored. The

EUROPE

company not only collects

teams and (b) the manner in which the i2

quantitative and qualitative

network architecture (leaf-spine) allows us

feedback from customer groups,

to deploy new and immediately-addressa-

but also runs regular user experi-

ble physical hardware.

ence lab sessions with customers

OpenStack’s flexibility is foundational to

to find product enhancements

i2 and PPB has maximised its use of this by

around usability, speed and

working with vendors that embrace the

personalisation.

elasticity of the environment. For example,

“Many of these activities require

the i2 network is based on Nuage

ever more compute cycles that rely

Networks’ SDN technology. This allows

on the ability of i2 to scale-out

developers to create virtual networks and

seamlessly based on (a) Open-

scale them in an on-demand manner. This

Stack’s capacity to easily deliver

type of flexibility was simply unavailable

more virtual infrastructure to our

just a few years ago. w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

PA D D Y P O W E R B E T F A I R

ONGOING GROWTH Long-term, from a high level digital perspective, PPB will continue to look at its overall operating model to further strengthen its ties between its commercial, product, and technology teams. “We never stop trying to find better ways to run our business. We rely on our capacity to evaluate and consume the latest generation of technology to differentiate and solve issues, including the scale 30

challenge we expect as our customer base moves through another major growth phase,” reflects Sheridan. At a corporate level, the business is also set to further expand its reach in the US sports betting market. Its recent long-term agreements with Meadowlands Racetrack in New Jersey and Tioga Downs in New York will see it offer a full suite of cutting-edge products, compete with US competitors and provide a world-class customer experience. “Technology continues to play a significant role in our growth story AUGUST 2018

“ PPB IS WORKING HARD TO FURTHER MARRY ITS ONLINE AND RETAIL OFFERINGS TO GUARANTEE AN EXCEPTIONAL AND CONSISTENT EXPERIENCE ACROSS ALL TOUCH POINTS” — Cathal Sheridan, Technology Director

EUROPE

and we constantly deploy new tools, such as data streaming, public cloud, AI and machine learning to drive this. From an infrastructure perspective, we have also put a real focus on Kubernetes and containers as a hosting platform and will likely see much of our customer-facing workloads move on to this technology through 2018/19 using the i2 pipeline capabilities” adds Sheridan. By investing in building multi-skilled teams and continuous learning, PPB has fully embraced constant change to remain a key player by empowering its people. The company remains a formidable competitor in a thriving industry. “We work in a large complex organisation but one that, importantly, has held tight to its entrepreneurial roots where ideas come from anywhere and your personal impact on the bottom line is always visible,” concludes Sheridan. “Our teams solve new problems every day. The pace we operate means we can see the results of our efforts very quickly. That’s what makes it a really great place to work.”

w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

D I G I TA L S T R AT E G Y

Making connec with De WRITTEN BY

DAN BRIGHTMORE

AUGUST 2018

ctions eloitte

Gigabit spoke with Marc Solow, Deloitteâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Director of HR Shared Services, to find out how the consulting giant is helping businesses support their employees as part of their digital transformation by implementing the collaborative platform ConnectMe

w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

D I G I TA L S T R AT E G Y

eloitte is home to one of the largest HR consultancies in the world with services revolving through HR programmes, HR

technology, benefits and compensation programmes, as well as offering a range of consulting support around helping organisations navigate change. Today’s business challenges present a new wave of HR, talent and organisation priorities. Deloitte’s Human Capital services leverage research, analytics and industry insights to help design and execute critical programmes from business-driven HR to innovative talent and leadership initiatives. “The consulting market is going through a

definite shift,” believes Marc Solow, Deloitte’s Director of HR Shared Services. “That shift is to use technology to enable consulting offerings and we’re doing that across the board in every area possible, either with products or technology enabled assets. To aid these transformations we’ve developed our ConnectMe product – a digital workplace designed to deliver a consumer-grade experience to employees, on a par with the best consumer websites. We’re bringing the best of the outside marketplace, in.” Deloitte has also produced ChangeScout - a solution to enable levels of automation in the change management process. “We’re using this technology to help us understand what workforce segments we need to target in order to drive changes during a transformation-oriented AUGUST 2018

project,” explains Solow. “It allows us to

“ ConnectMe is a digital workplace designed to deliver a consumer-grade experience to employees, on a par with the best consumer websites” — Marc Solow, Director of HR Shared Services Deloitte

deliver targeted messages and understand who is consuming this messaging via an automated platform.” Rewards Optimisation is the third product Deloitte is bringing to market in its Total Rewards space. “It allows us to perform conjoint analysis on employee programmes to understand what employees value the most,” confirms Solow. “It helps our clients direct their spending on rewards programmes delivering more perceived value from the point of view of employees. It’s been really successful with positive reviews in the market.” Solow maintains because Deloitte is such a large multi-disciplinary firm, when it comes to driving different types of HR transformations for its clients, it’s able to pull from skillsets that most of its competitors simply don’t have. “For example, in building our ConnectMe product we’re able to rely heavily on our Human Capital consulting expertise and our digital consulting background allied to our customer relationship management (CRM) and the technology integration processes that reside all across the firm,” affirms Solow. “None of our competitors have as many top-ranked practices to draw on to really help clients, as we do specifically in the HR space, drive a new digitally-oriented transformation that can be smoothly employed.” Essential to the delivery of these digital transforw w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

D I G I TA L S T R AT E G Y

mation services, Deloitte has three longstanding alliance relationships which extend beyond the world of HR with the major ERP technology providers – Workday, Oracle and SAP SuccessFactors. “We also have an incredible alliance with cloud computing company Salesforce.com who we have partnered with since they launched in the late 90s,” adds Solow. “Both ConnectMe and ChangeScout were built on this platform. We’re also one of their largest system integration partners.” How can large enterprises face the future he anticipates while tied to legacy systems? “Systems of record are good at holding data whether they are based on cloud technology or 38

legacy technology, but these systems were designed for HR users at the core and can’t deliver an outstanding experience.” That’s where what Solow calls secondary systems of

HR operating models with new

engagement come in, designed to offer a

technologies and many are happy

consumer-grade experience to HR profession-

with the results they have achieved.

als, managers and employees alike. “Often, they

But the next frontier is delivering an

are mobile-enabled and app-like,” he explains.

effective user experience,” he urges.

“In our view, it’s not either/or, you need both.

Platforms like ConnectMe can

We’ve got clients tied to legacy systems, on-prem-

stream employee workflow and

ise or in the cloud, that don’t deliver a comprehen-

harness cloud benefits without a full

sive employee experience. You can marry them up

transition from legacy systems.

with systems of engagement to leverage

“ConnectMe allows companies

investment in older technologies.” Solow notes

wed to tech on-prem to get the

most of Deloitte’s clients are looking to do this as

benefits of cloud by putting their

the world of HR transformation evolves. “For years

employee engagement solution in

our clients have been working to streamline their

the cloud,” he says. “Cloud is often a

AUGUST 2018

“ None of our competi-

metaphor for systems capable of fast implementation and with the ability to adapt quickly while being user friendly. It’s more than just getting out of your environment and up into the cloud maintained by a third party.” Key to implementing positive change, Deloitte is a big believer in ‘design thinking’ – at

tors have as many top-ranked practices to draw on to really help clients, as we do specifically in the HR space, drive a new digitally-oriented transformation that can be smoothly employed None of our competitors have as many topranked practices to draw on to really help clients, as we do specifically in the HR space, drive a new digitally-oriented transformation that can be smoothly employed”

— Marc Solow, Director of HR Shared Services Deloitte

the core of the genesis of ConnectMe. Design thinking provides a means to focus on the employee’s personal experience and to create processes centred upon the worker. The result: new solutions and tools that directly contribute to employee satisfaction, productivity and enjoyment. Solow believes this approach can help employw w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

D I G I TA L S T R AT E G Y

ees overwhelmed by the shifting sand of tech in

introduce a digital front end while

the workplace. “Most HR solutions are designed

enabling the build out of a shared

around change transactions (name, address,

purposes organisation for them to

dependents, cost centre, promotion etc), but

improve the quality of transaction

those transactions are not how employees

processing and drive efficiency.”

and managers go about thinking as far as the world of HR goes,” he reveals. “In most organisa-

Philips to roll out its global HR

tions, if an employee is getting married they have

Software as a Service (SaaS)

to update information with HR for payroll, tax

solution to support HR transforma-

and benefit purposes.

tion and drive innovation. Philips has

“With ConnectMe, we’ve built in functionality

Previously, Deloitte worked with

been able to standardise and

we call ‘Moments that Matter’. For life and work

simplify core staffing processes and

events that are pivotal times in an employee’s

introduce real-time people

relationship with a company, there’s an opportu-

analytics to drive better talent

nity to delight or frustrate with the nature of the

decisions. Nico Steyaert, Philips

experience. I’m delighted if everything I need to

Head of HR Digital, enthuses about

know to complete a process is packaged neatly

the results achieved: “Philips, and

in one place, with information tailored to me.”

specifically its HR organisation,

Solow cites Deloitte’s work supporting a global

is undergoing a huge transforma-

multi-industry manufacturer through its digital

tion process aimed at delivering

transformation over several years as a great

better business value in a more

example of the success achievable with

efficient way. This was only possible

ConnectMe. “They were deploying a HR system

because of the excellent support of

globally and during the process they noticed one

Deloitte, on one hand around

region had a significant amount of rework

project execution, and the focus on

because their managers weren’t properly using

results delivery, and also in providing

manager self-service to initiate pay changes.

outside-in views and help with

They were concerned about that information and

formulating our strategic direction.”

future deployments of their HR system as they

To take Deloitte’s services to the

prepared to launch in North America. We were

next level, what trends is Solow

able to offer our help with ConnectMe to

seeing in people management?

AUGUST 2018

ConnectMe: a cloud-based subscription product from Deloitte • Portal and mobile: giving all employees access to a dashboard that delivers the exact information they need through a consumer-oriented, social media-like experience • Easily integrates with other HR systems and service providers and is customisable to your organisation’s brand • Provides robust case and knowledge management, and smart forms for various HR transactions, all designed to improve HR service delivery • Advanced analytics aggregate user interactions that allow HR to continually improve content and processes based on what’s important to the workforce • Enabled with best practices, research, and insights from Bersin by Deloitte • Targeted to meet regional and global needs

w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

D I G I TA L S T R AT E G Y

AUGUST 2018

“Our clients are looking to move away

products or services. Rather,

from the endless cycle of reviews, to a

organisations today are increasingly

system where employees are

judged on the basis of their relation-

receiving continuous performance

ships with their workers, their

feedback throughout the course of

customers and their communities, as

a year, combined with mentor

well as their impact on

feedback,” he says. “Another area of

society at large – transforming them

interest, especially for our clients

from business enterprises into

outwardly workforces, is labour cost

social enterprises.”

management, which our LabourWise

Looking ahead to 2019, Solow

platform can help with by identifying

maintains Deloitte’s biggest goal

trends and opportunities for change.”

revolves around helping clients

Solow confirms the future for

identify opportunities to grow their

Deloitte lies with the social enterprise:

shares services or organisations – “to

“We’re just at the beginning of this

deliver new services, support the

social enterprise transformation

automation of services and help them

within organisations and we’re seeing

shift work from humans to robots

that with products in the market, for

while taking advantage of cognitive

example the Facebook collaboration

advances”. Solow adds that the

tool Workplace.” Indeed, Deloitte’s

growth of new workforce models is

Human Capital trends report for 2018

helping to redefine employer-worker

notes the seismic changes in the

relationships. “HR and business

workforce, the workplace, and the

leaders should proactively form new

technologies used in the world of

leadership alliances – especially

work: “Organisations are no longer

between HR and procurement – to

assessed based only on traditional

develop strategies and help organisa-

metrics such as financial perfor-

tions take advantage of the breadth of

mance, or even the quality of their

workforce options available today.”

w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

17-18 September 2018 Abu Dhabi, UAE

Excellent Opportunities For The Digital Market

US$1.3 Trillion Worth

Global Digital Transformation Spend in 2018

US$155 Billion

MENA Region IT Spending in 2018

US$16.9 Billion

USD 95 Billion The digital market could add USD 95 billion per year to Middle Eastâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s annual GDP by 2020

Digital transformation presents projected to generate up to $16 billion in extra revenue annually for businesses in the middle east region.

The Digital Transformation Summit 2018 will bring together top â&#x20AC;&#x201C; tier information executives (CEOs, CIOs, CTOs, CDOs, COOs, IT Directors, Digital Transformation Experts and Consultants) from various industries to interact and engage in high level content and discussions on current trends and developments disrupting the digital ecosystem and how this will impact their business digital strategy and competitiveness going forward.

SPECIAL OFFER FOR

READERS

QUOTE DTSM18 AND GET 10% DISCOUNT!

www.digitaltransformationabudhabi.com www.digitaltransformationuae.com Advanced Conferences and Meetings FZ-LLC | T: +971 4 563 1555 I F: +971 4 422 7548 I E: opportunities@acm-events.com

Leveraging Emerging Technologies And Building New Delivery Models To Unleashing Digital Potential In Business Operations And Service Delivery

At Digital Transformation Summit, Hear From C-Level Decision Makers From 7 Industries Including: Major Mohammad Obaid Al Obaidly, Deputy Director Digital Transformation & Systems Development, Abu Dhabi Police GHQ

Umar Saleem, Chief Transformation Officer, Al Jaber Group

Graham Colclough, Partner, UrbanDNA UK

Anshul Srivastav, Chief Information Officer & Digital Officer, Union Insurance

Delel Chaabouni, CIO - Middle East & Africa, PepsiCo

Sherif Gomaa, Chief Executive Officer, Obeikan Printing & Packaging â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Obeikan Investment Group

IF YOUR COMPANY BELONGS TO ANY OF THESE CATEGORIES, YOU SHOULD CONSIDER SPONSORING THIS EVENT

Cloud computing

Business Process Automation

Data management

Network and Cyber Security

IoT & AI

Application development

Software development

System Integration

Business data analytics

e-Access

Telecommunication

Card and e-Payment

www.digitaltransformationabudhabi.com www.digitaltransformationuae.com Advanced Conferences and Meetings FZ-LLC | T: +971 4 563 1555 I F: +971 4 422 7548 I E: opportunities@acm-events.com

D I G I TA L D I S R U P T I O N

BEYOND REGUL TACKLING CYBERSECURIT IN THE LONG-TERM 46

AUGUST 2018

LATION TY 47

Martin Ewings, Director of Specialist Markets, Experis, talks about the challenges ahead as GDPR reconfigures the digital landscapeâ&#x20AC;¦ WRITTEN BY

MARTIN EWINGS

w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

D I G I TA L D I S R U P T I O N

his year, UK businesses have faced a series of regulatory demands, including the much talked about GDPR, which came into effect on 25 May. Compliance has now become a key boardroom issue – with fines for GDPR breaches set at 4% of annual turnover or €20mn, whichever is greater. But this has also introduced new IT security challenges; businesses have had to improve their processes for reporting breaches and justify how they collect and store data. In response, business leaders are having to demonstrate that they have cybersecurity policies, procedures and skills in place to survive beyond what is being dubbed, “the year of regulation”. Equally, there must also be a longer-term lens as businesses look to the future. The complexity of cyberattacks is increasing and analysts predict that there will be 3mn unfilled jobs in cybersecurity worldwide by 2021. Employers must battle for the right skills to ensure their busi-

AUGUST 2018

ness is safe and compliant. Despite this imperative, research reveals that demand for IT security staff dropped by 5% in the past year (from Q4 2016 to Q4 2017). The report showed that, despite a 24% year-on-year (Q4 2016 – Q4 2017) increase in the demand for short term IT Security contractors, there was a 10% decrease in demand for the larger market of permanent staff. With this apparent disconnect between the compliance and security imperative, and the skills that organisations are investing in, it’s important that cybersecurity is addressed first-hand in the boardroom. Here are three key issues that senior executives must consider.

TAKING CYBERSECURITY BEYOND A COMPLIANCE TICK BOX IT and security staff have, for many years, been primarily focused on the protection of the technology, data and infrastructure, but to meet the stringent new GDPR requirements have had to broaden their scope and consider

‘THE UK GOVERNMENT ESTIMATES THAT DIGITAL SKILLS WILL BE NEEDED FOR 90% OF JOBS IN 20 YEARS’ TIME AND SECURITY IS FAST BECOMING A CRUCIAL PART OF THAT’ Martin Ewings, Director of Specialist Markets, Experis

w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

D I G I TA L D I S R U P T I O N

the impact on the wider business. This could explain the surge in demand for contractors, as businesses have focused their attentions on plugging the shortterm gaps by recruiting a high volume of talent in the months leading up to implementation. With concerns over the financial penalties for non-compliance, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s hardly surprising. However, while this may be an effective immediate solution, organisations must not forget the longer-term view. Maintaining compliance with

GDPR is not a one-off, and organihave the necessary security

CYBERSECURITY IS NO LONGER JUST AN IT ISSUE

resources in place to remain com-

This is especially true when you

pliant for the coming years.

consider the fact that people are

Having the right people and the

often the weakest link when it

right talent will prove essential.

comes to cybersecurity. If hack-

For businesses, this means

ers can get through to untrained

engaging their entire workforce to

employees, they are much more

ensure a long-term solution. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s

likely to be successful in break-

key that all employees across all

ing into the organisation.

departments are aware of their

Research shows that careless or

responsibilities in relation to

untrained staff members are the

GDPR and have the right skills and

most likely access point for

knowledge to remain compliant in

cybercriminals.

sations must ensure that they

their day-to-day activities. AUGUST 2018

As a result, improving

employee awareness of data security, specifically in large organisations, has become paramount in recent years. Businesses

way that organisations can effectively use IT

may have bolstered their cyber-

contractors. Expert contingent staff can be

security defences to protect their

utilised to train and upskill permanent staff

core assets, IP and data, but

across the business with the cybersecurity

even the most advanced sys-

tools they need to protect against emerging

tems do not account for a lack of

threats; without adding more expensive per-

employee awareness.

manent headcount. This will also help to

IT Security as a result must

increase employeesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; awareness of security,

become a necessary responsibil-

as well as their own accountability to protect

ity for every employee within the

the business, ultimately helping to strengthen

company. And this is another

defences against cyberattack. w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

D I G I TA L D I S R U P T I O N

RETAINING A SPECIALIST CYBER TEAM Despite the drop in volume demand for permanent IT security staff, the value of each position on the market has increased significantly. Salaries for these positions rose by 4% in the past year (from Q4 2016 to Q4 2017). The average salary for a cybersecurity role in the UK is now £60,004 – much higher than the likes of Mobile (£53,240) and Web Development (£46,154). 52

This greater value can be attributed to the ever more complex

‘ IMPROVING EMPLOYEE AWARENESS OF DATA SECURITY, SPECIFICALLY IN LARGE ORGANISATIONS, HAS BECOME PARAMOUNT IN RECENT YEARS’ Martin Ewings, Director of Specialist Markets, Experis

AUGUST 2018

cyber security threat that

to securing a businessâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s long-

organisations face, as busi-

term resilience against the

nesses are willing to pay

ever more sophisticated cyber

a premium for more specialist

onslaught.

security professionals. As a result, competition

While employers may have had their focus on the short-

among IT security profession-

term priorities, with eyes firmly

als for these lucrative roles is

fixed on compliance in recent

fierce, with candidates bat-

months, the cybersecurity

tling it out for fewer jobs.

issue that boardrooms across

Candidates looking to fill

the UK are facing is much big-

these permanent positions

ger than this. The UK

must make sure they are

government estimates that

equipped with the most in-

digital skills will be needed for

demand skills on the security

90% of jobs in 20 yearsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; time

market. Currently, businesses

and security is fast becoming

are looking to hire individuals

a crucial part of that. As

with specialist penetration

employees become more of

testing, security architecture

a target for cyber attackers,

and security operations and

businesses should capitalise

biometrics skills. But there is

on the presence of expert con-

also a growing need for secu-

tractors to train up their wider

rity teams to have high-end

employee base and comple-

qualifications, such as CISSP

ment their more specialised

(Certified Information Sys-

recruiting efforts. With this

tems Security Professional),

combination in place, busi-

SIEM (Security Information

nesses will give themselves

and Event Management),

a fighting chance of not just

IDAM (Identity Access Man-

winning the short-term battle,

agement), and ArcSight.

but also the long-term cyber-

These specialists will be vital

security war. w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

December Dubai, United A ABOUT HITEC Hospitality Industry Technology Exposition and Conference (HITEC®) is the world’s largest hospitality technology exposition and conference brand. HITEC Dubai 2018, co-produced by Hospitality Financial and Technology Professionals (HFTP®) and Naseba, will feature 30+ speakers, 500+ hospitality stakeholders and 50+ solution and service providers. The show will give Middle East buyers currently worth over USD 75 billion, access to global top solution providers in hospitality market, through a top-notch education program planned by the expert HITEC Dubai Advisory Council, as well as an exhibition debuting the latest in hospitality technology, and a summit with one-to-one business meetings.

Ho Stak

www.hitec.org/dubai Amir Abdin | Marketing Manager | amirabdin@naseba.com | +97144557920

r 5-6, 2018 Arab Emirates

500+

ospitality keholders

40+

30+

Solution and service providers

Industry expert Speakers

T O P 10

AUGUST 2018

Top 10

largest data centres With over four billion people connected to the internet, as of 2017, and the need for data storage and processing growing at an exponential rate, the past decade has seen data centres grow to the size of small cities WRITTEN BY

HARRY MENEAR

w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

T O P 10

Lakeside Technology Centre USA

The Lakeside Technology Centre is located in Chicago, Illinois, in a 1.1 mn sq. ft building, renovated from its original purpose as a printing house for Sears Catalogue and Yellow Pages phone books, according to Rack Solutions. The centre is used by multiple companies, including IBM, Facebook, and Centu58

Tulip Data Centre India

Owned and operated by the Tulip Data Center Services Private Limited, the Tulip Data Centre is located in Bangalore, India. It is the country’s largest data centre, covering 1mn sq. ft, with 12,000 server racks, each supported by 100 megawatts of power. The facility was opened in 2012 and, at the time, was the world’s third-largest of its kind. The four towers were developed in partnership between Tulip Telecom Ltd. and IBM in order to service over 2000 locations in India. AUGUST 2018

ryLink. According to Rack Solutions, “This location has some of the most redundant systems around with 53 backup power generators to minimize the risk of any type of outage.”

Switch SUPERNAP USA

Located in Las Vegas, Nevada, the Switch SUPERNAP data centre covers 3.5 mn sq. ft and provides fiber optic-speed information retrieval to over 50 mn customers in the USA. The infrastructure required to host one of the world’s largest data centres was originally installed in Las Vegas

Dupont Fabros Technology USA

(hundreds of miles from other technology centres) by computing giant Enron. According to Wall Street Daily, “most people thought it was just to boost capacity. In truth, it was all part of Enron’s plan to essentially own the internet” by trading

Located in Ashburn, Virginia, Dupont Fab-

bandwidth like other companies traded

ros Technology’s largest data centre

petrochemicals, oil, and gas. When Enron

takes the form of a 2.1 mn sq. ft campus,

went bankrupt, SUPERNAP founder Rob

comprised of seven separate buildings.

Roy repurposed the fiber optic infrastruc-

According to Computer World UK, the

ture. Currently, the facility is making

facility spans 160 acres, with capacity for

strides towards becoming solar-powered,

over 10,500 servers, operating with

with supplementation from other renew-

a maximum load of 208 megawatts. In

able sources. www.switch.com

June 2017, data centre operator Digital Realty Trust announced plans to purchase Dupont Fabros Technology for a total sum of $7.6 bn. www.digitalrealty.com

w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

T O P 10

Kolos Data Centre Norway

The largest data centre in Europe is located in a tiny village in Norway. Opening in the fourth quarter of 2018, the Kolos Data Centre will cover 6.5 mn sq. ft across four storeys, and is being billed as a hyperscalable data centre, with plans to

06 60

Range International Data Centre China

consume up to 1000 megawatts of power by 2027. This looks even more attractive due to the fact Kolos, a US-Norwegian company, insists the facility will be 100% powered by renewable energy sources, taking advantage of Norway’s abundant

The Range International Data Centre is

hydroelectric infrastructure. According to

located in Langfang, China. Spanning 110

the company, this creates a 60% saving

football pitches, the 6.3 mn sq. ft installa-

on energy costs, further reducing prices

tion covers the same amount of space as

for the consumer.

the Pentagon. Designed to meet the

www.kolos.com

exploding needs of the Chinese IT sector, the Range’s construction was funded by a mixture of public and private funds, and was designed, built, and overseen by IBM. The structure consumes 150 megawatts of power and, since the centre’s completion, the portion of Langfang’s GDP that comes from IT and Data Processing has risen above 20%, according to the Financial Times. AUGUST 2018

The Citadel USA

The Citadel, still awaiting completion, lies near Reno in the North of Nevada. The facility covers 7.2 mn sq. ft and, when fully operational, will consume 650 Megawatts of power, 100% of which comes from renewable sources. Build and owned by Switch, the Citadel takes advantage of the company’s hyperloop network to deliver nine millisecond latency to Los Angeles and San Diego, with a seven millisecond

Harbin Data Centre China

Located in Heilongjiang province, the

connection to the company’s core facility, according to Computer World UK. The facility is also among the most innovative in the world, with over 260 patented innovations included in its construction and operation. www.citadeldc.com

northernmost region of China, Harbin Data Centre is the largest structure in the “Ice CIty” of Harbin. Covering 7.1 mn sq. ft, the facility, owned and operated by China Mobile, is one of the company’s flagship operations for telecommunication data and cloud-based computing. Harbin consumes 150 megawatts of electricity. Like most data centres in China, 0% of the centre’s power comes from renewable sources. w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

T O P 10

China Mobile Hohot China

The two largest data centres in the world both help make up the six hyperscale facilities in the Inner Mongolia Information Park, located in Hohot. The second-largest is the China Mobile Hohot data centre, which covers 7.7 mn sq. ft and cost $1.92 bn to complete. The facilityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s design is modular, allowing for further expansion of necessary. According to World Data Centres, Hohot â&#x20AC;&#x153;provides concentrated network management, enterprise services, and research and development innovation for new technologies including TD-LTE 4G networking and cloud computingâ&#x20AC;?.

AUGUST 2018

China Telecom Data Centre China

Also located in the Inner Mongolia Information Park, the title of largest data centre in the world is held by the China Telecom Data Centre, which spans a grand total of 10.7 mn sq. ft and contains “contains a cloud computing data center, call centers, warehouse, offices, and living quarters for staff”, according to the World Data Centre. Also the most expensive data centre in the world, the facility is reported to have cost over $3 bn to complete. Several factors make Hohot an attractive location for the world’s largest data centres: an average annual rainfall of over 12 in results vast reserves of hydroelectric power and, according to Data Centre Dynamics, “Hohhot’s climate makes for another practical reason it has become a data center hub. At an average altitude of 1050 meters, the average temperature is 6°C (42.8°F) makes for “free air cooling for up to eight months a year”.

w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

27-2

ASSET MANAGEMENT, W IN RAIL INFRASTRUCTUR During the conference you will learn about collection data, analyzing it and how to apply it into a sustainable asset management-system. In rail, todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s challenges are

The availability and smart use of

algorithm-based recording,

data in the railway sector leads

storing, transmitting, analysing

to a better understanding of the

and visualising of data in order

condition and behaviour of assets.

to get useful information (smart

This enables to derive maintenance

data). The goal is not only looking

and renewal strategies for a

on single values any more, but to

sustainable asset management of

identify dependencies and patterns railway infrastructure and rolling within these data.

stock.

29 NOVEMBER 2018 MALMÃ&#x2013;, SWEDEN

The Intelligent Rail Summit 201 8 covers the measure ment, analysis, storage an d application of data within railway infrastructu res

WTMS & MONITORING RE WHO ATTENDS? The event gathers 150 infra-

WOULD YOU LIKE TO JOIN AS WELL?

structure managers, railway

operators, academics and IT

www.intelligentrailsummit.com

experts. Networking moments such as a cocktail reception, an

Quote IRS18BZCLK10 as VIP code

optional gala dinner and the

on the registration form and get

networking breaks and lunches

your 10% discount.

are part of the event.

MAIN EVENT PARTNER ORGANISER

KNOWLEDGE PARTNER

EVENTS & A S S O C I AT I O N S

The biggest industry events and conferences WRITTEN BY ANDREW WOODS from around the world 22–23 AUGUST

Digital Summit [ MINNEAPOLIS, USA ]

50-plus in-depth sessions and workshops will not only help you stay ahead of the latest digital trends but also provide you with tons practical, game-changing takeaways you can 66

immediately apply to your marketing strategy. Learn directly from the brands and thought leaders who are making the

05–06 SEPTEMBER

world’s economy – now

Digital Marketing & Strategy Innovation Summit

and into the future. Get

[ SHANGHAI, CHINA ]

under the hood and stay

125 attendees of which 85% have turnovers of

ahead of the strategic

$50mn-plus, with 95% of attendees at director level

curve with Airbnb,

or above, this is summit is heralded as one of the

Google, BuzzFeed, The

world’s most influential digital meet-ups. This year

Onion, Minnesota

will see guest speakers from Tencent, Alibab, Bayer

Vikings, and more.

and Ted sharing their insights.

Click to view website

biggest impact on the

AUGUST 2018

15–17 OCTOBER

SaaStock2018 [ DUBLIN, IRELAND ]

Gather in Ireland for the best news and

19–20 SEPTEMBER

Chief Data & Analytics Officer, Europe 2018 [ FRANKFURT, GERMANY ]

Revolutionise your data strategy, align business goals and look to the future of data analytics at Chief Data and Analytics Officer, Europe 2018. Taking place in Frankfurt, Germany 19-20 September the event will explore how you as a data and analytics leader can deliver on insight-led decision making and drive innovation within your business. Presented in a series of keynotes, panel discussions and our unique discussion group formats we will be exploring strategies and approaches for delivering actionable insights and embedding the importance of governance and data quality enterprise-wide.

Click to view website

advice from experts in the flourishing SaaS market as it stands today. Learn how to build up a SaaS business from real software entrepreneurs. Optimise your business for the highest monthly recurring revenue and the lowest costs. Gain knowledge from people who have already made the mistakes and the losses so you don’t have to. Collate cutting-edge technologies and hacks to automate processes that cost valuable time and resources. Hear how to create a need for your subscription-based product and market it to targeted audiences. SaaStock aims to be a “one-for-all” event where marketers, developers, and CEOs can get together to figure out the intricacies of and establish best practices for emergent features of the SaaS ecosystem.

Click to view website

w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

EVENTS & A S S O C I AT I O N S

01–02 NOVEMBER 68

Malta Blockchain Summit

05–08 NOVEMBER

SaaS Monster [ LISBON, PORTUGAL ]

[ ST JULIANS, MALTA ]

SaaS Monster is the world’s largest

Malta Blockchain Summit is a melting

SaaS conference, connecting more

pot for global influencers in technology,

than 10,000 CIOs and CTOs, buyers

civil society, democracy promotion and

and sellers, experts and investors,

innovation. Expect riveting discussion

startups and established companies.

about the world-changing potential

SaaS Monster has a reputation for

applications of the Blockchain across

bringing together SaaS giants. With

multiple verticals, including, but not

10,000 CIOs and CTOs, experts and

limited to health, entertainment,

investors, start-ups, and established

government, banking, payments and

companies, it is a great event to net-

fintech, and more.

work and get inspired for the

Click to view website

upcoming year.

Click to view website

AUGUST 2018

29 NOVEMBER

05–06 DECEMBER

[ OTTAWA, CANADA ]

[ MADINAT JUMEIRAH ]

2018 marks the third year of this pre-

Hospitality Industry Technology Expo-

mier event and we’re excited to bring the

sition and Conference (HITEC®) is the

best in SaaS back to the Shaw Centre in

world’s largest hospitality technology

Ottawa. This year’s programme, speak-

exposition and conference brand.

ers and networking opportunities

HITEC Dubai 2018, co-produced by

promise to connect you with the best

Hospitality Financial and Technology

opportunities to grow, learn and meet

Professionals (HFTP®) and Naseba,

funders, founders and executives. SaaS

will feature 30-plus speakers, 500-plus

North is known for bringing together

hospitality stakeholders and 50-plus

world class SaaS leaders to connect

solution and service providers. The

and learn. With over 1,500 attendees

show will give Middle East buyers cur-

from over 500 companies, across start-

rently worth over $75bn, access to

ups, global brands, investors and

global top solution providers in hospi-

service providers all specialising in

tality market, through a top-notch

SaaS. It is a great event to network, learn

education program planned by the

from the best in the industry and get

expert HITEC Dubai Advisory Council,

inspired for the upcoming year.

as well as an exhibition debuting the

Click to view website

latest in hospitality technology,

SaaS North

HITEC Dubai 2018

and a summit with one-to-one business meetings. w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

� LU D R . O Z A N K Ö S E OG

Cons

AUGUST 2018

EUROPE

structing

the airports of tomorrowâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s world DALE BENTON LEWIS VAUGHAN

WRITTEN BY PRODUCED BY

w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

� LU D R . O Z A N K Ö S E OG

What will the airport industry of tomorrow look like? Dr. Ozan Köseoğlu, a CTO operating in the industry, talks about navigating the increasing complexity of airport construction onstruction projects are often complex ecosystems, with layer upon layer of stakeholder. From the contractors on the ground, the construction managers right through to the executive teams, each party has a key role in the development of any project. But one particular stakeholder is proving more and more integral to the successful delivery of any construction and that is the customer and end user.

AUGUST 2018

When the project in question is the construction of a technologically advanced airport, created to host an annual passenger capacity of more than 200mn, the complexity of that ecosystem only intensifies. “Airports are very complex infrastructures, far more complex than the building of any other infrastructure project,” says Dr. Ozan Köseoğlu, Chief Technical Officer in the construction industry.

EUROPE

w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

� LU D R . O Z A N K Ö S E OG

“It’s a massive building, utilising large scale technologies and a hugely complex ecosystem. So, the best way of managing that is to understand how the whole place and the whole ecosystem is going to work together, and then you can bind them together.” Köseoğlu has built an entire career around construction, construction managmeent and technology and engineering projects. Over the course of his career, he has worked on major airport projects in the United Kingdom and the Middle East and it is this experience that he feels grants him a unique understanding as to how the construction of airports is continuously evolving. “The construction of a major project like an airport requires much more management. I’d manage the whole design engineering construction and day-to-day operations,” he says, “as well as communicating and collaborating with the individuals involved and the digital platforms implemented to bring together that whole infrastructure ecosystem. “It’s certainly going to be a new way of managing the whole lifecycle of construction with stakeholders.” AUGUST 2018

The lifecycle of construction, and the collaboration between the various different stakeholders is becoming increasingly defined by technology and innovative tools in order successfully deliver a project in the most efficient way possible. Köseoğlu believes that this changing landscape of airport construction and technology can be broken down into two parts – the project phase and the operation phase. Throughout the project phase, technology has seen the time and cost of a project come under greater scrutiny. An airport by its very nature creates a more demanding environment, with governments expecting a certified completion date in order to begin full scale operations, clients and client representatives needing to be available and ready and even commercial operators looking to be in house and ready for operation to begin. To this end, Köseoğlu notes that it requires a more focused

EUROPE

“ The only way to make something really efficient and robust, like an airport, is to readjust the very nature of how you can deliver a product, which is where technology comes in. It’s very critical to apply technology in the right way and the right places in order to deliver the very best project we can in the limited time environment” — Dr.Ozan Köseoglu Chief Technical Officer w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

� LU D R . O Z A N K Ö S E OG

approach to the implementation of technology in order to navigate what he describes as a more “commercial constraint” environment. “The only way to make something really efficient and robust, like an airport, is to readjust the very nature of how you can deliver a product,” he says. “Which is where technology comes in. It’s very critical to apply technology in the right way and the right places in order to deliver the very best project we can in the limited time environment.” As Köseoğlu notes, the complete lifecycle of an airport project does not end with the finished construction. Once the airport goes into the operations phase, the requirments of the stakeholders shift but the complexity of the infrastructure remains. Through operations, the end user and the passengers become the key cog. Airports after all are a business venture and so they must be able to make money from the airlines that use them and the passengers that travel through. In order to do this, passengers must enjoy the airport and journey experience. This is where the successful implementation of technology proves crucial once again. “When passengers commit to a flight, the experience starts the moment they set foot inside the airport doors,” says Köseoğlu. AUGUST 2018

EUROPE

“Through technology systems, passengers can access their terminal, get into check in areas and interact with digital platforms to retrieve their tickets and boarding passes. So, the technology we use helps facilitate a greater experience as it creates efficiency in the administrative parts of the journey so that they can enjoy the retail or entertainment parts of the airport.” As businesses focus their attentions on improving the passenger journey experience, they require an understanding of their behaviours and their demands. In order to glean this information, Köseoğlu notes that airport businesses will explore data capture technology to form a clearer picture of the modern-day passenger and how best to serve them. This is important as airports, when fully operational, will continue to be driven by business requirements which are ever evolving. “The airports will continue to evolve and develop,” Köseoğlu says. “They will get bigger and so the requirements and the demands will continue to get bigger. This is the future for any airport but at the end of the day, it will always come back to the client and the w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

DESIGN AND MAKE THE TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS OF THE FUTURE

Scan to BIM

Traffic and Mobility Simulation

BIM+GIS Data Integration

Virtual Reality

Bridge Design

Learn more at autodesk.com/bim-for-airports Autodesk and the Autodesk logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of Autodesk, Inc., and/or its subsidiaries and/or affiliates in the USA and/or other countries. All other brand names, product names, or trademarks belong to their respective holders. Autodesk reserves the right to alter product and services offerings, and specifications and pricing at any time without notice, and is not responsible for typographical or graphical errors that may appear in this document. ÂŠ 2016 Autodesk, Inc. All rights reserved.

EUROPE

“ The only way to make something really efficient and robust, like an airport, is to readjust the very nature of how you can deliver a product” — Dr.Ozan Köseoglu Chief Technical Officer

passenger.” The operating phase of the modern airport is reliant on the successful implementation of that “efficient and robust” IT infrastructure. This is the very core foundation on which the rest of the airport can build upon and grow. Without it, everything else will fall apart at the first hurdle. “A challenge for any airport of scale is translating the backbone of IT and technical achievement into the operations phase,” says Köseoğlu. “You need to have your mechanical systems working and

your IT systems otherwise how can you successfully operate, let alone grow or continue innovate?” This is where partners and technology vendors prove a key addition to any infrastructure project. The right partner and the right vendor will be one that will remain with the business from the very start of the project, through to the operation phase and beyond. Köseoğlu belives that in order to be a successful partner one must work closely with the business throughout the entire lifescyle, including continuous operations. As noted, the airport construction industry is changing and becoming more technologically advanced which in itself means time constraints and commercial constraints are getting stronger. Business are redefining their own business models in order to adapt and thrive in this changing landscape, and Köseoğlu believes that vendors must adopt this same level of cultural change. “Partners need to change and innovate alongside you throughout the journey,” he says. “The partners that invest into their business and look at ways of disrupting their own way of working, they are the ones that will stay with you and continue to provide value as you move into the future.” w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

� LU D R . O Z A N K Ö S E OG

AUGUST 2018

EUROPE

Industries and sectors all around the world are being redefined by technology, but with technology the transformation never truly ends. The technologies of today may not be the technologies of tomorrow and businesses are becoming more aware of the need to constantly innovate and improve. Köseoğlu recognises that this is the market he is in today, but notes that while we have one eye firmly on the future we should not forget the past. “There are strong examples of the successful construction and operation of incredibly innovative airport projects and we must take lessons from these into the future,” he says. “In order to do that you need to have an open door towards technologies, you have to continuously look for ways in which you can innovate the business. “In doing so, it not only means you have the most innovative operations, it means you are operating in an intelligent way in order to better serve everyone in that infrastructure ecosystem.”

w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

Placing digital at the heart of the higher education agenda Coventry University is fully immersed in a technology transformation that will see IT support the modern-day needs of its staff and students WRITTEN BY

TOM WADLOW

AUGUST 2018

PRODUCED BY

LEWIS VAUGHAN

EUROPE

Campus at the heart of a city of culture

w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

COVENTRY UNIVERSIT Y

rom 11 years of military service to leading the rebuild of Iraq’s post-war banking network to

serving oil and gas and mining industries across Africa, Simon Launder may not have foreseen a decade ago that he would be spearheading a digital transformation at Coventry University. Enjoying a hugely diverse career to date, Launder is living proof that technology crosses industry boundaries like no other specialist field, and when the opportunity 86

to move into higher education presented itself in 2016, he had a big decision to make. “The aspirations of Coventry University and the desire for innovation and excellence in everything it does to launch it up the league tables really sold it to me,” the Deputy Chief Digital Information Officer recalls. “Coventry showed me it was going places and that they are not afraid to take risks – we talk about the “Coventry Way”, which to me is all about the agile and dynamic environment in which we operate. We seek opportunities across all operating environments and, in some instances, act like a start-up by pushing boundaries to positively disrupt ourselves as well as our industry.” AUGUST 2018

Supporting teaching and research with the latest technology innovation

EUROPE

w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

COVENTRY UNIVERSIT Y

Launder was proved correct. The first to

World Short Track Speed Skater, joined

state that the highly skilled and dedicated

Coventry as the Chief Digital Information

IT team – who go above and beyond to

Officer from Rolls Royce last year to drive

cater for staff and student needs – is the

high performance and its digital transfor-

University’s greatest asset, Launder

mation, the addition of digital to the

points to a vision and culture that stems

traditional CIO title a deliberate move to

from the top.

push the digital agenda at the organisa-

Steve Humber, a former Olympic and AUGUST 2018

tion. The move worked, and IT now

EUROPE

enjoys a position at the Coventry University Groupâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s top table when it comes to strategic decision making.

STUDENTS, STAFF AND THE DRIVE TO TRANSFORM Fast-forward to the present day, and the university has once again retained its title of top modern

24hr Open access IT provides the latest resources for all w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

COVENTRY UNIVERSIT Y

“ We want to be at the centre of the ed-tech ecosystem, We are approached by all sizes of tech companies from start-ups to global names because we are on such a trajectory and willing to act like a startup ourselves.” 90

— Simon Launder, Deputy Chief Digital Information Officer

Click to watch: ‘Are you ready to be transformed?’

AUGUST 2018

EUROPE

university from The Guardian in its University Guide 2019 for the 7th year in a row as well as many other accolades, including being ranked 13th in the UK in the same guide, and top 100 in Europe for teaching and top three for student engagement from The Times Higher Education. Underpinned by an IT department whose teams know their functions inside out, these accolades are in no small part the result of an ongoing innovation and transformation drive that has the student and staff member at its core. “It is about creating better futures,” Launder says. “and that’s not just for our own IT staff – it’s for our students, staff and anyone that comes into contact with us. Digital touches our everyday lives more than ever, and our work must ensure that our students especially are provided with the technology and services that enhance their learning and experience. We are helping shape their futures of which they are our future.” Younger generations of students passing through higher education institutions expect a technological experience to match that witnessed in other aspects of their lives. However, enhancing student experience and engagement is one of many factors behind Coventry University Group’s IT transformation.

A blend of digital and traditional at the Lanchester Library to support learning

“As an organisation, we need to maintain pace and agility” Launder states. “IT is supporting a dynamic environment that stretches far beyond the Coventry city boundary. We have a campus in w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

COVENTRY UNIVERSIT Y

Scarborough, two in London and a global presence with operations and opportunities for students to study for a Coventry University degree outside of the UK with one of our partners across 32 countries or through our online learning business. “We are a global organisation and we have to adapt to that. We must be flexible in our approach, but we’ve also got to be operationally sound and secure in our delivery as we support over 50,000 students’ who require access to data, products and services at any time from any location.”

VISION 2021 In order to serve students and staff and support the business in its strategic development, Launder, Humber and the group CTO 92

Stephen Booth identified the need for IT services to transform from a cost centre to a value added digital organisation. It has identified 10 departmental priorities, which beyond the current transformation efforts include the development of a highperformance culture, enhancing security operations and provision of safe and secure cloud-based infrastructure. Central to the transformation is a digital platform concept being developed and led by Launder, a transition that aims for IT services

Alan Berry Building

Technology supported learning AUGUST 2018

EUROPE

The culmination of years study concludes with a graduation ceremony at Coventry Cathedral

w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

COVENTRY UNIVERSIT Y

07 Consecutive years

as UK top modern university

13th Ranked university in the UK

4,500 Number of employees

50,000

Number of students studying for a Coventry University award

ÂŁ330mn Approximate revenue

AUGUST 2018

IT supporting everything from engineering and computing, health and life sciences, art and humanities, business and law

EUROPE

w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

COVENTRY UNIVERSIT Y

“ The devolved Governance of a Digital Platform at both business and IT Service levels ensures maximum focus is applied to strategic aims and operational efficiency, whilst increasing the agility of development and the deployment of change.” — Simon Launder, Deputy Chief Digital Information Officer

to become vision, value, user and outcome focussed in all that it does, working in the business as opposed to for it. The IT executive at Coventry believe that the key to achieving these business objectives is to organise business teams around solving a problem or pursuing an opportunity. Launder goes into detail to point out that: “This requires the unique ability to find where value is likely to be disrupted within the business, or the markets in which we operate. The risk we face is through getting caught up in our existing and legacy challenges that we miss the opportunity to re-imagine customer experiences and identify that disruptive way that takes us a step further to enhancing the student journey and experience or by providing lifelong learning opportunities for all.” To enable this, Launder, Humber and Booth are pushing to devolve governance to a level aligned with the differentiating business objectives that connect the product portfolio to the strategy of the University Group, and by how the University consumes its services and products. This devolved governance will be achieved by the establishment of a number of Digital Platforms consisting of product lines and the digital products that are used across the organisation. “We must ensure that the Digital Platforms achieve devolved governance to enable agility and a state of continuous develop and improve-

AUGUST 2018

EUROPE

ment. The Platform controls the priority, people, processes, data and technologies that support the business objective,” says Launder. “The devolved Governance of a Digital Platform at both business and IT Service levels ensures maximum focus is applied to strategic aims and operational efficiency, whilst increasing the agility of development and the deployment of change. These Platforms provide the group with the differentiators to move from the current state to a more desirable, future state. They help drive innovation and competitive differentiation achievable only through effective product portfolio solutions.” This new approach is designed to deliver a dynamic product and process-based portfolio that identifies problems and presents solutions.

REACHING OUT Although the IT Services team is staffed with experienced IT professionals, Launder sees the importance in bridging the gap between the expertise behind the scenes and their end user beneficiaries. “We see value in having students come and work with us when they’ve finished their undergraduate degrees,” Launder says. “It is invaluable across all our disciplines and delivery”. “We’ve recently created a digital productivity team that crosses user groups between our staff, w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

COVENTRY UNIVERSIT Y BIO

Simon started his career in the military developing a leadership style that saw him command detachments and troops in support of UK and international operations across the globe. After 11 years of exemplary service he went on to successfully manage the rebuild of the Iraq banking network across 80 locations in a hostile post war environment, introducing the technology and training to enable rapid currency exchange and

security and media organisations throughout Iraq Launder led communications and logistics support for Oxfam GB in North Dafur, Sudan at a time of population mass displacement and conflict before moving further into the African continent in support of offshore oil exploration on the edge of the Sahara desert of Mauritania and coastal regions of Tanzania to mining operations in Guinea and Sierra Leone

facilitate international transactions across the global Visa card network. Post bank network rebuild and a number of other projects supporting military,

with organisations such as Woodside Energy and Rio Tinto. With a business bias and understanding of business issues Launder strives to understand the

EUROPE

user context of an issue or requirement before applying an innovative approach to designing technical and business solutions that enable the using organisation to achieve and surpass its strategic plans. Having left operating across Africa, Launder looked for a UK based challenge to enable him to be closer to his young family, having been out of the UK for some time he also wanted to challenge the thinking that IT

industry borders are not barriers. This is certainly true as he moved into higher education as an IT Director at Coventry University and now leads the role of Deputy Chief Digital Information Officer responsible for engagement, innovation and digital strategy whilst at the same time conducting a part-time research Doctorate in business administration looking to develop an operating framework that enables organisational

resource and knowledge is aligned to the industry it’s in, believing and knowing that if you are exceptional and passionate about the work you do then

strategy processes to effectively manage digital disruptive episodes, enabling him to combine study with work for the benefit of both. 99

academics and our students to understand current digital literacy levels, we are then taking that knowledge to promote, train and educate at the right level on how to get the most from our supported products and services. The best way to do that with our student body, we’re finding, is actually working with students who present back to fellow students so that the message is pitched in the right language and tone.” Office 365 and Windows 10 have been two of the latest successful deployments across all staff and student facing desktop and laptop devices – of which there are over 12,000, and Launder also points towards the importance of close

— Simon Launder, Deputy Chief Digital Information Officer w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

COVENTRY UNIVERSIT Y

collaboration and dialogue with staff and students before making major decisions on technology investment. “We work closely with academics and our researchers to understand what they are working on today and what they need to deliver excellence in their teaching or research, whether it’s HPC on-demand or our own on campus systems and services. We’re also actively and aggressively exploring other 100

emerging technology areas to see how they can be applied to benefit individual users, groups or the entire organisation such as blockchain, deep learning, augmented reality, Artificial Intelligence and machine learning. “It’s ensuring that we’re not just going out and sourcing the technology or investing heavily in its development, but that we really are finding user cases for it before looking at how we can apply it. It goes back to understanding more about the user, the vision and business outcomes before looking at the technology” AUGUST 2018

EUROPE

“We talk about the “Coventry Way”, which to me is all about an agile and dynamic environment in which we operate. We seek opportunities across all operating environments and, in some instances, act like a start-up by pushing boundaries to positively disrupt ourselves as well as our industry.” — Simon Launder, Deputy Chief Digital Information Officer 101

Blending campus life with city living w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

COVENTRY UNIVERSIT Y

FACT

IT services mission statement From driving digital and developing high performing people, to becoming more agile and digitally product focused, while delivering a secure and exceptional user experience; Coventry University IT Services will enable our staff to transform the Group to be competitive, reach its corporate objectives, and create better futures. Core IT remains an essential part of growth and innovation 102

PARTNER PROWESS Indeed, when it comes to the application of technological solutions, external expertise and partnership has been invaluable to the Coventry University Group to date. “We’re a higher education institute, and we’re an IT depart-

An atmosphere to study

ment that is going through some dramatic change to meet this digital world that we operate in, but we can’t do it without the partners that we engage with and have trust in – and we make a big distinction

AUGUST 2018

EUROPE

between suppliers and partners of which each bring their own value” says Launder. “I see little point in us trying to reinvent things that have been done in other digitally advanced and savvy industries such as seen in finance and retail – we can learn from the technology that these industries are developing with our partners to see where it can fit our own user cases to benefit our end users, whilst using our own knowledge and expertise to enhance what we do best.” One influential consulting partner

Trading floor technology simulating live environments

which has been on board at several

ence across the full lifecycle of IT, and by

junctures of the organisation’s

being external to our environment has allowed

transformation journey to date is

us to see the great work we are doing as a

Mozaic. By presenting initial

department today from another perspective

design ideas and guiding the IT

and the best way to advance our capability

executive team through the early

to achieve our digital vision.

stages of transformation design

“And likewise, with the technology choice

and development, Mozaic has

we are working with some great partners such

helped Coventry University

as Amazon Web Services, BT, Cisco, Atos,

establish a vision to leave that all

Aula and Maxica who are willing and eager to

important first base.

co-create and co-innovate with us as we

Launder adds: “Mozaic have

jointly look for new innovative and digital ways

provided us with in-depth

of engaging with our students and further

knowledge and proven experi-

developing our digital campus and journey.” w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

103

COVENTRY UNIVERSIT Y

ON THE MAP The progress made to date by Coventry University thus far has helped it become something of an ed-tech hub, building on the fact the organisation already has a physical presence well beyond the West Midlands. This is not to ignore exciting developments currently taking place at its Coventry home. The university is continuing its major investment in the form of a £500mn ($600mn) campus development and refurbishment programme which will significantly increase student accommodation, research facilities, teaching, social and public space, IT suites and engineer104

ing labs. IT services has had a key role to play in ensuring it meets the requirements of the modern-day digital user, be they staff, students, researchers or the general public. Such desire to invest in state-of-the-art

“ The progress we have made as a University is phenomenal. Teaching excellence and student experience are our core.” — Simon Launder, Deputy Chief Digital Information Officer AUGUST 2018

facilities will help draw attention to the organisation. “We want to be at the centre of the ed-tech ecosystem,” says Launder. “We are approached by all sizes of tech companies from start-ups to global names, and that’s due to being on such a trajectory and journey of global growth. We’re willing to work with these companies and see where their products and services can

EUROPE

105

Collaborative and open space around campus breeds success take us – where we can do things better

are our core, and what we can do from

and where we can go further.”

a technical perspective to retain that

Even global heavyweights like Uber

excellence and better that experience for

are showing interest. In June, the

prospective students through to Alumni is

American ride-hailing giant recognised

always our priority – we have come a long

Coventry University as a collaborative

way, and we’ve got a long way to go but

partner on its flying taxis development,

we have the right people, plan and passion

something which could take off as early

to get there” Launder concludes.

as 2020. “The progress we have made as a University is phenomenal. Teaching excellence and student experience w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

106

Digitising insurance for the future WRITTEN BY

CATHERINE STURMAN PRODUCED BY

ALEX PAGE

AUGUST 2018

107

w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

AFLAC

Placed on Fortune magazine’s list of The World’s Most Admired Companies over 10 times, we find out how Aflac strives to soar above the competition

I 108

nternationally recognised by its famous icon, ‘the Aflac duck’, insurance giant Aflac has become a leader within US and Japanese markets. Delivering exceptional services and solutions with a ‘customer first’ approach, its growing Japanese customer base has presented a number of challenges, but unlocked new opportunities through digitisation. Although technology continues to disrupt the way in which customers access products and services, spanning both policyholders and agents, John Moorefield, Executive Vice President and Chief Transformation Officer, explains that the Japanese insurance industry has previously been less aggressive in the adoption of new technology. However, the country is undergoing a significant sea change. The changes in Japan are driven by evolving customer behaviours, but are consistent with changes that organisa-

AUGUST 2018

tions such as The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and Accenture have monitored and analysed worldwide. Customers expect expanded and enhanced services to be included with the products they purchase, and the quality of these services is becoming as important as the products themselves. “The interest in fintech and in implementing new ways of delivering services to customers in the insurance industry is picking up in Japan at an accelerated

ASIA

109

w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

AFLAC

rate. It’s not only creating a situation in which we’re catching up with the kind of services delivered in other regions, but we’re also, in some ways, getting ahead, because we’re just making a generational jump,” says Moorefield. Responsible for Aflac Japan’s information technology, policy services and security, as well as the company’s transformation at Aflac Japan, Moorefield, along with other leaders, ensures that the 112

company’s customer first approach will remain the key driver as it broadens its product line. “We are ensuring that our priorities are driven by what the customer wants. From that perspective, we are working extremely hard to not only be the most innovative in terms of insurance products for our customers, but to also be the leader in technology deployment to accelerate customer service,” he says. “This encompasses the turnaround time for requests and the usability of our applications. This ensures customers are satisfied AUGUST 2018

ASIA

BIO

John Moorefield Executive Vice President and Chief Transformation Officer Â â&#x20AC;&#x201D; John A. Moorefield, executive vice president and chief transformation officer is responsible Information Technology, Policy Services, Information Security and Transformation for Aflac Japan. Mr. Moorefield joined Aflac in 2005 and has held several key positions, including chief information officer of Aflac Japan. Prior to joining Aflac, he served as a principal in ApproxiCom, LLC and held leadership positions at Cap Gemini Ernst & Young LLP, Fidelity Investments and NationsBank. He was promoted to his current position in January 2017.

w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

113

The Digital Future Is Now The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) is a global management consulting firm and the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s leading advisor on business strategy. We partner with clients from the private, public, and not-for-profit sectors in all regions to identify their highestvalue opportunities, address their most critical challenges, and transform their enterprises. Our customized approach combines deep insight into the dynamics of companies and markets with close collaboration at all levels of the client organization. This ensures that our clients achieve sustainable competitive advantage, build more capable organizations, and secure lasting results. Founded in 1963, BCG is a private company with offices in more than 90 cities in 50 countries.

For more information, please visit the website: HTTPS://WWW.BCG.COM/DIGITAL-BCG/OVERVIEW.ASPX

BCG’S PERSPECTIVE ON DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION When it comes to the digital transformation of business, the future is now. Companies worldwide are using digital technologies and advanced analytics to unlock new sources of economic value and achieve step-function improvements in productivity, flexibility, and speed in business and in IT.

WHERE DO WE START? BCG’s “Digital Acceleration Index (DAI)” measures the degree of digital maturity and a global study based on DAI shows that digital maturity drives superior performance. The Digital Acceleration Index helps organizations assess their digital maturity—that is, uncover their digital strengths and weaknesses, determine whether their digital capabilities are lacking or imbalanced, and evaluate how well they perform against peers in digital efforts. Our global study shows that increased levels of digital maturity significantly improved competitive advantage in multiple areas, such as time-to-market, cost efficiency, product quality, and customer satisfaction.

(technology in the industrial production processes of physical goods), and enterprise (infrastructure, platforms and standard software packages). Companies will increasingly build internal capabilities and focus resources on product and service technologies and production technologies for competitive advantage. For example, autonomous cars use a variety of product and service technologies—including, radar, lasers, GPS, odometry, and computer vision—to detect and interpret their surroundings. They also include apps that link the customer to the OEM. Meanwhile, companies will devote fewer internal resources to enterprise infrastructure, opting instead for cloud-based utilities. Not only does getting the digital transformation right improve a company’s operations, but it can also boost valuations. According to our research, traditional assetheavy companies often trade at low multiples, even below annual revenues, while pure digital companies typically trade at multiples that are several times that of revenues.

INITIATIVES CREATING THE TECH FUNCTION OF THE FUTURE

Digital strategy and digital transformation are top priorities for CEOs around the world, but a fundamental question remains: How do we make these happen? BCG has found that the most successful companies excel at Speed, Scale, and Value—in parallel. That is, they determine: How can we move at digital speed? How can we change the way we work across the entire enterprise? How can we create tangible value for the business—and for customers?

1. Develop product and service technologies close to the business. With fewer internal resources devoted to enterprise technologies and technologies that are more integrated into the business units, leaders can turbocharge product and service technologies. Small teams can focus on working closely with product managers and customers on new products and services, speeding up iterations and time to market.

TRANSFORMING IT TO TECH TO ENSURE DELIVERY

2. Integrate technology and the business. Today’s silo-like IT function needs to be transformed into an embedded and integrated business technology structure. In practice, this means that leaders need to create collocated, cross-functional teams for agile development and effective collaboration of business and technology resources.

There is a strange dynamic at play at many traditional companies: technology is increasingly important, yet in many cases, the IT function is not involved in the development of the new, differentiating products and services aimed at ever more discerning and empowered customers. IT transformation is part of a larger need to digitize businesses: the vast majority of companies are, or are becoming, technology companies—at least to a certain degree. Soon, technology will be embedded in nearly every product, service, and process, all of which will be integrated into a broader digital ecosystem. Powerful software will be the backbone of products, services, and customer engagement. Data is already a highly valuable asset for every company, and the ability to analyze and act on that data is at the core of a company’s competitive advantage. To handle the digital shift, companies must bring business and technology together. More specifically, they must rethink how they manage three categories of technology: product and service (technology embedded in end products and technology that embeds end products into digital ecosystems and customer interfaces), production

3. Build software engineering capabilities as a critical differentiator. We have seen large incumbent companies staffing more than 75% of IT roles with generalists. Leaders need to make significant changes to this skill mix, moving the organization toward specialized engineering and analytical skills to develop products and services. 4. Ensure powerful governance and steering capabilities. In the future, business units will all have their own capabilities for developing products and services, so strict rules and regulations will be necessary. Leaders will need to ensure a strong governance and steering function to coordinate certain areas such as vendor management; ensure that standards are met in various areas including cybersecurity, data, and application architecture; and avoid unexpected side effects such as heavy loads affecting specific parts of the infrastructure.

ASIA

“ We are working extremely hard to not only be the most innovative in terms of insurance products for our customers, but to also be the leader in technology deployment to accelerate customer service” — with our service without having

John Moorefield,

to go through multiple steps of

Executive Vice President and

contact.”

Chief Transformation Officer

117

In order to support these applications and provide new services, Aflac and other organisations in Japan rely on

and adapt accordingly using both top local

companies providing and

talent and off-shore delivery centres.

enhancing core IT functions such

Across its entire portfolio, Aflac has also

as infrastructure operations, sys-

invested in a number of cloud platforms,

tem development and

including those provided by IBM, SalesForce

communications. Some of the

and ServiceNow, to support its distribution

market leaders in these areas are

system, and introduced several payment

NTT Communications, Pactera

methodologies which will take advantage of

and NTT Data, which are demon-

new services in the Japanese market.

strating their ability to understand new expectations

“This allows us to pay claims and reimburse our customers for certain transactions w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

AFLAC

118

AUGUST 2018

ASIA

via ATMs. ATMs in Japan are not just cash machines, but provide many services. Being able to take advantage of that provides convenience for our customers,” explains Moorefield. “Leveraging new payment strategies that banks are developing allows us to provide instant payments to customers, without waiting for a night-time batch routine from a bank. We’ll be able to pay customer claims almost immediately in certain cases. These are the kinds of things we are able to take advantage of because the ecosystem in Japan is developing quickly across the financial services industry.”

CUSTOMER-FIRST From its innovative product offerings, to being awarded the Computerworld Smithsonian Award for Excellence in Technology, Aflac has always sought to look at customer data and related pain points to prioritise and transform the customer experience through an Agile methodology. w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

119

ASIA

“We use customer feedback based

FACT

on what we have developed to constantly iterate and update applications, and to develop new products for what customers want to see from an insurance product perspective,” notes Moorefield. “We determine the gaps which are not met in the marketplace, particularly for the younger generation of customers. Two years ago, we launched a new product line for income protection in the case of short-

Aflac was one of the first companies to contribute more than $1mn to the Red Cross for Tsunami relief in Japan in 2011

term illnesses, driven mainly by the needs of the 20-30-year-old customer

121

group which has not been our base

a policyholder can complete online ver-

customer group.”

sus using the call centre. Our

With a need to appeal to all demo-

mobile-first push is fairly aggressive in

graphics, Aflac has sought to overhaul

terms of ensuring that as many ser-

the way in which customers interact

vices as possible are pushed to the

with the organisation – from visiting an

smartphone or to a mobile tablet to

agent, to choosing a web or mobile

deliver services to customers.

application, Moorefield has worked to

“The reality is that we’re going to

completely enhance and expand the

have to figure out how to deliver all ser-

business’s platforms.

vices to all age groups.”

“We were the first in Japan, in our

As Aflac works to meet this chal-

part of the industry, to allow online

lenge, partners are a vital source of

claim submissions, and we’re expand-

knowledge and experience for the pro-

ing that to cover as many claim types

motion and enhancement of

as feasible on that platform,” he says.

digitalisation initiatives. Accenture and

“We are expanding the services that

BCG, for example, do this by proactively w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

AFLAC

ASIA

“ The ecosystem in Japan is developing quickly across the financial services industry” — John Moorefield, Executive Vice President and Chief Transformation Officer 123

proposing new services as part of regular interactions and information sessions.

tion of Japan. Since 2012, it has built on its commitment to supporting the Aflac Cancer Center, and invites young

COMPANY PRIDE

patients to design the Aflac Holiday

Whilst Aflac remains committed to

Duck, which is then sold in Macy’s

its core values, it also places signifi-

stores across the US. All profits go

cant investment in a number of

toward new treatment programmes.

philanthropic causes.

Additionally, Aflac was one of the

In the 1990s, the company

first companies to contribute more

pledged $3mn to establish Chil-

than $1mn to the Red Cross for Tsu-

dren’s Healthcare of Atlanta and

nami relief in Japan in 2011.

built the first Aflac Parents House,

“Tsunami relief is just one exam-

which is now owned and operated

ple,” reflects Moorefield. “We’re very

by the Children’s Cancer Associa-

committed to children’s cancer and w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

AFLAC

cancer research, that’s just a core value to us. With a long-term goal to support the policyholder with great insurance products and technology, Aflac will continue to make advancements to remain a technology leader. “Aflac has a spirit, and I’m very proud to be part of an organisation whose core philosophy is to be there at the time of need for the policyholder,” states Moorefield. “Our focus is on how to quickly and efficiently pay claims, to get money in the hands of the policyholder at their time of need, and we really have a commitment and the spirit to do that. It removes stress, helps the policyholder recover, 124

and that’s a meaningful thing to me.” Although change can be particularly difficult to undertake in Japan, especially with a focus on quality and perfection, Moorefield is eager to take on the challenge. “At the end of the day, when we do something, we do it right,” he concludes. “It has a significant impact due to the large size of the company and that’s very gratifying, I truly love what I’m doing.”

AUGUST 2018

ASIA

125

w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

WA L L ST R E E T E N G L I S H

126

A WORLDCLASS ENGLISH EDUCATION, ENABLED BY IT WRITTEN BY LAURA MULLAN PRODUCED BY MIKE SADR

AUGUST 2018

ASIA

127

As one of the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s most learned and spoken foreign languages in the world, English classes are in high-demand. By cutting through the noise with its innovative digital strategy, Wall Street English is delivering an education like no other

w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

WA L L ST R E E T E N G L I S H

nglish is the most widely used language worldwide, with approximately 1.5bn speakers around

the globe. The biggest market for learning a language is English, valued at over $50bn in annual revenues. Whether learning for travel, business or for socialising with friends and family, many people around the world have decided to learn English as an additional language. This is where Wall Street English can support. With over 400 centres in 28 territories as well as a cutting-edge digital platform, the firm is one of the global leaders in adult Eng128

lish education. “We’re focused on changing futures,” explains Michael Garcia, Chief Technology Officer. “As a premium offering, we emphasise the world-class service we offer and the support our students receive throughout their whole learning journey.” With new grammar, rules, and accents, learning English can be challenging but Wall Street English believes it has perfected the right method of teaching through what is known as ‘blended learning’. Combining online and digital media with traditional classroom methods, blended learning has become a tried-and-tested model in the education sector. Garcia says that this modern take on learnAUGUST 2018

“ We take pride in offering the most supportive training in the market. It’s the way that we teach and the blended method, powered by technology, that really makes our programme work” — Michael Garcia, Chief Technology Officer

ASIA

129

ing is what distinguishes Wall Street

$20mn to greatly enhance the learning

English from its competitors today.

experience. The feedback we received

“We use digital, visual tools that help

from our students has been really posi-

to introduce new concepts for our Eng-

tive – they feel that the product is

lish learners. Then we reinforce those

innovative, intuitive, and fun.

lessons with face-to-face encounters with a teacher,” he says. “We never use technology for tech-

“Service and support are a huge differentiator for us,” he adds. “We don’t just take on a new student and leave

nology’s sake. For us, it’s about

them alone. Complementary classes

applying technology that is fit-for-pur-

and teachers that you can connect with

pose to maximise the learning

at our centres or through online com-

experience. Our digital learning plat-

munities make sure that students have

form is a good example of this, which is

the support they need to meet their

why a few years ago we invested about

objectives. We take pride in offering w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

stream

About us Slipstream is a hi-tech company based in Shanghai, China, delivering Salesforce consulting and implementation services to customers all over the world. Slipstream is Salesforce certified consulting partner. It helps you leverage best in class cloud-based Salesforce CRM solutions to successfully navigate through the digital transformation. With the power of real-time business insights in hand, Slipstream helps you unlock new business opportunities and deliver an unparalleled customer experience.

Making Technology Easy

Why Slipstreamďź&#x; Slipstream boasts 40+ Salesforce certified consultants and has successfully delivered many Salesforce implementation projects, with rich experience in diverse industries, especially in education, pharmaceutical & healthcare, hi-tech and manufacturing. Its customers include well-known companies like Wall Street English.

If you want to learn more about us, please visit our website at www.slipstream.com.cn or email us at marketing@slipstream.com.cn

WA L L ST R E E T E N G L I S H

the most supportive training in the

as Japan, Germany and India whilst

market. It’s the way that we teach

strengthening its position in its leading

and the blended method, powered

market – China.

by technology, that really makes our programme work.” With a global footprint spanning

for about 18 years, and it is currently our largest market,” Garcia notes.

across Europe, Asia, Latin America,

“We’ve got 75 centres across 11 differ-

North Africa and the Middle East, Wall

ent cities there today and close to

Street English has a rich legacy in the

70,000 students in the region with

education market.

plans to grow further.

Now, following a promising purchase

132

“We have been present in China

“Baring and CITIC purchased the

by Baring Private Equity Asia and CITIC

company earlier this year and they

Capital Holdings Limited, the firm is set

each bring very unique and amazing

to look for new markets in regions such

strengths to the partnership,” he con-

Click to watch: The Wall Street English ‘Blended Method’

AUGUST 2018

ASIA

133

tinues. “CITIC understands the

companies within their portfolio, so we

Chinese market extraordinarily well

can learn a lot from them.”

and, as our largest market, it works to

As Chief Technology Officer, Garcia

our advantage to gain deeper expertise

is all too aware of how technology is set

in the region.

to transform the education sector for

“CITIC have a strong relationship

the better.

with technology giant Tencent, owners

At Wall Street English, he says that

of the WeChat platform with over a bil-

new cutting-edge tools are helping ele-

lion registered users. That’s beneficial

vate the learning experience for

for us as we can tap into their expertise

students and franchise owners alike.

to help accelerate our technology capabilities and reach more students. “Baring is also very strong in the education space with several education

“We’ve evolved from our roots as a traditional bricks-and-mortar company,” he says. “Technology is helping to present more choice to our learners. w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

ASIA

Previously, we required students to come into our centres to register but last year we launched a new functionality in China through Alibaba’s Tmall platform, which allows students to enrol in some courses online whilst also allowing us to reach more prospective students. “Earlier this year, we also re-launched our own branded website in China that allows students to register and pay for their course online. It’s about the convenience factor. If they can’t come into a centre because they’re too busy or it’s not in their direct location they can sign up, register and start learning online.” Digitisation is not just transforming how consumers register for the course, it’s also giving them more flexibility and choice about where, when and how they’d like to study. “Our platform is available on a globally distributed architecture that can be accessible 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” notes Garcia. “We’ve launched mobile capabilities for our course so our students can learn on a smartphone or tablet. We also recently launched a digital classroom capability so that face-toface interactions with teachers can happen online. We are constantly innovating and utilising the scaled agile framework to rapidly react to market needs.”

“ We never use technology for technology’s sake. For us, it’s about applying technology that is fit-for-purpose to maximise the learning experience” — Michael Garcia, Chief Technology Officer w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

135

WA L L ST R E E T E N G L I S H

With a supportive learning environment and flexible study schedule, it

also helping the firm support fran-

seems that this model has been a

chisees and business partners so that

roaring success.

they can become more profitable.

The company owns its operations

136

Garcia believes that digitisation is

“As we complete the shift to new

in China as well as partially in its native

ownership, we are also promoting a

home of Italy but, beyond that, many

very simple yet contemporary technol-

of its centres across the world are

ogy footprint,” says Garcia. “It’s an

franchised.

opportunity to really focus on what’s

With a proven business model,

needed to operate the business and to

a top-class product, and promising

minimise both the costs and the com-

returns, the Wall Street English brand

plexity of our technology environment

is an exciting investment opportunity

for our franchisees.”

that has attracted partners around the globe.

AUGUST 2018

Other initiatives implemented by Garcia and his team include rolling out

ASIA

Click to watch: The WSE Technology Team – Chennai 137

a new placement test that assesses students’ English ability. Wall Street English is helping to provide more personalisation for learners and an adaptive, flexible learning environment and it seems data and analytics will be critical to make this a reality. “We’re always thinking about how we help our students achieve their personal goals through the power of learning English. Our course is structured into 20 levels. This means that, no matter where you are in your learning journey – if you’re a beginner or more advanced – we can tailor the course to suit you. w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

WA L L ST R E E T E N G L I S H

“We’re focused on changing futures. As a premium offering, we emphasise the world-class service we offer and the support our students receive throughout their whole learning journey” — Michael Garcia, Chief Technology Officer

138

AUGUST 2018

ASIA

“We’re rolling out a new placement

“It looks at several metrics and

test that basically assesses our stu-

sends a warning if it identifies that a

dents’ English ability and tells them

student is struggling or going off track.

the level that they should be starting

This allows our staff members to step

at when they join our course,”

in and intervene. We want to ensure

Garcia explains.

that our students have a great experi-

“Our students want a course that is tailored to their needs and can be

ence and progress.” Adapting to the ever-changing needs

adjusted depending on their progress.

of the market is perhaps one of the big-

Some students may want to move

gest hurdles facing Wall Street English

more quickly, while others want to take

today, but by partnering with agile

their time and put a bit more emphasis

technology partners Garcia says the

on certain topics. We’re using data to

firm is ready for consumers’ education

adapt the course to their needs.

needs of tomorrow.

“Today, we have a patented algo-

“We value the partners that really

rithm which considers several factors

take the time to understand the

to understand how a student is pro-

dynamics of our business and

gressing through their learning

want to evolve with us,” he adds.

journey,” continues Garcia.

“It is with such

BIO

Michael Garcia is Chief Technology Officer at Wall Street English. With 16 years of experience, Michael leads the business’ technology strategy, ensuring key platforms are fully supported and provide the best customer experience. He also provides crucial support to global franchisees, helping them to maintain and grow operations. w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

139

WA L L ST R E E T E N G L I S H

a changing landscape that we sometimes have to shift our focus very

services in China.” Today, Wall Street English stands as

quickly to work on new projects. One of

one of the largest providers of English

our partners, Slipstream, have been

language education for adults. The firm

working with us for several years. They

provides English language instruction

have shown a strong knowledge of the

to over 200,000 students worldwide,

market and they understand our key

and thanks to its cutting-edge digital

enterprise platforms very well.

strategy it seems the firm is set to con-

“It’s also great to have such a partnership with Baring and CITIC and

tinue on this upward trajectory. “Above all, what excites me in the

access to their portfolio companies.

next five to 10 years is the overall tech-

For example, we work closely with

nology strategy,” Garcia says.

CITIC Telecom to provide networking

“Technology has become a central

140

“ The investments we’ve made and continue to make in improving our technology capabilities are having a huge impact in the performance of our business, and most importantly, the outcomes of our learners” — David Kedwards, CEO AUGUST 2018

ASIA

141

aspect of the company’s operations

“The investments we’ve made and

and its future growth so I’m excited to

continue to make in improving our

be playing such a big part in that while

technology capabilities are having a

also having a direct impact in changing

huge impact in the performance of our

the lives of our learners.”

business, and most importantly, the

The efforts of the company’s technology department haven’t gone

outcomes of our learners,” he says. “Michael and his team are playing a

unnoticed. CEO, David Kedwards,

central role in this digital transformation

highlights that technology will remain

of our business.”

a pivotal arm of the company’s business strategy. w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

T 142

AUGUST 2018

ASIA

TELEKOM MALAYSIA redefining procurement for supply chain success WRIT TEN BY

DA LE BENTON PRODUCED BY

CHARLOT TE CL ARK E

w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

143

T E L E K O M M A L AY S I A

Through a full-scale transformation journey, Telekom Malaysia redefines its procurement function

H 144

istorically, procurement has

business needs and strengthening

always been perceived as

supplier relationships to deliver shared

a support function. Over the

value to the organisation,” says

last decade however, there has been

Mohamad Mohamad Zain, Chief

a considerable shift as more and more

Procurement Officer, TM.

businesses around the world are

With a career spanning over 20

investing heavily to create greater

years, working in a number of roles

alignment between procurement and

within TM from insurance management

the strategic direction of the company.

to enterprise risk management,

For Telekom Malaysia Berhad (TM),

Mohamad has seen first-hand the

Malaysia’s Convergence Champion,

changing role of procurement and feels

procurement has evolved far beyond

his experience finely positions him to

its traditional function and is now

lead TM’s transformation journey.

pivotal in the success and future growth of the business. “Procurement has indeed played

Procurement was identified as one of the key pillars to the company’s Performance Improvement Plan (PIP)

a pivotal role in ensuring speed to

3.0, which focuses on delivering value

market, improving customer stickiness

via total cost ownership savings,

via quality products and services while

increased speed of procurement

also assuring supply sustainability to

process to support speed to market

support all year-round dynamic

and be more responsive to the

AUGUST 2018

ASIA

“The Group Procurement vision is to optimise productivity,” says Mohamad, “while also building an organisation that has a sustainable competitive advantage towards “Procurement Made Easier” with stable, effective and efficient sources of supply” — Mohamad Zain, Chief Procurement Officer, TM

145

dynamic business needs across the wider TM Group. “The Group Procurement’s vision is to optimise productivity,” says Mohamad, “while also building an organisation that has a sustainable competitive advantage towards “Procurement Made Easier” with stable, effective and efficient sources of supply.” Through his role, Mohamad is w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

Building a Better Connected Malaysia Huawei is a leading global provider of information and communications technology (ICT) infrastructure and smart devices. With integrated solutions across four key domains – telecom networks, IT, smart devices, and cloud services – we are committed to bringing digital to every person, home and organisation for a fully connected, intelligent world. Huawei’s presence in over 170 countries, serving 45 of the world’s 50 largest communication operators and is at Forbes Top #79 company. Huawei achievement are through trusted partnership and collaboration. Where

www.huawei.com/my

Huawei creates value, drives growth and improves customer operation, create lasting dynamic to the ecosystem and co-existence with our customer. At Huawei, we fulfil our customer needs of experience centric services and strategic focus and our customer sustainable growth that inspire global and local innovation in their organisation. Emphasising in innovation focuses Huawei invest heavily in advance research, concentrating on technological breakthroughs that drive the world forward. Founded in 1987, Huawei is a private company fully owned by its employees.

T E L E K O M M A L AY S I A

â&#x20AC;&#x153; We are expecting the Industrial Revolution 4.0, and so the future of procurement will largely dependent on technology, robotic and Internet of Things (IoT). Through our journey, we are laying the foundations in order to be ready for this futureâ&#x20AC;? 148

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Mohamad Zain, Chief Procurement Officer, TM

AUGUST 2018

BIO

Mohamad Zain Chief Procurement Officer, TM Mohamad, 54, gained vast experience in insurance services while serving a UKbased insurance company for six years, including as Officer in charge for agency and direct client underwriting, claim management and re-insurance, designing insurance for credit card company and bank assurance, serving both domestic and Multinational Corporation clients. He joined TM in 1993 as an Assistant Manager and has been tasked with managing the corporate insurance programme and implementing the Enterprise Risk Management programme for TM in 2001. In 2007, he was appointed GM entrusted with an expanded portfolio of Group Business Assurance covering Enterprise Management, Revenue Assurance, Fraud Management, Insurance Management, Credit Management Policy & Monitoring, Corporate Compliance, Business Continuity Management and Enterprise Business Management. He was promoted to VP, Group Business Assurance, a position he held from 2011 until his appointment as Chief Procurement Officer on 1 September 2014.

ASIA

part of the senior management committee, something he feels enables him to change the perspective of procurement. One of the key changes that he has implemented, in order to measure the success of this strategic transformation, is the addition of optimising the supply chain and procurement management as the Group’s key performance indicators. What this does is present a challenge that Mohamad must continue to overcome; continue to demonstrate to stakeholders the

149

true value of the new procurement

understanding the already identified gaps in the

model in contributing positively to

Company’s basic procurement function.

the Group’s profitability. “I need to continue to show how

These gaps allowed TM to anchor its transformation with three key pillars; value creation and

procurement can assist our

expansion, responsive to business dynamics and

marketing team on speed to market

speed in procurement process and execution.

with competitive product and

The pillars will enable TM to implement

services,” he says. “This can then

a best-in-class procurement model, but any

ensure that our suppliers can fully

transformation journey is not without challenge.

apprise on the overall objective of our new procurement model.” TM’s transformation journey

For Mohamad, he views challenge as an opportunity to continue pushing forward. “I look across our transformation to date, the

began in 2013, overseen by

results that we can point to, and it gives me the

Mohamad’s predecessor. Moham-

additional adrenalin I need to keep on pushing for

ad took over in 2015 and immedi-

better results,” he says. “Whilst we have success-

ately worked across the Group on

fully established a cross functional category w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

C O M PA N Y N A M E I N C O R P O R AT E C O L O U R

FIBERHOME GROUP FiberHome Technologies Group is a leading equipment vendor and global solution provider the field of information technology and telecommunications. This high-tech enterprise is directly affiliated to the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council. It is also the largest enterprise located in the Optics Valley, Wuhan, China.

150

FiberHome Group Add:No.6, Gaoxinsilu, East Lake High-Tech Development Zone, Wuhan, Hubei, P.R.China 430205 Tel:+86-27-81618829 | Fax:+86-27-81618977 Email: marketing@fiberhome.com Wuhan FiberHome International ( Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd. Add:Level 43 South Wing, Menara TM, Jalan Pantai Baharu, 59100 Kuala Lumpur Tel: +603 2241 5780/4818/4808 | Fax:+603 2241 4770

MONTH 2018

Sales Directot: Aslan Zhou Email: zhoujun@fiberhome.com

www.fiberhomegroup.com/en

ASIA

management team, improved

But Mohamad is a firm believer in not standing still

governance to allow speed of

and is already looking at the next step in order to

procurement approval, and

continue to improve, with technology and

strengthened supplier relationship

embracing digital procurement a clear goal.

management, there is still room

While Mohamad looks to the future

for improvement, including

of technology, that’s not to suggest that technol-

embracing technology.”

ogy hasn’t played a defining role in this transfor-

The transformation by its very nature is defined by improving

mational journey. “To support the procurement transformation,

performance. Mohamad’s

technology has and will be fundamental in the

sentiment of continuous learning is

delivery of speed and efficiency in our processes,”

shared across the Group. Four

he says. “As such, we have embarked on PINTAR

years into this journey and TM can

project, designed to provide data analytics on

already point to RM1.0 billion

spend analysis for our category managers.”

(USD250 million) TCO savings

PINTAR, or the Procurement Institutionalisa-

through the expansion of value

tion of Technology Applications and

creation, as well as expanding its

Resources, specifically enables greater

strategic vendor portfolio and

efficiencies across spend analysis, online tender

improving overall governance and

and quotation, supplier performance manage-

control in order to achieve faster

ment and contract management and repository,

procurement process.

amongst other key areas. w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

151

T E L E K O M M A L AY S I A

With technology redefining industries all around the world this brings upon a challenge that is not unique. The global technology conversation is defined by Artificial Intelligence, Automation, Big Data, but are these terms simply turning into buzzwords? What work does Mohamad and TM do to ensure that the Company is implementing the right technologies for the right reasons and not just following trends? “As a technology company, technology and digitalisation have been part of our business DNA from the very start,” says Mohamad. “TM has its own R&D team, Network & IT Technical Committee and Chief Digital Officer 152

that continue to provide advisory across the Group on new technology and digitalisation plan. At the same time, we also benchmark with peers across the globe and in some instances securing advice from our key suppliers who have implemented robust supply chain management system.” As a supply chain and procurement function, having a strong supplier network is crucial. In the journey of implementing a new procurement model, that supplier network proves more vital than ever. Mohamad admits that a transformation of this scope is not one that can be completed alone, with the strengthening of supplier relationships in itself a core pillar of the journey. TM has redefined how it approaches supplier and vendor management, with expanded collaboration with mega AUGUST 2018

ASIA

“ Whilst we have successfully established a cross functional category management team, improved governance to allow speed of procurement approval, and strengthened supplier relationship management, there is still room for improvement, including embracing technology.” — Mohamad Zain, Chief Procurement Officer, TM

w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

153

T E L E K O M M A L AY S I A

suppliers (foreign and domestic) and those local vendors nurtured via its Bumiputera-Vendor Development Programme (BVDP). To date, we have over 9,200 vendors registered with us with close to 4,400 Bumiputera vendors. At TM, we have a robust and transparent procurement process; and we adhere to industry’s best practices. We are committed to maintaining the highest degree of integrity, transparency and accountability in the conduct of our business and operations. At least 42% of our projects are based on tenders and we also award projects that require economies of scale to our long term and strategic partners. 154

The BVDP is designed to stimulate the activity and involvement of local suppliers across Malaysia in tenders and other procurement activities. These activities can be stand-alone or through collaborating with foreign partners, with the goal of sharing technology and knowledge to the local suppliers in order to develop the capabilities of the local supplier network. “This programme will not only support the capability building of local vendors who will then be able to compete for regional business needs through tenders,” says Mohamad. “For TM, based on our BVDP framework, the entry level would be the Entrepreneur Development (ED) and Blue Lane (ED programme specific for ICT-based or start-up technology company companies) levels. Once the vendors show AUGUST 2018

ASIA

improvement in their processes and capabilities, they will then be upgraded to Strategic Partners, and then elevated to become a Corporate Champion and finally to a National Champion. This journey may take three to five years.” TM has already amassed a strong portfolio of both foreign and local strategic suppliers such as Huawei, Fiberhome, Nokia as well as Opcom, Dura Mine and Lite Cable. As the title implies, this procurement journey is one of continuous improvement. Procurement as a function will continue to change and evolve and TM must continue to evolve with it in order to continue to deliver success. “The future will see TM begin to better embrace new technology, organisational and process redesign, and continue to push for cultural change in supporting this changing space,” says Mohamad. “We are expecting the Industrial Revolution 4.0, and so the future of procurement will largely dependent on technology, robotic and Internet of Things (IoT). Through our journey, we are laying the foundations in order to be ready for this future.”

w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

155

156

AUGUST 2018

ASIA

WT PARTNERSHIP

TACKLING DIVERSITY ACROSS SOUTH EAST ASIA WRIT TEN BY

ANDRE W WOODS PRODUCED BY

MIK E SADR

City Garden, Vietnam w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

157

W T PA R T N E R S H I P

158

Will Kennedy-Cooke, MD WT Partnership (South East Asia), discusses the challenges as the business rolls out a consistent and reliable service across diverse jurisdictions in an evolving economic landscape.We also speak to his fellow MDâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Keith Wong (China) and Mark Van Beers (Hong Kong & Macau) about the challenges and growth in their respective regionsâ&#x20AC;Ś

T Partnership is an independ-

and South East Asia (SEA), occupies a

ent international provider of

key position in one of the most culturally

quantity surveying and

diverse and economically-tempestuous

construction cost management services.

regions on earth. A fast-growing global

Founded in 1949 and with a presence in

company with an expertise that extends

Asia since 1962, its Asian Holdings

bespoke offerings of quantity surveying,

regional business, comprising Greater

cost management and facilities manage-

China, Hong Kong, Macau, North Asia

ment consultancy across Asia and

AUGUST 2018

ASIA

period. In the short term WTP plans to open fulltime operations in two additional countries with staff numbers potentially growing to 300-plus in three to five years. “We have been very strategic in each location, harnessing homegrown talent with international expertise where and when required, but without losing sight of being a local business able to support local developers,” Will explains. “Our Singapore office is a hub that supports the region as a whole from which we can add management expertise to any location, together with sharing resources in specific sectors such as infrastructure and facilities management consultancy. internationally, WTP is highly regarded in the

“It is an integral part of our strategy

region, with unprecedented growth in SEA over

that we play to our strengths, work

the past decade.

with the clients and partners that are

After an initial spell there in the early 1990s, Will

a best fit with our people and

Kennedy-Cooke, MD SEA, relocated back to

develop a business that is built to

Singapore in 2006. At that time, after more than

last. We do not need or want to be

40 years of continuous operations, the SEA

the biggest, taking on any and all

business comprised 40 staff in two locations.

opportunities without regard to

Today WTP employs more than 200 staff based

suitability. However, we do strive to

in six offices across four ASEAN countries

be very good at what we do, to be an

working on projects across the region with

employer of equality and choice, to

revenue increased by more than six times in that

grow while retaining quality of w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

159

Paya Lebar Quarter, Singapore

160

Barangaroo South, Australia

Creating landmarks that define cities

Elephant & Castle, United Kingdom

Tun Razak Exchange Lifestyle Quarter, Malaysia

Lendlease is known internationally for creating award winning places. Operating in Singapore since 1973, today we are also located in Malaysia, China and Japan. Our integrated approach means we harness our expertise in construction, design, development, investments and management to deliver a project from conception to completion. We help shape city skylines, create iconic structures, breathe new life into forgotten precincts and create places and spaces for generations to enjoy.

AUGUST 2018

www.lendlease.com

ASIA

Toll offshore petroleum supply base, Singapore

service, to aspire for continuous improvement and to care for how our clients optimise value from their development investment decisions. “We get involved with all sizes and types of projects providing proactive and assured construction cost management for our clients’ investments, together with enduring interest, variety and opportunity for our staff,” says Will, who oversees operations across the 10 ASEAN countries. “Our significant presence in the region ensures we are able to deliver both local and international services with a reputation for providing effective delivery of complex and mega projects.”

“ WE AIM TO PROVIDE VALUE IN MINIMISING WASTE THROUGH DESIGN, CONSTRUCTION AND OPERATION. WE LOOK AT HOW THE TOTAL PRODUCT CAN STILL BE COST EFFECTIVE, BUT BECOME LEANER WITHOUT COMPROMISING TIME OR SAFETY WHILE IMPROVING SUSTAINABILITY” — Will Kennedy-Cooke, Managing Director (South East Asia), WT Partnership

w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

161

W T PA R T N E R S H I P

162

“ QUANTITY SURVEYING IN HONG KONG, MALAYSIA AND SINGAPORE IS AN IMPLICIT DISCIPLINE, BEING THE LEGACY OF BRITISH INVOLVEMENT IN THEIR DEVELOPMENT, AND TODAY THESE LOCATIONS PROVIDE EDUCATION THROUGH FULL-TIME COURSES IN THE EXPERTISE” — Will Kennedy-Cooke, Managing Director (South East Asia), WT Partnership

Macau Studio City, Macau Due to WTP’s longevity in the region, it enjoys excellent relations with some premium partners from a variety of locations. Will has been involved in some high-profile projects in SEA covering both commercial and public-sector constructions including World Trade Centres 2 and 3 in Jakarta, TRX Living Quarter in Kuala Lumpur, Australian Embassy in Bangkok, the International School Ho Chi Minh City and Marina Bay Sands in Singapore. “In SEA we’ve undertaken a lot of work with Cognita, a leading global education provider,” says Will. “The relationship with Cognita stretches more than 12 years based on the

AUGUST 2018

ASIA

163

formation of trusted relationships with their key

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Our Hong Kong office was

people while creating a baseline for common

initiated in 1976 to start working with

understanding. We have collaborated on more

Hongkong Land, a member of the

than 10 projects across SEA markets, assisting

Jardine Matheson Group. We are

Cognita to provide world-class teaching

very proud of the relationship that

environments. It continues to be a very strong,

has flourished through several

fertile and mutually beneficial relationship.

generational changes of key

â&#x20AC;&#x153;We continue to work with Toll, an Australian

personnel in either business over

origin logistics group now owned by Japan

more than 40 years and continues

Post. We started working directly for them in

today working across multiple

Asia a decade ago and more recently, having

markets in our region. Project

successfully delivered a number of projects

locations include Cambodia, China,

in Singapore, we are also working with them

Hong Kong, Indonesia and

in Australia and New Zealand.

Singapore with the most recent w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

W T PA R T N E R S H I P

BIO

Keith Wong Executive Chairman, Asia, Managing Director (China)

164

For our business in China, employing two site staff working in a client’s site office when we started in 1996 in Shanghai, expanding to 50 in 2006, to more than 500 today with 8 offices across China. We adhere to a traditional quantity surveying practice but when we started, Chinese projects were highly protected, mainly state-owned enterprise (SOE) government projects, although they welcomed foreign investment. And so, we followed Hong Kong developers as they delivered projects in China. At that time more than 95% of our clients were from Hong Kong or overseas with very few local clients. There was no quantity surveying in China then; they had some cost engineers, but didn’t provide a comprehensive service as we do, from inception to completion of the project. It was not an easy task, at that time, because they just didn’t understand the purpose of undertaking cost control. They didn’t understand

AUGUST 2018

why they needed an independent professional to update the interest of the client side because, at that time, the local client were often very big state-owned enterprises that didn’t know or worry about where the money had been spent. Our local clients grew to 10% after seven years or so, starting from smaller projects, before getting bigger and bigger. The major opportunities were still foreign (mainly Hong Kong) as local investment was more or less owned by a local government or state-owned enterprise. From 2005 to say, 2010, most of our projects were in real estate: property development, residential, commercial, hotels, and mixed use. The client’s just build and sell for a quick cash return. The scale was getting bigger and bigger during that period of time; in the UK, 50,000 sqm may have been considered to be a big project but in China, a big project by then was 500,000 sqm. The clientele has since continued

ASIA

to shift from foreign to local and some 70% of our clients are Chinese now with the rest foreign. So, that change is quite substantial and we’re now doing 4,000,000 sqm projects. Currently, we are working for insurance companies like Ping An Insurance and financial institutions such as Shanghai Stock Exchange, that we were never able to get in touch with 10 years ago. E-commerce is expanding so fast and we have done an increasing amount of work in logistics relating to that sector, with clients such as JD.Com and Alibaba. We’re doing a 800,000 sqm data centre campus for them and companies like JD.Com, who is the second biggest e-commerce company here. We are also doing a lot of campus work for telecommunication giants Huawei and Tencent. Now we’re helping also lot of local developers going overseas to do projects in the likes of India, Vietnam, Australia and Italy. Something like

90% of the senior management in Chinese companies cannot speak English and so that’s why we have a very major role to play. China is changing so quickly. The second-child policy was introduced in 2015 and now the birth rate is 22mn babies per year with estimates this will increase to 30m very soon. The wealth of the Chinese community is expanding and the middle class is quite affluent now, so they’re prepared to pay a lot of money for their children’s education. Consequently, international schooling is a booming market and we are currently working for AIS, Yew Chong International School, Wellington and Harrow from UK who all have big expansion plans in the coming few years.

w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

165

An inspiring world of education Cognita is an extraordinary family of diverse yet connected schools joining forces in an inspiring world of education with one common purpose: building self-belief and empowering individuals to succeed. With over 70 schools in Europe, Latin America and Asia, Cognita provides a uniquely global education for more than 40,000 students that goes beyond grades to develop all-round academic excellence.

Find out more about us at www.cognita.com

YOUR WORLD OF OPPORTUNITY Jakarta Land is a joint venture between CCM and Hongkong Land, which develops and manages the 8 hectare WTC Complex on Jalan Jenderal Sudirman, Jakarta, Indonesia.

Website: www.jakland.com Email: leasing@jakland.co.id

ASIA

budget through collaboration with the client and, where available, with input from the principal design team members. We will then be employed to continuously advise, monitor and update, providing forward forecasting to enable decisions that deliver the completed project to budget. Assuming the budget for capital expenditure is correctly established and informs the feasibility for the project, and assuming revenue

Ningbo Shangri–La Hotel, China

projections are met, then delivering to, or within, that capital budget

completion being World Trade Centre 3 in

means the project returns for the

Jakarta for PT Jakarta Land, a company jointly

client will be met or even enhanced.

owned by CCM and Hongkong Land.

We provide an early warning system

“Another client we do a lot of repeat order work

for issues that are either likely to

for in SEA is Lendlease which has been in

compromise the budget or may

Singapore since the early 1970s. We’ve been

provide value-added opportunities,

fortunate to be involved with their more recent

meaning the earlier you capture it,

SEA development work and we’re currently

the easier it is to plan for how and

working on both their Paya Lebar Quarter

when that issue is to be managed.”

project in Singapore and their Tun Razak

When commissioned to do so,

Exchange Lifestyle Quarter project in Kuala

WTP provides and facilitates formal

Lumpur; the latter being delivered in joint venture

value engineering, or value

with TRX City, a wholly owned subsidiary of the

management workshops early in

Malaysian Ministry of Finance.

the design process to help establish

“In an ideal sense, we get involved right from the outset,” he explains. “Setting the construction

the real aspirations and requirements of a project. Focus is set upon w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

167

W T PA R T N E R S H I P

what’s wanted rather than “what’s

whatever reason, is unable to deliver to time and

nice to have” and the removal of

cost. Our cost forecasting to the completion of the

waste. In the process of determining

project helps manage financial decisions and

value, WTP assesses what has to be

mitigate opportunities for dispute. However,

there and what is discretionary for

should a client become engaged in difficulties on

the design to balance the budget

a project, then we’re there to help, interpret and

and project brief.

diffuse,” he explains.

“Much of the discipline of managing the budget obviously depends on

Quantity surveying is an historically entrenched part of the construction process across

the procurement system that transfers the project to the construction phase, together with the profile of the client and its risk appetite. Time is 168

always a big issue because time is cost and therefore overall project programme has a big influence on the procurement strategy. Alternative approaches allow for transfer of construction time and cost risk at various points in the design process depending on the profile tailored to the client’s objectives. Once the transfer of that risk has been completed, the business of construction begins,” says Will. “We’re also the certifier of payments made to the contractors and we deal with any change through variations, getting further involved if the contractor, for AUGUST 2018

Team Building

ASIA

169 parts of the western world,

three locations, quantity surveying is just a part

principally where the British had

of the DNA of the construction and develop-

some involvement with establishing

ment industry. However, in the other SEA

standards and procedures, yet

locations, there are a number of developers who

differs in relevancy and application

may often be unaware of the discipline of cost

in other locations, especially in

planning and construction cost management,

today’s emerging markets.

or how to use the expertise.

“Quantity surveying in Hong

“While the core of quantity surveying and

Kong, Malaysia and Singapore is

construction cost management may be similar

an implicit discipline, being the

the world over, the detailed services we provide

legacy of British involvement in

across SEA markets varies and can also differ

their development, and today these

from those required, for example, in each of

locations provide education

China, Japan, South Korea or Taiwan. Day to

through full-time courses in the

day in SEA we are still mostly commissioned to

expertise,” Will explains. “In these

provide a very traditional, almost old-fashioned w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

W T PA R T N E R S H I P

BIO

Mark Van Beers Managing Director (Hong Kong & Macau)

170

Hong Kong’s one of our oldest offices in Asia and we’ve been here for just over 40 years with our track record in major and mega projects being significant. There’s currently a bid for a design, build and operate project, at the old airport, for a sports precinct of three stadiums and other ancillary facilities and we are in one of the three shortlisted bidding consortia. So, we’re currently working on that bid, six months in already and, if successful, we will then be providing services to that project for another four or five years. Corporate fit-out is an important sector of our market in Hong Kong. We’re currently working on two substantial office fitout projects for Goldman Sachs including the restack of their headquarters. We’re doing another large scale fit out for J.P. Morgan to consolidate a lot of their space into one prime building. Hong Kong Housing Authority is the public housing body and we currently

AUGUST 2018

have over 20 commissions with them that are a mixture of new builds and term maintenance work; some of them very sizable. There’s a lot of competition in Hong Kong in our market. There’d be anywhere between 15 and 20 firms that could undertake commercial quantity surveying work, maybe more, and there are probably six or eight who are of a similar size and scale as WTP. Another principal market for us here is Macau where there are 500,000 residents, comprising the entire population from young to grandparents, yet they have 30mn visitors a year. The whole infrastructure of Macau is still playing catch up with the boom in hospitality and tourism. The construction boom is primarily driven by the gaming operators who are developing mega-scale resorts. In Macau, in terms of professional consultants and construction workers, there’s a minimal resident labour

ASIA

force to deliver the mega resorts. So, the challenge for us is getting people to be based in Macau to live there for a number of years and to cover that cost. It actually turns into quite an expensive place to build and has become one of the most expensive in the world. The construction cost, salaries and everything are higher than Hong Kong, actually, and although this market has proved successful for WTP, it comes with truly significant challenges. The boom and bust in Macau goes from one end of the scale to the other. There could be very few projects for a couple of years and then suddenly all the gaming operators will simultaneously launch their next phase of major projects. Consequently, our headcount in Macau from 2004 until today, has varied between two and 50 people and itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s gone up and down quite a few times with the cycles of work.

I guess thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s two parts to the Macau market, one being a very local market that seldom uses quantity surveyors at all with the other being the five or six international businesses who have the gaming licenses now, for example MGM, Wynn, Melco and a few more. Actually, these opportunities all start with architects and engineers designing in Hong Kong and then become a Macau project with a lot of people moving to Macau to work on the procurement and construction. Increasingly, we are also seeing demand to service projects in Taiwan, South Korea and Japan which are markets that we are looking at the potential for future expansion, each being subject to timing and a deliverable business model.

w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

171

W T PA R T N E R S H I P

service, that almost mimics what used to be extremely quickly, adopting fast track seen in the British market when I started my methods for those who can accept both career there in the mid-1980s. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Although catching up fast and introducing many of more recent approaches from

alternative systems and a different risk profile. But the project still needs to be delivered to budget.â&#x20AC;?

other more developed international markets, we do lag behind them in many

NEW TECH

jurisdictions where the infrastructure is not

A typical opportunity for potential disagree-

as well developed and the majority of work

ment between contractors and professional

is still executed in a highly traditional

quantity surveyors has been the quantifica-

manner; the clientâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s team completing full

tion. Ask several people to measure the

design before going to a hard money tender same major project, you will inevitably end 172

to builders. However, especially in the

up with differing opinions on the quantities

complex and mega projects, there are

for individual components. However, if you

more clients now with the appetite to finish

can get reliable and meaningful quantities

AUGUST 2018

ASIA

out of an accurate computer-generated

future operations as well. The opportuni-

model this issue should be resolved.

ties with other new technologies are

“BIM (building information modelling)

immense and the data input requirements

and other technological advances, should

to maximise the effectiveness of BIM is

be embraced fully by all parts of the

coming up to speed. WTP is ready and

construction industry and should certainly

looking forward to the potential to move

not be seen as a threat to the quantity

towards real time cost planning & estimat-

surveying profession,” Will explains. “With

ing and cost management.”

readily accessible, reliable and useful quantities, experts can focus on what

NEW SERVICES

really drives the cost aspects of the

“Most of our work traditionally has been in

project. We will see in due course, sooner

the core building sectors, but we now have

rather than later, a coordinated BIM output

a flourishing infrastructure division working

that incorporates both time and cost, not

on roads, rail, airports, renewable energies

only for the construction process but for

and utilities (including water, waste, power

w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

173

W T PA R T N E R S H I P

and district cooling), together with the full range of

174

“ BIM (BUILDING INFORMATION MODELLING) AND OTHER TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCE SHOULD BE EMBRACED FULLY BY ALL PARTS OF THE CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY AND SHOULD CERTAINLY NOT BE SEEN AS A THREAT TO THE QUANTITY SURVEYING PROFESSION” — Will Kennedy-Cooke, Managing Director (South East Asia), WT Partnership

land reclamation and other large-scale infrastructure.” Facilities management consultancy services, led from Singapore, is another more recent addition to an increasingly diversified offering from WTP in Asia that is an extension to the same services that have been established earlier within the Australia and UK businesses. “We introduced FM consultancy services into the region just over 12 months ago and have already completed several interesting commissions, both for new and existing clients. The wider market for these services is not very mature and currently nearly all of the work we’re undertaking is in Singapore and Hong Kong,” Will explains. “There are a number of international Asian-based operators that are quite sophisticated in their approach to FM, but generally the facilities management market in this part of the world is playing catch-up with the West. Sustainability is a key requirement in every sector and is of growing importance to WTP’s services offering. “Several world markets have initiated sustainability targets through a point-scoring exercise,” Will says. “We have Green Mark in Singapore and Australia has Green Star. Leed, a United States Green Building Council initiative, has wide international recognition with a high profile for many corporate clients and there are a number of other sustainable

AUGUST 2018

ASIA

standards in particular markets.

we better with this particular system

Where there isn’t a standard in

or an alternative one? Establishing

a country, they may well adopt one

life cycle models and completing

so we have projects, for example,

whole-of-life studies are an

in Vietnam that are being done to

emerging requirement, harnessing

LEED and others in Indonesia being

both our sustainability and FM

delivered under Green Mark.

consultancy expertise.

“Originally we became involved

“We can also become involved

with how the cost achieves those

with reviews of how existing

sustainable standards in terms of the

buildings can be improved in

capital expenditure. We now look at

energy management to the

not just the cost through the initial

long-term benefit of a building

construction project, but also

owner and the occupants. We aim

examine the implications for the

to provide value in minimising waste

building’s operational life cycle. Over

through design, construction and

the economic life with an appropriate

operation. We look at how the total

planned maintenance regime, are

product can still be cost effective, w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

175

W T PA R T N E R S H I P

but become leaner without

planning we do, to the extent that when

compromising time or safety while

we do go into new markets or provide

improving sustainability.”

new services, we have the best chance to get it right. That’s about people and

EXPANDING FOOTPRINT

network. It’s about understanding the

WTP’s expansion in SEA hasn’t

market and not overstretching our

seen the company veer too far from

management capabilities. It’s about

its ethos thus far. “Our growth, short

structuring a business that is sufficiently

to medium term, has been to stick to

flexible, agile and mobile with capability

our core competences; continuing

to both deliver to the local market

to do what we do well,” Will explains.

expectations as well as the requirements

“We’re careful about the model we

of our international clients as opportuni-

adopt for each location and the

ties evolve in different locations.”

176

AUGUST 2018

ASIA

Internationally, in addition to the long-term operations that originally started in Australia and the UK, WTP has now also been operating in North America and India for a few years with the Middle East being a more recent market entry. As an international group, the geographic footprint is also growing as more opportunities arise and the business is confident of its ability to both plan and manage this expansion programme that is sure to see the company continuing to spread, and deepen its roots.

177

International Commerce Center, Hong-Kong

w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

Driving an IT transformation at McDonald’s SA 178

Nishal Ragoobeer was brought into McDonald’s SA less than 18 months ago, but is already spearheading an IT turnaround WRIT TEN BY

JA MES HENDERSON PRODUCED BY

M A LVERN K ANDEM WA

AUGUST 2018

AFRICA

179

w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

MCDONALD’S SA

ishal Ragoobeer is a man in a hurry: less than 18 months into his spell

as IT Director at McDonald’s South Africa (SA), the number of initiatives he has rolled out or is currently implementing befits a man who has been in the job a great deal longer. Tasked with the remit of turning around the fortunes of the company’s IT team, Nishal had no time to relax into his new position, spending a few months getting his feet 180

under the table. One of his first actions was to upgrade the pointof-sale (POS) system, from NewPOS 3 (NP3) to NewPOS 6 (NP6), which has seen a lift in sales contributions. In March 2017, 240 restaurants operated the NP3 system, with just 10 running the NP6 system. Now, that has been turned on its head with just twenty three (23) sites running NP3, and two hundred and thirty seven (237) running NP6. By the end of August 2018, the entire restaurant base of two hundred and sixty (260) would be running the NP6 system. AUGUST 2018

AFRICA

“I have a number of targets; one is to build the leading Quick Service Restaurant IT team in the country, and I’m convinced in five years McDonald’s South Africa will have it.”

181

— Nishal Ragoobeer, IT Director at McDonald’s South Africa

w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

MCDONALD’S SA

In addition, in what is arguably the most significant project rolled out by Nishal and his team – which has grown from Zero (0) when he arrived to a current figure of one hundred and forty (140) and counting – is the introduction of self-ordering kiosks (SOKs), which are now operational in forty five (45) restaurants across South Africa, with plans to install them in eighty percent (80%) of restaurants by 2020.

AFRICA

Also known as New Generation Kiosks (NGK), the technology allows customers to peruse and order their food from large touch screens, usually positioned close to the area in which patrons enter the restaurants. They have proven to be a real hit so far, with stores reporting a 4-8% climb in sales where the NGKs are used. The SOKs have also proved an attractive proposition for franchisee owners and a useful tool for McDonald’s to persuade its franchisees to invest in its new technology offerings – something Nishal says

“We had a situation in June where the data showed us we were having a really flat day, so we pushed out a voucher through our mobile app. In just one day we saw 20,000 redemptions” — Nishal Ragoobeer, IT Director at McDonald’s South Africa

“requires a fair bit of negotiation”. “Being a franchisee means putting down a lot of money and being comfortable knowing that the return on that investment can be three or four years, so I’m conscious of going back to them and constantly asking them to invest more. What was important with w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

185

MCDONALD’S SA

186

Picture: RapidEye

Click to watch: ‘TV Host and Radio DJ, Cyprian Ndlovu shows us a thing or two about keeping his cool when the heat is on! #MomentsInBetween’

AUGUST 2018

AFRICA

20,000 Number of redemptions achieved by mobile app in one day

237 Number of restaurants running NP6 point-of-sales system

the SOKs was getting them into the corporate-owned stories, proving the results and then pushing them into the pilot franchisee stores,” he comments. “They have seen the benefit and have

200+ Number of selfordering kiosks operational in South African restaurants

been keen to talk about how they have seen an uplift in sales. That caught the imagination of a lot of the other franchisees, which is when we’ve been able to explain that if they want to roll this technology out in into their stores, they also have to sign up to some other upgrades, such as Digital Menu Boards, NP6 Upgrades, etc.” w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

187

MCDONALD’S SA

In a joined-up digital world, Nishal has

“This is a platform our Chief Market-

made it clear that McDonald’s has to be

ing Offer has pushed for aggressively,”

“obsessed” with its customers and use

he comments.

technology to stay ever closer to them. In

“We had a situation in June where the

that spirit, McDonald’s has launched its

data showed us we were having a really

own mobile app, where it can push out

flat day, so we pushed out a voucher

deals, offers and promotions straight to

through our mobile app. In just one day

the cell phones of its customers.

we saw 20,000 redemptions, which

188

AUGUST 2018

AFRICA

shows that this is a way we can directly

number of stores signed up with Uber

increase sales and bring customers into

Eats grow from zero to 100. Future

our stores.”

e-Commerce developments include,

Complementing these services is a

the roll out of Mobile ordering that ena-

fruitful partnership with Uber Eats, the

bles customers to order ahead of time

ubiquitous delivery service offered by

and pick up from a ‘kerbside’ service.

ride hailing app, Uber. Since September

Further, Nishal has ambitions to install

last year, McDonald’s has seen the

Fast and Better WiFi across all of the

189

w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

MCDONALD’S SA

chain’s South African sites by the end of this calendar year. By any measure, it is an ambitious programme of work, and one Nishal acknowledges is made possible by the corporate and financial might of McDonald’s. “Our competitors won’t be able to keep up with our investment, or the scale in which we are rolling out technology,” he predicts. Nishal is clearly a man on an IT mission; backed by one of the world’s most successful busi190

nesses, he seems confident when mapping out some of his future goals for McDonald’s and his team.

AUGUST 2018

AFRICA

“I have a number of targets; one is to build the leading Quick Service Restaurant IT team in the country, and I'm convinced in five years McDonald's South Africa will have it. Another is to attract the top, most innovative talent in the IT industry in South Africa. And the third and most important one, is to rebrand us so that we're no longer an IT team, we're a Technology team. “Why is that important? An IT team has a traditional connotation that you are only skilled with information technology (can fix computers and servers), but it's no longer information technology. It's digital technology, it's information technology, it's customer technology, and it’s supply chain technology. It's a whole bunch of things that have evolved, and just by virtue that we change and rebrand to a technology team means we can serve a broader spectrum of the business.”

Picture: YAOINLOVE

w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

191

Openserve:

The beating heart

of 192

connectivity in

South Africa WRIT TEN BY

L AUR A MULL AN PRODUCED BY

ARRON R A MPLING

AUGUST 2018

AFRICA

193

w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

OPENSERVE

Openserve is Telkom’s redesigned wholesale partner and is a division of the Telkom Group. It is South Africa’s largest telecommunications infrastructure provider with the biggest broadband network

hether you’re downloading a report for your business, browsing the internet, or streaming your favourite songs,

connectivity has become a key building block in our day-to-day lives. Championing this technology-empowered, connected future, Openserve has laid down 194

approximately 150,000km of fibre optic cables and connected over 81,000 homes to fibre, making it the largest telecommunication company in South Africa. Though you may not have noticed they were there, Chief Procurement and Contracts Officer, Benjamin van Zyl, believes that it’s often the companies behind the scenes, like Openserve, that are having a big impact in the country. “Openserve is a division of the Telkom Group and it has been instrumental in enabling connectivity across South Africa and its borders,” explains van Zyl. “Our mission is to be the connectivity provider of choice and enable a data-driven ecosystem. For us, it’s been important to drive a performancebased culture where ‘doing what’s right’ for the AUGUST 2018

AFRICA

195

w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

Our Vision & Mission: Bring digital to every person, home and organization for a fully connected, intelligent world

4K/8K TV

Schools

Government

Banks

Safe City

Electronic

Build ubiquitous connectivity

Develop open, trusted cloud platforms

ICT Infrastructure Intelligent Devices

Create a better experience with broadband

Build an experiencecentric device ecosystem

About us: Huawei is a leading global provider of information and communications technology (ICT) infrastructure and smart devices. With integrated solutions across four key domains â&#x20AC;&#x201C; telecom networks, IT, smart devices, and cloud services â&#x20AC;&#x201C; we are committed to bringing digital to every person, home and organization for a fully connected, intelligent world. Huaweiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s end-to-end portfolio of products, solutions and services are both competitive and secure. Through open collaboration with ecosystem partners, we create lasting value for our customers, working to empower people, enrich home life, and inspire innovation in organizations of all shapes and sizes.

www.huawei.com/za

OPENSERVE

“ Openserve is a division of the Telkom Group and it has been instrumental in enabling connectivity across South Africa and its borders” 198

— Benjamin van Zyl, Chief Procurement & Contracts Officer

client, customer and the company takes precedence over anything else. I am proud to say that we have created a strong foundation to build on.” As the largest fixed wholesale operator in South Africa, Openserve operates across global, enterprise, carrier and consumer market segments. This, of course, means that the company has multiple competitors. Van Zyl says he welcomes the rivalry as it drives the firm to improve and compete with rigour and perhaps nowhere can this be seen better than Openserve’s approach to cost-efficiency. “To survive in a world where the cost of infrastructure is expensive and the price the client is willing to pay is continuously coming down, cost optimisation has been weaved into our business strategy,” notes van Zyl. “Openserve has been very successful over the last few years in reducing costs through workforce optimisation, consolidating the supplier base, reducing the onerous specifications in our contracts and tightening our controls to avoid cost leakage and unnecessary spend. “In all these initiatives, strategic sourcing and contract management play a key role, but it remains a cross-functional team effort to deliver the benefits. Our focus now is on improving our return on investment (ROI) by reducing the capital cost of the value chain in our Metro Ethernet and Fibre to the home (FTTH) deployment.”

AUGUST 2018

INNOVATION FOR TOMORROW In todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s fast paced world, companies need to innovate and adapt to ever changing market needs. At CBi Telecom the development of new products and services are driven by technology trends, the evolution of customer requirements, changing advancements and new market applications.

199

www.cbitele.com Sales: +27 (0) 12 381 1668 Email: sales@cbitele.com

OPENSERVE

Click to watch: ‘How to set up Huawei B315LTE router’

200

In today’s supply chain sector,

would be in our network build environ-

improving visibility continues to rank as

ment, where we are busy creating a

one of the most necessary but

supplier interface portal to manage the

challenging tasks facing procurement

supplier build capacity per region and

professionals today.

ensure optimal work allocation.”

As a listed company, van Zyl believes

Understanding that today’s new

that improved visibility is “absolutely

technologies could be obsolete

critical” to driving efficiencies and

tomorrow, Openserve prides itself on

managing risk.

being agile and unafraid of change. As

“When I joined Openserve, I created a

such, it has spearheaded digital

control tower capability to create

transformation across the company to

visibility in our supply chain, do analytics

remain one step ahead of its competi-

and identify opportunities to drive

tors. Zeroing in on its network and IT

efficiencies,” he notes. “An example

platforms, van Zyl describes how the

AUGUST 2018

AFRICA

BIO

Ben van Zyl has built his expertise as a procurement leader over a twenty-year career; spanning strategic sourcing, procurement and supply chain management for leading financial institutions such as Merrill Lynch, Absa and telecommunications organisations such as Telkom and Openserve. He is an expert in international outsourcing and has used this to ensure the sustainable success of the organisations heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s worked for. His experience covers many disciplines within the purchasing and contract management profession including outsourcing call centres, end-to-end supply chain, facilities management, real estate asset management, shared services, and system maintenance. During outsourcing projects, van Zyl controls the process from business case development and supplier selection to SLAs, contract negotiations and negotiations with unions. The results are significant cost savings coupled with excellent levels of

service. To consolidate his business strategies, van Zyl builds high-performance specialist teams who execute large and complex contracts to specification and within budget and deadline. He thrives in enterprise transformation environments where he translates business aims into a sourcing strategy that delivers the most cost-effective solutions. Van Zyl is currently Chief Procurement and Contracts Officer and he oversees the Supply Chain, Strategic Sourcing, Procurement operations, quality management, Supplier development and contract management for Openserve. He holds a BCompt Degree from the University of South Africa and an MCISP Diploma from the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply.

w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

201

OPENSERVE

202

Services FTTH • FTTB • FTTX PLANNING • METRO ETHERNET • MSAN MICROWAVE VSAT • ITMB CIVIL CONSTRUCTION • TRENCHING • HAULING FLOATING • SPLICING • MAINTENANCE

AUGUST 2018

Construction & Plant Hire (Pty) Ltd Johannesburg, South Africa

Gioconb@global.co.za +27 11 943 1550

AFRICA

“ People see digitalisation as a threat as they translate it to job losses, but I see it as an opportunity where it can make our jobs easier, better, faster and more fulfilling” — Benjamin van Zyl, Chief Procurement & Contracts Officer

203

firm aims to create a ‘holistic’

optimise inventory and reduce

approach to digitisation.

working capital. On top of this, it has

“We have introduced digital

also created an innovative control

touchpoints that enable us to monitor

tower to improve supply chain

and secure our network,” he says.

visibility, conduct analytics and

“The Telkom Group is working with

improve efficiency in its supply chain.

SAP Ariba to digitalise the source to

With a next-generation fibre

settle process to free up resources

network, Openserve has provided a

from tactical work. We are also

gateway for communities to

exploring the use of robotics to

connect. However, the company

automate various processes.”

doesn’t underestimate the potential

The South African firm has also

of emerging technologies like

implemented a forecasting and

robotics, machine learning, artificial

planning tool to improve delivery,

intelligence (AI) and automation. w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

OPENSERVE

204

AUGUST 2018

AFRICA

205

“The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) clearly warns that the digital divide will only widen if developing markets don’t seize the opportunities that digitisation will bring. We are therefore excited, but also understand that we must get this right” — Alphonzo Samuels, CEO, Openserve

w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

WE’LL GET IT DONE!! •

Service Provider in All Telecommunications and Wireless Broadband Solutions.

•

Road Construction ,Earthworks Plant Hire & Building Material Supplier.

www.mthiyane.co.za

info@mthiyane.co.za

122 Platt Drive, Isipingo 4001

(031) 9026112

NEW LIFE TO YOUR NETWORK End-to-end solutions from microwave to optical transport technology

ALFOplus2 dual carrier microwave radio

LM-1 micro ROADM WSS-less 2 degree ROADM

www.siaemic.com

www.sm-optics.com

AFRICA

The company’s CEO, Alphonzo Samuels, highlights that making the region more connected and digitally-enabled is not only beneficial for Openserve, it could also help to revitalise the economy and improve the region’s quality of living. “Enabling the fourth industrial revolution is something that developing markets absolutely need to get right,” he says. “The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) clearly warns that the digital divide will only widen if developing markets don’t seize the opportunities that digitisation will bring. We are therefore excited, but also understand that we must get this right. It’s a call to action that is founded on our desire to develop Africa.” To www.gigabitmagazine. remain agile and adaptive, Openserve com has not only invested heavily in its network infrastructure

“ For us, it’s been important to drive a performance– based culture where ‘doing what’s right’ for the client, customer and the company takes precedence over anything else. I am proud to say that we have built a strong foundation to build on” — Benjamin van Zyl, Chief Procurement & Contracts Officer

– it has also created long-lasting partnerships that have helped it meet the needs of today’s digital world.

w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

207

OPENSERVE

In the past two years, the South African giant has joined forces with companies such as Huawei and Nokia to help provide a high-speed fibre packet and optical transport network. “Under the leadership of our Chief Technology and Systems Officer, Hugo van Zyl, we are implementing an IP-enabled optical transport network – we call it POTN (for Packet and Optical Transport Network),” explains van Zyl. “The POTN establishes an IP enabled optical transmission capability that can scale to meet the demands of the fourth industrial revolution, catering for higher speeds, increased capacity requirements, lower latency requirements and 208

digitalisation of the network fabric. “Fibre deployment remains a key future enabler for end-user connections, as well as small cells in

“To survive in a world where the cost of infrastructure is expensive and the price the client is willing to pay is continuously coming down, cost optimisation has been weaved into our business strategy” — Benjamin van Zyl, Chief Procurement & Contracts Officer

mobile networks. Huawei’s contribution is important, providing this state of the art technology in a dual-vendor scenario. “We also have a long-standing relationship with Mthiyane Construction. They are part of a panel of sub-contractors doing build, maintenance and repair work in different layers of the network. They are important as we need

AUGUST 2018

AFRICA

209

experienced service providers in all parts of the country to build a high-quality network.” Partnerships have also been integral to areas such as supply chain – with Bidvest Fleet, for example, supplying and maintaining over 4500 vehicles used by the company’s technicians. It’s clear that this rich ecosystem of industry partnerships has been integral, w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

Smart Supply Chain Solutions

Create, Digitise, Connect, Secure Fibre and other networking technologies ensure that more and more African people and businesses are experiencing world-class connectivity. Etion Connect (previously Tedaka Solutions) plays a pivotal role in ensuring that this growth can continue unhindered, thanks to an array of products and solutions which cater to the entire digital value chain. From data centre to end user, we ensure that our customers can build a network that is efficient, reliable, and stable. With our help, installations are faster and more cost-effective, allowing these customers to rest easy in the knowledge that their return on investment (ROI) is secure. The solutions provided by Etion Connect include: • Outside plant closures • Inside plant high density optical distribution frames • Plug and play solutions for harsh environments • Customer end user connectivity • Classroom and in-field training and education In the age of interconnectedness, it is imperative that organisations’ communication systems are stable and effectively connect the value chain. Through its products, solutions, and services, Etion Connect allows organisations to achieve this stability and effective connections. Etion Connect is a part of the Etion Group, which also includes Etion Create, Etion Digitise, and Etion Secure. While each of these units provide distinct services, they are all complementary and capable of providing technology to each other.

www.etion.co.za

AFRICA

2015

Year founded

10,000+ Approximate number of employees

211

helping to ensure that Openserve can

mix is seldom seen and I am excited about

continue to provide a connection,

the unique blend that will take this

wherever its customers are.

company forward.”

Celebrating the company’s collaborative

Openserve has embarked on a radical

approach, van Zyl is also keen to highlight

procurement function and embraced

the efforts of his team, citing their passion

technological innovation. To cement this

as critical to the company’s success.

new-found change, van Zyl outlines how

“What’s unique about Openserve is its people,” he says. “We have highly talented individuals with institutional knowledge as

the company has seen a cultural transformation as well as a digital one. “Transformation always involves a

well as young talent with the zeal to take

change in human behaviour and people

risks and try innovative solutions. Such a

resist change when they cannot see its w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

OPENSERVE

value,” he says. “People see digitalisation as a threat as they translate it to job losses, but I see it as an opportunity where it can make our jobs easier, better, faster and more fulfilling. However, you need to be willing to make this culture change as digital transformation involves new skill sets with millennials and baby boomers responding differently to this learning process. Unless our managers, employees and support staff embrace the change of digital transformation, it will fail.” With this cultural change in motion, Openserve is not resting on its laurels. In fact, today it is now striving to become the largest open-access infrastructure 212

connectivity company in South Africa. “We are clear that we want to transform into a Digital Service Provider (DSP) that is able to expose the network as a service through open Application Programming Interfaces (APIs),” explains van Zyl. “This is enabled through the ongoing virtualisation of hardware through NFV (Network Function Virtualisation) and managed through the concept of Software Defined Networks (SDN), truly digitalising our network.” With a rigorous, digitally-enabled plan underway, the South African firm is preparing for the next chapter of its journey. But regardless of any changes, it seems Openserve will unwaveringly remain at the heart of connectivity in South Africa.

AUGUST 2018

AFRICA

FACT

0penserve has supplied over a million DSL connections, laid down over 147,000km of fibre optic cables and connected over 81,000 homes to fibre.

213

w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

Zambia

Bank

214

National Commercial

AUGUST 2018

AFRICA

215

embracing technology in a digitally enabled world WRIT TEN BY

DA LE BENTON PRODUCED BY

JUS TIN BR AND

w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

Z A M B I A N AT I O N A L C O M M E R C I A L B A N K ( Z A N A C O ) P L C

Through a digital transformation strategy, Zambia Commercial National Bank continues to serve the technologically enabled banking customer

he global banking

make IT far more central to the

industry is changing.

strategic direction of the bank,”

As technology

says Frank Banda, Head of IT.

continues to redefine the very

216

“As the industry becomes

nature of the financial space,

increasingly dictated by

with more and more customers

technology, there has to be

moving away from the physical

a greater code of alignment

banking of the past, companies

between IT and the business, so

and financial institutions must

that it moves away from being

adapt and innovate with this

just a support function and becomes more

changing landscape in order to

of a partner to the business.”

continue to be successful.

Banda, having successfully worked in

In this ever-evolving digital

Information and Technology in the Zambian

world, the responsibility of the

banking sector for a number of years, has

IT function has never been

seen first-hand the transformative nature of

more crucial. This is most

the industry and recognises that the key

certainly the case for Zambia

driving force behind any IT transformation in

National Commercial Bank

banking will always be the customer.

(Zanaco), as the company

The modern-day customer is more

looks to completely reimagine

technologically empowered than ever before

its IT and technology infra-

and expects the same level of service, access

structure in order to better

and functionality from all of the companies

serve the modern banking

and business they engage with.

customer. “It’s part of my strategy here to AUGUST 2018

“They are asking for improved ways of banking, new products and new levels of

AFRICA

“ As the industry becomes increasingly dictated by technology, there has to be a greater code of alignment between IT and the business, so that it moves away from being just a support function and becomes more of a partner to the business.” — Frank Banda, Head of IT

w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

217

Z A M B I A N AT I O N A L C O M M E R C I A L B A N K ( Z A N A C O ) P L C

efficiency,” says Banda. “And with that we have to rethink how we operate. What was a successful model a few years back has become almost entirely obsolete, and so the bank set it upon itself to become more innovative, more responsive and agile to meet these growing demands.” Zanaco is currently undergoing a significant digital transformation, targeting a full implementation of a new digital bank by 2020. Traditionally, technology has always 220

been implemented across the bank as a means of increasing the

“ It’s about working closely with all of our partners to help take our solutions development to the next level so that those solutions continue to be ones that customers demand and enjoy.” — Frank Banda, Head of IT

profitability as opposed to working in unison with the growth journey of the wider organisation. When attempting to create a far more aligned organisation there can be challenges. Banda readily admits that, with an extensive career in the technology space, the key challenge for him and the company is one of communication. “Integrating technology to the business where people may not be as well versed as to the benefits and the functionalities of technology, you have to tailor the way in which you AUGUST 2018

AFRICA

communicate the core message,” he says. “And that’s a continuous challenge. To try to really understand the direction of the business and to develop solutions that can help move people, and the business, forward.” In any technology transformation, the role of the employee and the people across the entire organisation cannot be understated. After all, the right technology to drive a business forward needs to have the right person behind it. This is something that Banda recognises and invests a great amount of time in fostering, personally retraining himself on a regular basis in order to be able to be the right man in charge. Part of Banda’s core mission is to align not only the technology, but the people and the teams to a single business led vision. He notes that a company needs its people to grow with it in order to continue to deliver solutions and services that the ever-changing customer is demanding. To that end, Banda has worked to create what he feels is an environment that provides the right level of challenges for the team to create a culture of innovation. Ultimately, this is dictated by the customer. “The customer of today wants efficiency w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

221

Z A M B I A N AT I O N A L C O M M E R C I A L B A N K ( Z A N A C O ) P L C

and reliability,” says Banda. “They want to be able to perform a

look specifically at the in-house

transaction in a quick and efficient

development of solutions for

manner. No queuing, no waiting.

customers but we also work with

That for me is a market that invites

vendors to help us develop new

challenge from a banking perspec-

solutions for the business.”

tive, and so we must rise to that challenge.” Zanaco’s transformation is to

“It’s about working closely with all of our partners to help take our solutions development to the next

serve a wider business strategy, to

level so that those solutions

be the bank of choice in Zambia.

continue to be ones that customers

The company is already a leader in

demand and enjoy.”

the market, but Banda knows that it 222

“We partner with some vendors to

With technology and the

has to innovate in order to continue

digitisation of business, organisa-

to be a leader.

tions such as Zanaco cannot reach

This will be achieved through the

an “end point” and then stop.

implementation and delivery of

Technology will continue to evolve

cutting edge solutions for custom-

and so too must Zanaco, so the

ers, including the launch of a mobile

goals set for 2020 will not be the

banking application earlier this year

same goals for 2021 and beyond.

as well as a number of in house

The journey was an initial

solutions to become far more agile

three-year plan and as we approach

and responsive to the market.

the midway point of 2018, one and

A key component of this is the

a half years in, Banda looks at this

bank’s vendor management strategy.

year as a year of laying down the key

“We align ourselves with a number

foundations for the future growth of

of vendors at different levels and

the business.

through our transformation, both

“We’re sitting in a great space right

internally and on an external basis,”

now. A lot of our energy in the first

says Banda.

year was focused on revamping

AUGUST 2018

AFRICA

BIO

Frank Banda — Head of IT Frank Banda is currently the Head of Information Technology for ZANACO, the biggest bank in Zambia in terms of customer base and branch network, he has over 11 years’ work experience in IT, his experience spans across all the different domains of technology, he has been with ZANACO for 7 years where he has played pivotal role in ensuring that the bank provides quality service to its large client base, before joining ZANACO, Frank worked for Ecobank Zambia where he led the implementation of core IT services and infrastructure for the bank. He is very passionate about technology and digital transformation, especially the role that technology plays in making a difference to people’s lives. He is currently leading the digital transformation journey from technology support standpoint for ZANACO. Frank Holds a Bachelors in Science degree in Computer Networks, MSc in Information Security & Computer Forensics both from University of East London. He has certifications in IT governance, ITIL and Project Management.

223

w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

Z A M B I A N AT I O N A L C O M M E R C I A L B A N K ( Z A N A C O ) P L C

our in-house applications and systems and honing our skills as a team,” he says. “This year we have brought on board our mobile app and are now revamping our internet banking platform for our Corporate and Retail clients, both of which are really setting us up nicely to hit those initial 2020 goals.” Eyes inevitably will turn to beyond 2020 and Banda confirms as much, recognising the need to continue to prepare for whatever the 224

future holds for the banking industry in Zambia. “The future for us will be defined by keeping our ears close to the ground in order to constantly evolve with the evolving market trends,” he says. “While our we will continue to innovate and continue to push our solutions to remain at the forefront of technology, ultimately it’s about making our customer happy. “We want to be the bank of choice in Zambia, consistently, for many years to come.”

AUGUST 2018

“ While we will continue to innovate and continue to push our solutions to remain at the forefront of technology, ultimately it’s about making our customer happy.” — Frank Banda, Head of IT

AFRICA

225

w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

226

legacy Creating a mining

WRIT TEN BY

DA LE BENTON PRODUCED BY

M A LVERN K ANDEM WA

AUGUST 2018

in South Africa

AFRICA

227

y w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

EXXARO RESOURCES

Over the last decade, Exxaro Resources has empowered its people and fostered a collaborative culture to become a vital influence on South Africa’s mining industry

n November 2006, two leading coal companies in South Africa came together to create Exxaro Resources.

Over the course of the last 12 years, the company has become one of the largest and foremost black-empowered coal and heavy mineral companies in the country. The company’s key strategic vision is centred around going above and beyond simply existing 228

as a leading mining organisation; it strives to make a positive impact on the world and power better lives in Africa. Exxaro’s portfolio has significantly grown to

Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) plays a pivotal role. Through

expand beyond coal. While coal is the compa-

key investments, the company

ny’s biggest produce, with seven managed

empowers its employees to make

mines producing power station, steam and

decisions and drive outcomes

cooking coal, it also produces ferrous metals

through trust-based leadership.

(iron), iron ore, titanium dioxide, wind energy and zinc. Its goal to make a positive impact on the world

Through this, Exxaro provides real tangible benefits and rewards to its employees, fostering a culture

is clearly being realised through the supply of

of “true ownership” that it feels

these resources to “fuel our future.”

enables an entrepreneurial mindset.

In order to deliver on this vision, Exxaro

The company’s mission state-

invests heavily in empowering people, both

ment is “powering possibility” and

internally and externally across Africa.

so it looks to develop employees to

This is where the company’s commitment to AUGUST 2018

become leaders in the industry and

AFRICA

229 cultivating change. Exxaro implemented a workplace model at its Corporate Centre called Activity Based Working

faster, more adaptable and driven to deliver the greatest possible results to meet the companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s targets. An empowered workforce is one key

(ABW). This is a model built on trust

component in successfully delivering on its

and places power in the hands of

vision, but as a mining and resources company

the employees in order to foster

Exxaro understands that community and

greater collaboration and a more

partnerships can be and often are the key.

innovative approach to working for the company. This is a two-way discourse and

The company says so itself, recognising that in order to grow and succeed it needs an ecosystem of employees, communities and

so each employee is held account-

partners from all across the

able to perform at the very highest

country to be working towards this shared

standards of their abilities.

unified goal.

Employees are encouraged to be

By collaboratively fostering empowered w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

EXXARO RESOURCES

Building the foundation

#UNLOCKEXPERIENCES FOR A CONNECTED FUTURE

Designing Experiences

Driving Business Veloc

Delivering Customer of digital, design and c

230

To know more, log onto https://www.techmahindra.com/unlockexperien AUGUST 2018

TECHNOLOGY

n with Networks of the Future

s with the Internet of Things

city with DevOps, AI and RPA

Experiences with interplay convergence 231

nces.html wawf w. r i cgai g. baubsi ti nmeasgsaczhiineef.. c o m

EXXARO RESOURCES

232

AUGUST 2018

AFRICA

‘ Coal is after all the country’s second largest earner, providing 6.1% of South Africa’s total merchandise exports’

This code of conduct does challenge suppliers to think about their business, with sustainability and a solid foundation of sustainability best practice being “pertinent” to the company’s strategic objectives. Exxaro believes that suppliers can also provide learnings and greater collaboration moving forward to better deliver on its vision. Despite its broad portfolio of resourc-

communities who can access, and

es, Exxaro is first and foremost a coal

participate in, more socio-economic

mining company. Coal is after all the

possibilities and by investing in initiatives

country’s second largest earner,

that will deliver sustainable societies

providing 6.1% of South Africa’s total

through proactive engagement, deep

merchandise exports. South Africa in

understanding of societal needs, Exxaro

itself contains 11% of the world’s entire

truly delivers on its promise of economic

coal resources with 31bn tonnes of

development and prosperity.

recoverable coal.

When it comes to striking, fostering and

As the leading coal mining company,

developing key strategic partners,

Exxaro’s core projects are strategically

Exxaro applies the same approach. It

located in proximity of the country’s

achieves this through the Exxaro Supplier

highest coal concentrations; Mpumalan-

Code of Conduct, a document that

ga and Limpopo.

communicates certain standards that the

Its seven sites across the country are

company believes are mandatory for

defined by two core principles; to foster

selecting suppliers.

the fuel of the future and to continuously

Suppliers are obliged to conform to this code and Exxaro ensures that its suppliers continue to adhere to it through

increase South Africa’s competitiveness on the global coal stage. Within these seven sites are what

a culture of continuous improvement via

Exxaro defines as “mega projects.”

rigorous audits.

These projects are geared towards w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

233

EXXARO RESOURCES

ensuring a more productive tomorrow and are defined by several objectives: to grow the coal business, to expand and increase production volumes in a more sustainable way, plus many more. Such examples of mega projects that Exxaro is currently working on include a R3.3bn 2.2Mtpa Belfast Mine thermal coal resource for Mpumalanga, as well as a R2.9bn greenfield mine that will extract and produce 3.9 Mtpa to serve a 600MW thermal power station. 234

Ground was officially broken on the Belfast Mine in July this year and has been dubbed the “first of its kind digital mine” due to a digital twin that has been created simultaneously. This digital replica is a complete replica of the mine and will allow management and contractors to connect and manage the workload remotely and identify problems in real-time, reducing downtime and increasing the safety of the operation. As an industry first, it’s but another example as to how Exxaro continues to strive for greater AUGUST 2018

AFRICA

235

w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

EXXARO RESOURCES

Taking Digital beyond demo’s. During this time of disruptive change let Deloitte show you how signiﬁcant and disruptive developments in areas such as IoT, robotics, artiﬁcial intelligence, cloud computing, and predictive analytics - can transform your business - by practically guiding you through your digital transformation journey.

Make Digital the linchpin of your business strategy. To explore more on our digital capabilities, visit www.deloitte.com/za/consulting or contact Deloitte Consulting Africa Chief Operations Oﬃcer - Coenrad Alberts (calberts@deloitte.co.za) or Client Account Manager - Hester Swart (hswart@deloitte.co.za)

Deloitte Consulting

AUGUST 2018

AFRICA

‘ The mine will create close to 6,000 direct and indirect jobs during construction and the life of the mine’ collaboration, developing a more capable

as an organisation. In an address at the

industry and empowering the workforce

official ground-breaking ceremony,

with new skills and capabilities through

Refilwe Mtshwer, Mpumlanga Premier,

this innovative technology.

recognised Exxaro for its influential role

The mine will create close to 6,000 direct and indirect jobs during construc-

in defining the future of South Africa. “Exxaro Resources, as a proudly

tion and the life of the mine, with almost

South African company, has been

20,000 people benefiting. Overall it is

exemplary and at the forefront of

expected to contribute R39bn to local

reshaping how the mining sector

GDP over the life of the mine.

contributes to nation-building for

Ultimately however, the mine represents everything that Exxaro stands for

the past 12 years. Today is a testament to that.” w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

237

238

THE MIDDLE EASTâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S DATA MARKETING POWERHOUSE WRIT TEN BY

DA LE BENTON PRODUCED BY

CR AIG DANIEL S

AUGUST 2018

MIDDLE EAST

239

w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

GROUP M

Through [m]PLATFORM, GroupM looks to redefine the digital marketplace of the Middle East

As the world’s largest media investment group, responsible for one in three advertisements

This is where Siddons comes to the fore. Working alongside Daniel Vaczi,

globally, a powerful system is required to be

[m]PLATFORM Head of Data & Technology,

able to store and ultimately leverage the

the two are tasked with delivering cutting

mountains of data available. For GroupM,

edge data and technology solutions to

this solution is [m]PLATFORM.

GroupM agencies and their clients.

“[m]PLATFORM is GroupM’s solution for 240

throughout the MENA region.

“The UK, for example, is a challenging

shaping data and technology around each

market to operate in, given the number

advertiser’s needs,” said Marcus Siddons,

of players live and scaled,” says Siddons.

Managing Director, GroupM MENA. “We

“I feel both Dan and I are privileged in the

get unique data from across the media

sense that we can apply our experience

landscape and various consumer touch-

of such developed markets to the MENA

points to help clients best use technology

region, and through our agency back-

and deliver the right message to the right

grounds remain close to what business

consumer at the right time.”

challenges clients need solving.”

“It allows us join up all important insights

“That’s very important,” adds Vaczi. “It’s

to execution, but what it really boils down

often easy when working in a technology

to is understanding individual users and

role or company to be disconnected from

having a complete view of a single user. For

the real business challenges that clients

our region, that’s both unique and challeng-

and their agencies are under. We under-

ing in equal parts.”

stand both agencies and clients as we were

GroupM has operations all over the world,

in the same shoes in our previous roles.

including Germany, Korea, Japan and the

Using this experience, we can tailor

United States, but the company is currently

solutions that directly addresses these

undergoing an aggressive expansion plan

business challenges.’’

AUGUST 2018

MIDDLE EAST

“ WE ARE LOOKING TO INNOVATE EVERY WEEK SO THAT WE ARE OPERATING IN A VERY DIFFERENT PLACE THAN WE WERE LAST WEEK AND WILL BE IN A VERY DIFFERENT PLACE NEXT WEEK”

241

Marcus Siddons, Managing Director, GroupM Digital MENA

w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

GROUP M

Across its MENA footprint, GroupM has a

Technology of course is an ever-chang-

presence in over 20 countries from

ing beast and a company like GroupM

Morocco right through to Oman. As an

has to not only recognise this evolving

organisation that defines itself through the

landscape but try and remain ahead

way it works closely with its client base,

of the game in order to continue to

operating across the region presents

deliver for its clients.

unique challenges from location to location,

This in itself creates its own unique

and as a company with technology at its

challenge; does a company look to innovate

heart this challenge is only exacerbated.

and implement technology just to stay in the

“At GroupM we are trying to tackle a huge challenge with [m]PLATFORM, not just siloed understanding of our customers but

game? Or does it not take the risk and fall behind the rest of the market? Siddons agrees as much, believing that

ensuring we can execute against this

the conversation surrounding technology

seamlessly,” says Vaczi.

creates a lot of “noise” and that the key

AUGUST 2018

MIDDLE EAST

243

w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

GROUP M

element is to cut through this noise and focus on what is actually going to deliver and provide true value to clients. This, he confesses, is not an easy thing to do, particularly as clients also continue to evolve. “In essence, working with a client is about helping them drive growth and profitability,” says Siddons. “But, that’s changed. As the world moves into the digital sphere, clients now have a far greater understanding and control of what they want and how 244

they want it.’’ “It’s not just the client that has a greater understanding of so many different domains, their consumers, our partners and our people do too which wasn’t the case as much as

“ IT’S MORE THAN JUST AUDIENCE AND DATA ANALYTICS. IT’S ABOUT IDENTITY AND ACTUALLY TURNING THE DATA INTO VALUE AND BEING ABLE TO PROVIDE SUGGESTIONS AND IMPROVEMENTS TO CLIENTS” Daniel Vaczi, [m]PLATFORM MENA Head of Data & Technology

AUGUST 2018

MIDDLE EAST

five years ago. So, for us, the demands have changed because not only do clients rely on us provide the right advice to deliver on our promise to drive success for those clients, partners and people.” This is where [m]PLATFORM comes in. [m] PLATFORM represents a key differentiator for GroupM, allowing it to gain insights into audiences like no other agency or provider could. As Siddons notes, the industry has changed and so too has the market, and this forced GroupM to re-examine its process and service solution. “The industry has grown,” he says. “As that market has changed, we looked at our operating model. Do we buy other businesses? Do we build our own technology? Or do we partner with other businesses? How do we stand tall above other players?’’ “It became clear to us that understanding our audiences and being able to use and apply scale to that was going to be a big differentiator.” What [m]PLATFORM does is provide clients with the best in class audience insight, data analysis and visualization tools on a global scale. But as Vaczi points out, “It’s more than just audience and data analytics. It’s about identity and actually turning the data into value and being able to provide actionable insights.’’ “We use sophisticated artificial intelligence to turn data into insight and then into actions, which is unique to this region. But let’s not forget that there is still a huge people element to this.” w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

245

GROUP M

In any technology conversation, it is often easy to forget the key role that employees, suppliers and people will play. That expertise element cannot be underestimated. Vaczi firmly subscribes to that notion. “[m]PLATFORM requires a unique set of skills in order to deliver it,” he says. “We are really proud of the diversity of our teams who come from media planning, buying, programming, data science, analytics and trading backgrounds.’’ “That we have all of these specialists under one roof cannot be understated. Our people are what makes [m]PLATFORM truly unique.” Attracting this talent is often a challenge, but it is 246

a challenge that Siddons feels GroupM has been incredibly successful at doing so. Vaczi confirms, “it is incredibly important that we have the best people. We do this by making it a company that people genuinely want to work for.’’ “A key part of that for me, is that cross pollination of skills, talents and ideas. People really benefit from being a part of GroupM and it shows.” Siddons points to GroupM as having one of the lowest turnovers of staff since he’s been there, not just in the industry but also across the region. GroupM also has one eye on the future workforce and works closely with local universities and schools to foster a pathway for the next generation of students who can drive the company to new levels of innovation. When identifying the challenge that lies ahead, AUGUST 2018

“ HAVING A SHARED VISION WITH THESE PARTNERS IS CRUCIAL. WHEN WE PARTNER WITH THESE COMPANIES, WE AIM FOR MULTIYEAR LONG-TERM RELATIONSHIPS. THIS REALLY ENSURES THAT WE ARE AIMING FOR THE SAME GOAL AND THIS APPLIES ACROSS OUR ENTIRE GLOBAL PRESENCE” Daniel Vaczi, [m]PLATFORM MENA Head of Data & Technology

MIDDLE EAST

GroupM looked at partner relationships

FORM, but both admit that for them the

and how those relationships can push the

journey is very much still at the beginning.

capabilities of the company. In any

As the company embraces the future of

technology transformation or journey, no

digital, it will do so by building on the

company can do it alone.

foundations of [m]PLATFORM. Data will

“As much as we want to use our own

only continue to define and redefine the

people, in some cases we do need to look to

industry and so GroupM will continuously

our suppliers and partners to help push our

place data at the very core of its operations

capabilities and our skillsets in order to achieve

in order to gain better insights which will

our project goals or roadmap,” says Vaczi.

drive greater results for its clients.

“Having a shared vision with these partners is crucial. When we partner with these companies, we aim for multiyear

“At GroupM we continue to re-invest into our people and technology,” he says. “We are looking to innovate every week

long-term relationships. This really ensures

so that we are operating in a very different

that we are aiming for the same goal and this

place than we were last week and will be in a

applies across our entire global presence.’’

very different place next week.”

Both Siddons and Vaczi have been on a considerable journey over the last few years through the development of [m]PLATw w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

247

248

AUGUST 2018

MIDDLE EAST

Embracing future growth through digitsation CHANGING REGULATIONS ARE RESHAPING THE TRADITIONAL INSURANCE MARKET. RENOWNED FOR ITS EXCEPTIONAL SERVICE DELIVERY AND CUSTOMER FOCUS, UNION INSURANCE HAS DIGITISED ITS SERVICES, FULLY CEMENTING ITS POSITION IN THE GCC WRITTEN BY

CATHERINE STURMAN PRODUCED BY

CRAIG DANIELS

w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

249

UNION INSURANCE

he United Arab Emirates (UAE) is moving away from its dependence on oil and is seeking to diversify its

economy within healthcare, transport and logistics, energy, tourism, and of course, its insurance services. Covering all industries, the GCC insurance market is projected to rise at a CAGR of 10.9%, from $26.2bn in 2016 to $44bn in 2021, bolstering the economic growth of the region and its citizens. New digital tools and complex regulations will seek to further drive the growth of SMEs and large corporations, enabling businesses to cater towards its evolving client demand. 250

Licensed by the UAE Insurance Authority and listed on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange, Union Insurance has sought to transform the customer experience. Appointed over two years ago, Anshul Srivastav, Chief Information Officer and Digital Officer, explains that the industry’s focus on the customer has been significantly isolated from the customer experience in recent years. “The insurance sector definitely takes a backseat in terms of customer experience,” he says. “My role is someone who is a technology transformation leader, where I have completely transformed the way Union Insurance has operated on the IT side with my team, looking at various aspects including the AUGUST 2018

MIDDLE EAST

“ CLOUD HAS ENABLED US TO PROVIDE ON-DEMAND TYPE SERVICES. WE’VE CONVERTED IT INFRASTRUCTURE AS A UTILITY, WHERE SIMILAR TO WATER OR ELECTRICITY, CUSTOMERS PAY FOR WHAT THEY CONSUME” — Anshul Srivastav, Chief Information Officer and Digital Officer

251

w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

Enabling a smarter today Etisalat Digital is a business unit of Etisalat helping to drive digital transformation by enabling enterprises and governments to become smarter through the use of the latest technologies. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s no longer the big beating the small, but the fast beating the slow and the smart taking the lead.

For more information, visit etisalatdigital.ae

TECHNOLOGY

Click to watch: Union Insurance provides more than just protection 253

current inventory and future inven-

FACT

tory of things that need to be done.

The GCC insurance market is projected to rise at a CAGR of 10.9%, from $26.2bn in 2016 to $44bn in 2021

“The first role was to change the way things were working in the region and to look at how the market is. Working closely with businesses, in terms of how things are and how things are going to be

end-to-end experience of the cus-

done moving forward.”

tomer, from buying a particular product and ensuring products

ENHANCING THE

are serviced, the company has

CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE

revamped its online presence and

By convincing Union Insurance’s

branding, leading to the eradica-

management team to explore the

tion of its paper-led processes. w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

UNION INSURANCE

“Through our mobile app,

“We have also automated a lot of processes

we started enabling customers to

through implementing robotic process automa-

help themselves. We then decided

tion (RPA). The number of steps taken to complete

to go paperless,” explains Srivastav.

a process in terms of selling and soliciting should

“With all banking services and financial, products are

be reduced. Additionally, we have berisat blockchain, particularly on the documents side.”

paper. Their promises are on

Union Insurance is becoming increasingly

paper, whether it’s currency,

proactive as a result of its digital transformation

a policy or ATM receipts. We now

and has sought to garner a deeper understand-

scan information and our policies

ing of the needs of its customers, placing them

are saved electronically.

firmly at the centre.

254

AUGUST 2018

MIDDLE EAST

“Most customers are not very clear on what

best services and products, miti-

they want and what they’re looking for. When

gate potential risks and protect

reaching out to the customer, whether it’s for a

their coverage.

product or a service, we have to create a journey for them. Customer engagement is very impor-

DIGITALLY ENABLED

tant to alter the entire lifecycle journey,”

Engaging with customers on a

observes Srivastav.

variety of digital platforms, such as

By engaging with customers, Union Insur-

mobile and online, customers are

ance has also sought to gain further

now able to purchase life, health,

understanding of customer age, demographic,

and motor insurance at their own

nationality and preferences, in order to offer the

convenience. Bolstered by the

255

w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

UNION INSURANCE

introduction of artificial intelligence technologies, such as image and voice recognition, Union Insurance has gained an edge over competitors by bringing new solutions to the market at a rapid pace. However, such changes would not have been possible without the

“ ON-DEMAND INSURANCE IS GOING TO BE GAME CHANGER, ESPECIALLY IN LIFE, HEALTH AND P&C INSURANCE” — Anshul Srivastav, Chief Information Officer and Digital Officer

adoption of cloud technology and the business’s focus on data virtualisation. Srivastav explains that this has been a major game changer. “Cloud has enabled us to provide 256

on-demand type services. We now don’t invest in IT prefecture but pay per use, similar to on-demand. It’s like the ‘Uberisation’ of insurance. We’ve converted IT infrastructure as a utility, where similar to water or electricity, customers pay for what they consume. “It has helped us bring products

strengthen Union Insurance’s security services,

to market quicker. When we come

the company has also partnered with Amazon

up with a new product or service,

Web Services and Microsoft, who jointly man-

we don’t have to wait for eight to 12

age its cybersecurity operations 24/7.

weeks to get our IT prefecture

Developing tailored products and services,

commissioning set up. It has now

whilst looking at the commercial impact

been reduced to a couple of hours.”

such decisions will have on the business,

Whilst the adoption of cloud technologies has sought to AUGUST 2018

Union Insurances’ investment in data analytics cannot be underestimated.

MIDDLE EAST

257

“People don’t buy insurance, it is sold. People

insurance, travel insurance and

preferably go for mandatory insurances. In the

shop insurance, everything under

UAE, motor and health insurance is mandatory,”

the sun can be insured.”

explains Srivastav. “When looking at other parts of insurance, we

LONG-TERM EVOLUTION

need to have the data to understand what both

As the insurance industry

corporate and individual customers are looking

continues to mature, competition

at and what products are helpful to them to pro-

amongst providers remains fierce.

tect themselves. From fire insurance, home

Technology giants such as Google w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

UNION INSURANCE

258

AUGUST 2018

MIDDLE EAST

FACT

Introducing artificial intelligence technologies, such as image and voice recognition, Union Insurance has gained an edge over competitors

and Amazon have also sought to expand their diverse portfolios and tap into countries with denser populations and long-term potential. As a result of new laws coming into force in the GCC, all individuals will be required to purchase compulsory medical insurance. Consequently, the GCC insurance industry is set to rise in the next five years – medical insurance presently accounts for approximately 40% of the GCC insurance market. The adoption of life and non-life insurance products also remains on the rise due to the growth of lifestyle diseases and a changing demographic. “Technology players are entering insurance. They will not come as typical, traditional insurance companies, but will offer real-time insurance where they will use the power of data,” notes Srivastav. “Google can see where you are and where you are calling from. In real-time, they can offer certain insurances to prevent the risk of a call drop, for example. On-demand insurance is going to be a game changer, especially in life, health and w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

259

UNION INSURANCE

“ TECHNOLOGY PLAYERS ARE ENTERING INSURANCE, ESPECIALLY ON THE HEALTH SIDE. THEY WILL NOT COME AS TYPICAL, TRADITIONAL INSURANCE COMPANIES, BUT WILL OFFER REAL-TIME INSURANCE WHERE THEY WILL USE THE POWER OF DATA” 260

— Anshul Srivastav, Chief Information Officer and Digital Officer

property and casualty (P&C) insurance. “Also, paying per mile insurance,

“China has also become a significant area of long-term potential. Zhong An,

where you pay insurance on the amount

who started their insurance journey

that you drive, is already in Europe and

in 2013 have recently had an IPO and

gradually coming into the other parts of

are a pure digital player. They have

the world. A lot of driving behaviours are

630 products in China and have sold

captured and bases the rating of insur-

over 8bn policies. If I look at the popu-

ance offered.”

lation of China, which is one and a half

Globally, countries with ageing

billion, every person is purchasing four

populations and an evolving demo-

products, through high-level calcula-

graphic, such as China, will be on the

tion,” Srivastav says.

receiving end of an insurance boom. AUGUST 2018

“They are clearly doing what others

MIDDLE EAST

261

are not doing and are growing rapidly.

evolving market, the company will

Their use of data, wherein they engage

remain a key player within the Dubai

with the customer, they understand

insurance market.

their real time needs, and they offer the

“With our retail-focused products,

protection or cover of what a customer

we’ve done some substantial work in

is looking for, is essential.”

terms of using technology to reach out

Union Insurance has taken a grand

to existing and potential customers

step to reach its direct customers and

through our digital channels,” Srivastav

its partners to ensure that it delivers the

concludes.

best products and services for custom-

“We’re seeing a good traction and

ers in real-time. Predicting the

conversion coming in and it’s adding up

behaviours of its customers, with an

to our revenues in great detail.” w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

Champions of change

The University of Tasmania is one of Australia’s oldest universities, but its Chief Information Officer Jeff Murray explains how it’s a stalwart for the digital age WRITTEN BY

NIKI WA LDEGR AVE

PRODUCED BY

GLEN WHITE

U N I V E R S I T Y O F TA S M A N I A

eff Murray, Chief Information Officer (CIO) at the University of

fantastic their contribution has been

Tasmania (UTAS), remembers

recognised in this way,” he says. “At

reading Martha Heller’s book, The CIO

any one time we’re working on up to

Paradox: Battling the Contradictions of IT

40 capital-funded projects. The

Leadership, a few years ago, in which she

current team is 109-strong and

says the CIO’s role is to create a team of

we’re a third more productive than

many CIOs.

ever before, producing a greater

It’s something that’s stuck with Murray, who has built – and continues to build – a

number of outputs per person. “We’ve refined our people,

solid, award-winning IT team at the

becoming more efficient and we’ve

university, which is ranked in the top 10

done that through programme

Australian research universities and the

delivery and better governance.”

top 2% of universities globally. 264

“The team are outstanding and it’s

In the last year alone, the team has won

UTAS is one of Australia’s most geographically-splayed universi-

numerous national and state awards,

ties, with courses across 65

including:

locations and four main campuses at Sydney, Burnie, Launceston and Hobart. It’s home to more than 50

• AIIA iAward Winners Tasmania (2017)

world-class research centres and

- Winners of Government and Public

institutes across science, engineer-

Sector for the eResearch Ecosystem

ing and technology, health and

- Merit Infrastructure and Platform

medicine, marine Antarctic and

Innovation of the year

maritime, business, arts, law and

• Australian Institute of Project

education, and together they

Management (AIPM) Project Management

generate a rich and diverse

Achievement Awards (2017)

research culture, underpinned by

- Winners of Tasmanian Project of the Year

vibrant multi-disciplinary collabora-

for Skype for Business project

tions, world-class facilities and a

- Winners of Small Project of the Year for

global reputation for research

Skype for Business project

excellence.

• 11th ranking in the CIO Australia Top 50

ANZ

“OUR PROGRAMME OF SYSTEMS ENHANCEMENT HAS DELIVERED $10MN IN ANNUAL COST SAVINGS.” — Jeff Murray, Chief Information Officer

BIO

Jeff Murray, Chief Information Officer (CIO), as head of the Information Technology Services (ITS) section, is responsible for ensuring the alignment of ICT strategy and services to the business goals of the organisation. This encompasses the strategic development, agile delivery and support of a broad range of Information, Communication and Technology (ICT) based services for the University campuses in Tasmania, interstate and internationally. The role is a key executive leadership position within the Division of the Chief Operating Officer, reporting to the Chief Operating Officer. Murray leads the executive management team of ITS and provide high level expert advice to the Chief Operating Officer. He is responsible for strategic management and direction of IT projects/programmes, services and policies at the institutional level and will be expected to work collaboratively with other heads of administrative section to deliver seamless services and support arrangements across the institution.

265

The University of Tasmania partnered with Huawei on the provision of eResearch infrastructure in the area of high performance compute (HPC) infrastructure. The University’s portfolio additionally offers cloud-compute and research data storage to the Tasmania research community and their collaborators. HPC Solution • 256 CH121 v3 blade nodes (more than 7,000 Central Processing Unit (CPU) cores) • 100Gbps EDR non-blocking infinity band network • Implemented a now Open Source HPC cluster software

The HPC cluster provided a massive increase in capability and performance which was quickly adopted by the research community. Our mission is to deliver the best possible solution to enable researchers to solve the big problems of not just today, but tomorrow. Jeff Murry, Chief Information Officer

Huawei worked well with myself and the eResearch Infrastructure team to have the HPC ordered, delivered, racked and ready for acceptance within a matter of three weeks. There are few other organisations that could have achieved this as effectively. Adrian Dillon, Deputy Chief Information Officer

About Huawei Enterprise With continuous technologic innovation, Huawei is committed to fully leveraging the power of cloud computing. Software-Defined Networking (SDN), Big Data, and the Internet of Things (IoT) to build an open, flexible, resilient, and secure platform. Huawei Enterprise is committed to carrying out joint innovations with customers and partners, and helping customers across industries, including government and public sectors, financial services, energy, transportation, and manufacturing to achieve the goal of digital upgrade with “agility and intelligence” at the core. Currently, a total of 197 of Fortune Global 500, including 45 of the top 100, have chosen Huawei as their partner in digital transformation. Follow us on

Website – e.huawei.com/au Email – Mitar Marescuk (mitar.marescuk@huawei.com)

ANZ

MSP external, coutesy of John Gollings 267 Murray is responsible for ensuring the

“We know that our programme of

alignment of ICT-based strategy and services,

systems enhancement has

encompassing strategic development, agile

delivered $10M in annual cost

delivery and support for the campuses in

savings, and in that time the

Tasmania, interstate and internationally.

university’s revenue increased

Tech transformation is crucial to the future of

$160M a year, which was a 40%

the UTAS business strategy, and Murray has

gain in annual revenue. So we know

heavily invested in IT, spending $120M on

the university is vastly more

systems and technology since he started in 2013.

productive as a result of this.

“The importance is to position us for that new

UTAS runs more sites than any

digital era,” he says. “But the flavour we want to

other university in Australia and

bring to the new digital era is that it’s human-rich.

uses technology to help deploy a

People still like to see a person and a face and

richer choice, making it accessible

know there’s a name associated with the service

and connected to its students,

provision.

academic staff and researchers. w w w. b u s i n e s s c h i e f. c o m

U N I V E R S I T Y O F TA S M A N I A

Murray says its aim is to drive the island economy and economic development through a much more integrated, industry-connected, student-connected education system. “We are definitely working to deliver that education across the whole state of Tasmania, not just in the capital cities,” he says. “Tasmania is the least urbanised state in Australia, so technology helps us do that.” UTAS is the second university in 268

the country to introduce augmented reality into its teaching – its architecture students can now

“OUR ERESEARCH ECOSYSTEM (EREC) CAN STORE DATA OF ANY SCALE, WITH 7,100 PROCESSORS SERVING 3.7 PETABYTES OF STORAGE – AND CAPACITY CAN BE INCREASED AT ANY TIME TO MEET NEEDS.” — Jeff Murray, Chief Information Officer

learn 3D spatial principals and design using AR – and it produces the most online content in the country from its lecture systems, producing thousands of hours of video per term and delivering live teaching across the four main sites. With big data, Murray’s team delivered not just the supercomputer but also the software that won the AIIA iAward for the eResearch Ecosystem (eREc), which enables automation and collaboration of the researchers’ data archiving process. AUGUST 2018

ANZ

“eREc can store data of any scale, with 7,100 processors serving 3.7 petabytes of storage – and capacity can be increased at any time to meet needs,” he says. “We called it ‘Facebook for Researchers’ as we can automatically enable where researchers share their open data, and then gain more collaborative viewpoints and analytical viewpoints on it. “The university’s researchers can move 30GB of data overnight from the International Marine Observatory System (IMOS) between the campus and the mainland. They transport the fifth highest volume of Australian cloud super computations.” Murray, who is also the chair of the Advisory Committee for Australia’s Academic and Research Network (AARNet), reveals eREc’s biggest users come from the main Australian states, explaining: “Our system in an automated way interprets the metadata, the tags on that data, just like your tag on Twitter, and shares it – so when people are looking for datasets in the marine observatory system, those tags queue their search in and bring them right down to the right place in our information set. “We’ve seamlessly provided huge datasets to the world in a collaborative way that enable our researchers to pick rich partnerships with other researchers working in that space. Then they can move towards solving vexing global problems together.” w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

269

U N I V E R S I T Y O F TA S M A N I A

Of course, when it comes to such infrastructure, understanding IT vendor management strategies is key, and UTAS has climacteric partnerships with the likes of Huawei, Dell EMC, HPE, Aruba, Microsoft, VMware, Technology One, ServiceNOW, Presence of IT, Echo360, D2L, InSync, Panasonic, Data#3, Parallo and Park Lane IT. “Huawei gave us that opportunity to build the second biggest supercomputer in the sector,” Murray explains. “They have provided us with best in class technology. “Parallo helped us in our virtual infrastructure area and Park Lane IT has allowed us to automate our database infrastructure. The software we put in place through Oracle and the technical support service we get from Park Lane IT has helped us to position that data layer in a more automated fashion so that it’s more agile and responsive to the business.” 270

Dell is also critical to the education centre, providing all Windows based desktop and laptop infrastructure and enterprise service and integrating its catalogue Amazon-style into all UTAS’ procurement. It is also a platinum sponsor of UTAS’ key innovation event, UHack. Aruba has partnered to improve the wi-fi, which Murray jokes “has come from woeful to no one talking about it anymore, which means it’s excellent.” Data#3 is also on-board and has enabled UTAS to provide

AUGUST 2018

ANZ

271

FACT

MURRAY IS RESPONSIBLE FOR: • 109 employees • $35m annual budget. • $110m systems investment • $10m annualised benefits returned from this investment

w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

U N I V E R S I T Y O F TA S M A N I A

catalogue-style purchasing of Apple computers across the organisation, meaning people get that diversity of choice between a Windows machine or an Apple device. UTAS has embraced the Microsoft cloud provision as a very rapid adopter and has Office365 across the entire organisation for students and staff. “Cloud in the future is going to be a balanced platform of systems that are seamlessly operating the 272

internet,” he adds. “We’ve got a much richer collaborative environment around Microsoft Tools and where it’s improving our internal communications. “Only our supercomputer is on campus and I predict that’s short-lived. We’re constantly

Apply now to study at the University of Tasmania

reviewing whether we can run that

ANZ

Uhack 2018 273 in the cloud. Cloud removes the old steps

eventually be replaced by that one

and jumps that might happen in scaling big

computer that can do everything, but

computing and makes it a lot more of a

Murray says that’s not the desired

smooth and fluid uplift in performance and

outcome, insisting artificial intelligence will

uplift in responsiveness.

be specific automations to the menial

“It gives us balanced high-performance big data seamless to the user.” UTAS now has a dashboard of every single process and every single request –

tasks, enabling humans to get on with the richer, more interesting, more intellectually stimulating roles. “We know that human empathy is

not just for IT – but a service delivery

extremely difficult to program into a

across all of the university processes,

computer – and anyway, will humans ever

which is bringing everything into one

trust a computer if it is expressing

space, in preparation for that automated,

empathy?” He questions. “I expect not.

robotic, artificially intelligent digital era that it’s moving into. People perceive that their job will

“Will people enjoy a flawless ballet performance by a robot? I suspect not either. So we see that artificial intelligence w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

U N I V E R S I T Y O F TA S M A N I A

is not the panacea that’s going to take over everything while we sit on the couch. We see AI as an opportunity to enrich services and roles and jobs, taking away the menial, making us more productive and making our roles more enjoyable.” Of course, with such huge changes across the systems, Murray says the change management is the most critical part of any project, and ensures every project has its own change manager. “Change has become the one 274

constant, and we have critical stakeholders across the organisation who know their local services and local teams, and make sure we don’t overburden them too much,” he says. “They’re called the Champions of Change and become strong advocates and stalwarts for this new future that this digital era is bringing, and my best achievement is that the team is recognised as a very strong, responsive and agile team. “I’m 100% sure that I’ve created a team of many CIOs that are connected to the university’s vision and direction.”

AUGUST 2018

ANZ

Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Research Prof Brigid Heywood, Signing New Surface Hub

275

w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

Where transforming an enterprise starts with transforming business communications WRIT TEN BY

L AUR A MULL AN PRODUCED BY

ANDY TURNER

Creating superior customer experiences with artificial intelligence and machine learning, Avaya is ready for the digital age of communications

w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

AVAYA

ith audio conferencing, web conferencing, video conferencing, instant messaging, and more

entering the fray, there are now many ways for businesses to communicate. Needing to simplify this proliferation of new technologies, enterprises of all sizes are now turning their attention to new, innovative approaches like unified communication. By allowing employees to send messages through one medium and receive the same communication on another medium, this integrated way of communicating aims to improve employee efficiency, effectiveness, 278

workforce mobility, customer service and, ultimately, competitiveness. Carving its path as a global leader in digital communications services, Avaya is all too aware of how technology can transform both communication and the customer experience alike. With a far-reaching offering, the company strives to break down the barriers between disparate systems and seamlessly connect business stakeholders and customers. Avaya’s product portfolio can be divided into three core areas – unified communications, cloud solutions, and customer experience and contact centers – and it’s clear they’ve been a hit, with Avaya solutions being used by 95% of all Fortune 500 companies. AUGUST 2018

USA

279

w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

Extraordinary customer engagement powered by AI. Nuance combines the best of automated and human-assisted customer service powered by AI to help companies provide meaningful interactions that maintain context as customers move between devices and channels – from IVR to SMS, virtual assistant to live chat – while informing agents about previous engagements. - Conversational IVR that can understand callers and respond intelligently - Biometrics security and fraud prevention to authenticate users - Virtual assistants for guidance on digital channels - Proactive outreach to notify or remind - Live chat/live agent support when a human touch is needed When customer service is done right – the beneﬁts are loud and clear. You get reduced costs, increased revenue, exceptional customer satisfaction and unwavering brand loyalty. Learn more. Or contact us – cxexperts@nuance.com.

Nuance and the Nuance logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of Nuance Communications, Inc. or its afﬁliates in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks referenced herein are the property of their respective owners. July 2018/3575

USA

Jean Turgeon, Vice President and Chief Technologist, says that the firm’s cutting-edge digital platform as well as its ability to integrate new technologies is helping it streak ahead of its competitors. “We deliver an automated digital framework, which I describe as a puzzle with different pieces inclusive of an innovative communications

‘ Avaya can respond to events detected by IoT technology and notify the right people in real-time” — Jean Turgeon, Vice President and Chief Technologist

platform,” explains Turgeon. “So, we have to take different technology

still keep up-to-date with the latest

innovations and we bring them all

industry trends.

together to be able to transform and deliver a digital experience. “We have a delivered an open

“It doesn’t make a whole lot of sense for customers to build a next-generation digitally enabled platform that

architecture bringing together unified

doesn’t unify communication technolo-

communication portfolio, a contact

gies and have the ability to integrate

center portfolio, automated workflow

new technologies such as the internet

capabilities with a high degree of

of things (IoT), AI, analytics and/or

sophistication, and we’ve demonstrat-

taking advantage of blockchain

ed our ability to take other technolo-

technology,” he says.

gies, such as CRM from Salesforce,

With research showing that the next

AI with Afiniti and more, tightly

decade will be marked by record IoT

integrated within our ecosystem.”

growth (some firms predict revenue

Taking its cutting-edge portfolio

will break into the trillions), Avaya is

further, Turgeon says that Avaya’s

leveraging this innovation through its

ability to integrate new technologies

work in workflow automation.

gives it a unique competitive edge as customers can use the portfolio but

For instance, by integrating with IoT technologies, Turgeon believes the w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

281

AVAYA

system could successfully alert authorities to the breakout of a fire. “We can connect our portfolio very easily to IoT platforms, so that when IoT platforms trigger events that we can automate workflow to notify the right people in real time. This creates a huge level of differentiation; by having this automated digital platform and the flexibility to integrate various technology altogether, it puts Avaya in a very good position from a competitive point of view.” Using its communication services, Avaya can respond to events detected by IoT technology and notify the right people in 282

real-time. This means that, with its API integration, Avaya can make IoT data actionable, and holistically solve business problems for customers.

“ Anything other than real-time or near realtime communication is just not good enough anymore” — Jean Turgeon, Vice President and Chief Technologist

AUGUST 2018

USA

283

With virtual reality, chatbots and

time contextual information to let you

augmented reality becoming the norm,

know that it’s not a good idea to

artificial intelligence (AI) and machine

establish a video call with me.

learning have also become a common expectation for customers. Turgeon says that AI will soon play

“Today we leave it up to the caller to make the decisions about how they should contact you. Artificial intelli-

an integral role in communication

gence is going to become a key

services today.

component in communication

“You and I are communicating at

technologies, allowing systems to

this moment,” he tells me. “But if I

automatically determine what is the

was in my car, driving 70 miles per

best modality of communication at

hour on a highway, the system

a particular point in time.

wouldn’t able to retrieve any real-

“You no longer leave it to the caller. w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

AVAYA

284

“We deliver an automated digital framework, which I describe as a puzzle with different pieces inclusive of an innovative communications platform” — Jean Turgeon, Vice President and Chief Technologist

Now systems can blend that intelligence with machine learning capabilities, consuming all of this data and contextual information, and makes sense of that in real time.” Artificial intelligence could also help contact centers use real-time coaching capabilities, whereby a skilled and experienced employee’s historical data can be used to give immediate feedback to another worker. “If a customer is on a call and is unsatisfied we’re able to provide assistance to a contact center agent in real time based on our sophisticated speech analytics platform,” describes Turgeon. “This allows the ‘machine’ or a supervisor if escalated to be able to both give information to the agent, suggest other ideas on how to handle the situation, or even trigger an event to a supervisor to come and assist you.” By combining its communication services with APIs, the opportunities for Avaya are

FACT

For the 2017 fiscal year, Avaya reported revenue of $3.272bn

endless. This is not only beneficial for the company’s bottom line but it could also help transform people’s lives. Fraudulent calls and scams are a dark cloud for many customers and businesses alike but Turgeon believes Avaya is pushing the envelope with its latest innovations. As part of the Avaya Mobile Experience, the company is working on Identity-as-a-Service (IDaaS) which will reduce the risk of

AUGUST 2018

USA

Click to watch: ‘Accelerate the speed of your business communications with Avaya Equinox’ 285 identity fraud by using contact centers

other incidents – time is critical. There-

to verify the customer’s validity through

fore, the real-time nature of Avaya’s

the use of biometrics.

portfolio is one of its fundamental traits.

“I can eliminate the three to five

“If you’re unhappy with your service

security questions that someone may

at a hotel, for example, and you tweet

ask to determine your identity if the

about it it’s better if the business is able

confidence factor is high,” Turgeon

to react immediately,” notes Turgeon.

explains. “That’s time wasted by the

“Anything other than real-time or near

agent. We’re hearing from various

real-time communication is just not

industries that they’re spending around

good enough anymore.

40 to 75 seconds on average just trying

“So, we have to start leveraging much

to identify the caller. This really helps to

more sophisticated capabilities to be

improve the customer experience.”

able to transform the experience right

In many of the real-life cases Turgeon

now. You don’t want to lose a customer

discusses – resolving customer com-

who could contact a different organiza-

plaints or alerting people to fires and

tion to do business with. I have to react w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

AVAYA

“ It’s about connecting the world in real time, with the right data” — Jean Turgeon Vice President and Chief Technologist

to any issues immediately in real time. “By the same token, if someone is having

286

that is most likely to help them.” In the digital era, every

a heart attack or there’s an incident such as

interaction, whether direct or

a fire or a gas leak, time is of the essence. The

indirect, represents an oppor-

real-time aspect of a next-generation digital

tunity to deepen customer

platform that integrates real-time contextual

relationships. By diving into

information is extremely important, regard-

ground-breaking innovations

less of which use cases you look at.”

and offering seamless commu-

Building on its current platforms and

nication experiences, it seems

exploring recent improvements in AI and

Avaya is making sure that every

machine learning, Avaya is working to

opportunity counts.

bolster the AI ecosystem with its new initiative, A.I Connect. Bringing technology vendors and strategic

“From my viewpoint, some of the use cases of our technologies are helping businesses be

partners together, the forum aims to speed

more attractive and profitable,

up the development and application of AI

whilst others are tied to trans-

technologies in contact centers and unified

forming cities, communities, and

communications for Avaya customers.

the type of services that they

“Through A.I Connect we have collaborated with companies such as Salesforce, who is a global leader in CRM, as well as other

can offer to their community,” notes Turgeon. “It’s about connecting the

companies like Afiniti,” adds Turgeon. “Afiniti

world in real time, with the right

offers AI assisted pairing between the

data, and I think this is the tech-

customer and the agent to make sure that

nology that we will continue to

the customer is redirected to the person

invest in.”

AUGUST 2018

USA

287

w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

EXPANDING TERRITORY

Vision aids technology at SiteOne Landscape Supply

SiteOne Landscape Supply is preparing itself to better serve the changing face of North America by adopting a new technology-led culture

WRIT TEN BY

JOHN Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;HANLON PRODUCED BY

ANDY TURNER

S I T E O N E L A N D S C A P E S U P P LY

n March 2014 Sean Kramer was appointed CIO of what was then John Deere Landscapes, two years later, moving home and

family from Detroit to Roswell, Georgia. A big step for someone whose career that far had seen him rise to senior IT leadership roles at iconic motor industry giants like DaimlerChrysler and, most recently, Volkswagen. But the last four years have been a time of unbelievable change for North America’s leading wholesale distributor of landscape supplies: he was keen to apply his skills to the challenge of maintaining John Deere’s reputation for integrity while leveraging IT to deliver outstanding customer service levels. 290

In 2014 John Deere sold a majority interest in the business to private equity investor Clayton Dubilier & Rice (CDR) and at the time not only Kramer came on board but also the present CEO Doug Black. In October 2015 the company changed its name to SiteOne Landscape Supply, launching its new identity at the Green Industry & Equipment (GIE+) Expo in 2016 at Louisville, Kentucky following its IPO on the NYSE in May that year. With over 500 locations in the USA and Canada, SiteOne is by a long way the largest wholesale distributor of landscape supplies for ‘green industry’ professionals in North America. It sells irrigation supplies, fertilizer and control products, landscape accessories, nursery goods, hardscapes, and outdoor lighting, along with a broad array of services designed to help landscaping contractors operate and grow their AUGUST 2018

USA

BIO

Sean Kramer is a senior executive who is transforming business processes and leading digital transformation through innovative technologies and data analytics. As CIO at SiteOne Landscape Supply, he leads capacity planning for a rapidly growing company, manages applications (including ERP, POS, website) as well as infrastructure, network connectivity, integrations w/cloud systems and the security program. Sean oversees a team of seven IT Directors. 291

w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

S I T E O N E L A N D S C A P E S U P P LY

292

“ On the IT side we had to rebrand all our systems and forms down to the logos on the laptops” — Sean Kramer, CIO

businesses. Over four years, the company

THE PRIOR STATE CHALLENGE

has made 27 acquisitions, from single

That level of expansion would not have

location businesses to groups with up to

been possible using the IT infrastructure

33 branches, expanding product lines, for

Sean Kramer found in place when he

example in nursery and hardscape

arrived: “We took over a business that had

products, and enhancing each branch

a lot of operational instability. Basic IT

with access to the full SiteOne product

services such as email and point-of-sale

range.

(POS) were very unreliable: we were

AUGUST 2018

USA

293

running on hardware that should have

strategic partnership with Microsoft,

been retired years before and our server

establishing that its Dynamics AX platform

room was in an office in Michigan. My first

would be, over the long term, the most

year had to be focused on operational

effective backbone ERP to support the

stability.â&#x20AC;? A legacy ERP system dating back

business as it grew.

to 1986 did not work with the POS system,

Deployment of the new system took a

so retiring that was a priority: Kramer and

full year, and at the same time the business

his team worked hard to establish a

was grappling with rebranding from John

w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

S I T E O N E L A N D S C A P E S U P P LY

Deere to SiteOne Landscape Supply across the entire organization. “There was massive change management challenge,” he recalls. “Our operational teams had to change the imaging in the stores, delivery trucks and signage. On the IT side we had to rebrand all our systems and forms down to the logos on the laptops.” At the same time, the company was preparing for an IPO – as anyone who has been through this process will appreciate a public 294

company has to work in a very different regulatory environment from a private business. Readying the systems for compliance best practice presented a major challenge for the IT team, but there were yet other large pieces of the jigsaw that could not be neglected.

SIMPLE SOLUTIONS FOR COMPLEX ISSUES As the outward face of the business the company website is just as important as the name over the door of the branch office. A new website was launched in 2018 after two years of development – and it’s still a AUGUST 2018

USA

work in progress, he emphasizes. “Optimizing our e-commerce capability is the driver here. For example we put in a new pricing engine with real B2B capability – after all we had to make sure that our pricing was consistent not only at the point of sale but across the website as well.” To help customize and optimize Dynamics AX to manage trade and revenue management complexities, he brought in a new technology from FlintFox – again after exhaustive consideration of available packages. Integration of the diverse acquisitions the company would be making threw up issues that could adversely affect the SiteOne brand. Product duplication was a case in point he recalls, where the company that was being integrated had its own product listing, pricing and customer data that could frequently overlap and conflict with SiteOne’s existing record of the same products and customers. E-commerce being seen as an important service enhancement for SiteOne’s customers going forward, he selected integration platform as a service (iPaaS) Dell Boomi to manage the integration layer and the SAP Hybris platform, a cloud-based suite of highly integrated products for online selling. “Hybris gives our customers the ability to order products online for either delivery or pick-up, as well as to create lists for commonly purchased products. We were fortunate to have Dave Brower (VP of Marketing) and Colleen w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

295

S I T E O N E L A N D S C A P E S U P P LY

Romero (Director of Digital Marketing) join our team and help lead this implementation. They have a track record of launching successful ecommerce platforms and made sure we had our bases covered.” The problem of data management was addressed by partnering with Information Builders to implement Omni-Gen, a single platform for generating applications combining data integration, data quality, and master data management. Omni-Gen has reduced confusion when acquired businesses are integrated and helped expedite the process. SiteOne uses the platform to govern product lines and related 296

variables such as color, size and texture. It also helps to standardize the customer data to ensure it’s consistent across the board. “With ecommerce , we can provide an efficient system for our customers to order that they haven’t had before. We’re excited to partner with them on how to make the system even better going forward. With e-commerce working for us, we are now able to turn our attention to a mobile app focused on improving the efficiency of inventory management in the branch, as well as checking out customers quickly to allow them to get to the job site faster and save labor cost. “

SUCCESS THROUGH STRONG COLLABORATION As a wholesale distributor, SiteOne lives according to how well it satisfies its customers. AUGUST 2018

“Advanced analytics is an opportunity for us to further enhance our 360-degree view of the customer” — Sean Kramer, CIO

USA

297

When it came to restructuring the IT

systems each business unit leverages to

department to support future growth and

run its core business. “This close

build more capabilities, Kramer and his

partnership with our functional teams is

manager , Executive Vice President Ross

part of our secret sauce.” says Kramer.

Anker, felt it was imperative to align the

Sean also established an “Enterprise

application development team with the

Services” side of the department which

business units they support. He broke his

handles among other functions the

application teams into four different

service desk, end-user computing,

groups: Sales & Marketing, Supply Chain,

infrastructure & technology, and cyber

Finance & Accounting and Acquisition

security. Last year, they migrated their

Integration. Each is led by a Director well

data center out of that office in Michigan

versed in the business processes and

and into two well-established co-location w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

S I T E O N E L A N D S C A P E S U P P LY

298

AUGUST 2018

USA

299 sites. Their security program has continued to evolve. Starting from scratch at the beginning of his tenure, SiteOne’s Chief Information Security Officer, David Black, has brought in technology and processes to help combat vulnerabilities daily. As the team looks to the future, SiteOne partners with many security firms to proactively address new risks when they surface.

THE TEAMS THAT DELIVER He personally interviews every new member of his team. “I want to know that they understand our culture, and that they hear it from me.” He has not found it hard to attract people hungry to work at a fast-growing company that is bringing in new

“HYBRIS GIVES OUR CUSTOMERS THE ABILITY TO ORDER PRODUCTS ONLINE FOR EITHER DELIVERY OR PICK-UP, AS WELL AS TO CREATE LISTS FOR COMMONLY PURCHASED PRODUCTS” — Sean Kramer, CIO

w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

Solutions, Resources and Products, we are IT.

iConnectX www.iconnectx.com www.v2soft.com

info@v2soft.com

866-9-V2SOFT

qwik.events

technology. True, he says, to this point it has been mainly what he calls ‘foundational technology’ driving the functionality of Dynamics with partners like FlintFox, Hybris and ServiceNow, but the team realizes that they will soon focus on enhancing customers’ ecommerce experience and evaluating new technology that can be put into the hands of these customers to improve their business processes. “Like everyone else, SiteOne Landscape Supply. Stronger Together.

we want to further develop our analytical capabilities. You see it in all areas. I saw it in the automotive industry: advanced analytics is an opportunity for us to further enhance our 360-degree view of the customer. The landscape industry can be impacted by many different factors - weather, construction, etc. As

AUGUST 2018

USA

we expand our product offering, this

He doesn’t regret the move from

analytical data will show correlation

Detroit to Roswell either. He does

with the desires of the local market.”

prefer the Georgia weather, but what

IT at SiteOne is essential to deliver-

inspired him more was the constant

ing the corporate strategy, which Sean

support he has had from Doug Black,

Kramer summarizes as establishing a

Ross Anker and the senior leadership

full product line offering in every major

team. “We have had tremendous

market for the landscape contractor in

support from our CEO and the

North America. “We have to make sure

executive leadership. I have never

that we continue to be the best

worked anywhere where we’ve had the

wholesaler that the landscape

teamwork and the support that the

contractor has ever seen. We want to

technology department has received

stay ahead of the curve in terms of

here.” Without that support, he

technology, making sure the customer

concludes, he couldn’t have moved the

experience is world-class in itself – and

state of SiteOne’s IT from low tech on

head and shoulders above the rest of

life support, to being a real driver for

the industry!”

future growth.

w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

301

WRITTEN BY

CHANGING THE WAY TECHNOLOGY CAN LOOK AFTER PEOPLE

MARÍA COBANO-CONDE PRODUCED BY

GLEN WHITE

Juan Cumbrado, CIO and CPO for MAPFRE LATAM North, explains his strategy for the companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s digital transformation in Latin America

MAPFRE

“PEOPLE WHO LOOK AFTER PEOPLE”

IS THE CONCEPT THAT ENCLOSES THE SPIRIT OF MAPFRE.

multi-sector insurance company with presence in 100 countries of the five 304 continents, MAPFRE was born in Madrid in 1944 to insure workers on Spanish farms. Subsequently, the company expanded to Latin America and then to Turkey, Indonesia, USA, Brazil, Italy and Germany. Today, it is one of the leading insurers in Latin America, has more than 37mn customers and more than 37,000 employees in 5,400 offices. Its impressive digital transformation is an example of how a solid leadership based on the right strategy manages to use technology as a channel to achieve great goals. Gigabit had the pleasure of interviewing Juan Cumbrado, Chief Information Officer (CIO) and Chief Process Officer (CPO) of AUGUST 2018

L AT I N A M E R I C A

BIO

Juan Cumbrado is the Regional CIO & CPO for MAPFRE LATAM North, responsible for the area of Digital Transformation and Project Simplification in Mexico. He has 21 years of experience at MAPFRE, during which he has held various management positions such as: CIO & COO MAPFRE LATAM NORTH, CIO & COO MAPFRE Mexico, CIO Global Risks and Director of Globalisation of the IT and Processes Area for the MAPFRE Group. He was awarded the 50 HITEC distinction as one of the 50 most influential people in the field of technology in America in 2017 and 2018. Currently, he serves as chairman of the technology committee of the Mexican Association of Insurance Institutions (AMIS).

w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

305

Your Tomorrow, Today Digital Transformation for the Insurance Sector: Accelerate your business and stand out in an evolving market hand in hand with Oracle.

Core Insurance Transformation for Improved Cost Efficiency

Oracle offers the insurance industry the innovation tools for its business and customer communication challenges such as: â&#x20AC;˘ 60% of insurers are developing mobile initiatives. â&#x20AC;˘ More than 70% of insurers use social networks. â&#x20AC;˘ 87% of insurers mention a preference for migrating to the Cloud.

• Oracle helps you respond quickly to the needs of the market and your customers. • We have the ability to increase the operational efficiency of your business. • We ensure your information and that of your clients. • We help the growth of your business, attracting a new generation of customers, maintaining your loyalty. Emerging market trends, such as digitization, new regulatory requirements, customer service and the design of new products are elements that Oracle is responsible for responding to insurers to do what they do best: The tranquility and security of goods and health to people and organizations. The insurance market must implement new products, expand into new lines and increase operational efficiency with modern and flexible applications,

making the transition to the digital world, in which artificial intelligence, Big Data, migration to the Cloud, analytics on mobile devices and social networks can achieve more, in less time. The transformation of the insurance sector is going through a digital path, to achieve empathy with a new generation of clients, that their digital experience is more developed, due to the change in their way of communicating, of solving needs or performing daily tasks.

• 79% of customers use digital channels to interact with insurers. • Within the next 3 years, 15% of life insurance and 23% of other insurance will be contracted through online channels. • Customers are expected to increase their interaction in digital channels by 37% after the sale. • Almost 50% of insurers do not yet have a realistic plan for digital transformation, so they must innovate to face the entry of digital customers.

Source: Bain Digital Insurer of the Future Benchmarking|1

MAPFRE

MAPFRE LATAM Norte, about this integral process of digital transformation that he is leading.

308

AUGUST 2018

A WITNESS TO GREAT TRANSFORMATIONS â&#x20AC;&#x153;MAPFRE is defined as a company of people that help people and that is evident in its management model, in its relationship and in the attitude that we demonstrate every

L AT I N A M E R I C A

day. With these principles and our passion, the time I have spent in the company has flown by,â&#x20AC;? begins Cumbrado. The CIO/CPO joined

MAPFRE 20 years ago as Director of Systems Engineering and has worked in almost all areas of the company. In 2013, his opportunity came to move out of Spain and become the CIO and CPO of MAPFRE

309

w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

L AT I N A M E R I C A

LATAM Norte with a focus on Mexico, taking the company’s operations to the next level in the region. He has lived moments of vital importance in the company: mergers, acquisitions, the internationalisation of MAPFRE and the beginnings of globalisation. He has also been a key agent in the creation of the corporate technology and process team that today is one of the three support units of the group worldwide. As regards his role, his biggest responsibility or challenge has been based on the digital transformation of the northern region of Latin America, coordinating and integrating it within a global strategy. These efforts have been rewarded with the 2018 HITEC50 recognition by HITEC, the global executive leadership organisation. “We are implementing Agile methodologies in business projects and, of course, in projects in the technological

field, which allows us to have two workspaces in the OpenSpace environment for the region. That is the area in which I am developing my activity at this moment”.

THE INSURANCE INDUSTRY AND THE NEED FOR DIGITALISATION As a result of the fourth industrial revolution, digitalisation is giving the customer a privileged position. Cumbrado identifies digital transformation as the key for insurance companies to offer new products with faster, more efficient and simpler cycles and services with automation as a basis, as well as the improvement of accident prevention and prevention schemes. “MAPFRE and the insurance companies are obliged to get involved in a digital transformation because this will allow them to have new business opportunities, and they will see an improvement in operation, productivity and in the new business environments that are about to appear,” analyses Cumbrado.

THE DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION OF MAPFRE LATIN AMERICA Given this scenario, MAPFRE built its digital transformation in two axes: w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

311

MAPFRE

312

technology and people, with a strategic focus on operational improvement for the customer. As pointed by Cumbrado, the key to the success of MAPFREâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s digital transformation has been the ability to work with distributed teams, defining a technology strategy and global processes, as well as the coexistence between the global corporate needs and the regional needs of each country. From this base, the strategy has been deployed in all the countries where MAPFRE operates in Latin America, adapting to the singularities of each one. Big data and analytics have been essential elements to understand consumers, the penetration of new products and services, the definition of advanced rates and pricing models and the location of points of assistance where there is greater road circulation. Likewise, thanks to big data and analytics, MAPFRE is developing a 360 view of its AUGUST 2018

clients that allows interaction through different physical and digital media in order to respond accurately to segmentation. This approach takes into account the fact that a person can vary in social and work positioning in the course of a single day. MAPFRE has also developed its own software, implemented to periodically audit and monitor the alignment of operations with the global digital transformation strategy. In total, approximately 660 projects have been developed to streamline operations based on global intranet connectivity and distributed in different countries.

CULTURE SHIFT IN THE COMPANY Of course, the digital transformation in MAPFRE is bringing changes related to organisation and work culture. Cumbrado offers us his vision in this regard: â&#x20AC;&#x153;Without a doubt, this is a relevant moment in the organisations, since three generations coexist at the same time. In the traditional model, the bosses were older people who had the highest level of knowledge, but now the dynamics have changed. We have to learn that people with more experience can have bosses much younger than them and age does not

L AT I N A M E R I C A

37 MILLION

37,000 EMPLOYEES AND 5,400 OFFICES

MAPFRE FOUNDATION PROVIDES SHAREHOLDING STABILITY AND DEVELOPMENT IN THE COMMUNITIES FOR AROUND 23 MILLION PEOPLE IN MORE THAN 30 COUNTRIES

313

HELP TO DRIVE DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION IN THE WORLD VIA PRODUCTS DESIGNED TO RESPOND TO FUTURE RISKS INSURANCE FOR PEOPLE, PROFESSIONALS AND BUSINESSES

necessarily reflect experience and knowledge. This is a matter that must be worked on at MAPFRE and in all the companies that are facing this transformation.”

To which he adds: “In MAPFRE we are working on this change of organisational culture, which ranges from matters as basic as the rules of w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

El Grupo Gfi en México cuenta hoy en día con más de 600 profesionales dedicados a servir a nuestros clientes con la calidad requerida en las más diversas tecnologías de la información. Nuestra misión es la de servir a nuestros clientes con la eficiencia y eficacia requerida para cada situación, desde la componente comercial y de pre-venta hasta la fase de cierre de los proyectos o servicios. Gfi México tiene un histórico de más de 15 años de experiencia en este país, resultado de la adquisición de varias empresas mexicanas enfocadas en la prestación de servicios de tecnología y cuyos ofrecimientos cruzan diferentes áreas de especialización, desde los servicios de outsourcing de recursos especializados, hasta el desarrollo de proyectos y servicios de valor añadido, entre los cuales podemos destacar:

SERVICIOS DE E2E TESTING IMPLEMENTACIÓN DE ARQUITECTURAS REINGENIERÍA DE PROCESOS incluida la componente de automatización, DE MICROSERVICIOS CORPORATIVOS el modelaje de procesos de negocio sirven como pilar fundamental a las nuevas desde los modelos más estratégicos del y el modelaje de datos corporativos arquitecturas de los departamentos de Governance a otros operacionales como la encuadrados en proyectos de big-data. sistemas de información. cadena de suministros,producción, control financiero y de los activos, etc.

Durante todos estos años en Gfi hemos construido una fuerte relación profesional con empresas de los diferentes sectores de actividad, entre los cuales caben destacar Banca y Seguros, Sector Público, Industria, FMCG y Construcción. A NIVEL TECNOLÓGICO Gfi está desarrollando diferentes proyectos y pruebas de concepto en áreas todas ellas relacionadas con la Transformación Digital. Nuestros arquitectos y técnicos de sistemas desarrollan en estrecha colaboración con el cliente y soportados por nuestros Centros de Excelencia actividades de IoT/ M2M, Big-data, Real Time Analytics y Devops, entre otros muchos. NUESTROS EQUIPOS Contamos con profesionales con amplia experiencia que comparten las dificultades de nuestros clientes y que aportan soluciones creativas y con reconocida efectividad para mejorar los procesos y las herramientas que finalmente serán adoptadas. Para eso ser posible, nuestros equipos están especializados en diferentes tecnologías de información, de las cuales podemos resaltar el equipo de SAP con larga experiencia implementando proyectos y servicios por todo el mundo (Mesas de Ayuda, Fábricas de Software, Consultoría de Procesos, Consultoría Tecnológica y Gestión del Cambio, etc.).

gfi.world

L AT I N A M E R I C A

etiquette. Not only is it enough to take off your tie, for example, there must also be a change of attitude, because the tie is only a symbol.”

CONCLUDING ADVICE Cumbrado offers his expert opinion to companies that seek to carry out a digital transformation, summarising the process in three fundamental stages. First, finding the right sponsor and defining a clear strategy, analysing the fundamental pillars so that the critical areas benefit from the digital transformation. Second, dividing it into stages and finding the specific technologies to be implemented in accordance with their policies. Finally, Cumbrado

emphasises the importance of having a final goal parallel to the current moment of the company and working with indicators to monitor the process. In addition to his work at MAPFRE, Cumbrado collaborates with Startupbootcamp, where he works with startups and accelerators in innovation projects. This collaboration with other people and technologies is enriching work for him as he is expanding his technological knowledge, which undoubtedly has a positive impact on MAPFRE. “It’s helping me a lot to understand that simplicity is a viable way to face and solve problems,” he concludes.

w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

315

Connecting with the Technology of the

WRITTEN BY

MARÍA COBANOCONDE PRODUCED BY

GLEN WHITE

future

Galib Karim, Vice President of Avaya Americas International, talks about Avaya’s technological innovation and how it engages clients in Latin America

AVAYA

318

peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s lives in the digital era.

owadays, the technological sphere we live in is radically changing the way we interact with our ecosystems, from our work environment to the way we shop.

This is the case of Avaya, a world

Behind this progress there are companies

Business Chief Latin America

that, through their leadership and innovation,

had the pleasure of speaking

are harnessing, promoting and creating new

with Galib Karim, Vice President

technological solutions to give the best to

of Avaya Americas International,

businesses and clients. Companies that are

about his extensive career,

committed to integrating technology in

Avayaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s new vision and the

AUGUST 2018

leader in communications software and services enabling unified communications solutions for business of all sizes.

L AT I N A M E R I C A

319

technological innovations that

Channel Director for Latin America at Bay

are being created.

Networks and President of Nortel Mexico,

A long career of passion for

Karim joined Avaya eight and a half years ago.

technology

Initially Director of Avaya Mexico, he

Karim began his career in the

assumed his position as Vice President of

industry more than 25 years ago,

Avaya Americas two years ago.

following his passion for how

“Joining Avaya as Managing Director for the

technology impacts and

Mexico region was a very interesting

improves people’s lives.

challenge… the one of a region that has a lot

After co-founding InterVan

of growth potential. After eight and a half

(Mexico’s first public data

years, we have gone through many

network) and developing roles as

processes, it has been an exciting race with w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

PLANNING YOUR COMPANYâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION? TAKE YOUR CONTACT CENTER TO THE LEVEL REQUIRED BY YOUR CUSTOMERS WITH THE NEW PLATFORM AVAYA OCEANA. RT4 HAS THE CUSTOMIZATION YOU NEED WITH THE MONTHLY PAYMENTS YOU WANT.

Comunicaciones en Tiempo Real en Sitio o en la Nube.

L AT I N A M E R I C A

periods of great growth. We are

Today is a multinational that generates more

currently in another similar

than US$3.27bn annual profit; it has

period with a lot of activity,”

undergone a recent restructuring after

reflects Karim.

Chapter 11 and last January saw its return to

Winds of change at Avaya

the New York Stock Exchange following

Avaya was born as part of AT&T

growth plans.

to later become part of Lucent

This new approach was shown at the 13th

Technologies, with focus on

edition of Avaya Engage, the conference

telephone and television. In 2000,

organised by Avaya that was held on 21 June

Avaya became independent and

at the Citibanamex Center in Mexico, sister

moved its headquarters to Santa

event of Avaya Engage held in New Orleans

Clara (California), specialising in

in January.

unified communications and

Under the motto “Welcome to the Connected

services for contact centres and

World”, the event was presented by Jim

businesses.

321

“Joining Avaya as Managing Director for the Mexico region was a very interesting challenge… the one of a region that has a lot of growth potential” — Galib Karim, Vice President at Avaya Americas International

w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

AVAYA

322

Chirico (CEO of Avaya) and brought together

CEO of Netflix, with The Story of

more than 3,000 clients, prospects, partners,

Netflix, Roy Campos, President

CEOs, analysts, speakers and journalists to

of Consulta Mitofsky, with his

participate and share knowledge about the

conference Political and Social

future of the communications software

Perspectives Towards 2018 and

industry and the impact of digital disruption.

Joan Laporta, Former President

The main focuses were the cloud, artificial

of FC Barcelona, with Barรงa a

intelligence, the internet of things, blockchain,

Success Model.

the automation of workflows and data

Avaya Engage is part of the

conversion.

events and conferences

Among the lectures offered by experts and

exploring new technologies that

industry professionals stood out Karim

Avaya is offering worldwide; the

himself with Welcome to the Connected

InnovationTour will be held in Sao

World, Marc Randolph, Co-founder and first

Paulo and Bogotรก in Latin

AUGUST 2018

L AT I N A M E R I C A

FACT

helping, enabling and providing technological solutions and services makes it possible to integrate all the communication elements of a company so that it

Has a presence in the five continents and generates more than US$ 3 billion revenue per year America as well as in the United

reaches its customers through any digital channel (including social networks). This effort not only encompasses the corporate sphere but also helps citizens, as Avaya Americas International collaborates with governments throughout the region and has also ventured into the automotive industry by installing

FACT

States and Asia-Pacific. TECHNOLOGY THAT IS CHANGING THE WAY WE COMMUNICATE

If something characterises Avaya is its ambition to innovate and, above all, to put technological innovation that comes from the future to change the present at the service of users. The company has open standards as its philosophy and its passion for

Employs 1,200 collaborators in 20 offices in Latin America w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

323

AVAYA

software solutions for smart car data management. The company completely aligns itself with what its clients need to help them navigate

324

“Each company has its own challenges, has its own objectives & technology is an enabler of them” — Galib Karim, Vice President at Avaya Americas International

the sea of digitalisation: “We understand the strategy or the digital agenda of our clients. Each client has different objectives in terms of a digital strategy plan. I would say that practically all clients have a digital agenda today and what we try to do is to embed ourselves in it to really collaborate with them and help them in their transformation. With each client we have a different process, each company has its own challenges, has its own objectives and technology is an enabler of them,” explains Karim. A solid relationship of trust in its employees In May 2018 Avaya was recognized as Partner of the Year by Verint Systems, the New York-based software and hardware firm for customer engagement, security and business intelligence. For 17 years, Avaya has been recognised as a leader according to Gartner’s Magic Quadrant and is number one in the contact centre infrastructure industry in the region. This is proof of the excellent valuation that Avaya enjoys in the market from industry leaders, clients and collaborators. With a base of more than 50,000 clients in Latin America, many of them are long-term

AUGUST 2018

L AT I N A M E R I C A

FACT

Has more than 50,000 clients throughout the region

established allies that have relied on Avaya to

is the trust that Avaya places in

grow and mature in their digital

its team, a network of 1,200

transformation process.

experts divided among 20

“I believe that there is a relationship of trust in

offices in Canada, Miami,

the brand, there is an indisputable

Mexico, Colombia, Brazil and

recognition of our technology from our

Argentina. Avaya professionals

clients that really is a technology that has

have a deep knowledge not only

always been mission critical, that has

of the company’s ecosystem, but

opened standards and that is why many

also of the technological

clients have continued with us through over

environment that is blossoming

the years,” explains Karim. “When we look for

within the industry.

new clients, we try to do the same, to

“We have very experienced

develop that kind of relationship and that in

collaborators specialised in

the end our technology has adequate service

different technologies, in trends,

and support so that we can really give our

in everything that is happening to

clients the results they need.”

really be advisors in anticipation for clients. Many clients trust in

THE TEAM THAT MAKES IT POSSIBLE

us their strategic technological

If there is a concept that Karim emphasises it

decisions.” w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

325

AVAYA

This confidence in his team is clearly

In relation to its 1,000 business

reciprocal since the linear, balanced and little

partners, Karim highlights Dell

hierarchical organigram of Avaya, its

and Telus in Canada, Alestra and

flexibility and its initiatives of virtual offices

Telmex in Mexico, Cable &

and work mobility have earned the company

Wireless and Digicel in the

recognition as being “one of the best places

Caribbean, Telefonica, Conix,

to work” by Expansión magazine in Mexico,

RT4, Anixter, Amazon Web

along with similar awards in Brazil and

Services, Asure and Claro as

Canada.

partners key that have helped

326

Welcome to the Connected World

AUGUST 2018

L AT I N A M E R I C A

and continue to help Avaya

player in cloud solutions, digital

achieve its success and

transformation, automation, artificial

leadership.

intelligence and the current emerging technologies that are being developed.

NEW CHALLENGES IN

â&#x20AC;&#x153;I believe that in five years we will undoubtedly

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

be much more an artificial intelligence and

AND CLOUD

cloud company. I believe that this is where

Looking to the future, Karim

our transformation is heading,â&#x20AC;? Karim

views Avaya as a very important

concludes.

327

w w w. g i g a b i t m a g a z i n e . c o m

16 - 17 October 2018, Suntec Convention Centre, Singapore 6 CONFERENCE TRACKS

150 SEMINAR SESSIONS

70 EXHIBITORS

SHOWCASING THE LATEST TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS FOR ACCOUNTANTS & FINANCE PROFESSIONALS DIGITAL INNOVATION

BUSINESS IN THE CLOUD Evaluate cloud technologies that will help improve process efficiency, save money and modernise your business. Sponsored by

MONEY IN MONEY OUT

Learn how AI, blockchain, crypto-currency and cyber security technologies are changing the finance function. Sponsored by

PRACTICE MANAGEMENT